Story Reader / Main Story / 20 Across the Ruined Sea / Story
Chiko's squad was heading toward the administrative room...
Bianca is explaining the information she retrieved through the Phantom Tracer to her team when a call to her terminal suddenly interrupts her.
How was the Phantom Tracer, Stigmata?
A pale face appears in the comms interface.
We just finished running it for the first time.
I'll upload the relevant data after the mission. Please do not interrupt our operation unprompted again.
I believe I've mentioned that to you before, Vesalius.
Hah.
Vesalius sneers at Bianca's words, showing no desire to terminate her call.
I see. I'll upload the data now.
The tracer only ran briefly, but it generated more data than expected. The upload is progressing slowly.
Right. Are you the Gray Raven Commandant?
The pale female figure turns her gaze toward you while she waits for the data transfer to complete.
I heard you directly connected your Mind Beacon to a Corrupted in a previous mission.
Hah. No wonder they were so confident and didn't even bother to arrange a recovering plan for you.
You're certainly much more capable than the last Gray Raven Commandant.
How did the Deep M.I.N.D. connection with Stigmata feel? Is there any difference to repairing Empyrea's—it's Eclipse now, isn't it—M.I.N.D.?
?
For some reason, Vesalius seems inclined to call Constructs by the codenames of their frames instead of their actual names.
She grins mockingly, seemingly having thought of something.
Singing the same tune, are we?
A familiar appearance would help stabilize the M.I.N.D...
Recognizing your own face will keep the M.I.N.D. from deviating...
Vesalius' smile grows ever more sarcastic.
I thought someone who spent every day and night with Constructs would stop fooling themselves at some point.
Should I commend you for being the "hero" the Parliament meticulously "adorned"? Have those pretty "ribbons" ensnared your critical thinking?
If it's foolish to think that "Constructs are mere tools," it's equally foolish to think that "Constructs are just humans."
A perfect body, a controlled path of evolution, and an independent mind...
Constructs are a new life form. They are the next step of the evolution.
But that doesn't mean we need to abandon or deny who we were.
Lucia suddenly speaks up from aside.
Perhaps your name meant a lot to your past as a human, but your frame's codename is what anchors you in this new form of life. It's unwise to avoid it.
You keep telling yourself you're human, but you wield powers a human can only dream of. This discrepancy can't be swept away with a few pretty words.
The main reason for M.I.N.D. deviation is the disconnection between your self and reality. How do you remain yourself if you won't confront your distinctions?
Are you dressing like a nun to take the deserters to heaven? You should be sending them to hell!
...
Know you as who you are, not who you were when you were a human.
None of them has been a human for a very...
Vesalius.
Bianca interrupts Vesalius from finishing what she has to say.
The data has been uploaded. Please complete your assessment quickly. We still have work to do.
Tch... Fine.
Vesalius' projection goes silent as if reading something. She soon furrows her brows.
The shorter-than-benchmark runtime wasn't unexpected. You weren't our first choice, after all.
She reads a few more pages and gets increasingly displeased.
The hallucinations appeared immediately afterward... That data doesn't seem to be completely useless.
It's surprising and fascinating, but it also proves that your M.I.N.D. was deviating before your hallucinations appeared.
You should heed my warning, Stigmata.
Eliminating the Punishing Virus isn't the only way forward. The Phantom Tracer was made to decipher the data within the Punishing Virus.
To utilize a weapon of the Punishing Virus half-heartedly in your half-hearted form will only create a greater disconnection within yourself.
I'll think about what you said when needed.
Tch...
You'll still run into these hallucinations later, anyway.
I look forward to the data these unanticipated phenomena provide.
Remember to stabilize her M.I.N.D. with a Deep M.I.N.D. connection in time. I don't want my work to become something one-and-done.
Not that we have more tissues from the Hetero-Hive Mother to make another Phantom Tracer.
Vesalius disappears from the projection after she ends the call.
She's the lead researcher from Kurono I mentioned before, Commandant.
She was also one of the lead creators of Stigmata.
This coating wasn't what the Stigmata frame looked like. The original form... leans more toward the stereotypes of the Purifying Force and witches...
But considering that a familiar appearance can help stabilize the M.I.N.D., we made this coating in response to the short production time of the frame.
This wasn't part of the plan...
Bianca seems to think of something right as she says that. A rare hint of hesitation flashes across her eyes, but it quickly disappears, replaced by her usual determination.
We took too long to upload that data, Commandant. We should proceed with our mission.
A hastily made frame, a temporary coating, a replacement for the top candidate... you have more or less understood what happened from their conversation.
But if Bianca is not willing to talk about it, you should just let it be for now.
You start hearing the echoes of muddled footsteps within the aquarium.
From the depth of the unseen underground, the hospitable "staff" are ready to "welcome" you.
