The lobby of his laboratory was a living room. And lived-in it was, as many head researchers had come and gone over the years. Frozen Boba let me in and walked briskly past, turning over a photo frame on a worn wooden cabinet so the picture faced down. Moving boxes were scattered throughout the room. He explained that the last head scientist had left many things behind.
I knew almost nothing about whoever had stepped down. As I said, Fort Blanket has a high turnover rate. When I inquired about it, he only grunted.
I remember his face in the dim light, half obscured by the bold shadows cast from the fireplace. I looked at him and asked where the smoke went. He said it was fake. Taking a closer look, I found it to be true. It was electronic!
He told me to take a seat. I sank into a worn pleather couch, my heated clothes slumping with me. The room had grown hot, so I pressed the small button sewn into the hem of my jacket to turn the heating system off. Tech had warned me the battery might last only a week. Who knew how long I’d be out here?
It was a good call, because Boba began to describe The Night as one of the largest and most perilous wild districts on Earth: vast ice caves, sudden drop-offs, snowpits that have lain untouched by objects for centuries, if not all of time.
He confirmed my theories, admitting that the Lawless King, whom he introduced as Morrigan, had held the township under her heel since its founding. He wanted my help to record her– something researchers had tried and failed to do for decades. Nothing complete. Nothing that ever changed anything. He said they don’t do field research here, and when they try, people usually don’t return.
He leaned back in an armchair, rifling through a yellowed file folder filled with worn records on Morrigan. The papers were stained and brittle, likely older than my parents, threatening to disintegrate in his hands. I had the urge to grab them before they crumbled, but I kept my posture straight out of politeness.
I can quote his exact words even now, hours later.