Outside, the blizzard was still rampaging across the world, drowning reality in a murky white haze. It was hard for a Master like Sunny to get cold, but even still, he shivered and hurried to get back inside. Entering the building that housed the sleeping pods of the cohort members, he nodded at Verne, who was already waiting there with a somber face.
By now, around eight hours had passed since their arrival. The people Sunny had sent into the Dream Realm would be returning any minute now.
The steady Master looked at him and asked:
"How did your meeting with the Professor go?"
Sunny shrugged.
"We had an… interesting talk. He is an outstanding person."
It was strange, really. Professor Obel was a mundane human, but he had probably saved more lives than any Awakened Sunny knew of. Without the predictive system the old man had developed, countless people would have been swallowed by the emerging Gates over the decades. Sunny knew how dangerous a sudden manifestation of a Gate in a populous area could be. He had faced one himself, after all.
Verne silently nodded.
"That he is. I hope you understand now why it is so important to deliver him and his scientists to safety, Master Sunless. Their work must continue."
Sunny wanted to answer, but at that moment, the sleeping pods came to life, announcing that the people occupying them were waking up.
Samara, Kim, and Luster returned almost at the same time. They climbed out of the pods and put on their clothes with dark expressions on their faces.
'I guess the news is not too good…'
At that moment, Luster blurted:
"Captain, sir! Bad… it's really bad!"
Sunny looked at him darkly.
"...I gathered as much. Speak."
The three Awakened looked at each other. Eventually, it was Kim who addressed the Masters:
"The situation is still unclear, but there was some sort of earthquake, followed by the manifestation of multiple Category Three Gates. There were also several titans that emerged. The three Saints fought one of them above the strait between West Antarctica and the Center… and then, communications across all the Southern Quadrant went down.
By the time we left the Citadel, people were still trying to understand what happened."
Sunny's face darkened. All of that sounded very troublesome. It seemed that the Chain of Nightmares had reached a qualitative change, plunging Antarctica in chaos.
"What about our orders? Have you heard from Colonel Jet?"
Samara spoke in a subdued tone:
"She did pass on instructions, sir."
'Well, at least something went well.'
Judging by the heavy gazes of his subordinates, however, he would not like what they were about to say.
Master Verne frowned as he looked at the beautiful sharpshooter.
"Well? What does Army Command want us to do?"
Samara sighed.
"The region between this installation and the nearest siege capital is judged to be too dangerous to traverse. All the Antarctic Center is affected, but its southern edge was seemingly hit the worst. So… we can't go back. The previous evacuation plan was scrapped."
Verne did not say anything, but his jaw muscles tightened. It looked as if he was on the verge of uttering a curse, which said a lot about how dissatisfied the man was with the news. From what Sunny had observed, Verne was a very uptight and proper person.
…He himself was far from feeling elated, as well. Being stuck in a remote facility with no route of escape was not as bad as it could get, but very close to it.
Sunny cursed for the both of them.
"So, what? Are we supposed to just stay here and wait for death?"
Samara shook her head.
"We received new orders, sir. Although evacuation by land seems to be impossible at the moment, the naval convoy that delivered us to Antarctica is already on the way back to pick up the second batch of refugees. One of the vessels, battleship Ariadne, is going to be rerouted to the southern edge of the Antarctic Center. If all goes well, it will reach us in two to three weeks.
We are ordered to fortify LO49's defenses and await its arrival."
Verne let out a relieved sigh.
"I see. Three weeks… that should be doable."
Sunny, however, was not too enthused. The thought of going back aboard a ship did not sound very alluring… on the other hand, traversing hundreds of kilometers of rugged terrain with two thousand local soldiers and civilians, as well as no reconnaissance data from Army Command and an unknown number of titans walking around, seemed like an even worse idea.
He shrugged with a grimace.
"I see. Well… I guess we got ourselves a small vacation."
***
Considering that the cohort was going to spend at least two weeks at the research facility, Sunny told his soldiers to make themselves at home. The Rhino was brought within the walls of the fortress, and they chose to use it as their living quarters instead of settling in one of the buildings.
The new environment, really, was a welcomed change. The cohort was exhausted after a month of constant fighting, and this forced break, although unexpected, could potentially give them ample time to rest and recuperate.
If something did not go really, really wrong, of course.
LO49 was a large facility, and offered the members of the cohort a lot of opportunities to entertain themselves and pass time. They could eat in the mess hall, relax in one of the recreational lounges, or even visit a small library. The most refreshing change, however, was simply being among new people.
Conversing with the civilian staff of the installation reminded them of the calm times before the Chain of Nightmares.
There were just two places that Sunny forbade his soldiers from approaching — the old observatory and the outer wall that oversaw the ocean. Even though the observatory had its telescope dismantled, he still didn't like it. The ocean, meanwhile… Sunny was just prejudiced against dark water, for a good reason.
A few days passed in relative peace, and then a week. The news coming from the north was still strangely vague and fragmented.
Then, however, that peace was spoiled by a sudden and dangerous development.