Midnight knelt over Idle on the bed, her knees on either side of the Alterist's hips, her hands massaging Idle's bare back. Idle was only barely awake; Midnight suspected the moment the massage stopped, the brainhacker would drift off.

Both of them were naked, and Midnight was aroused, but that's as far as anything would go that night. Idle hardly had enough energy to make sound, apart from the occasional soft moans made as air was pushed from her lungs. Midnight was at least as tired as she was turned on, but she was focused on being a good support, putting a premium on Idle's comfort. And she kept going until she was fairly sure that Idle wasn't even aware of her there any more, and a little beyond to be sure.

There was an inviting spot in the bed beside the larger woman, but before Midnight could take advantage of it, she felt a need to get a drink. She slipped out of the bedroom quietly and softly made her way to the kitchen, pausing only to make sure that Katherine was asleep.

You wouldn't mind if she saw you, her internal voice pointed out. You were almost begging her for it earlier.

"Sure," she whispered to herself, "but it's pretty clear that she doesn't want to."

The pretty blonde was lying on her back on the couch, the blankets having fallen to the floor. One arm was tucked up under her legs, the other rested just under her bra on her otherwise-bare chest. Her eyes were closed, her breathing rhythmic, there was no question in Midnight's mind that Katherine was asleep.

Why is that, anyway?

"I don't know, maybe she's only into guys." She quietly got a glass down from the cupboard.

You saw how she was looking at Idle.

Midnight turned on the water as slowly as she could, with barely a trickle coming from the faucet. "I think I saw it, anyway. Maybe I wanted to see it."

Of course you wanted to see it. She's beautiful.

Midnight looked over to the couch as she put the glass under the stream. "Angelic," she said, and she meant it. Idle was amazing and fun and pretty and Midnight was obviously obsessed, but purely in terms of looks, Idle was comparatively plain.

Fortunately, Midnight's assessment wasn't just based on looks. The way Idle made her feel counted for a lot. 

Or the way Spin made you feel about Idle.

"Doesn't matter," she muttered. "Still feel it." She turned off the tap and padded quickly back to the bedroom, carrying a half-full glass of water. Idle was still lying on her stomach, so Midnight took a quick turn around the room, put the glass in reach on the floor, and slipped into bed.

And woke up at the computer desk.

The suddenness of it took her by surprise. One moment she was reaching to cuddle Idle, the next she was sitting in the office chair, looking down the length of the room at Idle's Brainhack setup, her hands sitting on the table, fingers drumming away like she was waiting impatiently. She put her hands in her lap; whatever had made her move locations hadn't bothered to make her get dressed, she noted.

Other than the main overhead light, nothing electronic was turned on. Midnight checked twice to make sure, switched off the light, then made her way back to the bedroom in the half-dark illuminated by digital clocks and a charging phone. Everything was just as she'd left it, including the glass of water on the floor. She looked suspiciously at the place in the bed where she had laid down it seemed just a moment ago. Which was silly, she knew that it wasn't the bed at fault, but she couldn't glare at Spin.

Tentatively, she lay down a second time, curled up against Idle, and kissed her shoulder lightly. Nothing happened, so Midnight closed her eyes, and sleep came to her quickly.

Idle woke slowly. She wasn't used to sharing a bed, and so she was a little surprised to find Midnight wrapped around her like a second blanket. And this time there was no unexpected message from Spin to send her into a panic, so she could actually enjoy the feeling for a moment.

Until she realized that Spin was still missing, and that part of the reason she was enjoying the moment was that Spin had pushed her into it.

Gently, she rolled Midnight over, and the small woman flopped limply onto the mattress. Idle slipped out of bed and was about to head to the kitchen when she remembered Tailor was sleeping out on the couch. She quickly slipped on fresh underwear and her black bathrobe, to be somewhat decent, and then emerged, quietly.

Tailor was lying on the couch, on her side, face to the wall, her knees bent and her arms buried in front of her. Somewhere over the course of the night the blankets had made their way to the floor, so maybe she'd curled up because was cold. Her work apparel, neatly folded, lay next to the blankets.

Idle rolled her eyes at the effortless perfection in appearance that seemed to continue even into unconsciousness, the way that the now-unbound waves of silvery-blonde hair fell softly over the edge of the cushions, the exact angle of her legs that showed off her toned thighs and perfect ass, even the way her back curled delicately—Idle wasn't even sure what that meant or how it was achieved, but that was the impression she got.

