~June 18th, 1982~

~Cycle 307~

~Later that night~

Patrice glanced at his watch as he stepped inside the planetarium, there was an hour left before the day should restart. As he walked in, he eyed a map of La Ville Sans Fin pinned to the wall. It was too high up for him to reach normally, but he knew of a way to get it.

He walked further inside and saw Germain near the rotating solar system at the center of the building. He had a series of books out on a table in front of him and his foot propped up on the table. Germain gave him a wave as he walked in. Patrice gave a small wave back.

Patrice circled around the back of some of the exhibits of the planetarium. He found a back exit as well as a staircase that led upstairs. A sign near the stairs said, 'No entry- for employees only'. Patrice headed up them.

The top floor was where Germain and other employees of the planetarium were often stationed. The lower level was designed entirely as a tourist attraction, but it was meant to fund the real research done on the top floor. There were several offices with filing cabinets and computers, each with glass windows. Some of them resembled classrooms.

At the center of the floor was a large circular room with a telescope which extended out of the building itself. It was able to swivel to look in any direction in the sky. There were safety gates to the room that needed to be activated before swiveling the telescope, to prevent anyone from entering while it was in motion. But it was of no interest to Patrice.

He'd become familiar with the upstairs. He knew where the utility room was upstairs. He passed through one of the less used offices to a door with a sturdy steel rim. He opened it and saw a room with a few menial supplies. Pens, markers, folders. At the back of the wall was a circuit breaker for the building. And against the side was the ladder Patrice was looking for. He picked it up and carried it down the stairs with him.

Patrice took down the map of the city pinned to the wall, brought it to one of the tables near Germain, and laid it out in front of him. He set his notebook down beside the map.

On his notebook were various locations in the city, with X's next to some of them and O's beside others. There were a handful of locations with question marks beside them; locations which he asked to be investigated on that cycle. With a marker he began writing X's, O's, and question marks on the corresponding locations on the map.

At the end of each cycle, he'd write out all the information that he'd gathered thus far in one place, leaving himself the remainder of the night to memorize. In the morning he'd have to rewrite as much of it down as possible with nothing to aid him but his memory. He spent much of the day reiterating everything he learned to himself to avoid losing any of the information. That was crucial.

He'd taken to finish his work in the day at the planetarium with Germain. He saw him as another intellectual. Not as smart as him of course. Patrice hadn't met anyone he would consider to be as smart as him. But Germain was someone he could rely on. He didn't seem bothered by his company either. Patrice believed it was his presence that kept Germain doing his research. Otherwise, he'd be tempted to spend all his time with his family.

Patrice and Germain continued their own tasks, when quick footsteps echoed through the planetarium. Patrice looked towards the entrance and saw Henri sprinting across the room, skidding along the floor near him. He looked out of breath, and sweat was over his brow.

"We gotta go! Now!" Henri shouted, already grabbing Patrice's arm and picking him from the table.

"What's going on?" Germain asked.

"No time to explain. We've got to leave like right now!" Henri said, pulling Patrice onto his feet.

Patrice snapped his arm away, "Why?"

Henri groaned, "Remember what I told you about Aveline?"

Patrice recalled the story about their group tormenting Henri's bosses family. He replied, "...Yeah?"

"They're after you now?"

Patrice squinted, "Why!?"

"Doesn't matter now, we've got to go!" Henri said. He looked over at Germain.

Germain sat up, "What about me?"

"Umm..." Henri began... then they all heard the front doors of the planetarium open. They all went silent. Henri's face suddenly lost color, and Patrice understood their situation's direness.

Patrice immediately began strategizing. He looked at Germain and said, "Stay here. We'll be right back."

Patrice beckoned Henri to the back of the building, and Germain muttered, "Okay."

Once they were far enough away, Henri whispered, "He won't be safe."

"I want to see what they'll do." Patrice replied, as they circled around the back of the exhibits towards the back entrance, "How many of them are there?"

"Umm... at least six."

Before they reached the back exit, they heard two gunshots ring out from where Germain was waiting. They barely hesitated to execute him on the spot. Patrice asked, "Are you armed?"

