Chapitre 17: Episode 4: Quickening (Part 1)
_Present Time
_Planet Caldinus I / General Duvalle Military Hospital / Caldinus Interplanetary Army Base
The entire hospital room was so silent, you could hear a pin drop.
Uncle Hal wore an increasingly grave expression while listening to me relating what had happened that day. Nightingale was also perking her ears attentively, with an evident glint of agitation within the depths of her violet pupils.
Rin continued to grip my hand tightly. She snuggled closer to me, seemingly unwilling to let go. This filled me with both warmth and guilt.
Even though 'Myst Evrard' seemed to be the dominant persona ever since 'I' woke up from the coma, my feelings of concern and care for those close to 'Ryuu Creed' remained. That is especially the case for this headstrong yet fragile young girl who's now beside me.
Would it really be alright for me to receive such love from her, even though I'm honestly not sure if I can still be considered her 'brother'?
No. This line of thinking is no good. I can't repeat the same mistakes I made as 'Myst'. I shifted my gaze and took a good look at my erstwhile sister in 'this world'.
She's really such a sweet and lovely girl. She deserves to be happy. And I shall see to it that she does. We're family, after all.
"Ryuu?" Rin looked up when she noticed my gaze on her. "What's wrong?"
I shook my head and hugged her close. "Nothing sis. I'm just feeling glad to be alive." I answered.
She giggled within my arms and hugged me back. "I'm glad you're okay too."
A warm atmosphere filled the room.
"Yeesh! I'm getting goosebumps here. What a wonderful way of expressing love between siblings. It can even induce diabetes, I'm afraid. Good thing we're in a hospital." came Uncle Hal's tactless comments.
Us siblings both gave him an eyeful, which he effortlessly shrugged off. Really now. What thick skin.
"Anyway, about those 'pirates'. You said they attacked everyone else on the ship without any misgivings right? Did you notice anything else strange about them? Apart from them being bloodthirsty as hell of course." he abruptly asked.
"Something strange?"
I pondered for a bit. "Their overall disposition I guess, if you could call it that." I then replied.
"Oh?" Uncle Hal's eyes narrowed. "Elaborate."
I gathered my thoughts and explained. "I was comparing them with the ones we encountered back in Velmar IV. I mean those guys were vicious too, but their eyes looked dead to me."
"Those pirates though... They sort of had a different air about them. Like some strong conviction or something. Uh... It's something like the difference between simply fighting to obey orders, and fighting for a cause one's fully invested in."
"And how exactly did you come to such a conclusion?"
Uncle Hal looked as if he would burn a hole through me with just his stare after I finished talking. Uh oh. I think I overdid it. Me and my big mouth.
I couldn't exactly say it came from experience right? I mean, back in that world, I was drafted to the militia during the height of the war with the demons, together with the other youths from Lindorf. I saw all kinds of people serving in the army during my time there - including ones who were of the type I mentioned earlier.
But here, I was a complete and total civilian. The only thing close to a weapon I wielded in 'this world' was a kitchen knife. And the only enemies I fought with it were frozen foodstuffs.
"Well, he does have some sharp intuition Chief. He did manage to recognize me just by looking at my eyes y'know." Nightingale suddenly chimed in.
Nice assist! She really was lovely!
"Oww!" I suddenly cried out. Rin just painfully pinched the side of my stomach. "What was that for?" I asked indignantly.
"Nothing." Rin innocently blinked.
I knew it. Women are scary.
"I'll leave it at that then." Uncle Hal sighed. "Judging from your story, I think it's safe to assume that you weren't the target of their attack. They were after something else. Something which would make them risk assaulting a military ship in the middle of a heavily guarded route."
"They did manage to get away though. Even with the heavy security and all." I pointed out.
"Don't remind me." Uncle Hal complained. "The top brass of the military are currently losing their heads over the matter. Some of those who died were children or grandchildren of famous and highly influential politicians in the Confederation. You can just imagine the mess."
"I bet folks are busy tearing at each other's throats huh?" I quipped.
