YOU - It's not my fault this pinball operation failed. SHIVERS - No, but how does it make you feel, to dig through its trash? YOU - Like a good investigator. SHIVERS - Then do your job.

SHIVERS - No need for anything anymore.

YOU - “*The crab-man* has seen you!” SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - “I don't care, I don't care about crab men.” She barely looks up, now tinkering with the machine's printer. HALF LIGHT - Wow. She really doesn't. Not afraid, this one.

PAIN THRESHOLD - There's tenderness in the carabineer's look. Tenderness that's curdled into pain or something darker. YOU - Ex-love, ex-tenderness… PAIN THRESHOLD - Even worse, a love aborted and smothered, stamped beneath his brilliant boot heel.

SHIVERS - High above, the wind wraps the church in its rush. Cold and wet from the ocean bay, it parts around the massive keel-shaped roof. Like a test tunnel washing both sides, the way it has done for three-hundred-and-forty years. The wind keeps its distance. So should you.

YOU - “To win her back.” KIM KITSURAGI - “Who?” SAVOIR FAIRE - Yes, who are you talking about? ELECTROCHEMISTRY - He's talking about pussy. Our guy's gonna be *swimming* in it now that he's loaded!

YOU - “I killed your dad, Cuno.” CUNO - “What is this shit? He's fucked up on 'roids to drink more, you can't kill him. Cuno's dad says he'll die by his *own* hand. Die suicide-style.” ENDURANCE - In his mind, his father isn't vulnerable the way other mortals are.

IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - “Your reality contracted -- you jammed the pedal, ploughed right off the jetty and through the ice.” INTERFACING - The muscles in your right leg tense up. PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT - Your hands cramp on the steering levers.

ENDURANCE - Do you know what today is? YOU - (Lie.) Yes. ENDURANCE - No, you don't. It's been too long since this has happened for you to recognize the feeling. ENDURANCE - It's your first day sober.

ENDURANCE - A mediocre athlete would pant from dragging around his body on a busted crutch -- but not you, you're thinking about *politics* with blood dripping down your thigh…

ABANDONED LORRY - The actress is draped in a sheath dress, one of her shoulders bared. The faded remains of an autograph run across the poster. She's looking past the camera. ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Wait, this actress really does look *a lot* like Klaasje.

PAIN THRESHOLD - You are *The Destroyer*, the bane of inanimate matter. YOU - Gaze upon me, stuff, and despair!

KIM KITSURAGI - The lieutenant clutches his head as his eyes roll back into his skull. ENDURANCE - The torment Lieutenant Kitsuragi is experiencing is worse than your own. He's trying to resist, but there's no way of knowing when he will recover.

MEASUREHEAD - “LOOK AT THE ADVANCEMENTS IN THE SEXUAL SCIENCES - ALL THE NOVEL TECHNIQUES, ACCESSORIES, PRESERVATIVES, MASSAGE OILS, LUBRICATION SALVES, ABORTION CLINICS…” ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Sounds fun—it's high time you incorporated some of these things into your daily life.

YOU - How did this happen?! I was winning? PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT - You were. But then you made a wrong move. And now your skull feels like it's about to crack.

YOU - Punch the door. DOOR, ROOM 3 - You slam your fist into the vinyl. It does not produce a hole. The door sits sturdily in the frame and your fist hurts. This was all a very good, normal thing to do. PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT - Not to mention *great* exercise!

HALF LIGHT - A most terrible fear. Bigger than any before. KIM KITSURAGI - To your right, you sense the air move. The lieutenant draws his firearm. TITUS HARDIE - You only manage to perform one more movement. An instinctive jerk to your left. Then -- no sound. No one screams.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Already you can tell you're going to be slurping a *lot* more pyrholidon! This stuff is going to give you insight into that little flickering light hidden in all human beings.

PAIN THRESHOLD - You could try doing it again to see how painful it gets. (Very.)

ENDURANCE - The wind picks up. Fine sea foam lashes your face. It feels like needles. You can take it -- just raise your collar, detective. PERCEPTION - In the distance you can hear the breakers roar.

SMOKER ON THE BALCONY - “Gendarmerie! You found me.” The young man on the balcony gives you a bright smile, before taking another drag from his cigarette. ELECTROCHEMISTRY - And his shirt is still unbuttoned.

SHIVERS - Suddenly there's a sigh, carried on the molecules around you, moving, flowing from high pressure to low pressure. Like that of a woman emptying her lungs.

YOU - What's in the north? SHIVERS - The abandoned church, its walls covered with hoarfrost now. One of les Sept Soeurs. The other six sisters were destroyed during the Revolution.

