Idle smirked in satisfaction. Tailor stood in front of her in the doorway to the computer room, and she'd heard the blonde analyst gasp in what she had to assume was awe.

Her assumption was confirmed a moment later. "This is the most equipment I've seen outside a proper lab," Tailor said softly, causing Idle's chest to swell with pride.

Tailor walked slowly along the shelf that Idle had built into the wall, briefly examining each piece of equipment she passed. She stopped at the corner and looked up at the monitor that Midnight had been staring at the night before, and let out a low whistle. "This is the latest HypTech model, isn't it? We're only just getting this now."

"Benefits of sponsorship," Idle said. "I get to test out the new toys before they hit the market."

Tailor looked back. "You're sponsored by HypTech?"

Idle nodded, managing to keep the grin off her face. "And we're in negotiations with Suthoi to get some better streaming gear. Well, Spin is, I guess."

"They're that startup out of... Cambodia?" Tailor looked back at the equipment, seemingly holding herself back from touching it.

"Vietnam, actually," Idle corrected as Tailor's eyes wandered over to the treadmill, still uncovered and set up from last night's session with Midnight.

"Oh, this is custom," Tailor said, crouching down. "Rollers, and let me guess, pressure and speed sensors in the box." She did run her hands over the box. "This is superb work."

"Thank you."

Tailor stood up. "Wait, you made that?"

"You seem surprised."

Tailor flushed a bit. "Sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything. You just didn't strike me as the carpentry sort."

Idle grinned, unable to resist. "What sort did I strike you as, exactly?"

It was a treat to see Tailor at a loss for words. "I don't know, really, I just... you're a Brainhack streamer, it implies a certain... uh..."

"Yeah, well, I was an builder with an Alteration hobby first, and," Idle shrugged. "That's flipped around. You can still find some of my old build streams if you dig for 'em."

"Well you definitely kept your hand in," Tailor said, reclaiming her composure. "Did you do the wiring, as well?"

Idle chuckled. "Who else would? Two years, not a single spark, so I think I did a good job."

Tailor's eyes ran to the neat lines of wiring and cabling on the walls. She shook her head and shrugged. "You've got me, I'm afraid; I don't know the first thing about electrical work."

"It's not that hard, you just make sure that the thing you want to have power is connected to the thing that gives it power, and then make sure that it doesn't give it too much or too little power."

"What if it does?"

"Hm?"

"Give it too much or too little power?"

"Oh. Too little and it won't work, too much and it'll work until it overheats." Idle grinned again. "Never had the first problem, and only hardly ever have the second."

Tailor raised an eyebrow.

Idle laughed. "Nah, I always err on the safe side. I'd rather have something fail than catch fire."

Tailor smiled, and Idle thought she saw relief in the other Alterist's eyes. "Don't want to sit in the hot seat, huh?"

Idle rolled her eyes, but still shared a chuckle with Tailor. "If that's where the humour's going to be tonight, maybe we should move on to picking brains."

"I was never much for comedy anyway." Tailor shrugged, walking past the air conditioning unit and coming to rest at the Brainhacking chair.

"That's all standard gear. Has to be," Idle explained. "Have to meet the league regulations. Besides, it's actually a disadvantage to have better gear than your opponent, since you're the one in your own chair."

"Huh, yeah. Never thought of that." Tailor kept moving down the central table. "Something missing here?" She looked at the various connectors without a home at the end of the row.

Idle nodded. "Spin's laptop. They like to keep it close, but I don't think they brought it last night. Must be in their room."

Tailor hummed agreement. "I don't think I'd take my laptop to dinner and a Fives match, either, especially if I was going to be competing. Too much could go wrong." She slipped around Spin's office chair and moved to the darker side of the room, with its wiring boxes, cables, spare equipment, and shelves full of books. As Idle had anticipated, Tailor wasn't anywhere near as interested in the raw equipment as the complete setups.

"This is a great room," Tailor said, turning back to Idle. "Perfect for all kinds of things."

"Thanks, we spent a long time on it." Idle couldn't keep the pride from her voice. "We wanted a setup that was powerful and versatile, so..."

They heard the toilet flush in the bathroom and the sink running. "Sounds like Midnight's almost ready," Tailor said. "Where do you think she'll want to work?"

"She liked the treadmill last night," Idle offered. "I can get it all powered up."

"Hmmm..." Tailor considered it for a moment as Midnight walked into the room. "I don't know the tools or the techniques with something like that."

"Aww," Midnight complained with a smile on her face. "I liked that one."

"It's not that bad," Idle said. "Come on up, Tailor, I'll give you a spin."

"No thanks, not for me," she replied, a little too quickly. "I get enough of that at work. Besides, I still have to drive home."

"Hey, it's really fun!" Midnight said. "Besides, I could always drive you home..."

"But then you'd be stuck at my place."

"Only 'til the morning. Or I could take a Popcar. And anyway if Idle comes with us we could have a party!"

"You really want to see me get Altered, huh," Tailor said with a bit of a sigh. "Well, tomorrow's Sunday, and I don't work 'til Tuesday..."

"You'll do it?" Midnight said, before spontaneously wrapping Tailor in a hug. "I just wanna see what it's like when it's not me!"

Tailor loosely returned the embrace. "I ... don't think I'm in the same category of Alteration subject as you two are."

Idle chuckled a bit. "Maybe you just haven't had the right Alterist."

"Pretty sure that's not the problem, Idle," Tailor said, stepping up onto the treadmill. "Hands on the bar, I'm guessing? For safety?"

Idle nodded. "Of course. And conductivity and heat sensors, and some light resistance coils to generate a bit of heat in return." She preened a bit at Tailor's impressed expression. "Unfortunately, I'm not a metalworker, so I had to get a friend to put it together."

