"Ollie, there's a woman here, and she looks like she's alive," Gale said.
Ollie looked back at him as he moved towards the panels. "So what? This whole place is full of half-human monstrosities. For all we know, that could be the mother of all those fleshy monstrosities."
"She doesn't look like them," Gale said.
"Who cares what she looks like? We're here to power up this facility and get the hell out, not collect strays," Kyle said.
"Kyle's right," Lily said. "We've seen what this place does to people. She could be one push of a button away from turning into something like what we fought earlier."
Clyde came up behind him, looked over his shoulder through the window. "Besides, you think a normal human could float in water like that without breathing? God knows how long she's been in that stasis for. Maybe even hundreds of years."
"All the more reason to help her," Rachel said. "She could be a prisoner."
"You want to release something that's been locked up in a containment pod?" Ollie asked.
"What I've learned," Gale said, "is that this facility is filled with people who've been transformed against their will. She might be next if we leave her."
"Or she might be patient zero," Clyde said. "The template they used to create those flesh warriors. She could be more dangerous than all of them combined."
Kyle nodded.
"The pod is connected to the power system. Look at those cables." Gale pointed to the thick cables running from the top of the pod to wherever they reached.
"We can't risk it," Ollie said.
"We can't just leave her," Rachel said firmly. "What if it was one of us in there?"
Lily sighed. "This isn't a rescue mission. It's a rift. We find the exit, we leave. Simple."
"Nothing about this rift has been simple," Gale said. "She probably knows this place way more than us."
Kyle laughed. "Oh sure, let's wake up the Sleeping Beauty and ask her for tech support. Great plan."
"Better than wandering around this place with that monster hunting us," Rachel frowned.
"The pods are connected to the main power grid. See these readings?" Clyde walked over to the control panel, running his fingers over the switches. "This one's the only power source operating right now. What if this whole shit shuts down because we pull the plug?"
Ollie looked around the pod looking for an indent for the tablet. "He's right. The facility's running on auxiliary power. Those cables might be connected to the batteries and to that pod that's generating it."
"So she's being used as a battery?" Gale asked.
"More like a generator," Ollie said.
"All the more reason to get her out," Rachel said. "They're draining her."
"For fuck's sake, we don't even know what she is! She could be some kind of power core with a human-like shell," Kyle yelled.
"Or she could be exactly what she looks like. A person being used against her will," Gale said.
Lily walked over to where Ollie searched for the indent, joining him. "If she's the power source, we need to be careful. Shutting it down incorrectly could trigger a security protocol or worse."
"Exactly my point," Ollie said. "We don't know what we're messing with. Better to leave it alone and find another way."
These guys… how the hell does he persuade them without telling them about the mission? There's no way the Core Chamber's panel would blink blue in this area for a reason, and no way that it wouldn't be connected to the system's mission. Adults are so goddamn stubborn. Next time, he'll take that leader role without hesitation.
"We can't leave her," Gale said.
"Why are you so fixated on this?" Ollie looked back from under the panel. "We're here to complete a mission, not play hero to everyone we find."
"Because it's the right thing to do," Rachel said, more firmly and louder this time. "And because she might be our ticket out of here."
"How do you figure?" Clyde asked.
"Think about it. If she's powering this place, she must understand how it works. And if she understands how it works, she could help us navigate to the exit," Rachel said.
Kyle snorted. "Assuming she speaks our language, isn't hostile, and doesn't immediately collapse after who knows how long in suspended animation."
"Listen," Gale stared into Ollie's eyes. "I haven't made the wrong call this whole time in this rift. Not once. If she's being used as a battery, that's more reason we should save her."
Ollie raked a hand through his hair, getting out from under the panels. "You're talking about tampering with what looks like the only working power source in this entire facility."
"I know exactly what I'm talking about," Gale said.
Ollie paced in front of the control panel, boot heels clicking against the metal floor. He stopped, looking between the pod and the waiting faces of Lily, Clyde, and Kyle.
"Fine," he sighed. "But I'm setting a hard limit. Ten minutes to search the control panel and figure out how to release her safely. If you can't find anything in that time, we're leaving her and finding another solution."
Rachel walked over to the control panel where Ollie was. "That's reasonable."
"Agreed," Gale joined Rachel.
Kyle rolled his eyes. "Ten minutes until we potentially unleash hell. Great."
