Chapter 26, Descending Further

Nagate looked okay on the outside, but he was connected to, monitored by and practically encased in Titan Station's best medical appliances. Shizuka suspected these devices were barely holding him together.

"He regrew his skin at a rate nobody has seen, I'm sure he will recover sooner than expected." Kendra tried to assure her, "Plasma burns aren't usually this easy to treat, they stay on most people forever."

Both of them were watching him through a reinforced glass wall. What was this supposed to protect against in a hospital?

"You know, I used to have a younger brother. Kieran was almost just as popular as him." The older woman continued, flipping through get-well-soon cards from the SD704 members, "Unfortunately, it was a much tougher time to grow up back then."

"I'm sorry to hear that..."

"Yeah, it still hurts, I might know how it felt like for you."

"I really hope Mr. Fabrik isn't in a hurry to put him back in a cockpit." Shizuka tried hard to not sound bitter. The Commander has pushed hard on the pilot course's progress before the fateful mission on Aspera, for all his generosity in other aspects.

"Fabrik won't. He trusts you to take over Nagate's role in the training program and leaves all progress under your authority."

"Really..."

"It sounds like his way to give you more time off. It's your call to slow down training, pause it, or to have another pilot substitute you for as long as you need."

"Oh! I do think he cares about us. Right, the new pilots and Mike Johnston also need time to catch up." Shizuka nodded, already thinking in the middle management way after taking over for Nagate.

"Fabrik's superiors have assigned some kind of intel processing mission to SD704, which means my team and the research team will work on data we retrieved from the test site planets. We're looking for potential targets for the next deployment, so until we have a discovery, the Ravager will stay at Titan."

"Does it mean we're now allowed to fly Guardians next to the Sprawl?"

"I believe so, the higher ups are going to reveal Guardians to the public soon, on the CEC open day. Using the Ishimura as a backdrop."

"The CEC open day... What if Dr. Brennan comes over? She and Mr. Clarke must be worried for us." For the good of everyone involved, Shizuka really didn't want to involve their functional parents in this universe into SD704's business. They always asked for status updates, and by now gossip must be out that the Ravager has returned to the human world.

"Commander Fabrik has insisted on a two-way privacy between Special Detachment members and their relations, we aren't allowed to check. But... Do you think there could be anything I can help with?"

"I'll go talk to them if they come looking for us. Nagate has always been on the frontlines, they can understand." She crossed her arms and looked away from Nagate, "Miss Daniels, I think we should go back to the ship."

"They're coming." A voice that sounded like Nagate said from behind the glass.

Shizuka felt her Gauna nature disturbed at the sudden and ghostly message. She rubbed her forehead and sobbed, covering her right eye as its pupil split into the sensor array for the first time since at Unitology Temple Prime. What, where, how?

"Mamonaku, they'll be here." She heard his voice again. Ma mo naku? "Without delay" was a Sidonian bridge crew phrase that stuck in her mind from the officer course, one often used at wrong occasions and accidentally undermining valid urgency.

"Who will be here?" She thought. Kendra was clocking the two out at the hospital visitor interface.

"Everything you feared at home is coming to this universe. Some already made a visit, others are on the way."

There was a disturbance somewhere around or inside the Sprawl. In her human form, it was impossible to pinpoint. This raised a more important question: How far away can a Gauna sense another? Benisuzume had little memory of it. When could be a good time to pull up the firmware performance factsheet...

"How did you know this, Nagate?" It was him speaking, right? "What are they here for? We're the only ones with Kabi or Hyggs."

"A Shockpoint reaction crossing over the universal barrier has been made. Wouldn't you know it, Benisuzume, as you successfully attempted the first one?"

All she could remember from the Hyggs singularity gravity implosion she created on the floating continent, was a mess of extreme emotions. Inhuman emotions! There was no calculations she could speak of, even in the digimortality computer language Gauna spoke.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

However, if there was such a recent Shockpoint incident, someone at Earthgov or the Church may have noticed it. Perhaps she should argue for SD704 taking a more active role.