HALF LIGHT - A sudden wave of anxiety makes your skin crawl.

YOU - I don't really care what either of you think. I'm a cool-ass bitch, baby. You can't *fake* stardom. SAVOIR FAIRE - I stand corrected. PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT - Prissy milksop. Get back to me when you've grown a backbone!

CHURCH DOORS - The lock turns easily. You hear a click as the shackle pops open. SHIVERS - Feels like electricity and a very small piece of nothingness.

SHIVERS - Revachol loves her heroes.

YOU - “And the major…” KIM KITSURAGI - “…is in a private hospital across the river. Krenel claimed him from the local butcher shop, where Titus died. Turns out he's *insured*.” HALF LIGHT - There is unveiled anger in his voice.

SHIVERS - I AM A FRAGMENT OF THE WORLD SPIRIT, THE GENIUS LOCI OF REVACHOL. SHIVERS - MY HEART IS THE WIND CORRIDOR. THE BOTTOM OF MY AIR IS RED. I HAVE A HUNDRED THOUSAND LUMINOUS ARMS.

MORELL - “Your choice.” He puts the spray back in his pocket. “As I said, the chances of you encountering the phasmid are next to zero.” ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Don't mess around, take the pheromone, it'll make you sexier.

SHIVERS - Your coat shields you from the rain while the city shivers around you.

SAVOIR FAIRE - It explains everything. All the running around. The jumping. The *bicep girth*. PAIN THRESHOLD - Some of your more *old-school* social views. Your love of retro music.

ONE DAY I WILL RETURN TO YOUR SIDE - The flames warm your face. Then -- a gust of cold wind, and the fire falters… SHIVERS - IT'S TIME TO GO TO THE ISLAND.

ENDURANCE - The old figure will outlive this pathetic lick of paint. The past always endures.

RENÉ ARNOUX - A shadow of pain comes over his face. EMPATHY - There's something *substantial* moving in him, trying to get out. VOLITION - He would sooner die than let it surface. YOU - What is it? EMPATHY - Regret. YOU - Regret about what? PAIN THRESHOLD - Him.

HALF LIGHT - She's fought outside that *gym* of hers. That much is clear. Moreover -- she would like to do it now: hit you. It's in her shoulders… YOU - “Do you want to hit me right now?” KLAASJE - “Yes.” YOU - “Why?” KLAASJE - “Because I'm under stress.”

BIRD'S NEST ROY - “I'm not giving you my projector. This tape is all I can do for you and your friends' nightclub project.” HALF LIGHT - Poor apes on a stupid ball, with never enough money to do anything remarkable.

YOU - “Hold on. Hyper…text?” TRANT HEIDELSTAM - “Yes, hypertext,” he says, as if it's self-evident. “Jan Kaarp and the collection of cultural hyperlinks.” HALF LIGHT - He's just making up fancy words. This doesn't mean anything!

ACELE - “Yeah, well…” She tries to think of something to say. “Look man, fuck the hat.” HALF LIGHT - Your pulse rises.

YOU - Forget about this. ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Don't leave us hanging like that, man. Open yourself to the experiences of the world, expand your consciousness. With amphetamines.

COMPOSURE - *You* will change, irrevocably. ELECTROCHEMISTRY - But don't you *want* to feel different?

YOU - Forget about this. ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Don't leave us hanging like that, man. Open yourself to the experiences of the world, expand your consciousness. With amphetamines.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY - The best cure for a headache is, of course, morphine. They won't have that, so cigarettes will have to do.

SHIVERS - At the farthest reaches of the Bay of Revachol -- the shadow of Coalition Warship Archer, on perpetual patrol duty, ready to unleash artillery fire if you were to rise up against the market.

YOU - Is the shooter still here? SHIVERS - YES.

PLAISANCE - “Thank you for nothing. Please, do buy some books -- or be on your way.” HALF LIGHT - Anger and loneliness keep this woman moving through the waking hours. Your little words are no match for it.

SHIVERS - You shudder like an animal trying to shake water from its hide.

SMOKER ON THE BALCONY - “Listen, I really have to go.” With a flick of his wrist he sends the extinguished cigarette sailing over the rail. ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Ah, there it goes -- *wasted*! You would have gotten at least a few good drags out of it.

YOU - Slurp it *aggressively*. ELECTROCHEMISTRY - You suck a manly dose of the extremely chemical-smelling liquid into your mouth. There it seeps into your tongue. When you swallow it's already almost all gone.

PAIN THRESHOLD - You should say: I need to kill myself and it's all over! DRAMA - Say: Five hundred Lears and I can't remember the first line!!!