act25side

...Go.

In the short span of time after Galleria Stellaria broke through the barrier, the death rate of the seven hundred and fifty-three plants has exceeded ninety percent. The rest... aren't expected to survive.

...Haha.

Kristen, what exactly does it look like, beyond the starpod?

You're fully aware of sharing the same possible fate, and yet you're unwilling to call off your trip?

You've kept your promise to us all. But did you plan on travelling solo, from the very beginning?

Then, Saria, she...

Wait, the acceleration is still increasing... our descent speed hasn't slowed at all... we're falling even faster than before!

What's going on, Bullitt?!

The shockwave from the energy overload must have messed up the return protocol... I can't reverse it... Both parachutes have failed, and the self-balancing system is about to malfunction.

Wait, isn't this equipped with a gravity related Originium Arts module? Find the Arts Unit! Quickly!

Right... right... but the current high temps and energy shock from earlier have fried a third of the modules!

Current height, 3454.7 meters... There's no stopping it! I hate not being able to jump out of the pod right now to lighten it...

The heat insulation layer! The speed's too fast, and the escape pod's layer is about to burn through completely, the damage rate is at 60%!

The wall is deforming, it'll disintegrate at this rate...I'm—

Ough!

Bullitt? Son of a bitch, couldn't you have passed out <i>after</i> installing the Arts Unit?!

How can this be? All return-to-ground structures have gone through several rounds of testing...

There's no simulation that can reproduce a passenger cabin returning to the ground from maximum height. Science requires first-hand verification, and that's what we're doing right now...

We should head to the inner cabin ASAP, the seats are cushioned and there are oxygen masks, we might just...

At this rate, we'll hit the ground in a minute.

No one's gonna survive.

Shit, I don't even have time to record a final video message...

Are there people waiting for you?

The tremendous centrifugal force throws Claude against the corridor's bulkhead, his face is pressed against the glass, and he sees a small, shiny spike.

No, it is a person—a figure tightly bound in thick layers of calcium.

He confirms what he is seeing. But this means, that the opposite figure is falling at the same speed as them, and maybe even faster.

...Director Saria?!

She's probably passed out... at such a height, even the thickest calcium becomes a fragile layer of eggshell! And she herself doesn't even thicker than it!

Damn it...

Water.

A vast body of water.

Water seeps from the escape pod's bulkhead, stretching in mid-air like a living organism.

The escape pod is falling at high speed, and a large river of water is being towed by gravity and vaporizing, but several thick walls still manage to form in the direction Saria is falling.

Claude feels like he is seeing a lake without a shore or a lakebed. He looks at it from the bottom, and the waves are folding in layers as they sway over his head.

If he wasn't currently busy trying to save himself, he feels as if he must follow and learn from the Ursus poets on how to look for the right words describe the scene in front of him—

Water also rises in the cabin, and he is pushed back in the interior.

Director Muelsyse... you're...

...Melting?!

Saria... I guess you did end up fighting with Kristen after all...

So even you couldn't stop her. In the end, we couldn't do anything...

These water barriers can give you somewhat of a buffer, so if you can, I hope you live.

Shucks, I probably look real ugly like this...

But if I could go back, and had this level of determination to pump all the water out of me like right now, could I have changed a lot of things?

The water gently envelopes everything in its body.

All Components Control employees, prepare for impact, hold your breath, it's easy to choke when you're submerged in water...

Go and meet the people waiting for you.

The first New Year's Eve after the founding of Rhine Lab.

Before the show ended, did they actually dance together, a dance of three?

She has kind of forgotten.

Saria, what did you see?

Just the sky.

That's right. The sky. I sat on this stump as a kid, watching my parents test flight after flight from the hill in front of us. Later, they brought me along.

After they died, I never came back here, until now. You're the first.

And that's why you hate the sky?

If I were ten now, having just witnessed everyone's reaction to their deaths and just finished going through their belongings, I would tell you 'yes'.

But that's not my current answer in mind. Worries, pressure, questions, derision, and... bills from corporate and government sectors, these factors didn't hold my parents back, so they're not even worth mentioning.

All the way, my parents staunchly advanced towards their goals, and they only lost to themselves in the end. If the journey is destined to end pre-maturely, then I too will willingly die on the way there.

Don't say something that ominous.

Can I succeed? I don't know, but I'm set on doing it. I inherited everything from my parents, and I've even gone further than they did.

Kristen...

Saria, I'm not asking anything from you, I'm just sharing some past events with my best friend.

...I understand.

So, any thoughts?

Weren't you merely sharing your story?

Oh, you're such a burdenbeast... say something at least?

The sky is really beautiful.

She knows that no one has even seen the view at such a high altitude from such a position, and that the Galleria Stellaria is getting further and further away from her... but she cannot open her eyes—

She is falling at high speed.

The wind howls, scraping against her face like a knife, and the cold, thin air rushes into her nasal cavities, making breathing difficult.

Raw calcium accumulates in a frenzy, forming a thick crystalline layer around her body, so as to prevent her dying from the violent air friction. But she cannot do anything about the impact when she lands...

It was already over.

The vertigo from weightlessness hits her, and no matter how hard she resists, she loses consciousness.

Falling thousands of meters from the sky obviously only takes a few minutes, but why is it taking so long to experience death?

She vaguely senses herself falling onto the surface of water, her speed somewhat slowing down, and afterwards amidst a burst of mechanical buzzing, it feels like as if she has fallen into the clouds again, how soft it was...

Saria... Saria...

It sounds like someone is calling for her... a familiar voice.

Ugh...*cough*—

Don't say anything yet.

Eye movement response, normal, there should be local internal bleeding, but cardiopulmonary functions are normal...

The impact caused multiple external injuries, a slightly torn flexor tendon in the left leg... I'll apply a temporary treatment on the affected area.

Fortunately... there isn't any serious damage to your bodily functions, but when you return to Trimounts, you need to undergo a comprehensive medical exam.

Saria, do you have a headache?

I'm... fine...

Good.

I crushed your drone... and these air cushions...

It's fine.

Where's Ifrit? Is she not with you?

She joined the search and rescue efforts too, so she should be nearby... let's go meet up with her.

Can you stand? Come, I'll help you up.

Silence, I...

...Thanks.

The clouds have parted.

And now we can get an even more clearer view of the sky.

Yes, the sky is really beautiful.

Are you not going to ask your question?

Ask what?

What happened in the Galleria Stellaria.

Would you tell me?

I'll need some time.