Lunch finished with little fanfare. Agapita had a team meeting to get to, so she left soon after they paid their tab.

"I'll call you up when the results come back," said Agapita. "I mean, it's really not that difficult a thing to do, but the hypo does some other stuff as well."

"I knew you jabbed me with it for kicks," groused Emma. It hadn't hurt her, but really. "Ass."

"Bah, you'll be fine," said Agapita. She whacked Emma on the back as she left, making Emma stumble and cough. "You're tougher than most greenies. See you around Emma."

Emma shook her head as Agapita disappeared into the crowd. The older girl was totally insane. She then turned her attention to her inbox, which had gotten several notes over the course of the conversation.

One was from Abigail, the chaplain. She was extremely excited to hear about Emma's conversion and wanted to meet as soon as possible to discuss it in more detail. The note was a little vague on the details, as Abigail had several meetings to get to and didn't have all that much time left to write. All in all, the note made Emma smile and feel better about her decision. An appointment came attached to Abigail's note, asking Emma to go down to the chapel at 1630.

The second was from Jessica, telling her to come by tomorrow morning for her interview. Emma frowned at this in distaste, but sighed and moved on.

The last note was from Ayane and Renee, about how they were at the library and she should come visit. It was just turning 1300 now, which gave Emma about three hours until she had to be at the chapel. She sent a reply to Ayane and Renee, telling them she'd be there shortly. Libraries were a historical curiosity, the last Emma had heard, so—

"Emma Sinclair! Hello!"

Emma winced as her train of thought was forcibly snapped in half by Senbey's piercing telepathy. A second later, something white and fluffy smacked her in the face.

"Oi!"

"Sorry, sorry," said Senbey hurriedly, grasping onto the front of Emma's hoodie and scurrying onto her shoulder. "Miscalculated again. How are you?"

"Well I was doing alright," began Emma. "But—."

"That's great! I've been following you since the suburbs—!"

"—then you hit me in the face and what do you mean 'following'?"

"Oh, you remember that I told you the Incubators wanted to observe your person, yes?" asked Senbey, tilting its head. "The data I gathered was incredibly interesting! I was not aware that humans could cuddle when they were not engaging in sexual interco—!"

"Oi, shut up!" said Emma, snatching at Senbey and flushing utterly red. The Incubator vanished with a puff of smoke. Various odd looks were sent Emma's direction as she twisted on the spot, both at her rather random motion and at the appearance of an Incubator on her shoulder.

"What? It's just an observation," said Senbey. It reappeared a few inches above the ground, and managed to land in a semi-coherent manner this time. "While it is true that there are several gaps in my knowledge, since I have spent most of my career working on entropic reactions, it really is a fascinating practice. Did you know that in Qing Dynasty China, same-sex consorts of the royal children were commonplace? It's true! The—."

Emma finally managed to grab Senbey and shook the Incubator to get it to stop.

"Right, listen here," she said, forcing herself to ignore the odd looks around her. "You are going to shut up, right now, about anything regarding sex. Do you understand me?"

"Oh fine, but it's really a very interesting topic," said Senbey cheerily. "What other things would you be amenable to discussing?"

Emma gave Senbey a narrow-eyed look for a moment, before letting it drop to the ground. She started walking towards the library silently, with Senbey trailing behind. A question soon came to mind. "Actually, you never really explained, why are the Incubators interested in me?" she asked, "I'm not exactly special."

"No, you're not," acknowledged Senbey. "In most respects, you are quite average."

"Most?"

"Your social skills are slightly below average," said Senbey. "Specifically, you have a tendency to be extremely irritating to authority figures."

Emma paused to give Senbey a very flat look. "Thanks. Great for my self esteem, that."

"You are very welcome!" said Senbey, it's voice breaking into a squeak at the end. "Self esteem has been statistically shown to have negative effects on group cooperation, did you know? Overly proud humans have a tendency to—."

"Ahem. Back on topic?"

"Oh, right," said Senbey. "In any case, your general averageness does not imply any strong indicators for delaying death, and statistical analysis indicates that you most likely would have died in the scenario prior to your rescue. As I said earlier, this implies a certain unusual gem resilience to grief, which has many potential implications for magical girl design and soul gem engineering. The data you provide could help millions of magical girls in the future be less susceptible to gem corruption!"

