"Field log 38. Command wants these kept concise. Fine." "We crossed the Ridge at 03:40. Camera line was clean and the relay held. Keller has the equipment readings. About twenty minutes past the Tesco site, we came to a bedroom. I walked halfway in before I realized I knew where the light switch was supposed to be. It was the room I had when I was nine." "There was a gouge underneath the windowsill from when I tried to pry it up with one of my dad’s screwdrivers. He blamed whoever built the house. I never told him it was me. That mark was there. We left the room. I told the others we were continuing, because apparently that seemed reasonable at the time." "A couple of corridors later, I heard an arcade cabinet starting up. I recognized the sound before I recognized where we were. It was The Final Quarter Arcade. The place shut down when I was a teenager. I had, I don’t know... six birthdays there? Maybe seven? The machines started coming on as we moved through the building. Not every machine. Just the ones I used to play. By the third one, I realized they were starting in the order I used to visit them. I told Serrano which cabinet we were going to hear next. I wanted to be wrong." "It started up behind the wall about five seconds later." "We turned around. Command can call this useful. Command can send its own people over there to study it. I’m not crossing that gap again. And this isn’t another transfer request. Put me in records. Put me on relay duty. Demote me until I’m filing Tucker’s paperwork. I genuinely do not care anymore." "Tucker, if this one ends up outside the network too... I take it back. You had the right idea. Keller has the rest of the report." "I’m done." Have I been here before? Memories come slipping down, Slipping down, slipping down, Memories come slipping down, They turn real here. Faces blur but still they stare, Still they stare, still they stare, Faces blur but still they stare, Watching me here. All the things I left behind, Left behind, left behind, All the things I left behind, Walk beside me. Those I miss now pass me by, Pass me by, pass me by, Those I miss now pass me by, But don’t know me. WHY DOES IT KNOW? THESE PLACES ARE DEAD. HOW CAN IT SEE? GET OUT OF MY HEAD. Was that home or just a dream? Just a dream, just a dream, Was that home or just a dream? They feel real here. Rooms from home now fill the halls, Fill the halls, fill the halls, Rooms from home now fill the halls, It feels wrong here. All I lost comes back to life, Back to life, back to life, All I lost comes back to life, It remembers. THEY BELONG TO HIM! NOT ME, NOT ME, NOT ME, NOT ME. HE'S DEAD! DEAD! NOT ME, NOT ME, NOT ME, NOT ME. Memories come slipping down, Slipping down, slipping down, Memories come slipping down, They turn real here.
