DV-1 Trimounts Streets

This is the third time you've paged through Ptilopsis's personal log, Doctor.

Any new discoveries?

Ptilopsis has a kind of special chip implanted in her brain.

'Device #9'—Mayer calls it. Guessing that's Rhine Lab's internal codename for that tech.

It's plugged up there directly into her nervous system. Functions as a regular part of her mind, and logs data on neural activity in each region and lobe all the while.

Which means you've just been looking at every last thing Ptilopsis's visual processors—her own two eyes—have been seeing.

Columbia's Pioneer Team members come from all backgrounds.

Youth dissatisfied with their lives, middle-aged couples drowning in debt, petty criminals who don't want to end up behind bars—

And of course, Infected powerless to cough up exorbitant insurance, who don't resign themselves to being shut away in quarantine zones for 'treatment.'

I'm more interested in the agrypnotic Franks has been using, personally.

I love a drink after work as much as the next, but all that fluid intake on the job's bound to cut up your train of thought.

From the logs Ptilopsis keeps synchronized with us, we can tell that along with her, there's our other Rhodes Island-partnered operator, Elena in Rhine Lab's Energy Section...

Along with Rhine Lab Originium Art Section's Director, Dorothy Franks. That's everyone caught up in this abduction by the Pioneers.

And practically simultaneously, Saria informed us Rhine Lab Ecological Section's Director Muelsyse went missing after she sent out an SOS, and there's no telling if she's currently alive or dead.

At present, looks like it.

......

Welcome to Columbia.

Sky-high odds Rhine Lab is already in crisis, if things are pushing Saria to ask Rhodes Island for help.

Lucky the landship's nearby, or else we'd be hard-pressed to make an expeditious response.

The kidnapping's gone down at a new site about a hundred or so klicks out from Trimounts, but Kal'tsit's concerned this has something to do with the experiments that got shut down a while back.

The stuff they show to outsiders indicates it's your typical testing grounds, currently in the middle of construction.

Kal'tsit's cleared us to access all relevant files before we enter Trimounts.

The city's the beating heart of Columbian science and technology. Hundreds of tech companies are headquartered in Trimounts.

The 'Diαbolic Crisis,' 'Loken Watertank,' the 'Lumberyard.'

Each name means something to one of our Rhodes Island operators, and behind their fronts, ties to hundreds of similar experiments.

Most of these experiments have involved Originium's mutative effects on living beings' cells, and each one has been incredibly dangerous.

In Columbia, more often than not, tech giants like Rhine Lab aren't going to participate directly in such high-risk experiments.

They'll have smaller-scale organizations carry them out on their behalf, hire a Pioneer Team, construct a suitable site out in the wasteland fringes of the city to execute their experimental work.

In this case, Ptilopsis is at Site 359, which is one of those.

Work? I'm not gracing my time there with the word 'work.'

Those megacorps 'plagiarized' what I created, and applied it all in places it wasn't meant to be.

See that billboard, about fifty meters out? 'Volvort Kochinski's Automatic Popcorn-a-Tron for the home—faster, sweeter, every time.'

I still have the prototype sketch for its energy core on my terminal.

It was supposed to be used in automatic wasteland road-cleaners at first, but my manager decided it'd never sell as a product.

He says, what kind of HR company's spending on better equipment for Pioneers?

Brought my mind to Rhodes Island after that. Our course-clearer team in Engineering's using the very latest model.

I've long seen it coming. Be it Volvort Kochinski or Rhine Lab, in the end, all these so-called tech firms are going to be destroyed by their own creations—

Because they've never respected the creations themselves.

......

Was that a laugh line, Doctor?

Because what you said isn't sci-fi flick material, or a dumb joke.

Chances are it's tomorrow's news.

You mean her occasional stints as target practice for my new weapons?

She can stop interrupting my work with her ridiculous ideas, and then she won't need to fear me.

......

As a partner, Logos is pretty good.

But can you give him a reminder, Doctor?

If he could cut some of his speechcraft, mission times would go down by at least 30%, and I could spend more time on my actual job.

Done processing the intel, Doctor.

This is as much useful info as we have for now. I've already set the most important files to top priority on lookup. You can read them via PRTS at any time.

Ptilopsis's logs haven't been updated past this point.

Device #9's data transmission should be more stable ever since Mayer adjusted it.

So unless something physically happened to Ptilopsis...

