"Oh man, everything is getting soaked!"
"Get the files in the cabinet and close it! We CANNOT afford to lose these files."
"Where is this water even from?"
"These logistical reports! I need these logistic reports safe, I haven't terminalized them yet!" Mlynar stood in the center of room, despite it rapidly being pelted by water. The workers inside were doing their best to hear him over the pleting rain of the burst pipes overhead. Many where doing their best to grab the most necessary document cabinets and wheeling them out of the rapidly flooding room, while others tried to quickly salvage any of the loose leafed documents that had gotten soaked or fell into the growing pond that had began to form.
The day had started same enough as the others. Mlynarhad clocked in, nodded to the few people who could meet his critical eyes, and sat down. Recently the landship had been under a constant pouring of rain. It was not a prelude to a catastrophe by any means, but it was rather oppressive the last three days. Much of the open aired facilities needing to be roofed up in order to avoid flooding the interior. Many of the agricultural facilities was afraid of crops drowning from the rains, luckily they had some foresight to plan around such an eventuality.
Fresh water wouldn't be a major issue for the time being at least. Their fresh water reserves having been brought to max and then some certainly was nice, especially since the plan for future renovations would equate to more Aegerian focused facilities, however this amount of water was a little much.
Then the pipes began to burst from the strain of the water needing to be funneled, drained, or holding. It first happened in the public washrooms, which wasn't as much of an issue. However it was when a very irate Dusk, Ceylon, and Orchid had come out of the room in towels shiving to the bone at the frigid cold water. Luckily the men's side was unused and unharmed so they were to able to use that. This did mean however that for a time being, the public washrooms was now a unisex one, which meant that operators were now forced to use it in shifts.
The second incident happened in some dorms. First leaks had happened on some of the ceilings before those single water drips evolved into trickles before becoming hoses of water falling into personal living quarters. Several operators were now moved to rooms double or even triple their original's occupancy if they could do so. Attempts were made to avoid meshing too many opposing personalities, but despite the largeness of the dorms, going over capacity was still going over capacity.
Luckily none of the medical facilities were facing any sort of water issues, on occasion there would be some power fluxes as a result of the solar generators not getting enough sun, but was supplemented by timely aid of electrical arts applications to the batteries and generators of the landship. Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief when the medical wing was left untouched.
Then the water pipes above the main administrative hub or the Control Center broke and began to flood the room with the most important and critical documents alongside the more mundane reports and missives. Mlynar directed Red to grab as many of the red marked papers as she could, Gladiia was cutting through the water as easily as most walked on land as she hauled the cabinets and much of the key electronics out of the room. The others were told to do what they can in regards to their own key files or necessary documents, international treatise and charters being a priority. The whole Control Center team did their best to get documents and terminals out of the rapidly flooding room, with Mynar standing waist deep in the tide organizing it all.
"Anything left?" Mlynar called out once he saw the key cabinets were clear.
"Invoices! Closure and Engineering's invoices in regards to funds and expenditures!
"We can disregard that for now. Are our correspondence messages and cyphers clear yet?" Mlynar helped a flounder Swire when she tripped and fell face first in the water. Lifting her her up with one hand, he got her righted before she let out a sad noise before continuing to push through the murky water.
"I have the last one," Gladiia responded as she effortlessly carried the code breaking machine used to help decrypt and encrypt messages. It was perhaps one of the more important items that the Control Center/Administrative hub needed, especially with the myriad of auxiliary agents in place in other nations.
"Get it clear," Mlynar nodded as Gladiia had made some remark about how such technology should have been made waterproof that Chen had bit back about. "We don't know how many documents we'll be able to quickly recover when the power shutoff to make sure the water didn't electrocute us, so try and save as many hard drives as you can."
"Mlynar, gah, what's happening in there?" Doctor's voice from behind a sealed but leaking door. "Did a leak spring up in Admin?"