She sighed again and turned to the kitchen. Coffee was required. Her stomach complained. Coffee and some form of food. Spin was usually up first and usually cooking breakfast by now; it had been a couple months, during Spin's visit to their family out west, since Idle had made her own coffee. She plugged the kettle in, then unplugged it, filled it with water from the tap, and plugged it back in. She didn't know how to use the grinder or what proportions of what exactly to mix, so she settled on the emergency can of instant in the cupboard.

Sure, with all that getting up early you were doing, you had time to figure out coffee, Idle said to herself. Spin was usually in bed a couple hours before she was, reading or listening to podcasts on their phone. Things you never taught me.

A groan came from the living room. Idle looked back to see Tailor turning and sitting up on the couch. "Good morning, sunshine," Idle said. "I was just making some instant coffee. Want a cup?"

Tailor shook her head as she laced her fingers together and stretched her arms to the sky. Even across the room, Idle could hear the popping of joints. "No thanks," she yawned in reply.

"Do you eat breakfast? Can I make something?"

"Thank you, only if you're already getting something for yourself. I usually don't eat until I get to work, and I don't bother with breakfast on days when I'm not at the office." Tailor got to her feet. "Anything I can help with?" She started walking across the room, either oblivious to or uncaring about her own and Idle's states of undress.

Well, if she's not going to make a big deal of it, I won't, Idle thought to herself. "Nah, I was just gonna make some toast, maybe some eggs, nothing challenging." She fought to keep her eyes on the other woman's face and not to let her gaze go exploring. "Did you sleep well?"

"I'll admit, not the best night I've ever had, but I'll survive." Tailor rubbed her left hip a little gingerly. "I think the long evening walk might have had something to do with it, not to mention being forced to stand at the desk. I bet it's great when you get used to it."

"Best thing I ever made," Idle agreed. "So what's the plan?"

Tailor shrugged. "Wait for Midnight to get up, discuss things further, see if we can figure out what her strange letters mean and how Spin's been Altering her?"

Idle nodded. "It's a start. What about me?"

"I don't think I can really get anything more from analysis in your case," Tailor said. "Unless I want to go really deep, and that'll take more than you've got here."

"Do you have access to anything better?"

Tailor shook her head. "I don't have any personal gear anymore, and I can't use AlterLogic's equipment outside work hours. Maybe Midnight's?"

Idle met Tailor's eyes. She could see the epiphany hit the blonde at the same time it hit her. "Midnight's gear should have records."

"Great minds..." Tailor said with a smile. "Speaking of, I should check the records of your machine." The smile took a slight edge that Idle couldn't read. "Just to see what you did to me."

"Nothing too inconvenient," Idle said, not letting her expression crack. Just shook up the inhibition tree a bit to see what falls out.

Tailor nodded. "That's what you said last night, too."

"And it was as true then as it is now." The kettle played a little jingle to let Idle know that the water had boiled. "I'm toasting if you want some." She moved to go make herself some coffee.

"That'd be nice," Tailor replied, her tone sincere. "I need to use the ladies' room."

"You know the way."

Idle grabbed the half-finished loaf from the breadbox and slipped four slices in the toaster before pouring the boiled water over the coffee powder. A sip proved it so bitter as to be barely drinkable, so she added several spoonfuls of sugar and a generous splash of almond milk, at which point the beverage tasted like warm, sweetened almost milk with a strong bitter aftertaste. It wasn't even as good as the shitty coffee she'd got at the police station the day before.

But it was caffeinated, and that counted for a lot.

The toast popped up just as Tailor returned to the kitchen. "Two pieces each good enough for a start?" Idle asked. "Peanut butter's in the second cupboard up there, we have a couple jams in the fridge, or if you prefer there's butter on the counter and cinnamon and sugar in the spice rack."

"A little margarine's fine, if you have it," Tailor said.

Idle shook her head, getting a couple plates out. "Spin does most of the cooking and pretty much all the grocery shopping, and they only get butter."

"That'll be perfect." Tailor sat at the table and let Idle serve her.

Idle took her time, drinking a quarter of her mug of what she might have argued was coffee had she been particularly inclined before plating the toast and handing Tailor her plate and the butter dish. She went to the kitchen for the strawberry jam.

"When do you suppose Midnight will be up?" Tailor asked as she buttered the toast.

Idle shrugged. "She's slept here twice, I don't know her morning habits yet. Give me a week at least."

Tailor reddened a little. Idle hadn't taken her for that much of a prude, especially considering that she was sitting in a stranger's kitchen in just a bra and panties. Or maybe it was something else that was making her warm. "You're very open about these things," she said.

"Why not be?" Idle replied, taking another sip of coffee. "Everyone knows what goes on. You've been with people before, right?"

