The Logician's Recovery Log [Reworking]

Perpetual Wonder returned much later in the day. She opened the door, and found Herbert sitting in a corner looking disheveled.

"...I thought you only got a hair cut just last week..." She muttered, peering at him.

"Oh shut up..." It was a collective statement from many personalities, a number of Oboli found conversation generally unpleasant and did not like hearing a pony speak. She paid the insulting statement no mind.

"Well, are you hungry? It's time to come eat." She motioned down the hallway with a smile. He got up silently off the floor, and walked rigidly to the doorway.

"... I can come out?" She nodded.

"No running, keep your hands at your sides, and no teasing our buddies here, okay?" When she said buddies, she tilted her head to her left, then her right, gesturing to the two orderlies at her side. They took a Y shaped position, with Herbert in the middle and the two pegasi behind him. The doctor lead the way down the hallways to the cafeteria. As they walked, Gilchrist found himself torn between a partial calm, and a subtle sense of paranoia. The quietness of the hallways was a tad unnerving to him.

"I am hungry!" He suddenly shouted, then immediately covered his mouth. Who the heck was that? Can you please not yell? I don't like loud noises. But I must eat! Must eat... Must eat... Must eat... The oboli kept repeating that he must eat as they walked. It irritated the other personalities, and LeVanna decided to vent. *You know, fuckers, we had a solution for this little problem we are having... Way back long ago, we had a bunch of places in the head.* **That is correct. The term is matrix, and they are collections of patterns set by the personality in control. They can be modified by any personality, but the creator tends to have the most power as they know the supporting pattern of the matrix.** The unknown Logician fell silent. **Acknowledged. Diffusion of knowledge complete.** Resounded all the other Logicians. *Who was that? Who was that?!* LeVanna rushed her presence in search of the Logician who had let out this information. There were two reasons this was bad: firstly, if a peprsonality knew this then this meant this personality was an original personality from before. That meant they may be able to create a matrix, and she could not allow anyone to threaten her position as the superior personality. Secondly, the knowledge of matrices may drive the Logicians to seek to create on of their own, and that may put them slightly out of Le`Vanna's reach.

LeVanna finally isolated the personality. It was a minor, with an off putting rigidness about it. LeVanna dismissed it as the common feeling of a Logician. You! What is your name? ...Information request denied. ...You really think that was a request? Le`Vanna did not have an opportunity to follow this up, as her attention was pulled to the real world.

"And here we are. Are you ready to get some food in you?" Le`Vanna did not like the childish playfulness in the mare's voice.

"...Yeah, sure." Le`Vanna, among others, took in a lay of the room. It was eerily quiet: the other patients were all probably elsewhere. "So... Am I ever going to see other patients?" Who the fuck asked that? She was only met with utter silence, it was almost like there was no one in there with her.

"Maybe some day." Perpetual Wonder said elusively. "Come on now, food is this way." They walked with the wall to their right, down the ways there was a couple of ponies putting away food. They stood behind metal food, but the food was blocked from view.   Must eat! An Oboli attempted to jump forward, but he was stopped by the guards before Le`Vanna could even react.

"Stop right there, patient scum!"

"You were told not to run." The two guards stood tense and coiled, prepared to jump after him if he continued running, but he just stood there rigidly. Le`Vanna took a deep breath. Gilchrist's voice came out cold and forced.

"My... apologies. I had a bit of a panic there. I'm better now." The guards narrowed their eyes.

"Come on now." Wonder lead Herbert over to the lunch servers, and set up a tray and plate for him. She brought LeVanna over to a table and they sat while LeVanna ate in their presence. It felt awkward to her that she was the only one eating: in fact she didn't like being around others. These were obviously her enemies, having them around while she ate seemed almost insulting: unless of course she was eating them. That would make their presence excusable.

"So... Do you like your cell?" Le`Vaanna looked at her in bewilderment. This enemy dares try to bond with me? Fuck you!

"You shoved a big, itchy pill up my butt hole... I don't want to talk to you." Le`Vanna went straight back to eating. Perpetual Wonder held her silence out of politeness. It's inappropriate to speak to people when they want to be left alone, unless it is necessary.

LeVanna ate her food, and took note that the multitude of personalities seem to fall more silent as she ate. When she finished, she was immediately escorted back to her room. They spoke twice on the way there. The first time, LeVanna started it.

"So..." Le`Vanna trailed off. She had a question she wanted to ask, but she was reluctant to speak to this mare.

"Hm? Want to talk now sir?"

"Yeah... I just have a question though. How many patients are there here?"

"What do-"

"Wait! That came out wrong..." Le`Vanna didn't want to seem suspicious, so she quickly wanted to fix what she said. "What I mean is, it is apparent you are keeping me away from the other patients, but I feel like I would have at least heard a noise. This place is full of crazy people and all."

