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Chapter Text

 Chapter 2

Routinemäßig

Life was rekindled upon the Penrose in a way familiar but long missed. Waking from Cryogenics turned to the steps of a lover's dance in romance. It was a dance indulged for a long time, with time’s very passage feeling irrelevant to the loving partners in the throes of love revisited and affirmed. There was a point where the dance began to take a salacious undercurrent. Romantic looks in the eyes that were once wholesome and chaste, ever steadily took the edge of more lascivious intent. Loving handholds acquiesced to tender caresses. Passionate kisses shifted to teasing nibbles; mutually shared between the two lovers.

Eventually lustful passion took hold and the two lovers became lost in an ocean of pleasure, with their partner being the only buoys within that sea of desire. And that kind of dance also lasted a lengthy session in its own right.

Every touch, kiss, caress and arousing charge to her nerves and most intimate bodily places sent Ariane into a state of pure bliss, with Ellie always dutifully intent on ensuring Ariane was fully and completely satisfied. And in turn, Ariane returned such ministrations to Elster in turn, wishing to repay the tender love. Such lovemaking always felt sacred to Ariane even in the moments of the most raw and free of passions. Wither tender, playful, risqué or unbridled and base: all expressions were manifestations of love. All were valid. All were treasured.

It helped that after so long dancing and making love: that Ariane began to feel her stamina and strength returning, even if she still was rendered breathless and delightfully light headed from the lovemaking. Her body was a canvas for pleasure. And when her canvas was complete; Elster’s canvas required painting as well. And Ariane was an aesthete who never consigned herself to half measures. There was art in love making as much as any artistic medium.

Ariane found every part of Elster to be beautiful, from her short but slick hair that felt as if organic hair and plastic were melded as one. Eye modules that to Ariane held beautiful irises like an ocean and pupils that glowed a warm red. Elster’s hands were at once strong, delicate and dexterous all at once; capable of great strength and yet able to touch Ariane’s skin and enter inside her with such careful gentleness. Ariane found Elster’s legs to be pretty, even at times adorable and sometimes took to kissing Replika leg or even foot (and seeing Elster blush as she did so with a deeply suggestive look was its own delight for her to see).

Ariane also loved hearing the sound of Elster’s heart during their intimate moments; almost the same as a human heart but intermixed with a machine-like pulse from Biosynthetic cardiovascular flesh and biocomponents supplanted with machine parts and implants. Elster seemed to prefer wearing her new Heavy Scout Armor for some reason even during love making, she still didn’t know where Elster even was able to find such armour to begin with, and she grew to miss the sound of Elster’s heartbeat. She even missed being able to caress Elster’s beautiful breasts; guarded by that Scout Armor much like her magpie’s best efforts to invoke the image of a gallant knight. Ariane had to admit there was something enticing about seeing Elster dressed in such a fashion; it was a new look and one that was very fetching for her handsome wife. But it still felt like they were both missing out on a more full experience when Ariane was the only one who was disrobed of her Cryo Dress while Elster still wore her Armour.

It wasn’t without consolation though, she had to admit; for there was a part of Elster’s lovely form that the Scout Armor did not cover. And after Ariane was eventually sent shuddering with pleasure: she gave the place between Elster’s legs the most rapt attention to return the pleasure Ellie gave her.

And it was the case; that Ariane knew all the ways to make Ellie feel good just as much as her wife knew all the ways to make her feel good. Mutual care to lovers in their most intimate expressions of love served as a healthy and supportive bond between the two lovers' hearts. Even if it was a case that, in the early stages of their romance; they both had to navigate those first steps as romantic partners with adorable, goofy awkwardness and exciting new experiences. Ariane could remember taking turns learning about and exploring Elster’s body and Elster doing much the same when it came to Ariane’s tender form, all those many cycles ago. And they had the chance to express that love many times before. As she thought back to those moments and as her gaze travelled about her room: Ariane blushed at the fact that she and Elster made love to each other in every single part of the ship.

There was not a place, not a single corner or inch upon the Penrose-512 where the two of them had not taken each other in lustful abandon. From the Mess Hall, Maintenance, Ariane’s bedroom and her shower/bathroom, the flight deck, the observation deck, the medical bay, the halls and cargo access; each location and corner had become like a lovers bed chamber at one point or another. For a time earlier in their becoming girlfriends and lovers; they even had sex a few times in the Reactor bay, of all places. There was a perverse, romantic thrill, at the time; of engaging in such an immodest act next to the very heart of the ship, a place where the ship's life or death could tie the life and death of the crew to it. There were hints of exhilarating risk of such a location that made the act of lovemaking next to or up against the EVA-AKW Thermonuclear Power Plant strangely intense. It was like three hearts were beating in such perverse desire in a romantic, if strange way.

Even looking back in retrospect, the memories still felt fun.

But now, Ariane felt less inclined to repeat such lovemaking in that part of the ship anymore. Even with her health miraculously returning, it still felt much too upsetting and painful a wound for her to repeat the warm lovers memory in that place again. Anywhere else on the ship was still fine. But not there; where the ship's Thermonuclear heart had begun to poison them and consume their health like a plague. That place carried too much pain to find love’s spark there anymore. Too much pain.

Some time after the love making, Ariane was finally able to finally show off the picture she so passionately drew of the Magpie bird with the Lily held in its beak, excited beyond measure to show off her artistic labor of love and passion put to page to her dutiful, loving Replika wife. Seeing Elster tenderly and reverently taking the picture in her hands and looking over every part of the drawing, taking in the colors and admiring the effort her beloved Gestalt wife put into. Seeing that serine smile form itself on Elster’s faceplate made Ariane’s heart glow like a warm light and flutter like a butterfly. 

She would forever treasure the words from Elster’s deep, sonorous throat when she declared simply with pride to her beloved: “It is beautiful.” The weight could be felt in Elster’s voice at such an earnest statement of praise. It brought Ariane such joy and relief; feelings and emotions that she had long come to miss. The fact Elster gazed so long and intently on that picture that it seemed to Ariane that Elster was trying to engrave that drawing into her very mind; both in her biosynthetic brain and the hard drives implanted into it. Elster then warmly insisted that Ariane place the drawing someplace safe to preserve it from any possible damage, because she felt all Ariane’s art should be protected. It always moved Ariane’s heart to hear such kind words from Elster; she never took such words from her lightly, and treasured them more than gold. And so she did as Elster suggested and placed the drawing in a safe place.

It was all fun and bliss for a long time, but now awake, reunited and their strength slowly building: eventually they had some bit of work to do.

As Ariane, now back to wearing her cryo dress, was going through her books, video cassettes and vinyl records, she could feel that the air of the ship weighed heavily, weighted with all of her and Elster’s emotions. Love and sorrow, anger and boredom, curiosity and ennui, pride and regret, melancholy and wanderlust, fear and hope. Every emotion, they all left an essence in the very fabric of the humble Scout Vessel. But no matter how all other emotions, especially the negative ones, tried to smother it: the Love still endured in the ship. And now that love was now being joined with hope, if a still fledgling hope. And with that hope, a sense of normalcy began slowly and warily settling in what with the events taking the turn they have hinged.

Ariane’s books were coated with dust, but this was a trifling matter; for she was able to clean them off with little effort or issue. She wanted to help Elster with more substantial work, removing the garbage for one thing; but Elster insisted she do most of the heavy lifting; since she now felt she had the strength to take out that trash sitting idle throughout the ship, and didn’t want Ariane to overburden herself so early. Even if the Penrose was a ruin: it didn’t have to be a stuffy trash bin anymore at least. So Ariane decided to do her part with the less demanding cleanup work, if only to give Elster some peace of mind.

Fair to say that they both needed it.

She managed to clean off her dusty books, treasured tomes that were flush with knowledge and tales that captivated and inspired, and after she placed the last one down carefully, she shifted her attention to her vinyl records. She took one of them carefully by the edges in her hands and inspected them; expecting them to be warped badly from the length of time left stored improperly. The last she and Elster heard them; they both felt so weak and their plight looked so bleak; they both couldn’t find the strength or motivation to replace the records back in their sleeves, or store them upright to prevent damage and warping. But as she inspected her record, she blinked in surprise: to her amazement, the record she held saw neither warping nor damage save the regular wear of playing it upon the portable record player. This was impossible, for such a long period of time unattended and not stored upright in their sleeves; the records would be badly damaged by the warping and degrade the music upon the vinyl record… if not render it unplayable. 

But it was as if the vinyl was pulled freshly out of their sleeves. Ariane uneasily reached for the sleeve of the record and replaced it in that sleeve. She then reached for another record and found a lot of dust, which she carefully cleaned, and found while the label upon the record did seem strangely faded; it was otherwise undamaged save from the existing wear of playing it upon the record player, much like the last. And as before Ariane placed the record in its sleeve and stored it upright on its edge. She even checked the records laying flat to see if they may have been damaged and warped, and they too seemed shockingly in good shape. It seemed like another inexplicable mystery to her; questions that raised only more questions. 

She began to sort through the Video Cassettes as her mind continued to wander, or at least she tried to, sorting out the War Films and the kitschy propaganda dramas. The War films were media that Ariane usually watched alone the times she did watch them. Out of the many cycles she and Elster served on the penrose: only three times did Elster try to watch those war films with her. The first time was deeply upsetting and traumatic for Elster and Ariane, with Elster growing destabilized once the battle sequences began to kick off, the poor LSTR Units reaction as if she were reliving a moment on the battlefield, both women realizing that it was probably a memory from Elster’s Gestalt template. Ariane felt very terrible about subjecting Elster to such a film that dredged up such painful memories. Elster for her part felt terrible, since she felt she disrupted the movie and might have reacted in a way that could have brought harm to Ariane if her destabilization happened so suddenly and her mind that badly fragmented and hypersensitive. Thankfully no physical harm occurred and mutual comforting and assurances were shared between them, and instead the choice to select some other film that was better for Elster and Ariane to watch together was made,. 