"Huh?" She seemed taken aback by the question. "I... Yes, a few."

"Uh huh. We're about the same age, right?"

Tailor blinked. "Probably? I..." She looked confused. "I know I knew your age..."

"Corpie." Idle grinned. "You knew my age because you were analyzing me yesterday. You can't remember anything about that analysis, right?"

"Corpie?"

Idle nodded, swallowing a mouthful of toast and jam. "Mhmm. Corporate. The rest of us don't always have a high opinion of corpies."

"I think I picked up on that," Tailor replied with a wry smile. "And yes, you're right, any important details about your session yesterday at the police station are gone from my memory. Other than you breaking the equipment."

"Oh yeah? Why do you remember that?"

"Because the replacement has a loose wire at C-7 and gives glitchy sleep-cycle readings, and that is information I need to do my job."

Idle laughed. "You're lucky you weren't in the room. You'd've remembered that, believe me. Grant won't forget me."

"Grant will be retired in four years," Tailor replied, "Maybe sooner. And we'll still be around."

"Yeah, well." Idle stopped short of sharing her usual anti-police sentiments, choosing to take another bite instead of ranting at her guest. "I don't think the cops are actually going to be useful here," she continued once she'd swallowed.

Tailor nodded. "They're not the best at this sort of thing."

"Huh, figured that you'd be behind them, since you work for them."

"I work for AlterLogic. They contract with the police," Tailor pointed out, "And in fact a lot of the cops would rather that we weren't there. We keep them honest."

Idle was skeptical. "You still give them cover. Everyone they charge must be guilty, right? The Alterists have checked them."

"I still think we do more good than harm," Tailor replied. "We monitor emotional states, make sure that interrogations aren't abusive, keep people from lying..."

"Keep interviewees from lying, not the cops." Idle finished her toast and dusted her hands off over the sink. "You do toe the line well, though, corpie."

Tailor shrugged. "What can I say, I'm a good soldier for The Man."

Idle gave her a grin. "If I didn't know you better, Tailor, I'd swear that was a joke."

She stood and offered Idle her plate. "Corpies aren't robots, Idle. If I was, I wouldn't have just about beat you at Fives."

"You know we're having a fuckin' rematch," Idle replied, taking the plate.

"You know that I'm looking forward to it."

"Me too," came a tired voice from the hallway. Midnight made her way to the kitchen just as undressed as the other two, in her white underwear. "G'morning. Sleep good?"

"Yeah, alright," Idle said, and Tailor nodded. Idle thought the other woman might've been looking a little longer than necessary, and smirked inwardly. "You?"

Midnight's eyes narrowed a little. "Uh, mostly." She grabbed a couple slices of bread and put them in the toaster. "There was a thing that happened right when I lay down."

"A 'thing'?" Idle asked. "What kind of a 'thing'?"

"I dunno. A thing." Midnight shrugged. "I woke up in the computer room though. Came straight back to bed."

Tailor turned in her seat. "You just... woke up in the computer room?"

"Can you tell us exactly what happened?" Idle asked.

Midnight seemed to shrink back a bit. "S-sure, uh, I was giving Idle a massage, a-and she, you, fell asleep, and—" The toaster popped, causing Midnight to jump. "S-sorry, ah..."

Tailor stood up. "It's okay, Midnight. Would it help to have some breakfast, first?"

She nodded, "Yeah, maybe a little."

"Can I get you something to drink?" Idle asked.

"I dunno," Midnight answered. "Juice, I guess? If you got any?"

Idle opened the fridge. "Orange?"

Midnight made a little affirmative noise and moved to get a glass.

"Meaning no offense, Idle," Tailor said.

"That's never a good way to start a discussion," Idle replied while pouring. Midnight snickered as she got a plate for her toast.

Tailor smiled. "True. But, meaning no offense, your equipment, while incredible, is not well-suited to analytical tasks. I'm getting the feeling that I'm going to need a more detailed analysis than can be provided for here."

"None taken, I guess. What do you have in mind?"

Tailor paused. "Midnight, what do you have at home?"

"Uh," Midnight looked at her toast. "Just what you said last night. Used gear I bought online, cheap PC I had since middle school. Not even sure about a model."

"Hmm. I bet there are some analytic toolsets in the software that I could get into," Tailor said, "and anyway, I'd like to get a look at the Alteration records in the equipment. What about your Brainhacking gear, Idle?"

Idle sat up on the sinkside counter. "It's a standard package, pretty normal equipment like you could find in most Alterists' shops. I don't really like it, but it's not for me, you know?"

