Chapter 7: In which he arrives
Mo, that couldn't be right. She had ran experiments on that rock for seven days non-stop, following all official standards for physical characteristics. It was a vitreous specimen predominantly composed of silicon dioxide. It hit a seven on the hardness scale. It presented colorless, tetragonal crystals unevenly sprinkled throughout the artificially porous structure: an uneven cristobalite! Hell, she'd even gone so far as scanning it into a three-dimensional model, just to be safe, and worse, she dared to buy ice-cream yesterday as a prize. She'd been meticulous, so how could that piece of silicon possibly be anything other than lifeless matter?
Kanae snapped her fingers repeatedly.
Nothing happened. No problem, discard that theory and try again. What did Hassan do that she didn't?
She snapped her fingers to the song's rhythm. Again nothing happened.
Alright, the experiment had to be closer to the sample source. She tried another song, this time whistling instead of snapping.
She thought she was prepared, but she had to step back when the specimen mimicked the song back.
This was huge.
Fuck Mars' core, fuck Tetsu, and fuck Erika. This was bigger, so much bigger.
A nearby grunt brought her freaking-out brain back to reality. Hassan was trying to get up from the ground. She'd completely forgotten that he was still there, hell, she'd even forgotten which lab she was in. Humidity, free veggies, K.
"Mo, are you ok?" she offered him a hand.
"Can someone be ok?" his accent was especially thick.
"It scared the heck out of me too." Her heart was still racing.
"Yeah… can I touch it? Wait, should-should I touch it?
"I have no idea," her laughter came out a bit hysterical.
"Dammit. New alien things always end up with some gruesome deaths in the movies, right? Man, thought I would be the heroic type, but now... I don't wanna be attacked by an eldritch horror."
"Nani?"
What line of thinking was that? Sometimes she forgot how much of a nerd he was. Of course shy, messy haired, and sci-fi driven Hassan would know the fastest ways to die from alien technology. He straightened his pink sweatpants and panda hat unnecessarily.
"It sure puts things in perspective," he laughed nervously. "A minute ago I was so worried about my social life. Now, there is an alien whistling rock in this lab."
Kanae took a deep breath and leaned on a shelf, her knees needing some support.
"Agreed." She nodded to K, a pacing pink blur, behind a shelf of dwarf banana plants. "Is she giving you a hard time?"
"Not really. I was just reporting back in person, you know, to avoid a digital footprint," he sputtered. "She's got it all figured out."
Anonymous hands-on action was the only secure way of handling it, but she wished he wouldn't do anything at all. Hassan was too solicit for his own good. He shouldn't be blindly following K's crazy lead into illegal activity. He deserved better.
"And how is that going?" she eyed him, hands on her hips. "Mo, are the command room idiots being as unbearable as usual?"
"Actually, they're great," he marveled. "It's so strange. Once I got Joo-won talking, the others came by pretty easily. Helps that Kim is not around when I visit them too… Hey, do you think there is a risk of that rock spitting out some corrosive stuff?"
"Hmm, I'll add that to my research list, and who would've guessed that," she snickered, "a crazy loner fixed your isolation problem."
"She is not crazy!" Hassan's eyed her angrily, but his voice got softer. "Ok, maybe a little, but in a good way. K can be pretty awesome when she wants... Hey Miss Kotonami, why is Miss Mogami blushing?"
Kanae's bad feeling about Hassan's attachment to K was forgotten when she followed his eyes. K was animatedly talking to her watch, pacing around, with bright red cheeks. Wow, look at that, her day had gotten even weirder.
"Is your superior also difficult?" Hassan inquired.
"Mister Hizuri is nothing but professional." She searched her mind. "Mo, the only thing I can think of as remotely odd is his insistence on being called by his first name."
"Hey, I also insisted you called me by my first name."
"You are not my boss. Where I came from that's extremely impolite."
"Mujhay samajh may agai," he recited. "Respect your elders."
Kanae nodded. She liked this about Hassan, he could appreciate tradition and boundaries. He wasn't half as complicated like some other people... like herself.
"I see that you're ok. I'm going back to work."
"Good luck, I think I need to visit the doctor, my head hurts." He curled his fingers into fists. "Well, also, fuck it. I need to touch it at least once, otherwise I won't sleep tonight. Can I?"
