"Alright, Commander, please take your seat and act like it was any other day."

"Roger that," I replied to the empty room as I sat down at my desk, looking over the mountain of reports. Despite everything appearing to be in place, I couldn't shake the feeling that this scene wasn't right. "Hang on, something's missing…" My eyes fell on the place where my mug would typically be. "Ah, my coffee."

As soon as I remembered it, a steaming hot cup appeared on my desk, just the way I liked it, with sugar and cream. I took a sip, and much to my surprise, it tasted just as good as the real thing. Of course, that made me curious. "So…if I eat or drink anything in here, will it have any effect on my body?"

"Negative," the disembodied voice of TB echoed throughout the virtual space. "While you will feel the effects in the Reality Lens, it will not have any effect on your physical body. Please refrain from any prolonged stays in the Reality Lens."

"Wasn't planning on it," I smirked as I took another sip. "Shame though. Damn fine cup of coffee."

"It is reconstructing it partially from your memory, and I have selected flavors that your brain has pleasant associations with."

"Much appreciated. I don't think a bad cup of coffee would be enough to jar me out of this thing, but I'd much rather remember the good cups over the bad. How're we looking on integration?"

"Fifty-nine point four three percent."

I raised an eyebrow at that. I'd only been here a week and we'd already passed fifty percent. And it already felt so real. Strange to think that only a few days ago this entire place could barely muster simple geometric shapes. Now I was sitting at my desk, drinking coffee, looking at the usual mountain of reports. If I didn't know any better, I could have sworn this was the real thing. "Man, we've come a long way…but what are we missing?"

"The newspaper is only forty percent complete, the paperwork only shows the top sheet, the rest are blank, and none of your drawers will open," TB answered succinctly. "Among other things."

As she mentioned each item, I checked them in the virtual space. Sure enough, she was right. "Guess we still have a lot of work to do, huh?"

"Correct."

A few more weeks passed, and while we were making progress, I felt like things weren't going fast enough. And one morning, I decided to confirm those suspicions.

"TB, at this rate, how long will it take before we're confident enough to try testing this integration with Wisdom Cubes?"

"Calculating." The holographic image of a pale girl flickered to life on my desk and turned her cold gaze to me. "At the current rate, we will meet proper safety standards in one point five years."

While I didn't think things were going particularly fast, I had no idea they were going that slow. "Are you serious?" I exclaim. "What's slowing us down?"

"We are entirely using theoretical models of data in a virtual space," TB calmly explained. "This makes data collection more time-consuming as we do not have any real-world evidence to compare it to."

"I see…" I murmured, trying to find a way around that. "So…if we had some actual experience using the Reality Lens in coordination with a real live Wisdom Cube, how much would that accelerate your original timeline?"

"One moment. Calculating." Again, she stared off into the distance before she refocused on me. "It should accelerate the safe and effective use of the Reality Lens to within two months."

That clinched it for me. I finished my coffee, slammed the empty cup on the desk, and got to my feet. "Get ahold of Vestal and Memphis and have them meet me in the briefing room."

"Aye, sir."

"You want to do what?!" Memphis exploded. Vestal looked equally nonplussed, almost upset.

"I want to use the Reality Lens to take a quick look at Anchorage's Wisdom Cube," I repeated, keeping my voice level. "TB's run the numbers, and even if we keep going at the pace we are now, it'll take a year and a half before we can safely connect to a damaged Wisdom Cube. But if we connect to Anchorage, get some data on her anomalous sections, it'll shorten the time down to two months."

Memphis looked over at Vestal, who in turn, took a deep breath and gave me a concerned look. "Commander," the repair ship began, "...are you sure about this? Testing would be one thing, but we'll be connecting the Reality Lens to a shipgirl's cognition without a test run. And once the connection starts, your consciousness will be stuck inside a 'dream' until it's over…" She shook her head and shrugged helplessly. "The Sea of Stars' technology may be advanced, but there are no guarantees that we won't run into any accidents...Worse, we don't know what might happen when you interact with Anchorage's 'anomalies.' Frankly, I can't even promise that our emergency protocols are enough to handle the worst-case scenarios… Speaking from a professional's perspective, I'm still opposed to you doing this."