Emma stopped in the hallway and looked down at Senbey. "Did you just say 'magical girl design'?"

"Yes!"

"What exactly do you mean?"

"Didn't you know?" asked Senbey, cocking its head. "Human physiology is not capable of channeling magic or performing the feats that magical girls are capable of. Part of the process requires us to reimplement your physical body and replace it with one that is compatible with magic! Of course, the same is true with your soul, which we condense into crystalline form. It's all very complex, but I thought everyone knew, even if your government keeps it secret for some reason."

Emma began to feel slightly ill. "You're saying that the original me doesn't exist?"

"Of course not!" said Senbey, cocking its head the other way. "There was no 'original you' in the first place! Physical forms are transitory and change constantly! The only thing that's originally 'you' is your soul, and you have that in your gem already."

Emma screwed up her face as she tried to understand what the Incubator was trying to say. "So… so you're… you're basically saying that Incubators view the physical as a sort of passing thing that doesn't really matter?"

"That's not entirely true either," said Senbey patiently. "The physical universe is something that all matter based consciousnesses must interact with. The form chosen by the First Surveyors was specifically based off of observed human psychology, for example. We do not ignore the physical universe, but rather seek to transcend it. Is this not also what humans do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Historically, humanity has often turned to recreational chemical agents to seek an altered state of consciousness," said Senbey. "And when that became dangerous and-or unnecessary, humanity started augmenting itself. You have no serious issue consisting, on average, of about 15% artificial constructs. Consider, however, that your ancestors in the 18th Century would have considered you an abomination to be exterminated within the fiery inferno of a primitive blast furnace! Human soldiers transcend the physical limits of the human design regularly. Incubators do the same thing with magical girls. We simply are better at it."

Emma considered this.

"I… guess…?" she said eventually. "In… in general, you're saying that you, uh, you basically just super-implanted me?"

"Well, I didn't personally, but yes, that is a sufficient, very low level summary of what occurred when you contracted," said Senbey with a cheerful nod. "The reality involves complex metaphysics and requires a deeper understanding of the warped non-continuous antispace."

Emma squinted at Senbey, unsure if she was supposed to be complimented or insulted by Senbey's evaluation of her conclusions.

"Well whatever," said Emma. "I'm going to meet up with some friends."

"May I come with?" asked Senbey. It leaped up and perched upon her shoulder again.

"You have to promise to stop being so squeaky," said Emma. "And not to comment on things awkwardly."

"Does this sound better?" asked Senbey. Emma flinched. Senbey's voice suddenly resonated in a deep, round bass that echoed in her mind.

"Uh, no," said Emma. "Just, stop being so hyper."

"Oh, I think I understand," said Senbey. It made an effort to speak more slowly and at a slightly lower pitch. "Like this?"

With a cautious nod, Emma set off for the library.

The library had a very unassuming, but very unusual door. Somehow, it was easily looked over, the geometric shapes on its face making it fade into the wall. Yet, it was clearly manufactured to imitate an oak-paneled door, impossible to miss normally given the sheer lack of wood in the redoubt. Emma walked right past it while looking for the room, before doubling back.

"How did I miss that?" Emma wondered, tapping the door experimentally. It creaked open slightly, a ripple of light seeping past the crack.

"Are all human rooms this theatrical?" asked Senbey.

"No, this one is just weird," said Emma. She pushed the door fully open and stepped through into a bright, spherical room, with a Persian rug laid out in front of a desk. A single round window was behind it, illuminating, with simulated sunlight, the wood-paneled room and a set of wrought iron spiraling stairs off to the left A thin, bespectacled female figure sat behind the desk, writing something down with what looked like an ornate stylus. She looked up as Emma walked in.

"Good afternoon," said the figure. "Welcome to the Helsinberg Redoubt Public Library. I am the Librarian VI for this installation. How can I help you today?"

"Uh, I'm looking for Ayane Nakamura and Renee Bellanger?" asked Emma, somewhat taken aback by the intricate attention to detail in the atrium.

"Oh yes, the two magical girls," said the Librarian. "You'll want to climb to the next floor."

"Thanks," said Emma, nodding, before making her way up the stairs. Her steps clanked as she went up. The door was oak-paneled, just like the door to the atrium. Emma knocked twice.

"Come in!" called Ayane.

