the network

Hey, wait. Not yet, hold on. You can't come yet, I have to call somebody fir--whoa! _{[A stifled intake of breath. A pleading note.]} Oh, come on, give me a break. Not yet!

<sub>[The message starts with a Jack's voice drifting in and out of range, like somebody caught between talking away from the receiver and turning into it. Urgency threads through the words.

There's a distant squeak of bed springs, another hissed breath.]</sub>

Ohhhh, I see something! _{[That urgency ramps up to something closer to awe and terror of the unknown.]} It's pink in there! I can see it moving around! I forget what I'm supposed to do! I was just getting used to having Eggbert around and now he's falling to pieces on me.

_[Faintly:]

Oh, shit...

_{[Even fainter, the sound of a delicate, barely audible cheep.]}

What the hell is that? You gotta come over and bring the dog food or something-- Wait. _{[Now there's a sudden silence as a perplexed somebody realizes this isn't the private call he thought he was making. Goddamn phones, where's a moogle when you need one?]} This isn't even the right line! Lemme try that again.

_{[That there is the definitive 'click' of a hang up.]}