“The Boss will see you. Proceed inside.”

The weary-looking blue robot opens the great steel doors and gestures for you to enter. As you step inside, you find yourself standing on the end of a long red carpet lined with a thin strip of gold on either side. The carpet separates your soles from a floor of smooth stone, and ends somewhere in the darkness ahead. You squint, trying to make out what lies beyond the shadows, but to no avail. You nervously turn over your shoulder to ask for a light, but the door is already closing in your face.

Swallowing your fear, you make your way down the seemingly endless corridor. The stares of portraits, lining the walls on either side of the great hall, seem to pierce you as you pass. Some recognizable, and others completely unknown, the faces are all accompanied by tiny brass placards naming the subject. You feel like pausing to consider one of the paintings carefully, but you have business ahead, so you press on.

After what seems like an eternity of walking, you finally come to the end of the hall, and discover a barely-illuminated throne of gold and violet, flanked by the intense stare of a tentacled green alien and the blank expression of a space helmet. Sitting on the throne, dressed in an outfit that seems completely out of place in this dungeon-like hall, is the entity you assume to be ‘The Boss’. As you approach, they nonchalantly raise a cup of coffee to the domed visor of their helmet, slurping audibly - somehow. From behind the visor, you look for a pair of eyes, or any sign of a face whatsoever, but all you can make out is a swirl of dim color and tiny pinpoints of light, as if you were peering into the void of space at some distant nebula.

The strange entity crosses their legs and reclines back on the throne, taking another sip of coffee.

“Well?” The voice comes in clear, without the expected muffle of a spacesuit helmet. “Have a nice walk?"

(big, colossal thank you to noodle for help with this design!)

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