"Tell me about it." Uncle Hal nodded. "They're all looking for something to blame for the incident. Everybody and their great grandmother are pointing fingers at the Emperium. They say only the Emperium is capable of such atrocity. Problem is, there's absolutely nothing to link the attack to them."
"The heck?!" I exclaimed in surprise. "How'd that happen?"
"They covered it up pretty well. And they even trumped the guys who attacked you on Velmar IV. Those guys managed to commit suicide by detonating capsules filled with a type of artificially bred microbe, which would go active once they came into contact with flesh, eating it away within seconds. That resulted in their bodies crumbling to dust. That pilot we tried to leave alive for interrogation also ended up the same." Uncle Hal explained.
"Even when they went to such lengths, we were still able to find traces linking them to the Emperium, however obscure. Their original task was industrial sabotage and espionage after all. They had various means for secretly contacting and reporting to the Emperium. As long as we cracked those, we could uncover enough clues to point out their exact affiliation."
"But those 'pirates' were different." Uncle Hal grimly stated.
"If they really are a part of the Emperium, then they're a completely detached force, with absolutely no point of contact with the Emperium itself. All weapons and equipment they used - at least outwardly - seemed like Confederation models. Even their ship was a modified CIN-SM27 assault cruiser, widely used by the Confederation Interstellar Fleet."
"So, without any direct link, the Emperium can completely feign ignorance. And there's hardly anything we can do about it." Uncle Hal shrugged.
"We even suspect that was the reason why they left the ship logs and black boxes intact. It was precisely to create such confusion and panic. They dealt a severe blow and sowed discord between the military, government and the general public. And it was all done in one fell swoop."
I got goosebumps while listening to Uncle Hal. Whoever planned and implemented this entire thing was quite terrifying. They were ruthless, decisive, meticulous and cunning - a very nasty combination of traits.
"As of the moment, it's being treated as a heinous terrorist incident - at least on the surface. The top brass aren't overtly pointing fingers, but tensions with the Emperium continue to rise. And the schism between the Senate and the military inevitably widened after that attack. The situation has become highly volatile."
A somber mood came over the room.
...
"So what's next for me?" I asked and broke the silence.
"You'd still be slated for joining the 353rd once you get discharged. We won't be changing that plan. You'll be treated as a regular trainee first, and won't be directly heading to the field, unless the situation calls for it." Uncle Hal answered.
Rin gave me a worried look. "Are you really gonna be okay Ryuu? I mean, you're kind of a major dork. You just don't seem anything close to 'military' at all." she said in an apprehensive manner.
Hey. I take offense to that! I did properly serve in the militia for a year y'know. Well, 'Myst' did. And it was all mostly just miscellaneous chores, like cleaning the tents, handing out rations, polishing and maintenance of weapons just because they heard I was a blacksmith's son...
...
Nevermind.
"What about you? How many days have I been out anyway? Have you been looking after me since I was hospitalized? What about school?" I nagged.
"Oh, don't worry about that. I already withdrew from Weinfeld Academy." she stated matter-of-factly.
"Oh, I see... SAY WHAT?!!!" I subconsciously nodded, but did a double take the next moment. This girl. Just what did she do?!
"I'm also coming with you. I can't just leave you alone, now that I know what's going on." she declared and puffed her cheeks up in defiance.
"B- But what about school? And you're just fifteen!" I stammered to reply; still dumbfounded about my sister's actions.
"What about my age? You're underage too y'know." Rin retorted.
"B- But still... Uncle, help me out here." I turned to Uncle Hal, who was smiling wryly on the side.
"Okay Rin-rin. I know you want to stay by your brother's side. But I think it would be best if you followed our arrangements and—"
"Uncle, my mind is set." Rin interrupted. "And I'm going to formally send my request to become a technical consultant for the 353rd Experimental Tactical Armored Division. I remembered the professor talking about it a few times during our discussion sessions."
"They seem to be a division which primarily serves as a testbed for new technology planned to be implemented by the military some time in the future. I'm sure they wouldn't mind bending the rules a little to accommodate Professor Leighton's protege, right? We're even focusing on the same topic of research as well."
