Chapter 5

Radio Silence

Anchor 1

OUR SERVICES

"...“So how are things here?” Mr. Collins asked, leaning through the doorway. Like clockwork, the bodyguard would move from his make-shift post outside Security and walk through Admin to check on them. In the chair next to her, Ray stirred from a restless nap, hands jerking up in self-defense. With a disorientated glance around the room, he swallowed audibly and slowly put his trembling arms down. In the other chair, Ms. Orwell continued to snore peacefully."

Author's Comment

The first amateur detectives meeting has commenced, and almost immediately it breaks down into workers vs. corporate. Orwell has her work cut out for her, especially with her fellow peacekeeper sleeping off an attempted murder, and the station's worsening state isn't helping with peoples' mental states. Collins', or rather Carter's, disguise also falls apart in this chapter, although whether that disguise was even a good one is debatable. In general, this chapter is mainly about the cracks that keep widening despite everyone's best attempts to ignore them.

Some fun notes:

Cyril's current character was made with Collins being a fake last name, but he still gets accidentally referred to as Collins when writing out of habit. Cyril Collins also sounds better than Cyril Carter.
With the stakes raised, Orianna has less leniency to play overly-eccentric genius, and so her dialogue gets more progressively annoyed and serious.

Change Notes

The beginning scene with Greene and Collins originally included discussion on Collins' theories, but was eventually cut due to the section dragging out too long.
Choosing what the group focused on in terms of Wayne's murder kept changing, especially as each topic meant a completely different flow of conversation.
The chapter featured more scenes from the perspective of the station crew, but after reading it the pov roulette ended up feeling too distracting. Remnants of it still remain, but most of it has been cut.