"Who's it for?" Midnight asked, moving to the fridge.

"My opponents, kind of? Brainhacking requires standardized equipment, and I'm not the one using it, they are."

Midnight emerged with a jar of jam. "Makes sense."

"Still, if it's standard," Tailor said, "there should be the standard analytics available. I would bet that some of that information goes to the other player, right?"

Idle nodded. "Yeah, and to Spin, too, so they can watch what's going on."

"Uh, if we're going to look at my gear," Midnight said, "Can we do that first? I, uh..." she looked at her toast again. "I kinda want some fresh clothes."

"How long since I was under?" Tailor asked, looking at the clock on the stove. "Ten hours? Twelve?"

"Losing track of time?" Idle teased. She glanced at the clock herself. Half past eight. "Yeah, getting close to twelve, plus you had a good night's sleep, you should be alright to drive. Probably would've been okay a few hours ago."

"Mentally, sure, but legally?"

"Just don't hit anyone. Besides, if someone asks," Idle winked at Midnight. "We'll lie."

Tailor had the grace to laugh. "Alright, well, how about this. I need some fresh clothes, too, so how about we head to Midnight's to look at her gear and get her better equipped, and then I'll bring you both to my place for lunch."

Idle looked to Midnight. "Yeah, sure," the smaller woman said, crunching into her toast.

"I got nothing to do until tomorrow evening," Idle said. "Then Spin and me were supposed to have a post-game on-stream chat with Anonyma and Tebby. Guess we have to cancel that."

Tailor nodded. "That's another question, does anyone know that Spin's missing other than the three of us?"

Idle felt her expression sour. "And Officer Grant."

"Right. Grant." Tailor sighed. "If it's any consolation, he's probably forgotten all about that."

"I. Do not. Care." Idle bit her words carefully. "I'm done with him and the cops in general."

"What about the BH forums?" Midnight asked. "We could ask for help, maybe someone knows something?"

Tailor brightened a little. "That's not a bad idea, Midnight."

"Unless whoever's got Spin is watching the forums to find out what we know," Idle pointed out grimly.

"Idle, we can't be that paranoid about it," Tailor said, "or we'll never look for any help."

Idle noted that Tailor had included herself, uninvited, as part of that 'we.' She said nothing, trying to parse just how she felt about that.

Midnight didn't seem to pay any attention to the plural pronoun. "We can use my account from home, when we're there."

"Or just use Spin's computer here," Idle said. "I can plug it in and I know where they keep their security key."

"Also a good idea," Tailor said. "Nothing says we can't do both. If you post here from Spin's account or your own—"

"I don't have one," Idle replied. "Spin runs publicity. I do the easy stuff."

Tailor nodded. "Right, well, if we write a post from Spin's account making it clear what the situation is and looking for help, and we confirm it from Midnight's account later today?"

"Yeah, that sounds like an idea." Idle sighed. "What if Grant is right? What if I'm just overreacting to a weird text, and this is all just a bunch of..." She threw her arms up helplessly. "Maybe I'm just overthinking this."

"I don't think you are," Tailor said. "You know Spin better than anyone, so you'd know better what to make of that message. There's also that strange emotional deadspace in your mind around Spin's disappearance, the way you and Midnight came together, Midnight's jumble of letters, and now she's waking up in the computer room without explanation or memory. There's too much weirdness happening for me to dismiss it as overthinking until I have a good look at the big picture. As far as I'm concerned, until Spin walks through that door, they are missing."

Idle fought back twin urges to cry in relief and to wrap Tailor in a big hug. Instead she gave a terse nod and a simple, "Thank you."

"So what, about half an hour? Then we'll go to my place, and then to Katherine's?" Midnight asked, finishing off her juice.

"Sounds about right." Idle hopped down to the floor. "I'll get Spin's laptop, you two think you can occupy yourselves in the meanwhile?"

"I'm sure we can figure something out," Tailor replied. "Let us know if you need anything."

Idle chuckled to herself. Maybe there would be something interesting to find. Spin had obviously been doing work on her and Midnight, there would probably be traces. It'd be nice to know what they were.

Spin's room was how it always was. Neat. Tidy. Everything just in its place. Their closet door was closed, unlike Idle's which couldn't close for the books and discarded clothing on the runners that held the sliding doors. There were no socks on the floor, no mess on the dresser, no bulges in the neatly-arranged bed. An empty, clean glass that Spin used for water sat next to their birth control medication under a simple table lamp that was probably made for an incandescent lightbulb that no one had stocked for a generation, sitting next to an old Alteration headset, Spin's first, that they kept as one of their few memorials of their past. Idle saw Spin's laptop where it always was when they weren't using it, sitting on the lower shelf of their nightstand attached to its spare power cable, and unplugged and carefully put it under her arm. The security key was, as expected, on the upper segment of their bookshelf, behind a set of well-worn graphic novels from an up-and-coming Iranian writer and illustrator. 

