Ultima Ratio

Chapter 76: Puzzle Pieces

Akira sat on the floor of the plane, leaning against the crates of supplies while she held a curled-up Danya close. Even though Danya had stopped shaking several minutes ago, her head still rested on Akira's chest while her gaze was an empty daze. Her arms were wrapped limply around Akira's waist, and every so often, her inhales were deep and shuddering.

Akira couldn't blame her. The memories from the mind reader were now seared into Akira's own head, and while none of them could know Danya's exact emotions during those events, they could certainly guess. Akira didn't know what the others predicted, but her own imagination wasn't pretty.

So Akira tightened her arms around Danya, dedicating a hand to soothingly brush Danya's hair. Victor Garza may have manipulated Danya with his so-called affection, but Akira refused to do the same. As if to emphasize her resolve, Akira pressed a kiss to Danya's head, hoping that Danya could feel the truth of Akira's heart.

The others were scattered around the plane, silently mulling over the recent revelations in their own ways. Quyen and Izzy remained huddled by the mind reader monitor, muttering softly to each other as they replayed the footage. Sam, who had been rummaging through boxes earlier, was using one of the crates as a table as he tore apart MREs; Jivan assisted him as needed, alternating between handing Sam supplies and glancing nervously at Danya's small figure. Elodie mimicked Jivan's concern as she and Navin finished cleaning up splintered fragments of the chair Danya had been sitting in. Makana kept to the cockpit, their gaze focused on the island outside the windshield.

A few minutes later, Sam slowly approached them with a disposable bowl between his hands. As he crouched down about a meter away from them, a savory scent wafted into the air, along with the steam that rose from the dish.

"Hungry?" he asked, setting the bowl down between them. "It's tomato bisque—sort of. I had to make some substitutions, given the situation, but I think it turned out decent."

For a moment, Danya didn't move, and Akira's heart ached with worry. But after a few seconds, Danya's eyes came into focus, and after briefly studying Sam, then his offering, she slowly sat up and accepted it.

Sam tried to hide his proud grin as Danya began to eat. "Careful, it's hot."

She winced slightly as she ate the first spoonful, and after a brief pause, she turned to Sam.

"It's good," she muttered. "Thanks."

The compliment lit up Sam's face in a heartbeat.

"And people say I'm weird," Izzy said, jabbing a finger at the computer monitor. "This guy is going around thinking he's a god!"

"And he's a real creep about it," Jivan added from behind Sam. "As if his narcissism alone wasn't bad enough." They shuddered exaggeratedly.

"Personal feelings aside, there has to be tactical info we can get from this," Quyen said, her eyes still glued to the mind reader monitor. "Something new that can tell us how we can take Concordia down."

"You mean Garza," Jivan corrected, but their narrowed eyes at Quyen showed that they knew what Quyen was implying.

Sure enough, Quyen sighed heavily before turning around. After pausing at the sight of Danya's hunched figure slowly drinking the soup one spoonful at a time, she sighed again.

"Look, I know I'm going to sound like an ass no matter how I phrase this," she said. "But we have no way of proving that these memories are entirely accurate. The mind reader can't show the factual truth; it only shows what the user believes to be the truth. Sure, Danya may believe everything we saw really happened, but those memories could just be a byproduct of everything around her."