Story Reader / Interlude / Starry Tales / Story
Selena does not know how long she has knelt there for.
For a moment, she forgets she isn't a human anymore, but a Construct.
Why does she feel sick to her stomach? Why are there tears streaming from her eyes?
Why have they been abandoned?
This must be her punishment.
My family died on Earth. I wasn't able to hold their hands as they died, but in their last moments, all they held in their eyes was only hatred, not your so-called blessing.
Those who were abandoned had only hatred and those who fled had only remorse. This Eden arose from enmity and countless corpses.
People would die just like animals in that war, meaninglessly.
Without faith, without glory, and most definitely, without forgiveness and blessing.
There's just hatred and anger that knows no bounds. Damn! Why did we have to face all of that? Why did it have to be us who were there? Why did we get to a point when we were forced to destroy everything?
The soldier was right. The only thing she feels at this moment is rage and hatred.
Why have they been abandoned? They've been fighting for humanity all this while, so why have they been abandoned?!
She now knows what a hideous thing rage is.
Only when life becomes nothing more than just statistics will you understand the horrors of war.
When humans can no longer continue being humans... only then will you understand the helplessness war brings.
She understands. She finally understands it all now.
Only at this moment when she is on the receiving end of it all does she understand the anguish that laid beneath the soldier's accusatory words.
The words of Allen, the WGAA leader, rings in her ears.
Your opera once took Babylonia by storm and the WGAA thought highly of your career. There was no doubt you had real talent and skills.
You come from a wealthy background, and your career is supposed to be as bright as a diamond. There is no compelling reason for you to be a Construct.
So why did you become a Construct and join the Archaeological Team?
She did not know how to respond to Allen then, but the answer is as clear as day now.
It is because of her arrogance.
That arrogance is rooted in every fiber of her being.
She had depicted a hell that did not exist, eulogized false ideals of war and peace, and extolled her perceived ideas of humanity's glory.
What shameless arrogance that was. She had "an epiphany" during the soldier's rebuke and was determined to redeem herself for her arrogance. That made her determined to become a Construct.
Because as a Construct, she would one day have the chance to step onto a real battlefield, to truly experience hell for herself, and with that, she would personally compose a 'reality' that no one can find fault with.
It was not until she was truly in hell that she realized how arrogant her so-called notion of "redemption" was.
To think she became a Construct for such a foolish reason. To think she entered the battlefield for such stupidity.
It was wrong of her, she knew that now. She should not have left her comfortable and cozy home for such naive and frivolous reasons, or her half-baked epiphany.
What significance did the art that she dearly loved have?
What significance did those operas and music hold, that she had her fought so hard for them till this point.
What this place needs are weapons that can eliminate enemies and zealousness that can end wars. Her ludicrous beliefs about art are nothing but self-reassurance, no different from self-paralysis.
She can now see the error of her ways.
Please, somebody, save me!
Please, anybody, take me away from here!
Such weak thoughts flooded her M.I.N.D.
She has to get out of here. She has to get out of here. She has to get out of here... There is nowhere to run.
Another rustling sound came from the other end of the corridor. She instinctively stands up, alert to the crisis at hand. She holds on to the door for support and looks behind her.
A maroon light pulses in the darkness.
The enemies gather and pack the corridor tightly, their eyes on the geometric core shard in her arms.
Perhaps death in battle here will be a form of deliverance after all.
The thought flashed through her mind, but is suppressed by another.
I'm sorry we couldn't get you out, but... Selena, the shard you're carrying may be a critical key and you must get it back to Babylonia, no matter what the cost...
And what of it? Babylonia has abandoned them. There's nowhere to go back to anymore.
You must get it back to Babylonia, no matter what the cost...
You must get it back to Babylonia, no matter what the cost...
I must... get it back to Babylonia, no matter what the cost...
She is repeating what she hears in her M.I.N.D., partly trying to convince herself.
I must get it back to Babylonia, no matter what the cost.
An enemy pounces on her and at that very moment. With one hand, she slams her weapon into the floor hard, and with the other, opens the airlock.
The vacuum of space instantly sucks everything in the entire corridor out.
Selena holds onto her weapon's handle for dear life to avoid being sucked out into space with the enemies.
She is stuck in the exit, and a large number of mechanoids slam into her before being swept away. She can only grit her teeth in pain.
Selena looks in the direction they have been sucked in, and sure enough, there is nothing outside. There is no spaceship to meet them, only stars that seem permanently sewn into the backdrop of the cosmos.
They are so far away, and so, they are everlasting.
Selena turns away and once all enemies in the corridor has been sucked out, she closes the airlock with great difficulty.
I must... find a way... to check if there are any survivors.
She drags her weary injured body back the way she came.
Selena did not expect that he would still be alive.
To think he can still be alive in this state.
His limbs are all gone except for his left hand. Half his head and the components within it are missing as well. It is surprising that the broken speech module is still able to operate at a minimal level.
