Gravity fluctuation(14)
Point Nemo. The so-called Graveyard Orbit. The sight I saw there was both unfamiliar and familiar at the same time.
It felt strange to see glaciers stretching in all directions instead of a frozen wasteland, but the heaps of scrap metal piled up randomly were something I was used to.
It was similar to the waste disposal sector in Heaven, but if that place was an organized junkyard, then the Graveyard Orbit was an unorganized junkyard.
Unlike the waste disposal sector, where metal is compressed and stored using hydraulic presses, here almost everything is left abandoned. It was only natural that it felt different.
To land at Point Nemo, the Griffin detached its towing wires first. Since the Albatross could glide to a landing, we decided to wait until the Griffin had landed.
After successfully landing in order and finally being able to disembark, everyone patted their backs. The Albatross's landing was more of a crash-landing than Griffin's, so everyone seemed to be catching their breath.
It was still better than Roxy. The landing for his shuttle, which had taken the brunt of the defensive turret fire in our place, was much rougher. Still, he survived.
'It's really hard.'
The sea of Titan, shaped like upside-down icicles, had surfaces mostly frozen. It was harder to find areas that weren't glaciated.
Before terraforming, Titan's sea was made up of liquid methane, but after, it became water instead of liquid methane, and unable to withstand the external temperatures, the sea froze over.
Since this was the territory of a terraforming device not from the military base Keter, there could still be liquid water beneath the thick glaciers.
If SSTC had not stopped maintaining the current state and proceeded with terraforming, by now, blue skies and emerald seas would have filled the landscape. Seas are often called the cradle of life, but in Titan's sea, nothing that could be called a living being existed. Only microorganisms.
While Griffin was unloading supplies to establish a temporary base, Kanna, who had just communicated briefly with the soldiers aboard the Griffin, spoke up.
"We'll go check the area to see if any of the local security force remains. Judging by the lack of response until we landed, there probably aren't any survivors, but we'll go see for ourselves just in case."
"Are you sure you have enough people for it?"
When I asked about the possible physical strain, Kanna took an ampule from her combat suit.
"This is enough if I take just one."
"What is that?"
"It's a kind of enhancer. If you take it, your senses become about 50 percent sharper, and it also has a stamina recovery effect."
Sensory enhancement and stamina recovery—it sounded good, but these things usually came with side effects. As if to confirm my suspicion, Kanna sighed and continued.
"It's not a cure-all. There's no addiction, but it works by borrowing from stamina you'd use in the future, so if you abuse it, it puts a strain on your body. But taking one shot is okay."
"Be careful."
"Of course. We're not in a position to push ourselves anyway. Then, please take care of things here, Hyun-woo."
With that, Kanna said that since this was a safe place, there was no chance the pureblood supremacists' pursuers would catch up, and that even if they did, the open surroundings would make it obvious. She then turned and left.
She and the soldiers left in a recon vehicle unloaded from the Griffin. Soldiers really are diligent, I thought.
I complimented myself. I'm not usually that sort of person, but if things had gotten ugly when I first met Kanna because Carry had been roughed up and someone died, this situation would not have happened.
Without Griffin, without knowledge of this place, and unable to recover the Albatross, we would have lost the town and ended up as street vagrants in an instant. No, we might not even have ended up as vagrants—we could have failed to escape from a town under assault by pureblood supremacists.
Celestia approached with Carry, who was controlling the power loader. In the control seat was Nadia, who still hadn't woken up. Judging by her deep, snoring sleep, she wouldn't wake easily.
"I have a few things to take care of, so I'll take Nadia into the Griffin quarters for now. What about you, Hyun-woo?"
"Ah, I'm going to the Griffin too. I need to speak with Licorice privately."
"Is it urgent? If not, you could rest and do it tomorrow..."
"It won't take long. I'll keep the comms channel open, so tell me right away if anything happens."
I entrusted the temporary base to Celestia. I felt a bit hesitant, as if I was just dumping work on her. Hadn't Kanna just asked me to look after things?
"... Alright."
Luckily, Celestia responded affirmatively, though it took a moment's silence before she did.
She seemed as if she wanted to say something more, but she didn't. Maybe I was not the only one sensing the odd mood; Eric shrugged his shoulders.
I wondered if there was something I didn't know. So I looked at Eric. He just gave my shoulder a couple of pats in response.
"Don't worry about us—go ahead. We'll grab some supplies and head inside a bit later."
「ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)」
While I was dawdling, Carry gave a big thumbs-up, as if to say, you can trust and leave it to me. Even Carry did that, so I couldn't clear up my doubts and just boarded the Griffin.
Leaving behind everyone moving busily to put out urgent fires before sunset. Now that I was inside, I headed to the room where Licorice was.