It was a considerable number of long cycles later that Ariane was in the middle of watching some other War Film that was something of a lengthy docu-drama that Elster accidentally stumbled on the early mid-point through the film, the dutiful Elster unit having run an additional check of the ships systems after a section of the environmental control systems began to see errors with insufficient heat to warm the ship sufficiently late in the cycle, and was about to work on the environmental heating elements in Ariane’s room. Ariane was quick to stop the film and apologize for forgetting to warn Elster about it. Elster for her part also apologized for the inconvenience and asked whether she should wait to conduct repairs and let Ariane enjoy the movie, but Ariane insisted that she could entertain herself with a book or some other distraction. The repairs proceeded, and Ariane read one of the books from the small library she smuggled aboard. She had begun to read a book from the Imperial Serials, specifically it was a book of science fantasy known as “Mystische Lieder des kosmischen Imperiums”[1], literature of the Empire born from Kitezh, that touched deeply on symbolism and esoteric themes, ties to history of the Eusan Empire and musing upon the interplay of such elements in a mixture of philosophy, abstract storytelling and, compellingly, quatrains. In essence; informational code-cyphers nested in stanza poems. 

Being a volume of the Imperial Serials like Millenium Königin and Die Jäger des Sternennebels, which were among Ariane’s favorite books to read, (quite often in fact): Mystische Lieder des kosmischen Imperiums was a compelling read, and also a unique read. For it sought to guide the reader to ruminate upon knowledge, reality, storytelling arts, history, symbols, poetic expression, the obscure and the interplay between them all… to the point it even sought to present the notion that dividing lines need not necessarily exist between the subjects of the book's musings. Though of course, like all other books in the Tome’s of Imperial Serials; it was banned by the Eusan Nation. Ariane never knew for what reason that such a work could be declared forbidden from reading or ownership by the Eusan Nation or what stipulations would demand it be censored, but in the moment as she held the tome in her blackened hands: it was merely a thought lightly touched on and set aside.

Though in that particular moment in her recalled memories, unlike her other reading sessions, Ariane was still far too distracted by Elster’s state of mind and comfort to get as deeply absorbed into the book like she normally would. She stole glances at Elster as she tried to read; noticing Elster working deftly to repair the heaters for environmental control. Elster seemed to be trying to wear a straight face but Ariane started to take notice of the odd hitch in her Replika compatriot as she worked; Elster’s expression almost seemed distant with moments where she seemed to realize where she was and continued work. Moments where artificial fingers wrapped around a tool in motion that slowed mid turn, as if she was distracted by something waging in her mind. A slight fumble of a tool as she reached for it: something that was deeply out of character for the dutiful, steady handed LSTR class. Ariane can tell that even the smallest exposure to war replicated imagery and sound had affected Elster’s mental state. And Ariane felt guilty for accidentally causing that torment.

After a half hour's passage: Elster managed to get environmental control in Ariane’s Personal quarters up to proper functioning standard. Elster reported on the status of the repair and made promises to run a systems check to confirm all was in order, which Ariane thanked her for her hard work. But before Elster could leave, Ariane gently circled back to ask if Elster was alright, and if she wanted to talk if she wasn’t. Elster was silent for a few moments, silence hanging heavy in the room. When a response finally came; Elster admitted that the war film forced old memories of her Gestalt template to the surface, though she was doing her best to stay grounded by trying to redirect her focus to the task at hand, in an attempt to keep herself stable. She confided that it derived a great deal of effort to compartmentalize, but she was at least able to keep herself enough in check. Ariane could recall the feeling of concern in her Gestalt heart and she tried to provide emotional support to Elster, even providing a comforting hug to the ever dutiful Elster class, but her crewmate assured her that she was better than before, and that Ariane’s care and understanding was appreciated. 

Some gentle assurances and offers to hear the thoughts that filled Elster’s disquieted mind did eventually have Elster confide that the short exposure to the war film brought out the Memories of her Gestalt Template, of some battle that waged on Vineta, and the sudden jumbles of shouting, barked orders, screams, tatting of gunfire, booming of cannons from the tanks and artillery, the splashing of blood and water soaking flesh and uniform. It was a jumble of memories and sensations that Elster had difficulty making out coherently. Needless to say more concerted effort was made on Ariane’s part to forewarn Elster when she would be watching a war film, what the running time was and for Elster to knock on the door to let her know if she needed to update her of any problems, issues or status updates.

The third and final time came several cycles after the two of them finally became lovers and the loving couple decided to spend one of those cycles enjoying a few movies together to analyze and critique together. All the kitschy propaganda dramas were watched and rewatched multiple times by this point and most of the time it had been just to try and find something to enjoy and fill the time together. Most of those propaganda dramas were filled heavily with Nation Propaganda, and even the remainder of the kitschy dramas had a ghost of propagandic undercurrents to them that dotted the movies and churned under the surface, which Ariane could easily detect and didn’t really care for; feeling them at their worst to be cynically craven agendas and advertisement for the Eusan Nation and its system. Indoctrination in the name of the interests of the state. And even the best films of the dramas that are not so heavy handed and overt in the propaganda and were not so overrun and bogged down with such propaganda, were still distractions from what would have been a more engaging story.

It was that lengthy movie night where the two lovers watched the drama films and talked about the minutiae of those films and narratives that transpired, with Ariane expressing her thoughts on the narrative, interpersonal character interactions and the themes and symbolic elements and their meanings, even the propaganda elements; talking at length about those moments with Elster. Elster listened quite intently with interest, even if she seemed to take some time trying to grasp those more nuanced elements that Ariane touched on. Elster had her own thoughts and paradigm of analysis she shared in turn, delivered in her expectantly concise and logical way, but a lot of her insights were upon the rumination of the settings, logistics of the setting and the other respective parts that formed the whole and making note of the more mechanical elements and gauging the authenticity of the depiction of the events in the stories of the movies. A perspective from a combat Engineer's eye. 

Elements that were in a blindspot of Ariane’s that she couldn’t help but admit, while unexpected to learn about: had been fascinating to learn all the same. Even if, at first, Ariane wondered if Elster was missing the parts of the movies that conveyed the more ethereal emotions and musings of the soul. But in time, such new insight better gave Ariane a chance to more closely look at and see the artistic works of movie elements that she hadn’t considered before. And in turn: Elster began to ruminate and ask questions on the more artistic and soulful elements that made up the movies, even if those attempts to understand were uncertain. But it was a chance for the two lovers to spend time enjoying each other's company and sharing their innermost thoughts on a shared interest. Even the chance to consider things they had yet to consider before in the films they watched. This was an activity that had been ongoing for hours now at that point and was mutually enjoyable.

But a curious thing happened that took things into more uncertain territory when, after watching at least 5 lengthy videos in their marathon, Elster had a question for her cinema engrossed Gestalt. She asked if they could try to watch one of the war movies together and try to talk about it like they had with all the propaganda drama movies they had both watched untold times together. Ariane was, understandably, surprised; given how Elster normally doesn't like war movies due to the psychological distress and the disorienting Gestalt Template memories doing so dredged up. 

Elster understood this surprise and she explained how she wanted to try and watch a few to enjoy something with Ariane that they hadn’t watched yet together and then talk about the war film like the other films they have seen up to that point. Ariane tried to assure Elster she didn’t need to force herself to watch those films but Elster did want to make the attempt, and one of the Propaganda Dramas they watched together and talked about was a spy thriller full of intrigue, trying to solve a case and even a short sequence of an Imperial spy and the Ministry for National Security Agent exchanging gunfire intermittently for but a short interval during a climatic pursuit sequence. Elster, for her part, managed to find the film surprisingly engaging, finding the elements of mystery and piecing together clues and gathering of information and intelligence to be akin to solving a puzzle, which she equated to her maintenance duties aboard the ship. A problem or equation to solve logically; and she found touching on the exercise very stimulating and engaging. 

She also surprisingly managed to weather the pursuit sequence and the intermittent exchanges of gunfire, though Ariane could notice aptly that Elster seemed tense with a serious look on her face when the bullets flew and gunfire rang, and she seemed to blink quite a bit during those moments, as if she was trying to steady herself. Ariane paused the film to ask if Elster was fine or if she wanted to stop, but Elster assured her that she was able to continue, if maybe after a moment to gather herself. Ariane was uneasy about whether Elster could manage watching the film, if only because of the gunfight sequence between spy and agent, for she didn’t know whether that sequence might trigger a flood of memories or cause any major distress in Elster. 

However, once Ellie confirmed she was ready, they continued to watch the film. The fact they were able to finish the spy thriller, short spate of gunfire included, was a surprising accomplishment. And they were finally able to talk at length about every intricacy of the film and Elster felt she was able to share discussion into a story she was able to connect with when it came to problem solving. As for the gunplay; it was in this film mostly in short and and brief exchanges and the distinction of the backdrop environment being in Blockwarts and National Government Intelligence Agencies, Outskirts of Settlement sectors and the sprawl of Metro Lines: provided some degree of separation that meant that Elster wasn’t as easily dragged into her Gestalt Memories. Any triggers to those memories were light, muted and at the very least; within manageable thresholds for her mental health, save when the gunfire was particularly extended; and there was still just enough separation to allow Elster to take a short break before continuing. Those tense moments of gunplay Elster noted were mostly grounded with only few artistic licences or flourishes and spoke a bit to Ariane on both those elements, which Ariane couldn’t help but find some fascination to listen to and give her musings on.