When the Archaeological Team left, he was not damaged to this extent. A fierce battle must have occurred here after that.
Who... are...?
It seems his sound reception module is still functioning. Even under such circumstances, it is able to pick up her footsteps.
Selena walks to his side and gently kneels beside him. With her hand, she gently holds his broken palm.
Is it...?
It's me.
She chokes back a sob, answering him gently and confidently.
Oh, it's... it's you... from the Archaeological Team... Se... Selena... was it?
His voice sounds like it comes from a rusted windpipe, intermittent and with a quality similar to a steel wire scratching against an iron plate.
Why... did you... come back?
Did backup... come?
No, they didn't. Babylonia's abandoned us. We've been betrayed.
For a second, she cannot control the tears flooding her eyes and so she tilts her head upward so that they would not fall.
It is strange indeed. Why is it that even though they have already given up their human bodies, they still have to keep their M.I.N.D. stable by simulating exclusively human physiological systems?
Why is it that even though they've become Constructs, they are still unable to leave their human weakness behind?
Yes, backup has arrived. Don't worry, everyone's being saved.
That's... really... great.
But... why... don't I hear any footsteps?
Lying begets more lying.
Perhaps your sound reception module has been damaged and is not picking up more distant sounds.
But don't worry. The medics will come and take you away soon. We're Constructs. We just have to switch to a new body and we'll be fine.
The information... and sample...
Have been delivered.
She repeats herself to make her words more convincing.
Don't worry, they've been delivered.
If he cannot be saved, at least let him pass on without regrets.
Okay...
His hand suddenly starts quivering.
That is when Selena realized that he has seen through her lies.
But they have both chosen to remain silent.
Thank you...
...I've done nothing to deserve your thanks. Rather, it is I who should be thanking you for saving me then.
The Construct shakes his head with great difficulty.
When your team... called you Selena...
I remembered why I seem... to have seen you before...
It was at Babylonia's opera house... wasn't it?
I remember... you were... holding an opera performance there.
There was a scene... Your aria was the accompanying music, sung acapella style... That's why... your voice was so familiar.
I thought it was strange. You were... human then... Why did you suddenly become a Construct... I didn't recognize you immediately.
Selena is caught off-guard that a stranger knows about her past and freezes, as if ashamed. She replies.
Those are just some things not worth mentioning...
There's nothing... not worth mentioning... I remember it clearly.
That was the requiem for... the dying protagonist.
His words brought her back to that time in her past, a time that she has buried deep in her heart.
Do you really think that when you're out on the front lines, the world is still as orderly as it is in Babylonia? It would be utterly impossible for that grand funeral service you had in your show to actually happen on the front lines.
And a eulogy with accompanying funeral music? Pfft... We don't even have time to attend to the cries of the living, so how on Earth would we have the time to comfort the dead?
There are too many who died, just like stars in the night sky. No one remembers their names, nor the place where they fell.
It was utter nonsense and hopeless naivety to dedicate a requiem to the death of a single soldier... That was what that soldier had told her then.
She was so ashamed of her ignorance then that the accusation haunted her even her dreams.
Why was she composing songs? Why was she writing librettos? Why was she singing? And now, why is she fighting?
She did not know.
Oh? Even now, as you lie on the brink of death, you've chosen to condemn her naivety?
It was just like her encounter with that soldier all over again. She purses her lips, closes her eyes and waits to be judged.
But judgement does not come.
Before that... I always thought... when humans died... there was nothing left. When a Construct is broken, they're just scrap metal. No one remembers.
I thought... no one would... care... but... you sang for him...
Selena is taken aback.
That was... the most beautiful voice... I've ever heard in my entire life...
She suddenly feels the urge to stop him from going on.
It was nothing but a lame method of expression. An important character in the opera had died, so naturally, it necessitated an aria to give voice to the emotions. It was just an awkward, presumptuous eulogy.
Please don't go on, it was just...
It was just her childish fantasy, nothing more than wishful thinking on her part—that is what she is about to say before he interrupts her.
Just... naivety.
But... it was... truly...
...Beautiful.
If everything was... really like that... how nice... would that be?
I'm... sorry. We... didn't fight hard enough.
That's why... someone like you has to come to a place like this... and encounter... such situations.
But could you... sing for me... that song you... sang then?
...
It'll be my honor...
The tears that have been welling up in her eyes finally fall, as she gently kisses the back of the other Construct's broken hand.
She has been plagued by self-doubt for a long time, never finding the answers she has been looking for.
To think that at a time and in a place like this, and from another in the same position as her...
She has found redemption flooding in.
That's the greatest honor I have ever received... Sir.
There are some differences between a Construct's voice module and a human throat, so she fumbles a little at first.
But she quickly gets the hang of it.
Producing the most beautiful sounds possible is an instinct she was born with.
She croons for a long time.
A very, very long time...
Until the tears on her face have dried.
