act25side

I need to get ready. I have to keep going.

And you. It's because of you.

The S.H.A.F.T.'s output phase may be nearing completion, and it won't be safe in this building.

Come, Ifrit. Let's get out of here.

Also, someone's waiting for us to pick her up.

As rudimentary a toy as it may be, the spear of a secondary civilization breaking through the sky for the first time was enough to render this nascent world dumbfounded.

Dr. {@nickname}, regardless of how you see yourself today, you will find you need to hear the truth I speak.

I chose to forsake my duty. I chose to forsake... these lives that I have overseen for nigh-immemorial eons.

They are your kin, and thus you have the right to know. That is all.

What?;......;My kin...?

It's been too long.

Are the shadows of that civilization still deep within your memories, Dr. {@nickname}? Have any fragments floated to the surface?

––Doctor!

It seems like there is at least something there. In any case, there is no point in rehashing the grand visions of the past. Just use your imagination, according to whatever impressions still remain.

But regardless of what you remember, we ended up with far few survivors than you might imagine.

From great desperation was the 'Preserver Project' born. Special life support devices, unshakable underground fortresses. When the calamities receded, they would be the seeds of new life.

But, destruction came, sooner and more overwhelming than anyone could have anticipated. Though at that time, people had already come up with certain methods...

Most of them fail to understand, including she who stands beside you, let alone the blank slate that is you.

We were born out of desperation and not fully prepared. A pure, advanced AI would only increase the risk... so one person made the ultimate sacrifice.

This one volunteered to remain permanently trapped in a cage of consciousness within an electronic cloud, forever locked in an immovable sarcophagus deep underground.

So you mean...;Your consciousness is...

As of this moment... In every sarcophagus, is a person yet to wake up...;...Me?

Correct.

But, none of them will ever wake up again.

They lost that ability long ago.

Even though you have no memory of who you are, you feel a part of your body spasm violently.

A dull pain travels from your heart to the palm of your hand. For a moment, the name of this emotion eludes you, your daily life at Rhodes Island often making you forget the quandary at the core of your existence.

'Kin.'

...Doctor.

Kal'tsit hesitates to speak.

You want her to say something to comfort you. You want her to be as omniscient as she always has been in the past, offering you solutions, answering the questions you've always had.

But, you see only doubt and sorrow in her eyes.

Sorrow is an uncommon emotion for her, even less so if that sorrow is for your sake.

If you came here only to stop Kristen, turn and leave.

Nothing is going to stop us, even if the meaning of her death is itself but a gamble. I've already made up my mind.

The memory-bereft Dr. {@nickname}, and AMa-10, who has managed to survive to this point, if you have no other responses, then we have nothing more to say.

...No!;......

'No?'

What is it you want then? Do you wish to recover your memories and the truth, or do you insist on stopping Kristen?

You can't accomplish any of it. Your amnesia is hardly so simple. You are just being pushed along numbly, thinking you've acquired faith and new ideals.

Ignorant hope is but the harbinger of despair, something we know so very well. Why not enjoy your hard-fought renewed lease on life, and instead insist on broaching the truth?

No.

We need an answer before disaster strikes. I would even like to have your assistance, if at all possible.

Instead, what you are doing now will only cause things to spin out of control. This land is not capable of coming together as one.

...AMa-10 Kal'tsit.

You cast aspersions on the difficult decision I've made, though I've digested this torment alone for ages.

Do you really know anything about this land?

The threat from the ocean grows day by day, while the mighty Ægirian civilization remains arrogant as ever. They might be powerful now, but they still underestimate the ocean.

Though the Demons and the Hollows deep within in Sami's depths show little tendency to expand, they cannot be ignored. They are like cracks entrenched deep within the ice, presaging a collapse that may occur at any time.

But these are only the fringes beyond civilization's soil. They were never the immediate causes of our slain future.

Inequality and prejudice, war and strife. The people are far from understanding the value of unity, are fundamentally unable to set aside differences and old grudges to talk about peace and the future.

Even when Catastrophes descended, the cogs of Ursus's war machine did not stop turning for a moment, and the peasants of Kazimierz were not exempted from brutal punishment and taxation.

