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 few

die, of course. But death is definitely way better

harrowing nightmares he had been subjected to by his shadowy steed. It seemed that he had developed an abnormally high tolerance to pain and

course, his aloofness would look

probably try to console Beth, somehow, but at

nice of you to spare time for this

three of them settled behind a small dining table, enjoying tea. At first,

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

a glance. For some reason, the young woman seemed to be unhappy with

instructions on how to behave when an air attack

then hesitated for a while. Eventually, he asked in

to ask, Professor... but why are you still here? I would think that you would be

was designated as a member of a certain

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

non-citizens from the local version of

'Figures...1

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 of people

the old man

Professor. Why are

the young woman turned to Sunny and

assistant. And since I have nothing to do with the high-value group, we are both stuck in the standard

a couple of

"Is that true, Professor?"

old man looked

understand. I am an old man, you know? My bones still hurt from the long weeks spent on the road. Can't I rest a little before jumping on

time, Sunny

of bullcrap

the Professor simply did not want to leave Beth behind... which was already

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