Ulrike looks ashamed.

U: When he had been hit, I froze up.

P: Will it happen again?

U: I …. No, I don’t think so

P: Then let’s forget it

We have reached a secure base. Captain Hornbauer is reporting.

U: Do you have any potions left?

P: No.

U: Would you have kept them if none of us had been seriously wounded?

P: Probably

No, she deserves honesty. I owe her that much.

P: Wait. No, I would have kept them unrevealed for sure. I am sorry. But this is the apocalypse.

U: I actually understand

P: But his look … I made him

U: That is what it means to be an officer.

P: I would like the knowledge to make such potions

U: But you looted them.

P: A chance hit. You can make them in a controlled process, although you need raw materials that probably come only from monsters.

U: Where does the stuff you loot go? I mean except for the stones.

P: I don’t know.

U: Well if they make potions from them, we don’t get them.

Her face darkened.

U: Let’s go get something to eat. By the way what did you get from the stone?

P: I don’t know. It refilled about half my mana and now it feels like I need to wait till tomorrow until I can use it again

--

Dejan and Thomas have awakened. The doctors are keeping them on observation. Aside from an abnormal EEG they have nothing. That is driving them nuts.

The soldiers are getting a day of rest. Officially the vehicles need to be checked and ammunition replaced. We used up a lot of it.

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The base commander’s aide, Leutnant Osmanoğlu, finds and stops us in a hallway.

O: Can I have a quick word with you

U: Sure

He leads us to his office

O: Was there any way for you to detect the monster?

P: At the risk of repeating myself, we do not detect monsters as such. With the device we are detecting the full intrusion zones and the doorways from and to them, but that’s it. Once a doorway has fully closed I am blind. Then or when a monster wanders in, or sprouts from a seed, I suppose, I could operate a magic weapon, but the Network is sitting on them.

O: You do not like the Network.

P: No, I do not.

U: More men could be alive if they didn’t sit on their healing potions, too.

His face becomes unreadable. An indispensable ability in an aide de camp I reckon.

O: I cannot factually dispute your words.

U: well, what is the purpose of this talk then if you wish to neither confirm or deny?

I will never play poker against this man

O: I need to know if you can contribute any suggestions for improvements.

P: We can no longer trust any vegetation. Use napalm to torch strips next to all motorways and on the resting spots.

U: We need magical fighters like the Network has. We win most fights, but at unacceptable costs. What does a cheap RPG cost? Has the government looked into those superheros?

O: I cannot comment on that.

An awkward silence ensues

P: If this is all we can go for some tea

--

A general alarm sounds as we are on our third cup of tea, right as I was telling Ulrike a story about my grandparents.

P: Now what?

U: To our assigned vehicle, arm up and wait in the hall.

--

As we step out I spot a few Network people I know from our training camp are also present and look at me with a mixture of scorn and curiosity. Osmanoğlu is leading Dejan and Thomas to us, followed by a troop of infanty and our navy man carrying the device in its official crate for air transport.

We are led outside and met by a whole fleet of various types of transport helicopters including big machines with two rotors. At the same time a bus discharges people in Network combat armor.

Rademacher appears out of thin air and commands like an imperious deity: „Everybody and the device to the command helicopter. Follow me!“