Rescue Fantasy (23)
"Hyun-woo, can I ask you something?"
Celestia suddenly poked her head in and asked. Whether she did it on purpose or not, she managed to break through the cracks of my senses and startled me enough that I unknowingly clenched my fist before relaxing it again. That was a close call.
「( ･o˙ )」
Next to me, Carry gave me a look implying it'd seen everything, but I acted as if nothing had happened. Fortunately, my act seemed to work.
"If it's something that's hard for you to answer, you don't have to force yourself."
"I'll hear you out first. What is it?"
"You said last time that your goal was to go to Earth. I don't think I've heard the reason why."
"Ah."
Now that I thought about it, I had never directly explained that. Noticing my hesitation, Celestia made a motion with her hand, assuring me that it was just simple curiosity and I didn't have to answer if I didn't want to.
Before replying, I stared at Celestia for a moment. Although she had come along to seek information about her brother, there was no denying that she had been helping me.
It wasn't some earth-shattering secret that could bring about the end of the world if revealed, nor was it something so important that I should take it to my grave. Telling her was no big deal.
"I don't have any memories. The past three years are all I remember."
"Oh, I heard about that."
"... You heard about it? From who?"
"Uh, by chance..."
Celestia trailed off with an awkward expression. Now I realized that her comment about not having to answer uncomfortable questions was more advice for herself.
"..."
Perhaps she heard it from Nadia or Licorice. Neither of them were the type to blabber other people's business, though, which was odd, but I let it go for now. I continued.
"Anyway, that's how it is. But it's not like I don't remember anything at all. Faint memories sometimes come to me."
A blue prairie stretching out to the horizon, gardens coloring the land, a sky looming impossibly high, a huge lake reflecting that sky—things like that.
"Sometimes, I dream, too. Sitting on a hill in a field, looking out over a lake. The dreams are so fleeting that I can't really remember them, though."
"A dream..."
"Well, I guess I have those dreams because I'm always talking about going to Earth. I kept searching for Earth images, too."
I said that, back in the residential area, I used to enjoy recreating Earth's forests on a hologram display. Now that I was saying it aloud, it felt a little embarrassing—even though it wasn't a secret hobby, and I'd done it with Nadia as well.
"That's it. That's all I have to say. It's everything I told you, just now."
I didn't know why Celestia suddenly decided to ask, but after hearing my short story, she repeated the words field and lake quietly, then stared at me intently.
Wondering why she was acting like this, I met her gaze with equal intensity. The staring contest didn't last long; I was the first to look away. Purposefully locking eyes was much more nerve-wracking than I expected.
"... Celestia, you're not under any kind of mind-control, right? Should I just cleanly knock you out for you?"
"I didn't even cling to you or anything—no, even if I did, isn't that reaction too much?"
"I see."
She did latch on, though. At those words, I realized Celestia did remember being charmed by Whiteout. Even though she claimed not to remember anything, she actually did.
I wondered why she would even hide that, but the answer didn't take long. The memories from then were returning crystal-clear.
'It was pretty embarrassing, after all.'
That moment, when she clung to my ankle begging me to leave with her, it was just like someone pleading for one more chance with their ex. It was so unlike her, the way she kept hanging on.
There was also something charming about that, different from her usual self, and if I hadn't realized she was under mind control, I could have easily fallen for it.
Maybe realizing that I was going to ask something related to that, Celestia hurriedly pretended to type on her terminal.
"Hyun-woo, we're almost at the central hub. Once we get there, it won't take long to reach the place with the supply boxes."
"Celestia, I'm curious about one thing—"
"The north tower didn't get attacked by ghouls, probably thanks to the totem—or, I mean, Whiteout's head, but we don't know how long that'll last."
"Cel—"
"Um, maybe we'll be attacked the moment we enter the hub area, so shouldn't we just skip any unnecessary conversation now!"
