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Pope: Do you hear that? Someone’s singing? Where’s it coming from?
Jesse: Singing? Sounds like it’s coming from the elevator.
Researcher 2: A lot of these questions could be answered by obtaining a live specimen.
Researcher 1: Here? But we don’t have the proper facilities.
Researcher 2: Pope wants us to get a field lab set up as soon as possible.
Ahti: Time to work. Meet me in the Maintenance.
Jesse: Like I said before, the janitor is a friendly face.
Jesse: The Maintenance Sector is the janitor’s domain. If I can find Ahti here, he can help me reach the override. Maybe it was you who got me into the Oldest House with the lockdown on. Maybe it was Ahti. It felt like he made the elevator appear that took me to Trench’s office. Is Ahti guiding me too?
Jesse: The Directorial Override is right there, in the control room. How do we get there?
Ahti: Well done. You got the job. It’s place for congratulations. Jippii, saatana. It happened in the last drop. I truly need an assistant.
Jesse: (Funny thing is, I’ve been a janitor. I’m more at home in that role than as the director. Only Ahti here seems to see that.) Yeah, hi Ahti. Look, we need to get the lockdown lifted. Otherwise, I can’t get to the other sectors. Can you help me get to the override?
Ahti: Yes, yes. Easy peasy. It’s just around the corner. But first we need to get you working! Very small couple of hours job.
Jesse: (Something tells me it’s gonna be more than that.)
Ahti: Jahaa, jaa-a, you think there’s a dog buried in this? I can tell you are not a yesterday’s grouse’s son. That’s why you’ll make a great assistant. Very well, I’ll hit the facts on the table. Mä kyllä sanon perkele suoraan, että this house has a vermin problem, a bad one. They’ve already messed up the cooling pumps and the power generators of power plant, perkele. And the pensioner inside is starting to feel the band around his head tighten. The situation needs to be fixed before the plan blows up and we all disappear like a fart in Sahara, perkele.
Jesse: (Trying my best to keep up with this. Fix the coolant pumps, and the power generators, otherwise the power plant will blow?)
Ahti: But don’t you worry, I’ve left you clear instructions. You’ll catch the end of the thread before I go to my vacation.
Jesse: (Vacation? Right.)
Ahti: Yes. No-one’s gonna cancel my holiday, or sheaths gonna rattle. But don’t worry at all. You’ll take care of it, and soon this crisis gonna be last winter’s snow. You better go now so you don’t have to run with your head as your third leg. The door in the back leads to the plant.
Jesse: The door in the back? That’s great. Thank you, Ahti.
Ahti: Pensioner, yes. Northmoor, mister director. Starting to climb on the walls in his bachelor pad.
Jesse: Okay, so what happens again if that thing blows up?
Trench: …power… explosion… too much… Director’s duty… keep the lights on…
Guard: It’s dangerous out here, lady. Go see Chief Arish. He’s just inside, he’ll help ya.
Arish: Hey! Hey! Chief Arish, FBC Security. Shouldn’t you be in a safe room?
Jesse: (They all have HRAs. We’re on the same side.) My name is Jesse Faden. I’m here to perform the Directorial Override to get the lockdown lifted.
Arish: Yeah, yeah, Chief Arish, FBC Security, I’m just—Oh, hang on, you’re the new director. It’s a pleasure. Ma’am.
Jesse: Let’s skip the formalities, please.
Arish: Right, Faden, ma’am. Look, as you can probably tell, it’s a bit of a shitshow down here. We’re been holding our ground, but whatever’s gotten into our buddies has them wrecking the coolant pumps and the power converters. The NSC keeps overheating and my crews keep getting shot before they have a chance to make any repairs.
Jesse: NSC?
Arish: Sorry. Bureau jargon. It’s what we call the power plant: you know, the big rumbling metal thing. Salvador, Head of Security, asked me to protect it in case of an attack. See, what’s inside is dangerous. Dr. Darling seemed to know it’d be a target.
