Arknights story · Operator Records
The Sea Breeze on the Salt Flat
Rhodes Island is handing over its Catastrophe warning system and medical center core components to Ægir, and Weedy is in charge of the handover, but she must first undergo vetting by the Inquisition.
1 scenes, 205 lines
1. Interlude
205 linesAhem... Here we are, Señorita Weedy.
This vehicle is used by the Inquisition to transfer documents between courts. It will not be under much scrutiny. The official letters I gave you should ensure safe passage.
The coachman can be trusted, but the best he can do for you is pretend to take a nap as you pass through the borderlands...
Take this money too. It's what little savings I have left, after all's said and done. It should come in handy on your way back to Rhodes Island.
You...
Go. Remember, you never saw me, and never visited the Salt Flat or Aarón. You've never returned to Iberia since you left...
And once you're gone, never return again.
Two days ago
We're here, Señorita Weedy.
...I thought a handover involving Iberia, Ægir, and Rhodes Island would be taking place more openly, like the lighthouse that has been relit.
I see. So the Inquisition is concerned about me.
You're clever.
Rhodes Island will hand over the Catastrophe warning system and medical center core components to the two Ægir consuls...
Neither Iberia nor Ægir will keep official records of this handover. As such, it would be inconvenient for either Irene or Secunda to attend.
And as a Rhodes Island operator who happens to be in Iberia, no one would be more qualified to oversee the handover. However—
'However, you're suspected of associating with bandits and interfering with the Inquisition's administration of justice at Aarón'?
Or is it, 'starting with your grandfather, your entire family are considered criminals by the Inquisition'?
No need to be so guarded. That era is in the past.
But it remains the recent past, and some degree of vetting is still required.
I expect you're familiar with this building?
Abuelo's old bionic lab.
The Inquisition has sent all records associated with the Penia family's research here. Please review them so that we may archive them.
Then, you may begin the handover.
The accumulated records are quite voluminous. I've assigned a clerk to assist you... I'm sure he'll be of help.
Someone who could help...
Once you see him, I'm sure you'll understand that the Inquisition is acting in good faith.
Mm—*cough* *cough*.
I forgot you were allergic to dust... I should've cleaned the place. It's been in disuse for many years.
I often saw you when I visited Abuelo here, Señor Callisto. Weren't you even more obsessed with cleanliness than I was?
Abuelo used to joke that your obsession with it was the only thing keeping you First Research Secretary, instead of taking his job.
Well, nowadays this old man is no more than a low-level clerk in the Inquisition, Señorita Weedy.
If it weren't for my familiarity with these records, I wouldn't have even had the chance to leave my office... if you can call it that.
So, how did you end up...
L-Let's not talk about that, Señorita. We should begin.
The Inquisition won't be giving either of us much time.
This is the writ of sealing for the five bionic labs associated with the Penia family, one of which we're standing in right now. Please sign the last page once you've reviewed it.
...Alright.
This is the notice of destruction of the relevant equipment. Please sign it too.
Counting both published and unpublished, the Penia family has written a total of... 3782 papers on bionic science.
What you're holding are the originals. All other extant copies have been destroyed.
If you stacked them up, the originals alone must be almost as tall as I am... This must represent decades of work for Abuelo and the rest of you.
......
After the Profound Silence, the Inquisition terminated all sea-related research in Iberia, but Señor Penia's bionics project went on until just a decade ago...
Compared to the thousands of projects snuffed out by the Inquisitors virtually overnight, we were the lucky ones.
Do you really think so?
...Another one, Señorita Weedy. Just sign on the last page if there's no issue.
......
In the derelict lab, the old man buries himself in the mountain of records, taking out paper after paper, summarizing them, then handing them over to Weedy.
His head is bowed, and Weedy cannot see his expression.
Is this how all old clerks end up, once their personalities are worn away by years of mundane work?
Quiet, rigid, patient, refusing to communicate outside of work, unemotional... almost like a machine.
'Bart, Dimar... stand accused of conducting experiments banned by the Inquisition to satisfy their private desires, terrorizing the local population...'
'...sentenced to life in the Bastión de Cánticos for such heinous acts.'
These are...
The judgments... of those who participated in the project.
Hearing those names seems to bring about a change in the old clerk's voice.
'Dorren, Castro, Liam... bodies discovered in the Salt Flat after attempting to flee Iberia.'
Please review and sign—
'Clara...'
......
'Guilty of stealing Inquisition records and disseminating confidential experiment data without authorization... sentenced to ten years in the Bastión de Cánticos... died of illness during incarceration.'
