Chapter 27: Looking for Oysters
Beep.
Beep.
Ugh... I feel like shit.
Beep.
Beep.
What the hell's that sound?
Beep.
Beep.
Where am I? What happened?
Beep.
Beep.
I remember the ship... there was a storm, and a Feilong, and then -
"Pearl!" Mud shouted as she sat up, only to regret it as she immediately felt lightheaded and nauseated. A sudden pain flared from her chest, and she lay back down against the bed in order to gather her bearings. As the pain faded, she looked around to find herself all alone in a hospital room wearing a hospital gown. There was a clip on her finger that had a wire that ran up to a heart rate monitor where the beeping came from. A thin tube extended from her arm up to an IV bag filled with what she assumed like water; she didn't know enough about hospitals or medical science to say for sure. Much of her arms were wrapped up in gauze bandages.
"Don't need this anymore," Mud muttered, removing the clip from her finger as the monitor by her bed suddenly started emitting a loud, constant beeeeeep. Then she reached over and yanked out the IV drip, wincing as the tube pulled out of her arm. Looking around again, she noticed her bag sitting in the corner of the room. Sitting up slower this time, she threw her legs over the side of the bed and stood up, only to stumble slightly. Damn, my legs are all wobbly. How long was I out?
"Oh, you're up! I was worried when the vitals monitor suddenly went blank," Mud heard someone say. Turning towards the door, she saw a nurse - well, Mud assumed she was a nurse - entering the room, a clipboard tucked under her arm. "Please stay in bed. We need to make sure you're fully recovered before - "
"Don't need to. I feel... urgh... fine," Mud said as she felt a dull ache coming from her chest and stomach. She looked underneath her hospital gown to see a considerable amount of bandages wrapped around her body and covering her chest and stomach, just like her arms. "What happened? How long was I out?"
"You were brought in two days ago, at about eleven at night. When we admitted you, you had first and second degree burns on your arms, deep lacerations across your chest and stomach, major blood loss, and a minor concussion," the nurse explained, reading off her clipboard before looking up at Mud. "To be honest, I'm surprised you're awake and on your feet this quickly."
"Huh. Didn't know I got it that bad back there," Mud muttered. "Who brought me in? Actually, where the hell am I?"
"You're in De Vigri Memorial Hospital, in Cape Calypso. The ICU, to be specific. As for the people who brought you in, they were an older-looking couple. Unfortunately, I didn't get their names," the nurse said, scratching her head. "They had some sort of robot or android with them. I didn't recognize the model, though."
"Older couple, huh? Rough-looking? Did one of them have a lot of armor on or anything?"
"Um, yes, there was a woman with some heavy-looking armor. Do you know them?"
"Huh. Didn't expect them to bring me here. But if they were with Pearl, then that means..." Mud muttered to herself. She paused for a moment, staring at the wall as she mulled a few thoughts over in her head before turning back towards the nurse. "Which way's the exit?"
"I... I would advise against leaving in your current state. You may be strong enough to stay on your feet, but that doesn't mean you're fully recovered," the nurse said. "Considering you have no active aura, it may take a while for your wounds to heal completely, especially if you put them under stress."
"Look, I know that. But I've been out for a day or two, and that's a day or two too long for me. I'm pretty sure I got somewhere to be," Mud said. "If it helps, I got bandages and shit in my pack over there, and I think I can take care of myself just fine. Don't need to worry about me."
"I would still recommend against leaving, but hospital policy says that we cannot keep patients from leaving if they want to leave, so..." the nurse paused for a moment. "Please, if you're really leaving, then make sure you replace those bandages frequently. And keep yourself out of situations that would cause excessive physical stress. Your muscles are still healing from the lacerations, and I don't wish to see you back here with your wounds re-opened."
"I'll be fine," Mud reassured the nurse. She looked over at her pack, then back at the nurse. "Uh, could you leave for a bit? I got a spare change of clothes in my pack, so..."
"Alright," the nurse said before exiting the room. Mud made her way over to her pack and began looking through it, trying to find something to replace her hospital gown. However, as she pushed her scroll aside, she noticed a notification on it. A new message. Well, not exactly new, as it had been sent over a day ago.