Celestia kept cutting me off the moment I called her. It made me want to measure her combat ability. I stopped her, even though she was the one making the most unnecessary conversation at the moment.
"I don't know what you misunderstood, but that's not it. I was going to ask if we can get rid of the mist once we're in the hub."
"Ah..."
Celestia silently put on her helmet. Probably to hide her face, which had flushed red from embarrassment. It was meaningless, though, since I'd already seen it—but I pretended not to.
"Doesn't the hub have control rights over each tower? Overall control of the water facilities and such?"
"Y-yeah...! It should. No, I'm sure it does. You want to get rid of the mist?"
"Shouldn't we?"
The supply box Kanna mentioned was in the east tower of the hydroponics sector. If the situation there was similar to that of the north tower, there was a good chance it would be shrouded in mist too.
Since the towers had the same functions, there would be similar water pipes, and if the plants there had mutated as well, there was no way the pipes were intact.
Mist obscures vision, no matter who you are.
However, for the mutants, they had 'creep', a living sensor. Just stepping on a creep would reveal our location to them. That was something I'd confirmed back in the residential area.
We also had a sensor, but its range was much smaller than the creep's. If something showed up on our sensors, we had to assume hostile contact was inevitable. And since we'd left Whiteout's head behind, avoiding combat was impossible.
At least, unlike the medical sector, there was significantly less creep in the hydroponics sector. If we wanted, we could try to go around it.
'I just have to hope the west tower is like the north.'
That was the only way things would become a little easier.
Either way, I figured we'd be better off without the mist—for clearer visibility.
Still surrounded by thick fog, we caught sight of a floating green glow ahead. It was the hydroponics sector's central hub gate.
〈Hydroponics Sector—Central Hub〉
「Welcome to Heaven. This is a space where you can experience fresh air and vibrant greenery.」
Perhaps the mist caused an error, but the holographic message flickered and glitched. At first, I thought it was another hallucination, but thankfully it wasn't.
"Hyun-woo, if you want, you can seize control of the water facilities from the hub. The problem is that water is still being supplied to the broken pipes; if you cut off the water, the mist should naturally disappear. And if you activate the air purifiers too, it'll clear out quickly."
"Let's do that. It really is better without the mist."
We opened the gate. The pipes were broken in the towers, yet inside the hub, too, the mist clung to the floor. Eventually, I realized it was because of the hub's connection to the towers.
Each floor was connected by suspension bridges, allowing the mist to spill in from the towers.
"Hyun-woo, how about we come up with a signaling gesture?"
"A signal for what?"
"In case something dangerous or strange happens, a sign we can show each other. There could be times when we can't speak."
Not a bad idea. I asked what kind of sign she had in mind, and Celestia simply suggested making an X with our arms. Since it signified 'no' or 'danger,' it was intuitive.
"Good idea."
"Honestly, I don't think we'll have to use it often. I only thought of it for if I start acting weird again."
"Well, you know what to expect then."
"Please let that slide..."
I made a pretend motion to hit her, and Celestia made a sad face, rubbing her neck and complaining about how it still tingled. After that, we focused on the sensors.
'No readings so far.'
We walked across the devastated central hub.
*—static—Lee Hyun-woo, can you hear me?*
Despite the jamming device, our communicator suddenly picked up a voice. It was Licorice.
"...!"
I immediately stopped and put my hand to my communicator. Celestia looked suspicious, but when I spoke, her face turned serious. She had already taken off the helmet she had put on in embarrassment earlier.
"Licor—no, red?!"
—The connection is—bbbzzz—get closer—bzzzt
"Red!"
I called for her repeatedly, but there was no answer. The momentary connection had become unstable again.
"Hyun-woo, was that a connection?"
"Yes. Only for a moment, though."
"That's good, but how? The jamming device is still working."
Celestia had a point. The jamming device, presumed to be near the reactor chamber approach, should still be in place. Kanna's team, who planned to destroy it, was resting right now.
"Did somebody else destroy it for us?"