Emma peered in through the door, Senbey peeking in with her.

"Whoa," said Emma. She looked up, and then kept looking. Bookshelves reached all the way to infinity, while a set of four cushy, overstuffed arm chairs sat about a coffee table. A wide, round window looked out over the chuen, although Emma suspected it was a simulated projection.

"Cool, isn't it?" asked Ayane. She was lying across one of the arm chairs, curled up at an improbable angle. She gestured at the ceiling. "It's an optical illusion, of course, but the spherical room makes it difficult to remember that. It makes my arms itch."

"I still do not see why you are so enthused by this," said Renee blandly. She was seated in a much more ordinary fashion, legs crossed on top of the coffee table.

"It looks cool," said Emma. She kept looking as she stepped further into the room. "You wouldn't get it, being in concert halls all the time."

"Yeah, big rooms that keep going up aren't a thing in Japan," said Ayane. "At least, not for people like us."

"Then clearly you are insufficiently cultured," said Renee, shaking her head with a sigh. "I must take you two to the opera one day. It will be an experience."

"We could VR it," said Emma, still looking up.

"Bah, it is a pale imitation," said Renee. "You would not understand, you do not dance."

"Well if it helps, I have been in Stadium One in London," said Emma, looking down finally. "It's a pretty huge place. Being inside is an experience, that's for sure."

"Yes exactly," said Renee, snapping her fingers. "There is something intangible that the sim cannot capture."

"Improbable romanticism aside," said Ayane, rolling her eyes at the two of them. "Stay awhile, Emma. Read with us, it's kind of fun."

"What, does the place have actual books?" asked Emma.

"No, it's some sort of live VR sim," said Ayane. "All you have to do is ask for a particular book, and the library will simulate it in your hands."

"Okay, so…" said Emma. She held out her hands and thought for a moment. "Uhh… how about A Study in Scarlet?"

The tome materialized in a flicker of light and words, dropping heavily into Emma's hands.

"Holy crap," said Emma. She ran her hand over the cover. It certainly felt real enough. "That's really cool. What happens if I squeeze it too hard?"

"Nothing interesting, unfortunately for you," said Renee. "It just vanishes."

"Really? That's too bad."

"I do not see anything," interjected Senbey. The group jumped. They had forgotten the Incubator was there.

"Ah, sorry, I should introduce you guys," said Emma. "Senbey, this is Ayane and Renee. Guys, this is Senbey, the Incubator who has decided I am the science experiment of the month."

"Hello!" chirped Senbey.

"Hello!" greeted Ayane. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you for asking!" said Senbey enthusiastically. It immediately jumped off of Emma to land on Ayane's chest, purring and rubbing itself against her chin. Ayane yelped and giggled as she scratched Senbey behind the ears.

"So what is this about Emma being a science experiment?" asked Renee.

"It says that I'm apparently weirdly resilient to gem corruption," said Emma, folding her arms as she watched Senbey and Ayane play. "I'm under observation to see what happens, I guess. Not, apparently, that Senbey's taking it all very seriously."

"On the contrary, studies show that bonding through cuddling is extremely effective at facilitating good data collection!" said Senbey, popping immediately into sitting position. "Of course, there are other benefits too, such as temporary increased resistance to gem corruption. An excellent example, again, is the time you and Ayane—!"

Senbey broke off, cocking its head to one side as Renee began to giggle.

"Is something the matter?" it asked.

"E-Emma and Ayane," managed Renee. "Goddess, I knew I wasn't the only one."

"S-shut up!" said Ayane. She rapidly turned red as Renee's meaning became clear. "I told you already, it's not like that!"

"Maybe we should leave you alone for awhile to find out," said Renee, still fighting through giggles. "Do you think it would be a good experiment, Senbey?"

"Undoubtedly!" said Senbey enthusiastically. "I can set up the measuring equipment—!"

Ayane threw Senbey across the room at Renee's head, who caught the flailing Incubator and laughed at Emma and Ayane's distress.

"I am sorry, you two," said Renee eventually, with a mirthful sigh. "It is simply too easy."

Ayane sank deeper into her armchair and hid behind her book about eagles. "Meanie…"

"Anyway," said Emma primly. "Have you two been up here ever since the vid?"

"Yeah, it's been fun," said Ayane, sitting up again to look at Emma properly as she spoke. "Well, it has for me. I haven't been paying attention to Renee."

