Evolve (37)
Ian collapsed. He gave up on attacking of his own will, and he never got up again. The light emitted from the core through the hole in his chest completely died out.
I stared blankly at Ian, who didn't even twitch. The faint smile Ian showed at the end was still vivid in my memory. He had definitely exuded a different atmosphere than before.
'... Just now, that really seemed like the real Ian.'
Ian had authenticated Myosotis's special code. Even though he appeared as a budding-type mutant—or rather, the fact that he appeared as such meant that fragments that once made up Ian had been absorbed by the mutant.
Since there was some foundational information, the mutant could take Ian's form, and because someone had passed information and manipulated it, those memories would have seemed like its own.
The final words Ian spoke before dying weren't merely to shake Celestia. There was no resentment; rather, the feeling was closer to pride—an emotion one feels seeing someone who's suddenly grown up.
As thoughts floated aimlessly through my dazed mind, someone called me urgently. It was Celestia.
"Hyun-woo!"
With trembling hands, Celestia tried to stop the bleeding from my wounds and did her best to perform emergency treatment. She stuffed high-grade medicine into my mouth without hesitation and, while I struggled to chew and swallow, she hung an emergency-use device around my neck.
All the spare respirators had been smashed, so the only option left was the EVA energy screen generator, which could run on auxiliary power. Kyle had repeatedly insisted that it was irreplaceable and should be used only in real emergencies. Now that I had to use it, it felt a bit wasteful.
But I couldn't show that. Who knew what would happen if I did?
When Celestia activated the device, a transparent energy field wrapped around my face and filtered the toxic elements out, filling my lungs with clean air. Breathing that clean air after gasping through the harsh atmosphere felt unbelievably refreshing.
My tensed muscles instantly relaxed. My pain-ridden body finally began to feel stable. But for some reason, Celestia's pale face grew even whiter as she muttered in a trembling voice.
"A-ah, no... Hyun-woo, you can't die... Don't die...!"
I was still alive. I mumbled it inwardly.
It hurt enough for me to feel like dying, but I wasn't on the verge of death. My body was absurdly tough. My monster-like recovery was even faster thanks to the premium medication. Before I knew it, the bleeding had stopped and the smaller wounds were already healing.
Had I taken the medicine earlier during the battle, I'd be in even better shape and wouldn't be in this sorry state. But Ian, who had gone mad, had relentlessly interfered and I hadn't had the chance.
"... I'm not going to die."
I reassured Celestia. Really, I was the one who needed reassurance, but somehow things had switched. Her expression made it impossible for me to stay silent—her pent-up emotions were overflowing.
I couldn't even guess what kind of thoughts or feelings Celestia was enduring alone. She had killed Ian. The brother she had so desperately searched for.
Whether he was the real Ian or just a mimic mutant, that wasn't entirely clear. Regardless, there was something I needed to tell Celestia—something I had to say.
Something I'd been too afraid to talk about, about the confusion I'd suffered.
'Now...'
There was nothing left to hide. I'd already established who I was. So just as I was about to open my mouth, Celestia suddenly hugged me tightly. The words that followed stopped my thoughts almost instantly.
"I knew! I knew, but...! I was too much of a coward to say it...! I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
Celestia began to cry. The initial few tears quickly turned into a downpour. What did she know? I got my answer to that question.
"Hyun-woo, I knew you had something to do with my brother... Hic... I knew you... could be my brother... I knew everything..."
"..."
I listened to Celestia's words, sobbing like a child. She confessed that she had suspected I could be Ian for quite some time.
From the very first time she met me, she had felt a strange attraction and started to suspect. That suspicion turned into conviction when we escaped the underground sector of the Heaven mining base. The very things that bothered me had become clues for her.
The reason she hadn't told me until now was because she was afraid I'd feel pressured or come to hate her if she forced that suspicion on me. With a trembling, tearful voice, she kept saying that if she'd known things would turn out this way, she would've been brave enough to speak, and she apologized over and over for failing to do so.
As I listened to Celestia's confessional words, I felt complicated emotions.
'... She knew.'
I closed my eyes as I realized the possibility I'd tried to ignore was no longer just a possibility—it was reality.
'I am...'
I was not Ian.
The pureblood supremacists, who called the Holy Tree "divine", tried to give me the name Ian, but I rejected it. However, I couldn't truly throw away that name. It was a name etched into my soul.
Having heard Celestia's sudden—or maybe unsurprising—confession, I finally tried to say what I hadn't been able to.
"... Celi."
Just saying her name made Celestia, drenched in tears, widen her eyes. Her lips parted briefly, then shut tight, her guilty gaze waiting for my next words.
"I'm not Ian. It's true I inherited some memories, but not all of them."
It was something that could be considered cruel. In fact, it was cruel—because I was saying that, in front of Celestia, Ian was truly gone.
