level_act15d5_st05

2:42 P.M. \ Cloudy

Rim Billiton Frontier, Catastrophe Warning Zone

Got your seatbelts fastened?

Slow down...

Looks like we're all good. Let's hit the road!

If you aren't going to worry about the equipment in the back, at least give those of us who are sitting back here some thought!

Yeah, this engine's sound is banging! I love these emergency missions. They always let us have the best stuff!

Right, and if you break it, it'll cost you an entire year's salary to pay it back. Also, watch how much power you're using.

The hurricane's estimated to form in as soon as twenty hours from now. If we don't hurry up and get out of the place before the Catastrophe's here, we're gonna get buried in a whole bed of sand and Active Originium.

Besides, we've got two extra tanks, and we have two Casters here. No need to worry about energy consumption. Am I right, little Caster sitting in the back?

Yeah... I kind of wish I had a driver's license, though. If I could drive myself there in a dune buggy, I could've gotten there much faster, and I wouldn't have to bother you two.

Sorry, but that's not how it works.

Huh? Why's that?

Oh, right, this is your first time on one of these rescue missions, right?

There's so many ways that these field ops away from the nomadic cities can go wrong, there's no way they'll ever let you go on these missions on your own. It's always a good idea to have a few helping hands.

You know what they say. 'All deployments to Catastrophe Warning Zones must always be accompanied by a Catastrophe Messenger to address any unexpected situations.'

Besides, we're here because of a distress signal. It's encrypted the way the towns in the Rim Billiton outskirts do it, too. Phew... feels kinda complicated, y'know.

Is it because the signal is from your countrymen...?

Not really.

Well, maybe a little bit. Rim Billiton is... hmm... I wonder how I should tell you—

Don't think too much about it. There's a ditch up ahead.

Whoa?!

Uh-oh, watch out. Don't bite your tongue. Sorry, we ain't got much time. Giving you guys the best experience isn't really my top priority right now.

Perhaps you should've turned down this mission, then...

S-Sorry! It's all because I insisted...

Well... This is not your fault. We have a certain Catastrophe Messenger who jumped up from his seat and claimed everything would be fine with him as chaperone to blame.

Even if I didn't come, someone else would still have tagged along!

Ditch up ahead! Watch out!

Urgh!

Ah... Um, thanks!

I've got to say, though. I know we got that signal amplifier installed on your weapon, but I sure didn't expect to see it prop someone up.

If it comes down to it, I can even hook it up with a rope to tie an enemy down.

Are you serious?

Do you want to find out?

I'll pass. That thing's gonna give me an electric shock and send every strand of my hair pointing up toward the sky. Maybe you should look into how to shell edamames with it. Really market the things you like, you know?

Let's get back on topic. Greyy, mind taking a look at the gauge on the box next to you?

Yep! It's still in the green range. It's getting really close to the yellow range, though, and it reads... uh... there are a lot of values here. Which one should I be looking at...?

Oh, you don't need to look at those. We've barged into this place already anyway. It doesn't look like there are any Catastrophe storm clouds forming, and the road up ahead looks okay, so as long as...

Hold right there. Let's not jinx ourselves, especially not on the kind of mission we're on.

Oh, come on. You're sitting right behind a Catastrophe Messenger, and you're worried about jinxes?

We Catastrophe Messengers are basically walking jinxes.

What makes you say that?!

Oh, I'm sorry. I mean, I thought all Catastrophe Messengers were all nice people that warn others before bad things happen...?

That's where the problem lies.

Cities and towns can't afford to take a direct hit from Catastrophes, so they have to pack up and leave as soon as they receive the Messengers' warnings.

The people who live in the nomadic towns need to put the brakes on much of their entertainment, if not their normal lives and their work as well.

They need to start working overtime to plan out an evacuation route, reroute their power from their entertainment and public facilities, and figure out how to tear apart and reconnect all their city blocks.

