The man known as the engineer to his operators, and the doctor to everyone else, had only been at Rhodes Island for a month, at least that's all he could remember. One month since Amiya had pulled him from the sarcophagus with only a few scraps of memories, only to fight a blood battle to escape the city. His enhanced perception let him carefully monitor everything, and make plans to guide the flow of battle. It meant he had managed to make it through with most of his team alive and healthy.

Not that there weren't casualties with the other units. There was still the deep clawing unease that something was wrong though, that he was incomplete, like his beating heart was exposed to the world. He had attributed that to being in a dangerous situation with no memories, it was only natural to feel vulnerable when you had no security.

Then he had gone to the Rhodes Island landship, and things started to feel somewhat right, little bits of machinery slotted into his mind. Even if he couldn't remember anything the landship felt familiar in a way the people he apparently once knew barely did. The design systems and machines just made sense, everything was where he thought it should be. Which made sense given that he had apparently built the place.

But he still felt far weaker than he felt he should, and he spent countless sleepless hours bringing the security and combat division of Rhodes Island to an acceptable level, designing training sessions, hiring new operators, and running combat operations.

At least that was what he did when he wasn't in his workshop trying to understand the tech his past self had left behind, or being looked over by the dozens of medical specialists Rhodes Island employed. His body was a work of scientific art, and he was Immune to oripathy, the disease Rhodes Island was trying to cure.

Even his blood could be used to treat it in other people, and he was a universal donor which was understandably helpful whenever there were dozens of races with numerous blood types. This, along with his strategic genius, made him a target by some unsavory groups and individuals. A single dose of his blood could slow or even stop the spread of oripathy for as long as it stayed in their system, usually a few weeks. And it had plenty of health and physical benefits beyond that, functioning as an organic steroid. Not to mention healing minor wounds and stemming blood loss.

Attempts had been made to produce synthetic replicas of his blood, but they were ineffective. The complex interweave of chemicals, unique blood cells, and an immune system featuring Nanites weren't something that their technology could replicate.

The machinery of his mind and the routine technological breakthroughs he made allowed the engineer to turn Rhodes Island into a power that could punch far outside its weight class. With him at the head of research and development, security, and with his speed of thought allowing the engineer to do hours of research and pick ideal trade deals, Rhodes Island began rapidly increasing its political, industrial, and military power.

But even with his new allies and friends the engineer felt he was not whole, something was missing.

And that just confirmed it in his mind, Rhodes Island isn't his home, it is a home but something in his soul longed for that place that lived in the fragmented remnants of his memories, that factory filled with wonders and potential.

--

I leaned back in my chair, I had just finished a meeting with Amiya, the fourteen year old nominal leader of this company and landship, and the one who had led the rescue mission to wake me up and pull me out of Chernobog. She was a nice girl, competent, strong, and caring, and she always made time to visit me whenever she could. I had apparently been a parental figure to her when I still had my memories, and what was left of my own internal coding showed she was the only one at Rhodes Island I had set to be guarded at as high a priority as myself. Past me obviously regarded her as a daughter of some sort, and I was beginning to view her in the same light, at the very least she was something to be protected and cared for.

I only had ten minutes of free time before I had to meet with my next operator, with 24 hours available to me and my operators varying sleep cycles. I could manage to meet and talk with them all at least once a week, though some sought me out more or less often. But a ten minute period with nothing scheduled was the closest thing I had to sleep or a rest, I didn't even need to waste time eating.

My office was comfy and cozy, and quite a few of my operators would spend time just sleeping on the recliner or one of the couches, the only decorations were shelf ornaments I had been gifted, either before my amnesia or after, and a large armored fish tank that was a bit out of place.

Apparently the fish were something from my home, or at least something that I had fought while I was at my home, and they were one of the few things I had left from then. Amiya had told me everything that my past self had told her, and the second hand story didn't reveal much more about my past than my own fractured memories.

I had been stranded on a hostile world, built a home, and eventually I had been stranded here, somehow.

I shook my head and cleared out the thoughts clouding my mind, the past was the past and I should leave it there. The fish tank couldn't be opened, the water was never changed or filtered and the fish had never been fed, but they never died and there were always four fish. If you went too close to the glass they would try to attack you through it.