Idle carefully closed the door behind her, disturbing as little of Spin's room as necessary. The roommates respected each others' private spaces to a great degree, to the point that it had been physically difficult for Idle to so much as walk through the doorway. Still, they needed Spin's laptop, and it would have been that much more of a violation to let Midnight or Tailor—especially Tailor—go wandering in that room.

Idle took the laptop back to the computer room. Midnight and Tailor were out in the living room, looking over the nonsensical list of letters Midnight had written down in the haze of a trance. It was only a moment's work to get the computer hooked into its station, plugging in the power converter, the connection to the external monitor, and the cable to the router. She'd been trained by Spin how to set up their computer, not that it was particularly challenging. Once everything was set up, she opened the lid of the laptop, tapped the power key, and waited for the login screen to appear. She put in Spin's username, "SpinDoctor," and the long random assortment of letters and numbers that served them as a password, and only then plugged in the security key to its port before confirming the login.

The plain dark-purple backing screen appeared with a number of apps and folders, most of them with alphanumeric codes that only Spin could decipher. It didn't matter, Idle was only really interested in the internet browser, and then only on the BH Forum page, and fortunately, Spin left themself logged in. Idle ignored the message notifications, the front-page news (some of which revolved around her previous match), and made her way to the coach's section. After a moment's thought, she backed out of that forum and instead opened the mailbox, deliberately not looking Spin's mail, and started to compose a personal message to Tebby Dare, Anonyma's manager. He would need to know, and would probably be a better person to get the news out than Idle.

How do you give someone this kind of news? She thought carefully, typed slowly, wrote and rewrote, read and reread, until she had a short message that at least got things moving.

That looked fairly reasonable. Idle added her private phone number and a request for a text message when convenient. Then she sighed, pushing the office chair away from the table hard enough that the back hit the wall. Three lines of simple text had taken her ten minutes.

This is why Spin handles this shit, she thought. She rubbed frustration from her eyes. "Hey!" Idle called you. "You two figure anything out?"

"Midnight did the dishes and swept the floor," Tailor called back, "and neither of us can make anything of the word."

"Of course," Idle muttered, getting up. Out loud, she replied, "I'm pretty much done here, wanna get going?"

"I did have one idea," Tailor said, appearing in the doorway, once more dressed as she had been the night before. "I could check your machine's records."

Idle shrugged. "If you want." She closed the lid of the laptop. "It doesn't really keep great records. Spin programmed it for work, not for revision."

"Still."

"Be my guest." Idle walked over to her setup along the wall and turned it on. "Sure you can keep your eyes on the right monitor?"

Tailor didn't answer, just stood next to Idle as she got the application up and running.

"See?" Idle said. "Simple records. Nothing complex, nothing fancy, mostly just dates, times, anomalies."

Tailor nodded. "I'd still like to have a wander through. I'm an analyst, maybe I can find something to analyze."

"Yeah, well, I'm not, so, whatever, you do you."

"Thanks." The smile seemed genuine.

While the basic information truly was nothing complex, when Tailor selected a particular session the system brought up details about the distance travelled, text sent to the screen, methods, timing, effectiveness... Idle didn't think it was enough for a full analysis, but if it when paired with the experience of actually having been in the room, it provided enough to improve technique and correct mistakes.

"I'm going to hang out with Midnight, you have fun."

"Sounds good, I won't be long."

Twenty bucks says she spends as much time looking at her own session as she does any of mine, Idle thought to herself with a grin. She walked into the living room to find Midnight, still underwear-clad, performing some kind of balletic stretch in the morning sun, one hand on the windowsill, standing on one foot, and holding her right ankle up over her head.

"If I'd known you could do that—"

"I showed you already!" Midnight giggled, letting her leg down. "Besides, I have to keep in shape, haven't done my exercises in a bit."

"Been doing other exercise in the meantime."

The dancer giggled, twirled across the floor and planted a gentle kiss on Idle's lips. "You okay?"

"No."

"Me neither."

The two held each other for a moment. It felt good. Maybe even better than it should have.

"Gonna be," Idle said. "When we find them."

"Yeah."

"Glad you're here with me for it." She hadn't meant to say it, but it was still true.