"Wait." Kanae found the correct file on her watch and sent it to the printer. "Would you mind signing an NDA for me first?"
"What's that now?"
'Non disclosure agreement," she explained. "This research is highly classified. You can touch it, but you can't tell anyone about any of this."
No matter how much she sympathized with Hassan, she wouldn't take that chance again. This was her research; her big find, her path to academic acclaim. No one would steal her spotlight again. No one.
That dork. That obnoxious, idiot fathead. So what if she called him for the first time? He completely missed the point! She had zero hidden motives, she just needed to report a serious, real, alien-recorder apparition. An emergency! 'That's a first.' he said, like she was making it up an excuse to call! Honestly, that spoiled, entitled brat...
"Where are you going?" K snarled.
Hassan was in the right place at the right time. She wouldn't dare say anything to Kuon's face, but this person would do.
"Me? Out. Work," his eyes went wide.
"Good, don't you ever, ever step inside here without permission again, do you understand? Stupid, overly enthusiastic person. Trespassing in other's people laboratories and disrupting a perfectly fine ecosystem with whistling, of all things. Whistling for crying out loud! I don't know what I was thinking when I stepped in to help you, but don't expect it to happen again. Really, what a stupid thing to do. You are a helpless baby that doesn't even know how to walk without gravity babysitting your vestibule fluids. I don't know how you've survived this long alone. But you were not alone, were you? Noooo, it's all Kotonami-san's fault, that evil little geologist with a stone for a heart and cauliflower for a brain. If she hadn't insisted that I sat at that stupid table that day, nothing of this would've happened. I would be just investigating this rock business from afar, nothing hands-on like this. No way that I would… wait, where is Kotonami-san?"
K spun in place, and sure enough, the rock was gone.
"B-back at her lab," Hasan muttered.
"Why did you let her take it, you smiley moron? Who takes evidence from a crime scene? And don't you dare stand there rubbing your neck, answer me straight!"
He stopped mid-motion.
"C-crime scene? Isn't this meteoroid her research?"
K cracked her knuckles and Hasan cleared his throat.
"Miss Kotonami asked me to sign an NDA, collected the rock, and headed back to her lab, saying she would call Mister Hizuri herself," he stammered. "Look, I just came by to say that Joo-won asked me to be his second in command in the shuttle rendezvous. I have a practice session now."
"Fine. Go then." K counted to ten before speaking. "I don't need you here."
She really didn't need him. She didn't even know why she was so angry in the first place. This was irrational and served no purpose. What if there was an alien device in this station? There was no time to panic. She needed to be professional; to search for Kotonami as Kuon asked, and to help her advance the research. Kuon could do nothing useful from the pre-shuttle launch quarantine. In a moment of crisis, K needed to be level-headed, professional, calm and... to hell with all that.
"When are you free?" She stopped Hassan in the middle of fleeing. "I'm going to teach you Karate. I need to hit something."
"Tuesday, three pm station time," he couldn't hide his smile. "I'll be in the North Gym."
She rolled her eyes and followed him into the hallway. Shouting had helped calm her mind, and filled it with an unstoppable explosion of questions. Could the songs be perfectly normal, a weird case of radio interference? Would all the meteorite samples display the same behavior? Did other scientists observe a similar phenomenon before? She went overall known facts as she walked, but had to stop when the handle didn't give.
Was Kotonami one to lock doors?
"Kotonami-san," K knocked.
She counted to thirty, but there was no response. Maybe she wasn't loud enough...
"Are you there? It's K."
Again nothing. K shook off the uncomfortable feeling that started to sink into her stomach. She hated forcing her way in when she wasn't wanted, but this was work, and she had an assignment.
"Moko-san, I'm here to assist you," she tried in Japanese.
"Why? You are a botanist. This is not a plant."
"Great point, but it was never a problem before, was it?" K's patience was starting to fail her. "Why are you hiding behind the door?"
"This project it's mine, not yours. Get lost."
"Hey, if someone deserves credit, it's Hassan for triggering the response, and me for recovering the rock in the first place. You have no idea what..." She bit her lip, taking a deep breath. "Look, I don't want to step on your toes, you seem to have it under control. Just do me a favor and explain it to Kuon yourself."
Kotonami replied with a snort.
"Fine, I'll be in my lab," K fumed.