It was odd there had been no messages. She hadn't responded to my connection attempts, which made me worry. Others tended to be afraid of her, so if I didn't come, no one else would. Even though she's actually a good person.
'... Or is she?'
Maybe I'd just become familiar with her.
When we first met, she was the embodiment of prickliness and fussiness. But nowadays, she'd changed so much that I wondered if she'd always been this way. "Growth" might be the right word.
From someone who hid all her true feelings, she'd become someone who showed a bit of her heart.
I knocked on the door to Licorice's quarters.
"Licorice? Are you in there?"
Even after waiting, there was no answer. I couldn't sense anyone inside either.
'Is she asleep?'
If so, I should just go back, but an odd sense of unease swept over me.
"Licorice? I'm coming in, okay?"
I opened the door. I hadn't forced it—it was already unlocked. I carefully stepped inside. When I saw the mess, I shook my head briefly, but then I spotted a shadowy figure in a chair in a dark corner.
My eyes widened and I nearly dropped to the floor in shock. At first, I thought she was just sleeping strangely, but on closer inspection, it was obvious something was off—a trail of blood had dripped from her mouth.
"Licorice!"
Panicking, I shouted for her to wake up and was about to shake her shoulders hard, but then remembered sudden shaking could be dangerous to an unconscious person.
So I relaxed and shook her gently. I had thought she was just resting since she'd been so quiet, but what on earth was happening?
The comms had probably gone silent just when we escaped from Keter. Up until then, the word had been that hacking would take some time.
It took about three hours to travel from the Sea of Tranquility to Point Nemo. The blood at her mouth suggested internal upset, and since the blood had congealed, it didn't seem her injuries had seriously worsened, but she had been left like this for too long.
Of all times, I'd used up the whole Alpha series, so I was late in assessing her condition.
'I should have asked someone on the Griffin to check on Licorice's state.'
Feeling guilty, I wiped away the blood at her mouth. Sticky, dried blood smeared my hand.
'I need to call Carrot.'
There was nothing I could do alone. Someone with medical knowledge was needed. Just as I was about to make an emergency call to Carrot, Licorice's eyelids fluttered. As she started coming around, she let out a faint groan and opened her eyes.
"Licorice...!"
"... Lee Hyun-woo?"
"Are you awake? What happened to you?!"
"What are you talking about..."
Licorice frowned, as if she didn't understand her state. Her pupils were unfocused and she seemed much weaker than usual, making her condition seem even worse.
"Licorice, you passed out. And you were bleeding from your mouth."
"... I fainted? With blood coming from my mouth?"
"Yes. Don't you remember anything?"
"Ah, well... I, I..."
Licorice clutched her head, full of confusion beneath her pained groans.
"Don't push yourself. I'll call Carrot right away, so please hang in there until then."
"No!"
Licorice yelled, gripping my arm. It seemed to take all her strength; uncharacteristically for her, she leaned her head weakly on me.
"... Just let me stay like this for a bit. That's enough. I remembered why this happened, after all."
I knew I should call Carrot right away and get her checked, but seeing Licorice show such vulnerability made me hesitant to move.
After a moment's thought, I adjusted my posture so she could lean on me more comfortably.
"Like this, is it okay?"
No reply came. But hearing her breathing become more regular told me this was the right answer. I waited silently for Licorice to calm down.
She felt so fragile, it seemed she might break with the slightest pressure. She gradually regained her composure as time passed.
'... Was hacking that hard on her?'
It seemed ridiculous. Hacking isn't something that causes physical damage. There must have been another cause.
At least, it wasn't of unknown origin—Licorice seemed to know what it was.
How much time passed? After the artificial lighting fully dipped below the horizon and dusk fell, Licorice returned to her usual demeanor.
"... How long are you going to keep holding me?"
After clinging to me, she now acted coy as if nothing happened. I was dumbfounded, but also relieved—it meant she was feeling strong enough to act coy.
"Are you all right now?"
"Somewhat."
"Thank goodness."
As I was about to let her go, she didn't release me. She still clung to my arm. Seeing her fingers tremble, I sighed inwardly and gently chided her.
"I came because you wouldn't answer the comms, and then seeing you passed out with blood at your mouth... Do you know how much you scared me?"
"When did you get here?"
Was that really the point right now? But I just answered flatly.
"As soon as the Griffin landed. At that time there was still light, now it's basically night."
"That's... sorry."
"I'm not saying this to get an apology. You asked, so I answered. So what happened? I doubt it's that, but do you have some hidden illness I don't know about?"
"... Later. I'll tell you later."
Licorice flicked a glance at me and avoided my gaze.
'I'll have to ask again sometime.'