Their daily lives become disrupted all because of the news these 'ominous' Catastrophe Messengers bring.

If they actually observe a Catastrophe afterwards, the whole town will celebrate how they managed to dodge a bullet.

They'll be so preoccupied with their celebrations that they end up forgetting who it was that risked getting Infected with Oripathy just to monitor the abnormalities out in the field to save their lives.

And that's just your best case scenario.

Now, suppose the town evacuated successfully, and after weeks, maybe even months have gone by, they still haven't heard anything about the Catastrophe happening.

As time goes on, everyone in town will start to hold the messenger responsible for disrupting their daily lives.

And that will go on until the Catastrophe Messenger finally predicts a Catastrophe correctly years later, or perhaps until the Messenger is finally tired of all the contempt he faces and leaves for another town or sign up for dangerous missions like the Contingency Contracts.

Ehh, Ayers, things aren't always that bad.

All the towns in Rim Billiton treat Messengers pretty well. In some places, you don't even have to worry about losing your job just cause you have Oripathy. At most, you just don't get to live that comfortable of a life.

Well, has anyone ever shaken hands with you all those times you, out of the goodness of your heart, left the ship to warn the towns in the Catastrophe warning zones to evacuate?

Now that's not quite right. Why would anyone shake hands with others for no reason?

Just be glad you're in Rim Billiton. You don't have any crystals on your body, and the people there trust the mining teams' Messengers. Elsewhere, you'd be lucky if no one throws rocks at you.

(Maybe we should talk about something else, y'know?)

Oh, it's okay. I think all this information will come in handy. Please tell me more!

You really should've thought about going to some Yan city to become a driver, Leon.

So that you could be a driver's bodyguard? Actually, what kind of drivers get to hire bodyguards? Armored truck drivers, perhaps?

Pffh... haha, but I don't think armored trucks have backseats for passengers to uh... what's the word for that... 'chew the fat?'

Oh, you know that saying, huh?

Yeah! At the really big nomadic cities, there are lots of people who drive cars around for a living. Some of the Yan drivers are really talkative, too, right?

I learned about this from the teachers at Rhodes Island. They like to tell us interesting facts sometimes to liven the classroom up.

But they don't really like to go into... the lives of the Infected during class.

I guess that's because a lot of us in class are Infected... and, maybe just like my parents, the teachers don't want to bring this up to the classmates who aren't prepared to face harsh truths like these.

Well, they probably don't want to rub their noses in it in front of everyone.

I think there's more to it than that. You simply can't claim to understand the Infected's predicament just because you learn about it in class, and the teachers know that.

The children who come from families rich enough to have them treated at medical facilities probably don't even know what exactly the Infected are before they become one themselves.

At most, they probably just know them as the 'bad kids' from the quarantine zone that their parents told them not to play with.

In the more affluent cities, there are even critics who complain about the tragedies Infected characters face in dramas and plays, writing them off as the exaggerations of the playwright.

The patrons who frequent the theaters always cry rivers when they see the noble and rich die for the non-Infected poor, but they laugh at cliches like the Infected getting swindled out of their savings for some miracle drug they ultimately overdose on.

To the rich, the Infected might as well be hooligans who supposedly live in disgusting places. The hardships the Infected face are like some exotic legends and fairy tales. They might even think the Infected only have themselves to blame for getting Infected.

And who can blame them? We all know only what we know. Anything we don't know might as well not exist in the whole world.

Just like how some people question why the Laterano guns shoot actual Originium instead of Arts energy beams, without even knowing guns that shoot the latter are just imitations.

Eh? There are people who don't know?

Hahaha, this just shows how people in the know can't possibly understand those who don't know. I mean, you've met all those carefree Lateranos and seen their guns.

Any caster should figure out right away the imitation Arts Units just take after the originals' shapes. They save their casters the trouble of having to aim and focus their Arts in exchange for a reduced output.

The Laterano guns are probably the exact opposite, though. They want precision and control and not a high energy output. At the very least, that's my guess—

You used your Arts to analyze the structure, didn't you?