"Mister Dashwood! You yourself are the one who- I mean... The word crazy is a really mean. Some people might feel hurt about them thinking differently than other people."

"So? Just get the fuck over it I say. There's too much fun to be had to waste time feeling bad about having short dicks or whatever it is that's wrong with them." Wonder looked over her back at the orderlies, and took note of their faces, expressing a major lack of interest.

"Some people just don't think that way, sir..."

"Sir? Am I your superior?" Le`Vanna wanted to gather information about the situation and how she came to be where she was then. Perpetual Wonder paused for a moment, thinking.

"My older brothers are both officers here. I get some mannerisms from them." LeVanna had completely overlooked the fact that Wonder had not actually answered her question directly. Next time they spoke, it was just as LeVanna was entering her room.

"Well, here's the anti-suicide room." Le`Vanna muttered as she observed the soft floor. "You guys do know I'm not suicidal right? I- Er... "Actually, I think Gamma is..."... Never mind, this is the perfect room." Perpetual Wonder was taking pleasure in Herbert's seemingly more talkative mood.

"Well then, before you go to sleep, I would just like  you to check in."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"Tell me how you're feeling today? I know it's been very stressful, what with being alone most of the day."

"And you shoved a thing up my butt." Herbert noted. Wonder sighed.

"Yes... And I shoved a thing up your... butt. But this is for the best. Things will get better with time. You've obviously made some level of recovery, as you aren't acting nearly belligerent as you were described to be earlier. But now, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. Goodbye then... Can you close this?" Holy shit, I'm being super fucking cooperative! They must have drugged me... Perpetual Wonder nodded and bid Herbert goodnight. She closed and locked the door, then she and the orderlies left.

Le`Vanna took a good look around her tiny cell, and then came to a conclusion. ... I don't even have a bed... Well, anyway, I suppose now is the time to address you, my silly Logician. Silence still met her. ... Why are you all still silent?

Le`Vanna, and all the personalities, found themselves unable to communicate with one another. This was Lestrade's plan. Every day, at this final feeding time, Gilchrist would have his food drugged. This was fashioned to nullify the personalities' capability for intercommunication. Before the drugging, Lestrade would structure his intelligence around a personality, and observe their behavior. This was so that he could sift through them all one at a time to find any personalities that might be useful in accessing Quantum. The ones he was most interested were Gamma, Beta and Omega. These were core components to Quantum, and were, coupled with Alpha, keys to reaching it. Lestrade would have looked for Zeta and Delta, but according to Alpha they no longer existed. Somehow, magic had wiped them out. Lestrade did not find this hard to accept. He knew that Atwente had the capability to obliterate any given personality if able to focus through his manic influenced thoughts, so it seemed probable that an external force could do the same.

Here was what Lestrade observed.

It's such a sweetness when I find myself alone like this. To drift through mania and for mania to drift through me. Some time away the pesky ways of the Oboli is always a welcome respite... Though I... Lestrade? Is that you out there? The personality remained silent. Oh come now, I know you don't like interfering with your test subjects, but this is a new age for us. Certainly you can leave your old ways behind and benefit from some socialization... Another silence passed. Hmm... Or maybe you can't. Perhaps your simply a Logician, and nothing more. Just a machine, weak and flimsy without someone to operate you... I suppose I shouldn't hold other logicians to my standards... Then again, there's probably a reason I can't hear a sound... Maybe you want to talk to me, and can't. Oh who am I joking, Lestrade doesn't have desires. All you are is-blah... I had a thought there but then I thought the word blah.  Do you even know who I am? I don't think you do... I wasn't one of your test subjects. I didn't have any matrices to call my own... I suppose there is no way you can know who I am, without having a concrete definition for me. But now, I've talked to you too much, I'm going to change my topic of interest... The Logician-Manic that Lestrade had isolated was obviously not one of his targets, as all core components to Quantum were either base-manic, base-logician, or base-oboli. The only two manics he wanted were Beta and Alpha, and this was neither. He patiently listened to her thoughts, and accepted that he did not know who this was, but this was one of the few elder personalities. When the drugs wore off, he wrenched himself from her, drawing the attention of a few personalities. Thankfully, not Le`Vanna. He successfully blended in as a minor Logician, and then slowly retreated to his own little corner of isolation.

He attempted to reflect on what the Logician-Manic said, but found it too difficult to decypher. Unable to hold data in long term, he decided he would pick the logician-manic apart later and look for what she had said. Maybe then, he would have a means of understanding. This was a triumph... Loop stabilized, I am prepared to adapt to variables. End.