The Revelers (Serial 1)

Act 1 - Chapter 23: Cithara

I finally receive Milani's emails. It arrives much later than I expect, but I assume it's because he had to sneak them out, which can be a challenge considering the security at The Aether Dome. The attachments arrive through a onetime burner address, which minimizes the chances of being traced back by authorities.

I pull out an old computer from a storage shelf that has no physical access to the internet — no wired or Wi-Fi. It also has two PS/2 connectors for a wired keyboard and mouse, and a VGA connector for old-school non-holographic monitors. This computer is much older than me. I suppose I could have set up a virtual machine, but the permission settings on my work computer prevents me from doing so.

Next, I insert Milani's hardware key to the computer's one and only functional USB slot to decrypt the contents. Upon opening the files, I notice the computer's firewall software displaying notifications of blocked connections. It seems the files are trying to send pings to CrystalCorps' corporate headquarters in South Korea, but since I physically mutilated the computer's networking modules, the files cannot phone home. At least the contents are still readable.

A document called VALKYR SUBJECT: MATHILDE catches my eye and I open it. Someone updated it on October 1st, 2056, so it's quite recent.

The first page begins with some vital medical information. Mathilde Ylfing was born on December 20th, 2039, 4:28 PM, at Homey Airport, Nevada, also known as Area 51, which shut down operations thirteen years ago. She is 167 centimeters tall and weighs 50 kilograms without her WarGames armor. The girl also has white hair and red eyes. Aliases include Ruby Solstice, Ruby Sorensen, and Mathilde Sorensen. It lists her mother as Gunhild Ylfing and her father as "Sorensen Father Machine," whatever the heck that might be. Mathilde's occupation is "Beta Cybernetic War Machine Vessel." Quite extreme, I'd say. There's even a colored photo of Mathilde's face, showing the scars often hidden behind a porcelain mask.

Mathilde's current caretaker lists me by full name and job title, Cithara Jillian Orphea, Senior Mechanical Engineer, Boulder Beach Labs, Nevada. It also lists previous caretakers with one of those names being all too familiar to me: Dr. May-Lynn Kahananui Williams.

Ylfing, I wonder. If this document is true, then Mathilde's real last name is Ylfing, not Sorensen, the latter name I have on many of Mathilde's files at this lab.

I continue reading and skimming through the document. It lists that Mathilde suffers from chronic amnesia and has difficulty remembering things. Caretakers at the Homey Labs came to this diagnosis when Mathilde was six years old. I already know she has amnesia, but didn't know how long she had it. That's quite a long time.

Mathilde also suffers from psychosis, though the notes in this document believe it's linked to her amnesia. I'm certain her nightmarish episodes can account for that diagnosis.

I browse through more classified documents. Fortunately, I have a set of declassification hacker apps that could reveal hidden information. It doesn't always work, but when it does, I get some interesting results. This time, I get enough to make some sense of what's going with Mathilde along with the origins of the WarGames.

As popular conspiracy theories suggest, the government has a connection with the WarGames. In fact, Lyss Stirling, long before she became President, co-founded The WarGames with CrystalCorp CEO Mun Seul-Ki a year after the War of Machines. Stirling listed her name as "Anonymous Benefactor" upon the WarGames' creation. However, Stirling suspended her business ties with the sports federation when she became America's Vice President and then later President. Years later, on Mathilde's 13th birthday, Pentagon officials implanted Mathilde to oversea the WarGames as The Grand Maestro. It seems the President thinks Mathilde, despite her age, is special enough to run The WarGames.