"Still, it's clever." Tailor stepped down off the treadmill box. "Sorry, I feel like my socks will get caught in the rollers, mind if I take them off?"

"Go ahead." Idle turned on the computer and monitors. Midnight practically skipped over to Spin's office chair as Tailor sat down on the edge of the box. "I usually go barefoot myself." Idle wiggled her toes in the soft carpet. "As a rule. At least in this room."

"Right." Tailor got back up onto the treadmill. Out of the corner of her eye, Idle could see Midnight sitting on the edge of Spin's chair, leaning forward in anticipation, hands on her knees. "You're both sure about this?"

"We'll make sure that you get home," Idle replied. "Or at least that you have a place to crash."

Midnight giggled. "It's fair, you wanna see what's in our heads."

Tailor shrugged. "I guess that's true."

"What's your history with Alteration?" Idle asked, opening up a couple programs.

"I'm good at it, and it seemed like a good career choice, so..."

"I mean with being Altered, Tailor."

"Oh." She put her hands on the metal bar, and Idle watched some of the metrics in the scanner program come to life. "Uh, other than a few times in class, and weekly sessions at work..."

"Nothing, huh." Idle pointed over to the headset, and Tailor reached over to grab it. "Never done Alteration for fun?"

"Never had it done to me for fun, no," Tailor confirmed, putting the headgear on but not sliding it over her ears. "I play Fives."

Idle smirked. A virgin, essentially. "I'll be gentle, I promise."

Tailor rolled her eyes and put the headphones on properly. "Think I can't take it?"

"First hit's free," Idle muttered when she knew Tailor wouldn't hear.

Midnight giggled behind her. "Gonna make her an addict?"

Idle only looked back and winked before switching on her microphone. "Alright, Tailor, we're gonna go slow. Don't answer, don't say anything, just nod if you can hear me."

Tailor nodded curtly, her blonde ponytail bobbing with the intensity of the motion.

So you're a frequent subject, Idle thought, but you're resistant—not unwilling, but not entirely happy about the situation. You're thinking, right now, that I'm misusing a powerful tool for personal pleasure. And you're not all that happy about being a part of it.

The only question is... "Okay, Tailor. Hands on the bar, eyes up to the monitor." ...will you let yourself loosen up enough to have some fun?

Tailor complied, looking up. The sensors in the bar gave an approximate heart rate and skin conductivity level.

So are you nervous? Or excited? Idle watched her subject. You don't show it at all. Externally calm. But the sensors don't lie. And what would they say about her, if she was the one standing up there? She put thoughts of Spin from her mind again. There was a job to do. "Try walking a little bit, get used to the feel of the rollers under your feet. It's not unnatural, but it might feel a bit unusual until you get the hang of it." And you'll give me some more information about how you're feeling.

Tailor obediently took a few steps. Initially tentative, it didn't take her long to adjust, and after a moment she was moving pretty well normally.

That's right, Tailor, keep your focus anywhere but the screen. The analyst's eyes were fixed on the monitor, but her attention was on her pace, on her hands, on Idle's voice. Subtle, subliminal text was fading in to the edges of the screen, blue on blue; it was hard enough to notice that anything had changed when Idle already knew it had. If Tailor was consciously unaware of the text, it would be all that more potent when it hit, since she wouldn't have any time to brace for it.

And thinking of that... "Doin' great, Tailor, just keep your eyes up, hands on the bar, listening to a little light music, having a nice little stroll in the park. Nothing easier in the world." Idle could feel Midnight's eyes on her as she quickly adjusted the program to the subject. Performing for an audience was nothing new; by this point it almost felt more natural than working alone.

"Yep," Idle continued, "Nothing... simpler... at... all." She pressed the trigger key, and the screen flashed a brilliant white into the darkened room, burning the once-partly-hidden text on the edges of the image into the optic pathways of her subject.

Idle heard a soft thump behind her and turned quickly. Subjects, she corrected herself. Midnight had fallen back in the office chair, eyes fixed on the screen above, and the noise was made by the chair hitting the table as it turned with her momentum.

Idle quickly checked on Tailor's progress. Everything looked normal, so she left the console for a moment. "Midnight," she said, a hand on the small woman's shoulder. "Midnight, hey, wake up, thought you wanted to watch."

"Huh?" came the dazed reply, bright blue eyes wide and fixed on the monitor. "'m not hypnotized."

"Sure you're not, sweetie," Idle said with a smile.

"I'm not!" Midnight's complaint came with a small rise in her tone. "Flash was just... so bright... distracting..."

"That's the point. And I bet if the words on the screen made sense to you, you'd be as messed up as Tailor."

Midnight scoffed as she started to sit up. "It was just what you said... a nice stroll in the park... 'minded me of last night." She finally looked down and blinked a few times.

"Back with us now?" Idle asked.

"Never left," Midnight pouted.

Idle grinned and turned back to the console. "Sure thing." She reactivated the microphone, quickly checking the stats on her screen. "You're doing great, Tailor. Just keep walking along. You should be feeling pretty empty and blank right now."

Still walking, Tailor nodded. A bit of a smile played at the corner of her mouth, and a hint of sweat was starting to show on her forehead.

Midnight walked over. "That didn't take long."

"Well, she's pretty receptive. Gets a treatment weekly, like most corpies. And this is a pretty powerful system." Idle shrugged. "It's not like she's open to suggestion right now, just blank."

"There's a difference?"

"Sure is. She's focused like crazy, but it's only because she's got things to do—the walking keeps her attention. If I started to throw complicated suggestions at her right now, she'd just ignore them." Idle flipped the microphone on. "Keep your eyes on the screen and start to look for words at the edges. They'll help you keep walking. And right now, all you want to do is to keep walking. There's nothing else you have to do, nothing else you need to do, but keep walking."