Midnight squeezed tighter. "Glad you want me here."

Another brief kiss and the pair separated. Idle sighed. "So, what's with this jumble of letters?"

"Still got nothing," Midnight shrugged. "Doesn't make sense. Checked all sorts of internet searches too and wound up finding cheap flights between Toronto and Fort McMurray for some reason."

Idle frowned. "Nowhere near us at all."

"Mhmm. Both of us figured that was some sort of weird search engine thing more than a clue or something."

"Yeah, probably, who knows. Pretty sure if Spin was planning a flight, they'd've told me, and probably in a less-roundabout way than hypnotizing a beautiful dancer to deliver me a message buried in her subconscious."

"You're right, also you think I'm beautiful." Midnight smiled brightly.

"I do." Idle's eyes swept up and down the dancer's body, appreciating every inch of it. "We should probably get dressed, probably get ready to go, yeah?"

"Yeah. Too bad I can't go like this."

"Or in less."

"Or in less!" Midnight giggled. "I dunno, I think we pushed things enough when I got topless on the street corner."

"Mm, that was hot as fuck, though."

"Yep. Aaand I think we should stop talking about it or I'm not going to want to get dressed."

Idle laughed. "Since when do you ever want to get dressed."

Midnight spun on her toes, giving Idle a lovely image. "That's fair." She tossed herself at her lover and the two of them embraced and kissed again. "But I do want to get this solved so we probably..."

"Yeah."

With that, the two of them headed hand-in-hand to the bedroom. Midnight borrowed Idle's deodorant, and applying it kept her hands off Idle as the larger woman changed into fresh underwear. The rest of the process was reasonably quick, with Idle putting on some comfortable jeans and a long red t-shirt.

"You want something clean to put on?" Idle asked.

Midnight shook her head. "Nah, I'll get something at home in a bit. We're going straight there, yeah?"

"We sure could be." Idle raised her voice. "You ready to go yet, Tailor?"

"Pretty sure I'm good," the blonde replied from the other room. "Not seeing much in here that's much help."

Idle sighed dramatically. "Yeah, what else is new? Alright, let's get you two home and see what else we can work out, yeah?"

Tailor appeared in the bedroom doorway. "Seems like our best bet for now." She took a breath. "I can't really find a whole lot out of the ordinary, and what I am finding strange I can explain away pretty easily just because I'm not familiar with the Spin's methods of recording the information. I might want to open the analytics during a live session and see what I can see, but short of that..." The analyst shrugged. "Afraid I've really got nothing."

"Having more nothing than we had last night is still something, I guess," Idle said. "Don't know what it is, exactly, but it's something."

"Then let's take that something to Midnight's apartment and see what her machines say," Tailor suggested.

"Yep! Let's go!" Midnight exclaimed, pressing past Tailor and heading towards the door.

Before Idle could follow, Tailor fixed her in place with a curious look. She seemed about to ask a question, then just shook her head, turned, and went after the dancer, leaving Idle to wonder what was on Tailor's mind. Still, she figured that Tailor would tell her soon enough.

Katherine pressed the key that started the final disconnection process. A moment later, Midnight slipped her helmet off, her hair in some disarray. Katherine smiled. "That was... productive," she said. It wasn't entirely a lie. "How are you feeling, Midnight?"

The lithe dancer stood up, took two steps, and slumped into Idle's arms with a happy sigh. Idle grunted a bit as she caught her lover. "I'm alright. I mean, I just sat down, and there were pretty colours, and I guess it's an hour later now, and I'm..." She somehow managed to shrug.

"Heh, I get it," Idle said, standing the smaller woman back up. "What did you learn, Tailor?"

Katherine stood up herself and looked over the other two. Midnight seemed euphoric, which was pretty normal as far as Katherine could tell, and also entirely unconcerned about shows of affection while the corporate Alterist was there. Idle, for her part, seemed a bit embarrassed and rather tired, but that didn't stop her from leaving her hand on Idle's bottom as they stood there. Maybe she thought Katherine wouldn't notice.

Or maybe she thought Katherine would. Idle had proven more than ready to needle the 'corpie' at every opportunity during the drive over, the pre-talk, and even once Midnight was under. It had actually been rather fun, most of the time; Katherine was so used to being alone, living alone, working in isolation that having someone else there, even someone mildly antagonistic, was a pleasant change.

"I hate to disappoint—"

"That's never a good way to start a discussion," Idle replied.

"—but a DR analysis showed pretty much what I'd expect from someone who had an intense session within the past couple days—"

Midnight giggled. "It was pretty intense, yeah."