So it was the case with that in mind; that Ariane and Elster tried to watch an actual war movie together; because Elster, for the first time: wanted to try watching a war film in full, and then talk about it. Ariane thought it best to maybe select one of the war films that would be easier for Elster to watch for the first time, something with a larger first half spent in bootcamp training sequences before deployment onto battlefront came on screen. It started out well enough, and Elster even noted how the training sequences reminded her of when she and the rest of her LSTR sisters in the Penrose Program were placed through their respective training periods after their creation in the Replika-Werke (Ariane wanted to say born in the Replika-Werke, though: she grew to not like talking of the act that brought life to Replika like her Ellie with terms that reduced them to mere tools or things). 

Those moments in the film during training were familiar to Elster and to an extent familiar to Ariane for the training she received for her compulsory military training. Granted; their experiences were vastly different in those basic training courses they received from both the People’s Revolutionary Military and Aeon respectively between Gestalt and Replika. It was still interesting to talk about and compare all the same, and commiserate over their experiences. Even if these were divergences from the actual content of the movie they were watching; but they were still interesting asides they both shared with each other.

But though things started out promising while watching the war film, events started to descend a gradual incline as the film wound on. It was when the characters in the film completed basic and were deployed to the forward operating base and were given situation reports and mission briefings that Elster seemed to show mild signs of discomfort, and her Ellie’s vision seemed to grow slightly distant, or Ariane saw a flicker of her eyes shifting left and right as if she was seeing something from her Gestalt Template’s memories momentarily fade in and fade out from Elster’s mind's eye. Pausing and unpausing the video to check on Elster’s mental health became an increasingly regular routine in that section of the movie. 

Ariane asked if Elster was okay… and after a moment of silence, Replika eyes still easing left and right at what must have been memories floating before Ellie’s vision, the dutiful Penrose Ship Technician faintly confided seeing the faces of comrades of her Gestalt Template, most of them a mere sea of faces and uniforms that melded together, a profusion of flesh molded into soldiers, but there were seven of her comrades that stood out to her, four of that seven that shone out clearly. And of that four… was one who felt as important to the original holder of those memories as Ariane felt important to Elster. (A detail that from that point on held firm to Ariane’s curiosity while also speaking to her inner romantic, given the tone and implication of this person and what she meant to Elster’s Gestalt Template).

But Elster couldn’t find it in herself to elaborate… emotions and memories overclustered and overwhelming that her voice struggled to put into words the emotions she was feeling. So Ariane gently asked if she still wanted to continue watching the film or if she instead wanted to stop altogether, and Elster responded she would try to continue. And thus they did. Until, that was, when the troop transport vehicle that the characters in the film were riding in during a moment of light hearted conversation; was suddenly struck by enemy fire, an opening salvo that bracketed the allied forces and snuffed out the lives of soldiers who were not even the remote bit suspecting of an attack. 

This part of the film was a moment that Ariane, to her own regret; had completely forgotten after spending so much time watching Propaganda Dramas and having otherwise been distracted, too excited and hopeful from the progress on the Spy Thriller that she lapsed in recalling the sudden jarring nature of the ambush in the war film in question..

And Elster's response was a jolting start followed by a response that could only be equated to an outright Post Traumatic reaction. The watching of the war film ended then and there and Ariane spent the next three hours trying to soothe and comfort Elster as she tried to recover mentally from the reeling deluge of memories that Elster confided trying to seek out comrades of a past life and fighting an enemy that she struggled to pinpoint. The entire time Elster was suffering such overclustering of her mind: she firmly kept her body stiff and as unmoving as possible, arms clutched tight to her sides in order to keep her body under control; anything to keep from accidentally hurting Ariane while her mind felt as if it were stumbling away from her physical form into the perspective of another person's past, dropped promptly onto a tumultuous, blood soaked battlefield and trenches that were ankle deep in blood, sea water and corpses as artillery thundered beyond the horizon. 

Once the crisis passed, Ariane apologized for forgetting the ambush scene but Elster’s response to that was an assuring hug. They both did try to talk about what they thought of the movie and its minutiae, but such talk was marginal and the desire to move on to a less distressing movie was mutually agreed on. They decided on something more romantic and soothing, if still saturated with Eusan Nations ever prevalent Revolutionary-Nationalist propaganda.

The many thoughts and memories of those days finally drifted aside and she set down her movies together in a storage box, alongside the boxes full of books, records, drawings, photographs and Ariane’s blood-stained, semi-organized notes, which she had already gathered from across the ship, sorted and stored in their proper place. But she still held many questions about what had happened to Elster, and she felt they both had stories to share with each other. It was when she was finally setting the final video cassette into the box that the door to her room opened, and Ariane’s eyes turned up to see Elster entering the Personal quarters.

Elster held on her face that typical, passive expression that she often wore, professional and measured. “The garbage bags have finally been disposed of from the ship. Sanitation conditions aboard have been improved by 87%. I deposited them around a monolith 20 yards from the scout vessel.” she reported. She was still wearing her Scout Combat Armor of course, and that new detail was quickly becoming an ever increasingly normalized fact of their lives moving forward.

Ariane smiled and let the cassette slip into place in the organized stack of other video cassettes in the boxes. “No holes to find to bury them in I suppose?” she asked warmly, with only the hint of some levity in her voice.

“Not unless I find a shovel or Entrenching tool to dig one.” Elster replied in a matter of fact tone. A thoughtful look did cross her features. “Might be supplies stored in the cargo hold where one could be stowed in.” After a pause, and noticing a cocked Gestalt eyebrow of curiosity, she further clarified. “The containers designated for opening upon discovery of and landing upon a habitable planet only.” She rolled her shoulders in a shrug. “I can’t be 100% certain, but given the Penrose Cargo Manifest that did not elaborate on those contents, given their enigmatic nature and implication of those containers only being opened under making landfill on a habitable planet; it is safe to assume that such cargo containers may contain supplies for land surveying, basic survival and establishing a Scout and Exploration outpost of sorts.Likely has a separate supply list in those containers with them as well, likely for need-to-know SOP under those stipulations”

Ariane’s smile faltered a bit. “You really think so? Even after the Penrose Program tossed us out to the Oort cloud like they did, they would still give us supplies like that? ” she asked in a tone that was a bit dubious. Given the Penrose Phase 3 encrypted transmission that spoke so insultingly detached and clinically of how both she and Elster were consigned to die alone in the cold vacuum of space if they hasn’t found a habitable planet before that 3000th cycle point; it still surprised her that Aeon bothered to even include supplies like that.

Elster hummed deeply in thought, her hand stroking her chin at considering this possible avenue. “I suppose even Aeon hoped one of the Penrose Scout vessels might find something, even if, all being said, impossible the odds would have been for any of the Penrose ships to find a planet that met such requirements out in the Oort cloud.” A momentary ghost of some indiscernible emotion briefly hitches on Elster’s face. “That, and such supplies were no doubt an “acceptable expense” in the Penrose operational budget.” She tilted her head to the right, admitting through body language that she was, ultimately, speculating. “I’ll have to confirm that part of the inventory though.”

Ariane’s mouth shifted thoughtfully and she gave a nod: it made sense in a way after Elstrer laid things out like that. But another thought entered her mind, a pressing issue related to the subject that first put both of their health in jeopardy… and questions that she had been repeating over and over again when she first, reluctantly, entered inside the Reactor room of the Penrose after awakening from Cryosleep. It was a question she was hesitant to ask Elster directly and she wasn’t sure whether the reactor was in fact still giving off Radiation or if it was no longer radiating ambient radiation to ravage their bodies and it scared her to ask, much less consider the implications of one or the other. 

“I was… meaning to ask…” Ariane's left hand rubbed her right arm uncomfortably… unease latched itself to her nerves, danced a jig on her spine and made her heart feel like it was in knots. “What is the condition of the Reactor? Is there still a radiation hazard on board the ship? Should we… evacuate the ship? Was it too dangerous for you to approach?” Just asking if they needed to leave the ship terrified Ariane, remembering the frightful and mind bending impossibilities she saw through the hatch window and the flight deck. And yet it was a feeling at odds with the equal fear of staying in a ship that would be slowly killing them again with the gene destroying poison of the reactor.

Her beloved LSTR Unit noticed the unease and uncertainty manifesting. A response came slow and uncertain when Elster finally gave a report on the Reactor. “I underwent an extensive inspection of the Reactor, once I was able to repair some of the sub-optimal system operation of the Reactor Controls to improve the display quality, and than diagnose the EVA-AKW five-cell Adjustable Sealed Autonomous Thermal Nuclear Power Plant.” Elster resorted to full professionally stiff delivery of an LSTR unit, a not all unfamiliar experience.

“What were you able to find out?” Ariane asked nervously, the tension growing deeply each passing moment.

“Hard landing upon the planet's surface knocked Fuel Rods A, B, C and E out of alignment to the point that the already degraded and barely functional condition of the Reactor would have induced the Danger of outright meltdown, and the radiation that was already pouring out of the reactor like a sieve; would have been even worse. Fuel Rod D is - Stuck - at a position to allow only a threshold of 1150mw 400K…” She emphasized ‘stuck’ forebodingly to affirm the point of how serious and bad the reactor's condition really was, a heavy and clear pause, with a subtle astonishment in Elster’s voice and expression was present before she continued. “...or all that would be the case: were the reactor functional and…” A hesitancy returned, Elster’s mouth shifting as she seemed to be struggling. Replika eyes shifted to the floor. She lightly bounced her right peg foot with her toes tapping against the floor of the ship with a metallic ring. “...were there any radiation. All core temperatures for the ship's Reactor fuel rods are at 373.15 Kelvin.” she said at last. “The Penrose ship Reactor is confirmed to be in cold shutdown. And the reactor itself has no radiation leakage. Or any presence of radiation at all.”

