Story Reader / Main Story / 26 Cradle Parade / Story
Looks like everyone's safe.
All I found were research materials on the M.I.N.D. I can't understand half of it but picked them up anyway. We can bring them to the Science Council once we escape.
In those reports, I spotted the names Kugawa Kurono, Cinderelik, Loki, Voodoo, and Cthylla.
What exactly is Cthylla?
The beast that birthed the twins. You know, the thing that's like a giant heart... that's Cthylla's incomplete form. In plain terms, it's her womb... just on legs.
Huh?
Here, it's all in the files. They also mentioned Loki and Voodoo. We have very little information on her anyway, so this is quite a useful find.
Shorthalt waves the newfound documents in front of the screen.
Loki-4654512
A test subject found in the basement after Project Cthylla ended. She had been imprisoned for years due to aggressiveness and consciousness damage.
In the concealed basement, she was left behind when all related personnel were cleared out. When they found Loki, she was ramming the cell door nonstop.
Her head was severely wounded and it was too late to do anything about it. All I could do was preserve her mind data with Mister's help.
Loki-4654517
Loki's mind data was also damaged when her head was injured. Forcibly implanting it into a body would only create a completely insane being.
But I don't want to give up on her...
Her state of consciousness is quite similar to Cthylla's. I hope to find a way to stabilize her condition. This will save not only Loki but also Cthylla.
Loki-7964510
If one's consciousness is not strong enough to keep their body stable, then it's better to grant that body another consciousness instead.
Mister asked me to obtain consciousness fusion technology from the humans and use it on her.
The person who received the opportunity was someone from the Akdilek Commercial Alliance, said to be an abandoned illegitimate child of Ashlar's.
She had no name, nor any emotions I could sense. In order to survive, she had turned into a mere obedient object with no mind of her own.
Voodoo-001
The experiment was a success. She became Loki's new vessel, the host of all her uncontrollable emotions.
This method can definitely be used to awaken Cthylla, for her consciousness also suffers from similar flaws.
Next, all we need to do is wait for the "Gospel" to arrive, and Cinderelik's wish will be fulfilled.
Mister praised me for this...
If only these studies could be of more use to him.
After all, this place is an old haunt of his. Naturally, everything left behind must have belonged to him.
Right. By the way, I also saw a name in some of the files that caught my attention.
Kilgore Trout. He was famous back in the Golden Age. A psychiatrist, psychologist, author... and murderer.
Have you heard of this name before?
No... who's that?
You don't know him? He was practically a celebrity.
It's not that abnormal to not know much about the Golden Age. But... why do you know so much about it?
I was a police officer before becoming a Construct. I've worked on both Project Cthylla and the case of Kilgore Trout.
Shorthalt's expression dims.
Project Cthylla was especially memorable. It was truly tragic...
Accident? Oh, is that what they call it outside?
Of course not. Also, the purpose of the project might not be as far-fetched as publicly claimed.
According to our informants, the purpose of the project might be to create war weapons and divide the World Government once more.
Indeed. It's nothing new. Amberia in the ARU was the victim of a similar situation as well.
...
We were so close to catching them in the act... but the day before our operation, their incinerator exploded, setting the whole research building ablaze.
Yeah...
Something must have gone wrong in the last experiment, causing all the subjects to go mad.
In turn, they beheaded the researchers and stuffed their heads into their own stomachs.
Shorthalt speaks with a scowl.
By the time the fire was extinguished, the area around the incinerator was littered with executed subjects, all of them burned beyond recognition.
The rest... they were headless scientists with swollen bellies.
...Eek!
Some speculate that this incident might be connected to Professor Kilgore Trout in some way. Even if he was already dead by then, it could have been a copycat of his who was involved.
There wasn't much we could do about it as we didn't have any concrete evidence... But now, to see his name again in such a place...
Why do they think that this professor had something to do with Project Cthylla?
Because... well, see, the goal of Project Cthylla was to have the dead be "born again" in the wombs of the subjects.