Silence will notify us of any developments at the site as they happen.

Saria's copied the info. She'll be rendezvousing with us in an hour.

Doctor, any other proposals for the time we have left?

I'm a mechanist. I'm no detective's assistant.

Alright, Doctor. In that case, we move now.

Here's hoping I'm back on the landship by tomorrow, at my beloved workbench.

Anything new with the people on-site?

Nothing, officer.

You shot word to your Director Clooney or whatever at Rhine, right? When exactly will he be here?

Director Clooney's in a... meeting right now.

Meeting? You're telling me he's still in a meeting? What kind of meeting's more important than his employees' lives?

Dammit!

Give me those binoculars.

Uh... okay.

You don't think those Pioneers are gonna follow through, do you?

Let me tell you—they will.

Push them enough, and they'll do any fricking thing.

So you mean our colleagues at the site could be in mortal danger?

Who are you?

Olivia Silence, Rhine Lab researcher, and Rhodes Island Pharmaceuticals-partnered Medic Operator.

This is my colleague from Rhodes Island, Mr. Greyy with the Engineering Department.

H-Hello! I'm a Rhodes Island electrical engineer... but I'm still interning!

Rhodes Island? What kind of useless crap does that company do?

Er...

Forget it, save the explanation. One day passes in Trimounts and a barge of fresh company names unloads out of the sewers.

You're Rhine Lab, right? Got any pull in the office?

Pull? Ma'am, I'm not too sure what you mean...

Forget it, I knew you wouldn't be in charge.

You strike me as one of those... eggheads-swimming-in-books types, like the hostages they've got.

You guys and those guys might as well live on different planets.

I heard they were the Pioneers working at this site...

Pioneers.

The name rings too nice for anything except billboards.

And I know better than anyone what kind of people they are. Convicts, gamblers, Infected who can't stick the medical fees... Nothing to lose by the time they went out to the wastes.

Excuse me... could we try and talk to them?

You might have realized already, but Dr. Silence and I are both Infected. We're in a place to understand their situation.

Rhine Lab makes stupid cash, doesn't it? So does Rhodes Island or whatever?

You've got these, let's say 'well-intentioned,' companies paying your insurance premiums—that's the key thing.

That's why you can shut up about understanding them.

Premiums? Which part exactly is...

It's the way things work here in Columbia. A policy aimed at Infected.

Ma'am, please trust us—Rhodes Island is a pharmaceutical corporation dedicated to addressing Infected issues.

Addressing issues? If I gave you a crossbow and told you to square away those kidnappers from here, would you do it?

...I couldn't.

I'm a doctor.

What about him?

Me? N-No, I don't think we've reached the point where we have to resort to violence...

Then it looks to me like you two can't help much at all.

......

No sign of anyone coming, sir.

They're playing it cool.

Say, you think the megacorps might not, uh... care if their hires die?

What with those two being Infected and all.

Don't give me that.

Infected aren't subhuman or nothing. At the very least, we don't wanna treat each other like that.

Alright... said that on the Pioneer recruitment ads too.

Well, count our lucky stars the ads ain't all lies, then.

Would you kindly drop the communicator, Dr. Urbica?

......

He said drop it! No funny business!

Alright.

I'm... I'm putting it down. Please don't hurt us.

Sir, she was sending messages!

Bring me those comms, Sam.

Hmm. Only half-typed. Didn't get to send anything yet.

......

These are our exact coordinates. You want them to send a drone in or something?

Let me give you another idea. Change this to an SOS, send it to your tutor, your manager... whoever.

Tell them—I'm waiting. And my patience is running out.

What exactly are you after?

Well that's wicked simple, doctor.

Me and my friends here, we all just wanna leave this place alive. That's all.

Director, finally, you're back! Can you spare a moment?

You're... Ben. Ben from Structural.

Y-You remember my name?

Call me Ferdinand. Nine whole directors at Rhine Lab and all.

Sir... Ferdinand.

My next meeting is in ten minutes.

I can spare you seven of those.

Ahh... alright, thank you, thank you.

Sir, do you know where Control is right now?

I've got Structural's application for equipment purchases here. Control was supposed to give us an answer three days ago... but we haven't heard anything from her.

Structural's having to suspend a lot of its experiments right now...

Give me the form.

—

Alright, go procure.

Did... Did you just sign? The handbook says large-scale equipment purchases this expensive have to go through Control...