Tailor nodded again. "Keep walking," she said quietly.

"Keep walking," Midnight muttered. Idle looked at her. She grinned and crossed her eyes. "Just kidding."

"Good, because I'm about to give her another flash, so you might want to look away."

Midnight obligingly turned her back while Idle started typing, putting the right words in the right places, and then hit the trigger again. Another brilliant flash lit up the room as Idle watched the scanning monitor. The numbers were looking pretty good.

"Can we put suggestions in her head now?" Midnight asked, standing on tiptoe to look over Idle's shoulder.

"We?" Idle replied with a laugh. "Since when are you an Alterist?"

Midnight giggled. "I dunno, there's just something about her expression, makes me wanna fill that blank mind with fun ideas."

"Now you know how I feel." Idle looked over. Sure enough, the little smile Tailor had worn was gone. Her gaze was fixed at the raised monitor, but her stare was no longer wide-eyed, but half-lidded, relaxed, almost like she was sleepwalking.

Even if it was the perfectly-made-up stiff-necked corporate Alterist, the image made her knees weak.

Midnight placed herself between Idle and Tailor and gently poked the walker in the side, receiving no reaction. "Is that normal?"

Idle checked the numbers. "Yep. Completely. She should only respond to text on the screen, sound in the headset, or obvious threats to her safety."

"So if I attacked her with a knife?"

"She'd probably put your scrawny ass on the ground in two seconds flat," Idle laughed. "Give her a threat and everything that she's investing her attention into goes away, and you would become the only target of all that focus until the threat is over."

"What if I did something like this, instead?" Midnight asked before wrapping her arms around Idle, squeezing her backside, and planting a mind-melting kiss on her lips.

Idle's eyes widened in surprise before she returned the favour, kissing the younger woman deeply, her hands almost automatically going to Midnight's face. The hint of the sweet sauce from her dinner still lingered on Midnight's lips and tongue, and the soft touch of her warm skin seemed ready to set Idle's hands on fire.

They broke the kiss and looked into each others' eyes for a moment, the only sounds in the room being the fans on the computer gear and the soft footfalls of Tailor's hypnotized march.

"Everything alright?" Midnight asked, sounding concerned.

"Huh? Yeah, why?"

"You just... you look, I dunno, confused? Worried, maybe?"

"Do I?" Am I? Idle took stock, letting her hands drop and feeling Midnight let her go.

"Yeah, you do," Midnight said, carefully stepping aside. "What's up?"

Idle blinked. "I... Midnight, why's Tailor here?"

"Katherine? Because she's helping us find Spin."

"Okay, yeah, but..." Idle looked at her own hands. "Why aren't we doing that?"

"What do you mean?" Now Midnight looked confused and worried.

Idle looked at her. "My roommate is missing. Why am I making out with you and Altering someone else?"

Midnight blinked. "My friend is gone, and I'm... yeah, I get it."

Fuck. "Spin's a step ahead of us," Idle said. "They made you irresistible."

Midnight looked, if possible, even more confused. "So... Spin's distracting us from their own kidnapping?"

Does that make sense? Idle shook her head helplessly. "We need an outsider on this one, I think, or we'll be so busy fucking that we'll never get anything done."

"Gonna wake her up?" Midnight pointed to Tailor, still on her endless stroll through hypnotic sleep.

Idle nodded. That's what had to be. Still, she looked at Midnight, at those slender legs and strong arms, the slim body, the bright blue eyes and shocking pink hair standing out against the darkness of her skin, and she was sorely tempted to speak a few hypnotic phrases, leave Tailor walking into eternity, and drag Midnight back to bed. Even knowing that part of that was Spin's manipulations didn't change the desire. And she could see Midnight fighting a similar desire.

Reluctantly, she turned back to the console, activated the microphone, and started speaking. "Alright, Tailor. It's time to end that long walk, still holding the bar. Time to let your eyes close and to shut out the endless blue." She looked over and saw Tailor's pace slow to a stop as the other Alterist nodded and closed her eyes.

With the click of a button, she turned off the graphics on the monitor, leaving it black. "Good. And without the blue blocking your vision, you can start to see, and to imagine, and to feel again. You can let your eyes start to open, let your hands start to feel the cool metal of the bar, your feet feel the soft rubber of the treadmill. Breathe nice and easy." Idle sent magnetic pulses through the headset to specific centres of the brain, reactivating the sleeping mind. She shut off the hypnotic music. "Let your body relax, let yourself come back to the room. Are you here?"

Tailor's eyes fluttered open. "Yes, Idle, I'm here. I think."

Idle nodded. "You can take the headset off."

She did, then shook her head. "Whoa, it's a bit of a rush of noise, after all that." She looked at the other two occupants of the room. "Is... something wrong?"

Idle said, "No," at the same time that Midnight said, "Yes," and the two of them looked at each other and laughed. "I think we might have found a piece of the puzzle, or at least another piece of the mystery," Idle clarified.

Tailor nodded. "Okay, mind if I sit down? I feel like I've walked a click or two, without any arch support."

Idle looked at the scanning monitor. "Two-point-six-three, if you want to be exact."

"Well, there's the exercise I didn't get earlier today." Tailor let out a breath, and pointed to Idle's Brainhacking chair. "May I?"

"Take Spin's office chair instead," Idle said, "the hack chair doesn't really move, and this way you can face us while we talk."

Midnight pushed the wheeled chair into the main part of the room for Tailor to sit on, which she did, gratefully. "Okay, so, a piece of the puzzle. Also, what did you do to me?"