Huh, wonder who that's from. Mud pulled out and expanded the scroll, and her eyes widened slightly in surprise when she saw Stormy's name on the "sender" line. Guess that makes sense. That nurse did say she brought me here, after all. Looks like it's a video message... let's see what she's got to say.
But when Mud opened the message, it wasn't Stormy's face that she saw.
It was Pearl's.
"It... it should be recording now," Pearl said, her fingers poking around near the camera as she leaned towards the screen. After a few seconds, she leaned away from the camera and sat straight up, clearing her throat - an odd gesture considering her current body. "Uh, hello, Mud. If you're watching this, I... I hope you're doing well."
Mud chuckled slightly. "Been through worse."
"Anyways, I'm guessing you're probably confused about what happened, or why you're probably getting this message from Stormy's scroll. To be brief, after I... after you got hurt, Charon patched you up, we arrived at Cape Calypso, and I brought you to the hospital with assistance from Stormy and Gale."
"Huh. Guess I'll have to thank them. Though they did attack us before that..." Mud said, thinking back to the incidents in Seadale and Arbor. "I'll call it even, then."
"And... you remember back in Arbor, right? When Stormy said that she was hired to... to retrieve me? For her client?" Mud nodded, even though Pearl wasn't actually there to see it. "Well, I talked with her and Gale, and they explained that they were hired to bring me back to the client. And that client... she's from Green Ocean."
"Huh. I guess that makes sense... your body was made by them, after all."
"So... I decided. I want to go and meet their client in Atlas. I don't know who she is, or what she wants, but she works at Green Ocean, so maybe she knows my father. Maybe she'll help me get back to him." Pearl paused for a moment. "That means I'll be going with Stormy and Gale. The doctor said that they won't know how long it'll be until you wake up, so by the time you watch this, I'll probably be gone already, so I wanted to say... I'm sorry."
"Huh?"
"Ever since you found me on that beach, I've done nothing to help you. It was because of me that you were attacked by Stormy back in Arbor, that you were shot by Gale, that you ended up... ended up where you are now, in the hospital. If you hadn't come across my container back there, you probably would have found my father by now, and you would have been that much closer to finding your sister. But since you had me holding you back..."
Pearl paused. Mud waited for her to talk again.
"You did so much to help me. You kept me safe, traveled with me up to Atlas, and showed me places I never imagined I'd see. You listened to me and comforted me when I... when I was at my lowest point. You even taught me how to use my cannon properly. You did all that for a girl stranded half a world away from her home with nothing to her name, and in return, I... I've done nothing. I've been nothing but a burden. I realize that now, so... I'll get out of your way. I'll try to find my way back on my own. Thank you for everything, Mud... and I apologize for everything as well. Goodbye, and I wish you good luck in finding your sister."
The message ended.
"Pearl... you idiot."
With that, Mud closed her scroll and stuffed it into her bag. Then, after grabbing a spare set of clothes and changing out of her hospital gown, she hoisted her bag up onto her back. She noticed it felt heavier than before; in fact, her entire body felt a little weaker, a little more sore than she was used to. Probably because she had been fucked up by that Feilong no more than two days ago and probably came at least halfway to death's door. Sitting in bed for so long hadn't helped.
"Alright, let's go," Mud said to herself as she left the hospital room and made her way to the exit. Now that she thought about it, she had no idea where Pearl was. Or the person who wanted to find her. Or Pearl's father.
She knew where to find out, though.
As Mud walked through the automatic doors, the sounds of the city faded away, replaced by quiet footsteps on carpet, the flapping of book pages turning, and the typing of keys on laptop keyboards. Occasionally a wheel on an old book cart squeaked, signaling to anyone within earshot that it needed another shot of grease. There were a few voices interspersed through the building, but they were hushed, quiet. The loudest sound was probably the beeping of the automatic check-out machine as someone checked out their books.
"Welcome to the Atlas District A Public Library," Mud heard someone call from her right. She turned to see a young woman with glasses standing at the reception desk. The nametag on her shirt read Asha Noire. "Can I help you today? You seem to be new here; could I get you started with a library card?"