"They're hungry, they're coming. You don't want them to find you first."

Shizuka felt Kendra's hand gently tapping her and offering her some tissue paper. Nodding, she turned off the sensor array to wipe off her tears. And then, she saw Nagate standing beside his own lifesaving system, behind the glass wall - smiling at her, slowly fading out of existence.

////

Yuhata wanted to gather more information about the planet surface, so Izana had to tag along the Honoka team to search the CMS Terra Nova. This ship gave her cyborg arm fewer interference than the CMS Brusilov; the downside was at least ten times more monsters.

Regenerating monsters! Why was there another one hiding at the shuttle hangar of this ship? Fortunately the Sidonians had some precautions written after the first one broke its confinement in the lab. They were further validated by the discovery of alien insect Necromorphs, and hair-raising SCAF reports of these bugs burrowing into unwitting human mouths.

"Ren! Can you open the hangar door from the outside? I can't vent it, says gears are stuck!" Izana called out at the shuttle maintenance station.

"Hyggs cutter is struggling..."

"Just melt the door! I've grabbed shuttle codes."

"Brace for flash and shock!"

She hid behind the sturdiest piece of console, activated magnetic shoes and kept an eye out for vents or other possible entrances. Meanwhile, cyborgs and Honokas also anchored themselves at fighting positions, watching out for lesser Necromorph units. As the precautions required, every team member with over 40% biological components had their helmets on.

The Terra Nova was a promising candidate for making the expedition's first Shockpoint mission back to the civilized world, though many parts of it were considered irreparable and marked out to be plugged with epoxy, metal, or Tsumugi's Ena. They'll land on the planet with the Mizuki's own shuttles.

A dull blast shook the shuttle bay and control room; Ren's blast was still set at its lowest output. However, inside, power surged and sparks danced across the dilapidated electronics.

"Drill it, Tsumugi!" Izana heard the Honoka request heavier firepower.

Hssssssss. Leaks appeared along connectors and movable joints servicing the hangar.

"Hydrogen peroxide." A helpful cyborg radioed in. Thank Ochiai for augmented olfactory sensors, "Is that the shuttle refuel line?"

Using the hacking cable on her arm, Izana went into the shuttle bay's system looking for settings to drain its air. The leaking fuel would still burn in self-oxidation, but the risk of explosion would be smaller that way.

Then, everyone heard inhuman shrieks echoing along the passages surrounding the hangar. Exploders were closing in! They could either act as extra combustion failsafe, or seal off escape routes.

In the sector En faced, there were two of them emerging from a door stuck open; her glove accelerator was out of ammo. Unfortunately for the Necromorphs, she was tired of following all the rules of safe and cautious fighting Yuhata set up.

She waited for two more seconds, then drew her katana with the gravity glove, and let go of it as the accelerator launch sequence activated, all in a fluid swing. The sword cut through the Exploder in front, slicing its torso in half while disconnecting the organic bomb; it continued its path deep into the wall next to the monster.

The expedition has made solid progress in understanding SCAF's native gravity Kinesis technology, and Toha researchers modified a few recovered GRIP Kinesis-Stasis modules with one key difference - disabling their safety locks that prevented traction on living or moving targets. En activated hers on the second Exploder's vertically divided torso, almost comically fetching it over pieces of the first one; then, once her Sidonian gravity glove has recharged, she pulled the other half towards herself.

Squelch.

"Refreshing." She muttered to herself as the thing was ripped in two vertical halves, "Can we move now? I need my katana back. How about you throw it over to me, Shou?"

Still at her hiding spot, scanning for the Regenerator's heat signature, Izana found herself approached by a familiar but subliminally expected face.

"Hoshijiro?"

"You need to run. Get off this ship, go home."

"What?"

"Run, Izana!"

"Stop wearing her face, and don't use Tsumugi's voice!" She drew her gun and flicked the safety, "Get lost, Benisuzume!"