Idle shrugged and winked. "Nothing too inconvenient."

Midnight sat on the edge of the treadmill box. "Spin's distracting us."

"We can hardly keep our hands off each other," Idle continued, leaning back against the solid equipment shelf.

Tailor took a second to process that information. "So you think that Spin is pushing you two away from investigating their disappearance?"

Idle nodded, and saw Midnight doing the same from the corner of her vision.

"By... making you two attracted to one another."

The two of them nodded again.

"So... why?"

"Why do we think that?" Idle asked, "Or why would they do that?"

Tailor paused. "Both."

Idle scratched at her temple. "I don't know why Spin would do that, really. A reason would be a big step forward in figuring all this out, I bet."

"And we think that," Midnight added, "because we're not really worried about Spin. At least not when we're together."

"You sure were earlier," Tailor pointed out. "Busted up equipment in the station."

Idle nodded. "Mood swings, I guess? I was fuckin' exhausted when we got back here."

"I had to put her to bed," Midnight added. "She slept most of the afternoon while I tried to work stuff out."

"And now?"

Idle looked over at Midnight. She felt her nipples harden, her breathing quicken, warmth rush to her face and between her legs. "If you weren't here I'd fuck her silly."

Midnight nodded her agreement. "Even with you being here it's hard to keep cool."

"Hmm." Tailor pursed her lips. "Definitely sounds like influence to me. Unless that's the sort of thing you're—"

Both Idle and Midnight were shaking their heads. "I've done it before under Alteration," Idle said, thinking back to a particularly interesting party. "Not my favourite thing to do. Thought it would be fun, but..."

Tailor nodded. "Okay." She rubbed her sore legs and pressed her toes into the floor a bit. "If we're going to work this out, I need to start unraveling those Alteration threads, as fast as possible. And we need to figure out what Midnight's clue is."

"We still need to talk about one more thing," Idle said, "before anything else."

"Oh? What's that?"

"How did you like being on the machine?"

Tailor paused. And Idle noticed. And Tailor reddened, probably because Idle noticed.

"That good, was it?" Idle teased.

"It was... different," Tailor replied. "Not quite what you get from it, I don't think, but I've never been Altered for..."

"Pleasure?" Midnight chimed in.

Tailor sputtered a bit. "I was going to say, 'For fun,' but alright, sure."

Idle laughed. "See how easy it is to get distracted? It almost seems like you were expecting to wake up without your pretty blue top."

"We... we need to work on the mystery," Tailor replied.

Midnight stood up, a sympathetic look on her face. "I'll go get the notepad," she said, hurrying out of the room.

Tailor stood up as well, stretching her legs, and looked at Idle. "So, do you want to be next under the headset?"

Idle, still leaning against the shelf, shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, alright, sounds good to me."

"That's it?" Tailor asked, pushing up on her toes. "You're going to let the opportunity to have all this inside your head pass with just, 'sounds good'?"

Idle's eyes widened as she took in the entirety of Tailor's body, including the bit of midriff that showed when she lifted her hands above her head with her fingers interlaced to crack all the stiff joints she'd had from walking for so long.

"I'm not just 'corporate,' you know," Tailor said as she settled down onto her heels.

"Wha?"

"I'm not just my job." She smiled almost predatorially, showing teeth. "I can play, too. Just because I'm not into Altersex doesn't mean I'm not going to torment you."

"Oh." Idle was a bit taken aback. She regained her composure and gave Tailor a wink. "Glad we're on the same page, then."

"Which page?" Midnight asked, popping into the doorway.

"Idle just agreed to take the next turn on the treadmill," Tailor explained.

Midnight clapped her hands, making some noise with the pages in her hand. "Oh good, I want to see!"

"Yeah, well, it might be interesting, since I don't really know how to make this thing work." She tapped the box lightly with her foot.

Idle rose to her feet. "I could get into the Brainhack chair, if you prefer. It functions as standard equipment, too."

"Awwww..." Midnight complained.

Tailor smiled. "Let's not disappoint." She offered her hand to Idle, who felt very much like a mouse accepting the invitation of a housecat.

"Spin programmed it?"

Midnight nodded. "Uh, that's what Idle said, anyway."

"Makes sense." Katherine looked over the information on the screen. It was more than complete, with a few pieces of data that Katherine didn't quite know how to interpret. The shelf, she noted, was just the right height to stand and work at; she guessed that Idle didn't much like sitting.

Idle, for her part, had the headset on and was looking up at the screen. She was standing on the treadmill, not yet walking, and holding the safety bar. Her expression was a little impatient, maybe a little worried.

"Can you hear me?" Katherine said into the microphone. Idle didn't react.

"Sure can!" Midnight replied. Katherine looked back at her in disbelief, and she giggled. "Sorry."

"Did you say something?" Idle said a little too loudly, turning to face the other two.

Katherine pointed to the microphone and made a gesture that she hoped looked like confusion.

"Switch on the base," Idle replied. "Can be locked down or just push to talk."

Katherine nodded. "Like this?" she asked, matching Idle's volume.

Idle winced and put a hand to her ear, then nodded. "Like that. You don't have to shout. Probably better that you don't."

"Sorry," she said, and then pressed the button down again. "Sorry," she repeated.

Midnight dissolved into fits of giggles.

Katherine looked back to her again, which did nothing to help. "This is..." Midnight gasped, trying to control her laughing fit, "this is... nothing like either of you were... last night!"

Katherine just shook her head. "What do you mean?"

"You were both... in the Fives game... both so in control! Now..." She waved a hand helplessly and laughed again.