"—and not a lot else." Katherine shook her head. "Pretty normal for a session like I imagine the two of you had to erase or rewrite a lot of DR paths. So I checked the machine's records while you were in the wake-up cycle. Midnight, do you know the last time Spin Altered you?"

The dancer let out a slow breath, thinking. "I think Thursday? Yeah, Fives was Friday, and yesterday was... uh, so yeah. Thursday, we had a session."

Katherine closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, you didn't."

Midnight blinked. "No, I remember it. Very clearly."

Katherine nodded. "I know you do. Can we walk through it?"

"What do you mean?"

"She means she wants you to relive Thursday," Idle explained helpfully. "Start from when you and Spin first agreed to a session."

"Oh! Sure. Uh, I would have sent Spin a message in the morning, on... uh..." Midnight bit her lip. "Probably on the BH forums? We talk on there and on Tellester."

Katherine nodded. "Let's step through it. You sat down at the computer—"

"Nope, I do all my boarding and IMing on my phone," Midnight said. "Should I get it?"

"No, it's fine," Katherine smiled. "But, ah, Idle, can I ask you to sit aside for a moment? You weren't here, then."

Idle nodded. "I get it, I'll, uh..." she looked around the room. "I'll just take the chair by the TV, that alright?"

"That would be great, thank you." She turned back to Midnight as Idle stepped aside. "So you had your phone, and you and Spin were chatting, and you mentioned that you wanted to be Altered..."

Midnight nodded. "After I had breakfast, yeah. And, um, showered, so I would've been..." She reached behind her back to undo her bra.

Katherine flushed and raised a hand. Midnight had insisted on changing into fresh underwear, but had also insisted on not wearing any more than that. "It's really not necessary to replicate everything."

Midnight giggled and dropped her hands to her sides. "Alright, your loss I guess."

Katherine didn't buy her innocent grin for a second. "So! You had breakfast, contacted Spin, and then..."

"Sat down at the computer and logged in."

Katherine waved towards the chair. "Please. Uh, don't log in, just sit."

Midnight giggled again and practically skipped over to the computer chair, flopping back down into it and arranging herself as if she was typing, back straight, hands resting on the keyboard. "What now?"

"Well, what happened next? You used a communications link to let Spin into your system, and put your helmet on, yes?"

Midnight picked up the Alteration device, careful not to let any of the various connectors come undone from the tower as she slipped it on her head.

"Then what happened?" Katherine asked.

Midnight thought back. "Spin would have started with a chat, I think. It's how they always start."

Katherine nodded. "Mhmm, makes sense. Do you remember what you talked about?"

"Um." Midnight shrugged. "Not really? It's usually just the standard sort of talk, what we're planning, how I'm feeling, you know, that stuff."

"Sounds about right." Katherine leaned against the desk. "So try to imagine it. You're looking at the screen, messages are coming up, you're typing replies."

"Yeah, it takes a little because I'm not great at typing, or, um, or reading."

Katherine nodded. "Nothing to be worried about. We're just pretending, you don't have to read anything right now. So you're reading and replying."

"Mhmm, just reading, replying. Um, with Spin, it's a little different than it has been with others, you know? Like I feel like other Alterists get impatient because I'm slow but Spin never calls any attention to it."

"That's great." Katherine smiled. "So it's relaxed, then? Calm? As you sit and read and reply?"

Idle's head turned, no doubt recognizing the language and the change in Katherine's tone. Midnight didn't seem to notice, even as Katherine brought a finger to her lips to ask Idle to keep quiet.

"Yeah, it's nice. I always felt some pressure before, but with Spin it's easy." Midnight's voice got a bit quieter, as well.

"It is nice. You can just sit there, and relax, watch the screen, feel the helmet warming up..."

Midnight nodded. "It... yeah. It gets warm. I get warm."

Idle was now watching with great interest. Katherine continued undeterred. "Your whole body gets warm. Warm and relaxed. You just had a shower, the warm water helping you wake up, and now it's like a bath, the warm water helping you to..."

Midnight watched the blank screen as though she was reading the words Katherine was saying. "... go to sleep."

"And that's what you want, isn't it? To feel that warmth in your whole body, and to just..."

"... go to sleep."

Katherine nodded, subtly moving around the edge of the desk. "And words appear on the screen, text telling you to just..."

"... go to sleep."

"And a soft buzz in the speakers, the helmet encouraging you to..."

The pause had grown longer. Midnight's eyes closed. "... go to sleep."

"And then, Spin themselves just providing you the final push, their words on the screen finally telling you..."

