Chapter 16, Rising Tide

Usually, the director-in-chief of Titan Station would rarely be seen outside of his home colony, the biggest literal Rust Belt in the solar system - but today he showed up at an unassuming signal station on Mars orbit operated by Earthgov Internal Security, flown in on an unmarked dropship. This was also where Kendra reports to for her real job.

In the station's barebones, spartan interior, even the war room used for top secret briefings was cramped to say the least. It was tightly packed: Tiedemann, Kendra herself, their shared superior in Project Telomere who only went by the Overseer, meeting a handful of other trustworthy officers or scientists at various rank and unit.

"The church has held up their end of the deal, on their own initiative." Dr. Foster Edgars, representing the biomedical team, began his presentation, "A full copy of Tanikaze's initial scan came to us almost as soon as they finished transcribing it. We have problems with Hoshijiro's scan; it's a lot of data, and only a small portion is intelligible to our instruments, but we can work on it. Anyway, we saw a good amount of their life stories. Here's some snapshots we can show people they clearly aren't from a Magpie colony or SC remnant."

Sidonian architecture followed a very different approach from Earthgov or SC ones, tailored for its extreme verticality and limited volume. And then there was the mind-numbing patches of white: The most common building material seemed to be cement made from asteroid dregs, far fewer metal surfaces and neon lights than the Sprawl was known for. The people similarly wore a limited number of clothing patterns, or even faces.

"Good." The Overseer nodded, "I recon none of them is a builder, though."

"The actual value of their memories is in refining our theories of Marker ghosts. We can confirm Tanikaze's vision only consisted of people he personally saw dying, and Hoshijiro's was the same, plus one of herself. Pardon my phrasing, but thank fucking Jesus, the rock isn't capable of using random dead people from other universes as puppets. Score one more for the visions being memories, not actual people serving the Marker in their afterlives!"

Kendra felt relief from this finding; when she was making her way to the Ishimura's computer core trying to establish a link with EIS, she met a ghost of her younger brother trying to stop her. When the Marker was destroyed, she felt something linked to her own consciousness ripped out with burning force, before sudden realizing the hallucination suddenly vanished,

Edgars continued: "If our project isn't named after the structure, I'd even suggest we make a new department and name it Telomere. Tanikaze's DNA has very clear traces of editing for healing, metabolism and longevity. It's beyond the best available life extension gene therapy we know! We can try to monetize it, but we need to eliminate the risk of it turning recipients into copies of him."

"Is that a real possibility?" The Overseer asked, genuinely interested, while Tiedemann scratched down some notes.

"We need to observe the organ bank samples from Ishimura first. At least we know the DNA is resistant to suspected Marker contagion mutation."

"Fine. How about Hoshijiro?"

"There are codes for human photosynthesis and accelerated brain maturity, we suppose. Though, I need to explain that the blood sample Kyne and Brennan took from her might not be actual blood, but Ena that looked like blood; material science can back me up on this, too. Down to the molecular level, her tissues are all made of god knows what, molded by her mind to be... Herself."

"...Maybe we should have a metaphysical department after all. Thanks, Foster! Now, Dr. Phelps?"

Dr. Kinner Phelps shook Edgars' hand and took over the podium: "I won't bore you with the specifics of too much. The TLDR is, Ena is indecipherable to us at this stage. However the Hyggs collection membrane, thruster and capacitors on the Type 17 are simple enough, and we have off-the-shelf components to jury rig a working theoretical prototype for our own use. It's worth noting that the system has been recorded capturing Marker energy on the Ishimura passively, strength in proportion with proximity."

A round of awe was heard among the project members.

"Hyggs energy would be worth studying with high priority if we're just looking for an alternative fuel source."

The room fell silent as people considered the possibility. The speaker himself, though, nervously tried to meet the Overseer's gaze at his presentation. Kendra silently gulped; the boss was a different kind of Markerhead from the blind followers and zealots, the methodical kind, who came from a long tradition of Earthgov and Sovereign Colonies researchers working towards taming the eldritch for worldly purposes. Changing his mind would be impossible.

"It's fine, Kinner. We have uses for this!" To her surprise, the old man was genuinely happy with the suggestion. He turned to Tiedemann, 'Hans, set up a place to build our own Hyggs energy production system. You've got resources to multitask on the Sprawl, right?"

"We have raw materials, but the labor cost... I'll see with the treasury. Though, Overseer, multitasking? We didn't recover mental prints for the Marker, do we?"

"We don't have a new one, but we do have the church's portion of the Caiden Files as payment."