I watched them chase each other through the tank at absurdly fast speeds, they had to get most of their energy from the light, or maybe algae growing in the tank. But apparently some of the fish had died before, and the next day the body would be gone and a new fish would have appeared. Four wasn't even how many I had added to the tank originally, It had only been the one fish. Four was just the number the tank could sustain.

My attention couldn't be held by reminiscing or staring at fish though, and I had already spent 4 minutes without doing anything, ages for a mind that moved as fast as mine. So I tapped back into Rhodes Islands systems and started monitoring the cameras, my attention split between multiple points of interest, monitoring vital signs of most of my operators and a few patients who were in poor condition. Rhodes Island had plenty of cameras and Biometric sensors, not an inch of the landship was free from my sight when I fully devoted my attention towards watching.

I wasn't devoting my full attention though, I just checked on all my operators and made sure they were where they should be and that nothing urgent needed my attention then I turned part of my attention towards directing the robotic arms that handled my paperwork while the rest of my mind set about perusing the internet and exchanging correspondence with anyone who messaged me online, while also running all the facilitates I had installed in some past life to support all my operators.

When I had gotten here most of the equipment was covered in dust, and it had taken days to get everything working. But now I had a steady stream of revenue to fund my operations and a supply of high tech weapons and armor to augment both my mundane forces and exceptional operators.

Along with enough defensive systems that only a few armies on terra could reach me if I didn't let them.

One of those exceptional operators was slowly making her way towards my office, specter. An insane but highly powerful nun, capable of ripping through even the armored walls of the landship with her bare hands, and even more threatening when she bothered to use a weapon.

She was also someone most sane people were terrified of, and operators and mundane workers alike avoided her as she strode through the halls. She had been kept partially sedated in an armored room before I arrived, only let out on rare occasions to fight on Rhodes Islands behalf.

Now that I was here and most of the security systems were online though? Well she was an operator under my control and I disliked the thought of just locking her in a room to be used as a weapon, it wasn't her fault oripathy had driven her insane. So I had let her have a more normal dorm room, near my own and with a window outside. If she ever actually went on a rampage I could freeze the air around her solid, and she would pass out. Or she'd just break through the shielding with her freakish strength, but I also had tranq launchers everywhere, so I only needed to slow her for a few moments.

So far the worst thing she had done was eat a few steel walls, and I had replaced those faster than she could eat them, and scared a few people.

It was unnerving to watch her skip through the halls humming and singing though, it was mainly the lyrics. You can only hear so much talk about ripping things and half and gods in the deep calling before you get creeped out.

Out of all my operators she was the single most unpredictable, which is why she was one of the operators I met with most often. Her and any operator I felt needed more attention to stay effective.

She finally entered the hall just outside my room, and I checked to make sure the turrets, mines, and other traps were deactivated, and Specter made her way into my room, flashing me a smile full of pointed teeth as the door opened and she saw me.

She started speaking, though to my enhanced speed of thought it was nearly in slow motion, her voice was soft and barely a whisper. A symptom of her infection affecting her speech patterns, she either spoke in a whisper or a loud tone. "Good day" I nodded at her greeting and returned her smile with one of my own, though it was unseen below my mask, "it is isn't it, I don't have much for you to do right now, so you can go ahead and take a seat. I'll have something for you to do in a few moments." she gave a short bow of her head before walking over to the sofa and sitting down, just as she was about to start praying she looked to me "please allow me a moment of prayer… before I resume my work for the day" while her praying was unsettling I had no issues with it, and any work I actually gave her would just be busy work anyway "I don't mind, go ahead"

This wasn't the first time we had done this song and dance before, every time we met she always spoke the same greeting, and I knew it would be only a short minute before she was done praying. Then if I left her to her own devices things might get broken. A part of my attention was spent monitoring her while she prayed while the rest of me kept filling forms, responding to emails, researching and reading old documents, and renovating old rooms.

Eventually she stopped praying and I got out the hair brush I had prepared, initiating non-hostile physical contact with specter tended to less or eliminate incidents, though if something did happen I would be in arms reach of her. Overall since I had implemented this treatment her health and morale had drastically improved.

Amazing how letting someone out of a cell and treating them more like a sentient would result in improved behavior.