"Actually, looking for someone right now," Mud said as she walked over to the reception desk. She leaned in close as she dropped her voice low. "Is... Claire Inkwell here?"
"I'll see if she's in. Please wait in conference room three," the receptionist said, pointing to a series of doors along the wall past the reception desk. Mud nodded and went over to the listed room, making her way inside before closing the door behind herself. It was a simple room, just a conference table surrounded by chairs. After sitting down at the nearest chair, she waited about a minute before the door opened, revealing the same woman that was at the reception desk.
"Huh. You again," Mud muttered as the woman sat down across from Mud. "So, is Claire Inkwell not in, or..."
"She's in. You're speaking to her," the woman said, pushing up her glasses before laying down a folder and a scroll in front of her. "You're Mud Stone, correct? According to my files, you work as a mercenary and arrived at De Vigri Memorial Hospital two nights ago heavily injured. Since you're here, I assume you've recovered?"
"Not completely, but enough to get here. And man, I knew you Atlesians were boring, but having your underground information brokerage in a public library? That's a new low to me," Mud said, looking around. "The guy in Vale did his stuff in a nightclub. As far as I know, that place was packed and partying every night. The guy even gave me a free drink."
"I assume you're talking about Hei Xiong. Unfortunately, my services don't include complimentary alcohol. However, they do include reliable information about nearly everything that happens in the kingdom of Atlas," the woman - Claire Inkwell, Asha Noire, Mud didn't know which name to go with - said. "Now, how can I help you today?"
"Two things. First, I'm looking for a guy named Ivan Koschei. Pretty sure he lives in Atlas. Works with Green Ocean. Actually, worked with Green Ocean; I think he left some years ago or something," Mud said. She took out her scroll and paused it at the start of the video message Pearl left her before showing it to the woman. "Second, I'm looking for this robot. She might've been in Atlas two nights ago or so, but I ain't completely sure about that. Also, might be with some woman. And maybe a tough-looking couple, I dunno."
"Let's see here..." the woman muttered, searching through both the files stacked in the folder and her scroll. "Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like I have anything on that robot."
"Hm. Damn. Well, what about Ivan?"
"That information is easy. He lives in Mantle; I've sent you the address," the woman said, just as Mud's scroll vibrated. Opening it up, she saw a message from a number she didn't recognize that contained an address, as well as a photo of the man in question. "But if you want to meet him, you won't find him down there at the moment."
"Why not?"
"He comes up to Atlas often to visit the cemetery in district D. In fact, he just arrived there approximately an hour ago," the woman said, tapping away at her scroll. Another address appeared in Mud's messages, this time of the cemetery mentioned. "If you hurry, you may be able to catch him."
"Gotcha, I think I'll do that. As for payment..." Mud grabbed a wad of lien cards from her pocket and counted them out quickly before sliding them to the woman. "This enough?"
"This is sufficient. I apologize for not being able to provide information about the robot you're looking for," the woman said, taking and pocketing the money. "If I receive anything that may help towards that, I'll be sure to let you know."
"Great. See ya," Mud said, standing up and exiting the conference room before making her way towards the exit of the library. "Guess he's visiting his wife or something... hope I won't be interrupting anything."
A slight shiver went down Mud's spine as she approached the gates to Atlas West Cemetery. Maybe it was because she was just outside a plot of land where hundreds had been laid to rest. Maybe it was because the air was frigid as hell, even despite the heating grid that extended throughout the city. Atlesians were always way too used to the cold; it was one of the many things Mud hated about the place. It didn't help that her jacket had been destroyed in the fight with the Feilong.
"Hope he's still moping around here," Mud muttered as she pushed open the gates. She scanned her eyes over the rows upon rows of gravestones as she began walking through the cemetery. It was still early in the morning, and Mud could only see two figures in the morning light. The first was an old man sweeping with a broom, making sure the graves were clean and the gravestones were legible. Mud assumed he was this place's caretaker, or something along those lines. The other was a woman in a red coat at the far end of the cemetery who was gently laying down some flowers on a grave.