It didn't make sense. Kotonami could be blunt and brief sure, but she'd proven to be considerate when it mattered. Watching her act so selfishly was disappointing, but again, she was in no position to judge, being a loner herself.
K let out a sigh, thinking that Kuon should've picked someone else. She was no good at this.
A blinking light on her watch accused her of owing sleep hours to her cycle, but after seeing potential proof of alien intelligence that day, her brain wouldn't shut down. She ignored the alarm, resolving to start the next quarterly project. Martian potatoes, an all-time classic.
At one am, the lab door opened.
"I can't make it mimic me again." Kotonami sounded dejected.
"Ask Hassan, he was the one who did it before."
"Mo, weren't you supposed to help?"
"Snowflake obsidians are not plants, Moko-san."
The door slammed shut. In hindsight, it was a petty move, but that's why it felt so good. K held onto that smirk while she heard shouting from outside.
"Fuck, I don't need this. All that time in my lab and nothing happened, but I come here and …."
The door was kicked wide open.
"Hey, this lab, it has to be it," Kotonami looked distressed, her eyes unfocused.
"Has to be what?"
She whistled a choppy, high-pitched tune that, sure enough, was replicated.
"Perfect, that's it. I don't need you, I need your lab, so get out."
"You said it yourself, it's my lab. Whatever happens, I stay." K crossed her legs definitively in her chair.
"No. I'm afraid that's not an option," Kotonami insisted. "I don't have time to monitor you or your data right now."
"Since when is this a priority?" K's blood boiled. "Did you forget I have clearance?"
Kotonami squinted.
"It's not like you to care so much. Are you hiding something?"
K clenched her fists. "So now I'm a suspect, but of what exactly?"
Kotonami laughed without humor.
"Mo, let's stop playing dumb. You and I both know exactly what this is about. After knowing I had my previous research stolen, just like yourself with androids, you're surprised I'm acting suspicious?" She put her hands on her hips, eyes defiant. "K, unless you sign an NDA, I won't let you come near this research."
K slammed her hands on the table and stood up. Once more, she regretted talking about Sho's betrayal before. She'd run from the problem as far as possible, but the past just had to follow her all the way into space. It didn't matter; it shouldn't have mattered.
"Am I the one playing dumb? You know very well that Kuon asked for my help ." K hissed, inclining her body forward. "Besides, do you even have the authority to make decisions regarding data owned by LME?"
Kotonami paused in front of the door and spoke without turning back.
"You found it outside the station, so it's international waters. That means it doesn't belong to LME. "
"I guess you didn't read through your employment contract, but whatever, it's not my problem."
The door slammed shut.
K blinked and went back to her work. She should've been sleeping, but how could she? Kotonami managed to get under her skin. She didn't need to be reminded of what she lost because of that idiot. All proprietary code, gone. All patents, unclaimed. All personal memories, defiled. She tried to calm down while creating a cross-reference spreadsheet of the previous tuberous findings.
At three am, Kotonami walked came back, and K watched as she deposited a box on a shelf between them, and removed a stack of papers from it.
"You're right, I checked. They own it all," Kotonami admitted begrudgingly, "but this is still my research, and it has to be kept confidential. Will you sign the NDA?"
K rolled her eyes.
"So long as it doesn't violate LME's rules, I don't care."
Kotonami studied her for a long moment and handed her the document.
K sat back at her table, reading over it carefully. It was a standard LME NDA. There were no loopholes in the language, just specific clauses about research privacy and intellectual ownership, with the stipulation of a harsh financial penalty and legal action if she violated the terms.
"For the sake of transparency, I keep a sort of diary," K confessed. "Will, is that be a problem?"
"Of course. Omit anything related to this project from it."
"I'm afraid it's not that simple." K got up and lifted a small, metal box into view. "I keep readings of my brain patterns here. Memories from my days are mashed with feelings and impressions. I can't untangle them."
Kotonami eyes widened.
"But that's a quantum database. Isn't this the setup…"
"Yeah," K interrupted. "It's how you record your memories to transfer to an android later. This is an old prototype I used to work with."
Silence filled the cluttered room.
"Of all people, I never thought you…" Kotonami's voice failed.
"Would keep it? Neither did I."
She set it on the table and gave the question some thought.