The way those scientists died, with their heads stuffed into their stomachs... it was like the killers' way of declaring, "If you people want a rebirth this much, then do it yourselves."
A similar phrase appeared in Kilgore Trout's final autobiography.
I still don't see the connection...
Uh, it's a bit complicated to explain. Let's talk about it later.
I saw a lot of Lithos' remnants... some mechanical parts of his frame, limbs, torso... and there was Red Tide Projection, too.
Perhaps he's died way more times than can be counted on two hands.
The Red Tide Projection keeps showing how he looked just before his death...
Can an Ascendant inherit memories through the Red Tide and the remains of their own physical form?
It's indeed possible... Some Ascendants can even load and read the memories of the Corrupted. Besides, the Red Tide stores a lot of information, which is why Red Tide Projections can appear.
However, the memories stored this way are mostly fragmented. The Red Tide Projections here are more intact than those outside, though. Perhaps Lithos did something to make it this way.
Also... the Red Tide Projections shown later are very calm... as if he had died by suicide...
Suicide? Why would he resort to that?
But Lithos is no victim. Would he really be willing to sacrifice himself?
It's too early to draw conclusions right now. How are things on your end?
Orphanages have also become hotbeds of illegal activity.
The higher-ups, in order to keep the birth rate from getting too low, lightened the punishment for child abandonment crimes after setting up a bunch of new policies, and they also invested in the construction of multiple orphanages...
The initial intentions might have been good, but the execution left much to be desired.
You know about this, right, Lillian? Just now, Lithos said he and you both came from the same orphanage.
Ah, y-yeah...
She clutches the hem of her shirt nervously and recounts what Lillian had told her.
There are indeed some orphanages that treat the children as "goods" and sell them to various buyers.
Lillian... I mean, I was part of an early Construct research program...
The other children all died in the experiments... Lithos and I were the only ones to survive.
...What exactly is the connection between these clues?
Any other discoveries?
Did they use to belong to Lithos' friends?
...Hair accessories?
This guy is an enigma indeed.
Oh?
Oh...
Shorthalt stretches out the syllable, as if in understanding, though he's still quite confused.
All right, then... see you in half an hour.
The two hurriedly end the call, and all is quiet once again.
What kind of feelings did that Ascendant harbor while he sat alone in a room filled with belongings of his friends, working on these hair accessories?
No matter how you look at it, it's just an ordinary wooden ornament. There's nothing special about it.
Could he really have made so many of the same item just to celebrate someone's memory?
The thought strikes you all of a sudden, effectively clearing the fog in your thoughts.
The exact date is no longer possible to recall... It must have been before Lucia started using Plume.
On Dominik Memorial Square, you saw a little girl whose face was full of sorrow.
She was standing there alone, yet the patrolling drones and the seemingly inadvertent glances from passersby all hinted at her conspicuousness.
After confirming the identities of those "passersby," you decided to speak to her.
...
...My name is... Rosa...
She answered, voice timid, shivering uncontrollably, eyes darting around, trying to meet the piercing gazes directed at her from behind.
You weren't sure what exactly was going on between the parties present, so you resorted to unrelated small talk as a buffer.
Yeah... Mommy said she loved the story of "The Little Prince". She told me that I was "the only rose on the planet" to her and Daddy.
Yeah... but they've already... already passed away...
She sobbed quietly, speaking in a barely audible voice.
...Um...
...Was it you... who sent me the message...?
Rosa, what are you doing here?
Aunt Petra? I-I-I'm so sorry! I... I...
The woman in front of you scrutinized you with a stern gaze.
You must be Vanessa's classmate, the Chief from the F.O.S.
I'm Vanessa's mother.
...
No. I saw your graduation photo posted on F.O.S.'s public subscription account, that's all.
No.
Despite her heavy sorrow, the little girl spoke firmly, clutching the hem of her shirt tight.
But Mommy did tell me that... when she was a little girl, Aunt Petra's grandfather took good care of her.
...
All right, let's get out of here, Rosa. What are you standing around here for?
No...
Rosa refused to come out from behind you, still sounding rather timid.
