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Right now, though, what I want to do most is alleviate Amiya's pain.

Three months later...

Rhodes Island of Babel, Kazdel

I see you, Amiya. You can come out.

Doctor... am I interrupting anything?

No, just curious how you got in when I didn't hear the door open.

I found a lot of secret passages.

Secret passages?

Yeah. Closure said not to tell anyone, so I haven't.

No wonder Dr. Kal'tsit can't find you for checkups. You've been hiding there all along.

...I promise I won't run away, if you go with me.

Alright, I'll try to make the time.

You've been really busy. Dr. Kal'tsit said even she has hardly seen you lately.

Whenever I see you, you're all by yourself, carrying a stack of papers, head down, walking from one end of a corridor to the other.

If someone says hi to you, all you do is nod, then keep on walking without a word.

Sounds like you're describing a really rude person. Sorry, Amiya.

No, that's not what I meant... you just seem really unhappy.

Why would you say that?

Before we came to Rhodes Island, you were curious about everything, cuddled up with the burdenbeasts at night, crouched down to look at tiny rocks in the mines, and went to pick fruit from beckbeast dens...

You enjoyed everything, even the things that didn't interest me as a kid.

But now... whenever I talk to you about something fun, all you say is, 'I'm glad you enjoyed it, Amiya.'

But I came to talk to you about it to make you feel happy...

Are you unhappy because I'm not getting better?

It's not because of you, Amiya. This is about me.

And... you can hear noises outside the ship, can't you?

Yes. Like the huge drills in Rim Billiton. They're so noisy... I don't like them.

Me, Theresa, Dr. Kal'tsit, we all have a lot of things to do. It's not your fault.

...Alright.

Do you have time today, Amiya?

Yes!

I want to go up the deck and see the clouds. It's going to rain. They have very interesting shapes, and I could talk for a long time if there was someone there to listen to me.

Of course! But... don't you have work to do?

It's okay... I'll be done soon.

Amiya.

If there comes a day when we cure Oripathy, not just for you but for all of Terra as well...

When the day comes that Terrans no longer live in fear of Originium and Catastrophe...

Let's go on a journey again, to see the rest of this great land.

This time, we'll bring Kal'tsit, and...

Originium will become the light that guides the next civilization.

<color=#000000>All consciousness shall foster new hope in Originium, until the end of time.</color>

Doctor!

...It's okay. The Doctor just passed out on the deck due to exhaustion.

Thank goodness... it's not something serious.

What about the wound on the Doctor's arm?

Trying to contract Oripathy. The Doctor tried many ways: breathing in dust, exposure to Originium-dense environments, even a direct incision with active Originium...

I tried to get the Doctor to stop, and I asked Scout to do the same, but...

No one wants to see the Doctor get hurt.

Maybe the Doctor is in more pain than we see on the surface.

What about Amiya?

Terribly frightened. She wouldn't stop crying. It took a lot of effort to get her to sleep.

This is... a sculpture?

A gift from a rescued Infected to the Doctor.

Ace was the first to hear Amiya's cry. He carried the Doctor back and left this behind.

See, Doctor? You've established connections with so many people. You're not alone.

But what are you hiding that you wouldn't even tell Kal'tsit or me?

The Doctor truly wants to help Amiya and Babel. I can feel that.

But I also can't help but feel that the Doctor leaves some thoughts unsaid... some concerns, some doubts.

I believed these sentiments were the result of such an abrupt awakening, and that they would go away in time.

But they haven't.

The Doctor is being torn apart by these unsaid things, tormented by hesitation, pain, and guilt.

Perhaps I don't understand the Doctor as well as I thought.

I don't know how to ease the Doctor's pain. And if neither of us know what the Doctor is thinking...

Then the Doctor of Babel will always be alone, all the love and respect notwithstanding.

...Kal'tsit.

Yes.

I will explain to the Doctor in time.

Theresa puts her hand on the Doctor's forehead.

Under the warm surface lies a past that she cannot fathom.

<i>Civilight Eterna.</i>

<color=#000000>Originium must rewrite all.</color>

<color=#000000>Only then is there value in existence.</color>

From the emergence of intelligent life, to the lights in the cosmos and the maelstrom of the stars.

Originium will continue to replicate and transform, until even time ceases to exist.

This... is Originium?

Originium.

The first light before the Big Bang.

She said that only by covering every inch of the land in Originium, only by returning matter and time, tide and wonder, light and wailing, to the vast ocean of information...

Only then will we find change and advancement, and avert the fate that is the end.

Even though...

It is not a transformation, but a death.

<color=#000000>It is not an extinction, but a continuation.</color>

When was this memory...? The Doctor's emotion, pain, hesitation, and... fear?

Who was that... accompanying the Doctor in despair?

No, Kal'tsit said there was another—

The growth of Originium is silent, beautiful, calm.

All signs of life have been overgrown, civilization has vanished from this land.

But Theresa feels only fear and suffocation.

The memory is trembling, collapsing. There is a force somewhere, trying to fix an error.

The Originium in the memory continues to grow, even assimilating Theresa's consciousness—

'Theresa...'

Kal'tsit? Oh, yes, she was by my side.

'Theresa!'

She seems to see the Doctor, before her consciousness is fully absorbed by the nebulous Originium light—

Theresa!

What happened, Theresa?

What did you see?

I... I saw Originium.

It had assimilated the entire continent. The Doctor felt pain and anxiety over it.

Was that the Doctor's memory? No... a dream?

Give me a hand, Kal'tsit. The feeling, the noise and the wailing... I...