She let out a torrent of words, not even giving a chance for anybody else to get a word in edgewise. Her eyes were practically burning. Is this still my sister?!
"Remember when I said your sister had some solid connections and was in the safest place in the entire Confederation, kid?" Nightingale suddenly spoke.
"She was in the Solaris Confederation Central Institute of Technology. She's presently apprenticed to Professor Rhames Leighton - the current authority in Genion particle research." she revealed.
I looked at Rin incredulously. She turned up her nose at me like a proud peacock.
Damn! I knew my sister was awesome. But I never had an idea she was THIS awesome! Well, come to think of it, our late parents were also researchers, so I guess she really takes after them.
Doesn't this make me the odd one out? Again. Ugh... That makes it both worlds.
Uncle Hal slightly shook his head. "Little lady, I know you're known as a rare genius in those circles, but the research conducted by the 353rd in Genion particle utilization is of an entirely different approach from the standard. Putting it lightly, it can be considered as novel and weird. Your mentor criticizes it as the product of mere fantasy."
Uncle Hal continued to explain with a wry smirk. "There's a reason why it's named 'Wonderland' you know. Well, there are a variety of other reasons too, but this aspect is one of the major ones. Are you sure you want to enter their world, Rin-rin?"
"I'm sure." Rin succinctly replied. Uncle Hal threw his hands up in surrender.
Wait. All this talk about Rin being a protege of some bigshot researcher suddenly got me thinking.
"Doesn't this make my decision to drop out of school absolutely pointless?" I hesitantly asked.
Rin rolled her pretty eyes at me and sighed. "That's why I said you're a dork, doofus. You always act before you think. If you had just discussed things with me beforehand, then you wouldn't have had to worry so much, to the point of quitting school. Stupid lunkhead." she scolded harshly.
Arrrgh! I knew 'Ryuu' was slow, but I didn't think he was THAT slow! What a stark contrast. And now he's me, and I'm him. Ugh...
"It kinda made me happy though..." Rin muttered in a small voice, hoping I wouldn't catch it.
Well, if she's happy, then I guess this turned out okay after all.
Yo. Wait up... I think I'm forgetting something under all this excitement. Something really important...
"Aaaaah!" I exclaimed; surprising the other three people in the room.
"Come to think of it, I never had the chance to ask. WHY were those guys after me, uncle? I mean, I know our parents were military researchers and all, but I had absolutely no idea before all this happened."
"They seemed hell bent on getting me at all costs. Why is that? I actually feel like Rin would have been a more likely choice, now that I know what she's been up to. Of course, I'm thankful that isn't the case, but..." I pressed the two CIB agents for answers.
Uncle Hal and Nightingale exchanged glances. Uncle then turned back to me.
"We'll arrange a meeting for you and the person most knowledgeable about your exact situation after your discharge. That person will be the one to explain everything to you. I'm afraid even we're not exactly clear about your case either, Ryuu-ryuu." he began.
"That person is also the main reason for the 353rds founding. That's why we arranged for you to enter that particular division. You'll surely meet once you formally report in."
I scrutinized his expression, but failed to glean anything from it.
Fine. I nodded to show my assent. And knock it off with 'Ryuu-ryuu' dammit!
"Alright. Get some good rest."
Uncle Hal got up after bidding goodbye and walked out of the hospital room. Nightingale followed after him. She gave me a quick enchanting smile before she went out. Needless to say, my side suffered from Rin's pinch of terror once more.
"Okay then, I'll have to arrange everything on my side as well Ryuu. I'll come back later in the evening. Will you be fine alone?" Rin said.
"Are you really sure about this?" I asked back.
"Positive." she replied with a smile. "We only have each other now. We should stick together."
Well, if she puts it that way...
After she went out as well, I was finally left alone to ponder on my current situation. But, for some reason, a strong urge to sleep suddenly assaulted me.
My eyes involuntarily closed, and I soon drifted to slumber.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone