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!"

thought about it for a

But death is

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

his aloofness would look strange to a

probably try to console Beth, somehow, but at that moment, Professor Obel finally appeared - sparing

Major Sunless! How nice of you to

enjoying tea.

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, no matter

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

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

then hesitated for a while. Eventually, he asked in

are you still here? I would

city was designated as a member of a

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

level also affected the algorithm, which meant that non-citizens from the local version of the

'Figures...1

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

Why are

young woman

it or not, the 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 in the standard selection group now. Gods only know when we'll be assigned a placement in the

a

"Is that true, Professor?"

old man looked

still hurt from the long weeks spent on the road. Can't I rest a little before jumping on

this time, Sunny was inclined

kind of bullcrap reason is

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

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