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!"

it for a few

die, of course. But death is definitely way

harrowing nightmares he had been subjected to by his

look

should probably try to console Beth, somehow, but at

Major Sunless! How nice of you to spare time for this

them settled behind a small dining table, enjoying tea. At first, Sunny was the

assault tomorrow. Make sure to remain inside, and don't go to the surface levels of

shared a glance. For some reason, the young woman seemed

behave when an air attack alert

nodded, then hesitated for a while.

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

designated as a member

randomized algorithm. Various factors could affect one's "weight" in the algorithm, though -

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

'Figures...1

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

old man a

Why are you still

young woman turned to Sunny and said with

he wouldn't leave without his assistant. And since I have nothing to do with the high-value group, we are both stuck in the standard selection group now. Gods only know when we'll be assigned a placement in the queue, let alone get to

a

"Is that true, Professor?"

old man looked down in

an old man, you know? My bones still hurt from the long weeks spent on the

this time,

of bullcrap

want to leave Beth behind... which was already stupid... if he was on some self-sacrificial

mouth to say something, but at that moment, the kid he had heard earlier barged into the kitchen, holding a makeshift toy