"Something worse than that. Pipe bursts and sprinklers came loose. The room is flooding and we've been trying to save the key documents and terminals needed," Mlynar responded before turning after hearing another loud low creak amongst the spray. "Alright everyone, clear out now, this room is gonna b–"
He did not get to speak in time before the water weight collapsed the ceiling, hundreds of pounds of water knocking him down. The outpouring of water was frigid as he was soaked immediately to the bone. He pushed against the watr before coming free, that was before he used his aris to manifest a cover to forestall it, however his exhaustion quickly had it shatter and he was shot underneath the torrent again.
"Mlynar? Are you alright?" Doctor's voice reached Mlynar once he was helped by Gladiia to step out of the gush. Shaking his head and steeling his breath he only had a glower on his soaked face.
"I am fine. But the Control Center is too flooded. We've grabbed as much as we could, but we don't know how much was lost." He straightened himself up after Gladiia let him go. "I would ask if you are able to grab anything else, but the water would have damaged the paper documents too badly."
"Its a wonder you landdwellers still use such a susceptible form of recording information," Gladiia scoffed before she and Mlynar shut the door behind them. The leaking deluge turning into a growing but small trickle of water dribbling from the base. They were the last to exit the room. The rest of the Control Center staff were doing their best to dry off and record their salvaged materials before the Doctor came to them with Closure in tow.
"How bad is it?" Closure's tired face could barely take the soaked and tired looks of the Control Center staff at the time. From Red shaking her head and tail, Swire and Chen arguing about who got it worse, or even the extremely haggard Mlynar who simply looked at her before gesturing to the door. Closure's face pressed against the sight hole of the still leaking but holding door, eyes seeing water slowly begin to fill up the room. "This just aint right. Whyyyy?"
""To add insult to injury, we lost almost ALL of your invoicing receipts as well," Gladiia helpfully supplied as Closure turned to her with despair in her eyes.
"Kallys gonna kill me!" Closure melted into the floor before the Doctor propped her up with a chipper smile and thumbs up. Then they turned to the soaked Mlynar.
"Are you alright?" The words were genuine and Mlynar almost responded truthfully, but he bit it back.
"I'm fine. We'll need to dry out the papers and electronic equipment. Many of the hard drives are also soaked and we'll need too-" Mlynar blinked and felt light headed for a bit before he was held up by Gladiia.
"He ran himself ragged trying to direct everyone and everything out as much as possible," Gladiia said without a hint of tact. "He even stood trying to stem the flow at a time despite him not being able to handle the water like I."
"I'm fine," Mlynar growled but the Abyssal Hunter's strength was stronger than his at this time. "Let go."
"Nope," that was the Doctor's voice as a hand felt Mlynar's forehead. "Looks like he's coming down with some light hypothermia."
"Unhand me," Mlynar protested and that effort seemed to mildly interest the Aegier before he almost collapsed to one knee had the Doctor and Gladiia not helped him up.
"Sorry to ask you this Gladiia, but could you take Mlynar to the sick bay, he won't take himself." The woman nodded, though she seemed to keep her glare, there was a mirthfilled smile tugging on her lips.
"The rest of you also should get checked by the medical team as well. While water isn't usually a cause for alarm, this might've been recycled water before it got processed so…"
"Oh gross, are you telling me we were wading in sewage water?!"
"Oh gods I got some in my mouth!"
"I'm gong to hurl!" Doctor waved them off before turning to Closure who looked catatonic as she muttered to herself. The Doctor caught several statements about new materials and needing to get more hands to help.
"We're going to need to up our timetable for resupply won't we?" Doctor finally ventured to ask. Closure turned to them and nodded as she let out an unhappy sigh.
"Normally we'd need authorization from Kally and Amiya to actually schedule a resupply run with a mobile city, but these repairs are running us ragged. Water damage isn't our only issue, with our new influx of operators, we need to expand deeper into Rhodes Island, but we don't have materials to actually start reclamation or retrofitting." The Doctor nodded at Closure's grievances. It would be their luck that the day Kal'tsit and Amiya needed to go to a board meeting in Columbian territory WOULD be the day the rainstorms happened. "However with both of them gone, leadership responsibilities fall to you and me. We can authorize an emergency resupply with our nearest mobile city."