"I have been doing ballet sims," said Renee. "I found an interesting book and wanted to try some of the routines it outlined. They are very complex, but I am making progress."

"That's good," said Emma. "Maybe you can show us some time?"

"Perhaps, but I am not certain," said Renee with a shrug. "They are very complex, as I said."

Emma nodded. "What about you, Ayane? What are you reading?"

"I've found this interesting book about eagles," said Ayane, holding up the very large tome. "It's the collected works of this guy Shen Bergmann, and I've found this fascinating section about the feeding habits of this one population in Spain. Do you want to see? It's really very interesting."

Emma was dubious. "Ehh, maybe later."

"Well go on, have a seat," said Ayane. "Do you like Sherlock Holmes?"

"It's not bad," said Emma as she sat down in one of the armchairs. Wow. That was very comfy. "It was the first thing I thought of. I guess, for a long spaceflight, it'd be a good choice to bring with."

"Is A Study in Scarlet your favorite?" asked Ayane. Renee went back to her sims, realizing that the conversation was going to continue to be uninteresting.

Emma nodded. "Though, to be fair, it's been awhile since I last read it, but I remember enjoying it more than the others at least."

"That's cool. I preferred The Adventure of the Speckled Band," said Ayane. "It's my favorite, especially about how the guy has a cheetah."

"I suppose," said Emma. "I don't remember it very well though."

The two of them turned to the books they held. It really had been awhile since Emma'd read any Sherlock Holmes. It was engaging at first, but she quickly remembered why she didn't find it that compelling. She could never get used to the Victorian syntax, and it made for rather dull reading in her opinion. Her thoughts soon drifted.

She wound up thinking about the appointment she had with Abigail in a few hours. Well, two and a bit, by now. It was a big step. She'd felt completely sure about it in the field. Hell, she had been completely sure about it when she'd sent Abigail that message. But actually having the appointment on her calendar had triggered a strange nervousness.

Or more accurately, she was suddenly starting to have second thoughts about this. It wasn't that she suddenly had doubts about her beliefs. That bit right after getting out of the IFV was potentially born out of being extraordinarily high on neurotransmitters, but the dream, or vision, or whatever the hell it was, formed quite a good counterpoint.

No the problem was, Emma was just now realizing that she'd never gotten around to telling anyone about her decision. There was a big difference between briefly considering CCing people in a message and realizing that, wow, this was a very important moment but most people were actually quite secular. There was no guarantee in any way that anyone would understand or accept Emma's decision.

But, that had to be irrational on her part. A pretty basic part of primary and middle school ethics class had been discussing accepting other people for who they were. Granted, it had most recently been framed in the context of gender and sexuality, but really, the principals still applied here, right? It wasn't like there was an entire unit about ideological conflicts back in civics that generally implied that religion was not a great thing, really. And there were lots of magical girls in the Cult, so… so….

Emma suddenly felt very, very small and alone. She hadn't ever considered this. What was going to happen? Should she keep it a secret and never tell anyone, ever? Should she try and downplay it? Maybe… maybe she should cancel her appointment with Abigail…

"Emma?" asked Ayane. "You okay over there?"

"Ah-wha?" asked Emma, blinking. "Yeah, what's up?"

"You've kinda been staring at that page for the last few minutes," said Ayane, eyebrow raised.

Emma licked her lips nervously. "Oh, uh, right. I was just… thinking."

"About what?"

"Um… stuff?"

Ayane raised her eyebrow higher. "How vague."

"Honestly though, it wasn't anything that interesting," said Emma hurriedly. "Just… just stuff."

"Well, now I'm curious," said Ayane, setting her book aside. She shifted to lean against the arm of her chair. "Come on, tell me! I promise I won't laugh if it's embarrassing."

Emma shifted nervously. "Well, I mean, it uh, it was uh…."

Ayane tilted her head curiously, then blinked and slowly began blushing. "You… you weren't thinking about… about us?"

"No, nothing like that," said Emma hurriedly and waving her hands. "No, it was… it was something else. Something more, uh, well, not more important, but…"

Awkward silence descended. Emma shuffled her feet nervously, refusing to meet Ayane's eyes. She glanced left, at the book case behind Ayane, and fiddled with the hem of her hoodie. Ayane waved a hand in the space with a pout, making Emma quickly look the other direction. Now Ayane just stared at her, growing steadily more peeved. Seriously?