Henri lifted up his shirt, revealing a small pistol at his hip. That wasn't much. Patrice was sure Aveline and her group had weapons. With their numbers, they couldn't fight them off... But they could wait out the clock. If they could burn enough time the day would restart, and they'd have escaped them. They just need to survive the rest of the night. At least one of them do.

Patrice and Henri came near the back exit and the staircase. Henri immediately went for the exit, but Patrice grabbed him by the arm, "If there's at least six of them, they'd be smart enough to circle around the back and cut us off."

"So, what do we do?" Henri asked.

"...Come on." Patrice said, beginning up the staircase. They reached the top and peeked out the upstairs windows down at the exit. There were two individuals with guns were waiting.

"Are you any good with that gun? Do you think you could handle those two?" Patrice asked.

"Probably not..." Henri admitted, "Maybe we could find a window up here to climb out of. Then we just need to get to your car..."

"If they're smart, they probably would've slashed my tires already. If we step outside this building, they'll gun us down for sure..." Patrice explained.

There best bet was to hide somewhere and hope to buy time until the cycle would reset. Patrice was looking for every way he could think of to elongate that time.

"I need you to go to every office, lock the doors, and close them from the inside. Every office except for that one." Patrice pointed to the office that led to the utility room, "Same thing with the safety gate to the telescope room. I'm going to flip the circuit breakers and turn off all the power in the building. They'll have more trouble finding us in the dark."

"O-okay!" Henri said and began darting around the second floor.

Patrice headed to the utility closet, moved aside some cabinets so he could open the circuit breakers, and began flipping every switch. He could see lights going off around them, as well as the many exhibits downstairs powering down. Once Henri was done, he darted to the same office as Patrice and locked the door behind him.

"Okay, what now?"

Patrice beckoned him inside, closed the utility room door behind them, and locked it. "Now we just have to hope we bought ourselves enough time."

Patrice and Henri waited. Eventually footsteps came to their floor, with one of them delivering orders to "guard the stairs." They could be heard wandering around, bashing things, probably trying to break through locked doors. When they heard shattering glass, they figured they grew impatient and broke through the windows rather than the doors. Patrice kept eyeing his watch, time couldn't move quickly enough.

"He's probably hiding in here!" An oddly familiar voice said... it sounded like Patrice's old employee Luis. Why was he there with them?

There were thudding sounds of metal striking metal. They were trying to get into the telescope room. They spent a good while trying to break into that room. They must've succeeded since they were in a scramble once they finally made it inside.

"Where did he go!?" Luis shouted out.

Patrice and Henri continued to wait. But eventually wiggling came at the door of the locked utility room. "Hey, we haven't checked this room yet. Can I get a hand?"

Patrice eyed his watch... they had maybe ten minutes before the cycle would normally reset. Not enough time. Meanwhile Henri was holding his pistol, his hands shaking.

A bullet was fired off at the door. It wasn't enough to break through its steel frame, but they were testing its durability.

"Hey! Don't go doing that! I want him alive when we find him!" Luis shouted.

They could hear them wedging something between the creases of the door, likely a crowbar. Patrice tapped Henri and whispered, "If they manage to open the door, unload everything you have on them. It's us or them tonight."

"Right..." Henri replied airily. "Should we make a run for it after that?"

"No, I'm sure they have people blocking the stairway. After you fire at them, we need to rush the door and do everything we can to keep it closed. If they get inside, we're dead." Patrice whispered, "Then they'll be able to come after us like this every day, just like your boss' family."

"Right..."

Henri held his gun out in front of him, keeping it firmly on the door. Patrice stood with his back against the door, hand on the doorknob. As soon as they broke the lock, he planned to swivel it open, while being ready to slam it shut whenever Henri ran out of ammo.

They could hear the door starting to give way... Henri did his best to steady his hands and slow his breathing. There was a distinctive metal crack from the door. Patrice swung the door open and braced himself. Henri started firing.

Most of the bullets that whizzed around the doorway were from Henri. But it only took a moment before the assailants tried to return fire. It was then that Patrice pushed against the door and slammed it shut, using his weight to keep it closed.

"Henri, get over here and help me keep it shut."

"S-Sure." Henri said, limping over while grabbing his side.

"You... are you okay?" Patrice asked.

