Theseus

As I walked through the halls of the station with Mouse at my side, making my way back toward Theseus, I stopped in my tracks, instead opting to take a seat on one of the public benches and looking up at the surrounding architecture “Something wrong?” Mouse asked, sitting down next to me and cradling his rifle in his lap as he tried to follow my gaze.

“No,” I started, needing a moment to gather my thoughts “I guess I just realized that I don’t have to go right back to the ship if I don’t want to.” I mused quietly to him, turning to look at some of the Venusians wandering about their business. “I don’t have any work to do besides this today. I’m close enough to Theseus to be in range of my module’s psionic network, so I’m not uncomfortable. I’m not really beholden to anyone to stay on standby on the ship. And I didn’t really have time to appreciate being in a real city while I was on Luna, just people watching.”

“People watching?” he turned to glare at one of the passing scientists “What’s to watch?”

The feeling of just being amid a city felt nostalgic for me. Even though I knew my memories were fabricated, and if I looked too closely at them, they fell apart like an illusion, the thoughts of watching people pass by in the parks as a child still invoked nostalgia “I guess I can’t really explain it, just… thinking about how everyone here has their own life, and I’m not a factor in their existence at all. It makes you think about how big the system is. Maybe it won’t be so hard to hide from Foundation. It’s not like everyone in the system is looking for me.”

“Okay…” Mouse mumbled impatiently. He was humoring me, but he clearly didn’t share the sentiment with me. “You sound like Ray when you say things like that.”

“Maybe her optimism’s wearing off on me.” I shrugged, but Mouse’s discomfort was becoming obvious, so I stood up again “There is one place I need to go before we head back though. Is that okay?”

“Believe it or not, I’m not looking forward to this patch job.” Mouse said as he stood back up “If you can give me a good reason to stall it, I’m in.”

I nodded and took a moment to recall the psychologist’s name. Dr. Yates. I spent a few moments scanning the map of the colony, nodding to myself when the name caught my eye “Okay, so he’s… this way then.” I directed Mouse toward the ship again, but as I came around close to it, I kept walking past and started down a completely different section of laboratories and converted shop-fronts.

Before long, I was standing in front of a slightly more well-decorated space that stood out against the long stretch of similar buildings, this one decorated with a couple of planters out front and a sign that read ‘Yates’ Counseling Services’. It seemed this doctor had more of a sense of flair than the others around him. It made sense, there likely weren’t many social science folks who would care to live among and study such a narrow demographic of people, and they were probably the scientists who would care more about aesthetic.

For some reason it gave me a sense of intimidation, walking up to this landmark of good taste among a sea of elegant indifference. It felt unsettling. Still, it might benefit me greatly to speak to this Dr. Yates about my mental health.

I reached to knock on the door, but then I heard Mouse speak up. “Meryll.” I instead turned to look at him “Are you sure about this? I got a bad feeling.”

I thought that it was just my apprehension about facing my potential future troubles, but it seemed that Mouse was getting bad vibes from this place too. I took a few steps back and looked it over again myself next to him “Yeah, something doesn’t feel right, does it?” I nodded in agreement with him.

I motioned for him to follow as I began walking across the hall and sitting down on a bench there to watch the place. From a distance, it seemed welcoming, but up close it had felt… odd. It was hard to explain “This is spooky.” I mumbled “It feels like that place is haunted or something.”

“I know what you mean.” He nodded, an unsettled expression on his face “Are you sure you need to do this? Maybe we should just head back to the ship.”

“Because we got spooked? Joel would never let me hear the end of it.” I scoffed “But… let’s just stick around a little longer first? Maybe we’ll see something.”

“Or something sees us. We’re not exactly subtle.” Mouse muttered as he tried to tuck his weapon away behind him on the bench.

“Something?” I asked “You don’t think this place is actually haunted, do you? That was a metaphor.”

“No, I mean-“ he stopped speaking immediately and we both went immediately silent and watched the door to the psychologist’s office open. An older, strong-looking man with short white hair and spectacles, wearing a full tan suit walked out of the building, looking both ways before mercifully walking the other direction. We both watched him until he was out of sight. “What are we doing?” he asked.

I shook my head and stood up again, approaching the office and stopping once more in front of the door. But this time, it wasn’t what I felt that bothered me. It was what I didn’t feel. That unsettling aura was gone now. I turned to look at Mouse, but he was staring off toward where the suited man had wandered off “That guy…” he muttered. What had we just both felt? It couldn’t have been something psionic if Mouse felt it too. “I think Ray would call that an omen.” Mouse declared quietly.

I could only nod in agreement, but now that the feeling was gone, the psychologist’s office felt inviting and homey, like the intent of the decor had returned to the place. I reached to open the door and peeked inside to see a young man just beginning to sit back at a desk “Oh! Hello there.” He smiled and waved at me as I held the door open for Mouse to follow me inside.

The man behind the counter wasn’t that much older than Mouse, so I couldn’t imagine that this was Dr. Yates. But I still had to ask “Dr… Yates?” I asked.

The man let out a laugh “Not yet. That’s my dad. I didn’t think he was expecting anyone else today, but judging by your look, you must have shown up with that ship that just landed earlier today, yeah? What do you need with dad?”

That made sense. If someone had a family, they wouldn’t just banish them from the colony just because they weren’t professionals themselves. I smiled back at him “Oh, I was referred here by Dr. Fuller. She said that he might be able to help me with a… very rare mental health issue I have to deal with.”

The man’s expression turned serious as I talked. He nodded along still, trying to look professional “Well, that does sound like exactly the kind of thing he’d want in on.” He looked past me and began to look more than a little bit unsettled though. “Is… that necessary?” he asked.

I looked back and saw Mouse holding his gun at attention again. “At ease, man, I think we’ll be safe here.”

“Provided that guy doesn’t come back.” Mouse muttered and let the weapon loose in his sling “What was with that person that just left?” he asked the man directly.

“Huh? Oh, the old guy in the suit? Everyone here knows him, that was Dr. Skygraves.”