How long have you been with Rhine Lab? Just a couple of months?

Yes, sir... I reported in a month ago.

See this site in front of you?

Huh?

Isn't it monumental?

Fifteen years ago, this place was still wasteland, not even a single nomadic plate yet.

You wouldn't see Rhine Lab on a foldout of Trimounts back in those days.

I...

Meet Parvis for tea, if you get the chance.

You've got a lot to learn, Ben. And you won't find it in your handbook.

A-Alright... Got it, sir.

......

Well look at that, I still have four minutes left.

Not often you call me when it's light out, Ferdinand.

Ho'olheyak.

Are you done with everything I asked?

Mmhm... at least three empty seats for Rhine Lab's directors' meeting today?

No. That's not enough.

Oh? Which director's next?

Are you finally fed up with the old goat behind the chimeric organism experiments, or do you want the dreamer at the test site to never come back?

Word is Rhodes Island's people went to the site.

The experiment's almost complete. I don't want anyone getting in the way before it's done, understood?

You want me on site?

No, no need for that.

How cruel. Your assistant's one of the hostages, isn't she? I saw that Elena girl once. She's as pretty as she is hardworking.

I had a feeling you'd like her.

She's with Energy. She can wrangle the Pioneers.

You keep an eye on developments in the city.

It's unlikely Rhodes Island would only send two operators to the site. Don't forget, Saria's had a line to them all this time.

Oh? Your Defense Director again?

Saria's already stalled our experiments long enough... Both the Colonel and I are running short of patience.

Remember, they can't find anything this time.

This is the place, Doctor.

The last message we got from Saria was sent from this alley.

There's hundreds of these alleys in Trimounts.

Here to there is about a half-hour trip by car.

That's the exact sector she was in.

She was waiting for Muelsyse. They'd agreed to meet at a specific time.

If she wasn't being pursued, she'd never choose to set foot in this alley.

No matter who it was, acting in the open streets would've obviously been too risky.

Right... search complete.

'Ability to manipulate water molecules'—would that be energy conversion-type or matter restructuring-type in terms of Originium Arts? No matter which principle it is, it's powerful at a glance.

'Water molecules'—no flaws visible to the naked eye?

Even more interesting. Experimental research folks and us mechanists are alike. Our powers of observation are usually razor-keen.

If it fooled even Silence and Mayer, then it's not your ordinary Arts illusion.

There's a couple of scorch marks on the ground.

Not very wide-range... whoever did it, all signs point to some kind of technical equipment used to heat the air surrounding Muelsyse.

Considering her Arts are heavily dependent on water molecules, her opponent must've known her very well.

You mean...

They might be a Rhine insider too?

Doctor, watch out!

That was an energy weapon.

Shot from deep inside the alley. Enemy's only thirty meters from us, give or take.

And getting closer.

Doctor, you'll want to stay behind me.

Defense system active.

——

......

Dr. Doctor, I've never seen this model of power armor before. It's new.

Without testing, I can't tell you exactly how destructive any weapon hooked up to this could get.

And by that, I mean we need a change of plans.

Escape system active—now get on my back!

—

I... can't believe it.

I had signal interference active and everything. Even Closure's own latest drone gen wouldn't detect our location.

What sensory tech is this power armor using?

I don't want to draw attention...

Hold on tight, Doctor.

10% power, aim—

Bingo.

—

......

Clear damage to right arm plating detected.

No reduction in speed. Showed no signs of slowing when hit, either.

Who's in that suit? Do they not feel pain?

—

—

Damage to left arm.

Damage to lower right leg.

Doctor, it's not reacting to the damage at all.

If we want to stop it, I'll need to paralyze its power core in one shot—

Come on, this makes no sense.

Even the most well-trained soldier wouldn't have this much tolerance.

You're right.

By mere fact of living, no individual can wholly suppress their most basic nervous responses.

—

You—pierced that power armor's core barehanded?

That's a might of mights. And definitely a lot quieter than my defensive cannon.

Doctor, looks like the Bureau of, uh... Originium whatever won't be taking us in for attempted bombing today.

No need, Doctor, Mechanist.

I'm the one getting Rhodes Island involved in Rhine's internal affairs—

I have a duty to ensure you don't come to any harm.

Ferdinand was right on the money.

Rhodes Island's people have already found Saria.

Should we maintain pursuit, ma'am?

If I stuffed you inside that power armor just now, do you think you'd survive?

......

Relax.

Just a hypothetical.

Ma'am, no matter how powerful Saria is, there's only three of them.

We've got them way outnumbered, and outgunned with our secret weapon.

Underestimate the enemy at your own peril.

Haven't you been around Rhine Lab enough to learn? The punier a scientist looks, the harder she might just pulverize you.

Y-You mean that mechanist, or the professor-looking one with the hidden face? They can't be stronger than Rhine's Defense Director, right?

Rhodes Island... they've got talent for days.

Let's go. I'm in love with that hypothetical just now, and I've got a few new ideas I want to try out.

......

Good evening, Colonel.

Clooney...

Give me a rundown of what's going on at the site.

Just minor boat-rocking... You know how hard it is for Pioneers to be satisfied, no matter how generous you get with their terms.

Initiative is their strong point, and it forms the basis of Columbia's endless expansion, but sometimes it carries with it a little... hassle.

So it's hassle. Unhassle it, then.

I want to see the results you promised, not Rhine Lab in the gossip rags.

Remember, you aren't the only tech company in Columbia.

Understood.

Rest assured, Colonel.

Rhine Lab's products will not let you down.

Sir, got a whole crew wanting out of this now.

They say your plan's hopeless, that nobody's gonna listen to us. We can try everything we want, we'll never get our voices out.

......

They're also asking who cares what Rhine Lab's up to.

Like, we just need to get this work done sooner, get our money, move onto the next place and keep going.

As for the guys who... went missing, well, their luck just ran out. The Pioneer Teams out in the deep wastes see a lot more dead every year than we do, anyway.

I get it.

Tell them to just hold on a little longer. I'll bring our people back.

So what's your plan?

I'm gonna head out for a bit.

Out? Isn't... isn't that too dangerous?

If the cops sent sharpshooters, they might just be waiting for you to come out.

Sounds like a good deal to me.

Wh-What? You're keeping your head together, right?

A police sharpshooter, right? Might just be an old friend of mine. Crack shot with a crossbow. If this is how it's gotta be, it's not gonna hurt too bad.

Sonny...

Dr. Urbica, Doc Moore—

I need you to come out for a walk.

......

You can drop the pretense. Do we have a choice here?

Afraid not. Keep your chin up.

Once the folks outside get to see the score, maybe they'll change their minds, open up to taking our demands seriously.

Officer, we've got movement!

Drones, prepare to fire—

No. Hold your fire.

Officer...?

......

We can't hurt the hostages.

You, uh... Dr. Silence, over here.

Is there a development, ma'am?

Take a look through the binoculars. Are those your two colleagues behind S... the Pioneer?

Sir—th—the comm lit up!

Give it.

......

Knew it'd be you.

I could say the same thing.

You, uh... you made rank, right? Didn't get the chance to congratulate you.

Who knew you'd stay at that precinct so long... You keep getting all this hassle from the frontier.

And I never thought you'd end up so... depraved.

You still remember any of the classes you took? Your law courses?

You still remember... the shit you said to me, the day I joined the force?

......

'That's great! We'll be partners again. It'll be just like all those games we played as kids. We'll protect Columbia's peace, bring the bad guys to justice—'

Hah... how's that irony? You're bad guy number one right here and now.

Mary...

What's all that crap your boys are holding? Homemade weapons?

Drop those things before you embarrass yourselves any more.

You degraded yourself this far, but you still have an option. One final option.

Let those two innocent ladies next to you go.

No. That's not in the cards for now.

Dammit. You're inching over the cliff here.

Sure, the government lets a criminal join the Pioneers if he doesn't want to do hard time.

But if... you break the law again out on the frontier? What charges does that buy you?

......

Answer me, counsel!

Don't call me that, Mary, I'm begging you...

You're trying to guilt-trip me.

Yeah, I feel guilty now... guilty I let you go when you broke into my house. I should've hauled your ass straight to the station.

That was a long time ago. I mean, I'd only just...

...I'm sorry. I've always been sorry about that.

But this time, I have a reason for doing all this. You have to hear me out, please.

Sir!

What?

The doc, the doc, she...

Doc Moore?

......

Configuration... error... entering... power save mode...

Oh, shoot. Joyce...

What's happening to her, Doctor?

You can tell. She's having an attack.

What?! I—Is it Oripathy?

