act18d0

But if this is yet another false identity, and this place where you belong is yet again false, then I am afraid it would hardly be meaningful for me to serve this place.

How am I to tell you are not using me yet again?

You have the right to be suspicious...

I need only a little assurance. Will this 'Kal'tsit' who invited me here disappear all of a sudden in a few days, a few months, or perhaps a few years?

Will she again set off on a journey to take care of some business that a bystander could never come to understand, to drift the world for her own purposes?

Will you?

If a simple answer can affect your loyalty to Rhodes Island, then perhaps I must reevaluate this working relationship of ours.

I only need an answer. An answer should not be so hard for you. I'll even accept a lie.

If it is answers that you want, I have thousands of them.

Then, please, pick any one of them.

I—

Dr. {@nickname}, here you are.

Good morning, Kal'tsit.;......;Something the matter?

Closure has finished resupplying, but there seems to be an emergency there that needs your attention. Amiya is heading there already.

Don't keep her waiting. She has been working very hard, and you should be there at her side when she needs you the most.

Of course... That goes for you as well.

Don't push yourself too hard. Rhodes Island needs you.

Uhh... Thanks?;......;I know.

I have an unexpected consultation to attend to in a moment, so I will leave it to you and Amiya to wrap things up.

If things go well, perhaps we will get to announce to the whole ship before sundown—

—Time to set sail.