As she started raising her head I stood up and shook the brush out in front of myself to draw her attention towards it. Maybe it was a bit demeaning to shake the brush like a dog toy but she was insane. and it was genuinely the best method to keep her attention. In as calm a tone as my robotic voice could produce I spoke "would you mind if I brushed your hair? It looks like you've been taking excellent care of it and I have a few new braids and styles I'd like to try" she hadn't actually stopped smiling since I had had the cameras watching her, but it did grow wider and she nodded "that'd be lovely! I still have the braid you did last time in!" she didn't, it had fallen out after a few hours when she started pulling at her hair and habit, but she had tried to remake it once she had gotten to her room, and she had been very upset when she didn't manage. This time I would use a less delicate design, even if I could make hyper intricate weaves and braids it was best to keep them rugged.

She had broken two walls and her bed during her 'fit', best to avoid it happening again. Even if her room had double spaced walls specifically so she could rip them open. I sat down next to her and tried to ignore the fact I was now within arms reach of someone who treated armor plating like clay, then she twisted herself to show me her back. It had taken a few days for her to get comfortable enough not to attack me when I started braiding her hair, mainly because I inevitably touched her back at some point during the process and calling her infected spine sensitive was an understatement, and most combat operators didn't like someone being in their blind spot regardless.

It wasn't even the pain that caused Specter to lash out, she enjoyed it if anything, no it was that I was near a vulnerable spot. The only reason I kept trying was because she had originally asked me too and had kept apologizing.

Now was a different story, I already had one leg touching her own and she was if anything pressing her leg more against mine, touch starved was a light way to describe her. My hands lightly undid the tangled mess she had turned her hair into in her attempts to recreate my own work, with how strong and smooth it was there weren't many tangles and none of the hair tore. Eventually the hair, which reached past her feet while standing if it wasn't in a braid, was arrayed and straight, though if someone without my spatial awareness looked at me they'd inevitably assume I was tangled in her hair.

There wasn't a neat way to braid six plus feet of hair when your less than a foot from the person and your sitting down, the hair spilled onto my lap and covered most of the couch, but clever application of my 'arts' let me start braiding it even if I couldn't reach most of the strands without moving. Specter wasn't helping much by the way she was leaning her head back onto my shoulder, while pushing with enough force that if I could bruise I would be.

There were several reasons Specter didn't get much physical contact outside of her other aegir and myself, the main ones being she could have a random fit and break you in half, and that she didn't have the best control of her strength even outside of an episode. Though she did have some, given if she didn't even just her leaning back her head and pressing down would have dislocated my shoulder. She had actually done that before, and she'd bitten me on numerous occasions. I imagine if she'd didn't leave her weapon by the door in my office I'd be missing a few limbs by now.

Also I had my arts to shield me. Though that didn't help as much as I could have wished, I had a decent level of strength and durability, and I healed amazingly, anything short of the loss of a limb really and even then I could just clone a new one or get a cybernetic. But compared to what my operators could dish out? I was small fry, durable small fry. Just no combat capabilities outside of my robots and suits.

Braiding Specter's hair calmed her a fair bit, but it didn't take much effort for me, I just mainly had to be on guard for her suddenly attacking me. The silence was a bit dull though, and I hadn't just told Specter to come to my office so I could brush her hair. "How have you been liking your new room? I hope the steam has suited you, that took a bit to design" mainly furniture that wouldn't get ruined by a constant steam bath really. Specter occasionally complained about the air being dry, so I had converted her room into a sauna, one with significantly more steam or mist than the average one. Actually calling it a sauna was a bit misleading, as she could set the temperature of the water in her room, from hot enough to kill any other race aside from her own (expecting me, I wasn't durable but temperature shifts wouldn't kill me" to as cold a mist I could manage without it frosting or freezing.

Specter had decided that all temperatures other than scalding were for plebs though, and hadn't turned it from burning since the first day, during which she had fiddled with all the knobs for hours.

This let me add an airlock to her room under the pretense of it being an air dryer, when in actuality it would let me gas her with knock out gas when she went through If I needed too.

Just another change to her living conditions to try and improve her mood. Though a more recent one than the hair brushing and socialization. She glanced up at me, and her head leaned far enough back that without my mask we'd be making eye contact, her sharp teeth glinted in the overhead lights and she let out a giggle before speaking. "It's wonderful!" then she just started laughing, and loudly. It was enough that I nearly messed up my braid as she was moving too much, so I took my hands which hadn't actually been doing anything and started rubbing circles on her head by pressing firmly with my thumb.

