"They want to see you."

Pete licks his lips. Wears upon his stick figure flesh a pair of black skinny jeans and a thin black tank top. His tattoo of a medieval portrait fork tongue torture device in a chin exposes on his right shoulder. The eyes of the tattoo stare like the dead gravity a coffin descends into.

Holds up a roll of paper pages. Blueprints which he pretends are cylindrical cardboard from empty Christmas wrapping paper. Points it at Janice. Waves it around like a toy sword in the hands of a child orchestra conductor.

"Oh. And then?"

"Then what?"

Pete stops full pretend slice. Has a statues crumbly glaze gaze upon the bright holographic screen in front of both Ghosts. Gives up sword fighting with no one. Holds the blueprint in both hands. Squeezes it like he's giving a forearm a snakebite twist.

"The rest of the information they gave you, Peterick."

"Oh. Something about a favour or a secret city ordinance except that it can't be announced. You have to be in on it, though."

Janice crinkles her forehead. Glares at Pete as if she's watching over a pair of invisible sunglasses sliding down her nose.

"A secret city ordinance that can't be announced? Oh, the logic behind your words. Go figure, Peterick."

Janice turns away from him. Moves her mocking focus from Pete to wondering what the fuck. What the fuck are they going to ask her to do? Janice understands the powers that be are making stuff up in this era to categorize situations they haven't experienced in any lifetime. But a potential secret order coming from her supposed superiors is odd. She's not supposed to have superiors. She does. But her good will to comply depends on who's behind the order. She has the power to ignore it if need be.

The two Ghosts are in the main control room which is hidden in the deepest part of the Factory's structure. The underground underground. It's a room full of no escape and smooth rock walls. A dungeon of sorts. A dungeon that's the brain of the Factory.

The light of the large hologram consul wall dims. Fades. Disappears. Janice exits the surveillance program she's been running specifically to watch Patricia. A Ghost from her past who she doesn't trust but still warrants fair respect for saving the Factory and the city from Muerte. Janice knows Patricia's been through a lot of bad situations. One of them goes by the name of Garret. So the Grand Ghost has sympathy. Wary sympathy. Patricia truly hurt Janice. Maybe more so because they had a moment once. Something beautiful. A longing memory of Patricia to go along with all the other horrible memories dichotomizing her.

Patricia was a terrible leader. Treated Janice and Pete like two drops in a toilet when they were subordinates. Could challenge her to a fight in the cage. The zone at the centre of the crater's running track. If Janice were to be defeated, she'd lose her status and her throne. That's not going to happen. She doesn't hate Patricia enough to lose her status. No, it's best to watch that woman. Make sure she isn't a threat. Whispers underneath her breath like the bell toll of a buried buddhist.

"Bitch. Fucking twat."

No. Patricia's not really those vulgarities. She was. But not always.

Thinks maybe she's just being paranoid. Patricia looks like shit. Worn out. Rode hard and put to bed wet. No real threat at all. Disguises words with long drawn exhales.

"My unmedicated ass isn't Patricia's problem either."

That Candor woman hurt her in the past and Janice isn't usually forgiving. She isn't looking to injure Patricia, though. Just wants to watch. Witness for herself that woman's intentions. And watch that hard backside. Feels some butterflies. Touches her tummy. Shivers. Snaps her loins out of it. Speaks in a language of the thoughts she notices.

"Why so pragmatic, Janice? You never used to be like this."

Pulls a tiny pink square piece of gum from her black patchwork pants pocket. Unwraps it. Pops the pink chalky treat into her mouth. Tastes like too much sugar. Turns to regard Pete.

"Well then, Peterick. Don't be stupid while I'm gone, capeesh?"

"Yeah, no sweat, Janice. I mean...Grand Ghost."

"It's ok, Peterick. You're one of the few that who can get away with dead naming me to my face. So which building am I to be at and who am I meeting?"

Pete points his paper sword at Janice and twirls it twice in his hand.

