#rebel.

[scotianostra]

Lonnie Donegan, the Scottish skiffle singer, composer and guitarist, was born on January 29th 1931.

Doegans father was a Scot of irish descent, his mother Irish, they moved to London while the boy was still quite young, but he was not allowed to forget his heritage.

Considered by some to be our first pop superstar, James Anthony Donegan burst onto the scene in the mid-1950s with a distinctive, lively sound called "skiffle", which was based loosely on American folk music. His first big hit, Rock Island Line, achieved the then rare distinction of soaring up the US hit parade, and he was rarely out of the charts from then until "The Beatles" era.

Donegan's hits included Does Your Chewing Lose Its Flavour, My Old Man's A Dustman, Cumberland Gap and Puttin' On The Style. Lonnie Donegan died whilst touring in November, 2002.

[break-between-the-walls]

Jackie’s right. Even if this is important, it’s not worth risking everything for. Especially not… with the meeting coming up.

Chase nods slowly. "Um. Thanks, Rachel. You've been very helpful."

"Glad I could be." Rachel gives a small smile. "If 10 really is alive, I'm glad I could help figure that out."

Jackie stands. "I guess we'll go now. Schneep, do you want a tour of the building or something?"

"That would be appreciated," Henrik says.

"Alright, let's go do that."

Henrik and Chase stand as well, with Chase tucking his journal beneath his arm.

"You guys go on," Xio says. "I'll stay and hang out with Rachel a bit."

"Oh you really don't have to do that," Rachel says.

"No, I want to."

"Alright. We'll see you later, then." Chase nods, and the three men leave the room.

[break-between-the-walls]

He took a look- apparently he can only access 11’s file, even with the highest level clearance. 10’s must be off-limits to everyone. What’s even weirder? I had to think back- wayyyy back, to before we started talking- but in that confusing mess of visions when we first got here was a slightly redacted version of 11’s file.

"Oh, you guys were fast," Jackie says. "But I guess that makes sense, since we just figured out the weird time stuff. Though, uh...that's really weird."

"Hey doctor man, you worked there, right?" Xio asks. "Different department or whatever, but you worked there. What would it mean if even the highest clearance couldn't access a thing."

Henrik pauses in thought. "Well, I...I have never heard of that. But I assume that there would still be admin access. That belongs to the head of whatever department the file is part of."

"So...Ayer," Chase sums up.

"Ayer," Henrik confirms.

"A file only Ayer can access doesn't sound good." Jackie folds their arms. "Why 10 but not 11? If they died in the same test?"

"Well, 10 didn't die, apparently," Chase reminds them.

"Right. So...maybe 11 can be accessed because he died, and the story ended there. Nothing new to add. But 10's continued. Maybe."

[break-between-the-walls]

Ugh, brain not now-

"Are you guys getting that weird brain feeling again?" Chase asks. "Wonder why that happens..."

"No, wait, Rachel, what did you say?" Jackie leans forward. "Do you know what this means?"

"Well...yes," she says slowly. "I don't know why it was so important, but I think I do."

"You think the message means Subject 10, right?" Xio guesses. "You remember them?"

Rachel nods slowly.

"Well...perhaps if you tell us about them, we will know why it was important," Henrik says.

"Makes sense." Jackie nods.

"There's not that much to say." Rachel takes a deep breath. "The six of us—10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15—were all taken at the same time. 9 was there before us, she was the last remaining one from the volunteers. I think they were supposed to let her go, but decided not to. She didn't last long, dying in the experiments. It was the same with 10, 11, and 13. 12 and 14...they couldn't make it." She falls silent for a second in memorium, then moves on. "10 and 11 died at the same time, I think. Some combined test. I...I don't know the details."

[break-between-the-walls]

Keywords for the code..? What code?

Rachel shrugs. "No idea."

"It has to be related to your Morse code messages, yes?" Henrik asks.

"You know," Jackie says slowly. "There is such thing as a keyword cypher. Maybe this Morse code message is doubly encoded with a cipher. What's the message, again?"

"Uhh..." Chase looks down at his journal. "U-E-M-E-B-G-N-G-M-E-U-B." He glances around. "Uh, since this doesn't mean anything on its own, I guess it makes sense if it was encoded."

"Sounds like you need two keywords," Xio says. "'Her last name' and 'the person she cares most about.' How do these keyword codes work?"

"You write out the keyword, removing any repeating letters," Jackie says. "Then you continue the alphabet from the last letter of the keyword, until you use every letter once. But, uh, that’s still no use without the words. Who is ‘she’?"

[break-between-the-walls]

[I wait for them to answer]

Everyone sits down, arranging the folding chairs around Rachel's bed. "So, uh...this is gonna sound weird," Chase says. "You know I was...also in there." He pauses, taking a deep breath before continuing. "While I was, I found out that there were a bunch of secret messages under my bed's mattress, which Xio said probably came from the guy who was there before."

Xio nods. "Didn't we figure out it was a mind reader? Number sixty-something."

"Right. Thanks." Chase nods. "Well, uh, one of those messages was coded. It said, 'Rachel is Midas. Go ask her.' But, uh, we're not sure what to ask."

Rachel blinks. "Oh. Huh." She goes quiet for a moment.

"Are you okay?" Xio asks quietly.

"Yeah, I'm just...wondering what you'd want to ask me," Rachel says.

"Well, what's the Midas thing?" Jackie asks. "That could help narrow it down."

"Oh, that? They called me that sometimes. Cause of this." Rachel indicates her hair. "I produce gold. See?" She rolls up the sleeve of the shirt she's wearing. Gold flakes fall out, a layer of gold leaf over her skin being rubbed off by the sleeve as it's rolled.

"Fascinating," Henrik says, eyes wide. "It just appears on you? I wonder how. Gold is an element. Are you creating matter? From nothing? Without any energy byproduct?"

"I-I don't know. But, uh, it doesn't really matter." Rachel looks a bit uncomfortable.

Henrik leans backwards. "Sorry."

"No, no. It's fine. Really."

[break-between-the-walls]

They’re not even the “Experiment” department anymore. That would imply a level of actual academic rigor.

Henrik laughs. "Very true."

"Seriously, fuck those guys," Jackie says. "We may have got out of there fine, but there are so many people who didn't. There are people still there." He scowls and looks away. "We need to do something about that soon. Find some way to get them out."

"There's only so much we can do, though." Chase's voice is quiet. "We're lucky these guys got out."

"Well we have to try."

"We will. Eventually."

Silence falls for a moment. Until Xio's voice once again talks, coming from near the hallway entrance. "Okay, you guys can come down now. We're in Room 003. Right off the intersection."