Between Past and Present

We pledge we will not respond in any way to your actions.

With the way Saria and the Tin Man act around you, I thought you were going to be the dangerous one. What's wrong?

Is that real feebleness? Because you don't carry yourself like someone without the power to resist.

I leave it to your imagination.

But you can understand that, for the Doctor's safety, I'm not going to take risks.

So it seems.

Well, I've burned my bridges with the Maylander Foundation, so the less enemies, the better, really... Kristen's plans are in motion already. I'd say we're short on free time too.

We'll leave it there, then, before the District starts responding adversely—

—!

What?

...*sigh* Quite right. It won't do for the District to be in true, naked danger. We need to accelerate our gain of the situation.

And given you betrayed the Maylander Foundation, we really shouldn't let an outsider settle this for us. That means you, Dame Kal'tsit.

You're not that stupid. You indulged Ho'olheyak intentionally, looking to seize your moment to act.

Oh, so you guessed I'd pursue our traitor? How nostalgic, to be exploited by the Dame once again.

Intentional indulgence is giving us too much credit. The agents we assigned to be by Kristen's side defected one after another. I couldn't help but start doubting myself... and introspection is a thing that takes good time.

As for the lives of the two of you, Madame, haven't you been too careless? If you unleashed your jet-black vassal, surely restraining her wouldn't have been difficult.

'This' is not a place in which I can use any weapon.

We are already 'on top of it.'

That statement of yours is enough to draw considerable attention from the Maylander Foundation, Dame Kal'tsit. Unless you're mystifying us on purpose.

Honestly... what a surprise, Tin Man. How many bodies do you have?

Didn't I toss your poor metal skull in the trash at Loken's?

Are you letting me go this time? Or is this the deal—I kill you again, and then the Maylander Foundation lets me walk free?

(Ancient Sarkaz language) We'll talk again in a bit, traitor.

Gh...!

(Has my vision gone dark? He did something to my eyes—no, it's something mental—I can't move my limbs—)

It seems Arts still work here.

Originium Arts are not within the scope of the 'weaponry' sensors.

Furthermore, even the full powers of a revenant would be unable to damage their critical components in the slightest.

Then what about the Originium bomb and Arts Unit in my pockets?

Too primitive.

But these are state-of-the-art Columbian technology. They could get us buried in the deep of this land with ease.

So, anything else you haven't told the Maylander Foundation?

......

Are we not able to come together on this, not even with my being a Columbian, or a Sarkaz?

All throughout, I have only wanted the Doctor alone to reach this place.

The Control of Rhine Lab was a mishap in that respect.

Regretfully, you don't make the rules here. Beyond my duty to the Maylander Foundation, I have a heavy interest in this ancient ancestral home of a land.

There may be leads on Kazdel in there. I'm afraid I won't so easily—

—Speaking. Yes, Ho'olheyak has been apprehended via Arts, she's ready to... what?

The President himself?

Hah... hah... looks like your Arts aren't all that secure, my dear employer.

Oh. It seems I've underestimated Ho'olheyak. Roger that, I will of course obey.

See you later.

Isn't it strange, hm? How you can break free of such witchcraft by brute force? Your average campaign knight a century ago would've been frozen to the spot.

That voice just now, it was a Sarkaz... Witchcraft? You... what race even are you?

I ran my checks...

Always race on the mind, Ho'olheyak. You really are pitiful.

......

What puzzles me more, honestly... I mean, look at me, at the way I am. How could you take me for some ordinary person, killed by tossing his head away?

Yes, you have a point. So, could you put yourself back together if I crushed you?

I'll deal with Ho'olheyak. You two go on ahead.

The President has given me personal orders to unconditionally assist this Rhodes Island party to these coordinates. How very strange... I wonder when he got such a clear grasp of things...

So what of you as a Sarkaz?

The young Sarkaz detest you, and lovingly respect you too, for a great many reasons. But as I see it, your fight for the Sarkaz will go on longer still.

And of course, it will 'merely' be so.

Now, hurry up. When later comes, I hope you'll tell me everything you're willing to.

I promise that to you.

Let's go, Doctor.

I'm impressed how easily you give up on your greed. Doesn't the truth matter to you?

Don't you want to follow them down there and take in that 'ancient ancestral home' of yours?

Growing attached to your mission target on a mission, and then betraying your country with intent to misappropriate vital technology, without scruple? Not educating my subordinates properly is my disgrace.