Ariane blinked in amazement, almost not daring to believe what Elster had just said. “”Y-you mean: the reactor is not only not functional anymore: it's no longer expelling radiation?!” Elster met Ariane’s eyes and nodded. “You're absolutely sure?! The Giger Counter isn’t malfunctioning?”

Elster grunted and nodded once more. “The Giger Counter was checked for any malfunctions: it is still functional despite the impact of hard landing,” she assured the Pilot Officer.

This fact alone was a shock to Ariane; the ship's heart had ceased beating, and the radiation was no longer flowing freely from the radioactive heart that poisoned Replika and Gestalt bodies of the two crew members of this ill fated ship. This fact did raise so many questions, chief among them was how this was even possible? Soon behind that was if there was any background radiation that contaminated the walls of the ship, in particular in the reactor room itself. “Is there any radioactive contamination in the ship then? The walls, ceiling, floors and any of the objects in the ship?” she asked.

Elster shook her head, both eyebrows raised in disbelief. “Surprisingly none. Despite everything, I have found no detection of radiation particles anywhere on the ship." She looked to Ariane and permitted a small smirk, a fleeting crack of genuine happiness that betrayed the overwhelming joy behind the face and eyes of the stoic Magpie. “It’s as amazing as the medical checkup we both had after our…” A blush on the Kosmo-Pioneer Specialist’s face joined the subtle, now smaller smirk. “... reunion , together.” A euphemism that hid the full context of the actual situation of events. The dance of lovers followed by lengthy, passionate lovemaking sessions. Their bodies too have been confirmed free of radiation; yet another impossible wonder that Ariane still struggled to accept.

It was too much like a hopeful, desperate dream to hear how the radiation was banished from the ship, and that the Reactor Heart of the humble Penrose-512 was no longer operational and more importantly, it no longer produced the invisible death that so robbed them both of their vitality, bodily health and very lives. Even their bodies have been cleansed of the ravaging radiation, even despite the physical state Ariane was in, arms and legs covered in black up to her joints. To Ariane: this could be nothing less than an impossible miracle in an existence where hope was coldly rebuked and joy smothered. For the first time in their lives together upon the weary, ravaged ship after that fateful 3000th cycle encrypted transmission consigned them to miserable, hopeless fate: the light of hope shone brightly enough to pierce the darkness of despair. An astonished, overjoyed giggle escaped her throat, overwhelmed by the hope and joy at this wonderfully impossible news.

From Elster’s report; they now, well and truly; had a future together. Their lives are now retaken. The brief thought of the things they could hope to do together tarried feverishly though Ariane’s mind, including the hope of retreating from the Nation and the Empire to live their lives together for as long as they wished: free and unbound. Cooking each other meals, building a proper home wherever they are now, dancing together the long nights away, Ariane painting again while Elster diligently fixed the Record Player to have those long yearned for dances. Happiness was theirs again; and they would only need each other. If people and the nation didn’t care about them; then an escape in isolation far from the whims of their peers and the machinations of the system that denied them their personhood, reduced them to things: was a sensible course of action.

…she did miss her mother terribly though. And a pang of melancholy for the twins followed that. Even a faint feeling was reserved for her aunt… in retrospect she was well meaning but struggled to understand Ariane. There was tension there, some frustration… but there was no hatred for Aunt Kamilla, or even uncle, a man who was introverted and was a simple man of few words, but from what Ariane could tell; she never felt he was a cold man. As far as people went; they were the few that she held any connection with. While she would rebuke the nation and her peers under its yoke for how miserably they treated her; her family and friends were a much, much harder ask to cast aside.

These thoughts ebbed away when the sudden thought re-entered her mind of: “ how ” did the radiation that flooded the ship and so violated their bodies; become cleansed and purged of them and the ship as it did? But the more Ariane thought about it, the more uneasy she felt lingering on the thought too much. She felt she should know… but maybe it was best to not have her thoughts linger on it for her own state of mind. It felt too much like an unnaturally weird thing that would threaten to strain her own sanity. So instead she circled back to what Elster had mentioned about the possibility of a shovel and other useful supplies held in the hold, in case a Penrose ship did find a habitable planet. The information Elster presented on that line was still of some curiosity for her to entertain a bit more on, a few questions lingered on that line of possibility… enough so that she wanted to revisit the subject.

“Going back to the containers holding those supplies you mentioned earlier…” Ariane mulled briefly over that previous information before asking her follow up. “Do you think you can get into the cargo hold that holds that container to make any possible use of those supplies, if that's what the contents are?”

Elster shook her head, the side of her mouth crooking down in dissatisfaction. “Aside from the garbage, I also inspected, then performed cursory maintenance on some of the doors of the ship.” She motioned a thumb back at the door behind her. “I was able to repair the door between Stern Hall and Upper Gallery as well as the Storage room to bypass the Reactor, since it’s still flooded with coolant, but the Doors to the Cargo Hold compartments are difficult to repair; extensive damage to the controls and mechanics of the doors would mean hours of extensive repair and unjamming.” Elster’s gesturing hand lowered and her mouth shifted, uncertain and hesitant expressions joining it. ”The ship's hard landing caused considerable damage to the more delicate systems and mechanics of the lower deck of the ship. Most of the ship's flight controls are also inoperable.” She raised her right hand palm up and her other hand began to fiddle with something around her finger. “It’s a wonder that the lower deck and the calibration pod somehow remained intact despite the impact of hard landing, and the actual structural damage is, surprisingly, marginal. It will take far more time to fix those problems enough to even get into those particular supplies.”

Elster took notice of the familiar looking object around Elster’s ring finger and her glowing smile returned fully. “You found your wedding ring?” she asked with delight. Even if she already knew where Elster’s ring was; she was happy that Elster was still able to find it and wear it again.

Elster blinked, then noticed where Ariane’s gaze was directed at and blushed adorably. “Yes.” Her eyes held longingly on that wedding ring that was wrapped snugly in place around her finger. “It was on the bottom of the calibration pod, right where I left it.” Elster’s deep voice was soft and almost regretful sounding. “I was afraid that I may have lost it.” she confessed, her deep voice barely a whisper.

“Oh!” Ariane remembered something important and reached over to her bed, grabbing one of the pillows and plunging her free hand deep into the pillow case. She rummaged around briskly, until she felt the touch of smoothed, almost-rounded metal greet her fingers and pulled the small object now in her hand out of the pillow case. She held the object between her thumb and her index finger. “I kept mine in the pillowcase of my pillow! That way I know exactly where to find it after I am out of cryo.” Elster blinked a bit before a reluctant smile crawled onto her face. That wonderfully pretty, adorable smile that brought a joyful light to Ariane’s heart and brightened her dark days dutifully. Ariane giggled at seeing Ellie’s reaction and continued, her eyes now fixed on her wedding band which Elster used her own two hands to bring into form, her voice soft and a little regretful like Elster’s was. “Still, I wish I could take it into cryo with me: I hate having to take it off. And being kept apart from it.” 

“That would be ill advised: the very low temperatures of the cryopod could cause frostbite if you were wearing your ring on your finger in cryosleep. And there wouldn’t be any place to keep your ring safely secure in your cryopod. There may also be a risk of the ring ending up caught in the cryo fluid drainage system which could cause serious issues. Plus, it would be difficult to retrieve the ring back if it were to get into the cryogenics internals.” Elster’s face was neutral but her voice was genuinely serious, but well meaning. “Keeping it safe in your pillowcase is the better solution to store it.” she gently but firmly lectured her beloved Gestalt.

The finger of Ariane’s free hand gently traced the outer side of her own ring, appreciating the care that was made into fashioning it. A habit she used to do quite often, and wished to repeat anew. “I know… it’s just…You put all your love and creativity into it… and it represents the bond of our connection. Affirms in physical form that we are married to each other; to give an anchor to the vows we both made together.” She looked to Elster and could feel the regretful melancholy take hold in her heart, replacing the ring on her finger snuggly. “I don’t want the token of our love and vows to each other to be separated from me again… like I was separated from you while I was in cryo.” 

Elster approached and took Ariane’s hand with her hand, ring fingers of Replika and Gestalt touching tenderly. “I understand. The ring isn’t just a ring, a ring is also what it represents… it means something important to us; holds a meaning between us that gives form to an emotion and to a concept.” Elster’s eyes looked at Ariane and her mouth shifted thoughtfully. “I had come to better understand symbols being given form and objects being bestowed meaning.” Elster’s gaze, however, slid off Ariane, overtaken by a look on her face that painted a tune of reluctance that Ariane could almost feel. “Or… well, I’m still trying to understand. You were already better at such analysis.” she admitted with a slight hint of embarrassment in her voice that belied how deeply the emotion had enveloped her.

Ariane’s smile radiated forth like the warm sun at Elster’s words, basking in the sound of Elster’s voice she had long missed. “And you work so hard Elster, you always manage to fix what is broken or know how to approach a problem. But honestly I love how you have a creative streak all your own.” The mirth in Ariane’s voice hung heavy and flowed unashamed from her lips. If life could continue forward like this, just like those happy cycles of joy and love, being able to spend their future days ahead together, alone and free from the burdens and tribulations of life; Ariane would at last feel content in that. 