I had wanted to check on her and ask when she'd known Nadia's past and why she helped her, but the timing wasn't right.
There was no need to insist when she was clearly not well. It wasn't something I absolutely had to know.
"Okay. Don't suffer alone—tell me later if you can. I'm worried."
"... Yeah."
"I'll call Carrot, so don't move."
"That's not nec—"
"Don't move."
I deliberately cut her off. I wasn't willing to indulge an unreasonable stubbornness. When I glared at her, Licorice's resistance faltered instantly. She was so weakened.
I made an emergency call to Carrot. He said he would come right away, and before long, he knocked on the door. Even though he'd hurried, he looked perfectly composed when he saw us.
Come to think of it, I was still holding her. It didn't bother me; Licorice didn't seem about to let go, anyway.
"Thanks for coming quickly, Carrot. Can you check Licorice's condition? She was bleeding from her mouth."
"Blood?"
Carrot calmed himself and adopted a grave expression. He began his examination immediately.
"How long has it been?"
"At least three—no, four hours."
"What? Why didn't you call sooner?"
Carrot scolded. I felt unfairly accused, but I kept silent. It was objectively my fault for not calling sooner. If she hadn't come to, I hated to imagine what might have happened.
Carrot's expression grew grimmer, then changed to confusion before long.
"She was bleeding from her mouth?"
"Yes. That's what I saw, and I wiped it off."
"Hmm... Licorice, open your mouth, please."
Hesitantly, Licorice did as he asked. Carrot checked inside with his flashlight, and used a scanner on her throat and lungs.
"There aren't any wounds in your mouth. No internal bleeding elsewhere, as far as I can tell. You're fatigued, but not so much that you'd cough up blood."
"... Then what is it?"
"My opinion is, you need a more thorough examination. For now, rest. We're setting up a lab in the Albatross, so once it's ready we'll do a proper check."
"She's okay for now?"
"Sorry I can't be of more help, but, at least for tonight, that's correct."
I patted Licorice's arm, signaling her to say something if she knew what was wrong. Apparently, she took my signal a different way entirely, and her response caught me off guard.
"I'll get checked later. Thanks for coming, Carrot—you can go now."
"All right. If you start to feel off, call me immediately. I'm always on standby."
"You've helped."
"Nonsense—it's my pleasure."
Carrot gathered his things and stood up. As he left, I looked worriedly at Licorice. Had I sent him away too soon?
I was going to suggest she get checked more thoroughly, but Licorice looked up and spoke first.
"Lee Hyun-woo, you said you saw Lobelia before."
Lobelia—her name came out of the blue. My eyes, reflected in Licorice's crimson ones, filled with confusion. Not knowing what she wanted to hear, I nodded anyway.
"Yes. I saw her. In the hydroponics lab."
"What did you think?"
"What do you mean...? In what sense?"
"... What did you feel seeing someone who looked like me?"
"I just found it unpleasant."
"... Really? Were you annoyed because she was fake?"
Licorice's expression was oddly fragile—if I touched her, she'd break. If I could learn more, I could avoid stepping on landmines, but since she never told me what they were, I just answered honestly.
"It wasn't that I was angry because she was fake. It's just—she used your face to manipulate the buds. There's no way I could like it. I know you. You might have a prickly personality, but that sort of thing isn't like you at all."
"... You didn't have to add the last bit, but fine. You've helped, too."
Maybe my answer wasn't the right one, but it must have been close—her expression looked a bit better now. Out of that shattered-glass state, she almost glared at me, but without any meanness.
So I reflexively asked, "Then—are you kicking me out now?"
"Huh? You want to stay here forever? Planning to repopulate the human species with me or something?"
She looked up at me with a challenger's face, and I couldn't help but laugh. What did she even take me for? I had no such thoughts about a sick person.
"Don't say things you don't even mean."
I didn't want to leave her alone—it still felt unstable, and she showed signs of wavering. But judging by her expression, nothing I said would change her mind.
I had no choice but to let go of Licorice and stand up. I hadn't realized this was what "leaving a child by the water" felt like. A little uneasy, I added,
"My comms are always open, you know that?"
"Just go."
"Okay, okay. Take care of your health."
"You too."
Licorice waved her hand. Clearly dismissing me, so I followed Carrot out. Just as I was about to leave the cabin, I remembered something I'd forgotten to say.
"Oh, and thank you for your hard work today. Thanks to your successful hacking, we recovered the Albatross and no one died."
"......"
Licorice froze up. She was probably embarrassed, I thought, and laughed to myself. If I were feeling better myself, I might have teased her. But I wasn't in great shape either.
'So much to do.'
I organized the list of things I had to accomplish tonight as I walked out. With a final "Get some rest", I quietly closed the door to Licorice's quarters.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】