Episode 67 - Ask, and You May Not Understand

Front Lobby – 9:03 a.m.

There were three of them.

Olivia didn’t ask names. They didn’t offer them.

She simply handed them visitor badges.

The woman in the suit asked first.

“Please list your broadcast range.”

Olivia smiled. “Terrestrial. Digital. Dimensional.”

The man in the lab coat frowned.

“There’s no record of your registration.”

“That sounds like a filing error.”

He paused.

She did not.

The woman opened a manila folder.

“Viewer records?”

Olivia gestured to a shelf behind her—stacks of mail.

Letters. Postcards. Polaroids. All real. All untraceable.

The third one, the one who didn’t blink, asked:

“Are your viewers real?”

Olivia’s ears tilted.

“We don’t air to the unreal.”

Meanwhile – Studio Hallway

Charles was chalking something on the floor.

A sigil. Or a spiral. Or a story.

“Time check?” he asked without looking up.

Miss LaDonna stood in front of Monitor 8D.

It showed Olivia at her desk.

Still calm.

Still smiling.

“They’ve just asked about the viewers,” she said.

Charles stood. Wiped his hands on his vest.

“That’s early.”

Miss LaDonna closed the file she hadn’t opened.

“The moment they ask about realness, the game changes.”

She looked at the hallway leading toward the Archive.

Then toward the Vault.

“They’ll want proof.”

Charles raised an eyebrow.

“Then maybe it’s time we let them see something.”

Lobby – 9:19 a.m.

The questions grew stranger.

“Are your Hosts human?”

Olivia: “Some.”

“Are they employees?”

Olivia: “They’re family.”

“Do you control what they say?”

Olivia: “Would you?”

Pens scratching on paperwork.

Mutters.

The third one tapped the gun on his hip.

It sparked once.

Olivia noticed.

The building noticed.

In the stairwell, Bernard uncoiled slightly.

He didn’t rise.

But he was ready.

Back in the lobby, Olivia folded her hands on the desk.

Her voice calm.

But firm now.

“You came here to verify the reality of something you don’t understand.”

She leaned forward.

“Be careful what you prove.”