“You helped me find it and bring it out.” Elster countered, earnestly. “Listening to you talk about stories, art, poetry, symbols, themes, the esoteric… I might not have understood a lot of it at first. Even now I think I have only a partial grasp on those things… but I know that I want to express what's in my heart and mind, and listen to you talk about all the things that captivate you so much. And to give those feelings, emotions and thoughts form. Especially how what I feel and think relate to you. I want to learn to play that piano for yo-” 

“Piano?” Ariane asked quizzically.

Elster’s voice abruptly halted mid word, mouth hanging half open, her once passive face wide eyed and eyebrows raised in shock at the words that toppled out of her own mouth. Ariane could see the look on Elster’s face and the expression so profound that she thought she could hear Elster’s voice under her breath, asking herself why she mentioned that piano… though strangely Elster’s mouth didn’t seem to move. But what would a Piano, of all things, be doing wherever it is they were now? And why would Elster be so apprehensive about mentioning this piano?

Ariane looked Elster in the eyes, curious but inquisitive. “Elster, what Piano do you mean?” An actual piano wherever the two of them landed was an absurd possibility… so that only left the only other possibility, which gnawed a bit of concern for Ariane as it related to Elster’s psychological health. “Did you… uncover a memory from your Template involving a Piano while I was in cryo?” she asked gently. 

Elster lightly shook her head. “N-no, no. It wasn’t a memory. Th-there… um…” Ariane had rarely seen Elster frazzled like this, not in this way as if wary to speak truth to her. Somehow though, Ariane could sense that Elster wasn’t trying to lie nor wanting to lie; she, somehow, sensed that Elster wanted to be truthful to her, to not hide anything from her, whatever it was that weighed heavy on her mind. Elster’s throat rumbled with an uncertain hum and drew a long breath. “I… I said I wanted to tell you everything I have gone through… about what I came across. I still want to tell you I just…” Elster’s eyes slid off Ariane to the boxes of Ariane’s possessions on the floor, reluctant and regretful all at once. “It’s hard for me to know where to even begin. Some of the things I came across: a lot of it I still don’t quite fully understand. All of it was strange.”

Ariane’s eyes gazed into Elster’s own and soothingly rubbed her shoulder. “It's okay, we can take as much time as you need. Just…try to start from the beginning, however much you feel you need to share. After you have finished, I can share a bit of my own stories of my dreams, like we both promised each other, okay?” Elster merely gave a silent nod of affirmation. Ariane turned her head to her bed and motioned over to it. “How about we both take a seat for a while while we catch each other up and you regale me with your journey.” She was trying to provide a bit of levity to help put Elster at ease, which seemed to help just a little from the way Elster’s tense form relaxed a bit, though somehow she could still sense an aura of muted trepidation from Elster despite being more physically at ease.

As they made the approach to Ariane’s bed, Elster hummed thoughtfully. “You managed to get the bed cleaned from all the Oxidant?” she inquired.

Ariane gave a nod. “Yes. Took a bit of time, the last of the cleaning solution and some elbow grease, but I managed to get it mostly clean in case we needed to sit down in here for a while.” The small smile on Ariane’s face faltered and slipped off, the thought of realizing it was in fact Elster’s own oxidant still hammered at her psyche, and the implications that even after Elster had been confirmed alive and well (or at least a given definition of well from the wound on her head); it worried her how her wife had somehow been so sick and her condition so terrible that Oxidant loss was as bad as it was for her. And yet it also raised questions, given how much Oxidant was lost: that Elster managed to survive at all. Ariane’s more romantic and creative side started to ponder whether it may have been a miraculous display of Elster’s sheer force of will. It was a charming idea, a romantic notion like from a fairy tale, and it caused a momentary surge of pride in Ariane’s heart at supposing that Elster managed to display a herculean feat that only a Greek Myth could portray with any remote sense of narrative justice.

But she recognized that maybe such hopeful ruminations were a bit more than a tad fanciful.

Her thoughts were diverted by the reproachful look on Elster’s face. “I apologize for the mess. I was…” Elster's voice hitched for a moment, then spoke with such a soft tone that it was barely audible. “...very sick.” she murmured her confession, regretfully. Regret seemed to still be a constant visitor to the lovers in their ruined home that once traversed the reaches of the stars. Like the snowfall that coated the streets, rooftops and exposed sections of metro lines upon Rotfront. Burying two hearts in its cold weight. 

At least those two hearts valiantly kept each other warm, in the snow drifts of such regrets.

Ariane took a seat on the freshly cleaned bed and gently guided Elster, to bid her sit with her as she spoke in response. “You don’t need to apologize.” she responded, simply and tenderly. Once Elster sat at Ariane’s side the Gestalt Pilot Officer looked over Elster with careful attention. “Are you feeling better? You're not still sick?” she asked.

Elster shook her head once. “Negative. My condition has returned to nominal functionally. Or, well…” Elster seemed lost in thought for a moment and Ariane started to feel a new wave of worry at how Elster seemed not only to be re-adopting her more formal presentation and method of communication but also seemed to be implying that something more had happened to her, but Elster tilted her head down and gave as reassuring a look her professionally neutral expression could convey. “No, that would be getting ahead of myself. I have to start from the beginning. I’ll give a post mission summary of the major events, if you want more details, I’ll be happy to digress if you wish.” she took a long, thoughtful pause, eyebrows furrowed. “Some of what I say may not make a lot of sense, what I went through was… complicated… confusing… but it's all the truth. And the information I share, it will be important.”

Ariane blinked as her wife's older methods of communication, stiff and formal, marched forth. She could sense that whatever journey Elster had was deeply serious if Elster was this solemn. She nodded in response, whatever it was that was weighing on Elster’s mind: Ariane wanted to hear of it.

“To begin, I want to apologize.” Elster began, her stoic face betrayed by the look of remorse in her eyes. Ariane wondered what other thing Elster would feel the need to apologize for. She must have looked as bewildered as she felt, because Elster noticed and proceeded to clarify. “I remember waking up in my Calibration Pod, warning lights and warning alarms were both active after the ship crashed. But… as I was searching the ship I…was trying to assess the status of the ship and your own condition. I searched through any potential intel and information that was available, including physical documents. I was able to confirm that the ship was badly damaged upon impact and most systems were inoperable, sections of the ship were inaccessible, and the ship was no longer in any condition to fly again. I also was able to retrieve the photograph of the two of us on the LDAM console, with the cryopod access code on it. It was weathered from the elements it seemed… but the entire time…” Elster took a heavy breath. “I couldn’t remember much of my memories. I think I was suffering from some form of… Amnesia.” 

Ariane’s eyes widened in shock. “Amnesia?!” she exclaimed. “You, couldn’t remember anything?” Elster gave a single nod. This was a detail that deeply worried Ariane. Replika minds had their distinct quirks, from what she could remember. They were more susceptible to being muddled and were fragile in ways that were unique compared to the quirks and weaknesses of a Gestalt mind. Issues relating to memories were a major one to contend with.“How… bad, was your Amnesia? What were you able to remember?” she asked. She tried to sound as gentle and soothing as possible, but the hint of fright still laced its way into her throat despite her best efforts.

Elster grimaced. “Truthfully, all I could remember was my name, the fact I was assigned to the Penrose-512, that you were the Gestalt Scout Pilot Officer of the ship and… that wherever you were; I had to find you.” Elster’s hand desperately grasped for Ariane’s own. “Because you were important. Even if-.” Elster’s voice hitched and a look of painful regret smeared its way across her face. “Even if I couldn’t remember why at the time.” Elster’s eyes eased their way across the Personal quarters, taking in the walls, floor, television, treadmill and boxes full of Ariane’s possessions. “I couldn’t even recall our time together on the ship prior to waking up from the Calibration pod of our craft after it made landfall.” 

Elster shook her head, at a loss of how else to convey the feeling recounting this fact was. “I had no understanding, no context for why I was on a crashed Penrose Scout ship. It was like nearly all my memories were just… tossed into a hole. Only the 6575 Cycle note you wrote and the blood found on it indicating that you were in less than optimal condition, I found it in your Personal Quarters at the time and only that gave me any remote insight into how long we had been together and that you may have been sick or hurt, even if I couldn’t remember the full extent of things.” 

Elster’s body eased backwards and she blinked, seemingly as if recalling the memory, the look of self loathing on her beloved Replika wifes face was the most heartbreaking thing Ariane had ever seen. “I still feel horrible that I somehow forgot the most important person in my life… someone who meant everything to me. I still… I don't know if I can forgive myself for forgetting you like that. Couldn’t even remember that we were lovers. Or that we were even married.” The look of regret on Elster’s face only grew heavier on her features, and her voice sounded as if on the verge of breaking, mournfully. “Couldn’t even remember the times we danced together. In this very room; to the Serenade of Schubert.” Tears began to form in Elster’s eyes to match the tears that were already in Elster's throat.

“Shhhh~,” Ariane hushed consolingly, “don’t blame yourself. I don’t hold any blame for you for any of that.“ Ariane’s hand gently caressed Elster’s cheek to soothe and console, even in spite of the stab to Ariane’s heart of flesh that was born from the fretting heartbreak knowing that this had happened to her beloved wife. She admitted to herself that this was still distressing, and a question began to weigh on her learning this, a question that she spoke out loud to the one she loved so deeply..“But… you are able to remember everything now, right?” Elster nodded once in affirmation, blinking away the minute droplets of optical module sanitizing fluid that amounted to Elster’s threatening tears. A small pang of hope and relief crawled forth, but she had to make sure. “You aren’t having any more troubles with your memory?” Elster shook her head once in the negative. Ariane drew a breath of relief at this, glad that Elster’s memories were back. But she still wondered how bad Elster’s condition was for her to have such a deeply bad degree of memory loss to the point of near total amnesia. But then, Ariane felt as if this whole fact Elster did suffer some kind of amnesia… almost struck a sensation of deja-vu for her. But then… Why did this subject of Amnesia feel so…familiar to her…?