This slowly started to calm her down and I relaxed just a little, maybe I'd get through the day without needing new clothes. "That's good, I'm glad you enjoy it. I heard you had some fun training with Skadi earlier?" I hoped they enjoyed themselves at least, they had utterly destroyed the training arena, all the bots I had for practice, and managed to light the wreckage on fire. I had designed what was basically a maze with narrow corridors with the occasionally larger room, and then I had flooded it to train my operators in aquatic combat. Now I would need to rebuild it in order to actually do the training, as I had made the mistake of mentioning it to Skadi and she had abducted Specter and gone to "explore".

I had already talked to Skadi about it, the least I could get from it is a critique on my work from someone more than versed in aquatic combat, but all I had gotten was a 'the maze was okay but the robots were flimsy' in a monotone voice. The robots were meant to be flimsy, and to break on a mediocre hit from the average operator, the aegir were not average.

I already had a few of my heavy duty aquatic combat bots lined up for the next time they went 'exploring', those should survive a hit, if not two.

By this point Specter's hair was already in a simple braid, and she noticed when I stopped fiddling with it, turning around to face me and putting her hands on my shoulders, her smile stretching wide enough to be disturbing, even to me and I could unhinge my jaw. "Oh! It was great fun! I got to tear all the machines into tiny bits! And Skadi helped! It was beautiful!" she got progressively closer with each sentence and I could see the madness in her eyes growing rapidly. I thought about pulling away but her hands had a firm grip on me. If I wanted to keep my shoulders I was stuck. "Ahahahah... Cutting... Cutting things is such fun... Yes, some things were not supposed to be in one piece... Some things were never meant to be in anything but pieces! Ahahahahah...!" By this point her face was inches from my mask and all her limbs had coiled around me. It was like a hug from a boa constrictor, and I felt my reinforced bones start to crack and bend.

Thankfully I remembered to activate my internal shield within instants of her squeezing, and the bending and cracking stopped, though my shields level did start rapidly dropping, still long enough for an hour of this but not ideal given the shield was made to handle significant pressures.

Well the only way out was through, I ignored the pain from my cracked ribs, they had already started to heal, and spoke through her maddened laughter. "I'm already working on repairing it, so you and Skadi should be able to head back soon." She looked briefly puzzled by my calm tone of voice, her smile slightly fading while she gently tilted her head to the side. But it was short lived and the mad smile soon returned, her grip tightening even more "What He said unto me is no falsehood... Dissecting them, dismembering them, disemboweling them... it all grants them salvation...!" Yeah, she was fully gone, I'd just need to wait it out or tranq her, the former being the preferred option given what she could do to me before the anesthetic knocked her out.

Or I could call Skadi, who would be more than capable of prying Specter off of me. But no, Skadi had similar socialization issues to Specter, though self-inflicted rather than caused by madness. Bringing her here would set back my progress by weeks. None of my other operators would be able to pry her off easily either, and Specter could attack them.

I relaxed into her grip as the realization struck me, I'd be stuck here for a while. Specter had apparently noticed my distraction, and somehow the fact that I wasn't looking at anything even though I had a polarized face mask on "Ahah... Why will you not look into my eyes...? It's meaningless to avoid my gaze... because I already know exactly what your heart desires…" she definitely didn't, and I was worried about what she thought I wanted. The tranq readied just in case.

Her grip slackened a bit while she started talking "We see many things in our dreams that we cannot comprehend... Those things you see are His despairful tidings... And I am His messenger, here to convey this exhortation to you... Ahah…" I was officially lost, though that made sense given I was trying to comprehend the insane. Deciding that her slacking grip was a good sign I decided to try something. With a firm tone of voice, the same I used on the battlefield, I spoke "Specter, Release me" her laughing stopped entirely, and her smile faded "I will do as you command". Somehow that one monotone line was more disturbing than the maniacal laughter. Probably the contrast.

She slowly unwrapped herself from around me, her face still blank, until she was entirely off of me and sitting a foot away, just staring at me without blinking, then like a switch was flipped the smile returned and she spoke with a giggle, "Doctor... How can you make me so maddeningly happy? Just who are you...?" I really wish I knew, knowing who I was would be of significant use. Thankfully I was making strides towards that. "I'm a friend I'd hope" I got up from the couch, usually I would braid her hair a few times but I wasn't going to keep pushing my luck.