Midnight wasn't wrong. It had become something of an absurdist scene. At least the audience was having a good time, small though it was. Katherine probably would have laughed herself but for being one of the players—and for her awareness that they were doing this because of a missing person.

But then, would a person who anticipated their disappearance not leave a more dire message if they were in real danger? It felt more like Spin had run off and left a puzzle behind as a fun game. Which was also a bizarre, possibly dire, conclusion, but Katherine couldn't really come up with another. She didn't really know if that was the sort of thing that Spin would do in the first place.

She sighed internally. Too much guesswork. Katherine focused on the matter at hand.

"Hold on a moment," she said on the mic. "I need Midnight to get over her giggle fit before we proceed."

"Yeah, she's a bit excitable," Idle said. "Fun, though."

"I'm getting that." Katherine couldn't keep the smile from her voice. Midnight caught her breath as she released the 'talk' button on the microphone. "You okay?" she asked.

Midnight gave a thumbs-up and Katherine nodded. "Alright. You get comfy, I'm going to do a little analysis." Back to the console. She slipped the 'talk' button into its locked position. "Okay, we're all good to go here, and you?"

"Anytime, Tailor." Idle's tone was calm, relaxed.

Okay, just work on her like she's a Fives volunteer. Katherine started typing. "Why not have a little stroll while I work, Idle?"

"Thought you'd never ask."

Idle's footfalls on the treadmill caused a bunch of numbers to shift that Katherine hadn't been expecting. She was used to working with people sitting still; adding physical activity to the mix changed a fair bit. Not to mention that skin conductivity and temperature in the hands were a little different than when measured from the scalp. Custom gear and custom programming meant little unexpected quirks for someone trained on standardized systems.

"There's a little recognition AI in there," Idle said, still too loudly, "so it should give you pretty accurate anticipatory readings for me, since it knows me."

"Things are looking pretty good from here," Katherine replied. "You should start hearing—or, I guess, not hearing subliminals right about now."

"I'll never know if you're lying or not." Idle's voice sounded a bit quiet, and a little out-of-breath.

Katherine manipulated a couple magnetic fields and watched as corresponding numbers shifted. "You know that I would never lie," she said as she sent a wave of colours to the hypnotic monitor.

"You would never lie," Idle agreed. She moved a little more slowly, and her eyes were fixed on the slowly shifting hues just above her head. "You're too honest."

Midnight giggled softly. Katherine turned and smiled. "What? Trust is important."

"Trust is easier when you can magnetize someone's brain," Midnight joked.

"She still had to trust me enough to get up there, and that was before she was being hypnotized. Speaking of which..." Katherine returned to her work, sending waves of colour through the screen and hiding subliminal messaging in the soft music. She was starting to get familiar with the ins and outs of this layout.

"How come you're not talking?" Midnight asked after a moment.

Katherine increased the intensity of the colour flare and the music. "Because I'm thinking," she replied, not looking back. "Learning new equipment on the fly."

Midnight didn't answer. Katherine was starting to get into a familiar flow, listening to Idle's nice, even footfalls. Even the unusual positions of the physical equipment began to feel natural. She noticed her breathing starting to match pace with Idle's more audible exhalations, and felt a certain calmness settling over her, much like she'd felt the night before at Abley's.

Or, she realized, when that first flash came from the monitor.

So soon after she'd been hypnotized, she was slipping into a trance again. And it felt really, really good.

Wasn't the time for it, sadly. Her eyes scanned the numbers rapidly, absorbing information she felt was important, discarding statistics that weren't relevant to the moment. Her hands flew easily across the keyboard, changing tactics as she needed to, treating Idle like one of the volunteers from the night before. There was only one set of numbers to worry about, she didn't need to track three or four or five different narratives, she could just reach over to the microphone, flip the switch, and say...

"Freeze."

Unable to safely and instantly halt on the rollers, Idle's pacing slowed, then stopped. She stood stock-still, one foot in front of the other, mid-step, eyes fixed on a multi-coloured screen, face slack.

Midnight immediately hopped to her feet and walked over to the treadmill. She looked over the still form of her Alterist. "Wow," she said. She looked over to Katherine. "So what are you gonna do to her?" Her voice was full of wonder and curiosity.

Katherine stepped back from the console, letting the slowly-shifting colours and the magnetic fields continue the work she'd set it up to do. "Nothing fun, I'm afraid," she said. "Do you know what a Dansen-Rathmile Analysis is?'

Midnight shook her head.

"It's part of Alteration theory," Katherine explained. "Dansen-Rathmile Pathways are the physical changes in your neural system that keep Alterations working after the session's done."

"Okay..."

"So... let's say..." Katherine said, stepping over to Midnight, "Let's say there's a spot here," she tapped Midnight's temple lightly, "It's not this simple, the brain just doesn't have spots like this, but let's pretend that this is a spot where I put a little suggestion to... uh..."

"Go topless?" Midnight suggested, less than helpfully.

Katherine felt her face warming. "Sure. Let's go with that. So through the Alteration process, I give you the idea that it's fine being... topless, that it's safe and comfortable."

"Sounds good to me."

"I bet," Katherine grinned. "But that's no good if the moment the headset comes off, it stops working, right?"

Midnight nodded. "Because you want me to be topless after the Alteration's done?" Her smirk told Katherine that she knew exactly what she was saying.

"That's right," Katherine replied, momentarily proud of her handling her tone. "And so right there," she tapped Midnight's temple again, "is where I'd put the pathway that keeps telling you that it's alright."

"Okay. And so you're going to check to see what those paths are in Idle's head?"

"Yes, and yours, after."

Midnight grinned again. "Sounds like fun."

Katherine couldn't help but chuckle. "It really isn't. For her or for me. Idle won't remember it and I won't enjoy it."