No matter what, my connection with this child runs deeper than yours.
Impatience laced the lady's tone.
Her mother was taken in by my grandfather during the Great Evacuation. He believed she must have been a distant relative who got separated from her parents.
Though there was no evidence pointing that way and the timing of the separation didn't match, he still brought that girl named Rose home. He had her take our family name and renamed her Ann.
I would never harm young Rosa here. In fact, if you weren't the Chief, I'd find your interest in her rather suspicious.
Stop standing around here, Rosa. It's for your own good.
I'm sorry... I'm waiting for someone...
Someone told me they knew how my parents died as heroes... They told me to come here wearing my mother's hair accessory and said I'd be able to find their names here...
Died as heroes?
Ann and Rand died in a household appliance accident, right on your birthday, right in front of you, no less. Have you forgotten?
The names carved on the Dominik Memorial Square are all of the heroes who perished on the battlefield. No way you'd be able to find their names here.
Who would deliberately fool a naive child by sending such a message?
She raised her voice, gripping Rosa's shoulders tightly, as if in warning.
...
Following her words, Rosa's tears began pouring down her face like blood from a wound, yet she seemed to have lost even the strength to sob out loud.
...
Fine.
Petra, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, a gesture that reminded you of Vanessa, turned around to leave.
...Yes... my godfather's place...
Rosa lifted her hand, pointing toward the direction of the Science Council.
After inquiring with Asimov, you learned that Rosa was the orphan of his friends and seniors at work.
Asimov, still young at the time, had reluctantly agreed to become Rosa's godfather under their insistent convincing.
Even back when they were alive, Ann and Rand often worked outside of Babylonia.
Rosa grew up lonely, with the domestic robots at home as her only company. Under their guidance, she picked up a lot of concepts quite advanced for her age.
She was a true prodigy, possessing an astonishing amount of talent beneath her youthful exterior. Despite her age, she became a capable assistant of Asimov's.
Asimov declined to answer any further questions.
Long after that, Lucia mentioned the dossier she saw and the intelligence she had gathered.
She spoke about the Ascendants connected to Ravenge, about Project Winter, and about Ann and Rand, the Science Council members who died because of it.
Why did Asimov look so sorrowful when those two were mentioned?
Why would they, members of the Science Council, not work in a safe location such as Babylonia?
Or was there perhaps no longer any need to hide the true allegiance of the deceased?
Encrypted dossiers don't lie. They present a reality utterly contradictory to what you thought was the truth.
You now have a vague answer to the question he refused to answer that day.
Waking up from your reverie, you look down at the plain hair accessory once again.
You didn't notice the hair accessory back then. But now it seems that there might be a connection between Rosa and Lithos.
Tossing the hair accessory aside, you turn and set off toward another unexplored area.
As the human's silhouette disappears at the end of the corridor, the discarded hair accessory rolls off the table and begins to spin along the floor. Wherever it touches, Red Tide seeps out from underneath the walls.
The remaining Red Tide Projections, as if phantoms in a haunted painting, keep repeating the words from their owner's memories.
It's useless no matter what I do... Mister, they left too soon.
Even if, one day, I manage to create a vessel for the deceased's consciousness, they'll have no consciousness left for me... I can't save them.
I once naively believed that Rose might still be alive... But that was just wishful thinking on my part.
Mister, I want to go help them.
I know you don't like that project, but I believe it can help more people...
You've said that your current goal is still to help us survive the disaster brought by the Punishing Virus.
One can't fight against disaster without a good amount of strength... so I'd like to share some strength with humanity...
I don't want to see more people forced to face the same pain I did.
If you're worried that they will control me, that they'll abuse my powers and expose our secrets...
Please... implant a seed in my body that can kill me at any moment.
It's all right... You saved my life, so of course you can use and kill me at will.
The accessory hits the corner of the wall and stops rolling. The Red Tide Projection it stirred up also disappears into the cracks of the floor.
Like its ill-fated owner, all that remains of it are blood-red flowers blooming in the corner.