My response was probably a bit colder than I intended, but I didn't have time to wait. And more importantly, neither did Yorktown. I fixed Vestal with a hard stare. "From a professional perspective, can you tell me she'll hold out for another year and a half? If you can look me in the eye right now and guarantee that she'll be okay, I'll wait. But if you can't make that promise, I'm going ahead."

For a second, Vestal and I stared each other down. I could see her concern for me weighing against the cold hard truth that we both knew: she couldn't make that promise. Eventually, she relented, casting her eyes down at the table as she shook her head. I let out a long sigh as I softened my stance, trying to be more receptive to their concerns. "Look, I get where everyone's coming from, and I know this isn't without risks, including some we can't mitigate. I'd love to be able to wait, but we've seen how fast a Wisdom Cube can deteriorate and what that does to a shipgirl. Besides, even if we could wait that long, I can't stay here for a year and a half. I know I'm going to get called back at some point. So I would rather try now and assume the risk than play it safe and possibly lose anyway."

While Vestal and Memphis still understandably looked uncomfortable with the idea, both of them nodded. "Think so?" Memphis sighed as she got to her feet. When I simply nodded, she shrugged and said, "Well, you're the boss. I'll start final checks on the Reality Lens now."

Vestal likewise got to her feet, fixed me with a determined look, and declared, "I'll call Helena and the others, too. We also have final checks we should perform on our backup plan. Even if things take a turn for the worse, I swear that we will protect you and Anchorage, Commander!"

"I know you will, Vestal," I smiled softly, but I didn't want to leave it at just that. "And, by the way, I know I haven't…been the easiest to deal with lately, and I'm sorry. I know I've got my reasons, but it's no excuse."

Vestal returned the smile with one of her own. "Thank you, Commander. It's been hard on all of us. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go get things ready."

"Of course."

Once again, I found myself floating in total darkness. And once again, I really hated it.

"Commander, I've noticed that your heart rate is rising. Do you require medical attention?"

TB's voice filled the empty void and I shook my head as I tried a few breathing exercises.

"I'm fine, TB," I replied. "Just…hate this part. Make a note that we should set up some sort of waiting room while you're establishing the connection so I'm not floating in an endless void. It's creepy."

"So noted, Commander," TB answered, her voice as emotionless as ever. After a few more seconds, she spoke again. "Heart rate stabilization confirmed. Now summarizing the details of the experiment: After connecting to Anchorage's hull, you will contact her through the simulated environment. After that, you are to follow my guidance carefully. Throughout the operation, I will monitor you and remain in constant communication in order to keep you and Anchorage safe."

I braced myself for what was about to happen and I nodded, even though nobody could see the gesture. "Understood. Activate the Reality Lens."

"Orders received. Activating Reality Lens."

All around me, things began to form from nothingness, a nondescript blur at first, then sharpening until it became a classroom, lit by the rays of the setting sun. As soon as everything came into focus, I did my usual check, making sure I hadn't spawned in on anything. Having your shoe clipped into the floor is not a fun experience, I can assure you. Once I was certain I was intact and not merged with anything, I looked around the room. It was empty save for one figure at the front of the class with her head down, no doubt taking another nap.

TB's voice crackled in my ear, startling me. "Connection complete. Please wait while the verification sequence is executed." There was a brief pause which allowed me to catch my breath. "Connection status normal... Resource domain secure... Deviations minor. Beginning connection test. Commander, are my transmissions coming through clearly?"

"Loud and clear, TB. Everything looks good on my end."

"Feedback received, Commander. Connection status: normal. Algorithm iteration complete. Requesting authorization to set Plan A as the recommended course of action."

It looked like we were going with storytime. "Go for Plan A."

"Orders received. Commander, please awaken Anchorage. Through conversation, try to find the anomaly in her simulated environment. In the meantime, I will both use the information received from her hull connection to stabilize the environment and analyze any information yielded by your conversation."

"Copy that," I answered. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck, Commander."

I grinned wryly as I made my way to the front of the classroom. "Thanks, TB."

When I reached Anchorage, I placed my hand on her shoulder and gently shook her. The kansen, who, by all outward appearances, was a rather well-developed young woman, looked up at me with bleary eyes, blinking the sleep away as she tried to see who woke her up.

