The night rain over Port Podesta has not let up.
Outside the window, red streaks of light slide down the glass, throwing distorted shadows onto the floor.
Inside, the room is quiet. Only the sound of the rain remains.
Nngh—
The young woman lies on the bed, her lips moving faintly. Her limbs still twitch from time to time.
Ophelia...
Helentine kneels by the bed, her sleeves pushed past her elbows, binding the girl's bleeding wounds tight with gauze.
I've done what I can for now.
But something's wrong... Her pulse is barely there, and she's so cold.
She speaks without lifting her fingers from the bandages.
A mechanical spider lowers itself from the ceiling, its tiny legs testing the air before landing softly on Helentine's fingertip.
She lets the slight, cool weight rest on her knuckle, then slowly closes her palm around it.
...I've made some "adjustments" to the hotel's central system.
Wynne, and this...
I'm Leia! Hi, nice to meet you!
And Leia... will both be registered as local residents now. That should keep you two from running into any more identity issues, or at least spare you some trouble.
...
Helentine pauses to consider her words, then looks at the woman dressed like a reporter.
Wynne... It's been a long time, hasn't it?
Oh? You two know each other?
Helentine parts her lips, groping for the right words. It feels as though she has too much to say and nothing she can grasp at all.
I mean... we were friends, a long time ago, I think. But... huh?
A sharp pain stabs between Wynne's brows. She presses a hand to her head, the words she was about to say suddenly gone.
Why do I... you...?
Helentine shuts her eyes, and only after a long hesitation does she slowly begin to speak.
Both you and Ophelia should...
Helentine pauses for a moment.
You should have... died back in 2163. Because of the Punishing Virus.
As a war correspondent who fell in the line of duty, Wynne.
...What? Helentine, what are you saying?
Wynne goes rigid.
2163? War correspondent? Punishing Virus? Me?
She points to herself.
I've been in Port Podesta this whole time, though?
Wait... Look, my camera still has all my photos from these past years. Let me show you...
Without waiting for her to finish, Helentine slips a yellowed newspaper clipping from her notebook.
It is a list of casualties. Fourth row, fifth column. The name "Wynne" is right there.
Tucked behind the list is a war correspondent's ID from that time.
I went to confirm it at the time... I was hoping it was just someone else with the same name.
I found this among your personal effects.
I... I don't remember ever having this ID...
When did I...
Wynne's mouth opens, but nothing comes out.
I... I didn't...!
Another sharp pain rips through Wynne's nerves.
Ngh...
Wynne grabs fistfuls of her own hair, slips from the couch, and drops to her knees on the floor.
Wynne...!
Leia finds the painkillers and guides Wynne back onto the couch, steadying her.
What have I... been doing all these years...?
...No, wait. I... these last few years. I wasn't in Port Podesta. Port Podesta wasn't like this.
...Rest for now, Wynne. Don't try to piece together the past just yet. We'll talk more once you're feeling a little better.
...
Wynne gives a vacant nod. Leia eases her back onto the sofa and pulls the blanket snug around her.
The room settles into silence. Only the rain outside the window can be heard.
So from what you said earlier... Ophelia's in the same boat as Wynne?
Her voice sounds different from usual. The playful lilt at the end of her sentences is gone.
When Wynne first told me, I thought it was just rumors...
Uh... it's a whole thing. Long story short... someone robbed a tomb.
Leia digs a newspaper out of Wynne's bag and unfolds it across the table.
The front-page headline is circled in red ink: "Erhorn Family Cemetery Burglarized."
Intel came in about a grave robbery, and a body was stolen. I followed the trail. Every lead pointed here, to Port Podesta.
Once I got here, a contact put me in touch with Wynne. I figured the whole "dead coming back" thing was just hearsay, but now...
She looks at Wynne, still shivering on the couch, then over at Ophelia lying in the bed.
Man... what a mess. What is even going on here?
My father... is the most likely suspect.
The Spelmin family has always governed Port Podesta. Father would never allow anyone to disrupt the order here.
If an agent really is in Port Podesta, if the dead really are returning, there's no way he doesn't know.
That's what the people in the port district think too. People have been disappearing for a while now. A lot of them have come down with something. The symptoms are just like what Ophelia and Wynne are going through.
The Tidal Hub is connected to the whole city's groundwater. Everyone's convinced something got dumped into the water supply.
So they've been wanting to investigate what's inside the Tidal Hub. And they're willing to help Wynne and me get past the border wall, into the city proper.
The Tidal Hub... That's my father's property too.
Helentine looks down at her sister's pale face, then lifts her gaze to you beside her.
[player name]... We have to go on the offensive now.
Tomorrow's diplomatic conference is at the Tidal Hub. It's too good an opportunity to pass up.
Most of Port Podesta's forces will be tied up at the conference. With security spread thin, we'll have an easier time searching the rest of the building.
Father especially will have his attention elsewhere.
...For anyone who might get in our way, I'll handle them ahead of time with my spiders.
Her fingertips give a faint twitch.
I don't have clearance anyway. So I'll head to the Tidal Hub perimeter tomorrow and wait for you two. I'll be your backup.
Once you shake loose, I'll find a way to meet up with you.
Uh, I've gotta ask, though... aren't we a little shorthanded here?
This is getting deeper by the second. Should we call this in to Babylonia?
Helentine shakes her head.
...My father is watching our every move. And he's already on edge about Babylonia's involvement.
Exactly. And we don't have anything solid enough to formally charge him with yet.
Helentine stays quiet for a moment, then her eyes flick toward Ophelia again.
Just then, Wynne's voice comes from the side, weak and unsteady.
I'll stay with Ophelia... Don't worry about us...
The state I'm in... I'd just hold you back.
Hey. None of that. Lie down and rest.
We've got Babylonia behind us, and the Gray Raven Commandant right here. How would we even lose?
Helentine regards Wynne on the couch and says nothing for a moment.
...Thank you, Wynne.
She looks at her sister one last time, then slips her hand back beneath the blanket and smooths the edge.
Beyond the window, a brighter flash of lightning splits the night.
The room bleaches white for a heartbeat, then settles back into its dim, damp quiet.
Somewhere
Port Podesta
A dense grid of holographic screens floats in the air, slicing every corner of the city into countless fragments.
Streets, the port, storefronts along Hillston Street, hotel corridors, the entrance to the Tidal Hub...
Heh. How can a dead person have an identity?
A little spider's trick is nowhere near as efficient as the Punishing Virus...
Let me lend you a helping hand.
The man cloaked in shadow taps the screen, silently pulling up the records of a deceased individual from Port Podesta's database.
Identity verified. ▆▅▃▅, welcome to Port Podesta.
Grant administrator permissions to Helentine Spelmin.
Helentine Spelmin, permission authentication complete.
Don't thank me... I'm only hoping you uninvited guests might disturb the Sefirah's slumber a little.
He chuckles quietly and swipes away the hotel room feed, the "scheme" dismissed. The next scene loads: inside the Tidal Hub.
Lithos and Tavis still stand before the vast observation window, their eyes fixed on the Sefirah beyond the glass.
All my pieces are on the board, Lithos. It's your move now.
On the screen, Lithos seems to be staring absently off to one side.
He tilts his head a fraction, then slowly turns his gaze toward the center of the lens.
Through the screen, he appears to look past all the data and static, straight at the man watching from the other side.
(Found you...)