Hey, stop ratting me out!

I think I can understand. We casters are always curious about each other's Arts.

Ahhem! Stop! Let's talk about something else! I don't want anyone getting curious about a certain someone's electrical Arts just because of this.

Tsk.

Ehehe.

Beyond the car's dark tinted windows, the desolate landscape appears to be nothing more than a murky cloud of darkness.

Every now and then, a few wild beasts can be seen running across the field. A feeling of unease brews within the Perro; he knows the beasts are very sensitive to the Catastrophes.

Mmm... but I'm not always just curious about things that I don't know about...

I... I want to know more about what everyone at Rhodes Island is working for!

Uhh... there is a lot of text and video data I can reference in both the operator's manual and lectures, but I still want to take a good look myself. I want to try it out myself!

Is that why you insisted on going on this mission?

Come on, Ayers. That's a little straight to the point, no?

It's no problem! Ever since I was brought here by the rescue operators, I've always felt like everyone's been a little overprotective of me...

Whether it's what's going on outside the landship and back home... and also what's going on with my parents... I just...

I just want to be able to help everyone!

Hm? Haven't you been helping take care of the landship's power equipment to help pay for your medical fees?

I've been doing that... but still...

I want to do much more! Not just as a way to give back to Rhodes Island for taking me in, but also because I want to make a little money, so that once I find my parents...

But... But if the civil war keeps going...

(Hey, say something, will ya? I'm not good at talking my way out of this stuff, getting folks to look at the bright side and whatnot.)

You just need to do what you think is right.

We aren't saints, and we aren't all-powerful. That goes for Rhodes Island too. You've done everything they need you to do, and so they're giving you medical treatment.

Doctors who take care of the ill and wounded are of course noble, but they don't have the means to save their patients without supplies.

Neither the paychecks they live on nor the equipment they rely on for procedures comes free.

Their integrity comes from how they're willing to pour their hearts into a line of work that brings happiness to others and making it their lives' work. I'm sure that goes for you as well.

I don't think it really matters what you've done and how great or insignificant the results turn out to be. The goal that you're giving your all for is the only thing that matters. There's strength in your beliefs.

In that respect, you might actually be much stronger than Leon or me. The two of us only know how to survive our way, and it so turns out we can make a living that way. We don't really think too much about it.

What gives you the right to speak for me?!

He's right, though. Being a Catastrophe Messenger is just a way of life that I enjoy instead of some kind of duty.

Ayers and I got to experience all sort of things in life thanks to this lifestyle of ours. That's really expanded our horizons, and it adds that little bit of fun in our boring lives. Helps us always stay cheery and gives us things to talk about.

Oh... and here I thought the Catastrophe Messengers choose to take on the Catastrophes because they want to do something for others... because of their sense of duty.

Take on the Catastrophes? Forget it.

I'm a little different from those Catastrophe Messengers who are fine with causing even worse disasters just to prevent the destruction that the Catastrophes bring and to soothe the fears of those regular folks.

Huh? There are Messengers that extreme...?

Now those are the ones who are really 'taking on' the Catastrophes like you said. Messengers like me who just gather and deliver news are just small fry.

I said this earlier. The Catastrophe Messengers play an important role, but they take on a really big risk. Most people with this kind of knowledge and know-how choose to work at some kind of lab or organization instead.

Those of us who are ballsy enough to be doing this have either found a sugar daddy with deep pockets, have no other way out of the hole they're in like me, or are so firm in their beliefs that they're actually trying to take on the Catastrophes.

And out of those nut jobs, some of them are probably actually trying to give their lives for mankind, while others either have a grudge against the Catastrophes themselves or feel some sort of emotion in them that fuels their urge to take on the Catastrophes.

In a nutshell, they're a bunch of guys who are more than ready to sacrifice their lives and the lives of those around them to save even more lives. Some of them might even give up on that whole saving people idea just to get rid of any traces of the Catastrophes having ever happened.