Actually, wait, there was a third person. A scruffy older-looking drunkard slumped up next to one of the gravestones and passed out, a bottle of vodka hanging loosely from his hand.
"Ain't a place to be getting hammered like this," Mud muttered, stepping towards the drunkard. As she got closer, she felt as if she recognized the drunkard's face. Pulling out her scroll, she brought up the message Inkwell had given her, glancing over the picture of Ivan Koschei she had received before looking back up at the drunkard's face. Though he was skinnier, dirtier, and overall in worse shape than the man in the picture, he was unquestionably the man she was looking for. Crouching down, she tapped the bottle he was carrying. It sounded empty.
"Geez... I know you lost your wife or something, but going blackout drunk over her like ten years after? Either you miss her a hell of a lot or you're an alcoholic. Just hope the bottle wasn't full when you started," Mud said, knowing Ivan was too unconscious to hear her. She reached down, taking Ivan's arm over her shoulder and picking him up as a sharp pain stabbed into her chest, around where she had been slashed by the Feilong. "Fuck, that hurts... come on, I'm taking you back to wherever you live. I got some questions for you, and I'm not letting you catch a cold on your wife's grave if I can - "
Mud stopped as her eyes wandered over to the grave Ivan had been slumped against, reading the inscription.
"Huh."
She looked away, rubbing her eyes. Then she looked again. The inscription remained the same.
That didn't make sense.
"That's... that's two years ago." Mud looked at Ivan's unconscious form, then back at the grave. Had Pearl been declared dead after she went missing? But if Ivan had helped her transfer into her new body, then he'd know what happened to her. Then why -
"Urgh... Pearl..." Ivan muttered, stirring slightly. Mud was about to let go of him before he went limp again. He was probably still out of it.
"Guess I should get you back home or something. You're lucky Inkwell gave me your address," Mud muttered, carrying Ivan up and towards the exit of the cemetery. The gravestone lingered in her mind. Why was it there? If Pearl was alive, then why did she have a grave here? If she was dead, then who had Mud been traveling with for the past few days? If anyone had the answer, it was probably Pearl's father. Mud just needed to ask him.
After he sobered up, of course.
"Here's your stop. Are you sure your friend's alright?"
"Like I said, he just had a little too much to drink. Here's the fare."
As Mud dragged Ivan out of the taxi and onto the sidewalk, he began to stir slightly. The taxi drove away, and Mud picked Ivan up over her shoulder, carrying him up to the door on the side of the housing complex. It took a taxi ride, an air-tram flight, and a second taxi ride, but finally, the man was beginning to rouse himself from his drunken stupor. "Where..."
"You're back home," Mud said. She didn't bother to wait for Ivan to sober up and open the door himself, instead reaching down and rifling through his pockets until her fingers landed on a set of keys before pulling them out and trying each key against the door. Once it unlocked, Mud shoved it open before dragging Ivan inside. There was a couch nearby, so Mud threw him onto it. "Gonna get you some water. If I'm right, you're about to have a hell of a hangover."
"Who... who are you?" Ivan asked as Mud went over to the kitchen and opened up Ivan's cupboards. She grabbed the nearest cup before making her way to the sink and filling it up with tap water. "Why... ugh, my head..."
"Name's Mud. Found you blackout drunk in Atlas West Cemetery. Thought I'd drag you back here so you don't die of hypothermia out there," Mud said, handing the cup to Ivan. "Drink up. It won't get rid of the headache, but it'll help."
"Thank you," Ivan muttered, taking slow sips and groaning occasionally. About a quarter way through the cup, he looked around. "This... this is my home. How did you know where I live? Who are you?"
"Long story, but like I said before, my name's Mud, and I kinda wanted to ask you some stuff, so I looked you up. That's actually how I found you in the first place," Mud said. Her thoughts went back to the grave where she had found Ivan. "Speaking of, why were you there? Who were you, uh, visiting?"
"My daughter," Ivan said. He paused to take another sip of water. "It was two years ago, to this day. That's when... that's when I lost her."
"Pearl?" Mud asked, sitting down on the other end of the couch. "Saw the name on the grave you were on."