Unity is an eternal dilemma. Even today, there are those who cry for the wars of old, yet refuse to face the suffering as well as those who died in vain. They may not even be able to see these words.

It's too soon... They are still too weak. A few lucid individuals do not represent the entire nation.

Columbia will soon seize their desired advantages from Kristen, expand their appetite, and extend their hypocritical forks and knives towards Bolívar, Sami, and Sargon.

What Kristen did is a far cry from a feat of strength scoping out the future of humanity. Even a slight deviation, and all of this will become but a clarion call for the next round of conquest.

Is that what you, AMa-10, Kal'tsit, think of Terra now?

Fine then... I understand. For one who has walked with the civilizations born of this land, your opinion holds referential value.

Since you each have your own reasons for not wishing to budge, then let us test each other using the ancient ways.

Compared to pure rhetorical persuasion alone, I will need some more 'basal' behaviors to evaluate your quality and revise the plan.

––Provided you are qualified.

I accept.;......;Whatever you say.

(Unknown language) 'Debate.'

Allow me to explain in advance that the things you've brought up are not outside my knowledge. Through Columbia's databases, I have heard of this history.

But, I must re-assess whether the two of you have the qualifications... and the ability to warrant discussing larger plans together. Whether or not Terra can remain in the hands of people like you, whether you have the right to debate the future.

The time Kristen spent here with me goes beyond language. Hold on, you two. We are about to begin.

I'm being teleported?!;......;This place...

......Dr.{@nickname}.

You really don't remember me.

I...;......;Priest...ess...?

No... you're not...;......;But just now, I was...

Yes.

This is just her cognitive resonance. Originally, this technology was supposed to be used to check the vital signs of those sleeping in the sarcophagi, or to preserve their dignity.

Just like... entering your dreams, shaping your dreams. For you, I am that dream.

So you're really just an illusion created by that machine?;So, you are my dream...?

Close enough, but there's still a fundamental difference.

Just as the philosophers and interlocutors did in their palaces of old, when thoughts collide and words are exchanged, cognition intermingles and the boundary between self and non-self blurs.

You currently play the role of the 'Doctor' in your dialogue with 'me'. But in reality, I am the one who plays the 'Doctor,' whereas you are actually 'me.'

But... your consciousness is continuous. This is not equivalent to the illusion in front of you, or your own image changing.

The only word that can describe this sensation is, 'dreamlike.'

You will not see a cold, impassive machine calling itself 'Preserver,' and that will not see the helpless and dazed you. It is only in dreams that our subjective perspectives are no longer distinct.

Come. Don't forget that this manner of cognitive resonance has a humorous name: 'debate.' Oh, of course it is your subconscious mind that finds this word humorous.

Push open that door. There remains a question we must resolve.

A question?;......;Do you really have to test people in their dreams?

No, it's not that I'm trying to test you. By all means, this is not one of 'Preserver's' cryptic question-and-answer sessions, or one of Kal'tsit's rhetorical traps.

The one who will pose this question, is Dr. {@nickname}.

What's that supposed to mean? Myself? Hold on!;...... (Silently push the door open);But, I've drifted along, never making things hard for myself.

You, yourself.

After losing your memories, you quickly got accustomed to life at Rhodes Island. You've always known that Kal'tsit was hiding something from you, but over the years, you've both been overwhelmed by the challenges you face...

It has even caused you to lose your will to pursue the truth. In other words, your curiosity about the truth ended with Babel.

When did you start thinking to yourself, 'this is fine'? Do you really have that same obsession in the bottom of your heart to recover your memories?

As more trust was built, certain truths gradually came to light, which even led you to self-doubt. But, the two of you overcame these difficulties, which is why you're here today.

But, what about before that? Long before you took Amiya's hand in Chernobog, long before Babel.

Who are you? What are you? Where are you going?

Doctor, who are you?

I... I am Dr. {@nickname}...;......;I... don't know.

There's something I want to tell you, Doctor.

The Doctor I placed my trust in... is one and the same with the Doctor who woke up in Chernobog and has fought by our side ever since.

That's what I believe. That's what I've always believed.

But in reality? Dr. Kal'tsit... and Theresa... Do they really see the commander of Babel and the Doctor of Rhodes Island as the same person?