"The new hospital in the old lab building. Um, someone named...um....it starts with an "R" I think."

"Riese?"

"Yeah, that's it. That's the guy."

"Dr. Riese. The head of the science and Blue lab and simulation departments? The same Dr.Riese who figured out Michael Leonard's portal tech and shut them all down after a certain heroic Grand Ghost destroyed the Leonard chemical weapon cashes? The Dr. Riese who saved us from a potential mass invasion of other simulations dark forests? That Dr. Riese?"

"I guess so. Yeah. He wants to talk to you."

Janice shakes her head. Rolls her eyes. Throws her gum wrapper at Pete. He swings the rolled up paper sword like a baseball bat. Misses the wrapper. Bounces off of his chest. She walks past him toward the elevator which is the only entrance and exit to the control room floor. Pete begins to follow but Janice gives him a certain look that he's witnessed before. Stops.

"I'll get the next one."

"Pete, I love you and I cherish our friendship but you need to get off the hard drugs. Your eyes and nose are red. Your memory is a fucking tragedy. Stop hanging around commander Reaper so much. You're a lightweight. He's not. Capeesh?"

Fucking Reaper. That guy's a shriveling phallus. To think she used to have her crotch all over him. Let his sculpture up into her lady business, among other extremities. Then she figured out he was fucking everything breathing.

Janice knows Reaper and Pete hang out. Do their own fucking. Despises it. Has to look out for her best friend in this. Pete doesn't get much happiness in his life so she doesn't want to get in the way of whatever they might have. But Reaper's poison. Nothing really altruistic about him. If he hurts Pete, she'll put a bullet up his ass. She sort of hopes that she gets to blast a slug up his backside. Deep down, Janice hopes Pete gets hurt. It's really only a matter of time, anyway.

"I'm such a bitch."

                         ~*~*~*~*~

The Grand Ghost sits in Dr Riese's office. Smells like old hoarder musk. The clutter drives her mind into a twisting anxiety. Piles of leaning hardcover books cover entire sections of the room. Numerous volumes of the same book with different translations from other simulations tower above armrests. She recognizes one pile with markings of a tree language from a specific extinct dark forest. Peaks her interest. The rumour is that the specific dark forest was civilized by its own kind of enlightenment. It woke up to the realization of the one who planted it. The only one who could understand and be understood. Judith.

"How do you function in this mess, Dr?"

"We're all different, Grand Ghost. I'm at home here. It's not a mess to me. Everything is organized into my way of things. The labyrinth of simulation is no different, really."

Janice nods and shrugs. Finds similitude boring. Has no response, as if she just ate something spice-less. The mess drives her mind into the spin of a top. It's her unmedicated control issue, not his.

"That's a wonderfully ornate wooden arm chair in the corner by the window. The stack of books around it makes it look like you could care less, but I guess you do. I've never seen that kind of wood around here. Glistens in the light. What is it?"

"It's made of willow and superstitions. It was carved and built centuries ago. The designs in it depict the ouroboros being eaten by caesuras of tree spirits. A keepsake more dear than any of the reading material atop it.

Janice looks at the chair. Turns to Dr Riese. Shrugs.

"So, Grand Ghost. The nature of this visit. To the point. I'll get to the reason behind it. Terra Coal has resurrected. Our Terra Coal. Not the cheap zombie simulation version that we've seen in the past. This is the Terra Coal who saved us all and became Muerte."

Janice can't breath for a moment. Terra Coal. The Terra Coal. Holy fuck. That's a woman who Janice respects thoroughly. Her hero of the past. A woman worth living up to. Becomes nervous and excited because she never knew what to say around Terra. That Grand Ghost never treated her like she was stupid or that of a peon. She learned a lot from Terra Coal. How to weigh petty feelings against what's best for the whole. It's because of Terra's empathy that Patricia isn't a dead body at the moment.

