Liberi Reader

What are you doing this time?

Kal'tsit, you think I could see the Doctor for a bit?

Has it been too long since you pranked {@nickname}? Feeling antsy?

Oh come on! I'm really a very caring person.

Last time you called yourself a caring person, you set up a facility to broadcast 'Closure's Midnight Video Market' at twelve o'clock for three months straight.

But...

We still have no way to turn the volume down.

Okay okay, I admit it! I want to go tease the Doctor.

Not to mention {@nickname}'s memory loss. I can't say for sure if the Doctor even knows who you are.

Huh? Slept too much and turned stupid, huh? That's sad. I'll have to bring the Doctor some snacks as a little cheer-up gift.

Whatever. Just try not to make a bad impression.

Warfarin went bad enough. Add in the Doctor's misconceptions about vampires and the Kazdel matter will have to be postponed. Indefinitely.

This is an opportunity to rehabilitate yourself in the eyes of the people. Seize it well.

Do I really need rehabilitating?

After the time you set the climate control system to 36 degrees, yes.

That was a power outage in the machine shop.

We found your fingerprints on the console.

It was a power outage in the machine shop!

You hacked the surveillance system and deleted the recording, but the console served as a biological backup. I have thirteen tissue samples from thirteen different instances.

I'm sorry it's my bad that envoy is such an arrogant prick I just want to rub his nose in it sorry.

......

Anyway, the welcome party. Dr. {@nickname}'s welcome back party. We're not throwing one?

Afraid not. Circumstances such as they are.

Hey, why you gotta be like that, Kal'tsit? This is the Doctor we're talking about, the Doctor with amensia. We gotta create an atmosphere of warmth and camaraderie.

Did you always look at the Doctor so?

Maybe... I've never been that close to the Doctor. But didn't you just say this is the perfect time to make a good impression?

Closure, let's talk about something else.

Hmph. If you're not going, I'll go myself. I don't care what you do.

Did I hear we're going to Lungmen? I think that was on the schedule.

Yes.

And we can operate freely?

Lungmen has become quite dangerous.

Huh? Really? Lungmen? I thought that place was all about law and order.

It's the closest city to Chernobog. That should be pretty self-explanatory.

So why are we going?

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.

I was saying, regardless of what kind of riddle you were just playing at, if you're walking in the dark, you need some kind of light, right?

Aren't we fixing the lights right now?

Yeah, there we go.

Closure.

Why are you asking me about these things?

Because if I don't ask, you don't tell.

You let it all well up inside you until you go crazy.

So my answers don't even matter to you?

I think all these things you told me are reeeeeeaaally important, to you.

So yeah it's not that important what you say... but it's really super important that you say it, and I hear it with my own two ears.

What a waste of time.

Next time I'll just hand you the written report.

But then you wouldn't come with me.

Says who?

As long as you really have some lights that need fixing.

Promise?

How is it I always end up making some strange, inexplicable deal with you?

That's what an engineer does!

Here, Kal'tsit, take a look at this light bulb.

It's very clear?

Yeah, clear!

...

If only you were like this all the time, I'd be a lot less tense.

If only...

Woah! Shut up! Don't say it!

Just be quiet... and enjoy this little light together.

......

It really is a nice, gentle light.