level_act25side_10_beg

Over here!

Surround her, don't let her through!

Attention all forces! Get ready!

The feeling of weightlessness returns.

Calcium crystals grow rapidly, tethering Saria's hand to the corridor floor.

The second 'Disorder' wave is starting!

...Disorder?

Nasti's magnum opus.

You've been following me around for the last couple of days. Does Defense have nothing else to do?

Sixteen of your Rhine Technological Park modifications do not comply with our established safety regulations.

(Speaks in Sarkaz) Disorder.

You...

Abandon the sense of balance inside your mind. Instead of fighting the chaos, try adapting to its rhythm instead.

Find what you've been looking for?

You reconfigured several key structures in the park. You don't seem to be following any rules, but... the connections between the components make sense.

I could have never imagined that structures like these would be possible.

A linear language constricts most people's imagination.

If you have a specific future in mind, you must first construct a dialogue with the destination, instead of brute-forcing a route.

Abandon... balance.

Perceive the destination...

She frees up both her hands.

The next shift in gravity comes abruptly, and as she hits the ceiling, she takes the opportunity to maneuver her trajectory, and jumps over the soldiers hot on her tail.

Calcium crystals follow in her wake, drawing an arc.

Manipulating raw calcium in the same way microbes change their composition... how very enlightening.

The materials morph extremely quickly, are adaptable and combinable with various organs, and thus have promising medical applications.

This has been your research field ever since you were in college, yes? Why not continue?

Because it's dangerous.

Are you referring to the ethical issues arising from the construction of artificial organs with this technique?

More than that.

Giving new techniques to doctors may save lives; but if they fall into the hands of criminals, they could also be reduced to weapons of destruction.

Haha. I almost forgot how rich with calcium our bodies are.

Therefore, I have determined that my research in this field must be suspended until effective control measures have been established.

It's a terrible pity, you know that?

If you ever change your mind, Rhine Lab could certainly have two sections specializing in life sciences.

Rhine Lab needs a Defense Section more.

I'm giving you my data in the hopes that you can combine our experiences to better evaluate the risks of the chimeric experiments.

Don't go too far, Parvis. The cost of pushing our boundaries will be too high for us all.

Then, where does the boundary lie?

Hm?

Countless studies have shown that the evolution of life has not been a gradual process, contrary to the theories of the earliest scholars in this field. We wouldn't be standing here right now if we had only been taking one step at a time.

Furthermore, if we presume that there is indeed a boundary drawn by a higher will, that determines how we should be acting—

Shouldn't we try to look it in the eye first, before we decide to kneel or raise a flag of rebellion?

...A 'boundary'. This corridor... is also a boundary.

If I keep walking along the corridor... I'll never reach wherever the 'eye' is.

The 'H.A.M.H.R.R.'

This ring-shaped laboratory has from its inception, been designed to subvert people's perceptions.

It is the realization of Kristen's dreams, the real product of Rhine Lab's Components Control Section, the combined wisdom of practically every Rhine Lab Director.

Saria is familiar with how each of them operate, but in the past, she had not allowed herself to think in the same way.

This makes no sense... No, it doesn't matter.

I have long been disgusted with this wall.

The telescope we borrowed from the Stargazers Association broke down.

Don't worry about it. The view here is great, you can see many stars with just the naked eye.

Well, you go look for a nice place to sit down. I'll try fixing it.

Wow... O great superhuman Lady Saria, I'm sooo curious, is there honestly anything you <i>can't</i> do?

I recommend you check my personal course electives. I won't be able to do anything I'm not studying.

You're a terrifying studying machine!

Whoa, it's so cold today... want a candy? Cream puffs? Hot chocolate?

Consuming sweets this late at night is not conducive to good health.

Booooring.

Kristen, look at that rock, what do you think it looks like?

Oh, come on! It looks like Saria, right? It's so hard, and yet it shines so 'perfectly!'

...Like the stars.

Kristen grabs the shining stone, and looks up.

She seems to be comparing it to something, as she moves the rock around.

Something's wrong. There should be a star here, but there isn't one.

I've done so many calculations... and yet I haven't figured out the trajectory of the stars.

You've already failed so many times, you still believe it's measurable?

Hm... I prefer to say that I 'don't believe.'

I don't believe in all the rules I've been taught. I don't believe that humanity will never be able to pierce through the starpod, let alone believe that the stars are only as small as we see them.

