Глава 15

Please take good care of Warmy and Ray.;Please take care of yourself as well.

I'm well aware of the situation in Rim Billiton. I'll make sure they're cared for.

Don't worry, Doctor.

I look forward to seeing you again after the field missions are complete.

Still, this field assignment covers a pretty wide area—I'm afraid it'll be quite a while before I can sleep soundly in my own bed again.

Don't worry. Rhodes Island will wait for you to return.

Righto!

Keep the lights on for me, Doctor.

Hey. What are you still doing here?

I just thought of something. We still haven't been given our medicine/health maintenance manuals yet. We need this guidance so that we can remember our health regimens.

I mean, this is going to be a long trip abroad. Will we all remember to eat our meals and take our medicines?

The medic operators will take care of all that. Why are you worried about it?

But we often <i>do</i> forget to take proper care of ourselves. You yourself, Lava, don't you forget to take your food rations with you, sometimes?

I... uhh... meh... whatever.

Then there's the other members of A1. The squad is going to be taking on some dangerous tasks. Kroos has to go on a long trip all by herself. Will they be okay?

Ugh... Enough already! Will you quit treating them like children?

We've been at this for so long. We're all adults already!

I know... I get it...

It's just that—leaving a place I've spent so many years with everyone, day in and day out… and not knowing when I'll be back—it's a lot to take in.

I just feel a bit... empty inside.

Don't worry. We'll be back.

Rhodes Island is dealing with some stuff right now. I trust the Doctor, Dr. Kal'tsit, and Amiya can handle it all.

All we have to do is complete our own tasks and be patient.

Rhodes Island is our home, and we're not gonna lose our home. No matter what happens, we'll be back.

Someday.

Right...

We'll be together again.

Your body temp hasn't come down. It seems like the old cocktail of drugs is no longer effective.

However, your metabolic rate has not been impacted too much. After the concentration of the old drugs in your bloodstream goes down, I'll administer some new medications.

These new drugs will decrease your pain threshold, but don't worry, I'll up your pain meds.

Alright.

There are a few new empty beds?

They left yesterday. Don't worry. They've just been transferred elsewhere for more targeted temporary treatment.

By the way, a few people left some notes for you. They're in your bedside drawer.

Your condition is rather unusual, and we should keep you in a controlled treatment environment. Staying here with me under my observation is the best option.

Okay. Thank you.

What are you looking at, Chloe?

There are little circles on the ceiling that keep spinning. Looking at them makes me feel safe.

The crystals are still interfering with your vision. My next surgery will be an attempt to remove the crystals near your retinas.

Every time I stare at them, they look like they've crept just a bit closer. It's like they're talking to me.

Can you hear them?

(Closes eyes) Their sound... it's like that old bell I used to hear.

You mean the one you told me about before? From the bell tower in your hometown?

There's more than just one bell tower. I was on a quest to repair all of them, and had already repaired quite a few... when they were all destroyed by cannon fire.

I reached out to the operators we've got in Victoria—they looked into it for you. The town's been rebuilt, and the locals even repaired that old bell.

That's great news! Now that the bell's tolling again, life can continue on. Quite a relief, isn't it?

Warfarin double-checks the instrument readings one last time, then injects the prepared medicine into the IV system.

The buzzing of the instruments mixes together with the noise of the IV system and Chloe's occasional gasps of pain.

Dr. Warfarin, how many different types of medicine have we tried over the last three years?

Let me worry about that. All your vital indicators have stabilized. That's what's really important here.

Before I contracted Oripathy, I often cared for infected soldiers in the bell tower. I know exactly what it means when the crystals start spreading across your skin.

Chloe tries to move the muscles in her face, but the tiny spikes embedded in her skin twist her expression. Her wounds split open, and bright beads of blood begin to seep out.

(Wry smile) You see? They won't even let me smile.

As a doctor, I cannot guarantee outcomes. I can only promise that every medic in Rhodes Island will provide you the best possible care.

Thank you, Dr. Warfarin.

I just... miss my hometown.

This report, it—!

The first time I saw this patient's charts, I thought there was some kind of error in the data then too.

But we checked the data several times, and it was correct.

By all logic, no patient with this high a Cell-Originium Assimilation rate should still show any signs of life.

It goes against everything we know about Oripathy.

And yet, the Originium is keeping the patient alive, in a way no one could have predicted.

Some of her internal organs have completely crystallized, but they're actually functioning more efficiently and stably than those of previous patients we've seen.

I haven't figured out what's causing this condition yet, but based on the data—the more her infection progresses, the healthier she seems… and the more pain she's in.

We've never seen a case like this before. This may be some kind of new mutated form of Oripathy. If we can make some sort of medical breakthrough while administering her treatment...

Maybe these people we rescued from Victoria really can bring a few miracles to Rhodes Island.

Closure, I have the right to refuse the data module inspections and upgrades you're proposing.

I will not be treated like THRM-EX and Lancet-2. You know very well that I am different from my 'colleagues'.

Haha. Relax. I'm not trying to trick you into a module upgrade this time.

Then please restore the power supply to my mobility module. Restricting a respected scholar's personal freedom is really unbecoming behavior.

Take a look at the expression doodle on my faceplate. It indicates how I feel.

'Angry'.

This won't take too much time. Justice Knight is already lined up waiting at the entrance.

Mr. Friston, I guarantee this maintenance will be quick.

Alright. There we are.

You've blocked me from accessing PRTS data?

Blocked you? No. I just disconnected you from PRTS. To be more precise, I physically removed your reception module.

(It looks like that went well enough. I thought there would be some irreparable failures.)

You just did that, without any sort of planning?!

Haha. Well, how do you feel now, Mr. Friston?

I recorded the entire experiment. You violated protocol, and I'll be discussing your negligence with Kal'tsit shortly.

Not to mention your reckless disregard for my life. She'll hear about that too.

Mr. Friston, please do one more self-check and to be certain you're not getting any transmissions from PRTS.

You should just be thankful nothing went wrong. I checked, and I indeed cannot connect to PRTS any longer.

Ugh... it's like I have blurred vision. It's a very subtle feeling, and I don't like it one bit.

Perfect!

Now we can talk, Mr. Friston.

If I wanted to disconnect all the retrofitted operation platforms from PRTS, would there be a safer way to do that?

I refuse to speculate about such dangerous work. That would be no different than killing all of my precious 'colleagues'.

What if... we had no other choice?

Please tell me what might cause you to draw such a conclusion.

Have you discovered something?

Closure, can you determine the root cause of the last few PRTS operation errors?

The logs show that most of the errors were caused by human error, operational mistakes made by team members.

This again?

Either way, backup systems are being deployed as quickly as possible.

The framework for independent terminal command system has been upgraded as per Kal'tsit's suggestions. I've named it ZOOT.

Temporary admin permissions have been given to the Doctor, Kal'tsit, and Amiya.

And me, of course. A lot of the ideas I had when I first designed this system feel a bit outdated now.

I really want to scrap it and start over, but Kal'tsit shot down that application!