The silence hung in the air long enough to make Katherine wonder if Midnight was fighting the re-induction. Finally, as part of a long sigh, Midnight whispered out a string of words that Katherine couldn't understand.

Idle was on her feet, halfway across the room. Katherine stopped her with a raised hand. "Midnight, I didn't understand that, could you speak up please? What message did Spin send you?"

Midnight raised her head a little, her closed eyes seeming to focus on the imaginary words from Spin. Her voice was clear this time, as she said, "We need to talk about nothing."

Idle gasped, making Katherine turn. "What is it?" she asked in a soft voice.

"I know those words," Idle said, also quietly, approaching the desk. "They're too damn familiar."

"How do you know them?"

Idle shook her head. "No fucking idea. But I know that I know them."

Katherine bit her lip, thinking, as she turned back to her subject. "Why does Spin send you those words?"

Midnight took a slow breath. "Start of Altering."

"Does it trigger something in you?"

"Yeah," Midnight said, slumping a little in her chair, her posture sinking. "Now I'm being Altered."

"That doesn't sound like being Altered," Idle said.

"Thinking the same," Katherine replied. "I think Spin was using Alteration to get things started, then moving on to more traditional hypnotism. Like in the early days."

"My roommate was always a fucking classisist." Idle rolled her eyes. "So what, they're just warming Midnight up with the Alter tech and then..."

Katherine nodded. "It explains why her records, and yours, are so empty, and why DR analysis isn't doing the job. Here, look." She pointed to a log page. "Basic startup, then an immediate switch into analytic mode; output only, no input, like what I deal with at every day." She sighed. "There's no need to have suggestions saved in logs if you're not running it through the machine."

"Holy fuck," Idle hissed. "What the hell did Spin do to us?"

"We'll figure that out later," Katherine said. She turned back to Midnight, raising her voice. "Imagine the waking cycle on your gear. Imagine the whirr of the magnets, the warmth fading, your body becoming stronger, your breathing deeper, faster, that's right..."

Midnight's eyes popped open. "What's right?" She stretched. "Idle, why are you here? Didn't like my chair?"

Idle snorted. "Honestly? you need a new one, sweetie, half the springs are at weird angles."

"Aw, but it's just getting broken in!" The dancer slipped the helmet off her head and hopped to her feet. "So yeah, that's what I did Thursday."

Idle and Katherine exchanged a look. "So what now?" Idle asked as Midnight snuggled against her side.

Katherine pursed her lips. "I need to think, and I'm hungry. And I need to change." She smoothed her black skirt. "So let's keep going with the day, shall we, and head to my house? Midnight should probably get dressed, though."

"Aww." Both Idle and Midnight groaned in unison. Katherine couldn't help but laugh with them. And if she was being honest with herself—something that she had been doing an awful lot that day—she was a little disappointed, too. The sight of that well-toned body sinking into her chair twice that morning had a curious effect on Katherine, one which she hadn't been expecting, although perhaps after her fantasizing the night before she ought to have.

"I'll just be a sec." Midnight scampered to the closet.

Katherine put a hand on Idle's shoulder. "I know what you're going to say, but I'm going to ask again," she said quietly into the other woman's ear. "What did you do to me?"

Idle kept her eyes on Midnight pulling clothes from her closet. "Nothing too inconvenient," Idle replied, equally quietly, leaving Katherine unsurprised.

"I checked the records. I couldn't make sense of them. I want to know."

Idle said nothing, just watched Midnight pull on a pair of tight blue jeans and a midriff-baring black t-shirt with the name and brightly-coloured logo of a local band across the front. Finally, Idle said, "Nothing harmful, I promise."

"Be ready in a sec!" Midnight grabbed her phone and plugged it in near her computer. "Okay, let's go!"

"We'll talk at my place," Katherine said as Idle turned to follow.

"I look forward to it, corpie," Idle replied.

Ben stopped in his setting up as an alert noise came from his phone. He got up from the floor and headed to where he'd left it in the bedroom.

The automatic notification he'd set up let him know that his source was back online. She seemed to be close by, too.

He needed to be patient. All that it really told him was that she was active again, it didn't tell him anything more. She would let him know when she could talk. All that was left to do was to keep hooking up wires and to wait.

He wondered, as he returned to his work, what Spin's job would have to say about their absence. He suspected they would be calling Idle, and that Idle would have nothing to tell them. She had no information, and a perfect distraction on hand to keep her from providing them any leads.

He hungered for more information, but contented himself with patience. Timing in making his move had been everything, it wouldn't do to drop the ball now.