🌘

> make amphetamine --dose=25mg

That should help. A small cup slides out of the machine’s dispenser and a liquid pours into it from the nozzle. You drink the tasteless solution.

“Hi Aydan!”

You hear Zeta. You didn’t notice it come up behind you.

“Oh hi. Do you have a class at this time too?” you say.

“Yeah. But shouldn’t you get going? You’re gonna be late!”

“What?” You check the time: 2254-08-23 10:47:00 “Fuck, I’ve been here that long?”

“Are you okay Aydan?”

“No not really. I haven’t slept for 50 hours and my logs are all fucked up and time itself is apparently slipping away from me.”

“Oh no that sounds bad! I didn’t know you were going through that!”

“I didn’t want to worry people over what was probably just a little anxiety. But now I’m actually kind of worried myself,” you say.

“Do you want to go to the Medical Center?” it says.

“Maybe later. I just took a stimulant that should get me through my class. If I can even make it in time,” you say. “Wait, aren’t you gonna be late too?”

“Nah, I’ll take the shortcut. Come on, I’ll get you there in time,” it says, with a gliding backwards step toward the hallway.

You follow. “The roof shortcut? I don’t know if I’m in a good state to be trying that again right now...”

“Of course not, that’s the fun shortcut, it only goes to the residential block, there’s not a tall enough structure near the edge on this side to make it that way. The less-fun shortcut goes both ways. It’s still pretty cool though, it’s underground.”

“It is? But I thought the sides of the habitable strip had no ground connection.”

“No, there’s a narrow maintenance tunnel. It’s hard to find the entrance, but my older sibling told me!” it says.