The Revelers (Serial 1)

Act 2 - Chapter 33: Samza

We pass through Research Base Amelia's cloaking glamour bubble, revealing to Milani and Cithara our secret base of operations. Charles and Mezos prepares to land the air-taxi, gently lowering the vessel like a helicopter. They aim at the parking lot near Rowynn's shop, where Rowynn signals us for a clear landing.

The landing is bumpy and rough — not surprising since this is Charles's first time piloting the thing, but at least Mezos can be a good teacher.

After a quick shower and a change of clothes, we debrief at Rowynn's office, even Milani, who no longer smells like piss. Mr. Vahn'dien, Dr. Williams, and Dax join us as holographic avatars, bearing a resemblance to their real selves. And Ari spills the beans of the whole operation at The Solstice Sky Labs.

Vahn'dien's avatar places his finger on his chin, contemplating. "Sounds to me The Eyes is a bigger threat than CrystalCorp, especially if it involves Gunhild."

Ari asks, her chin up and her brows furrowed, "What do you guys know about Gunhild?"

A sudden silence.

Dr. Williams answers as her avatar's knuckles tap the side of her cheeks. "If the documents are true, then it seems the relationship between you and Gunhild is what I had feared for the longest time." A sudden pause as The Doc tries to find the right words to say. "I'm afraid to say it, but I believe Gunhild is your biological mother."

Ari's gaze wavers, her brows furrowing. Then she returns to face Dr. Williams's avatar. "Then if Mathilde is my sister—"

The Doc's avatar nods. "It's all coming back now. I had suspected the reason your appearance at my old orphanage had a greater significance, considering your birthplace. It seems my former colleague knew something terrible would happen to you if you remained at Homey Airport."

Cithara raises a finger. "I have additional information to share if you would like to see it. There will be some redundancies, but perhaps something new may come from it."

"Of course," The Doc says. "Hand it over to Samza. She'll relay it to me."

I pull out my tablet from my inner coat pocket and instruct, "prepare to transfer when you're ready."

Cithara pulls out a data cable from her pocket. She connects one end to a port on her cybernetic hand and the other end to a USB-C port on my tablet. "Sorry, my storage augment purposely has no wireless transmission protocols."

"It's all good," I say as my tablet detects the information stored on her storage augment. After a quick malware scan, I download the contents and forward it to Dr. Williams. Then I disconnect the USB-C cable from my tablet.

"Interesting," Dr. Williams says. "Looks like we'll need some time to sift through this, but I can already spot some new details, including the relationship between The Eyes and CrystalCorp."

"That's good to know," Ari says, "but what can we do to save Mathilde?"

I point to Milani while keeping my focus on Dr. Williams. "We have the credentials to get inside the Aether Dome. However, we have no clue what their security looks like. I'd imagine the place is full of aether-powered death robots."

Milani shakes his head. "Oh, it's much worse than that. Besides robots, the labs house aether-infused cybernetic manifestations resembling demons and biblically accurate angels, enclosed in glass tubular containers. I hate to think what would happen if those containment chambers broke open."

"Not surprising," Rowynn says. "I gander, they resemble the same monsters Helayne commanded during her reign long ago. However, if this is of Gunhild's doing, and not Helayne's—"