Chapter 82: Research & Preparation (Part 2)

Don's fingers hovered momentarily over the sleek surface of his desk, an instinctive pause before he commanded the Gary Assist to summon up profiles on some of the city's most pivotal characters. 

As he settled back into his seat, a pop-up on the augmented reality display suggested an upgrade to the communication interface. "Wear the earbuds for enhanced interaction," it advised. 

Don raised his brow at this but didn't question it and just rose up from his seat before going to the drawer, retrieving the high-tech earbuds. Slipping one into his ear, he was greeted by another message, "Wonderful," which was followed by Gary's voice, noticeably more monotone and robotic than usual. "Can you hear me clearly? Blink once for yes, twice for no," the voice instructed.

Don blinked once, and the system responded with a brisk "Marvelous." It then inquired, "For our interaction, do you prefer text or audio? Blink once for text, twice for audio."