"I don't think so. The connection is still unstable. It must've just blipped off for a moment."
I recalled what Licorice had said through the crackling connection. 'Get closer.' She probably meant that we needed to close the distance to restore communication.
'But moving here wouldn't close the distance much at all, would it?'
There was a significant distance between Town and Heaven. Would moving around inside the central hub, a sub-sector of Heaven, really make a difference?
'Could it be...?'
I wondered: could Licorice have come here herself? But I shook my head. She wasn't the type to help directly like that.
Licorice was someone who knew it was more efficient to support us remotely rather than make the trip herself. She would be more likely to question why she needed to get involved physically.
"For now, let's keep moving. Communication is important, but getting to the supply box is more urgent."
"Right."
We started moving again. Every step stirred up waves of mist along the floor, but soon the thought that we'd soon have the biocell made my steps lighter.
Not long after, we saw destroyed security robots. More accurately, we saw Licorice nervously hiding among them. I opened my eyes wide the moment I realized it was her.
'... She actually came? In person?'
I rubbed my eyes several times because I couldn't believe it, even though I saw her with my own eyes. No matter how many times I blinked, it was Licorice.
There was no way she was a mutant. She looked exactly the same, and even when I stared hard—suspecting possible mind control—nothing changed.
That meant the woman in front of me was none other than the real Licorice. Celestia and Carry were just as startled as I was. Carry, however, seemed more delighted than surprised.
Licorice wore a semi-transparent cloak. The way it shimmered in different hues depending on the light made me think it was a different model of active camouflage equipment I'd seen before. Her body looked half-transparent; it had to be.
Just as we saw her, she saw us. Upon spotting me, Celestia, and Carry, Licorice jumped up. I didn't even have time to react defensively.
"Lee Hyun-woo!"
"... Red, how did you even get here?"
"Since I couldn't reach you by communication, I had to come myself!"
Her voice—it was unmistakably Licorice's. The tone, too. I could sense the worry hidden behind her brusqueness.
"What about Town? I mean, why did you have to come yourself?!"
"Hmph. Who else here can move around as well as me? I can't leave everything to others. I might as well just do it myself."
Then she scolded us for wandering around here when we ought to have been in the medical sector. She looked at us like she had a lot to say, but so did I, so our expressions matched.
She quietly let out a sigh of relief, saying it was lucky she'd been able to control some security robots with the security protocol activated. Were it not for that, it would have been dangerous.
She added that she'd worried the mutants might see through her camouflage, but thankfully they had just found her suspicious and moved on.
'Security robots...'
I glanced at the wrecked security robots scattered around her. They looked nothing like the Alpha-series types; most bore the marks of heavy combat, with hardly any undamaged parts.
Since the security protocol had been activated in the robot manufacturing sector, security robots had been endlessly churned out, only to attack everything like war machines.
I had heard stories about security robots infected with Mimic, endlessly fighting ghouls and other mutants before getting destroyed, only to be rebuilt again and again.
Licorice grumbled about all the terrible things she'd seen on the way here. She looked the three of us over, crossed her arms, and suddenly asked,
"You haven't gotten the biocell yet, have you?"
"We're on our way now. We got info that it's in the supply box near the east tower."
"Is that so? Then good."
"But—"
Just as I was about to ask my unanswered question, Licorice covered my mouth.
"You can ask questions on the way! Let's just hurry and get that biocell. We don't have much time. Nadia isn't doing well."
"... Okay."
"But now that you're here, I'm not so scared anymore. I was a bit freaked out being by myself."
Licorice, saying she almost died of fright but was relieved now that she saw me, gave me a hearty pat on the shoulder and grinned. She was still forcing herself to stay calm for my sake, just as she always did—dragging me along without question, as well.
Even though I still couldn't fully process the situation, as she said, we really didn't have much time. All we could do was keep moving.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
I'm willing to bet it's Lobelia and not Licorice.
【( ⩌_⩌)】