"Yes. That was her name," Ivan said. Mud noticed tears start to roll down his cheeks as he began sobbing. "I... I miss her... I miss her so much..."
Mud waited for his sobbing to die down. "What was she like?"
"She... she was the light of my life. Always curious. Always learning. Even after... even after her mother died, she kept going. She took after me, going as deep as she could into science and robotics and learning all that she could. Honestly, if she had made it to twenty, she probably would have been able to take over my job as Head Researcher," Ivan said with a chuckle. "Pearl... I was proud of her. So proud. She never knew how proud I was of her..."
"She sounded like a good kid."
"She was. She was kind, diligent, hardworking, even after... even after her mom had passed. After she... after she was injured. I loved her. I just wish... I just wished I could have helped her a little more."
"What do you mean?"
"Pearl... she constantly blamed herself for her mother's death. She would get depressed whenever... whenever that anniversary came around. Say that she was sorry, that it was her fault. I tried to convince her that it wasn't. I even took her to see a therapist. It got better as the years went by, but... but I don't think it ever completely left her. I... I hope she didn't die with that regret."
"I see," Mud said. She sat in silence for about half a minute. "If you don't mind me asking... what happened? How did she die?"
"It's... it's a long story."
"I have time."
"It... it's my fault. The project went all wrong and she got caught up in it and I shouldn't have - " Ivan paused and took a deep breath. "It all started with Project Transcendence. If you looked me up, you know I worked at Green Ocean, right?"
"Right, yeah. You were the head researcher."
"I was. Project Transcendence was... it was the largest project I directed as Head Researcher. With funding from the Atlas Military, we tried to do what seemed impossible. To remove one's aura, one's soul from their flesh-and-blood body and transplant it into a machine."
"You're right, that sounds impossible. How the hell did you manage that?"
"Green Ocean has done much research in both robotics and aura. If anyone was equipped to handle such a task, we were. I believe it's probably confidential information, but... Green Ocean had already started prototyping devices that could transfer one's aura, one's soul from one living being to another. They were unstable, but if we could use those, then it would just be a matter of developing a suitable housing for the soul."
"You mean, making a robot body or something?"
"Exactly. The majority of our funding was poured into developing the mechanical body that the subject would be transferred into. It was state-of-the-art; no expenses spared, with all the latest technology and innovations built with the precision and knowledge of the best scientists the company had to offer. As for me, I developed the body's neural network; it's what would house the subject's mind. Like its brain, so to speak."
"Huh. You made a whole brain? That's pretty impressive."
"Yes. I must have spent thousands of hours... maybe even more than that," Ivan said. He took a few more sips of water. "So many sleepless nights. All for... all for my daughter. All for Pearl."
"For her?"
"Yes, for her. I told you that she was injured, did I not? I saw this as... as the perfect opportunity to give her a new, uninjured body. To give her a new life," Ivan said, looking up at the ceiling. "There were a few objections to having her volunteer as the test subject, mostly from the military, but considering she was already part of the project's development team and I was the director, I was able to have her approved as the test subject without any significant obstacles."
"So... did she end up going through with it?" Mud asked. "Getting the robot body, I mean."
"We made it all the way up to the testing phase. Using aura transfer technology, we attempted to transfer Pearl to the body, but... it didn't work."
"What do you mean?"
"The robot body was unable to accept the transfer. The only thing that happened was that her memories were copied over to the robot's data storage. There was no transfer of aura, no transfer of consciousness. Her soul remained fixed in place. We tried many times, but got the same result each time," Ivan said, downing the rest of the water in a few more gulps. " By then, we were behind schedule and over budget. The military called the project off and pulled their funding for it. My work was a failure, and my daughter was still stuck in her injured body."
"Yeah, but... she was still alive," Mud pointed out, taking the cup from Ivan and refilling it over at the sink. "What happened between then and now that... that killed her?"
"I... it was my fault. In a bid to win back the favor and funding of the Atlas Military, we shifted the project's resources towards a new project. Project Terracotta. Our aim was to use the neural network I developed to house Pearl's mind as a basis to develop an automaton more intelligent and adaptable than anything that had been created before," Ivan explained. "We rebranded it as PETRA. The Prototype-Evolution Tactical Response Automaton. Something that the military would see great value from."