"Then why do it?" Midnight asked, heading back to the office chair.

"Because it's what I'm here for. To solve a mystery." Katherine went back to the console.

"Oh yeah." There was a moment of silence as Katherine double-checked the numbers. "Why did you use colours instead of a flash like Idle?"

Katherine shrugged, adjusting a couple of the subliminal messages heading into Idle's ears. "Different styles, more than anything, probably. Looking for different effects. I want her under for a while, and I want her pretty free and clear of new suggestions so I can do a proper analysis."

"Okay, makes sense." Katherine kept working as Midnight paused, but she could almost feel the younger woman building up to another question. "So what suggestions do you think Idle put in your head?"

That question brought Katherine up short. "I... I really don't know," she admitted.

"Could be anything," Midnight said.

"Sure could." She looked over at Idle. "I could ask her," she said. "Or, I could ask you."

"Huh?"

"You were here, you heard and saw what Idle did to me," Katherine explained.

Midnight shrugged. "Nothing seemed unusual."

Then why am I so worked up by all this? she asked herself. Why am I anticipating putting you up on that treadmill? "Records," she muttered.

"What?"

"There are records in the programming. I should be able to figure it out from them. If Idle did something to me."

"Uh... good, but... shouldn't you deal with Idle first? That Dancing-Rock-Style Analysis thing?"

Katherine laughed. "'Dansen-Rothmile,'" she corrected gently. "And yes, I probably should. I can ask her, or check the records, afterwards."

"Right!" Midnight smiled. "Is it fast? The analysis?"

"Sadly, no. You might be a little bored." Katherine turned back to the console and tapped a few more keys. "I know I will be."

Midnight didn't answer, so Katherine kept working, and kept talking. "First thing to do is to clear off that command to freeze," she said, and Idle started to walk again. "I also have to watch her physical condition. She probably does this more than I do, so she can probably walk a little further than I did."

"Uh huh," Midnight's interested voice came from behind her.

"Okay. The controls aren't what I'm used to," Katherine said, more to herself than to Midnight. "Just have to figure out where the analytics might be..." Or if Spin even bothered to program them in.

She checked the various options and screens. All the raw information was present, but it was unpackaged, unassembled. Katherine would have to do the mental arithmetic herself; not the worst thing in the world, but something she hadn't really done since school.

She hadn't realized how quiet the room had got until Midnight asked if everything was alright.

"Hm? Oh, yes, sorry. It's just working with unfamiliar systems." Katherine blinked and winced. "And staring at screens all day. I'm starting to get a headache."

"Oh," Midnight replied, sounding concerned. "Can I get you anything?"

"A glass of water would be great, actually." Maybe it would have been better to delay things until the morning. Too late for that, Idle was already under, the preparation for analysis was already underway.

"Okay, be right back!" Midnight's enthusiasm hadn't waned, and she wanted to be up on the treadmill, too. Katherine wondered where the small woman stored all the extra energy.

She turned back to the microphone. "Idle, if you can hear me, nod now."

Katherine watched, silently counting the time until she saw Idle's chin bob. About four seconds, a good response time for a subject so deep.

She adjusted the position of the mic slightly so she didn't have to keep looking back and forth. "I'm going to ask you a few questions, simple yes-or-no questions, and watch how you react. Just give a little nod for 'yes,' or a shake of your head for 'no,' alright?"

... two, three, four... and Idle nodded. A glance at the screen showed expected movement in various numbers.

"Here you are!" Midnight said, coming up behind Katherine. "Sorry it took a bit, wanted to make sure it was cold." She put a glass of water down on the counter.

Katherine took a grateful sip. "Thank you, Midnight." The water was quite cool, and well worth the little time it took Midnight to bring it. She hadn't realized just how dry she was feeling.

No work tomorrow, Katherine thought with a sigh, taking another quick drink before shifting her attention back to Idle. "Your name is Idle, yes?" She watched the screen and looked for Idle's nod in the corner of her vision, which came at nearly the same speed as the previous two.

"Are you an Alterist?"

"Uh, you know she is," Midnight said from behind her.

Katherine was unperturbed. "Of course she is." Idle nodded. "I'm looking for certain responses that I can read in the system. Did you ever watch any old movies or shows with a lie-detector test?" She flicked the mic back on. "Were you Altered last night, after playing Fives?"

"Yeah, I think I've seen some," Midnight replied, as Idle shook her head.

"Old-time polygraphs used a lot of the same metrics that Alterations do," Katherine explained. "Equipment wasn't as precise back then, of course, but they still asked a set of baseline questions to figure out what 'normal' levels are for someone."

"Weren't they pretty fake, too?"

Katherine held up her hand to ask Midnight to wait. "Were you Altered yesterday, before playing Fives?" she asked into the mic, and after Idle had nodded, she turned to Midnight, leaning on the counter. "More or less, yes. So-called 'lie-detectors' in the old days were mostly educated guesswork." Once more Katherine turned back to the console. "Were you involved in a Brainhacking match yesterday?"

Midnight's next question came after Idle nodded. Her voice was quiet, a bit subdued. "Am I bothering you?"

Katherine shook her head without looking back. "No, actually, believe it or not, I like it. It's one of the reason I play Fives, I like juggling three or four things in my head at once." Nothing looked unusual on the screen at this point. "Did you win your Brainhacking match yesterday?"

"Bet your job doesn't give you much chance to do that, huh."

"None," Katherine replied as Idle gave a negative reply. "Once I'm fixed on the analytic screen, that's all that's on my mind, until the session's over." She looked over the screen and paused to consider, then spoke into the mic again. "Should you have won the match yesterday?"