"Just keep watch," Ollie snapped at him. Materializing the tablet from his storage box, he inserted the tablet under the panel. The single unshattered monitor lit up, displaying a loading animation.
[Initializing…]
[Connecting to Power Plant…]
[Establishing link…]
[Logging in ID: U23-14E5]
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
The group gathered as the control panel came to life. Buttons, switches, and levers all lit up with a gray backlight, revealing the numerous foreign letters printed on each function that they're now used to.
"Well?" Lily asked, peering over Ollie's shoulder.
Ollie's eyes darted across the screen. "The power plant's in energy under-production. It's missing a generator, which is probably the contents of the empty pod. According to this, in 7 stars, the whole system will shut down completely."
"How long is that in real time?" Clyde asked.
"Can't tell you, but it doesn't sound a lot." Ollie continued scrolling through the options. "Turning on planetary power is impossible with the current setup. But... we can power individual sectors at the cost of reducing the total duration to 3.5 stars."
Ollie navigated through several more tabs on the screen, stopping at the maintenance section. "Here's something. There's a tab for Pod Maintenance. Pod 1 is listed as offline. Pod 2 is active."
Gale moved closer to the screen. "What are the options?"
"There's one for maintenance mode," Ollie said. "According to this, it would open the pod." He gave a loud long sigh before continuing his sentence. "Which means releasing whatever that is."
"Do it," Rachel said firmly.
Gale nodded. "That's our best option."
Ollie stepped back from the panel. "You two are going to get us all killed by releasing whatever that is. Did you forget about all the flesh warriors and that monster roaming around? Who's to say she's not another one of them? Or worse?"
"Trust me," Gale said, meeting Ollie's gaze. "I haven't been wrong yet."
Ollie stared at Gale for several seconds. His mouth opened and closed twice before finally saying, "Fine. But I'm not going down as the guy who released the blue-haired harbinger of death."
He turned back to the screen and tapped the maintenance mode option.
[Confirm: Y/n]
Ollie pushed the big green Y button, and a countdown began counting from 10. Red numbers ticked down on the screen.
"Stand back," Ollie said, unholstering his deagle from his jacket. "If she lunges at anyone, I'm putting her down."
Gale moved to the front of the pod, positioning himself directly before the window. Rachel followed, coming to stand beside him.
"You better be right about this," she said, her fingers flexing at her sides.
Gale nodded. He was definitely right.
The tablet reached zero with a soft beep. A loud hiss erupted from the pod, startling everyone. Inside, the blue fluid began to drain through vents at the bottom, whirlpooling down until the woman's feet touched the floor of the container. Her blue hair settled against her back as the last of the liquid disappeared.
Another hiss, followed by a mechanical click. The front panel of the pod split down the middle, sliding open with the grind of long-unused gears.
The unconscious woman swayed forward. Her body pitched through the opening, limp as a rag doll.
Rachel stepped forward, catching her before she hit the floor. The woman's head rolled down, her blue hair hanging onto the ground. Rachel gently lowered her to a sitting position, cradling her head.
Gale knelt beside them, taking in a closer look at the woman. Despite being submerged in fluid for who knew how long, her skin looked smooth and unblemished. Her face had perfect symmetry, as if designed like a porcelain doll of perfect proportions. She looked maybe around late 20s or early 30s at most, though he knew for a fact that in Aur, looks can be deceiving and should not be used as a measure of age.
"She's freezing," Rachel said, rubbing the woman's arms through the white wetsuit. "Her skin's like ice."
Kyle, Clyde, Ollie, and Lily formed a half-circle around them, each with weapons drawn and pointed directly at the unconscious woman.
"Are you serious right now?" Rachel looked up at their levelled guns. "She's unconscious!"
"Very serious," Kyle said. "That pod was locked up tight for a reason."
"We're not taking chances," Ollie said, aiming directly at her head. "Keep her still until we know what we're dealing with."
"She needs to warm up. She's freezing to death." Without waiting for a response, Rachel increased the surrounding temperature. The air in the room heated rapidly, climbing degree by degree until sweat beaded on everyone's foreheads.
"Jesus, Rachel," Kyle wiped his brow with his free hand. "You trying to cook us too?"
"Shut up," she said. "It's working."
The woman's skin gradually softened up, colour returning to her pale cheeks. Her shallow breathing began to take on a deeper rhythm. After several minutes, her eyelids fluttered and her eyes opened, revealing a deep electric blue that could only be matched by her hair.