"Teacher!" she exclaimed in an excited voice. "Anchorage has been waiting for you!" She began excitedly bouncing up and down in her chair like a child. "Teacher, Anchorage is so happy you came!" Mostly because, despite her exterior appearance, she seemed to have the mindset of a young girl.

"Anchorage brought you... a present!" she suddenly announced, reaching into her desk drawer and pulling out what looked like a drawing done in crayon. She'd done more than a few for me back in the real world, so I didn't think anything of it until I took a good look at it.

Or rather, tried to. For some reason, I couldn't make anything out too well. Everything kept shifting out of focus. All I could make out were some human blobs. And yet, the longer I stared at it, the more I felt this growing sense of panic and dread.

"What the…?" was all I managed to get out before everything started going wrong.

TB's voice cut in, her normally cold demeanor now suddenly urgent and alarmed. "Warning: Large quantities of unknown data observed."

"Warning: Data analysis function overloaded."

"Warning: Algorithm efficiency degraded."

"Connection status unstable."

"Confirmed overflow of unknown data. Sustainability of simulated environment greatly degraded."

"Proposal: Stop the experiment at once."

This was it? This was the anomaly? A child's drawing of three people? "No, keep going. Just a little longer," I hissed softly before I smiled back at Anchorage. "You did great, kiddo! Now, who are these people in the drawing?"

Anchorage beamed as she pointed to the one on the far left first. "This one is you, Teacher! And these two are…your…friends, I guess?" She yawned as she laid her head back down. "Anchorage is sleepy…and has to tell you things in the dream world, Teacher…"

Before I could open my mouth to ask what she meant by that, the entire world was consumed by a blinding white light…

I had shut my eyes to keep the light out, but when I opened my eyes, I found the white light had remained. Instead of being suspended in a black void, I found myself floating in a white void.

"TB?" I called out. "Anchorage?"

No answer.

I looked down and saw my body was still there, and that I could still move, which I took to be a good sign. As I continued to take in my surroundings, or lack thereof, I spotted something off in the distance. With nothing else in sight, I moved towards it. Floated? It's hard to explain movement when you don't have a solid surface to walk and you're propelling yourself solely through the power of your mind.

The closer I got, I could see it was a door. A red door. As it grew bigger, I could see someone standing by the door. Anchorage. She quickly spotted me in turn and began excitedly waving at me. "Teacher, you're here, you're here!" she exclaimed, happily hopping up and down.

"I'm here!" I said, putting on my best smile. No sense scaring her if she's relatively accepting of whatever's going on. "Where is here, exactly?"

"Anchorage's dream!" she beamed, then paused, putting her finger on her chin. "Or the Reality Lens'? Anyway, let's go! There's a really good story Anchorage wants to tell you! It's right in here!"

She grabs my hand and puts it on the doorknob, expecting me to go first. I look over at her, puzzled by her actions. "Aren't you coming with me?"

Her expression became anxious as she emphatically shook her head. "Anchorage can't...! It's Anchorage's first time... so Anchorage wants you to do it, Teacher!"

I looked at the door, then back to her. "You said there's a good story in here."

"Mhm!" she eagerly nodded.

"...but you've never been in here before."

"Yep! You're so smart, Teacher!"

If had been anyone else, I would have assumed her last reply was sarcasm. Deciding to just let the matter drop, I took a deep breath, steeled myself, and swung the door open. As soon as I stepped into the barely lit room, the door slammed shut behind me and I heard a voice speaking to me, almost as if the words were piped directly into my brain.

Well, it looks like you've finally started to piece together the puzzle of the shipgirls' hulls.

It only matches my records by less than 1%, but this wavelength has to be yours.

The fact that you're playing this recording is absolute proof that it's you.

It also means that my very last gamble was successful.

I know you. No matter when, where, or who you are…

You could never abandon those girls.

Making you the final failsafe was the right call.

That voice. I knew that voice somehow… I peered into the darkness, making out the faint outline of a woman. "Who are…" I slowly began.

"Oh, calm down," the figure admonished me. "I'm just a recording. Or, well... More precisely, an AI that can play recordings."

I guess the recording was expecting me to be a bit more surprised or startled. Nevertheless, she…it… continued.