Jesse: Darling? He’s here?
Arish: No, he came down a few days ago, before everything went to hell. He was out of it and smelled like a barmat. He was ranting about vulnerabilities and how he only had one “large scale HRA”, but that he needed it somewhere else. Still, at least he gave us these personal HRAs before he left. Hey, did I mention that he was tearing his clothes off? Crazy dude.
Jesse: (Darling knew the Hiss was coming.)
Arish: Listen, I love playing 20 questions as much as the next guy, but we have got to get the water and electrical systems repaired before this baby blows. I’ll have my guys unlock the doors out of here for you.
Jesse: I’ll take care of it. You stay and keep the Hiss away from the plant if you can.
Arish: The Hiss? That’s what we’re calling ‘em? That’s catchy. Listen, the radios aren’t working so if you find my boss Salvador out there, could you please ask him what the plan is? I’m sure he will have one by now.
Jesse: I’ll keep an eye out for him. (He sure has a lot faith in his boss.) Try to stay alive.
Arish: When the converters and coolant pumps are working again, we should be able to get this baby back down to a safe temperature. I hope.
Jesse: What do you know about the Hiss?
Arish: Not much, only what I’ve seen. They use the same tactics that Marshall and Salvador taught us, which makes me think that the Hiss haven’t completely erased the people inside. Which is a pretty fucking horrible thought. Or they’re just using whatever they find in their victim’s heads. In any case, they are really eager to get inside the Power Plant.
Jesse: Why do you think that is?
Arish: Shit, I don’t know. They wanna make my life harder?
Jesse: What do you do here, Arish?
Arish: Security Chief of the Maintenance Sector. I make sure all the weird shit down here doesn’t bother the maintenance crews. Learned everything I know from Salvador, the best security agent this Bureau has ever seen.
Jesse: And you like your job?
Arish: I love it. You know, everyone thinks that Maintenance is the lowest rung on the ladder just ‘cause we fix pipes instead of writing memos, but I gotta be honest, these are the bravest people in the god damn building. I’m proud to work with them.
Jesse: (I’ve done a few odd jobs with these kind of folks. They say what they mean. I like that.) What exactly is the Power Plant?
Arish: Listen, I only know what Salvador told me. But I know it generates all the electricity for the Bureau and it’s got two very simple rules. Rule one, keep it below a certain temperature. Rule two, don’t ever, ever open it. Oh, and three, it’s classified so I shouldn’t ask.
Jesse: Sounds like secrets are standard operating procedure around here.
Arish: Oh yeah. It’s all part of the job.
Jesse: What do you know about the Service Weapon?
Arish: Not much. That thing is Director only. Salvador told me about the time he saw Trench use it. Sounds like that gun can do some serious damage. I did see pictures of it once, though, and it looks different to that thing you’re carrying. You mod it or something? That’s new.
Jesse: Is “new” a good thing?
Arish: Given the circumstances, I’d say “new” is our best bet.
Jesse: Do you know this Ahti guy?
Arish: Of course. He’s my favorite coffee break buddy. Dude has got some crazy stories. He probably knows more than anyone else around here, if you can make sense of what he’s saying.
Jesse: Any idea where he’s from? (I’m guessing Sweden.)
Arish: He’s from where he’s from. There are just some stones that are better left unturned, you know?
Jesse: I should be going.
Arish: Right. You’ve got a lockdown to lift.
Maintenance Worker 2: Energy conversion is well below the acceptable percentage. Internal pressure is climbing so fast I’m amazed the NSC is still holding.
Guard: Look alive. Director on deck. I’m itchin’ for some real action.
Ahti: Replace the parts.
Jesse: Just hold together a little longer.
Jesse: This place is gonna come down!
Ahti: Broke. Gone to shit. Fix it fast. If the plan goes boom, we can throw the spoon in the corner.
