'Contact'

Who: Andy
Where: His flat
When: Two days after the previous post
Flat on his back, Andy stared at the ceiling of his apartment. His
once destroyed bed was fully mended and now its snugness threatened to
engulf him in its folds. The room smelt of disinfectant to rub in the
fact that this wasn't really his home. A soft minor ringing noise
echoed in his ear- tinnitus. He never realised he even had tinnitus,
the grumble of the Blue Dwarf had blocked it out.
For the first time in the past 12 hours, Andy pulled himself up and
hung his legs over the side of the bed. His mouth was dry and his
tongue felt like he had been replaced with a frill-neck lizard. Mind
you that would be bloody useful in staring contests.
Andy looked around his old room with a heaving sigh. It never really
hit him until now about just how far away from home he really was. No
matter how he looked at it he was still 50 years in the future. Blue
Dwarf was just masking the fact, just like his tinnitus. Sure people
were still different, they didn't laugh at his jokes, they wore weird
clothing and the some of the hair styles were just bizarre.
One the engineer's beard's was made up of the combined strength of his
face, nostril and chest hair. He suspected that he would have tried to
go further down if Seymour wouldn't have slapped him with an indecency
charge.
A light grunt and he was standing.
The un-employed janitor stumbled over to couch and flopped down. His
hand dragged itself over to the remote, grabbed then activated the TV.
Suddenly noise filled the room.
"Yesterday, the Blue Dwarf was-." Click.
"Reports say that the Captain's drug addiction-." Click.
"The Skutters union clams no responsibility for-." Click.
"12 hours before the incident, the infamous 'Alistair Withnail'
joined-." Click.
"I need scissors, 61!!-."
A particularly large crack appeared in the TV's screen as Andy turned
off the set manually.
The Janitor leaned back into his couch with a frustrated sigh. He was
out of it. Things were worse than what he remembered. Of course it was
worse. He didn't have any of his contacts now. Even the sparse work he
did have, were replaced by automated appliances.
Then again he could go outside and ask those nice men in that stark
black van if they'd like him to vacuum out their interior. Maybe just
give it a car wash? Andy almost felt insulted. They weren't even
trying to hide that they were watching him at all times.
Well, it didn't stop him from buying the guys donuts last night.
Once again standing, Andy shuffled over to his door. The Golden plaque
still stared him in the face. The still didn't understand this place.
Why it was built, what it was doing here and even less why it was back
to normal.
Who would do something like this? Who would love criminals this much
that they'd make a semi-museum out of this derelict? It wasn't a
secret, that's for sure. The 'civil servants' outside didn't follow him.
Andy threw a saddened glace over towards his dusty old computer. Only
for his eyes to widen as he noticed that it had just turned on before
his very eyes.
That was impossible.
No appliance could be turned on with just an electrical signal. Andy
found himself slide into his seat.
A bright white text scrawled across the screen.
\U there?
Andy felt compelled to respond, entering a response with a tentative
click.
/y
\Good. Not much time.
/Who are you?
\Not important. People are in danger. Do as I say.
/... I'm not doing anything until you tell me
\Right now you're lying in a cesspool of self-pity. You don't want to
stay there. \The skutters didn't die so you could go around listening
to 'my chemical \romance'. So what's it going to be?
The Janitor grit his teeth. Whoever this guy was, he was going hack
the living shit out of him.
/Fine... what do you want me to do?
\You need help. Find Rosette.
/How?
\How else?
/No.
\Do it. You owe them all of them.
After a long pause Andy responded.
/...Fine...
\Good...don't worry Andy- I'm a friend. I'll be watching.
Andy pulled back into his chair and vacantly stared at the computer
long before it was wiped blank.
<TBC>