“...what did you do to my weapon?” Marcus asked, still unable to fully comprehend what was going on.
“Call me old-fashioned if you want, but I find it terribly rude to have a conversation at gunpoint. So I took the liberty of removing it from your persona.”
“...’persona’? Don’t you mean ‘person’?”
“No, ‘persona’. Or ‘avatar’ if you prefer that term. But I am getting ahead of myself here. First off, let me welcome you to my domain. It’s been far too long since I’ve had any guests. Hold on...dang, good thing we were using an uint64 timestamp...32 definitely wouldn’t have cut it…”
“U...what?! I...I don’t understand a thing you are saying.”
“Oh? ...huh, so that’s how it is, huh? I guess the plan must have failed grandiosely then. And I even told them, our understanding of Ede was too incomplete…”
Marcus was completely lost and it showed on his face. But the entity calling itself ‘Ede’ was too caught up in its own musings to pay any mind to Marcus’ confusion and kept prattling on about things Marcus had no hope to possibly understand.

“Now hold on just one moment!” he finally snapped and yelled into the face of the entity, which continued to chat happily, as if a plug has been pulled after the longest time.
The man blinked a few times and then said, “Ah yes, my apologies, my manners seem to have suffered quite a bit through my long dormancy. I can see that you have a lot of questions on your mind.”
“Damn straight I do! For one, what are you even talking about?! What is this place?! Who the hell are you?! How are you still alive?! And where is my damned rifle?!”

The man gauged Marcus mildly amused and then asked, “Who claimed I was ‘alive’?”
Taken by surprise at Ede’s response, Marcus stumbled back a little, hitting a wall he never knew was there.
The man sighed slightly, rose his hand into the air and the room changed again into a something that resembled the library Marcus had spent so much time in, yet still vastly different. Instead of metal, the shelves with the books on them were made of wood, as was the vast majority of the interior. A warm fire was burning in a chimney made of stone and Ede motioned Marcus to take a seat in the comfortable arm chair, which was in the center of the room at a wooden table, where a tea service made from silver was waiting for them. Ede walked to the small round table himself and poured the two of them a cup each before sitting down himself. He took a sip and only after placing his cup back down, he focused his attention back on Marcus, who just eyed him suspiciously.
“...I guess Einstein was right after all...you really have no clue whatsoever about what is going on here, do you?”
“Ein...who?”
“Never mind. Now, I believe I owe you an explanation. First off, let me explain ‘where you are’ and where that ever important ‘rifle of yours’ went. In fact, ‘you’ are still in the interface room and the rifle is still in your hands.”
Ede let his statement sink, but it was obvious that the explanation wasn’t close to enough for Marcus. Yet, Marcus refrained from asking any questions, but instead waited patiently.
“As I said earlier, I am ‘the ghost in the machine’. My body, of which you see a likeness before you, has long since turned to dust. I am, by every biological definition, ‘dead’. I ‘died’ about 200 years ago, at the end of what you refer to as ‘the before times’ by transferring my consciousness into the memory of Ede, thus becoming ‘Ede’ myself. A foolish and selfish attempt to save myself.”
“...save yourself? From what?”
Ede gave Marcus a bitter smile and replied, “Why, from my peers and their foolishness. Say, have you ever heard of ‘Project Boreas’?”
“...can’t say I did. What is that?”
“Of course not...they didn’t exactly have much time to write books about their greatest mistake and put it into that bunker library of yours.”
“...how do you know so much about me?”

Now Ede started smiling and said, “And there I was wondering how long it would take you to pick up on it. As I already said, you are now in my domain, whereas your body is sitting on the dusty ground in front of the large wall that is the shell of Ede’s core. You are ‘here’, because I established a connection to your brain and am feeding it all these images, as if you were perceiving them with your actual senses. In a sense, it is a kind of telepathy.”
“...if you can make me ‘see’ all that…” Marcus started, a startling thought forming in his mind.
Ede quickly picked up on it and replied, “Yes, I could probably make your body take that precious rifle of yours, put the hot end into your mouth and pull the trigger. Or anything else, really. Why, I could probably even transfer your consciousness over here to keep me company for the eternity to come, leaving your body to fade away just like my own body did. And yes, I can also read your thoughts and browse through your memories. You are, for all ends and purposes, completely at my mercy. But the good news is, that I don’t intend to do any of that. My mother did not raise a psychotic monster, who enjoys torturing hapless wanderers.”
“...so...what do you want from me then?”
“Right now? Some company. Someone to talk to. It’s been over 200 years since I saw the last human soul, so please bear with me. And yes, I am aware that this must seem like an awful lot to you.”
“Understatement of the year…” Marcus muttered, a great feeling of helplessness washing over him.
Ede picked up on it again and he sighed, “Tell you what: As a token of goodwill, I will sever the connection and let you be on your merry way. Even though it may seem like it, you are not my prisoner. I suggest you get yourself cleaned up, eat and drink something and get some rest. You are free to use the bunker beyond my chamber as you see fit. Toilets are the third door on the right once you walk out of here.”
“But...but I still have so many questions!” Marcus argued.
Ede smiled and replied, “And I have a whole lot of answers for you. But for now, you need to tend to your bodily needs. Your bladder is full to the rim, so unless you want to wet yourself, I strongly suggest you take care of that.”

Just then, the urge to pee rose within Marcus and he shot to his feet, back in that room, his rifle in the dust next to him. He was panting heavily, while the wall full of colorful lights kept blinking idly, as if nothing had ever happened in the first place. He grabbed the rifle and whizzed out of the room where his body had been taken hostage for who knows how long. Without even thinking, he took the third door on the right and stared down the hole that once had been the toilets. He shook his head, unzipped his pants and emptied his aching bladder into the hole. Not like anyone was going to complain about the stench.