Her eyes darted around the room, then focused. It landed on Kyle first which caused him to flinch. Clyde was next, making his gun flinch slightly. She only took a glance at Lily then Ollie before settling on Rachel. That gaze of hers lingered a heartbeat or two too long on Rachel and then finally settled on Gale. Her stare grew intense, pupils dilating before focusing once again.
The woman slowly pushed herself away from Rachel's arms. She sat upright on her own, trembling and swaying slightly like she was about to fall but caught herself. Her mouth opened. The sound was a mix of husky and youthful voice that settled on the lower end of the female range. The language she spoke was not one of Earth's languages, resembling a musical cadence that had its ebbs and flows. However, the meaning of her words fell completely lost on them as none could understand what she had said.
"What's she saying?" Kyle asked.
Ollie sucked his teeth. "How the hell should I know?"
The woman stopped speaking, probably realizing they didn't understand. She looked down at herself, taking in the view of the white wetsuit. With a snap of her fingers, the tight fitting wet suit rippled like water. In the next blink, flowing robes of pale blue, gilded with a deep blue on its edges appeared on her form. The fabric shimmered with subtle patterns of galaxies and stars as it caught the dim light of the interior. Her hair had been cut to half its length, only ending at the edge of her waist.
The appearance of the fabric itself caught Gale off guard. The robes… they looked just like what Vianne wore, though slightly less intricate. The style was unmistakable. It was also similar to what was depicted in the book in the Ann Family library of Vianne's appearance.
The woman pushed herself to her feet in one fluid motion. Rachel reached out to steady her, but she held a hand as she firmly steadied herself. She raised one palm toward the group, the gesture neither threatening nor entirely friendly.
"Don't move!" Kyle brandished his pistol, aiming it directly at her head. "Don't try anything funny!"
"She can't understand you," Rachel said. "Put the gun down. She doesn't look hostile."
The woman ignored them. Her palm held itself facing up, graceful in her movement like water. She conjured up a sphere of water seemingly in a split second that hovered above her palm. In an instant, the temperature of the room dropped by a few degrees as the orb of water floating on her palm flash-froze into a perfect orb of white ice.
Soon, complex etchings bore into the surface of the orb as lines slowly carved themselves in. The markings glowed a faint pale blue light, illuminating the woman's face from where she held it.
The etchings themselves looked familiar to Gale. They were the same patterns that the orb held that transported him to the Dark Knight's throne room… could this be the same?
The woman stared at the orb in her hand, turning it over as if evaluating the quality of what she had made. The pale blue light flashed once and then settled into a pulse. She looked up, her deep blue eyes swept across the room until they found Kyle and Clyde.
She extended her arm, holding out the orb towards the twins.
"Fuck that," Kyle backed away. Clyde did the same, both idiots still pointing their guns at her as if it would have any effect if it were as strong as that monster that prowled around the power plant.
The woman's expression didn't change. She simply pivoted, offering the orb to Rachel instead.
Rachel hesitated, her eyes darting from the orb to the woman's face. After a moment, she shook her head and stepped back, moving behind Gale.
"I think she wants one of us to touch it," Gale said, staring at the orb.
"Yeah, no shit. And I think we should all keep our hands to ourselves. What if that thing explodes when you touch it? Or sucks your soul out? Or turns you into one of those flesh warriors?" Ollie yelled.
"She doesn't look like she wants to hurt us," Rachel said, though she made no move to take the orb.
The woman's eyes locked with Gale's. Something in her gaze pulled at him that was definitely what he felt when Vianne whispered to him in the hallways of the Dainv ship.
"I'll do it," Gale said.
"Gale, don't!" Ollie shouted.
"She's not a threat." Gale extended his palm to accept the orb.
The woman smirked, though she didn't move. The orb floated from her hand and drifted to the space between him and her until it hovered just in front of Gale's open palm.
It paused.
Her eyes narrowed once as if a question had been asked.
Gale nodded.
The orb touched his palm, and the familiar wave of nausea hit him. His stomach lurched, vision went sideways and inwards as if it made any sense. This was exactly the same thing that happened with the transport to the Dark Knight's throne.
His knees dared to buckle, but he clenched his teeth to keep himself upright. Sweat beaded even more on his forehead. The orb's glow intensified until finally, it disappeared completely.
[Hidden Mission Complete]
[???] ? [Find Vianne's Favourite Disciple]
[Reward: 10,000 points]
[Reward: 100 Origin Grains]