Vacations Up NorthSigrunHow long had they been sitting there? Five hours, seven? Nobody dared to move from his place or say a word, not with Surma hunched right around the corner. The sun had set, shining across their knees as it lowered, and the darkness that followed had imprisoned each of them with nothing but his own mental horrors for company. Mikkel on her left, close enough to the monster to see it if he turned his head and bowed a bit to the left and around the corner. On her other side ... well, she had called Emil her "right-hand warrior" on more than one occasion. But fighting was not an option right now.
Nothing was ... no, wait. She wasn't allowed to think that. Finding an option,
any viable course of action, was her job. A shitty job, but someone's gotta do it ... Light? Was it dusk already? At least it would crack open their prisons ...
AnderlLight. A bit of light, getting slowly stronger, intruding into the haze he was caught in. Revealing ... a cellar, water dripping from the ceiling. He never knew why he would always come to here, how he even got there. He did not
belong here, though. He belonged ... elsewhere ... up? Better get going, then.
SigrunYup, it's the morning. We can
see again, give each other a quick nod, but when Mikkel took a quick peek around the corner, he turned back
slowly and slowly shook his head. It seems that Surma is still with us, the guardian of our prison, keeping us locked in place while everyone outside happily continued their normal lives. Like the birds I can hear singing as if there's nothing wrong in the world, much less just a couple meters away ...
... wait. Singing birds? And Surma doesn't even twitch? Apparently it's not triggered as easily as we feared ...
"Mikkel," she whispered. Emil narrowly avoided jumping to his feet, but luckily he was seated away from Surma. Mikkel was too phlegmatic to jerk, but as he turned towards her, his eyes showed that he believed his last moment had come. "Singing birds," she added with a nod towards the empty window frames, still limiting her words, listening whether they would nonetheless cause Surma to stir.
Her two companions did not need any words at all to tell her that they understood her idea. With beaming faces, they leaned closer.
AnderlUp. More light. More thoughts. Where was he going? A room.
What room?
MY roOm. I hAve a Room heRe. I nEeD tO gEt theRe.... wHy DO i nEed To?Sigrun"So we can talk about plans. Ideas?"
"I don't think that we can afford Surma seeing us
move. Ever."
"It's just around that corner, though ..."
"Yes. So we're still stuck until it gets out of here."
"It doesn't
want to, apparently."
"Can we
make it go?"
"Shouting 'shoo' is right out."
"It needs to be
lured out of here."
"How?"
"Väinö said it's attracted to sharp noises."
"... Emil, you didn't set up a remote controlled charge outside, by chance?"
"I don't
have an RC. Nobody
ever gave me one. And no, no charge without one, either."
AnderlLEfT. mY roOM Is to ... nO. TO tHe rIGht.He could now clearly remember the cellar. The place he woke up in.
Every morning, for ... gods,
how long? But he could not remember what his room looked like.
His room. How could it be "his room" when he could not remember it? How can you forget your
home?my hOme ... iS a hoUse. "mY RoOm" Is noT My hoMe. hoW ... ?i'm In a hOteL. yOu haVE "A rOOm" aT a hoTEl. yoU gO to A HOteL ... oN A vaCatIon.The answer suddenly popped up in his mind. He was far away from his home. For the first time in an eternity, he had taken a vacation ... to go skiing. Skiing is done in winter. He had to
work in winter. He had booked two weeks at a ski resort
way up North, so that he could be back for his job before winter truly started back at home.
His job. He must be way overdue to get back to it, and he needed his equipment for that. Which was in his room. He had brought it on his vacation, masses of red tape be damned, so that he would be able to pop out of the plane home and get to work instantly.
I haVe tO go To my roOm tO gEt my eQUipmEnt anD stARt wOrkInG. I am nEedeD.... but if he was needed so urgently, why has he been away from his room for so long that he could barely remember what it looked like?
Sigrun"So ... no way to have a diversion?"
"None that I can think of."
"The others could maybe create one?"
"They cannot know of Surma being here, and would have come to look for us by now if they could."
"... at which point Surma would have killed us all, I suppose."
"Not. Interested. Right. Now."
"When will it move
on its own?"
"No idea. Maybe
never, unless prompted."
"It
does get prompted by other grosslings as well, though ..."
"When
they get stirred by whoever ... and definitely not while it's still light out ..."
AnderlEmpty. The corridors he walked were
empty.He now had an idea why it had been so long since he had been to his room. Every morning he came to in in a wet cellar. Every morning he started to ... walk ... towards his room. Every morning, he would run into ... other
guests ... on the corridors, and get distracted in one way or another, never actually
getting to his room.
Today, the corridors were
empty. Something must have caused all the other guests to be ... elsewhere.
There. His room. His
equipment. He would be back on the job today. He was needed.Sigrun"So ... ?"
"Nope. Still no idea."
"Maybe there's a bit of ancient ammo that'll just
happen ..."
"No. Quit dreaming."
"Damn."
AnderlHe was not at home. He did not have transport, a helicopter, like he usually would. It did not matter, he was at
a mountain ridge, and knew ski slopes to be downhill from him. He had his equipment.
He was back on the job.The light was so bright now that he had trouble seeing, though. He couldn't
see the snow around - matter of fact, the landscape looked outright
green. But it was
winter, wasn't it? And in winter, there was snow. Always. And he was always needed to be on the job then. Skiing regions
need proper
avalanche control.
