act4d0

Because it's the closest city to Chernobog.

I think you're hiding something...

No. I said everything there is to be said in the last meeting. Right about the time you were slumped back in your chair, wearing an eye mask, fast asleep.

What can I say? Keeping this operation well maintained is tiring work.

I never said I blamed you. Without you, Rhodes Island wouldn't even get off the ground.

But I still want to do away with your suspicions... What is it you called me in for, exactly?

What? I can't just call up an old friend?

I'll be in my lab.

Hey! Wait! Okay... we have a power outage down two corridors in sector three.

Can you come look at the cables with me?

Just send an engineer down there. Is it a problem with the power supply cables?

Or the two of us could go look ourselves.

Whenever I ask you for an inspection, you always delegate it to another operator.

My sense of responsibility as Chief Engineer of Rhodes Island has suddenly awakened! Let's go!

Come on, keep up with me...

Huh?

Huh?!

This is Heavyrain.

Oh. Heavyrain?

Hello, Miss Closure.

What a good little girl! Look, Kal'tsit, look how much more likable she is than you!

Hmph.

Heavyrain, let me see your monitor.

This one...? On my left arm here?

Yes. Be careful not to touch the needle.

Right...

...Numbers look good. Your hemoglobin is up. You're recovering well.

Thank you, Dr. Kal'tsit.

No thanks necessary. Just doing my job. You don't thank people for that.

You know the way back, Heavyrain?

I know.

Then you show yourself out. Closure and I have something to take care of.

But I'm a guard. If I go, will you be okay, Dr. Kal'tsit?

You may be mistaken, Heavyrain.

I asked you to come with us just to give you a the layout of the ship. You may not come here often in the future.

I don't need protection.

Right.

Then, excuse me. Goodbye, Miss Closure.

Yeah, bye.

Did you hear that, Kal'tsit? She called me 'Miss!' Oh what a good little girl...

She really seemed to want to help you out. And you sent her away like that?

Every operator has to find her own place in the world, just like me. Having her waste time with things she's not good at doesn't help anybody.

Would it kill you to talk like a human being every once in a while?

Heavyrain was in the Sargon military.

Before she can establish interpersonal relationships, she needs to find a proper position for herself and integrate into Rhodes Island. That requires both support and tolerance, as well as her own self-awareness.

Yeah yeah, your lectures make my head hurt.

She another one of your strays you brought home?

You kind of have a talent for picking up new pets, Kal'tsit.

How many are we up to now?

It's one of the steps in the 'Acquisition and Cultivation Procedures for Infected Personnel.'

Hold on... Last month, you had a solid 72-hour surgical procedure. Was that her you were operating on?

Indeed.

The surgical team went through like eight or nine shifts, but you didn't sleep for three days?

At least she recovered quickly.

Tell me, Kal'tsit, do you drug yourself?

I refuse to answer that question.

If I don't ask, you'll never say, will you?

What's the point of discussing this?

You're too hard on yourself.

I can handle it.

Dark!

Should we be using backup power?

You can't see?

I'm a vampire, of course I can see.

So can I.

All right then, on we go.

Now I know what I just said, but did I step on something?

Augh! Wh- what is this!

Nothing to get all upset about...

Is that... a gachapon machine? What's it doing here?!

Huh. 'Furry Friends Collection. 12 different furry friends to...' Wow, secret level! Awesome!

Clo-sure!

It's been a long time since I worked in a dark pipeline like this. I really missed it.

And Rhodes Island wasn't nearly this big back then.

Spanner, please!

Thanks, Mon3tr!

Hm...

What is it?

I can't reach it. Can you give me a boost so I can fix the cable?

Okay.

Oof... This whole area has been totally cut off from the power supply. We can start troubleshooting.

Kal'tsit, do you think it was a mistake to go to Chernobog and rescue the Doctor?

It was certainly unwise to enter Chernobog at that time.

So...

Amiya was very firm in her decision. No one could sway her. And you know how the elite operators are.

It only happened because you abstained.

I'm starting to think this was some kind of test of Amiya?

Test? No, not a test. Or rather if it was a test, it wasn't me administering it. It was the situation she found herself in.

But as firmly as she believed in that decision, I could only support her... Though I certainly didn't have to make her feel like it would all go smoothly.

Her choice is her choice.

Well said. But you're the one who has to deal with the consequences. Aren't you tired...?

Nobody gets it all right from beginning to end, Closure. Not even me.

But we made it through the darkness. Now we just wait for the light at the end of the tunnel.

Also, that second cable right above your head is about to fall.

Hey hey hey! Hold me steady! If the three-pin power connector drops, that's the end of both of us.

Okay, hold up, I'm laying out the wire.

Did you just stuff two whole sets of wires in behind them?

Shhh! I must feel the thrum of the electricity in my own heart, to achieve peace and balance with the current.

I advise you to mull over what you just said.

But, Kal'tsit... Oh, should be good. Try the switch.