The silence wasn't broken until Renee came out of her sim and replayed the recent conversation.

"Ugh, what could possibly be so difficult to talk about?" asked Renee. "Just spit it out already. We are all friends here. Unless you are about to confess your undying love in which case-."

Ayane threw her book at Renee. The simulated object passed through Senbey, who vanished with a small squeak, and de-rezzed just before hitting Renee in the face.

"Annoying as Renee is," said Ayane, scowling. "She's right. We're all friends here."

"I… I'm…," Emma closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I've decided to join the Cult of Hope."

A moment of utter silence.

"Why?" asked Renee, arching an eyebrow. "It is an unusual thing to do."

"I… I had a… a vision, I think," said Emma.

"You think," said Renee. "I… see."

"You don't believe me?"

"It is not as if visions are commonplace," said Renee. "Usually, it is a result of implant malfunction. You probably hit your head very hard at some point."

"Well I did but that's not the point-."

"So as I said. It's probably worth a second trip to medical," said Renee. "But the Cult of Hope is very relaxed about these things, I suppose, so it could be worse. Good luck and have fun, I guess."

"I will, thanks," said Emma, sarcastically. Renee was really, really annoying sometimes. She turned to Ayane. "Ayane? What do you think?"

"Well…" said Ayane slowly, staring at the top of the armrest. "I… do think it's a little weird, and I'd like to know more about this vision, but... since it's you, I will support your decision."

"What do you mean 'since it's me'?"

"I know you well enough that it's probably something you thought about and is important," said Ayane. "So, even though I don't agree, I'll support you."

"Well I don't know about 'thought about'," admitted Emma. "I… it's not like I sat down and thought out all of the implications about this."

"But you didn't just decide to do it for kicks, right?" asked Ayane.

"No, of course not—."

"Then that's good enough for me," said Ayane with a nod.

There was a brief pause.

"Well, I am going to go get a drink," said Renee, standing up and stretching. "There is a cafe nearby that seemed interesting. Anyone coming with?"

"I'd like to read some more, thanks," said Ayane.

"Same here," said Emma.

Renee glanced between the two of them. "...Well alright then. I will see you two at a later time. Au revoir."

She exited quietly, still giving them an odd look.

Emma flipped the pages of her book restlessly. Really, she wasn't wanting to read very badly, but Renee was… Renee, sometimes. She was honestly a great friend, someone you could depend on, but Emma needed some time away.

"So, for this… thing, with the Cult," said Ayane. She was still leaning on the arm of her chair. "Do you need to do anything for it?"

"Uh, well, I'm not sure actually," said Emma. "I'm supposed to meet with Abigail, the chaplain, in a few hours."

"Oh, I remember her," said Ayane. "She's very nice."

"Yeah. Did she tell you about her friend?"

"She did. I… I can't help but think that it was a hallucination."

Emma licked her lips. "Well, I mean, it seems really specific for a hallucination."

"But she was dying," said Ayane. "You've died in the sims before, it's not a time where you're clear minded."

"Still, it's really, really specific," said Emma. "I mean, that's a really odd sort of specificity, you know?"

"Emma," said Ayane patiently. "It's not— this doesn't make sense. Think about it."

"I am!" said Emma. "It's— ow!"

Emma grimaced as she waited for her bit tongue to stop hurting.

"Listen to us," said Ayane, shaking her head. "Look, forget I said anything. I said I'd support you, so I won't question your faith like this. I'm sorry."

"It's alright," said Emma quietly.

"I… I'd still like to hear about your, uh, your vision," said Ayane. "If… if you'll tell me?"

"Later," said Emma. "I… I don't really feel like it right now."

"Oh. Okay."

Emma turned the simubook over in her hands, looking at it pensively. That could have gone worse. At least… at least they hadn't really minded. But they hadn't understood. Not at all. It hadn't been expected, no, but Emma had hoped that they might have some idea, after everything she'd gone through, about why she found it so compelling.

Emma took a deep breath and sighed. Well on the bright side, now that Emma had done it once, telling Varsha and Rebecca didn't seem all that bad. The meeting with Abigail would be whatever it would be. There wasn't much chance of it going badly.

Things would be alright.