Elster continued, but with a look of confusion that laced an indeterminable grimness. “But, even in that amnesiac state I was in, I found the Scout Vehicle Status Monitor’s readouts to be confusing… because they said that you…” Elster paused, an uncertain look that was hard to make out crossed her features, mouth opening and closing a few times in succession as if struggling to find the words… before continuing at last.  “The monitor sensors couldn’t find any signal of your status.” Ariane blinked, confusion of her own also starting to grow at hearing how she herself was read by the ship's readouts as being just as imperceptible as Elster was earlier. “I made my way to Cryogenics, to confirm your condition in the Cryogenic Capsule, using the keypad code instructions on the back of the photograph after I collected it, after assessing the ship's condition.” The profoundly intense look in Elster’s eye was surprisingly off putting even for Elster’s standards. “But you weren’t there, Ariane.”

Ariane was shocked at this. An impossibility that made no sense. “W-what? But I… I never left the cryopod, Elster. I was asleep.” she insisted softly.

Elster shrugged. “The Cryogenic Capsule was filled only with cryo fluid and the Airlock Key, the latter of which was broken in two… in a way that was… not normal. The break had jagged lines, not a straight line. No bends in the key card either. The Airlock Key was covered in your blood.” Elster’s eyes turned towards the door of Ariane’s quarters, even if the mention of the way the Airlock key was broken kindled a familiar, and uneasy feeling in Ariane’s heart. “After also finding that your AVA suit was also not in its storage area, only mine was stowed as per protocol, I was left with the only logical conclusion that you somehow were able to leave the cryogenics chamber, the Cryogenic Capsule and must have left the ship.” Elster blinked, seemingly lost in thought and from what Ariane supposed; reliving the memories of those events. “So I fixed the airlock key to the best of my abilities with adhesive tape, went to the Airlock and donned my AVA suit to follow you.” She turned back to Ariane, that familiar stoic face returning but Ariane could see the profound emotion under the surface in Elster’s eyes. “Part of me still wondered in that state of missing memory about what happened, how or why we wound up landing on a frozen world… but all that didn’t matter compared to trying to find you… even if I still didn’t know why at that time. I walked several yards, if not a mile or two or three; hard to tell through the blizzard.”

Ariane looked incredulously at Elster and tried to gauge her wifes expression. Part of her was confused at how any of this made sense, and she almost wanted to question whether Elster was mistaken in some way. This wouldn’t be an elaborate and absurd joke on Elster’s part, Ariane knew that what little humor Elster had wasn’t anything of this sort, more dry wit and things that were more measured but wholesome. Light, good natured teasing at most, and the reprocation of light hearted, even romantic, playfully physical interactions. So Ariane discounted those thoughts outright. But a flub of memory might have been more possible to her, and Elster would have never made a joke of this form, of such nature to Ariane, not in the many cycles Ariane had grown to know her lover. “Elster, how would I have been able to leave the cryopod in my condition? Much less leave the ship-” But the words in her voice softened and uncertainty began to fill in the folds of her mind. Half remembered dreams of her walking from cryogenics bay and Penrose ship swirled like a specter in a haunted house, and a particular dream of her trudging through a snowy blizzard while wearing her cyan AVA Suit came forth.

Why did that impossible dream come forth now?

Elster held an inscrutable, inquisitive look as she seemed to study Ariane, eyes looking over the Gestalt pilot officers face. Eventually Elster spoke. “I’m not fully sure. But-” Elster’s face turned thoughtful, eyes looking down at her hands for a moment as if gathering her thoughts. She then looked back to Ariane, motioning to the bow of the ship as she spoke. “Out there, walking over snow drifts and past black Obelisks in the snow of unknown origin… I found something out in the blinding white snow of the blizzard and the light that was trying to shine through the sleet.” She looked back into Ariane with her eyes locked onto Ariane’s own. “Ariane, you said while you were in cryogenics, you had many strange dreams, yes?”

Ariane blinked. “Y-yes I did, why do you ask?” The question was so bewildering and she didn’t know why Elster would ask her such a question. But she could sense that Elster was asking for a reason. And that reason was important.

Elster held her gaze on Ariane, eye contact maintained, expression resolute and intense. “In any of your dreams: did you see a gate of stone standing at the top of stone stairs? Tall, black, rectangular? Monolithic in nature?” Elster implored with the heaviest gravitas Ariane had ever heard since the report Elster gave pertaining to the deteriorating condition of the ship.

Ariane blinked once more, and she felt the small hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. For she remembered dreams… or what felt like dreams… where she stood before the threshold of a monolithic black gate that seemed to stand imperiously like a Shinmei torii or Hongsalmun; entrances that mark the transition from the mundane to the sacred, locations where kami are welcomed and thought to travel through entry to a sacred plateau. Thresholds that granted entry to the realms of gods. Though the gate was a ruin of simple geometry, it still carried such ineradicable import, such immutable sacredness. 

And it was where Ariane recalled from a considerable number of her dreams; first trudging painfully through snow to solemnly waiting overlooking wastes that stretched on through eternity. Waited for Elster to find her, as she gazed upon desolate emptiness…of…familiar blood red sands that filled a sprawling wasteland. And as she trudged in her EVA suit while buffeted by unrelenting gusts of snow, looking for escape and aid for her and Elster. And standing upon ascending stairs to overlook next to a threshold at the distant silhouette of the Penrose while wearing only her cryodress. Such recollections of dreams lept forth at her, and it surprised her that she would struggle remembering such a striking image… and even surprising now that she was suddenly able to recall those dream-like experiences.

And most unnerving of all; Elster not only knew that mysterious gateway of stone in her dreams, but also had seen it. In person. In reality. 

Ariane’s mouth felt dry as Kitezh and she swallowed deeply to parch her throat on her own scant saliva. “Y-yes.” came Ariane's nervous reply. “I… I did. I had… dreams of such a gate. Looking for something or… waiting… for you.” Ariane looked into Elster’s eyes. “You actually saw that gate?” Ariane could not only see but feel the emotion in Elster’s eyes, and the affirming nod Elster gave banished all doubt. But it raised an uneasy tension of how such a thing of dreams was found in waking reality. Something strange and incomprehensible was at play; that was the only possibility that made any sense, save sheer madness itself. “Elster I… I don’t know what’s happening. How can you find something from my dreams in reality?” Fear was creeping into Ariane’s voice at this, a similar fear as she saw the unnatural light of an impossible alien sky and found herself suddenly beholding two other skies in but an eyeblink.

Elster’s mouth shifted thoughtfully. “I’m uncertain.” But Elster’s hands gently held Ariane’s arms, trying to comfort and ease Ariane’s growing fear. “I only wanted to ask about that gate in order to …” The thoughtful look on the Replika woman’s face deepened, her mind churning to make sense of the information that Ariane had confirmed, glowing red pupils of Elster’s eyes floated across the wall as if the metal plating that made up that wall held a puzzle for her to solve. “...confirm something. Something that had been on my mind the last few hours.” Elster looked back to Ariane’s gaze and continued. “But there was more I found after crossing the gate threshold. Things that only grew more strange.”

Ariane blinked, uneasy surprise deepening. “More??” she exclaimed.

A single nod from Elster confirmed that more was indeed the factual reality. “As I ascended the hill that was covered in snow through the blizzard, and passed through the Gate, I came across a hole with a descending stone staircase. I took shelter there. But, I found the walls were moist and soft. Like flesh.” 

Ariane balked in response,”A flesh hole?!” Such a thing was beyond shocking to Ariane… and yet there was a part of her that felt unnervingly familiar. Ariane really didn’t like how something so impossible and frightening; was also able to spark familiarity to her.

Elster merely nodded at Ariane’s question, and seeing the shocked reaction the Replika women continued. “I couldn’t help but wonder who had made such a strange place. At the bottom of the hole on one side of the wall there was an opening that led to a passage that was just large enough for me to crawl through, with a light at the far end that led into the deep. So I crawled in to see where it would lead, and to investigate the light at the other end. The light was distant, so I had to crawl a long way until I reached the other end, hoping to find you or find some clue to make sense of things with most of my memories absent. It seemed red at first, and the passage was long, but when I finally drew closer, the other end flushed with white light.”

Ariane gulped and her hold on Elster’s hands tightened in anticipation, feeling as if Elster was conveying a series of events that began to feel more like the beginnings of a horror story.  “What did you find once you reached the end of the passage?”

The look on Elster’s face was indiscernible to Ariane, even having spent a good deal of time learning to read the more subtle emotions Elster expressed in the measured way she usually did. It was only the slight, apologetic trace of emotion at Elster’s brow that betrayed how bewildered and uneasy Elster was feeling. She took a deep breath, as if trying to capture courage in her biosynthetic heart. “I couldn’t remember at the time, and while I was amnesiac I had no connection or context for what I was seeing…” Elster held her gaze imploringly with deathly seriousness, trying to show how earnest she was. “...but exiting the passage, which disappeared behind me once both my feet touched the floor… At first, I thought I somehow stumbled upon a secret underground base, but, Ariane: I was standing inside your bedroom.”

Ariane blinked. “My bedroom??”

“Yes.”

“But you had already far left the ship Elster, after probably miles of walking. How could you be back in my room on the ship through this hole?”

