Not down on any map

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Connor: “Ugh...”

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“What’s the matter?” Gavin prods. “Not water, after all?”

“No, it is water alright. Perfectly normal water, too. SALT WATER! In Detroit, where we hadn’t that for 400 million years!”

Gavin Reed isn’t as well versed in geology (or paleontology, as Connor’s remark suggests) as his co-captain, but he knows the city inside out like few others. From a very young age the man has explored the city and its abandoned factories. On one occasion he had fallen onto conveyor a belt that turned out to still have juice in it, only to get accidently packaged and sent to a wholesale car dealership. Gavin has drawn a complete map of the abandoned Belle Isle Zoo and is on first name terms with every last stray on the island. And so he now casually drops a little known fact about Detroit:

“Actually, the whole city is standing atop a giant salt mine...”

“For real?” Daniel wonders. As a primary school teacher he is always ready to absorb cool new facts to pass on to his kids.

“Yeah, it’s true”, Tina confirms, followed by a sigh: “That shifts the investigation from the city to an underground complex almost the size of the city. Joy.”

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Suddenly Connor starts humming…

♪♫ For it's cheer up my lads / Let your hearts never fail ♪♫ ♪♫ For the bonnie ship the Diamond / Goes a-hunting for the whale ♪♫

“Hey! You tipsy from the water sample?!”

“No... I feel... confused.”

With a smirk Gavin says: “Connor, you always feel confused. It’s your default state of being, pal.”

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“I’m afraid the water didn’t agree with me, after all.”

Connor closes his eyes to shut out all unnecessary sensations.

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He hears the shuffling of clothes as Daniel rises from the bench, the door opening as Officer Deckart returns to report the result of the spell angle calculations… Rika asking a question… Then Connor feels Daniel’s hand on his shoulder…

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...and suddenly he finds himself standing outside.

Connor can hear the waves roll on the shore and against pathetic wooden beams. In the distance Chris is lying on the boardwalk, just now coming back to his senses. The person looming over the detective is wearing an odd costume, but his body shape and stance match Daniel’s. Not just any PL600 android, but specifically Daniel Reed.