That elicited an immediate emotional response. Good. Whatever had caused her to lose her match yesterday was still raw, even though she shook her head 'no.'

"Is Spin Doctor your roommate?"

Less emotional, with a faster nod.

"Is Spin Doctor missing?"

No emotion. What? And an expected nod.

"No emotional response to that?" Katherine asked out loud.

Midnight popped up beside her, looking at the screen. "What does that mean?"

"That something's out of the ordinary." Katherine shook her head again. "No idea what just yet." She turned to the mic, then stopped. "Midnight, can you ask her a question?"

"Sure, which question?"

She pushed the mic across the counter. "In exactly these words: 'Do you believe that Spin Doctor is in danger?'"

Midnight nodded and took a breath, pushing down the talk button. "Do you believe that Spin Doctor is in danger?"

Midnight's voice caused an immediate spike in emotional response, as Katherine had expected, but once more, by the time the nod came, Idle's levels were flat. Even signs of curiosity, which had jumped when she'd heard Midnight, had leveled out with her answer.

"I wish I had my own equipment," Katherine said with a sigh. "I can't really trace that with this gear, but there's no question that it's weird."

"What's it mean?" Midnight asked.

"That Idle's got something in her head that's guiding her responses where it comes to Spin's disappearance." She motioned for the microphone. "I need to give her some more baseline questions, get her back to... not normal, but you understand my meaning." 

Midnight pushed the mic back across the counter. "I think so."

At least she still answered 'yes.' Katherine thought to herself. If the Alterations had her thinking otherwise...

Katherine thought about that for a moment. If Alterations had her thinking otherwise, she wouldn't have been asking for help. She'd just be enjoying Midnight's company.

A few more basic questions about Idle's day helped to re-establish that needed equilibrium. Midnight stood silently at Katherine's elbow the whole time, watching with great interest.

Still, Katherine couldn't come up with anything concrete, other than that questions about Spin's whereabouts and well-being prompted such a total lack of emotion that there was no question that someone had Altered her responses to them. But they were in such isolation that there was almost nothing else to analyze, nothing else to trace.

"It's like walking through the tundra and... finding... I don't know, a pie or something in the middle of the ice," Katherine stammered, frustrated. "There's something weird, no apparent reason for it to exist, no explanation for why it's there or even how it arrived."

"Did it fall out of a plane?" Midnight asked.

Katherine laughed. "No, I'm just bad at metaphors." She glanced at the session timer. "It's past time we bring her out of it. I don't want her to get tired."

Midnight nodded. "Okay. Uh, can I go give her a hug?"

"Sure, why?"

"Because she's gonna need a hug, and because seeing her like that makes me wanna touch her."

Katherine blushed a bit as Midnight slipped over towards the treadmill. "I'll stop her pacing, there."

The moment Idle stopped walking, Midnight wrapped her arms around her hypnotized lover, slipping her hands under Idle's t-shirt and pressing up close behind her. Katherine felt a pang of jealousy; she'd never really experienced a relationship that was so... energized. Midnight's devotion was astonishing, and inspiring.

And there was something else, something about the whole situation—Midnight's loyalty, Idle's trance, knowing that Idle had Altered Midnight too—something that appealed to Katherine in a way she hadn't expected. She didn't really feel an urge like Midnight, but she did suppress a surprising little instinct to reach for her chest.

Katherine frowned as she went through the motions of waking Idle, turning off the coloured screen. Did you put these urges in my head, Alterist? She looked over as Midnight reached up to kiss the back of Idle's neck. Five months since the breakup, she hadn't been with anyone. Not that it bothered her at all. Or, rather, not that it had bothered her, until...

"Mmm," Idle moaned. "That's a nice way to wake up."

Midnight's hands rose a little higher, lifting the hem of Idle's shirt above her navel. Katherine's blush got brighter as she reached for the microphone. "You should be clear now, Idle."

"Well that's a relief, anyway," Idle said, removing the headset and hanging it on the handlebar. "Far enough in mixed company," she said to Midnight, whose hands must have been, in Katherine's estimation, at the bottom edge of Idle's bra.

"Aww, but Katherine doesn't really mind..." Midnight said with a tone and grin that made it clear that she was joking.

Katherine shrugged, playing into Midnight's joke. "Doesn't bother me," she said casually, hoping that she was able to hide her actual interest in seeing Midnight continue.

"Hate to be the adult in the room," Idle said, slipping out of Midnight's grasp, "and I mean, really hate it, but your blush tells me that you're maybe a touch embarrassed by this. Unless," she grinned, "you're turned on by seeing two cute girls play with each other."

"Never been my thing," Katherine replied, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks. Well, it wasn't a lie, not exactly. She wiped her eyes, now starting to water from the strain of staring at the screen.

Idle nodded, stepping down from the treadmill to sit in the office chair. "Alright, I'll be serious for a bit." She rubbed her legs. "Phew, good workout. So what did you find in my head, Tailor?"

Katherine shrugged. "Not a lot. There's a weird emotional deadspace around Spin vanishing, but otherwise there wasn't anything I could trace."

"Well, not having anything to trace makes some sense," Idle replied. "I was Brainhacking yesterday, so I hadn't been Altered for a whole day beforehand, and a hack match shouldn't be leaving things behind."

"Shouldn't," Katherine said. "Didn't, this time. All that's there is a bit of a void." She squinted a bit and rubbed her forehead.

"Everything okay?" Midnight asked.

"Long day. Headache." Katherine frowned. "Maybe I can do an analysis on Midnight tomorrow morning? After I've had some rest."

Idle smirked a bit. "I don't think there's room for three in my bed, do you mind the couch?"

"Huh?"