There's no way you believe we can fly all the way to the stars, right? I thought only a kid would believe stuff like that!

Children, poets, and scientists.

Haha, who ever said I wasn't one?

Scientists do not believe that dreams are false. Because what they're essentially doing is proving to all humanity that dreams can come true.

Gosh, you really have a one track mind.

So, Kristen. When our Rhine Lab becomes a full fledged public company, are we gonna keep that Lab on the name, or change it to Rhine Something Else?

I'm studying ecology, and Saria's research is in bioengineering and microorganisms, so the two of us are down to keep it nice and generic. Two against one, us in the life sciences... Just kidding.

I mean, you're dead set on soaring through the skies, and your field is high-energy physics, so wouldn't you wanna call it 'Rhine Physics' instead?

...No.

We'll stick with 'Rhine Lab.' It's a good name.

I want to know exactly what the stars we're looking at are.

I want to know what's outside the barrier encasing around us.

I want to know... if we really manage to walk among the stars, and look back from over there, what kind of land we've actually been living on.

All the questions I seek have mostly to do with not just me, but 'we.'

And 'we'... we are all beings trapped in this teeny tiny corner.

How are you planning to compensate me for breaking my vivarium, Saria?

You knew Kristen's plans from the very beginning.

Are you talking about 'Arc-01'... or 'Galleria Stellaria'?

'Arc-01' was never more than a front to deceive the military, a pile of scrap paper that was never feasible.

'Galleria Stellaria' is the real laboratory here, or you could also say, the name of this aircraft.

Heh... it certainly is a name that she would come up with.

Yup, the only thing she thinks about.

So you replicated your vivarium up here. Is Kristen intending to break through the barrier with it?

Just tearing the 'starpod' open won't be enough for her, you know.

Without a doubt.

Her fixation was never the barrier, but the realm beyond that even our ancestors have yet to reach.

She truly wants to step inside that deep outer space. She wants to leave everything that can be left behind in that dimension.

And that includes...

Each and every life present in this vivarium.

As soon as I heard about the 'Galleria Stellaria' project, I started gathering a variety of plant species that might be able to survive in the environment outside the barrier.

I just checked, and there's seven hundred and fifty-three different types here. Kristen put them all in this lab.

I'm pretty happy about it... we'll be able to find our answer together real soon.

You want to know if life can exist among the stars.

And especially... yourself.

...Yup.

My people and I... we've been trapped in this cage that just continues to shrink.

As time goes by, we can only follow what happens to water that can't be contained, wind that dissipates, trees that wither, and vanish from this ever changing land.

And then, she said to me...

'Then, let's go.'

'This land is not your home, but beyond it... there might just be a space untainted by Originium that will really accept you and your people.'

A mere hypothesis.

So far, no instrument has managed to penetrate, or even approach the barrier. So there is no basis to assert the possibility of Originium's absence beyond the barrier, let alone the total lack of evidence to suggest that life can survive in the depths of outer space.

I know.

It's just a dream. There's no evidence or data to support it, and it goes against all the scientific knowledge I have.

But... Scientists don't believe that dreams are false. Because what they're essentially doing is proving to all humanity that dreams can come true.

I remember Kristen said that.

Yes. She's the same as ever.

What about us?

Saria...

Have we... changed at all?

Water spreads out like hands in all directions, pinning Saria to the wall.

Saria has never seen water this fierce out of Muelsyse. It is like a waterfall, like a tsunami, as if the water is howling.

Calcium crystals continuously grow from Saria's hands, but they fail to take form under the sweeping waves.

She tries to find Muelsyse, but all she finds in stream after stream of water are the eyes of an elf hidden in the depths of each wave.

Eyes filled with serenity and grief.

The water is howling, but the elf is crying.

I really... really wish, we could be together forever, just like on that starlit night.

But there's no way I can hold onto the both of you at the same time.

Dancing in threes... really is too hard.

Ugh... Ggh...

I won't give you a chance to stop her.

Because... haha, two against one. This time, I'm on her side.

Muel...syse...

Sleep, Saria. Go to sleep.

You're all black and blue and probably about to pass out. There's no need for you to keep fighting, because our dreams are about to come true.

So just close your eyes and the water will take you away from here. By the time you wake up, Kristen and I will have reached our destination.