"Wait, so... this neural net thing, it was supposed to be Pearl in there, but now you're just making an AI in there or something? " Mud asked. "How does that work?"
"It's quite complicated, but the important thing is that the human brain is, at its core, just a vast array of connections between nerves. The neural network I created was a simulation of that, so in a way, it was already like a healthy, functioning mind, but dormant. Devoid of any thoughts. Our goal was to teach and test it. To make it grow, to make it become smarter and smarter until it surpassed any AI the Atlas Military had developed."
"Huh. So it's like you had a baby and then started teaching it how to fight from day one, and instead of crying and pissing everywhere it actually learned stuff."
"Yes, except the PETRA developed more quickly than any newborn. In days, it taught itself how to move around properly without any input. In less than a month, it could process language and converse natuarally, though it never did so unless prompted. In two month's time, we started moving to combat tests. Development slowed somewhat, but the PETRA still learned at a remarkably quick rate. Before long, it could outmatch any Atlesian Military automatons in production, and even a few prototypes they let us borrow. But then..."
Ivan took a deep breath. His eyes closed for a few seconds, then opened.
"It was the largest combat assessment we had done up to that point with the PETRA. I had a meeting with representatives from the Atlas Military at the time, so one of my colleagues was conducting the test in my place. Pearl was feeling particularly well that day, so I brought her to the lab with me so that she could get some hands-on work done for the projects she had been working on. That's when..."
"... and that concludes the report on the progress of Project Terracotta thus far," Ivan said, flipping the presentation to the last slide. He observed the faces of the two Atlas Military representatives, searching for signs of approval or disapproval, but they remained neutral, like stone. "I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have."
"Personally, I'm impressed with what you've developed so far. Bringing an AI from a bare-bones base like that to being capable of defeating our military technology within a few months is no easy task," the representative on the left said. "If this progress will continue as your report claims it will, I think we may be interested in investing into the project."
"I still have my doubts. Yes, the prototype is impressive. But how well will the AI perform with bodies outside the one it is currently inhabiting? For example, an AK-130?" the other representative asked. "Furthermore, there is the issue of scalability. Your report says that the AI is housed within a complicated network of artificial nerves by your own design. How affordable would it be to produce more of these? Is it even possible? It doesn't matter how good your PETRA is if it's too costly or impossible to recreate."
"The PETRA AI is highly adaptable. I assure you it would be able to conform easily to whatever task or body you assign to it," Ivan explained. "As for scalability, that is a harder question to answer. The neural network is far too precise for today's mass-production models; in fact, I would consider it impossible to recreate without my own assistance. However, our team is searching for methods to reproduce the PETRA AI, and the current AI is more than capable of extending its control to multiple units at once, so that should help somewhat in terms of bringing the project to a larger scale."
"Hm... I'm still not convinced. We've trusted Green Ocean with our technology and a good deal of funding, but it will take more than that for us to consider opening this project up to our greater resources and financial backing," the second representative said. "Unless we can get a solid answer about the project's scalability, I'm afraid I'm unable to - "
The lights went out as the floor quacked beneath Ivan's feet, knocking him to the ground. As he pushed himself back onto his feet, an alarm blared, and the emergency lights flashed on.
"Alert. Explosion in G1. Please make your way to the nearest..."
Ivan paused. The robotics research wing was on G1.
Pearl was on G1.
"Pearl!" Ivan shouted, rushing out of the room and towards the stairwell. He was on the second floor, two floors above the explosion, meaning that he had escaped most of the effects of the blast. However, he couldn't say the same about the rest of the facility; as he made his way down through the first floor, he saw flames and smoke down the hallway as his colleagues ran for their lives towards the exit. Pushing past them, Ivan made his way down to floor G1, and this time the flames were closer, with smoke obscuring much of the hallway. Paying the fire and smoke no heed, he rushed down towards the Robotics Research Wing of the lab to find the door already open. "Pearl, are you - "
Ivan stopped. Through the thickening smoke, he saw the PETRA standing in the middle of the lab. It turned towards him and raised its cannon.