"After our first… talk, I got tired of just reacting. I don't owe anything to anyone but myself. I need to do what will make me happy, and this used to be a part of 'happiness'.
K projected a calmness she didn't feel, while Kotonami went back to pacing. Maybe saying the words out loud would help her believe them. She balled her hands to stop them from fidgeting.
"Give me the encryption key, and you can keep it." Kotonami decided. "You shouldn't be able to decode information without it, not without leaving the station."
She hesitated but agreed.
"Ok."
K signed the papers and handed over the key. She could still add to the database, but she couldn't take anything out. It was a small price to pay for someone else's peace of mind.
"All yours," she said, clearing off the table and standing up.
Kotonami hummed in agreement and went back to retrieve her cardboard box. K tried to ignore the fuss and buried herself in her own work with the potatoes seeds. She needed time alone to process things, but her heart insisted on beating in an impossible pattern everytime a song was repeated.
The eerie chorus sent chills down her spine.
They worked for hours, no words passing between them, with Kotonami going in and out of the lab to perform repeated tests, while taking audio and visual recordings of everything.
At 5 am, K still wasn't sleepy at all. She decided it was as good a time as any to prune her flowers, and she could uphold her reputation as an overachiever by preparing the compost while she was at it. Around six am, Kotonami started to fidget, and K noticed her eyes were getting puffy.
"I don't understand why it mimics the songs here, but not in my lab," she said mostly to herself.
"Water."
"What?" Kotonami turned to stare at her.
"The air in this lab reaches one hundred percent humidity." K drew her finger into a pot, and sure enough, it became wet with condensation. "I was thinking that maybe... water could go through cavities and draw out sounds from the obsidian, like crystal when you pass your finger over the edge. I have no idea how it knows that it should start the process, though."
Kotonami nearly screamed. "Why didn't you mention this before?"
"You didn't ask," K explained "and you had a point. It's not really my area of expertise. Maybe it's something else entirely."
Kotonami retrieved her contract, scribbled, and brought it forward.
"K, I ask you to say anything that is on your mind regarding this project, even if you think it's not worth it." She pointed down. "It's part of the assistant clause now. Please initial here."
K frowned but did as she was told.
"Ok, well, in this case..." She grabbed a bucket. "It could be nothing, but I was wondering what would happen if you submerged it in water."
"Let's try." Kotonami sounded reinvigorated.
Hassan found them working at the whiteboard five hours later, pinning graphics, pictures, and lists all over the place. He stopped to admire it after leaving some cereal bars on the table.
"As Salaam Alaikum! Did you start early?"
"More like we never stopped," K replied. "Is that for us?"
"I figured you didn't stop by the cafeteria today. Miss Mogami and Miss Kotonami, you need to take care of your bodies first and foremost! If you get sick and put in quarantine, how are you going to work on this project?
Kotonami rolled her eyes at this, but K half-smiled. She lost count of how many times she'd said something similar to someone she cared about.
"Any progress with the 'singing rock'?"
"Are you naming things again?" Kanae complained.
"I need to, otherwise you're going to choose a ridiculous acronym, like Kotonami-Mogami-Recorder-Singularity, or something equally bad," he wrinkled his nose. "I don't mean to offend, but you scientists are not very good at coming up with names."
Kotonami gave it some consideration and crossed out a line on the board. K watched the exchange while chewing on a bar. The two were so different that sometimes it was easy to forget they were friends. Maybe Kotonami forgot something too since the board was on full view. She cleared her throat.
"There is progress, but I'm don't think we can share."
"It's fine," Kotonami explained, still scribbling. "He signed an NDA."
"Uau, what a lively room!"
Of course, it was him. K grit her teeth, while Dos Santos exchanged pleasantries with Kanae and Hassan. She busied herself with covering the data and trying to ignore the weight of his eyes on her back. So, Gustavo could be nice if he wanted, who would've thought?
"May I speak with you in private, Mogami?"
"Of course, sir."
He lead her some shelves away from the others, carefully, like he owned the place. She swallowed some remarks that came to mind and followed.
"You missed today's meeting. Is everything alright?"
Shit, the monthly, Sunday thing.
"Yes. Rest assured, it won't happen again, sir."
He gave her a calculating smile, full of teeth.