A confused blink graced Elster’s face fleetingly, but then understanding took its place after a thoughtful moment passed. “I wasn’t talking about the Personal Quarters of the ship, Ariane.” She calmly explained, if with some emphasis. “I mean: I was standing in your bedroom.” With only Ariane’s nervous bewilderment as the only response, Elster took a breath, closed her eyes, recalling the space. 

“With my back to the wall after leaving the passage exit: there was a gray and white tiled floor. In front of me was a simple wooden table with a gray and red Elektron 440 Personal Computer, above the computer was a shelf containing old and worn Textbooks on Radio Operation that belonged to your mother, and volumes of Imperial Serials banned by the Eusan Nation.To the left of the computer was a K3 Sennderhiet radio transmitter. On the right wall were black and white pictures of a coastline and an Island, pictures of paintings that you used to make, and they were joined by a Flag of the Eusan Nation. And below that was the leather cot that sat against the wall, covered in dust. To the left was an old wooden wardrobe, a lightswitch and a red door. A single lamp hung from the ceiling. And the wall to my back contained a shelf unit and a cast iron radiator heater, the heater stood closest to the door.” 

Elster opened her eyes and looked directly into Ariane’s own, to emphasize further the importance of this information. “In the time we had been together, you told me about some of your time growing up on Rotfront, and that you had a room to yourself given to you by your Aunt and Uncle.” Elster paused, and she held her gaze on Ariane and leaned in slightly, a very dire look on her face as she spoke. “But you never fully told me the exact contents and layout of your room. I remember that was a series of details that you glossed over save for minor contextual information, what some of the things in your room meant to you.”

Even if she already had pale skin, Ariane looked to be as white as a cup of flower at Elster revealing all this information. Even in what little and vague times Ariane spoke of her time living on Rotfront and the room she lived and slept while on Rotfront, so well remembered that it was hammered into the folds of her brain, remembered like the back of her own hand; she never actually described the exact layout, where everything sat in the space of what amounted to be her room. And yet… Elster was able to perfectly list every object and item, each bit of furniture, every detail, where they all sat in the space. What they all meant to her in her life. Ariane tried to speak, but she stuttered nervously as she tried to find her voice… “H-how…” she swallowed and looked Elster in the eye, even as a chill ran up and down her spine. “How can this be possible, Elster? You… you described my room. Perfectly. Even if I didn’t tell you the details.” Frightful hands of flesh and bone tightened more around hands of metal and Titanium. “What is happening, Elster?” Ariane asked fearfully.

Elster did her best to give a calming look, even if it came across more as a furrowed brow and a stoic face whose eyes revealed a soothing glow, like the Television after watching one of the few movies in Ariane’s video library that held tender comfort. “I know that you are scared, Ariane. What I said was impossible on its own.” Her head tilted down as she seemed to Ariane as very thoughtful, in the way only Elster could be. “I didn’t know at first myself. I was as confused about how such a place could be found on the other end of a tunnel connected to a flesh hole as I think anyone else would.” Elster looked at Ariane and held her gaze. “But there were things in your room that were probably different from what you grew up with..”

“Different? Wha?” Ariane questioned weakly. Nervous sweat began to pool from her pores and settle on the skin of her forehead.

“Actually, your bed; it didn’t have a blanket or pillow paired with it. Your cot only had a layer of dust on it: did you not have a pillow or blanket? Did your uncle and aunt not give you either?” Elster may have asked her question with a neutral expression but her graveled voice betrayed a hint of concern for Ariane.

“Really? There should have been a blanket and pillow; auntie and uncle made sure I also had both so I could sleep comfortably.” Ariane replied in surprise. “They even gave me the thickest, softest blanket that they had; so I could feel warm and not have any itching when I tried to sleep.”

“That’s good.” Elster breathed, relief in her voice. “Strange that they are missing though, when I found your room.” This was a small relief to Elster though the absence of the pillow and blanket was curious all the same.

“Yeah, it really is.” Ariane agreed. “What else was different?” 

“The Red door was missing its lock and door knob, and the holes let through an unnatural red light. Red like blood.” Elster shifted her jaw uneasily and continued. “There were markings scratched onto the walls: images of eyes and on the wall opposite the red door; I didn’t know it at the time but it was an A1Z26 cypher that read; “If only we could live like we do now forever” upon it. On the leather cot, your bed, was a Mond&Töchter High-Security Wall Safe, surrounded in chains secured with three locks and with a mysterious insignia of the safe manufacturer unlike any seen in the Eusan Nation.” Ariane blinked and foggy, faint images from dreams of eyes and cyphers floated up and down in the Gestalt's mind. Elster seemed to notice and continued. “But most of all; there was a book, laying on the table, in front of the Radio.”

Ariane blinked. “A… Book?” Elster nodded, which only served to deepen Ariane’s unease… and yet… also kindled a morbid curiosity. Ariane promised to hear out every detail Elster had shared thus far, and seems intended to share even more. What she was sharing so far; strained Ariane’s comprehension, and chilled her blood ice-cold as Rotfront’s frozen seas. She felt as if a disquieting mystery was unfolding before her; as reported to her from the lips of the dutiful Magpie she called her wife. The fact Elster somehow got to stand in the room Uncle and Auntie gave her to live and sleep in growing up on Rotfront, was beyond all possible belief to Ariane. But Ariane could tell from the look in Elster’s eyes: such a proclamation was neither a lie nor a joke. It was as impossible a fact as it may be, yet it was a fact all the same. But the mention of a book; spoken like it was an enigma, piqued some part of Ariane’s curiosity. “What kind of book do you mean? One of my Imperial Serials?”

To Ariane’s surprise, Elster shook her head three times. “Negative.” was her verbal response. There was a long pause that was so lengthy that Ariane felt the pit in her stomach form, as if a rock settled in her guts to bring her weight, until Elster clarified. “It was…An ancient-looking tome, lying on the table.” She spoke almost haltingly, still bewildered by the memory of what she was remembering, but recalling it as if she was re-experiencing what she witnessed anew.”It was a black, thick book. On the front cover was a figure that was as yellow as gold, bearing a crown, wearing royal robes and carrying a sword. A halo of bioresonance surrounded the figure's head and three Tetrahedron stars surrounded their head as well. The back of the cover, on it was…” Replika eyes shifted thoughtfully to the ceiling. “...a Tesseract, framed almost like a ritual circle, and colored red.The same I now realize was imprinted on that safe box, only white instead of red like on the book.” Those same Replika eyes returned to the ember-ruby Eyes of Ariane. “There were Six seals that locked the book closed, each seal containing a symbol upon it.”

Ariane recognized the description of that book, one that was old and was recalled from memories of her younger years, both with her mother and from her time with her friends the Itou siblings, Isa and Erika. The book's appearance lept out from her mind from memory and how it became a subject of her interest, even if it was one that slipped through her fingers. Even if she couldn’t quite recall the name of that enigmatic book, which sang a siren song to her. That uttered its clarion call to bid her to read its pages. And its specter haunted her dreams, born of her memories; of when the book fell through the cracks, confiscated by Blockwart Protektors as a forbidden tome that sat on the shelf of the Itou bookstore.

And this ancient tome that Ariane had long pined for, kept from her like forbidden knowledge, never to be grasped.

Elster saw first hand: this book that was a half remembered dream, but an obsessive dream when she did recall it.

“I remember that book!” Ariane exclaimed. “I remember it from… so many cycles ago. My years growing up with Mom and on Rotfront.” Ariane’s hands held Elster’s tightly, as tightly as her flesh, sinew and bone could grasp to carbon fiber-reinforced Polyethylene hands of her wife. “Elster, how were you able to find that old book in my room! Where did it come from?!” she asked in complete bewilderment.

The side of Elster’s mouth shifted thoughtfully, an undercurrent of uncertainty on her features that waded beneath the surface of her stoic face. “I’m not fully sure. I’m still trying to make sense of that.”. Elster’s eyes seemed to unfocus, as if a memory was wiggling forward.“But it was there, on the desk-table in your room.” A pause weighed heavy before Elster continued. “It felt like it was calling to me....”

Ariane blinked and tilted her head to the right with curiosity. “Calling to you?” she asked. “This old book: with that yellow figure on the front?”

Elster nodded. “With no other method to open the door that I couldn’t find passage through, and the call of that book being as strong as it was, I felt compelled to take that old book.” Elster eyes seemed to unfocus. “I didn’t even know the book's name; until my fingers grasped it.” Elster blinked a few times as she seemed to become lost in the memory. “The King in Yellow. That was the name that filled my mind when I took hold of the book. That was its title.”

“Elster, are you okay?” Ariane asked worriedly. She noticed that whatever memory Elster was remembering, was also somehow impacting Elster adversely. She didn’t know how this enigmatic book from her childhood, one that was long elusive to Ariane; would be affecting Elster like this.

But Elster seemed to only barely register, eyes shifted only a moment to Ariane but shifted away again, as if falling into stupor, as if mesmerized. “Shortly after taking the King in Yellow, the radio transmitter switched itself on. And I could hear the sound of a broadcast… one of the broadcasts you often transmitted and received… the one with the three notes. The personal computer also switched on. [Preparing to send message] was displayed on its screen.” Elster's deep voice was beginning to hitch into soft murmurs. “The numbers followed the three notes. And I stood staring at the screen as if I was… waiting. I listened to the message enter my ears and latch itself to my mind. I was enveloped in a bright screen of white light. But…I saw images in my mind as well…”

“E-elster?”