I kept spare medication in my desk, and given Specter had just had a fairly large episode I figured it'd be a good time for another dose, both of the oripathy suppression and the antipsychotics. Specially made with her unique biology and condition in mind. That had taken me a few days to work out, which for something that thinks as fast as me is the equivalent to months.

I poured a portion of the medicine into a small glass and handed it to Specter "here, drink this for me" her smile slightly faded as she looked at the small glass, her voice taking on the same calm tone she used while praying. "I have no right to go against your will…" and with that she downed the medicine like a shot, before lightly shivering. Her smile grew wide again and she spoke in a much more excited voice "that tasted awful!" I shrugged before moving to sit behind my desk, "Its medicine, it's not really supposed to taste good. We can get you something else to eat later"

I sat down and looked at Specter, the medicine was fast acting and it was the most potent minutes after it was ingested. Sometimes this meant she had moments of…. Clarity would be the best way to put it. The insane woman would become sane and regain a few memories. Usually this led to her panicking a bit and asking frantic questions. Though this clarity never lasted long, it was like the madness adapted to the medicine.

Sure enough her eyes cleared, her smile vanished and her face became filled with panic and confusion and she spoke in a frantic and rapid voice while leaping off the couch with a burst of surprising speed "Wh-what did you do to me...? Why was I made to drink that strange medicine? Who is it that brought me to this place? PLEASE ANSWER ME!" my enhanced cognition meant each word was in slow motion, but I had already learned that interjecting, or answering her questions was largely futile, she never remembered. Still she was my operator, and I had obligations even if they were futile.

In as calm and comforting a tone I could manage with my voice box I spoke to her gently explaining "You're at Rhodes Island, it's a medical facility treating your infection, that was a dose of antipsychotics and oripathy suppressants, as for who brought you here? You showed up on your own seeking treatment and to deliver a message" apparently her symptoms had been significantly lesser then, and she had had her memories still, though she didn't manage to deliver the message before psychosis took her.

Personally I found everything about her sudden arrival and rapid onset of insanity suspicious, there were forces at play and I didn't know of them, meaning I couldn't plan around or counter them. Curing Specter, if it ever happened, would hopefully shed some light on what happened to her.

Someone had induced the infection in her spine, and there was enough orginum in her system to infect a small city, yet it hadn't even spread from her spine, or killed her, or even caused skin lesions to form.

And yet no one who knew anything about the situation was telling me anything, Kal'tsit was silent, Skadi didn't know anything or wouldn't tell, only talking about monsters in the deep ocean nor was Amiya told anything I wasn't. None of the operators I had sent to investigate or find leads had managed it. The only clue I had unraveled had been the church she came from, one that was thoroughly destroyed, and it had been a dead end. Someone had been there before my team and they had destroyed all the evidence.

I turned my attention away from my personal frustrations, I had a patient to deal with and my thoughts and worries could wait. Specter had somewhat calmed once I mentioned where she was, and she had given a short nod after I finished talking. She still looked highly agitated and panicked though, she went to speak "I need your…" and with that she was gone, her eyes relit with the fire of madness and a wide smile once again took its place on her face.

Sometimes her burst of sanity lasted longer, and she got out the whole sentence, it was supposed to be "I need your help" though she had never once lasted long enough to get to what she needed my help with. I had a few guesses though, if the monsters in the deep were real, and if the aegir had really fallen and were no longer holding back the tide? Well that tide would start sweeping toward us next. If I had to hazard a guess she was delivering a warning.

It's why I built the aquatic training center, and why I was bothering to waste resources building robots that could fight in the seas and deep oceans. Even if she hadn't managed to deliver her warning she had done enough to get me looking for the clues, and what I had found was enough to spur me into action.

All my networking, industrialization and militarization was in preparation for the numerous threats I felt were coming, even if it was just paranoia I would not be found wanting.

AN-

figure like 4 of you have seen or played arknights but muse will muse and I wont argue with 5k words of inspiration.

I have a few more scenes planned out for this setting but not that many. though this one did run long.

this was some excellent dialogue practice though.

I might manage to get Ch. 39 done today or tomorrow. certainly going to be trying too. same with the engineers convo with the emperor and palisades with his brothers.