My guess is that's probably not the kind of doing something for others ideal you have in mind, right?

Hmm... but I heard Rhodes Island has taken on missions like that too... You brought it up just now, too. Something like... Contingency Contracts?

That's true, but those contracts are at most stuff like, fight some broke mercenaries that are trying to blackmail the small nomadic cities in the Catastrophe warning zones.

After all, Rhodes Island doesn't take on the kind of missions where we have to give up on saving lives just to fight the Catastrophes. Of course, it shouldn't claim to be any more noble than the rest of us and interfere with the choices we've made for ourselves either, even if it's their own employees we're talking about.

The Catastrophe Messengers' enemies are the Catastrophes themselves, not death. That's the nature of the job. That said, I should still be allowed to go about my responsibilities the way I want, and, of course, you are allowed to fulfill your responsibilities as an operator however you want too.

To put what he said another way, you should always look out for the opportunity to do what it is that you actually want to do, wherever it is you are standing at the moment.

To Rhodes Island, some missions are probably more important than others; to other people, some accomplishments are probably greater than others; but to ourselves, there really isn't anything more sublime than being able to work the way you want to.

Hmm... I never thought of it like that...

Am I being too impatient...?

You're just using responsibilities as a way to force yourself to do something. It's not just you. Many of those who survived the Catastrophes do the same thing, and this is nothing new to Catastrophe Messengers.

That's not a bad thing in itself, but to take on even more responsibilities blindly doesn't really mean you yourself or anyone else will receive a greater redemption.

There are those who are fighting to give you a better life. Don't let them down just to fulfill your own goals.

Uhh... That makes me feel kind of bad for the doctors at Medical...

You don't even read as much as I do. How come you always have some bullshit argument ready to dole out?

Perhaps you shouldn't spend all your time reading those pointless, impractical Columbian invention magazines, then. Also, if my arguments were bullshit, I wonder what that makes yours.

Heh, I speak from experience, not out of my ass. So where were we? Something about work?

Now that I think about it, Ayers, you always say you aren't picky about work, but I haven't ever seen you take on bodyguard work for those stupid, self-conceited upstarts at Rim Billiton.

Hard to say I won't ever do it. Let me know the next time you take out a loan from one of them to get another dune buggy. I'll think about it then.

Oh, for real?! You're gonna be such a lifesaver, going so far as—

I'm telling you to save up before even thinking about buying all that junk!

And don't ever owe anyone money!

Alright, alright.

I've got to say, though. You've really got balls, Greyy. This is your first mission outside, and it's a rescue mission at a Catastrophe warning zone.

That's just because our mission is to help out a nomadic city that's stranded because of its electrical problems. Most of the missions we get are combat-related, and I try to stay away from those because I'm afraid of holding everyone else back...

I may have passed the operator examination, but I don't have any combat experience at all. I'm sure the real enemies out there are nothing like the practice targets we use during training...

Oh, but I guess I shouldn't worry about that as much as I used to anymore. Whether it's a combat mission or deskwork, they're all a chance for me to accomplish the things I want to do...

I'll keep maintaining the electrical equipment, but I'll also train really hard! I'll make sure I'm not holding anyone back!

You say that, but isn't helping out with the landship's power supply a whole lot of work to begin with? From doctors and patients to the combat operators, every everybody there needs electricity.

And I heard there was this one time you passed out while taking care of paperwork for the Doctor? The Doctor was so freaked and called for the medics right away and took you to Medical. I heard you really got an earful that time.

Oh... It's a little embarrassing...

I promised the Doctor I'd help review the electricity usage reports from the new operators that needed approval, but a set of transformers had gone out the night before.

Hm? Shouldn't that be the electricians' job?

Oh, yes, they took care of the transformer repair work.

But they also needed an Engineer Caster to inspect the Originium unit's output to make sure it was working. They also needed an Engineer Caster to check the energy conversion process, then there's also the cooling...

