My heart was racing, and I nervously scooted back a bit, glancing at the cell's entrance, then back to the woman
"What? They can't see me, you should know that!"
I was hesitant to say anything, as someone might hear… So, instead, I took a stab in the dark and thought what I wanted to say
"So this is 'Connected Conscious'?"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
I sighed, and opened the bonus features TV screen, moving it to face her, she shook her head, and moved it back around "I can only see it through your eyes."
I raised my eyebrow and looked at it, her form shifting next to me on the bed, she stared at it for a moment, before scratching her head.
"Is this like… Final Fantasy? I mean, that has something like this… How'd you get your hands on a thingy like this, uh… TV?"
I shrugged, thinking, "it was simply given to me after dying, have you experienced something like that?"
She tilted her head "I am supposed to be dead right now, I was killed during game 4."
"What?"
Her form shifted over again, laying down on the bed now "Well, game 2 was horrible, some people didn't get their rewards though. It wasn't that hard to beat, really. It was a weird decrease in difficulty, but many people survived, too many, in fact. They were promised the bonuses at game 4, I was going to get a head, but they didn't have any… OH, SO THIS IS WHAT I COULD HAVE GOTTEN?"
She smiled at me, sitting up, I couldn't scoot back any further as her form shifted in front of my face "AW, MAN-But- Now I get to experience it? Awesome! Never thought I'd be on the giving end of this, though. They musta harvested my body for rewards. Why'd they give it to you, though? I thought other's needed a head."
I showed a face of disinterest. I'd rather hear about game 3's last answers. "Maybe they had a surplus?"
She shifted back, placing her finger on her round chin "Ah, makes sense actually, OOH, how far'd ya get by now? Wait, did you say you died earlier? You're alive now, that's-"
I cut her off, she was talking a lot, and I just wanted answers "How are you here now? This body part merging tech is REALLY confusing and odd. I wouldn't imagine that returning after dying is abnormal, the only issue is that I go back in time as well… Originally I died before game 1, after that, I died in game 3, trying to kill the host wasn't a good idea. Must have been a failsafe in-case people got upset. This is my second.. 'Take' they call me a director, for some reason."
The lady stood silent the whole time, so that was nice, then she shifted closer to me, giving me a stink eye "You aren't insane, are you?"
I couldn't help but smile, "Are you real? Was your life invented by my mind?"
She slumped back, and shook her head "So, if that's all true, then… Could you save everyone on the ship?" I shook my head, "Nah. I only have jurisdiction in this quarter. I can't do anything with the other 900."
"I take it you need my help to actually get to game 4?"
"That's on-point. Did you get the 'non-earth phrase one could say when they get angry?' survey question?"
The lady nodded "How did you beat the game, then?"
"Nobody knew the answer on the other team, but as they died, the board revealed the answers. One was left by the last question rounds, so we got through to the end."
"It's really that easy? Just sacrifice the other team?"
"Yeah, but it's not a sure-fire method. The host picks who they want to go up, so it's entirely luck based. Well, if you have more injuries, maybe you might be killed off easier, or the other team would. Attacking the host is a bad idea as the machine in the center can kill you instantly. It literally removes the brain. Probably how they can safely get people's brains out of their head."
"Hm… Well, you remember the answers?"
The lady shifted over, and seemed surprised after a moment of thinking "Actually, yeah! I remember all of them! That's damn weird..."
"Really? Could it be you can also share my other bonus features?"
"You mean skills?"
"Whatever you want to call them..."
The lady looked up, as if in thought, and punched the wall, it… did nothing. "Oh, yeah… Well, I could, that's probably because we are connected, it wouldn't be possible if I didn't have your.. 'feature' Connected Conscious"
"So, that means you can remember everything in perfect detail?"
She looked quite surprised and said "yeah, actually...I can!"
This would surely be a hell of an OP feature, if I can get a lot more consciousnesses in my head.