But it was something that had to be said. If I didn't tie this off now, the tangle would only get worse.
"At first, I was really confused. Honestly, I still am, a little. Even though I've come to my own conclusion, it's not like those memories just go away. If anything, that's precisely why I can't ever become the true Ian."
There was much I wanted to say. But my body wouldn't cooperate. My condition was bad, and curiously, my chest felt tight. Still, I forced myself to get out even one more word.
I confessed that I couldn't play the role of Ian, or that of her brother, properly. I still yearned to—but it just wasn't right.
Ian formed part of who I was, but I was not Ian. I could never be.
'Still, for just this moment...'
I took a deep breath and opened my mouth slowly.
"Celi."
There was something I absolutely had to say, no matter what. I knew what it was—the last thing I had to say as Ian.
"... I'm sorry I'm late."
It was a phrase that came from my own selfishness. If I wasn't Ian, what right did I have to speak as if I was? I only realized too late that it might hurt her even more, but what was said couldn't be taken back.
"You're not late at all..."
Celestia didn't blame me. She just said she was grateful that, even now, I had come back. But her words seemed more like an ending than a beginning. She knew—Ian was truly gone now.
I patted Celestia's shoulder as she wept, her face buried in my chest. Maybe it was because my comfort was so clumsy that she hugged me even tighter, as if it wasn't enough.
"... Sorry. I just wanted to say that one thing."
Her sobs burst out again, refusing to be easily calmed. I sighed inwardly, regretting saying unnecessary things. Somehow, Celestia, with her face still buried, shuddered as if sensing my thoughts.
That was when she fiercely rubbed her teary eyes and looked up.
"... Hyun-woo, remember what I said before? That nothing about you would change, no matter what you chose. So you don't need to say anything more."
Against my expectations, Celestia didn't fall into despair or resentment. As she said before, she didn't change.
"And this is my answer."
Celestia lowered her head and, suddenly, kissed me. The EVA energy field didn't block her movement. I involuntarily opened my eyes wide.
Startled, I tried to push her away but failed the moment I saw her sky-blue eyes. The swirling tide of emotion inside them relaxed my frozen body.
This wasn't the first time I'd kissed Celestia. But last time, it was just for survival—we'd shared oxygen to avoid drowning in the underground sector.
But now, it was different. Unlike that time, when it was all coldness and the taste of water, this time I tasted blood, and the warmth was crystal-clear. Perhaps because our bare skin touched?
All her fear of being abandoned was contained in that kiss. I was the one worried about being left behind, yet she was even more afraid than me.
Seeing her shoulders shake, I closed my eyes. I'd realized there was an even greater emotion than that fear. It felt both strange and very familiar. I had no intention of turning away anymore.
The contact didn't last long. One of us was breathing hard from crying; the other was short of breath from injuries. We simply pressed together and separated.
Opening my eyes again, I was silent for a while. My emotions had eased somewhat, but Celestia, not yet fully settled, gasped as she looked at what she'd just done.
Her face confessed that, only half-intentionally, she didn't know what to do. Carefully, I wiped her tear-stained eyes with my trembling hand, and Celestia caught her breath for a moment.
The atmosphere was growing awkward when, suddenly, orca, who'd been silent until now, made a sound.
「Lee Hyun-woo, Celestia Myosotis. There is no time for that.」
"Orca!"
We both instinctively looked toward the voice. Only then did I recall that it wasn't just Celestia and me here—Orca was also present, a fact I'd forgotten in the moment.
As I moved, wanting to go to her, Celestia supported me and helped me up. The awkwardness disappeared instantly. I was glad Celestia could move; otherwise, I'd probably still be writhing on the floor.
We approached Orca, who lay collapsed near the reactor. Having overloaded the reactor by directly interfacing with its circuits, orca's body was in the worst possible state.
Not only had Ian attacked her, but the feedback from the circuit overload had burned out her frame completely. The fact that she was still able to make a sound was a miracle.
If things had proceeded normally, it wouldn't have been this bad. Forced overload amidst a sudden attack left no time to cut off the energy in time.
Remora's visual sensors, housing Orca, squeaked as they turned toward us.
「I understand humans sometimes do incomprehensible things in dangerous situations. But there is no time for leisure. Please restrain yourselves.」
"..."
Rebuked, we were left speechless. As Orca said, things had not been fully resolved yet.
We had triggered the purification protocol by overloading the reactor and defeated Ian, who was trying to forcefully take Celestia, but we hadn't yet dealt with the enemies outside.
"... So all that's left is to escape, right?"
「Correct. I have something to tell you first. Time is short, so I'll be brief.」
Orca continued.
「First, thank you for your cooperation. Thanks to you, the purification protocol succeeded. If it had been just this AI alone, it would have failed.」
"We should be the ones thanking you. Thanks to you, we got to the reactor room by the fastest route. If we'd been on our own, the mission would've failed."