“I saw a Radio Station on a distant, snow-covered mountain side. And I still stood, listening to the message. A desolate island, like the ones you painted, dark, lonely and forlorn in the middle of a dark sea, a rowboat with a lone figure in white and at the island's center a red door that shone like blood. And still I stood listening to the message; as it filled me. The last series of numbers continued and the screen suddenly flushed a bright red.” Elster’s eyes became unfocused and distant as she was recalling the memory. “Great Holes secretly are digged where Earth's pores ought to suffice.”

“Elster??”

Elster right hand released itself from Ariane’s grasp as it eased its way to the crown of her head, where the dried trail of oxidant still festooned itself to Elster’s biosynthetic flesh. “The helmet to my AVA Suit was no longer around my head.” she explained, voice almost distant. “The message repeated, continuing to transmit.” Her hand slowly eased down to her face, coating right eye, nose and upper lip; looking as if her mind was slowly unspooling. “My… the biosynthetic skin on my face plate… I felt it rot and disintegrate off my face.”

“Elster?!” The fright in Ariane’s voice was as chilled as ice, fear was gripping the Gestalt’s heart at not only the stream of overwhelming information but also how recalling it was unwinding Elster before her very eyes.

“And things that have learnt to walk that ought to crawl.” Elster was fully lost in whatever moment she was trying to report. “The message continued to broadcast as my flesh and Polyethylene Shell was being flayed from me… my mind and my soul… were not planted.” Her hand pitched weakly into her lap as she continued to faintly report to Ariane what happened next; even as Ariane was now in full panic. “An image of a woman, holding a knife, inching closer to her hand.” Elster then spoke with a haunted sound in her voice. “I didn’t know at the time but… but I heard your voice. You said: Remember Our Promise.”

“Elster!” Ariane tried to hold and squeeze Elster’s arm, to try and center back on Ariane. But Elster was still so lost and distant that fear only deepened in the Gestalt’s heart.

“I saw 犧牲: Sacrifice. Blood falling upon a ritual outline-”

“ELSTER!!!”

The Kosmo-Pioneer Specialist flinched with a start at Ariane’s voice shouting, and the feeling of a pair of blackened hands grasping Elster’s face desperately. Unfocused eyes blinked themselves back into focus and cast their gaze down to the frightened Gestalt. Realization entered Elster's features and she took in a deep breath, holding it as she closed her eyes, then opened them as she exhaled deeply. The gaze of a fretting, horrified Ariane looking squarely into her eyes.

“I’m sorry.” Elster’s voice was a shamed whisper, pain in her eyes as she tried to steady herself before Ariane. “Too overwhelming, what I saw and felt.”

“Elster w-what… What happened to you? Did something hurt you?” Ariane asked with terror mixed with deep heartache. The undercurrent of the deepest confusion was also obvious; such information Elster shared to her in that unwinding fugue state was a lot for Ariane to take in, and she had yet to try to make sense of the puzzles. Elster’s only response to Ariane’s questions was just an uncertain look, apologetic as even she wasn’t quite sure if she was hurt or not. This did not give Ariane any peace of mind. “I don’t even know where to begin with any of that; A ritual involving blood sacrifice? Cryptic messages?? Your FACE melting off?!” Ariane’s hands desperately caressed the biosynthetic flesh of Elster’s face. What Elster had shared with her so far was like something out of the most terrifying horror story Ariane had ever read, in that stories forbidding prologue. And it happened to Elster. Ariane had never felt such fear in her life before.

Elster’s right hand reached for Ariane’s left tenderly, trying to reassure her wife and to help stabilize her own Replika mind. “I know. That sequence of events; I felt like the broadcast was drowning my mind.” Elster blinked and a thoughtfulness entered her features. “But despite that, even with my face dissolved away… I’m not sure if it was quite… hurting? Not in a normal sense? Even as my face melted off, and I felt my brain being pulled in so many directions… something still… felt like it was holding me, tenderly.” She held her gaze on Ariane and a softnest graced her features. “Like you often did. Even as everything was happening, after hearing your voice: I saw you, Ariane.”

“M-me?” Ariane exclaimed with surprise, both eyebrows raised high on her brow.

“Yes.” Elster replied with a nod. “You looked… tired.” A tender hand of carbon fiber-reinforced Polyethylene tenderly caressed Ariane’s face. “Trying to smile at me despite the exhaustion, but felt like you were trying to reassure me. Encourage me. Then I heard you ask me to Wake Up.” The uncertain look on Ariane’s face at hearing this made Elster curious. “Is something wrong?” she asked, gently.

“I had dreams… of waiting for you.” The tone of Ariane’s voice was as if she was faintly remembering half-remembered dreams; a strong likelihood she began to believe. “And even when I was waiting; I sometimes saw…. Visions of you, Elster.” She looked into Elster's eyes. “And some of them felt familiar; as if I had dreamed those dreams before. And somewhere I saw you looking for me, with a confused look in your eyes. AndI I tried to…” Ariane’s voice hitched for a moment, the dawning feeling of the fact that there was something more to her dreams, and that maybe her dreams; were not just mere dreams. “... tried to comfort and encourage you.” 

Elster hummed thoughtfully, then nodded in understanding. “There is still much more though, Ariane.”

Ariane blinked, looking worried. “Are you sure you want to keep going? I don’t want you to push yourself too much if it's causing too much distress.”

“I made a promise. I intend to keep the promises I make to you.” Came Elster’s simple, frank reply. “Besides, this is a debrief of great importance.”

Ariane gave a resigned, if shaky sigh. “Ever steadfast, I see.” She gave a soft nod though and continued. “Well, if you insist on continuing to give me the debrief, as much as it worries me to ask; what happened next.” Though Ariane couldn’t help the nervous tingles going up and down her spine hearing all this information from Elster’s briefing: she was struck by how brave, for lack of a word; Elster was; even in spite of all she had to go through thus far, from what she was hearing. So, despite that unease; she would be as brave as Elster was.

“I…” Elster was about to speak, but her opened mouth froze as she seemed to stop herself and took a troubled, if thoughtful look. Ariane seemed to sense that something about what happened after all the already distressing nightmares Elster faced. After a belabored moment: Elster spoke at last, slowly but emphatically. "I woke up in a bathroom stall, on the first floor of Aeon production and mining facility S-23 Sierpinski, stationed upon Leng. I was no longer wearing my AVA Suit. No idea what happened to it.”

Ariane felt the nerves that coiled around her spine dance a thousand chilled foxtrots as if they were in a serenade upon the surface of Rotfront, for she remembered the name of the place Elster woke up in, the name of S-23 Sierpinski recalled from a Workforce assignment form mailed to her from Aeon’s Rotfront Headquarters. A vestigial organ of the broader apparatus of Aeon, like the appendix to a Large Intestine, and Aeon itself the Large Intestine of the Nation’s Body. S-23 Sierpinski: the place that would have served as her ultimate fate were she not able to find assignment to a military service program or some other “gainful employment”, by the end of the season before eventually finding her path on the Penrose Program.

S-23 Sierpinski. A place that felt to her like a foreboding prison, like the Château d'If. One that, thanks to the Penrose Program; she would not be sent to. 

And Elster found herself in this Production and Mining Facility? A place that Elster had trod. A place that Ariane would have been sent but had never been? A place where spectral memories of recollection had nibbled faintly on her mind. The muted echoes of dreams, of living another life, under another name, wearing a different face. A dream like a play, a pantomime of a life that isn’t hers.

“You were in S-23 Sierpinski?!” Elster gave a nod in response to Ariane’s question, a firm affirmation that left little room to be mistaken. “I remember hearing about S-23 being a place I would have been set to work at, if I didn’t end up signing up for the Penrose Program.” Ariane could only shake her head as her mind struggled to make sense of the sudden shift in location Elster had gone through. “You first arrived in my bedroom from my time in Rotfront, to S-23 Sierpinski; a place I was supposed to be sent to.” Ariane studied Elster’s face with a studious expression, as if she was reading from one of her books. “All while your mind was so muddled; you still didn’t remember anything. Were you able to make sense of your surroundings Ellie?”

Elster’s mouth shifted thoughtfully, as if gauging Ariane’s own thoughtfulness and settled upon the reasons it was curiosity and concern that prompted Ariane’s questioning, even if the former was trying to cloak the latter. “My mind was compromised deeply at that point, my sense of self was overclustered beyond even the Gestalt Memories that surfaced in the past, and even those memories from my Template had come to the fore prominently. It was in that state, in that bathroom; that I began searching for someone important…”

Ariane blinked. “Someone important?”

“Someone who was as important as you were to me, Ariane.” The imploring look was dire in Elster’s eyes as she spoke, Ariane could see it plainly etched onto her wifes face. “But someone who was not you. Someone important to my Gestalt Template.” Elster took a deep breath and raked her hand through her plastic-laced hair. “Someone who was also missing… someone that had to be found… who had to be saved.”

“Who?” Ariane asked, faint curiosity mingling with nervousness. 

Elster’s mouth shifted, but her expression remained steadfast. “A name that I think you might remember seeing in your past, in a sense.” Elster looked to Ariane; whose eyes shared that same Red as the specter of the women that the Gestalt Template she was born from had loved. “A woman named Alina Seo.”

At that name spoken out loud, Ariane Yeong remembered that old photo she saw years ago, shortly before her journey on the Penrose. She remembered the name that was written prominently on that old photo. She remembered the two soldier women that were the subjects of that particular photo, who always seemed to carry the impression of being lovers in uniform. And a new wave of chills radiated across her body from head to toe like the tides of Vineta’s seas.

Elster noticed the shocked recognition on Ariane’s face, and so continued with her After Action Report.

There was still much to tell…