"I'll explain everything, so just be patient. You may be wondering who I am. If referring to my outward appearance alone, I would be known as Anzeel. But I suggest you call me Recorder."

Anzeel. That name felt familiar, and I found myself flashing back to that…memory…I experienced back at that underwater lab in the Northern Parliament, although I couldn't quite say why...

"As for where we are, this is a pseudospace constructed from data. Specifically, it is a space made from the information found in the gaps of the metanetwork connecting Wisdom Cubes. But you wouldn't understand much of that, would you?" I numbly shook my head, completely lost by all the technojargon. "Just consider this a place that can't be found by anyone else." Easy enough. The program stepped into the light and frowned. "Hmm... You did find me earlier than I'd expected, though."

"Uhh…sorry?" I offered, still trying to put everything together. It felt like I was staring at a jigsaw puzzle that I just couldn't figure out yet. "Was I supposed to get here at a different time?"

The Anzeel/Recorder image frowned. "Oh, how should I put this? It might be too soon for the 'current' you. That you've found this place is like a... speedrun? Cheating through glitch abuse, perhaps?" She shrugged and shook her head. "Not that it matters. Anzeel did often say that a bit of randomness isn't always a bad thing."

The current me? What the hell did that mean? How many "me"s are there? I thought back to those flashbacks from the Northern Parliament. They felt like memories, but I had never experienced anything like them before. Were those memories from an alternate-timeline version of myself? Whilst I was having this pleasant little existential meltdown, the AI continued unabated.

"By the way, did you get here through that Anchorage girl?" it suddenly asked. I glanced over my shoulder, then nodded to her. " Don't worry; she's going to be perfectly fine. The... irregular patterns of her discrete data have just made her a little weird, is all. It's not necessarily a bad thing."

"Oh. Well, that's good, I guess."

"Now, what I can share with you depends on what records Anzeel left behind. Let's see. The recording I needed to play…" She grunted for a moment, her face scrunching up like she was thinking really hard before she let out a gasp and shook her head. "Oh, that's bad. Ahhh, I've really done it now…"

"What happened?" I asked, knowing full well I probably wouldn't understand the answer anyway.

"There's just a bunch of fragmented emotional data here. I can't find a single piece of real information worth playing! Teehee!"

I stared at the AI for a long while, wondering what the hell I was supposed to do next. "So…that's it?"

"So I guess Anzeel created this recorder... just because she wanted to meet you?" It shrugged helplessly before it changed its mind, shaking its head. "No, this bit of sentimental data is far too vague. I don't think she'd do anything that simple… Could it be that... it was you who wanted to meet Anzeel one last time? Or was my appearance alone the true record that Anzeel wanted to leave for you? Like she wanted to say, 'remember me – even if you're not you anymore.' I don't know the details. After all... I'm just an AI who plays recordings!"

"But who was Anzeel to me?" I ask. "What was my relationship with her?"

The Anzeel/Recorder AI shrugged yet again. "Can't answer that one. It's not in the records. We might be having a conversation, but in the end, I'm just a fancy AI. A program that can only follow the instructions given to it." She paused, her expression becoming deadly serious. Wait. Something's coming this way. Whatever it is, it's been following you for a while now."

"TB?" I offered, then quickly added. "I have an AI assistant who helps out, I think she may be looking for me…but how would she have been able to find me in a place nobody can…?"

Whatever it was, it must have been pretty bad because the AI went stock still, arms at its sides, and intoned, "Warning: Category V threat detected nearby. Commencing removal of AI and records per security protocol."

Before I had the chance to object, protest, or even say "Huh?", I was swallowed up by the bright light again. I heard Anchorage calling out for me in the distance, followed quickly by the most painful sensation I have ever experienced. It felt like someone was digging into my brain, trying to suck my soul out through my eardrums, and I cried out as I tumbled through the empty void…

A/N-The Commander has become unstuck in time! Wait, no, wrong franchise. In any case, we're moving into the Parallel Superimposition event for those who haven't seen it before. I normally don't do event stories, mostly because it would just be the Commander reacting to it, but in Yorktown's case, it's essential to her character so we're going in. (This will also be the case with Gangut's story to an extent) Until next time, fair winds and following seas!