Ahti: My old enemy, the Clog, is blocking the pipes. You need to deal with that shit. He’s very clever, he’s trying to sneak in. We got him caught with his hand in the fish trap. Get rid of him.
Jesse: What the hell is that?! That’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen.
Jesse: Just hold together a little longer.
Jesse: There go the pipes. Nothing more satisfying than manual labor.
Arish: Blockages in pipes C through F… Is the Clog back? Now? God, Ahti’s gonna be so pissed. The crew feels a lot safer when you’re around.
Jess: We need to fix this thing ASAP!
Ahti: It’s fried up. You need to fix it before the old twig-pants inside the plant has a shift fit.
Jesse: Now we won’t blow up. Let’s go lift the lockdown.
Trench: …to protect them… forces contained… a lockdown… only be lifted by a Directorial Override…
Jesse: This is what we came here to do.
Jesse: That’s it. The other sectors should be open now. I think it’s time I told Emily why I’m here. I’ll risk it. You two should get to know each other.
Researcher 1: Trench was shot dead. The situation’s getting worse.
Researcher 2: I saw Trench and Darling arguing a couple of weeks ago. Trench was furious. You don’t think Darling …?
Researcher 1: Don’t be stupid. What would the Bureau’s golden child have to gain from killing the boss?
Pope: Jesse, you made it. And you lifted the internal lockdown.
Jesse: Let’s talk, Emily.
Pope: Yes, of course.
Jesse: Listen, Emily… (Screw it. Just tell her.) I haven’t been completely honest. I have a younger brother. Dylan. When we were kids, we found an old slide projector in Ordinary’s landfill. The slides created… doorways to other places. Bad things happened… came through. (That’s all she gets. The rest stays locked inside.) But we found help. Through one of the doorways, we met something, a being.
Pope: A being? What kind of a being?
Jesse: It’s hard to describe. But it… she helped us. We managed to turn the projector off. The bad things that came through the doorways were gone. After that, your people came, tried to grab us. I ran away. They got Dylan. (I left him behind.)
Pope: Bureau Agents took your brother?
Jesse: Yes. You covered it up. No one believed me. I just want to find Dylan. I’ve been looking for him ever since.
Pope: What happened to the slide projector? It sounds like another Object of Power.
Jesse: I thought you took it, the Bureau, along with Dylan.
Pope: I’ve never heard of it. But around here, assume everything’s classified. I looked into the Ordinary AWE case files after you mentioned it. Trench and Darling were both involved. A large area of the Containment Sector was reserved for it. The case hasn’t been active for a long time. I have no idea if anything’s still there. Can you tell me more about this “being” you found?
Jesse: (Let’s hope you two get along.) She’s been with me ever since Ordinary, in my head. She led me to you. I call her Polaris.
Pope: As in a guiding star? Did Polaris know about the Hiss? If she got in here, in spite of the lockdown, she’s very powerful. Which may help explain your test results. Your readings are incredible, Jesse. Now, cross-referencing them with the database, I found two matches in Darling’s old classified files. Unfortunately, I can’t access them, beyond the file codes. But one was “P6”, referring to a prime candidate for a potential future Bureau director. This was logged years ago.
Jesse: (Dylan? Is that Dylan?)
Pope: The other match is on something called “Hedron”, which must be connected to the Hedron Resonance Amplifiers somehow. All I know is that Marshall went to the Research Sector to secure the HRA production after the Hiss first attacked.
Jesse: (So, Marshall seems like our best lead on Dylan.) I need to go after her. How can I get to the Research Sector?
Pope: Use my keycard. The Sector Elevator will take you there.
Jesse: Marshall is the next step. What Emily told me, about Ordinary, my powers being connected to things in the Bureau’s past. I’m so close to something. Do you feel it? Something’s coming.
Ahti: We take turns to come for a visit. I helped you, you owe me now, and when time comes I will come calling.