"You're not driving, Tailor. We already discussed this. You've been Altered, and now you're tired and having headaches. I'm not having Officer Grant or whoever come around here to take me away for letting you drive home impaired." Idle waved towards the front of the apartment. "You get the couch. It's a comfy couch, don't worry."

Midnight faked a pout. "Aw, I have to wait?"

"Only until we get Tailor off to bed," Idle replied with a lascivious grin.

The slight throbbing in Katherine's forehead was already passing. "You really don't let up, do you?" she said, more in awe than anything else.

"Call it my performer's instinct," Idle retorted. "Not that we'll actually get up to much," she continued. "I'm pretty fucking exhausted."

"You had a long day," Midnight said, putting a hand on Idle's shoulder. "We all did."

Katherine nodded, and she saw Idle doing the same. "I didn't exactly plan to stay over."

"So you wear the same clothes tomorrow morning." Idle said with a shrug. "Or you borrow some of mine. We're pretty close in height."

"Style's a bit different, though," Midnight added.

Katherine looked down at herself, a little worse for wear from her turn on the treadmill, but still neatly arrayed in her work clothes, then at Idle's unkempt dark sweats and black t-shirt. "Just a little," she admitted. "I'll survive, somehow."

"I'll get the spare blankets," Idle said, getting up.

Katherine was at a bit of a loss for words. "Does your life always move this fast?"

Idle paused. "Not really, no. But these are special circumstances." She breezed out of the room.

"You want more water or anything?" Midnight asked.

Katherine shook her head. "No, thank you. I think I just need a rest right now. And tomorrow, we'll see what's going on in your head."

Midnight grinned. "You sure you want to look that close?"

"Heh, yes, I think I want to get to the bottom of this." Katherine rolled her shoulders. The exhaustion was setting in solidly. "I have to admit I'm a sucker for a good mystery."

"Well, I'm kinda lost, but at least I learned a lot tonight."

Idle walked back into the office at that point. "All ready for you. Hope you don't mind, it's not exactly king-sized."

An understatement, given that the couch was just a couch. Still, it wouldn't be the first time she'd crashed on a friend's couch, although it had been quite a while. She bid the other two a good night, slipped off her shirt and skirt and folded them carefully, and wrapped up in the blankets.

Unfamiliar space and unfamiliar circumstance kept Katherine awake to think about the situation, which in turn fed into her wakefulness. What exactly was going on? Where was Spin? What did Midnight's strange jumble of letters mean? What did the two of them do last night? Or while she was at work?

Katherine paused, realizing that she was distracting herself from the important questions by imagining Idle Altering Midnight, the two of them in that office, hypnotized and hypnotizing, kissing, touching, stripping...

Her left hand was at her breast. Maybe these last few months had been longer than she'd thought. Even so, the thought of... others had never really crossed her mind, or her fantasies, not to mention other people in a state of Alteration. Of course she knew that such activities were perhaps not common, but they weren't all that rare.

Give people anything, and someone will find a way to make it sexual, she thought to herself. And here I am, worked up over it.

Katherine couldn't deny it, she was needy. Although anything that she might want would have to wait; even if she had been interested in the two in the other room, both of them looked utterly exhausted, and anyway this was not the moment to try to take advantage of the two of them. And she had always looked down somewhat on the sort of people who were engaging in—she had to admit—generally harmless fun with Alteration. From the more commercial Altergaming (the low-ends of which she made an exception for, since she herself was a participant) to more intense Altersport like Brainhacking, to full-on Altersex, while she'd never openly disparaged any of them, in her heart she'd felt herself above them.

An illusion that was challenged as she heard a soft moan from Idle's bedroom—she couldn't identify whose or what the cause was—and her right hand slid down her bare belly. It stopped short of its goal as she warred with herself. On the one hand, she was a guest, staying on a couch that wasn't hers. On the other, she missed Kyle and what he would do to her when things were good.

And again, she couldn't deny that Midnight's attention and Idle's expression and responsiveness had triggered something, something she wasn't really prepared to deal with, which left her with two options: give in and bring herself off as quickly and quietly as she could, or forcibly turn her mind to other things and try to sleep.

Propriety won out after a moment of fingertips playing at the edge of her panties. With a deep breath, and perhaps a little disappointment, she pushed her thoughts back towards the mystery of Spin's disappearance. She didn't expect to make any progress, but it would at least get her mind off what she was finding herself imagining might be happening just down the hall.

Katherine closed her eyes, trying to recall Midnight's twelve-letter mess and what it might mean. It was possible that the dyslexic girl might have somehow come up with random gibberish, but Katherine didn't think that that was the case. Without the letters in front of her, though, it was tough for Katherine to try and decode anything, especially as a part of her brain was occupied with decidedly not fantasizing about Idle and Midnight.

Which, led her distracted and unguarded mind to fantasizing about Kyle, and what they might have done together with a setup like Idle's. A bit ridiculous, given how little Kyle thought about Alterations at all, but a fantasy was a fantasy, and she could see herself standing at the console, Kyle in his boxers, strolling into trance...

She forced that thought from her mind. Kyle was gone, out of her life, not coming back. It was a mutual decision. Their careers were diverging, it was time, best to make a clean break.

Which it wouldn't have had to have been at all, if only she could have slipped the helmet on him, warped him just enough to want to stay despite—

No, she firmly told her imagination, her memories, and her hands, all of which were threatening to run away with her. Not here, not now. Lying on her back, she jammed her hands under her thighs. That'll be enough of that.

Despite her own insistence, though, Katherine's imagination continued to betray her, presenting her with scenes of Idle and Midnight, Idle and herself, Midnight and Kyle, and any combination of the four of them it could graft itself on to until finally, mercifully, she slipped into dreams.