(Hm, look at that light in his eyes.)

(He's a professional.)

...The collecting pipe needed checking too. It's really complicated, but I have it all memorized!

Eh, this makes me wonder if the power system Closure designed actually works all that well, or if those energy hogs are working the equipment that hard.

We even have a kid here who's into getting worked hard by electricity.

Hehe...

You know, this car is equipped with a data logger designed by our 'highly intelligent Ms. Closure.' It has a voice recorder, too.

Huh? Closure, ignore everything I just said, okay? Please don't do anything funny to my equipment or my Arts Unit...

Just messing with you.

Since when has your sense of humor been this lame? It's drier than an Iberian sea breeze.

And when have we ever been to the Iberian seaside?

I did in a dream once. I couldn't use my Arts, and my throat was so hoarse because of the breeze there. You picked up some sort of funny sword technique. It's like, you attack and parry by tracing circles and whatnot.

Sounds like the most impractical thing ever.

Yeah, you said that in the dream too. You said following what a book says doesn't make it a combat technique, and that it's not a technique until you can wield it so skillfully that you can bend it to the needs of battle.

Who did he fight?

Some guy that was always jabbering. He wore a robe, I think. It was a dream; I don't remember that much about it.

Oh, we're here now. Let's get going.

Huh? I don't see any towns around here.

There should be some three kilometers to go from here, but the road up ahead isn't very suitable for driving. Greyy, get me that portable terminal, will you? Thanks.

Hmm...

Well, this is probably kind of a cliche, but I've got some good news and some bad news.

Good news is, going by the data I've been collecting on our way here, we will have lots of time to prepare for the evacuation.

So that's why it felt like you were in much less of a rush about halfway into the ride. But... you were using Originium Arts while you were driving?

Don't look at me like that, Ayers. The steering wheel's an Arts Unit modified by the craftsmen. I didn't take my hands off my staff to use Arts.

I'm sure both of you are aware, but making predictions based on the data outside the area tends to give you fairly inaccurate results. That's why, as a Catastrophe Messenger, I tagged along with you guys here to the warning zone to get more detailed data to work on that.

The Originium around here's still some time away from saturation. We should have at least half a month until we have to go.

As for the bad news... I guess the mission report this time is going a whole different direction than we expected. Can't say for sure yet, but it sure seems like it.

Which direction?

Hard to say. Might be both.

Huh?

Hm? Did I not tell you about this before?

You were wondering how to break it to him a while ago.

Oh, right.

Well, we know Rim Billiton like the back of our hands since we were on the mining team, but I guess you don't know that much about this place, right, Greyy?

First, this distress signal isn't necessarily coming from a town that's in trouble. It might be a trap.

And suppose it's real, the signal might also attract rioters to loot the place.

And you know what would be really hilarious? If it's both. A trap that draws in some rough looters.

I've been measuring the signal's echoes on the way here, and it kinda feels like the number and density of people at our destination is kinda off.

For a town, there's too few and they're too packed together, but there's clearly a large amount of Originium products and buildings there. I sure hope the townspeople weren't kidnapped.

But well... We shouldn't have a lot of trouble taking care of them, as long as they aren't some pain-in-the-neck creeps like the Rusthammers.

Besides, we're still pretty far away, and even though the equipment we have on the car helped expand the range, it doesn't necessarily mean my Originium Arts were accurate. Maybe the whole town's just gathering in one spot, trying to figure out how to fix the equipment.

But no matter what we're going to face, I guess you are ready now?

Come on, stay with me. This is also the kind of life you want to know. The life far away from home and from the ship.

I guess you're probably hoping that it's your knowledge that our mission needs instead of combat skills now? Well, to us 'operators,' it doesn't really make a difference.

There are bad guys everywhere, and they aren't much better than those bad guys back in your hometown when you left, but as long as you still want to, there's always something you can do for somebody out there.

Yeah!