C'mon, I got her! There's drugs for her, right? I... I can't do injections...

Ngh...

C'mon, she looks like hell!

I... I got this first-aid treatment band Rhine gave us. This does something for Oripathy flare-ups, right?

I'll put it on her...

......

You're willing to give your own emergency care device to Joyce?

If you hand her that band, your odds of survival go down significantly on the off-chance you get a sudden attack.

The doc's been good to us all this time!

I don't want anything to happen to her...

You say as the ones who kidnapped me and Joyce.

We never wanted to do you dirty.

I'm sorry... We're just a bunch of selfish nobodies.

Are the comms still going?

Ma'am, would you mind giving me permission to talk to the Pioneers?

......

The Liberi experiencing an attack is my colleague, and my good friend.

And more important still, I am her attending physician.

I want to gather her situation from the Pioneers. Judging by their reactions, they clearly aren't unconcerned for her.

Go nuts.

But you don't have much time.

I just got orders from on high. If the Pioneers refuse to cooperate for another ten minutes, we'll cut all comms to the test site... along with all power to their living quarters.

Y—You'll cut the electricity?

Day-night temperature swings are massive in the barrens... They'll be freezing by midnight!

And there's several late-stage Oripathy patients among the Pioneers...

They need medical facilities to live!

I know.

That's what makes this a warning.

They need to know how serious Rhine and the police are here.

All their protests and demands have to be founded on a legal basis... Once they take the criminal route, nobody's going to hear them out.

But... aren't you friends with that Pioneer leader?

Friends?

The moment he abandoned himself, there was nothing left to say.

......

How is she?

Real-time blood originium-crystal density's dropping. Eye movement indices are still highly irregular.

Eye movement indices?

Due to her Oripathy's focus lying in the brain.

Any fluctuation in her condition will impact her nervous system, cause her to fall into deep sleep, and go so far as to trigger epileptic attacks.

Huh? Who's there?

The comms are still open.

Hello, sir.

I'm Joyce Moore's attending physician. My name is Silence.

Doc Silence.

Firstly, I'd like to offer you my thanks.

Joyce's condition has only stabilized so quickly with your aid, and that of the other Pioneers.

You're gonna thank us kidnappers, huh?

In return, and please trust me when I say this, we really, truly wish to assist you.

We still have five minutes before your comms, and power to your living quarters, are simultaneously cut—

Sir—w—we've got a blackout!

......

It seems they've acted ahead of schedule.

Don't sweat it. I gotta appreciate you being willing to warn us.

I gathered from ma'am Mary that you'd like a dialogue with Rhine Lab's upper management.

Can I ask why that is?

......

I wanna beg them to stop the experiments they're doing here.

To what?

You're a good doc, same as Doc Moore here. But something tells me stopping a project this big's out of your hands.

Can you tell the Rhine Lab boss that this experiment is seriously, wicked dangerous?

Sir, do you have any proof?

Even if I did, would you believe me...? A lone Pioneer at the end of his rope?

Officer, we're all set. We can cut the site's comms at any time.

Wait for Doc Silence to finish.

But the Director's demanding immediate...

Sorry, what police rank does your director hold? Remind me.

Tell fricking Ferdinand that saving people is my job. I'm not taking him on a ride-along here!

The Director's been in contact with the commissioner, Officer. They drew up this plan together.

......

Director... Ferdinand?

I never imagined Defense would fall under Energy's purview.

Er...

If Ferdinand feels that Structural is his to rule too, then I would not mind resigning from Rhine Lab, effective immediately.

......

Joyce... Joyce!

Is she... asleep?

She's lost consciousness.

If we don't get her treatment in time, she... she'll experience brain death before long.

......

Sir, I am preparing to enter the site now.

I understand your concerns, so I would like to reassure you, I will not be carrying any weapons.

Don't do anything stupid, Doctor!

I know full well what I am doing.

Sir, I will not allow any police officers... nor Defense personnel to follow me.

Researcher Silence, I will report your conduct to the Director... Director Parvis.

I am entering Test Site 359 under my status as a Rhodes Island Operator—

Me too...

—And my electrical engineering colleague will accompany me.

We will provide medical services, free of charge, to the Oripathy patients on-site.

Not just for my friend, but for all of you.

I do not care what choices Rhine Lab makes in the wake of this.

I only know this—treating the Infected is constant to the Rhodes Island code of conduct.