Your damages to my body cannot rouse anger in me, not in the midst of my excessively long time undisturbed.

But as your boss and an authority of the Maylander Foundation, I suggest you hand yourself in, and try to plead a lenient sentence.

Grr, you old monster... How much have you lost over the course of your life? Does the idea of duty really still do something for you?

I once used quite the amount of Arts as a means to avert the trauma too long a time would inflict on my soul, but it wasn't entirely effective.

If you look purely at results, I'm a very conscientious one. Death will attest to that in my place.

No. I'll defeat you. I'll get everything I want.

I'll prove I'm my own self, and if that means I have to kill you, kill everyone in the Maylander Foundation, and even... be killed by you, then I'll give each and every bit of it my shot.

Heh. So this is how fighting for yourself makes your blood pound... Why did I ever put restoring my old blood first?

How many generations' worth of memories have you inherited, Ho'olheyak?

......

Three centuries? Or no, maybe five?

It's long enough. Long enough for a city to be rebuilt anew and destroyed again, or for a dynasty to go from rise to decline.

But to me... it is no more than the time needed to rouse myself from a nightmare.

Big words for you...

No. The reality is—

Your stretch of distress and your heartrending family history wouldn't stand up to the tale of a single scratch on my alloy fingers, young beast cub.

(Ancient Sarkaz language) Given you want to delve into history, I'll have to share a little more of it with you.

(Ancient Sarkaz language) You made too much light of the weight of history, K'uk'ulkan.

(Ancient Sarkaz language) You've yet to understand what it means for a memory to be graven.

You said you knew how to pilot this thing!

Hold on tight.

I—ungh—!

I'm trying the hardest I can, Ferdinand. If I wasn't, we would be dead.

Saria! Check the window!

The engine is on fire!

Power loss... no huge concern.

The thing looks ready to explode! What do you mean, no huge concern?!

I had no idea you could be so conversational.

Hmph. There's no end to these drones.

Ferdinand, get over here.

Grip onto this bar. No letting it go. Push it up.

See these dials? Wait until they pass this line. Then, call for me.

What are you—

Strap in. Don't let your hands leave that thing. I'm opening the hatch and heading out one moment.

Opening the hatch? What do you mean, heading out?

In midair?!

Saria, Saria! This whole thing's shaking!

Dammit, I knew I should've called my lawyer before I got onboard.

You think you can afford that lawyer without a job?

Stay calm, watch the dials. Period.

Wh—What the hell are you doing?!

I think it's—on the verge of haywire! There have been lights flashing!

SARIA! ARE YOU DONE YET?!

*huff*.

I'll take the controls. Let go of the bar.

......

Let go of the bar, Ferdinand.

*cough*, *cough* *cough*...

Did the firefight die down? What did you do?

I haven't seen you looking like that for years.

The pulse device was reverse-engineered from Raythean Industries tech.

I was intending for it to hijack transport drones. I didn't expect its time would come now.

Ha, haha.

Status check. Prepare to dock.

Hrrrfff—I should've worn a few more layers.

Put on your mask. It'll make that a little bit easier for you.

If I'm honest, I thought you'd jump straight out like some down-on-her-lucker and leave a fresh hole in the lab ceiling.

But like an academic, you pulsed the drones first to stop them nearing this craft, and then completed a proficient midair docking.

Nasti was meticulous in building this lab. I don't think she would have zero precautions against me.

Beside which, I couldn't guarantee you'd withstand atmospheric pressures at this altitude.

It looks like you have been busy since you left Defense.

What have you been doing all these years?

Work.

Hmph. Work.

Don't undo your seatbelt, Ferdinand.

If you want to pull Rhine Lab back from the brink, then show me how you do it.

......

I'm not your Section underling, Saria, and you're not Defense's Director anymore.

Don't talk to me that way.

Can you stand?

Yes! I'm fine!

...But you'll have to keep me steady!

This sensation is bizarre... Are we really in midair?

The 'starpod' is practically on top of our heads...

We're still far, Ferdinand. The aircraft read 5037 meters on the dial just now. The barrier's still another kilometer from where we are.

You don't seem moved at all.

Hmph. I suppose so. Learning to pilot in your college days...

The army still thinks this is some kind of superweapon. This equipment, these monitor devices and readouts... Nasti built this to be the best lab in all of Trimounts.

