Story Reader / Main Story / 15 The Last Spark / Story
After that first and last meeting—
I thought there would be more opposition.
Lustrous looks slightly surprised.
The administrative director closes the metallic clasp of the suitcase and smiles at the research director.
My hands would be on your neck if I was still the same person from when I first came here.
Remember the first night you became the director? I dragged you out from your lab and hosted a dinner with the other directors.
I asked you what you think of the base when we were eating. You said this place is like a brain constantly metabolizing.
I did say that.
It was a good metaphor.
Does it matter what carbon dioxide and the sodium think when they're created from metabolism?
Lustrous does not hesitate.
Not at all. The only thing that matters is the thought.
That's why the nutrients go to your part of the brain. Do what you have to do.
The administrative director nods at the others around the table.
Don't worry. We'll do our job.
Lustrous looks at the directors one by one.
She lets out a barely visible smile.
I'm glad to have you as my colleagues. It's an honor working with you all.
The honor is mine. I look forward to Atlantis leading the next Industrial Revolution, but if I won't live long enough for that day to come, I'll die where it sits.
She stands.
I'll "go" first. Try to stay away as long as you can.
We are sorry that you have to be the one who carries it all at the end.
Lustrous stands in front of the window of the observatory, looking out at the lifeless seaborne city.
The more one thing has shone, the more forsaken it looks when it falls.
Too long has passed. Everyone she knows has passed. Now, standing here alone, she looks like a wavering torch in a storm.
And this last torch is about to go out.
The weather is not great today. Dark clouds cover the sky, but the rain has yet to fall. Literal silver linings are peeking from between the clouds.
...
She closes her eyes, trying to feel the warmth on her cheeks.
So in the end, I still have that speck of weakness in me...
Oh, brain, I despise you sometimes.
Lustrous sighs softly.
She has never shown any weakness in front of others because she was their flag.
A flag is a symbol and a metaphor. A flag does not need to show humanity or have a heart. A flag just needs to be hung before an army during wars and planted on the enemy's castle after victory.
As long as the flag does not fall, everyone else will charge toward the same destination. As long as it stands, everyone will march forward fearlessly for their dreams and beliefs.
But now, everyone she was leading is gone. They have burnt their dignity and soul into cinders for their last act for humanity.
And so, the flag becomes a human again.
Try to stay away as long as I can...?
I'm afraid I can't keep that promise.
The observatory used to be where they liked to stay the most.
It sits at the top of Atlantis, and they could see the whole city from here. They could see the ocean, the sky, the stars.
The observatory is empty now. She is the only one left, trying to see humanity's future.
Lustrous walks to her chair and sits down.
She has done her job. This is as far as she goes.
She is tired.
She will leave the rest of the work to those who come after.
Lustrous turns around and takes one last look at the setting sun.
Just one regret—she thinks.
The day she set foot on this island, she thought she would go to the edge of the universe one day.
Who would have thought that, in the end, I'd go gentle into that good night?
Her last whisper is carried away by the wind, disappearing with the last hint of sunlight.
The moment you open the door to the observatory, you feel like you have just pressed the play button on a snapshot of the past.
As the sea breeze rushes in, the room begins to fog up.
The woman you have seen in the videos is sitting quietly on a chair not far from you.
Her body does not look rotten. It has dried thoroughly under the same clothes you have seen in the records, easily identifiable.
A heavy sense of sadness suddenly brews and fills the room.
Silently, Vera walks toward the woman and kneels down on one knee.
And then she discovers something.
The supply crate next to the body is filled with food.
...
Vera's eyes widen.
Haha—hahaha—
For a moment there, she can even picture the woman's last moment from what has been left behind in the room.
Unlike the others, Lustrous was not starved to death. She chose to end her life.
Realizing that, Vera laughs hysterically as if to cover another feeling deep inside.
This is "as far as she goes"... Then what the hell is this?
You tricky bastard. In the end, you couldn't take it.
Well, then. I'll seize it from you—
Vera opens a pack of hardtacks and stuffs them in her mouth.
Constructs do not need to eat. What she is doing is technically pointless.
But Vera just starts stuffing the hardtacks into her mouth one after another like a ritual where she is picking up the baton.
A flag being passed from Lustrous to Vera.
If you can't take it...
I will.
I will take your dreams, your future, your desires to live, your lost pain... I will take it all.
She stands up, reaches inside Lustrous' coat, and takes out their "legacy."
She gives it to you.
She nods.
Stay here. I'm going spearfishing.
Who knows how many things here are of use? I don't want Nikola nagging me for not trying to stop it from sinking.
With that, she walks away resolutely.