Henri slumped against the door. He pulled his hand from his stomach, there was blood there. He'd been hit. "Not really."

Patrice braced against the door. He started feeling someone from the other side pressing on it, trying to break in. Patrice checked his watch. "Seven minutes. Think you can hold out that long?"

Henri slid along the door and sat against it, using his dead weight to brace it. "I... I don't know."

"Put some pressure on the wound. Try to slow down the bleeding." Patrice uttered, trying to hold strong against whoever was on the other side of the door.

Henri coughed, "I think I'm bleeding from too many places to cover em all."

Patrice felt another jolt to the door, as if someone tackled it. Fortunately, Henri leaning against the door helped brace it. In the darkness they were, in he looked at Henri... he wasn't going to make it.

"Look, you might not remember what happened tonight, but I will. After I make it through this, I'll tell you what happened here. Okay."

Henri simply nodded, pushing his back against the door frame as another big push came from the other side.

Patrice and Henri held fast as long as they could, but when someone jammed a crowbar between the seams in combination with a big push, it began to come open. Patrice futilely tried to force it back closed, but another push forced it ajar, pushing them along with it. Patrice backed off to see Luis standing in doorway with a crowbar, a bullet wound in the opposite arm, and a furious expression across his face.

"Luis?" Patrice asked.

Luis flicked the crowbar in his hand, and swung it, smashing Patrice across the chin, making him recoil back in terrible pain. His jaw had to have been fractured from that single strike. He fell against the back of the room as Luis entered.

A few others stepped in view behind Luis, including that Aveline woman that led their group. She peered around the door and saw Henri's now lifeless body slumped against it.

"Look who warned him." Aveline said calmly.

Luis gritted his teeth and looked back, "Henri? I thought he was acting weird. How did he know we were coming after him though?"

"Not sure..." Aveline replied.

Luis turned back to Patrice, gripping the crowbar tightly. He glanced at his watch... four minutes. He needed more time. He asked a simple question, "Wh-what is this about?"

After being bludgeoned by a crowbar, Patrice could hardly recognize his own voice.

Luis only gripped the crowbar tighter. He let out of heavy breath and asked, "Do you remember that one time I asked you for time off? I never asked before, but I did then."

Patrice needed to drag this on as long as possible, "...ummm, well... I think so... Yes. What about it?"

"My mom was in the hospital. We didn't know if she was going to make it. I wanted to be with her. But do you remember what you told me?" Luis said each word through gritted teeth, as if he could lash out at any moment.

Patrice genuinely didn't remember anything like that. It didn't sound familiar. He could say no.... but he needed to keep him talking. That would keep him alive until the cycle would restart.

So, he said something he knew would infuriate Luis. "I gave you that time off."

Luis eyes went bloodshot. He gripped the crowbar, thrashed it against the wall, before finally smashing it down onto Patrice's foot. He let out a scream and gripped it in agony, as Luis roared relentlessly at him.

"You said it wasn't a good time for the company! You said you needed me for your stupid project! When the project was finished, you got a promotion for a job well done, while I couldn't be there for my mom when she died!"

Patrice was in terrible pain, but he was alive... He only needed to be alive when the cycle reset. So, when Luis brought the crowbar down again, this time directly on his knee, he was able to bare it as it cracked bone. When he swung the crowbar at his arm, he gritted his teeth through it. It was the worst pain he'd ever been in, but he was still alive.

But he raised his hands up when it looked like Luis was going for a blow to his skull, "Wait, wait wait!"

"What!?" Louis screamed; his voice was coarse from letting out his anger.

"What, what do you want me to say to you?" Patrice said, beleaguering each word as much as he could, glancing again at his recently broken watch.

"There is nothing that you can ever say or do that will be enough!" Luis screamed.

Patrice raised his arms as if to shield himself. "I-I do have one thing to say."

"What!?" Luis gritted his teeth, ready to swing at him again.

Patrice glanced at his watch and smirked. He raised his watch and showed it to Luis. "You're out of time."

~June 18th, 1982~

~Cycle 308~

All that pain Patrice had been enduring suddenly vanished, and he found himself with a mild headache, stuck in traffic yet again. The brilliant bright blue light of the comet flew overhead, and he knew that he made it through the night... Now what?