"Tsk tsk, another excuse, K? I'm glad to see you made some friends, but don't forget you still have work to do."
K snorted. She couldn't stomach his acts anymore.
"I was working, and they are not my friends, but I didn't think you actually care."
His fake smile finally faded.
"I really shouldn't."
Dos Santos handed her the bag of genetically modified seeds that Anne should have brought to the meeting and left without another word.
K clucked her tongue and returned to her 'friends'. She really should have accepted that promotion when Kuon offered. The prize of never looking back at Gustavo's face would've been worth it. Almost. She noticed Hassan was rubbing his neck again.
"Would you come to see me today?" He was staring at the floor. "It's my first time docking a spacecraft. I could use some support."
"When is it?" Kotonami asked.
"In three hours, at the Indian docking station."
"Ok."
Hassan looked at K, and even opened his mouth, but decided better of it.
After he was gone, she and Kotonami worked for two extra hours, getting a presentation ready. A short list of bullet points was not very impressive, but considering the time they had to work with, it was incredible that 'it sings' was not the only new information. Kotonami argued that they should use the available time for research since Kuon would be too tired to look at it immediately after landing, but K insisted on making it anyway. She had a feeling they would need it.
They left lab together, and Kanae hummed when K continued floating past the hatch to her room. Few people were present at the dock, and Hassan found them almost instantaneously, smiling brightly from his cabin when Kanae gave him a dry thumbs up. Apparently, everyone was just waiting for Joo-won to finish talking with a girl. It was strange how familiar she looked.
"Annya?" K let out, in wonder.
And then that it hit her.
The Indian docking station was in the same section as life support central; she was certain the emergency pod would be located behind a set of five consecutive hatches. K never realized it before, because the last time she was here, bodies were floating, and the emergency lights blinked in an eerie, post-apocalyptic way. It was nothing, well, nothing so normal looking like now, and, the angle wasn't right. She'd been on the other side of the wall, right when the colossal, hovering supply ship was. It was so strange. She'd been there just once, a month before, and now a vivid sensation of fear, focus, and asphyxia gripped her, as she looked outside. It was the same way the sight of an old neighborhood would fill her with comfort and longing, but twisted.
K broke away from the group and thrust closer to the hatch, inspecting the place with new eyes. There was the screen, the same screen where Kuon talked to her on video for the first time. Because of the highly emotional content of their exchanges, she almost felt like they'd been working together for years, but in reality, she had seen only his face twice. She couldn't help but wonder how he looked in person. Maybe he was one of those photogenic people that look so attractive on camera but were unimpressive in person. It would be easier that way. His smile was really disconcerting.
"What's so interesting?"
Kotonami joined her beside the screen. K opened her mouth to speak, but something caught her eyes before she managed a sound.
The rendezvous and shuttle decompression were over, and the first passengers were coming out, awkwardly trying to be cool in zero-g.
K recognized a blonde person.
Her jaw dropped, her heart stopped, and she froze in place.
Against all odds, he also recognized her, and a broad smile formed on his face, a smile she knew too well - the genuine one. The one he used when she brought puddings for dessert, and not the one he used to flirt with the girls on campus. Before she could run, he was right in front of her.
"Kyoko! Is that really you?" Sho asked, dumbfounded.
*sips latte*
Aaaaah.
Where was I? Oh yeah,
I'm a bad human being. I completely forgot to thank Aikori for helping get my obsidian facts straight. Aikori, you rock. *finger guns*
As for housekeeping, this fanfic is not an M, but I still talk about some uncomfortable, dark things. So, I decided to add a trigger warning on top of chapters with sensitive content; I hope this helps you pick and prepare for the topics you want to read. Needless to say, we'll have hard things to read next week.
Science Corner: "A relative humidity measurement of 100% does not necessarily mean that rain is falling. It just means that the air is holding as much moisture as it can at a given temperature, in the form of water vapor, which is an invisible gas." -Michael Bell
I never managed to make a full, proper explanation of Rendezvous, so Wikipedia to the rescue: "A space rendezvous is an orbital maneuver during which two spacecraft, one of which is often a space station, arrive at the same orbit and approach to a very close distance (e.g. within visual contact). Rendezvous requires a precise match of the orbital velocities and position vectors of the two spacecraft, allowing them to remain at a constant distance through orbital station-keeping."