"I'll message Kal and Amiya about our current predicament then, but I think they'll approve of our need to resupply," the Doctor sighed as they wrung their hands. "Though we might need to send an emergency messenger."
"Why's that?"
"Because isn't THAT the long range correspondence relay terminal floating in the control center there?" Both pairs of eyes watched the water logged terminal float past before sinking beneath the growing pool.
"..."
"..."
"Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" Closure's cries could be heard well throughout the halls. Some say that the pipes of Rhode Island's internal system carried her cry until the day they were retrofitted.
-L&L-Mlynar awoke on a bed. An unfamiliar feeling as he hardly ever slept in his own, and when his eyes finally blinked away blurriness, he saw he was not in his room either. His eyes flicked to the sides and he saw that he was in the medical bay. He also now noted how he wasn't wearing his work clothes either, and was in the standard patient gown given to patience, which he felt was immensely breezy.
He felt sluggish as he moved to sit up, acutely aware of the pounding headache that assaulted his senses. He swallowed down the rising discomfort as his hands gripped the support bars on the side of his bed, just as the door opened up.
"Oh no, your ass is staying in bed, now." The rough voice of Gavial came alongside a rough push which sent him back into the bed. Struggling up once more, this time Gavial's tail came pressing down on him, and his weakened body could not put up a fight.
"Why am I here?" he instead asked, trying to recollect which would have lead to this. He remembered the flooding Control Center, the rush of cold water, and then…
"Welp, since you collapsed with Gladiia carrying you, we as the medical team had ellected this as the proper time to give a thorough battery of tests on you!" Gavial said with extra snark. He sent a glare to her, but she only rolled her eyes before looking over on the chart at the foot of his bed. She let out a long whistle. "Didya know you got several high marks in regards to your blood pressure and muscle tension? You're what? Fifty."
"I'm in my forties," he ground out.
"You got the health complications of someone twenty years older, especially in your genus," Gavial noted. "Only one who's close to your level is probably the Doctor, but that's because of their weird shit. You got to learn to relax or you're gonna keel over you know."
"Noted," Mlynar grounded out again. Gavial's tail finally let go of him before he was given a small paper cup with some pills.
"You also have a slight fever, the water from the pipes was recycled pipes BEFORE they got processed, so the Doctor is making sure even is getting checked out and medicated before more serious side effects take place. You had to be a hero and stand in the center–"
"I was a not a hero–"
"Blah blah, whatever, you got most of the key equipment and documents out, but you also ended up staying the longest in it when you're not Aegier. You got moderate hypothermia which probably also sent your immune system into overdrive. You're on bedrest for the next two days, take your pills." Mlynar glowered at the cup before tossing it back, no water needed. "And because it's you, the Doctor explicitly made sure that someone MONITORED you to make sure you wouldn't think of sneaking out of the med bay to go work BEFORE those meds knock you out." He looked at her with critical eyes, and she correctly guessed that he was calculating on how well he could get past her when her back was turned.
"Ha, fat chance I'm watching you. If the Doc let me, I'd clock ya to help you recover, but they explicitly forbade that type of anesthetic. No, we got someone else to watch you." To accent her point a figure knocked on the door before coming through. Mlynar saw Penance walk in. "Here's your patient, make sure he doesn't leave the bed." Gavial tossed her a beeper. "If he's gone, press that button and we'll get like three other doctors to hunt 'em down."
"Such a waste of resources," Mlynar noted.
"Bite me old man, don't be so focussed on work that you forget your health." With those words of wisdom, Gavial tossed a wave goodbye to the two before going to the next room with a "Oi, get your ass in bed Red!"
Penance and Mlynar were left alone in awkward silence, the only thing that made a noise being the slow steady beeping of the machines hooked up to Mlynar's vitals. Nothing invasive, but the straps and wires hooked up to his skin crawl. He dared not look into a mirror.