...No.

A solid calcium crystal does not stab at the water in vain, but into the side of the bulkhead.

Saria is well aware that the next 'disorder' is about to happen.

Warning—

Energy overload initiated. All secondary compartmental gravity systems and dampers have failed.

Attention all personnel, energy overload initiated—

Eek?!

Why... would it suddenly...?

Sudden? No.

You were right, Kristen has never changed.

The instantaneous gravitational shift causes the streams of water to lose direction.

The enamel piercing through the bulkhead firmly fixes Saria on the spot, but Muelsyse is tossed outside along with her water.

Saria!

You're the same as ever. Whenever you get nervous, you forget just how fragile your body is.

Uhh... no, catch me! I don't want to leave... not alone...

The energy overload is starting.

When it's done charging, the entire platform will collapse. Even if you can get close to, or even break through the barrier, the core cabin will not last long enough.

Kristen wants to save you.

...As do I.

You...

Yes, I want to bring her back.

Muelsyse... after gravity returns to normal, leave this place.

What happens next is between the two of us.

...Saria!

No! I gotta hold onto something—!

Authentication—failed.

Your clearance has expired. Galleria Stellaria Vivarium—Access Denied.

Your clearance has expired. Galleria Stellaria Vivarium—Access Denied.

Saria! You dummy! Blockhead! Knucklehead! Open the door!

Ha... haha...

I've really been... abandoned again.

Saria... I hope you make it...

Saria stands at the door leading to the deepest part of the lab, knowing her target is just inside.

However, before she can even condense the calcium crystals on her hand, the door lock automatically releases.

Compared to the previous area filled with instruments and equipment, this place feels more like a temple to the stars.

A sphere made of smooth and flawless metal shows off its dazzling beauty under the soft light.

Spheres of varying sizes slowly glide on predetermined orbits one after another, with their paths changing now and then.

The irregularities intertwine with each other, but contrary to expectations, they form an indescribable sense of harmony.

Whether it be the positions of the stars, or how precise their orbits shift, the planetarium exceeds the imaginations of any astrologer.

But in the very next moment, those devoted to the stars would probably fly into a rage.

Those so-called astrologers are basically misguided zealots.

For the past thousand years, they've committed themselves to tracking the trajectory of the stars.

Every trajectory change that occurs signifies a new revelation, or a meaningful omen to them.

Their behavior is not necessarily incomprehensible.

The fact that the stars move without a trace is enough to terrify most people.

To believe that the stars are mere pawns of an undiscoverable being, that their movements and trajectory changes hold any meaning is obviously the more reassuring choice.

However—

Kristen extends a hand toward the planetarium.

The dome of Galleria Stellaria enveloping the ceiling suddenly opens itself.

False starlight floods the laboratory.

Kristen makes a series of gestures with her hand, and in an instant, the planetarium completely transforms.

Fake.

The stars begin to move erratically.

False.

Several stars collide with one another. Though they do not shatter, the sound of them crashing into each other instantly destroys the silence in the room.

Fabricated.

However, Kristen's expression does not change at all.

As if everything is as it should be.

If the trajectories are really just invisible, then how have we avoided colliding with other stars throughout the last millennium?

Are we so special to have avoided such a fate so far?

What kind of land have we actually been living on?

Where exactly are we headed?

These questions... I've whispered them in your ears too many times to count.

Can you help me move that 'planet' over there, Saria?

A small metallic sphere passes by Saria's hand.

'Star.'

Instead of touching it, she lets it fall out of orbit.

What a shame.

I've been fiddling with these planets before we break the barrier, and no matter how many times I try, they just refuse to stay on the right track.

...Stop this, Kristen.

We still have time to turn back, before you hit the barrier with this Galleria Stellaria.

'Galleria Stellaria'... isn't it exactly as how I described it to you before?

A pity that you had already left Rhine Lab by the time I built it.

But I knew you would come back. At the very moment when my dreams were about to be realized... you would be there.

Whether or not you're with me—

—Or against me.

This time, it's my turn to make the first move.

Kristen lifts her hand, revealing the exoskeleton operating system Saria is most familiar with, and gently makes a fist.

Silver liquid spews out from the planetarium behind Kristen, and in an instant, all the planets are thrown out of their orbits, rushing towards a single position at a speed too fast for the naked eye.

The entire galaxy pours down on Saria.