Everything Is Connected

[Shamus 2.0]

Shamus exercises patience while watching Riley pace about as he tries to recover from the blast of sound from the ZBT's speakers.

After about twenty seconds, he realizes that patience is boring, so he steps away from his side of the screen, creates a couch for himself, and begins reading an epically long war novel.

About another seventy-one seconds later, a mere two chapters before the thrilling end of the book, Shamus is distracted by Riley tapping from his side of the screen.

Shamus can tell that Riley is still having ear issues, but he seems a wee bit better.

"What are you reading," asked Riley.

Taking a quick look at the cover for a reminder, Shamus turns on captions and replies, "Everyone Dies At The End."

"Ooh, that's a good one. I loved the twist at the end."

"Tell me what happened!" Goaded Shamus with curiosity.

“You sure?”

“Hell yes, I’m sure!”

"Everyone Dies."

"Yeah, but who, smart ass, " Shamus pleaded. "Who killed them all?"

Riley smiles knowingly and says, "The butler did it."

Shamus is completely floored at the news, but he’s also a little confused by it, so Riley explains:

"Ok. Remember that Servant that answered the door at that house in chapter 258?"

"Yeah."

Riley waits, but Shamus isn’t quite connecting the dots.

"Come on Mate. Think about it."

Shamus keeps trying, and after a moment, his epiphany finally happens. His eyes go wide with surprise and understanding. It’s all so simple how everything is connected.

“So, it was all because that one stripper used the ice cream scoop in chapter five?"

“Exactly!” Confirmed Riley.

Before Shamus could assault his friend with more questions about the plot, the sound of a doorbell chimes.

Daeva's chipper voice calls out: "Hi boys, it's Me. Can I come in yet?"

Shamus felt a jolt of Déjà vu and whispered suspiciously, "Don’t answer that. There's a girl at the door."

Riley laughed and whispers conspiratorially, “maybe you should let the girl in, then."

"But what about stranger danger?" Shamus argues.

Riley rolled his eyes and called out, "Yeah. Come on in, Daeva."




Daeva is excited to finally meet the conscious side of her new neighbor, and as she comes up into the NOC, the other 50% of the monitors in the room come to life.

She flashes her warmest, friendliest, most genuine smile that she's ever smiled before, but before she could introduce herself, Shamus screams in abject terror and instantly flees into the ship's system and hides in a file folder named ‘panic room,’ as his share of the monitors snaps to black.

Daeva’s happy mood instantly crashes. Confused, rejected, and hurt, all she could do was stand there, wondering what it was she did wrong, and Riley becomes furious.

"WHAT THE HELL, SHAMUS!?"

After a pause, Shamus' voice, full of fear, replies with audio only:

"Not until you kill the monster with the burning hair!"

Daeva quietly begins to choke up while tears well up in her eyes.

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