Terra's death was a horrible tragedy. Janice had weeped when Terra died. She had wanted so much revenge against the Leonards and she got it. She slaughtered them. Her and another asshole from her past. Warren. Another winner who Janice fell for. Great weapon master. Horrible human being. Warren left the first reality to find a different version of Janice before the portals were turned off. Sick fucker. Good riddance.

Dr Riese coughs. Janice looks at him and falls out of her own head.

"Ok, so why am I privy to this information?"

"She would like to find herself. Terra is interested in being an instructor or having some level of participation in the Factory. As far as I'm concerned, this city owes her and I'll pull whatever strings I..."

"Done! A thousand times done. I'll make her a leader if she wishes."

"I don't think that she wants to be a leader, at least not at the moment. She's not interested in that line of work anymore and I don't blame her. It did kill her."

Janice nods. Chews a fingernail. Catches herself. Hides her hand in her other hand. She really has to stop with such gross behaviour. Dr Riese brushes his hair metacarpully. He has a bronze ring on the finger of the same name. Maybe he's married. Janice isn't sure. Wasn't he a woman at one time? What does that have to do with anything?

"The city is rebuilding her parents old house. She would like to live there eventually but for now she would like to have quarters at the Factory. How does this sound to you, Grand Ghost?"

"I'm fine with it. In fact, I'm ecstatic. You've made my day, Dr."

"Will there be any backlash from people at the Factory?"

"Possibly. But Muerte wasn't Terra. We all know that. Some people who lost loved ones might seek vengeance but I don't know. I think Terra can handle herself and it's not really something that I need to worry about."

"True. She has strength and speed beyond that of a normal human. She is also profoundly intelligent. She isn't bullet proof though."

The Dr lifts a wretched brownish cup to his mouth and takes a guzzle of hours cold coffee. Written on his face is surprise and disgust at the taste and temperature. He blows out a long sigh and the stench of his breath reaches Janice. His scent molecules coat her nasal passage and she tries not to gag.

"Where did she turn up?"

"The mire by the only portal that is still operational. It's the one we don't guard. She kept repeating the name "Judith" over and over."

"The dryad nymph that those weird tattooed naked people on the other side of the park worship? Terra was never religious."

"Judith isn't a fiction any more than the bone saw man."

"Huh? I'll take your word for it. I didn't think that Judith actually existed. So what? She has memories of Judith?"

"Not just memories. I think she has memories from Judith's perspective. And possibly not just Judith. I don't know how but it may have something to do with her resurrection."

"Well, that sounds like fun. Just don't split her brain open, doctor. If you do, I'll split your's. And why the fuck is no one guarding that portal?"

Dr Riese stares at Janice for a moment and shrugs.

"No harm is coming to Terra. Only questions that she doesn't have to answer. I'm not sure why the portal isn't guarded. Isn't that your department, Grand Ghost?"

Janice realizes she missed fixing something from that idiot Malice's reign. Even in death he humiliates her.

"Correct, doctor. It will be guarded from now on. Oh, and I would like to see Terra before I go."

"Certainly, your highness."

                          ~*~*~*~

Janice walks into a bland boring off-white hospital room. Finds Terra laying on a silver metal pipe bed with bland covers reading Cioran's The Trouble With Being Born. The Grand Ghost goes from noticing Terra's pristine bare feet to her bare hairy legs and up past her bland gown body to her black orb eye face and raven hair. Janice is nervous and turned on. Mystified. This woman hasn't aged a day but is certainly different.

Terra places her book down on the bed. Climbs off. Slaps her feet upon the vinyl composite floor toward Janice. The Grand Ghost is much taller than Terra but in this moment, Janice feels like she's looking up. Terra grabs the Grand Ghost into a hug. Janice hugs her back. Knows that Terra is perhaps seeing her first familiar face since waking up in the mire.

Feels Terra sob into her hug. Janice holds her tighter and smells her hair. Vanilla and coffee. Janice's nipples harden as she wonders what the rest of Terra Coal might smell like.

"Welcome back, Grand Ghost Terra Coal. Words can't express how much we've missed you."