Interface Episode 23

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> "*All haunted souls remain on Earth. They fail to go as they came. So when you died, why did you stay?*"
> ― Mr. Greetings
>
>

## Description

The twenty-third episode of the Interface series was published by 'u m a m i' on March 20th, 2021.

## Official Synopsis

*Within the simulation generated by the brain of the mechanical saccorhytus, Mr. Greetings speaks with Henryk about his past and his role in the future. He gives Henryk a choice, to join him and betray Mischief... or not.*

## Summary

The episode opens with Henryk standing alone in a strange cityscape created by the brain of the mechanical saccorhytus blimp, smoking a cigarette. Nearby is an octopus (almost certainly Chef, who was previously absorbed by the saccorhytus), frozen in place like a statue around a cube. A train bearing the Greetings Robotics logo pulls up and Mr. Greetings steps out, extending a hand to Henryk in greetings as the two men meet for the first time.

They sit aboard the train as it crosses the landscape. Greetings notes that Henryk is facing the back of the train, which will result in him seeing his past rather than his future, which he asks Henryk if he's interested in seeing. Henryk does not react, and Greetings smirks as he accepts Henryk's wordless decision. They pass by a tarp covering a round object outside in a desert. As Henryk looks on, the tarp is lifted from the object, revealing it to be an egg.

The train stops again and Henryk disembarks, approaching a camera setup in the desert as he once did to photograph Operation Tumbler-Snapper (first seen in Episode 06). Greetings asks Henryk about the cause of his problems and dissociation from reality. He beckons Henryk to look within himself for the answers as Henryk takes his place by the camera and focuses on the egg, then pulls out and dons a pair of bomb viewing glasses. The egg cracks open in a burst of cerebral electricity and a pink nuclear explosion is revealed; it then morphs into the shape of a human brain. Mr. Greetings goes on to say that haunted souls linger after death, unable to move on. Henryk's body is instantly vaporized by the explosion, leaving behind a skeleton as his cigarette flies behind him. Greetings inquires why Henryk chose to stay as Henryk's body and clothes re-form from cerebral electricity, exactly as they were before.

The two are once more aboard the train. Outside is a massive ravine. A modern city is shown on one side; within the ravine is the wreckage of another city. Toxic water spills from the upper city onto the ruined lower one and the air is choked with smog. Greetings continues his narration, saying that complicity with war and the advancement of destruction, which further distanced mankind from the natural world, are the weights that the man of the past bears, and that these are the sins that haunt them. Henryk is shown in a crowded city, with two large skyscrapers nearby (most likely the Twin Towers of New York City), as Greetings says the divide grows stronger over time and that like Henryk, he and his company saw the beginning of the end, and "indebted [themselves] to the great reversal". However he points out that, unlike Henryk, they have changed. As he says this, KAMI is shown looking through a window overlooking a skyline, removing her mask, and bowing as a plane flies toward the building (this being a reference to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks).

A pink horse is shown running atop the train tracks, approaching the train as it prepares to cross the ravine. Mr. Greetings continues, saying that they learned their place beneath the sun and above the sea, and that if they fly too high they will be burned down by the sun, while being too low will cause them to drown. The horse passes the train and a gust of wind in its wake causes Henryk's bowler hat to fly off as he watches the horse. Greetings rhetorically asks why it is that when they call out the gods, they are met with silence as wings materialize on the horse from cerebral electricity and it takes flight. He answers that the reason is because they need Henryk, the "man of the past". Numerous copies of Henryk are shown floating in a city under a blue sky, and Greetings tells Henryk that his decision carries weight as there is only one universe with only one possible outcome and choice. Henryk's bowler hat is shown floating in the breeze above the clouds. Greetings says that making the right choice will restore balance and lift the weight from Henryk's shoulders, to be shared by the rest of mankind, and that most important of all, he will be happy.

The train reaches its destination: Henryk's house, restored to how it once was when he still had his family. His daughter is standing in the flower fields outside. She turns to see Henryk and smiles before rushing to meet him. They embrace and she expresses her joy at seeing him again, and says she thought she never would. She asks Henryk to tell him she's not dreaming before tears of cerebral electricity run down her face. Greetings, who watches from nearby, then promises that Henryk can live here in the Interface with his most cherished memories. His daughter asks Henryk if he is there to stay, and he characteristically doesn't answer. Greetings observes that Henryk's eyes are filled with chaos unknown, and he knows more than she wishes to know. He notes that she too has guilt, and that is why "he" preys on her. He beckons Henryk to capture this "devil" that haunts them as the bowler hat returns from its trip in the sky. Henryk catches it and puts it back on as Greetings tells him to cast the devil into the light.

The train pulls away, leaving Henryk at a station beneath a strange sun clock, which bears a clown face resembling that of Mischief. Greetings asks Henryk if he is afraid when he sees him, and that if he isn't, he has been fooled. He then asks how Henryk feels when he sees him as Henryk looks upon his two photographs; the first of his family, the second of the floating head apparition that Mischief took in Episode 15. His daughter watches him from the flower fields as cerebral electricity radiates around her and a dragonfly passes by. Greetings tells Henryk about a red button in the lighthouse, and that if he presses it, he will make the right choice. Henryk seems to accept this information and steps out of frame, ending the episode.

## Notes

* Assuming that the Interface version of Operation Tumbler-Snapper took place at the same time as in our reality (early 1952), this means Henryk has been in his frozen state since approximately age 42.
* The official synopsis for this episode explicitly confirms that the Greetings Robotics blimp is called the mechanical saccorhytus.

## Gallery

 Part II
 One-shots
 Adult Swim shorts