Shadow Slave

Sunny had no particular reason for this visit, apart from simply wanting to check on how the old man had settled in. From his first impression, the dormitory apartment was too small and bare-bones for someone of Professor Obel's stature.

There were five compact bedrooms connected to a shared living room, kitchen, and bathroom, with three of the bedrooms occupied by other people. He could hear a child's voice behind one door, which meant that there might have been entire families of refugees living here. In that regard, maybe the fact that the Professor and Beth each received an entire room for themselves was already a privilege.

'Still... what the hell...'

Maybe he should not have been surprised. Professor Obel was indeed a distinguished scientist who had made great contributions to humanity, but the Antarctic Center was the administrative center of the whole Quadrant. With two hundred million people concentrated in Falcon Scott, there must have been a whole lot of distinguished people waiting for their turn to be evacuated.

Beth led him to the kitchen and put a kettle on the stove. Now that they were not busy trying to keep the caravan from falling apart, Sunny noticed that the young woman looked a bit haggard in comparison to how she had been at LO49.

There were dark circles under her eyes, a slight uncertainty to her movements, and a grim slant to her brow. Beth's temper, however, had not changed one bit.

"Tell me straight... is the wall going to hold?"

Sunny lingered for a bit, stumped by the frank question.

"How should I know? Sure, it is going to hold... until it doesn't."

Beth scoffed, pouring synthetic tea into three cheap alloy cups.

"And yet you seem to be terribly calm."

Sunny scratched the back of his head in confusion.

"Do I seem calm? Well, I guess I am. I mean, what's the worst that can happen?"

The young woman stared at him with outrage.

"Death! You can die!"

about it for a

course. But death is definitely way better than some

by his shadowy

aloofness would look strange to

console Beth, somehow, but at that moment, Professor Obel

of you to

dining table, enjoying tea. At first, Sunny was the one doing most

now. Ah, but we expect a big assault tomorrow. Make sure to remain inside, and don't go to the surface levels of the building,

shared a glance. For some reason,

on how to behave when an air attack alert is activated. Thank you for reminding

nodded, then hesitated for a while. Eventually, he asked

I would think that you would

member of a certain group, each having

be ferried across the strait first, with all the rest placed in a long queue by a randomized algorithm. Various factors could affect one's "weight" in the algorithm, though - families with young children had a much better chance of being placed higher, for example, while people with

algorithm, which meant that non-citizens from the local version of the outskirts

'Figures...1

none of it had anything to do with Professor Obel. By all accounts, he should have been on one of the first ships out of the harbor. The giant vessels had been coursing between Falcon Scott and Eastern Antarctica for several days now, bringing many millions

old man a

Why are you

woman turned

old f... the Professor gave up his position on the priority list, saying that he wouldn't leave without his assistant. And since I have nothing to do with the high-value group, we are both stuck

a

"Is that true, Professor?"

looked

you kids don't understand. I am an old man, you know? My bones still hurt from the long weeks spent on the road. Can't

scoffed, and this time, Sunny was

kind of bullcrap

did not want to leave Beth behind... which was already stupid... if he was on

the kid he had heard earlier barged into the kitchen, holding a