"You look… worse for wear?" Penance managed to say after the long bout of silence. A short huff of air was her answer as Mlynar leaned back. There was the sound of papers shuffling before his meal tray was extended over his lap. He looked down to see some papers were placed in front of him, documents that were able to be salvaged from the Control Center.
"Some of your coworkers figured you'd probably want to do work," Penance admitted. The bag on her side opened to reveal several fresh documents. "They asked to use the copier room in Legal to reprint some of the documents they were able to salvage. They also figured you'd only stay in bed if you had something to do." Mlynar looked at the papers before letting out a short bark of laughter. Penance handed him a pen before she sat down to read a book. He had gotten a steady pace started before he felt inclined to look at his caretaker, then he noticed the book in her hands.
"The Last Knight?" he accidentally said aloud. Penance looked up, startled from his voice suddenly speaking. "The book you're reading, it's The Last Knight?" His words felt less like a question and more of a pointed statement. Penance looked at the book cover after hearing him.
"Yes?" she ventured to say. "I had been looking for books and Maria recommended it to me."
"Throw it out. It's not worth reading," Penance blinked at Mlynar's uncharacteristic anger, or perhaps she just hadn't been at the brunt of it, but she stared at him before protectively holding the book.
"Why should I?" Mlynar opened his mouth to retort, but instead, he simply grew slack. His eyes unfocused before he closed it in a steely lock. "Mlynar?"
"It's nothing, read what you want." His voice grew quiet and solemn, and his Penance didn't know better, he almost seemed to be sulking. She almost left it at that, but instead pursued her lips, closed the book and leaned forward. She remembered Leon's words.
"Start by talking to others."
"Why are you against me reading the Last Knight?" she asked. He turned to her, golden eyes staring with intensity at the book with a vehement emotion, but an emotion that Penance could not place. "Mlynar?"
"It's… It's the first story every aspiring knight in Kazimierz is told," Mlynar began. Penance ears flicked. His voice sounded almost… wistful. "It's a story about the legendary last knight of Kazimierz. A hero and the pinnacle of chivalry and knighthood that all Kazimierzian knights aspired to be like… Even if the story ultimately ended in a fruitless and pointless quest to nothingness." Penance sat quietly digesting Mlynar's words. He didn't seem to speak to her, however.
"An endless expansion and conquest of all of Terra. Intent on spreading knightly virtue towards all. What virtue lasts now, when knight all fight in tournaments and people starve." A scoff that sounded more like a sickly cough punctuated his statement. "Knights were meant to help common folk, protect them. Now all they do is oppress them, act like the very blades intent on protecting the people. A perversion of their task. A violation of their creed! What good is a sword turned inward? What good is a knight who so easily would take coin for trust!" His hand gripped the support rail on his bed. "What good is a knight whose sword could as easily cut down their charges as it does their enemy. Kazimierz, the land of knights. Pah, more like the land of endless knights, each one further away from the ideals they learned of in that little book of nothingness..." Mlynar grew quiet after his outburst. A sort of resigned silence that grew heavy with each passing moment and the countenance of his face growing darker alongside it. He seemed older than he ever was before, in Penance's eyes. He seemed... Much like Bernardo.
"You speak of corruption," Penance spoke quietly. Mlynar didn't respond but just looked darkly. "Siracusa families… They, if the stories are true, had been born from groups that were rebellions against Gaulish rulers at the time. Noble in their beginning, or perhaps maybe they seem noble after all the years we've lived with that system..."
"Ha... All fantasies. Nothing more than attempts at willful ignorance from a reality drenched in blood, dust, and gold..." A short bark of almost cruel sounding laughter came from Mlynar. The first time she had ever heard such a noise from him, but one that sounded more like a defeated animal than a man. "All the dirt, sand, and shit that has built up means that reality can never become fantasy." Penance bit her lip, a terse question that played on her tongue in the face of Mylnar's cynicism.
"But what if we could wipe it all away. What if we could?" Mylnar didn't respond, and when Penance looked over at him, she saw his eyes closed. The glower on his face resigned into a serene expression. It ran counter to hers, one of deep conflict and hesistation, but also of resolve.