Then, it stopped and collapsed.
"What..." Ivan muttered, coughing due to the smoke that was slowly filling the room. His eyes turned towards a figure that was at the PETRA's feet. Though the figure's lower half was buried in rubble, he recognized the top half instantly.
"PEARL!" Ivan shouted, rushing over by his daughter's side. She was completely still, and when he brought his fingers up to her neck, he felt no pulse. "No, no, Pearl, stay with me dear, I'm gonna get you out of here, stay with me!"
With a grunt of effort, Ivan pulled her daughter out from underneath the rubble and lifted her in his arms. As he did so, his legs were already running towards the stairwell. His memories after that were hazy; the next thing he remembered was running outside with Pearl in his arms, where squads of emergency personnel were waiting.
"Help! I need - I need help!" Ivan shouted, looking around frantically for anyone. He spotted a man exiting an ambulance and ran to him, thrusting Pearl towards him. "Please! You - please, save my daughter! She - she's not breathing, she needs - "
"Let me see what I can - " the man started to say before his eyes scanned over Pearl. He sighed. "I... I'm sorry, sir. I don't think I'll be able to do anything."
"What..." Ivan said, looking down at the girl he had in his arms. Only then did he notice the lifeless look in her eyes, the charred flesh covering most of her body.
The gaping hole burnt straight through her stomach.
"Pearl... no..." Ivan gasped, falling to his knees as Pearl's body hit the ground. The man from the ambulance had gone off somewhere. He didn't know where. All he knew was that his daughter was dead.
He thought back to the Petra unit. About how it had been standing over Pearl. About the weapon that it had aimed at him. About the hole burned through his daughter's body.
"I... the PETRA... did I... oh gods..."
"Director Koschei?"
"Huh?" Ivan turned to see Erika Grisele, his colleague, limping towards him. Her right arm had been burnt clean off. "Erika... you..."
"Thankfully, the blast that took off my arm also cauterized the wound. I managed to dig myself out and send out a forced shutdown signal to the PETRA, so I believe we should be in the clear," Erika said, pulling out her scroll with her one remaining hand and bringing up some sort of spreadsheet. "If you have a minute, I'd like to discuss the findings of combat test 5A with you. The PETRA performed... a little more effectively than planned, but I assure you, these results show a remarkable increase in combat aptitude and adaptability. I believe - "
"What... what are you talking about?" Ivan asked, still kneeling over his daughter's body. "You... you want to discuss test results? Now?"
"Well, I was hoping to. Unless you'd rather some other time," Erika said, fumbling for a moment with her scroll. "I still have to go to the hospital to make sure my body's alright, so perhaps after that?"
"I... my daughter is dead. Killed by the very thing I made to try and give her a better life. I... if I had never started this project, if I had just... she'd still be..." Ivan paused. Tears started rolling down his face as he clutched Pearl's body. "If this project had never existed... if I... she'd still be..."
"Hm, I see," Erika muttered, looking down at her scroll and then back up at Ivan. "Company policy allows for a week of paid leave for grievance due to loss of an immediate family member, so perhaps next Thursday would be a better time to - "
"I'm canceling the project. I'm canceling this gods-forsaken project. Just... just leave me alone," Ivan interrupted. He held Pearl - her body - tighter to him. "Pearl... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm - "
"That's..."
Mud was at a loss for words as she put together all the pieces in her mind. The experiment that Pearl had told Mud about, the one to transfer Pearl from her injured body into her new robotic one? That had failed. The real Pearl continued on with her life... until she was killed by the robot that her father had built. The robot whose body she was supposed to take. Now, she was six feet under in a cemetery in Atlas.
But if that was the case, then the Pearl that Mud had been traveling with was...
"Thirty-six dead. Thirty-six dead, including my daughter," Ivan said, sobbing slightly. "All because of the machine I created."
"I'm... I'm sorry to hear that," Mud said. She paused for a moment. "What happened after that? I... I read that you resigned from Green Ocean."