Kendra blinked at the mentioning of the Ambrose Caiden, the commander of all Sovereign Colonies' planet-side military operations. He gifted their last Marker research omnibus to Earthgov and Unitology, divided into complimentary halves either for safekeeping or for planting a seed for future conflict between the two power blocs.

"They are open with them wanting their own Hyggs and Guardian research." The Overseer stated matter-of-factly, "We will share less critical information as agreed, but I've already talked to sitting Pontifex Pietro Curon after his examination with the so-called Messengers. He doesn't like the new god found on Ishimura, for now we could look towards a common interest, so the church is being exceptionally open with collaboration. Danik's faction has agreed with him on this, too."

Half a minute or so of silence followed the end of his report. It sounded like a deal with one devil against another, even from the Unitologists' point of view. For such a dull presentation and debrief session, the air within the war room felt dangerous and tense.

"Dr. Phelps, how's the Guardian salvage progress?"

"Uh, okay, boss. We have enough data to rebuild the Guardian with our own materials, it will be expensive and take a while, but we can make it up to spec. Artificial Kabi is challenging and we need to test out theories with spatial gravitational tech and Marker-substance resources. Its computer system is extremely helpful for Hyggs research too, not to mention what else is in its storage media. For instance, a full repair manual, common platform software development kit and even schematics for older Guardian models..."

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"We'll send designs for an older model to Unitology, then. Hans, Kendra, we'll get CEC to spare us a dockyard for building Guardians. You two make it happen, alright? Divert 3D printing resource from the Marker if you need. The sooner we can see Tanikaze pilot it, the better."

"Understood." Tiedemann responded as he kept working on his notes, "Do we have a mission for him already? I can spare some troops."

"Thanks, but we'll gather flight test data first and put up a new unit for the mission I have in mind. Kendra, you're still Telomere's eyes and ears in the frontlines."

"...No problem, boss."

"Major Shiraki." The Overseer turned to a young woman sitting at the far end of the room, who wore the regular EDF's dress uniform and dyed her hair in a light violet metallic gray. Earthgov Internal Security employed many individuals who could be charitably described as quirky, or at least kept them on call for situations that didn't make sense to use others. In Kendra's eyes, the appearance might just be camouflage playing to the stereotype of rampant nepotism within Earthgov's desk officers.

"Need me to put up a list of test pilots?" Shiraki nodded, "How expendable do you want?"

"Let's say people we don't plan to shut up, but we can still tolerate losing in sustainable combat attrition; I'll clear you for recruiting from both the army and the navy. For the first squadron to learn from Tanikaze, I have people in mind already. See?"

He forwarded some files on his tablet to the presentation screen: Zoe Hampton, Gabe Weller, Robert Norton, and John Carver.

"Two from the security he worked with on Ishimura, and special forces infantry... Okay, they'll train for gunships first, as long as they don't crash and die. You have to cover their training costs, though."

"It's subsidized. Put them through anti-Marker subliminal training, too."

"I presume we need a ship, right?"

"I've got one picked, USM Ravager. Take it from the boneyard and get its hangar refit for Guardians, Commander Harold Fabrik will be waiting for you onboard."

The ship on the screen was a bulging mess of metal pieces, one shield-like hangar and thruster complex on each side connected to a long tubular hull at its center; giving an outline of a turtle from the top and an overgrown 1940s submarine from the side. The surface ionization gave it a shade of rust; it came from a class that preceded the already aging USM Victory and Valor.

"An atmospheric-capable assault ship older than the Ishimura. I think only the church still flies them..." Tiedemann commented, "Is Fabrik a rock worshipper too?"

"Don't worry, he's with us, a bad guy who knows he's bad." The Overseer said dismissively, "Let's sort out our schedules... Tanikaze's machine will be ready first, then the Ravager. If we're lucky, anti-Marker conditioning. New Guardian production will have to continue when they're still out... Let the squad fly on gunships, they'll manage. If Hoshijiro still haven't gone wildcard by then, find a way to make her contribute."

Kendra felt the meeting had developed even faster than the domino of suffering on the Aegis system: "With all due respect, boss, why are we proceeding at this pace, and improvising this much?"

Many others in the audience shared her thoughts.

"The Caiden Files don't make up the entirety of Sovereign Colonies' Marker research. There are things left behind on Aegis VII, and so are Aspera and Kreemar. This mission will be named Operation Pyrite, we're making the most use out of our new friends by retrieving more info on Marker construction and killing rogue SC Markers."

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In west Philadelphia, the Second Church of the Sacred Bloody Viscera of the Body of Christ Hung Upon the Cross has been a great place to host metal concerts for centuries. The original one has been voted America's most metal-sounding church in the ancient 1990s, so when the second one was facing a Unitologist buyout in the 2200s, headbangers across the solar system pitched in to save it. In 2508, the entire neighborhood grew into a safe haven for all counterculture.

