act34side

*pant* *pant* Gotta hurry!

<i>Caulerpa archaeosphaeridium</i>? Here? Who else in Milliarium is cultivating endangered seaweed?

<i>Hypnea fenestralis</i>, <i>Halymenia fimbriatus</i>, <i>Palmaria purpureus</i>...

Wait, the color of this <i>Sargassum pennata</i>... I cultivated it myself...

Why are you on the streets... it's too dry. You'll die.

What happened here? Did someone do this?

Where are you migrating? Is there something—

W-Wait!

They're gone?

This pipe...

Wah!

This is...

*cough* Argh—

(What's going on?)

(The rumbling... Is the city moving?)

(Something's moving—who's there?)

(Vacuole inflates merrily)

I hope I'm not interrupting anything.

Not at all. Lucilla and I were just performing regular inspections and maintenance on the city's unit framework.

Still no sign of Tullia?

C'mon, Lucilla, it hasn't been that long since we made the report.

I can tell you care about her. Did she mention getting into any trouble recently?

She isn't one to look for trouble. I can't imagine her offending anyone.

What you say certainly fits her profile. Did she ever talk to you about the Waterway Program or beacon data?

No.

I wouldn't say we're close, exactly. We talk from time to time, but she's more of a loner who prefers to work on her own stuff.

Wait, is she a suspect?

Sorry, maybe I'm making her sound suspicious...

B-But it's probably just stress. There's been fighting almost every day in the six months that Milliarium has been away from the home territories. Everyone here is on edge.

The Church of the Deep continues its attempts to sabotage the Waterway Program. We've eliminated many cultists over those months.

And until they were exposed, they appeared just like any of our countrymen.

But she'd have no reason to—

Well, to be honest, I've never quite understood why she chose to join the Waterway Program.

What do you mean, ma'am?

You already know that she used to work at the Institute of Ecological Art, right?

The IEA moved to another city when this one evacuated its original position and received new battle orders.

Right, and she had the chance to go with them to continue her work. But instead, she chose to—

Sorry to interrupt, but could you explain more about this evacuation you mentioned?

You remember, don't you Lucilla? You were working on the dome at the time, so you had the best view of the whole thing.

...Yeah.

It was one of Ægir's largest volcanic power stations, feeding countless laboratories, and Milliarium was responsible for its construction and defense.

The city was parked beneath the power station. Through the dome, I could see its red glow illuminate the ocean for miles.

The heat it generated attracted many different creatures. It was the largest endangered plants reserve in Ægir.

And the ideal environment for Milliarium's ecological art to flourish.

Then, that light turned dark...

Seaborn?

Yeah.

A year ago, swarms of Seaborn arrived on the ocean currents, and Milliarium ordered an emergency evacuation.

Without the natural environment to support it, the Institute of Ecological Art, like other related institutions, was forced to relocate.

But there was a full Legion in the city. We could have retaken the power station.

War orders for the Waterway Program had just arrived. Milliarium was in fact being strategically redeployed.

I came here with the Legion after that.

The lives of so many of our people were changed... including Lucilla.

By the way, I transferred from the dome to ground work because I was afraid of heights... Sorry, off-topic.

So you mean to say that Tullia might have had ulterior motives for joining the Waterway Program?

That is a serious accusation.

I don't believe it either.

No, no, I'm just telling you what I know.

But... it's undeniable that there are a hundred thousand souls in this city, and not all of them are fully committed to the Waterway Program.

Most just carry on with their lives, not understanding the kind of path we're clearing out in the ocean.

Even our Iberian guest here came to learn more about the Program, didn't she?

Whether Tullia is linked with the Church of the Deep or not, the fact remains that she made an unauthorized copy of data on the Waterway Program.

We'll have to find her to learn why.

But Milliarium isn't that big. She'd have been found by now, even if she were hiding between dome layers or in the corners of the circulation system.

True. She may well have already left the city, but we were unable to find her bio-signature in the nearby waters.

Nor were there any unscheduled ship movements at the port. And she couldn't have gone beyond our sensor range in just a few days using civilian deep-water equipment.

However... the city <i>did</i> make a short movement around 30 hours ago to receive the Iberian mission. Perhaps...

Could she have left the city at that time?

...So, the Columbian scientist Kristen Wright broke through the barrier for the first time in more than ten thousand years.

The hole she pierced hasn't completely closed, even after a year. Ægir's surveillance of the universe through this opening continues, and so far no anomalies have been detected.

I tried to stop her, to no avail.

We still have time, but it's running short.

Ripping apart the electron clouds with a high-energy beam... We were not aware of any energy sources on land that could support such a brute-force measure.

Her method came from the same place as Ægir's technology: prehistoric civilization.

She had discovered sarcophagi beneath Trimounts that preserved that civilization's spark, and managed to obtain the trust of its custodian.

Before leaving the home territories, I had not expected to find anyone with your profound understanding of both Ægir and prehistory from the lands.

You have demonstrated, once again, that there is still much about Terra we do not understand.

Fins trapped in the depths lose their perception of light. Likewise, our nation must continue to explore, even if we can no longer support grand expansions.

The stargate, the twin moons, the barrier, the ruins in the mantle... There is much on this planet that was not formed naturally.

Our voyager fleets, having traversed to the far side of the planet, have even detected highly unusual terrain concealed behind the distant dark fog.

There, the sea currents abruptly cut off, as though they had reached the end of the ocean.

That is merely a hotbed that has long since cooled. The most important prehistoric relics lie in the Ægir heartlands. You know this, Madame Consul.

The prehistoric ruins beneath the seabed are a gift from the ocean to Ægir. They nurtured your civilization, and have granted you power and knowledge far beyond the terrestrial nations.

And with them, responsibility.

As you say, Dr. Kal'tsit, responsibility.

When did the land dwellers first start calling themselves 'human'? When they lit the first fire with Originium? Built their first city with stone and mud?

On land, self-awareness and identity were established naturally over time. Even today, humanity is often defined in the narrowest terms.

For the Ægir, it was conferred. We were not the same race as the Predecessors, but we inherited their identity as we inherited their mantle.

Thus, Ægir was born with a responsibility to humanity. The Seaborn will not compel us to abandon this duty; on the contrary, they add to its weight.

You are indeed the right consul for Milliarium, Madame Consul.

Where is this coming from...?

Your temperament. As Ægir, you are patient and kind.

But that does not diminish the arrogance in your thinking; that is to say, Ægir's arrogance.

I do not believe our conversations about the hole in the barrier, the ruins in the mantle, and even the future of civilization itself, are merely small talk to lighten the mood.

Just as I do not believe Ægir will rely on passive solutions. After all, isn't Millarium's departure from its home territories a proactive effort to create a new line of defense?

So, my question is, Madame Consul: what is Ægir's endgame for the Waterway?

...I have already told Gladiia Ægir's answer, that which you would call arrogant. You have the right to know as well.

There is much on this planet that was not formed naturally... and Ægir does not believe they are unrelated.

Be they wonders like the stargate and the twin moons, or calamities like Originium and the Seaborn, these phenomena cannot be random products of spontaneity. They must be interconnected in some way.

To solve the Seaborn problem at its source and stop Terra's crisis, we need to fully understand Terra, including the hidden secrets of the land.