Глава 9

9:33 A.M. \ Foggy

Nameless Barrenlands, Inside Rhodes Island

Good morning, Closure. Here's your breakfast.

Oh, thanks!

There's no mold or anything, right...?

Uh, probably not, I guess.

*Sigh*... We've been stuck here for days thanks to this shitty weather... Who knows how bad this'll throw off our schedule... Hmm, this flavor...

I mean, a Catastrophe caused this thick fog... It's not going to be good if we end up coming head to head with an aftershock.

Should I turn in the environmental Originium monitoring report for last night right now?

Where's Kal'tsit? Is she still in the operating theater?

Yes, she's been there since last night.

Don't worry about it right now, then.

Thank you.

Can I help you with anything else?

Hm... Let's see. Wanna finish this health food for me? I mean it. This stuff's got a real funny taste.

Eh?! You want me to eat all that?

Haha, calm down. Just kidding.

Huh?

What's the matter?

New mail? Out in the wasteland?

Is there a town or a Messenger Outpost close by?

No... If there was, we would've been in contact with them a couple days ago...

That's weird. Let's see...

The sender's Dijkstra... What, Dijkstra?! I thought he was in Columbia!

TO Closure

Dear Closure, it's been a while.

How's things? Going well? The last time we worked together was back in summer, right?

I was really shocked when Grace got in touch with me and told me about your plan. Screwing around with Kazimierz corporate networks isn't exactly small potatoes.

I gotta hand it to you, though. That's exactly your style. Either way, it was a good time, second only to that hit we did in Columbia once! It was perfect!

Acute lesions successfully removed.

Keep the infusion going.

Okay!

Wound is clean...

Hold on, confirm the patient's vitals.

Okay...!

Doctor! The patient's heart rate is abnormal... Body... body temperature is dropping!

Calm down.

Adjust transmural pressure. I need an injection intervention right now.

Prepare to stop the bleeding.

Okay!

But you know. It doesn't matter how many banks we hack, how many millionaires we screw with. Even if we manage to take control of half the city's drones, put a stop to all the machines, and scare the cowards shitless—

It's all just fleeting, and anything fleeting might as well be pointless.

Before I forget, Closure. There's something I need to tell you.

There was this one time I mentioned a friend of mine who's got Oripathy. Do you remember?

Hey, everyone... It's time to change shift.

Blaze!

Did something happen?

Nope... Well, given this visibility, the surveillance equipment's about the only thing we can trust.

I doubt even the sniper operators on lookout can see anything in this weather...

Eh, you're right. All this fog is a major buzzkill...

Stormeye wouldn't have much trouble with the fog. If only he had left just two weeks later. Too bad.

It's been a few days since we stopped, though. If anything's gonna happen, it should already have happened by now.

You guys should head back and get some rest.

Yeah, sure.

That man was as healthy as could be.

He had a decent education and a decent job. He was married, though no kids.

He didn't even know how he caught Oripathy. He just showed up to work one morning to find a posting on the company notice board about his infection. Everyone started looking at him different.

To tell the truth, I was too lazy to look into it all that much. Someone was either jealous, or they were trying set him up, some kind of infighting.

Anyway, after that, his life was ruined. He lost his job, and his wife left him. How can you blame them, though? We all know Oripathy's infectious.

I just met him by chance, and I decided to help him on a whim too. Making a few quick changes to a database here or there isn't much for people like us, you know. A few keystrokes and we change a man's fate. Almost magical, huh?

So, that's what I figured. I thought it was unfair, so I did that for him.

I thought I was helping him.

But things didn't unfold quite like I expected.

He didn't go back to the life he once had.

I met the guy again in the barrenlands outside Columbia. He had joined an Infected organization. He told me his comrades in Ursus needed his help, and that's why he went there.

An Infected organization...?

Hmm... So this guy got caught up with the Infected too?

Closure, take a guess what I'm trying to tell you with this story.

Eyes.

They went to great lengths to find me, but I still didn't know the slightest thing about the Infected.

They were travel-worn, their equipment was outdated, and most of them were malnourished—

But their eyes were full of light.

Closure, it took us a long time to find this ray of light. A very, very long time.

Anger, unwillingness, the readiness to make sacrifices for a belief, the mind to give your life for a certain cause.

Same as you and your buddies over there. We want to change something. We know what's wrong.

'That's why I decided to help them. Columbia, Kazimierz, and the Sarkaz homeland you told me all about—'

'That's what we've always been doing. Always, even—'

'—Now.'

...That's it?

Is that supposed to be it? Hold on, what do you mean, 'Now?'

Whoa! What just happened?!

The tremor... came from below. It was huge, too—An explosion?!

Ahh! Wh-What's going on?!

We told everyone ahead of time how difficult this surgery was going to be. We told them we needed absolute silence!

Uh, this is the operating theater... What?

The security door's been... What?! All the bulkheads are locked? Huh? That's...

Stay calm.

Contact all the operators we can. Tell them to head to confinement immediately.

Also, tell Blaze that she may damage the ship's facilities as necessary.

R-Right!

Everyone else, continue the operation.

We'll leave what's going on outside to the other operators.

There is nothing more important than the patient's life in the operating room. Don't get distracted.

Ah, I'm truly sorry! I'll get ready right away!

I thought this would've been more difficult.

But this must be our first formal meeting, 'Leader' of Reunion.

You are... Reunion.

You don't seem very surprised.

I simply know better than anyone that the fires of Infected fury cannot be extinguished so easily.

It's just...