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Egor is anxiously clicking his pen. It’s late, and he is curious about his experiment, giving it one last glance before making sure everything is set up correctly. He stops, before clicking his cassette player, ready to explain his creation.
“My control panel has just been built! After MONTHS of fine-tuning the signals on my prototype radio towers, I am almost CERTAIN that this will work! If my theories are correct, these radio frequencies may let us hear something from the past, or maybe even from the future! Even if it were to pick up something from yesterday, that's incredible progress! Unfortunately though, I’ve been up all day making sure everything is in the right places, so I’ll test it tomorrow!” he informs.
He stops the recorder, and gives a sigh of weariness, as he grabs the tarp to cover his new equipment. A big brown fluffy dog comes out of his manor nearby, clearly energetic.
“Hey buddy! What are you doing out so late?” he says as he pets him. “I was just finishing up my science project, I’m gonna talk to the past! Aren't you excited, Hobson?”
The dog gives no response besides cuddling him. Egor commands Hobson to follow him back inside the manor, as he heads for bed in his room.
The loud crash of the thunder and the aggressive winds wake Egor instantly, swiftly putting on his jacket and glasses, he races outside to check on his science equipment. Hobson follows behind him.
“NO NO NO NO NO! FUCK FUCK FUCK!” he shouts while desperately running in the rain.
As he arrives, he sees all his equipment ruined, wet from the rain, damaged by the winds, and pieces scattered all over the floor and missing. He lets out a loud ‘no’, and curls up on the floor, Hobson lies down next to him, attempting to comfort a crying Egor.
“That was MONTHS work of F-FUCKING PROGRESS! All for NOTHING! I didn't even get to test if it worked!” he cries.
Egor then wraps his arm around his dog, and proceeds to cry into his already wet fur. They stay there for a while, cold and wet, until the rain and weather cool down.
Afterwards, Egor picks up the remains from his experiment, his prototype radio tower pieces, and the control panel parts all over the floor. Hobson sniffs a part of his experiment and sneezes.
“Bless you, boy.” Egor laughs, still heartbroken.
After picking up all the parts, they go back to Egor's room in the manor. Egor sits at his desk to fix his equipment and review the blueprints.
“This would be so much easier in the loop, can't wait…” he says.
Hobson barks, trying to get his attention. Egor looks at the dog, realizing he wants food in his bowl.
“Looks like it's that time, eh bud?” he says.
Egor walks downstairs to feed Hobson, pouring the food into his bowl. Hobson immediately digs in.
“You must be hungry.” Egor pets him.
“Hey, you know what buddy? I…should take you on my next psychometric investigation! Whaddaya say?” he asks, getting no response from the hungry dog.
After 3 months, Egor successfully rebuilds his prototype experiment, and now… it's time to test it.
“Hobson? Heyyyy buddy! You ready to come with me to investigate some paaaranormal activity?” he asks.
Egor puts on his red coat and sets out for the location of his experiment. Quickly dashing through the door, with Hobson behind him.
“Alright boy, surely nothing could go wrong this time. I’ve spent a long time tuning the equipment… again. But this time will be different! If I just…adjust…these…knobs, it should…” Egor plays with the control panel a bit. Finally, he hears an incredibly low frequency… Hobson’s ears go up in interest.
“Hobson, you hear that buddy?!” he says, shocked.
“I think we're getting close! Let me adjust it a biiiiit more.” Egor messes with the panel more.
“It’s almost…. I think?” Egor tries to find it again, but loses it.
“Damn, lost it. But still! Incredible progress!” he says, really only caring that his dog came with him. Egor kneels down to Hobson’s level, preparing to talk to him.
“Hey, buddy. I wanted to talk to you about something…” Hobson interrupts by trying to lick his face.
“Haha…you're too cute. I just wanted to say… I love you. I… I… I’m gonna be going away forever in about a month or two. I’m going to be in a time loop! A place where I can continue my experiments like this! But forever!”
Egor sounds sad, but determined at the same time.
He starts to tear up a little bit. “Look, I’m gonna miss you, if I could take you with me, I would. But a-a… a time loop is no place for such a good boy like you!” He pets him. It’s almost as though Hobson understood what he meant, as he whimpers sadly. They go back home to meet up with Frank Spicer and Wenjie Evans, who were coming by to discuss with Egor about leaving for the loop.
“Oh, hello Frank! How’s it going?” Egor greets him.
“Egoorrrr, buddy. It’s been great, how bout’ you?” Frank greets him back.
“Heyyy Wenjie! Nice of you to stop by!” Egor greets Wenjie.
“Hi.” Wenjie says.
“It's been a stressful week, thinking about the anomaly.” He says.
“Hey, don't worry, it’ll all be worth it.” Frank reassures. He notices Hobson, the dog jumping around and excited to meet someone new. Frank crouches down to pet and play with the dog.
“Hahaha who's a good boy?” He pets him.
“That’s Hobson, silly little guy.” Egor says.
“Nice to meet you, boy.” He says.
Seeing Frank play with Hobson makes Egor deeply saddened by the fact that he won't see his buddy jumping around with his tongue out like that anymore. Wenjie stops Frank so they can get back on track.
“Hey. We need to talk about heading to Blackreef in the next two months.” she says.
“Yeah, it's that time.”
The three head into Egor’s room, forgetting about the dog and shutting the door behind him. A few moments later the door opens up for him.
“And how could I forget about you, buddy.” Egor remembers. The dog quickly and happily rushes inside and sleeps on his bed.
2 MONTHS
Egor packs his stuff and is about to head out for Blackreef, but not before saying goodbye to everybody. Tears form around his eyes as he says goodbye to his loved ones. The people who raised him, the home he lived in, and his dog. He explains to them that where he is going is for a cause bigger than himself, and his studies.
“I just…want you guys to know… I don't know if I’ll ever be back.”
He crouches down and talks to Hobson personally.
“Hey buddy… remember when I told you two months ago that I'd be heading somewhere important forever? Well. It’s that time.” Egor says, he scratches the dog's chin, crying. “Look, just… just… take care of mom and dad for me, will you? Buddy?”
The dog leaves him no response but tries to cuddle.
“Haha…I’m gonna miss you… I love you Hobson.” Egor drops his bags and hugs Hobson with two arms as he cries.
He gets up and looks at everyone before saying,
“I love you guys.”
Egor leaves for Blackreef.