Inside the Company: Chapter 4: The Study and Zeppelin

It has been roughly 3 days since I found myself in the Company’s clutches. I decided to give myself another shot at escaping, against my better judgement. I guess time traveling followed by a close shave with death by aging didn’t affect me badly enough.

In order to find a way out, I decided to scout for intel. There had got to be an archive, a library or a database somewhere around here. A major organisation like this wouldn’t survive purely on word of mouth. That would be impossible, even if they had telepaths in their employ.

After snooping about for a bit, I stumbled across Mr. Green. I saw him walking into a green door on the second floor of The Brig. I guessed it was his office due to his whole colour motif. So, I waited for him to come out. Hopefully, he wouldn’t lock his door. Then again, with how secretive the organisation is, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did lock his door. So, I begged to God for some luck. All I needed was an unlocked door! Please!

A few hours had passed, I was surprised no one found me staring at the door. Then, click! The door opened and Mr. Green walked out. Yes! This was my moment. I waited for him to turn the corner and I proceeded to walk to that green door.

I reached my arm out for the knob. My heart was thumping in my chest. Sweat was dripping down my forehead. I made a soft gulp before touching the knob. For all I knew at the time, the worse case would be it was locked, the worst case would be the door killed me for some reason. Click The door opened.

I knew I wasn’t expecting much but the room was quite a let-down. It was a dark room, a stark contrast to the whiteness of the Brig. However, it didn’t have the same oppressive feeling as Room 116. The room smelled of candle wax and cigar smoke. I felt like I time traveled again but this time the other way. The walls had brown worn wallpaper. The furniture in the room was all made of aged wood. There was a bookshelf, a desk and … no computer.

Come to think of it, Mr. Green looked like the kind of person who wouldn’t care much for technology. He did look like he lived two centuries ago. So, I wasn’t too surprised that he didn’t have a computer.

Since I was already here, I decided to take a look at his bookshelf for any clues. Mr. Green was definitely an avid reader. He seemed to have books from almost every genre. However, all the books looked like they were at least 50 years old.
The various titles I saw were “The Art of Conjuring”, “The Equinox”, “The Spirit Land”, “Betty Crocker’s” and many more. Despite having books from almost every genre, Green seemed to have a particular interest in the occult. Some of the books had no name on them and seemed to be handwritten. I pulled one of these handwritten books and it was signed off by a guy named “Crowley”. Mr. Green remained an enigma to me.

Overall, raiding his bookshelf proved to be minimally useful. Knowing Mr. Green’s literary tastes would not help me much in escaping. Then, that was when I head the door click open. “Oh shit!” I thought to myself as I dove to hide behind the study deck.

I heard the footsteps come in, followed by a cough. It was definitely Mr. Green. I had hoped to hide here until he left. Hiding under a man’s desk wasn’t the smartest move as he immediately caught me.

“Get out from under there!” he shouted as I immediately shot out. It was similar to when he told me to sit. I felt compelled to do it while feeling like I was being dragged out. I tried to be as casual as I could by waving meekly at Mr. Green.

“Why are you in my study?”

I tried to think of a lie to come up with. I had to give a reason that wouldn’t screw me over. I am a bad liar so this was hard.

“Um, I got lost on the way to the bathroom.”

His eyes glowed green, “Tell the truth.”

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand as I felt my throat beginning to burn. Then, I blurted out the truth.

“I was trying to find a way out of here! Or something to let me know more about The Company!”

He smiled kindly. I was expected to be scolded but he didn’t give off any hint of anger. Instead, it felt more like a parent who was disappointed. It was strange but I felt much worse. I would’ve rather be yelled at than to feel this way.
“You must’ve been looking for one of those computers. I don’t keep one.”

He pointed to his head.

“This is where I keep all the secrets of the Company. Nobody can break into my room to steal it. Better than trying to fix a broken a broken lock every few days because of some desperate subject. You can ask Mr. Blue regarding his troubles regarding his lock. Meanwhile, nobody really tries to challenge Mr. Red by breaking into his room. I guess he is too scary for subjects to mess with.”

I decided to try and deflect the situation from me.

“I see you have a great collection of books.”

“You are an avid reader, are you? I am very proud of my collection, all first edition! You are free to read them. All except for one. He pulled out a book from his shelf. It seemed to be wrapped in a strange skin-like material. There was a large chain keeping the book shut.

“This is your forbidden fruit. It is called Zeppelin. It is an Entity. When you read it, you will see all and know all. The day you read this… you will surely die.”

I decided to nod and take his word for it. That booked looked disgusting so I wouldn’t have wanted to touch it even if he didn’t tell me I shouldn’t. However, it could be my ticket out of here. No! I cannot do that! Killing myself isn’t worth the chance of escape.

He smiled at me. I guess he noticed the slight conflict in my mind but he was glad I decided against reading that book. He pulled out a pen and notepad. He wrote down a few words.

“Veni Vidi Vi3
Gdunqhvv zloo ulvh,
Wkh oljkw vkdoo exuq,
Hylo lv frplqj,
wklv zruog zloo wxuq.

Eh yljlodqw, pb fklog,
dqg wuxvw lq xv.

Iluh zlwk iluh
Slfndah wr vwrqh
Ihdu wkh oldu
zkloh wkh wuxwk lv brxu rzq.

Zh duh xvlqj wkh irufhv ri gdunqhvv djdlqvw wkh juhdwhvw gdunqhvv ri doo.
Kh lv frplqj. Kh lv ulvlqj. “

I looked at this perplexed. This was gibberish!

He simply smiled and said, “You will know in due time. No rush but I just have you a hint of our purpose. If you can solve that, you’d at least be a useful asset and you’d be given all the more reason to stay.”

He then gestured for me to get out of his room. I guess I am back to square one. Once again, more questions than answers. Is there anyone here that would know how to solve this puzzle? What should I do next? I have a feeling that I should look for Mr. Blue since I haven’t seen him yet. Maybe he will be more helpful than Green was.

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Hope you enjoyed the latest chapter of Inside the Company. Today was a wild ride, wasn't it? A bit shorter than my usual entries. However, this my first puzzle! Solving this puzzle will help advance the plot in a different direction than the normal path as Michael will have more knowledge regarding his world. However, should readers be unable to solve it. It will be fine. The show will still go on!

You, the reader, are a character in this story. In what I call "Interactive Writing", you are encouraged to participate in the story. How? You may ask. Well, like I said earlier, you are a character in this story. You may not be directly referenced individually in the story but the main character will respond to your comments (or rather me, as the writer, will be responding as the main character). Your comments WILL influence the outcome of the story in one way or another. Be careful, you may accidentally kill the main character, in which case, the season ends and after that... Well, we'll keep that a surprise for now.

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