「This AI hasn't finished speaking.」
"Oh, right. Sorry."
Celestia grit her teeth in embarrassment at Orca's unwillingness to be interrupted.
「Presumably, your next destination is the archive. Although the purification protocol was successfully triggered, the lockdown on Titan is still in place.」
We nodded. Getting the deactivation code from the archive was our next plan. There was no other option.
There were so many military satellites in Titan's orbit that nothing fired at them from the ground got through. Anything rising above a certain altitude was inevitably shot down.
"We're going to call for support and rescue from the Myosotis fleet outside Titan's orbit. That's how we plan to buy time."
「Are you certain they exist? There is no trace on current scans.」
"It's not about certainty. We just believe."
「... And how will you contact them?」
Orca didn't ask further about the Myosotis fleet. Accepting it and moving on, she posed another question.
"We're counting on the purification protocol. We don't know exactly what will happen once it's activated. But purification could mean any number of things."
It might burn up the satellites, or shatter the crust, or melt everything. One way or another, destruction seemed highly likely.
"Our goal is to activate it weakly—just enough to temporarily lift the lockdown. Going to the archive is partly to find out how. And we have preparations of our own in progress."
「In that case, I recommend a rapid escape.」
Suddenly Orca's tone changed. Her gaze (as far as a robot had one) moved upward, as if looking at something.
"Why? I mean, we'll escape, but..."
「The purification protocol. The orbital gun in stealth mode. A type with a special engine capable of self-warp. All the energy sent into orbit to activate the protocol has merely served as a primer to awaken that special engine.」
"That was only the primer? What kind of engine could it possibly be...?"
「Degenerate reactor.」
"... What?! No way... That's still just a theoretical concept..."
Celestia was stunned at the keyword that Orca spoke quietly. She clearly knew what it meant. Regardless of her reaction, orca continued in her even tone.
「The main system's issues are steadily increasing, and this AI's access rights are limited. The information I can give you is also limited.」
Orca was only a comprehensive risk control assistant system. It was natural that her database access would be low.
「And despite the degenerate reactor not being fully awakened, the orbital cannon has started operating. It hasn't targeted anything yet, but the most likely target is our current position.」
"... It's going after Sky Whale rather than the pureblood supremacist fleet."
We instantly understood—the orbital cannon wasn't targeting the fleet, but Sky Whale. It made sense, given the unsettling whale cries we'd been hearing.
Maybe that was also why the cannon had begun firing prematurely, before it was ready.
「Correct. The contamination level of Sky Whale has passed the point of recovery. While the energy released from the reactor greatly reduced internal contamination, it was too late. The orbital cannon has already detected it.」
Orca explained that there was no remaining way to restore the main system, and that once the main system's rampage ended, the reactor would eventually explode as well.
「If you stay here, you cannot survive.」
"..."
「The incomplete barrage will be weak. If you put enough distance, your chance of surviving is higher. So I strongly recommend escaping now. The shortest route out has just been sent to your device.」
"Orca, what about you?"
「This AI can no longer move. The body is critically damaged. It's a miracle I can still communicate at all.」
"..."
We couldn't hide our sorrow. It wasn't just that we'd grown attached to Orca in such a short time. We'd also believed she'd be an enormous help in executing our future plans.
Without realizing it, I'd hoped she'd come with us. Knowing she couldn't made me feel even worse.
Just then—a sprout popped out. It looked completely healthy despite coming from my tattered suit. Before I could stop it, it approached the reactor.
Immediately, all the rings encasing the core swung open, and a single crystal emerged from within.
It looked like the core that emitted the reactor's radiant light. Unlike blue crystal, this one had a different feel. The sprout absorbed it at once.
"What in the world...?"
I couldn't finish my sentence, watching the sprout return to my storage compartment as if nothing happened. I'd known it did as it pleased, but I didn't expect this kind of action so nonchalantly.
「... The reactor's core was absorbed by an unregistered entity. Impossible.」
Orca was aghast. But only briefly—then, sensing the trembling facility, she urged us.
「Sky Whale has also detected the threat of the orbital cannon. The rampage's direction may change. If that happens, I can't guarantee you'll escape. You must move quickly.」
"... Understood."
Celestia and I realized we had no time left and hurried to move. The reactor gate had already opened. The ECM chaff must have dissipated, as the bracelet was working again.
"Orca, you saved us. Thank you. I mean it."
We watched as Orca's visual sensor slowly dimmed. She replied to our final gratitude by flashing a faint light.
「Lee Hyun-woo, Celestia Myosotis. The wind always blows without warning. It's a saying my pilot used to repeat. Someday—Correction. May fair wind always blow for you in the future.」
With those uncharacteristically human words, orca fell silent. She was no longer present within the Remora unit.
We had no choice but to leave Orca in the reactor chamber as we ran for our lives.