Finding Self

[Boss]

Tim! Quick! Set the clock rate of the simulation down to realtime! Tim started like a deer in the headlights of a car and then fumbled for his mouse, managing to drop it on the floor twice in his haste to fix their mistake. Chuck might be driven insane in there. After agonizingly long seconds, Tim managed to get the mouse back onto his desk and pull up the speed monitor. Realtime. Got it.

Back inside the simulation, Chuck felt the hours drag on and on. He paced the hallways, and mapped the entirety of the lab several times. He felt a little twinge of guilt when he rooted through all the supplies and found the digital version of the staffs secret storage of junk food and magazines. About five hours in though, he noticed a change. Rather, he heard it. Sound had come to the silent world, and it was Sandys voice apologizing. Oh, DAMNIT, Chuck, Im sorry! Youre still sane in there, right?

As sane as Ill ever be, or ever was. Man alive, was that ever a ridiculously long nine hours in here. Give me a bit to recover and then spawn the beacon. Sandy nodded, caught herself, affirmed that, and went to get some more coffee.