Or perhaps this was just the first step of some grand experiment?

That devil... just how much did she hide from me? I never thought her participation went that deep.

Hold on, Saria. I see a military transporter. They got here faster than we anticipated.

They must be nearby. I assume they'll finish boarding before long. We need to hurry before they take over this place fully...

Saria?

......

Alright, alright.

Once I get back, I'm having a nice, long talk with Jara.

Preferably to double my stock options.

......

Doctor.

Perhaps I have slightly lost my composure, but it is for other reasons. I can be sure it's not that dangerous ahead of us. You can relax.

That said...

You've asked me a great many questions in the past, which I've never answered for you straight.

Today, you may well finally have your answers.

It was as early as Saria's first contact with me, on the mention of Kristen, that I'd envisaged her going to any lengths to accomplish this.

Brashly attempting a space flight carries risk nobody could anticipate, though Saria didn't yet know the full extent.

Not until the events in Trimounts, until Operators Ptilopsis and Silence were drawn into a seemingly unrelated incident—

Yet no matter when, even when I surmised she was trying to re-challenge the skies—I admit, I had no anticipation the situation would be what it is today.

With how things have unfolded, with our personally witnessing the S.H.A.F.T.'s scope and scale, H.A.M.H.R.R.'s ascent, and... the research Loken Williams is now attempting.

It was soon after, with hindsight, that I realized what Rhine Lab Control Kristen Wright is attempting is impossible to achieve. Some outside force assisted her, massively influenced her.

Borrowing military funds and connections, continuing the research her parents left behind, the young genius has used Rhine Lab as a shell to deceive everyone, and point herself directly at her one greatest, most obstinate hope in life.

She plans to shred the sky.

She's doing it solely to witness the truth of it, to make all mankind witness the truth of it.

And what happens after? A brand new perspective, a flourishing science, the moment when the sky becomes possibility itself, and even the very upheaval of how war is fought.

People could reach other cities in a tenth of the time. Air vehicles, once a valuable rarity, could become typical transport means overnight.

But Kristen has chosen to leave all this to the coming generations.

She's never considered this from the angle of benefit—be it how she personally stands to gain, or how everyone does. Even the potential crises invited have gone ignored by her.

Is there one more possibility, that Kristen, who lost her parents at a young age and grew up amid skepticism and derision, is out just to prove this one truth to people, and nothing more?

This may well be what Saria thinks. As fellow students with Kristen in days past, as the very first supporter of her dreams...

Regardless of how bleak Kristen Wright's past was, how pure her vision, even how little was of her own personal doing...

She has never had any right to avoid these responsibilities.

Think of what Operators Ifrit and Silence have been through. Rhine Lab Control is self-centered, of that there is no doubt.

Saria wishes for her to assume these responsibilities. Saria wants to urge her to turn her eyes, fixed towards the sky, down to each and every individual, living, breathing person in Rhine Lab...

Perhaps Saria was meant to be the first to see Kristen's vision through for her, but then within Rhine Lab, at the crossroads of morality and ethics, everything spiraled out of control.

Regardless of anything, Saria and I have both been a step behind.

Given Terra's current Originium technology, tearing the sky apart would require the sum electricity of all of Terra over an interminably long period.

And this is purely a mathematical comparison. Nobody could ever converge so much energy on one point, let alone have the means to usefully output it towards the sky.

But... in the core city of Chernobog, a great many things have happened, all revolving around a Sarcophagus. Do you still remember?

At that point, Ursus's shallow research was sufficient to draw a relatively impressive amount of energy from the Sarcophagus, and now... the energy is enough to realize Kristen's deranged vision.

At least she hasn't chosen to share this information with the military or the Maylander Foundation. Such a material edge would make the state apparatus lose its mind, and certainly suffice to propel it into a rapid new hegemony.

...Doctor.

Remember what I said. If you can, for the next while, call to mind your past with Rhodes Island.

Do not be rattled.

(Unknown language) ...Unfathomable.

(Unknown language) That after such... such lengths of time, I would lay eyes again... on a colleague... and an attendant.

(Unknown language) Truly... far too unfathomable...

(Unknown language) Who am I?

(Standard Columbian) Who am I?

Why would you use Terran language...? Are you not aware of my existence?

What happened to you? Answer me on that one's behalf, attendant. AMa-10.