act34side

Did you think we were touring a museum? You were looking at the instruments like they were exhibits.

The third place I mistook for a museum, then.

Why is gravity reversed in there?;What's with the water flowing around the pillars?;What's that space that warped my fingers?

There are some things even I can't explain.

Technology has advanced a lot in five years.

Wait, that tower...

There's a launchpad at the heart of the city?

Good eye, Doctor, that's a beacon launcher. One with plenty of history.

You know about it, Shark?

My parents took me around the home territories when I was little. There are similar structures in many cities.

I thought Ægir children were raised collectively.

I was, but Shark has a special relationship with her biological parents.

They're more like friends than parents.

They reached a consensus with the Institute of Incubation to bring me along whenever they worked on a new dome project.

I spent most my time in the Institute of Incubation, but I was able to see the cities, learn, and even work alongside them.

So, what's this beacon launcher for?

Exactly what it sounds like: it launches beacons to mark the Waterway.

Those are some huge beacons.;How big is this Waterway anyway?

Ægir had almost mastered the oceans around 300 years ago, efficiently using natural energy in its various forms and recording every seafloor trench in our navigational charts.

Then we cast our sights on another ocean, one brimming with stars.

Our fleets and even our cities were meant to cross that boundary that should never have existed, and light the fires of civilization beyond the barrier.

Beyond the barrier...

The Preserver was right, Doctor. Kristen's achievement is not beyond Ægir's reach.

The sea and the sky are closer than we thought.

People back then tried plenty of things: surveying and deciphering the electron clouds, developing new technologies and materials, exploring forms of life that can adapt to space...

This beacon launcher is a product of that era.

It was intended to capture even the faintest signals from the stars, and plant beacons that would never fade from our star charts.

Nanomachine swarms would form networks between the beacons, allowing us to traverse vast distances in an instant... or so we dreamed.

You never told me any of this before.

Lucid moments were hard to come by on land.

But yesterday, I dreamt once again of walking from the Sophontheatrum straight into that epoch.

Then, I saw Laurentina dance.

She leaped from the waves to the stars, stirring up star dust that trailed the hems of her dress. From afar, the voice of the Master of All Creation answered her in song.

The universe and imagination know no bounds, and Laurentina's dances will never cease.

Specter closes her eyes, as though sinking back into the dream.

Mm...

What is it?

Just trying to picture it.

It's a beautiful dream, Laurentina.;Perhaps that day will really come, Laurentina.

Before pushing open the door to the stars, they wanted to prepare themselves for any threats beyond the barrier... That is, until the Seaborn appeared and interrupted the dream.

We poured all our efforts into studying them, setting aside all else: art, science, and previous visions for the future...

The Seaborn fundamentally changed Ægir.

What did you do before becoming a Hunter, Skadi?;What did you do before becoming a Hunter, Specter?

Me?

I was the best technician at the Institute of Facility Management. I could keep an entire city's underwater lighting array running on my own.

The Institute of Development Planning's career proposal was pretty much what I was thinking, so I accepted.

Working by yourself can be lonely, but it's not such a bad thing playing with the giant fins in the reefs, or lighting up the ocean while daydreaming.

I was just an apprentice sculptor.

The Institute of Development Planning provides tailored career proposals for each citizen, which are usually in line with our wishes.

I suppose I would have gone into dome design, sculpting, or dance.

Say, Kal'tsit and Doctor, we've shared a lot of info during our time together, but we've never talked about our old lives.

Because they've changed.

I guess you're right. Sorry for bringing up something so heavy on a tour.

We have all the waves in the world hanging above our heads. Would you care to share a dance before dealing with all this bother, Doctor?

Gladiia.

Gladiia's hand instinctively goes to her weapon as the woman approaches with a ceremonial sword in hand.

But all she does is put her arms around Gladiia's shoulders. Gladiia smells stimulants in the air.

Ægir do not make a habit of greeting each other with physical contact. She could not remember even her mother ever doing so.

But this woman's action felt completely natural.

Consul Clementia?

I was not aware that this was the standard salute between Chief Designers of Warfare.

Nothing makes me happier than seeing the Hunters return as lucid as ever.

Your soldiers' reactions when they first saw me suggested otherwise.

The operation to eliminate the Firstborn cost Ægir all of its Abyssal Hunters.

Secunda made many rescue attempts, but was unable to penetrate the rampaging mass of Seaborn that guard the region after the death of the Firstborn.

Your mother, Horatia, had no choice but to publicly declare you dead.

But I know her. She doesn't really believe that.

Or perhaps Consul Horatia, foremost of the Institute of Scientific Development Planning, simply could not accept that I had died for nothing.

I know her, too.

But I don't think it is appropriate for a meeting between two Chief Designers of Warfare to revolve around a complicated mother-daughter relationship.

Of course, of course.

Look at the city.

The Consul's Pensivarium sits high in the city. The seawater hangs just above their heads.

The transparent dome serves as a gentle mirror, warding off the deep and foreboding void while granting the Ægir the solace of introspection.

Beneath the dome, the entire city is bathed in a blue hue. The beacon launchpad stands tall at its center, while ships glide in and out of the distant docks like schools of fins.

The sea itself has no color, only darkness. Milliarium stands in its murky depths like the vigilant eye of civilization, solitary and luminous.

We once had many such cities. One by one, the stars in the sea went out, becoming sustenance for the Seaborn.

All that's left on the seafloor are their colorful, eerie nests.

I won't deny that the Abyssal Hunter project was a failed gambit. The death of the Firstborn did not stop their evolution.

So I want to know what solution Ægir has come up with next. What you have come up with.

What is this Waterway Program?

Gladiia, I didn't mean...

I'm simply part of an even bigger gambit, one with even higher stakes.

The weapon classification scheme remains nothing more than a strict control over weapon usage to delay the evolution of the Seaborn.

This time, however, we have taken into account every weapon at our disposal or under development.

A mix of conventional ballistics and Class I weapons initially proved highly effective. The Seaborn were unable to comprehend why they were being burned by the seawater around them.

But it took them only a year to adapt. 11 months in, we accelerated the adoption of Class II weapons, which operated on completely different principles.

Et cetera, et cetera.

Until their evolution outpaced the ability of the Academy of Technology to innovate.

Yes. At day's end, all we're doing is merely buying time. Ægir has committed vast resources to study the Seaborn. To eradicate them at their origin, we must first comprehend them at their source.

The information you've brought back is highly valuable, and Breogan's discovery on land corroborates the Academy of Science's research.

The Seaborn and the Feranmuts share the same genesis.

Is Ægir coming ashore to seek memories even more ancient?

Not just that. The Seaborn share a common genesis with the Feranmuts, but much about them is very different. Unnatural, one might say.

Their recent activity demonstrates a clear sense of purpose. They have quickly abandoned their reliance on the sea and begun to migrate towards land en masse.

Left unchecked, it is not out of the question that all of Terra could become infested with Seaborn.

We already saw hints of that in Iberia.

Thus, for Ægir, the land is both a source of answers and a solemn responsibility.

Horatia has issued new war orders on behalf of the Institute of Development Planning, and Milliarium has come bearing new Class IV weapons from the Academy of Technology.

They are a form of biological weapon, very different from all previous ones. Designed to induce death in nearby Seaborn nests and newborns, while driving away adults from the area.