A roar thundered behind her, and the phantom of Hoshijiro morphed into a tentacle, darting at her before she could fire - it knocked her to the ground, then continued onwards. She could only watch with her magnetic shoes still engaged, anchoring her in place.

The tentacle was Tsumugi's secondary head; she was going for the Regenerator, who freshly emerged from a vent when the mirage distracted Izana.

"Leave it to me!"

Pink lightnings emerged from the rubbery Ena, armoring its outer surface with hardened Kabi. The monster was speared through its torso like a bug on a chameleon's tongue, then carried all the way to the hangar door.

Warning: Airlock malfunction detected

Finally, the shutters creaked open. As soon as there was enough room for Tsumugi to deliver the Regenerator kebab outside, she moved her main torso over and showered it in a storm of Hyggs energy from her eye cannon.

"Tsumugi, you're the best!"

"Commandment 87 of master Ochiai: Dirt should be sterilized in fire!" A cyborg with a Mohawk joined in the cheering.

Hoshijiro was still in the hangar with them.

////

Another day done at the CEC.

Nagate exited the train carriage holding his breath, navigating through the crowd of commuters; he was only starting to get used to the bustling Sprawl. It was already 17:50 on the corrected Earthgov clock, which meant the city's public solar lights have progressed to a dim warm sunset. Bombarded by the sounds of intrusive ads and loud conversations, he still allowed himself to feel grateful for everything that life had given him thus far.

He loosened his tie, strolled along the motorized street until he reached his modest home located in a quiet standalone habitation tower. Home was always within an arm's reach. With every step he took, memories flooded back of his childhood, surrounded by ever-growing spires and endless spacing traffic that looked like meteor showers. He knew he wouldn't have wanted anything less than what Titan meant - opportunity to grow without limits. And yet, despite all the noise and chaos of the city, he still needed something else to make him whole.

Waiting just outside the building was his beloved wife Shizuka, who always greeted him with a reserved smile at the same spot in the small public garden, in one of her usual outfits: Long pale yellow skirt, white shirt and blue overshirt. She picked him out of the dim light, too.

They boarded the elevator hand in hand, for a wordless, calming ride. Then, upon entering their apartment, Nagate was immediately enveloped in a bear hug from the skinny arms of Tsumugi, their 5-years old daughter! She was tall for her age, even gave him some worries about gravity on the Sprawl in the past, but Shizuka raised her as healthy as anyone can hope for.

"Karaage is ready! Gravity chicken, dad. I've been waiting for you."

"Oh? You didn't add orange to mom's cooking this time, did you?"

"Marmalade for dipping..." The little girl hurried off to the fridge in her flowing white dress.

Nagate adored these humble home cooked meals more than any five star restaurant in the world. It wasn't fancy or complicated, but it hit the spot perfectly after a long day at work. Come to think of it, he could remember sharing karaage chicken with Shizuka when they first met almost half a lifetime ago.

There were plenty of good happenings to chat about today, too. Tsumugi held up her tablet to him and showed off what she learned in theater class at school, Metamorphosis for Kids: "We finished the story of Greg the Bug! He built a cocoon for himself and changed again. He become a big butterfly! Or is he a moth? See this picture, dad."

"I think he turned into a very good moth."

"I don't like moths... Why can't he be a kabuto beetle?"

"Moths are great, too. They're fuzzy." Shizuka smiled, "Nagate, how was your day at work?"

"We're closer to improving how circuits for zero-point energy and Hyggs could be combined together. It felt great to have so much trust and be the head of my team, so, this time we only need to figure out how to set up the solenoids of..."

"Dad, in class we drew something like your project!" Tsumugi interrupted him, showing him a drawing she took home from school, made on rare physical paper. He was both surprised and pleased; it was the perfect sketch of a Marker's internal energy resonance amplifier structure - and the intricate lines drew him in, folding his mind entirely into itself.