Lacrima: Chapter Six

Waterlogged

“It’s been an hour since the mixer started,” Bae said to everyone, standing back up. “Argus should have been here by now. Lucille, you did invite him, right?”

“I sent him a letter,” Lucille said, shrugging.

“With how extroverted he comes off,” Job noted. “I’d be surprised if he didn’t want to come.”

“Right.” Bae didn’t even think about that. She just wanted her own buddy. “Right.”

“I’ll go knock on his door,” Lucille stated, gliding out of the dining room. Bae brought herself to the ice-chilled tub of sparkling soda and poured a glass for herself. She checked the label, just in case.

No alcohol, she read out, relieved. Never again.

Bae enjoyed the lemon-tarted and bubbly drink.

“Before he gets here,” Job started. He began walking between the other guests. “Let me tell you two about what Bae and I saw with Argus in the hallway.” After he told them the scene of Argus attempting to bash the door in, Catherine pinched her chin.

“He tried to get into Esau’s office?”

“He even said he wanted to,” Job confirmed. “He made a good point. That was the room, at that point, we knew was locked or could be locked.”

“Plus,” Bae said, entering the newly formed circle, “That’s the only place Esau could be. He probably wanted to talk to the host.”

“Maybe,” Catherine said. She flicked through her notes. “But Service says that ‘the master is with the King.’ That could be the office or…” She gave a rhythmic tap to the floor. “... it could be below us.”

“The map didn’t show a basement, did it?” Bae asked.

“No, but there would have to be space. Infrastructure at least for Service to function, let alone store food and print paper.”

“Still, Argus might think he’s in his office. That seems like a reasonable thought,” Bae defended herself.

“Correct, but it’s not the only thought,” Catherine added. “There’s more to the mansion than the door you can see.” She flipped the papers to the front and regarded the open door. No sign of Lucille or Argus. “Beyond the locked door incident, I already had a note about Argus. Service didn’t answer him.”

“Did he even ask Service for anything?” Bae inquired. She couldn’t remember. In the hallway, Job asked the locked office question - not Argus.

“Technically he did,” Catherine said. “In fact, he was the first one of us that asked a question within the space of the mansion.”

“Wasn’t that Job?” Bae asked.

“No, wait,” Job began. “Argus did ask a question. Then I called out for Esau and got an answer from Service.”

“Correct. Correct. It was one of the first observations I scribbled down,” Catherine said, showing the first page. “At first, I theorized Service only answered if you addressed them by that name.”

“Like Alexa?” Konrad piped up.

“Like Google. Like Cortana. Like every digital assistant nowadays. If Clippy were still around, you’d have to summon him with his name,” Catherine emphasized. “That turned out to be incorrect. Watch: may I have a glass of orange juice, please?”

Service vibrated into being on that same dining room waterfall. “I’ll get that right to you.” And just as they said, a cart rolled out with a pitcher filled with orange juice.

Catherine barely acknowledged it. “See. You don’t need to call Service’s name for it to hear you. There has to be an algorithm that filters questions between guests and the pertinent questions to Service.”

“That’s… terrifying,” Konrad said. “That means Service is always listening.”

“All of our devices are always listening. But that’s a modern existential nightmare for another conversation.” Catherine then pointed to Job. “In any case, Job asked a question before knowing Service’s name and got a response. Argus should’ve received it, but he didn’t.”

“Maybe this ‘algorithm’ filtered out Argus’ question?” Bae asked.

“Him, but not Job? Possible, but I estimate unlikely,” Catherine answered. “He literally yelled it into the mansion.”

“He sticks out,” Job agreed. “He was hesitant to give his last name on top of that. But let’s put a pin in this, they should be back soon.”

Konrad nodded, pupils tiny as needles. Catherine stowed away her notes. Bae looked away from the door and continued to sip. Job stared at the archway.

Lucille came in and shook her head. A hurried pace accompanied her, but no one else. “He’s not in his room.” Her uncanny eyes stretched wider. “Or the hallways.”

“Did you check the first floor rooms?” Job asked.

“Scanned them.” Head still shaking, Lucille looked worried. “No hint of him.”

“We need to look for him,” Job stated. With the suspicions aired out, it gave everyone motivation for the hunt. Job received nods and verbal confirmations. The five of them fanned out from the dining room. They swept the bedrooms, each going to their own room.

Job peeked into the extra rooms. All were undisturbed.

Each guest came out of their respective rooms with their reports.

“Not there.”

“He wasn’t there.”

“Didn’t see him.”

Job crossed his arms. “He has to be on the first floor, then.”

Konrad looked out the window. “Could he be outside?”

Seeing the pelting rain and hearing a thin slice of the howling wind, Job looked to him. “Possibly, but let’s make a circuit of the lower floor before we try that.”

The guests dropped down the stairs and broke off to the prodigious wings of Lacrima. Bae Yuri, caught up in the search, found herself alone again. Granted, she felt much less alone than in the dining room. They were working towards a goal. She held few opinions on Argus, but being swept up in the force of the group sufficed as any reason to do anything.

Bae walked past a window. Overhead lights illuminated an in-door pool which stretched for yards. Her eye caught a shape. She stopped and gasped. Argus floated in the water. Still and unconscious. The lights above bathed the scene in a dismal shade of deep cerulean.

“He’s in the pool!” She blitzed to the door, but the doorknob wouldn’t budge. Lucille arrived first, calling Service to unlock the door. With a click, Bae rushed to the pool’s edge. Not seeing a floatation device anywhere, she then immediately dove into the pool. For a submerged second, she willed herself. Unthinking, she swam towards Argus. Pleading, hoping, Bae wanted him to be alive. She didn’t want a death on Lacrima. This was supposed to be her escape. Supposed to be her chance to grow. To leave every burden behind.

Now, she was desperate to save someone’s life.

Bae pulled the water away until she reached him. She pulled under and over his arms. Her legs pounded through the water. The good thing was he wasn’t moving, so it made bringing him to the pool’s edge easier.

The bad thing was he wasn’t moving. Job assisted on the other end. It took both of them to heave the bulk of the giant Argus. When he walked around, he imposed himself with his stature. Here, his weight only burdened the others. Job flopped him onto the tiles. Bae climbed up the ladder, her clothes adhered to her body. Gasping for air, the chlorine nauseated her. She got to Argus’s side.

“I’ve been trained in CPR! I can-” Job put a hand to her ribcage. His other fingers were jammed into his neck.

“No pulse.”

Lucille held her mouth and looked away.

Catherine grimaced with distraught contortions around her face. Her teeth ground against one another.

Konrad stared at the body, gulped, and kept staring.

Bae picked herself up, slipping away into her sunken place.

Job stepped back. Blood flushed from his cheeks. He felt light-headed and dry wretched.

Argus laid there. Garbed in a pair of swim trunks. Eyes closed. Eyes forever locked on the darkness of his eyelids.