The new home bought by Issac Clarke was only blocks away from the church, right on the line between gentrification and supporting the local economy. For him, it felt good to spend a lot of money on a substantial upgrade like this, especially since his budget has been highly boosted after the Ishimura job: Hazard pay of both himself and Nicole, insurance, Earthgov hush money, Unitologist hush money, underground sales from sound effect samples, and an extra gift coming from Kyne - who used his newly elevated church position to distribute the personal savings of Mercer to all surviving Ishimura medical employees.

Friday afternoon, Issac and his unconventionally constructed family set off early for the joint Convergence Rejects-Culled Prey concert. They stopped for dinner at a local restaurant with outdoor seating; the company of Nagate and the power of human social conventions have led Shizuka to give up her Sidonian lifestyle of photosynthesis-supplemented weekly meals.

"This place has been working with an indie food tech grower in Rutgers since the beginning. There's a huge difference between factory farm synthesized meat and custom made, see this texture?" Issac flipped open his scrapple sandwich towards the kids, "It's vat grown pig organs, carefully done. Experts keeping it both tasty and affordable."

"Ew." Nicole objected, "You don't need to tell them that, and it looks like mush!"

"My apologies, you're the real organic mechanic with an eye for livers and stomachs here."

"Asshat."

"It's seasoned so well - thanks for recommending!" Nagate had the same kind of sandwich; he spoke though half a mouthful, and broke off a piece with his plastic fork for Shizuka to try.

"I like it! It's as good as real Gravity Pork back home." She smiled, paying attention to her table manners since a concert day is still a festive occasion worth wearing the new red-with-golden-sakuras dress she bought when Daina took the group of survivors to visit Japan. She was about to hand over a piece of her Italian sub when something very eye-catching on the street caught her attention, "Wait... Is that..."

A concert attendee wearing a fiery red full-body motorcycle suit, with a handmade white mask that looked like a human face tacked onto the side of their helmet?

"Me?"

"The other three followed her gaze, startled by the figure. Nagate looked back from the red figure to her, totally confused: "...Benisuzume?"

The biker waved at someone down the sidewalk, who wore a secondhand CEC crew uniform and a plastic samurai helmet with a crescent moon in front, like the one Issac bought in Kyoto.

"Huh, samurai, CEC uniform... Oh shit." He put down the sandwich and began searching for news on his phone, "Hell no... This is what the spooks meant by media control then. Shit, Kendra."

Nicole leaned over to read the page opened from his search, and set it to projector mode. It was a movie poster:

ADAPTED FROM TESTIMONIES OF REAL USG ISHIMURA SURVIVORS

The greatest hero out of time, out of place

Glen Schofield behind masterpiece Rancid Moon presents:

The Titanium Samurai

The image showed a 16th century Japanese warrior with two swords unsheathed, staring down a circle of monstrosities, and a CEC survivor who looked like Anne cowering behind him.

"Cosplayer. That covers some questions." She rubbed her eyes, while Issac laughed at Nagate's confusion, "What about his friend, though?"

The first search results for "Ishimura" and "Red figure" was SIGNS OF CONVERGENCE - THE WOMAN IN RED ON ISHIMURA IS THE DEVIL, and the second one was VIDEO: PROOF THAT THE WOMAN IN RED EXISTS, SHE BLEW UP A FUCKING MARKER. Nicole clicked on the video link, and the other three all leaned in.

The video was posted just days ago when they were all recovering from jet lag. It began with a disclaimer: "I didn't make any of this shit up. See for yourself! Wasted all my vacation days and stuck my ass into an eye poke machine at a Magpie clinic to get the footage, enjoy! Radikov wants to buy this for 50k Creddy but fuck U-tology."

It was entirely honest; the video was reconstructed from both RIG body cam footage and retinal memories of someone in the hangar when the final battle happened. The video's creator must have been extremely dedicated and either stupid or well aware of the stupidity. The absurdity was the key to its popularity, even acknowledged by several Unitology outlets and speakers in recommended video links. The Woman in Red has become a point of contention, and a grassroots icon that represented many outside the church.

"...Mike?"

On the street, more concert goers have appeared, and some among them arrived with different combinations of diabolical red and white. The simplest had a red t-shirt and a paper bag with eye holes, while one wore a long robe, long black hair, and a ghastly grinning oni mask for extra metal spirit.

"Nice dress!" The oni metalhead gave a horns sign towards Shizuka.