"I did. After cancelling Project Terracotta, I resigned. I couldn't bear to work there anymore," Ivan said. He winced for a moment, probably because of his hangover, before gulping down some of his water. "I... I moved down here to Mantle, but I go back up there sometimes to... well, you saw."
"I did. What happened to Green Ocean? And the robot?"
"Green Ocean has another facility, down by the coast. It was originally a secondary research facility, but... I think they moved all of their operations down there. As for the PETRA..." Ivan paused. "After I resigned, the new Head Researcher tried to start up Project Terracotta again."
"Tried?"
"Yes. She contacted me multiple times, asking me to come back and develop the neural circuits for a new PETRA unit. They lost the old one... something about a shipping accident while moving to the new facility. From what I was told, the ship carrying it was attacked by Grimm and crashed into the ocean," Ivan explained. "Honestly, I'm glad it did. I never want to see it again. It... it'd remind me of her too much. Of how I failed her. My daughter's blood is on my hands, along with that of many of my colleagues... the last thing I want to do is to go back to Green Ocean and repeat that mistake."
"So they lost the robot in the ocean?" Mud asked. She pieced the parts together in her head. If the robot had been lost at sea, it could have drifted, drifted through the ocean until... "That... that tells me a lot."
"What do you mean?"
"It's nothing," Mud said. The two were silent for a few moments. "You have my condolences. Your daughter... she sounded nice. She seems like someone I know. A friend of mine."
"So she does," Ivan muttered, looking over at Mud. "What's your friend like?"
"She... she's smart. Probably smarter than I'll ever be. She's a bit shy, but she doesn't hesitate to step up when someone needs her help. And she's willing to put others before herself. She... she actually saved my life not too long ago," Mud explained. She paused for a moment. "Honestly, she's probably one of the better people I've met. The world could do with a lot more of her."
"That... that sounds like Pearl, alright. Even despite her injuries, she always thought about others before herself. A lot of the things she designed were made to help people. Developing artificial aura shielding for non-combatants, installing deployable hardlight shields on the PETRA, even writing code to improve the accuracy of portable aura readers... she always had other people in mind."
"Yeah. But my friend... I think she's going through some stuff right now. Some bad things happened and... she blames herself for it. Her self-esteem was already pretty low, but..." Mud paused for a moment. "She left about two days ago, and I dunno where she is. I'm worried about her, that something's going to happen to her. I... I should probably go look for her."
"You should. If she's anything like my Pearl, then... then she probably needs a friend. Someone to help her out of whatever she's in right now. If you're her friend, then I think it would be good for you to find her."
"Yeah, I probably should. I still have some questions for you, but... I'll come back later," Mud said, standing up. Just as she did so, she felt her scroll vibrate in her pocket. Opening it up, she saw a new message from Inkwell.
THE ROBOT YOU DESCRIBED WAS SEEN WITH AN OLDER WOMAN WITH ONE ARM AND TWO AK-130S. LAST SEEN AT ATLAS SOUTH HANGAR TAKING AIRSHIP TOWARDS COAST.
"Huh. Perfect timing," Mud muttered, pocketing her scroll and turning towards Ivan. "Hey, you said Green Ocean's new facility was along the coast, right? Where, exactly?"
"Uh... it's about ten miles west of Cape Calypso. Why do you ask?"
"Thanks. Can't say right now, but it's important," Mud said, making her way to the door. "I'll be back soon, so don't go drinking any more."
With that, Mud left the apartment and started on her way down towards the coast.
A/N: And that's chapter 27! Mud's up and out of the hospital, and it looks like she's caught up on the situation. Now it's time for action!
Thanks to FreeLancer V for the review! Fun fact, Pearl's true nature originally wasn't nearly as drastic as it ended up being, but I shifted plans around when I was writing the Aqua intermission. I might go into more detail on that at the end of the arc, but one thing I did have to change was a line in chapter 14 ("Presence of aura detected" to "Mental activity detected", you can probably guess why).
Anyways, thanks for reading! If you've got anything at all to say, whether it's criticisms, feedback, questions, or anything else, feel free to leave a review. Have a nice day!