Clara... that Liberi lady with the golden hair? I remember that you and her...
(Whispers) Pale gold.
What?
She had just come to the lab from Perdon. She was innocent, lively, pretty, and her cheer was infectious. Everyone wanted to talk to her.
She helped us organize our data, while secretly developing a hair dye out of the seaweed we used in our experiments...
I could always smell a faint aroma when she walked past, one that reminded me of... the sea.
She wasn't the kind of person they're saying she was, right?
She just wanted to preserve the lab's research, the things that everyone poured their hearts and souls into...
Does it matter?
The Inquisition needs justifications to shut down such a large research project. Whether they're true or not, nobody cares.
But she was your...
I'm lucky I wasn't implicated because of my relationship with Clara and your grandfather. The Inquisition gave me a path forward...
I-I'm very grateful to them.
Grateful?
Th-There is still much to do! Let's get back to the work at hand, Señorita.
—!
The main component of the lab's core project. In the original concept, it supported systems that could quickly sequence the genomes of marine creatures and create samples.
It... It's not supposed to exist, not anymore...
The old man finally moves away from the mountain of papers, taking the tiny component from Weedy.
Weedy sees his expression—disbelief, realization, shock, scorn, pain, sorrow... A thousand emotions fill the face that was blank a moment ago.
'Disaster-bringing research'... 'corrupter of hearts'... 'beacon for the tides'...
So the Inquisition never destroyed the thing they called disaster-bringing research... They wanted me to see it—no, for you to see it again...
What are they thinking?!
Are you alright?
I...
Are you still unwilling to talk, Señor?
What?
I don't care what the Inquisition intends. Temptation, scrutiny, control—Iberians have long been used to such things...
What I care about is you, Señor.
I don't think you're just an emotionless puppet. From the moment you stepped into this lab, I'd been waiting...
Waiting to truly meet you again.
Señorita...
Don't worry, Leaf has already confirmed that there's no one else here.
I—I'm here to send you away from Iberia.
The old man grabs Weedy's sleeve and gazes straight into her eyes. His eyes are sharp and strong, as though he's become a different person.
You should not have come back.
......
We were fortunate to have connections in the Inquisition, which allowed Señor Penia to get advanced warning. He leveraged all the connections he had to get you out of Iberia...
With dignity.
Yeah.
I'd wanted to leave Iberia and see what was outside. I remember it being a smooth process, but the Inquisitor who processed my documents said it would be hard to come back once I left.
None of that matters anymore.
Do not believe the finshit the Inquisitors tell you... 'That era is in the past'?
No, it's not. Even if land and sea have joined hands again, even if your company is in a position to do business in Iberia.
The Inquisition, their arrogance and tyranny, their cruelty and hypocrisy... None of it has changed.
Look at all these scrolls and records, this component that should have been destroyed...
I have no doubt now. Once you finish your business with Rhodes Island, they will demand that you forget everything that's happened, and that you restart the bionics research.
As though—*cough *cough*—as though the crimes they committed, the shame and despair we felt, as though none of that ever existed!
Please, calm down. Are you alright?
That's why, when that desgraciado told me you'd returned and ordered me to assist you, I knew I must send you away again!
The old man ignores Weedy's words and keeps talking.
All the years I've spent on my knees have broken them, Señorita, but I've gotten a few things out of this...
Before I came, I spent my last savings to get my hands on some forged official letters that will get you past the checkpoints, and buttered up the powers that be...
You will leave Iberia tonight.
None of it matters, as long as you're away from this country.
But the Inquisition will have your head!
No, Señorita Weedy—I will have THEIR heads.
......
Bart, Dimar...
Dorren, Castro, Liam...
Clara... oh, dear Clara...
And your grandfather, Señor Penia... The lab is no more. Our science is no more. All that's left is a reputation in tatters...
And an old man by the name of Callisto who yet lives, guarding these ruins.
I've been waiting for a chance!
You mean, me?
I'll send you away, and wait for the alguacil and the Inquisitors to come here and draw their swords at me in anger, just like they once did!
Then—*cough* then...
I will spit my blood on the faces of those malditos one last time!
The old man screams until his voice is rasp, but he continues to clutch the component in its hand. Its sharp edges pierce his palms, which have become red with blood.
But the man continues to rage, as though it is the only emotion his feeble body can house.
As though this emotion has kept him alive all these years.
Promise me, Señorita!
......
And once you're gone, never return again.
Get on, Señorita. I must get back to the lab. The Inquisition will be there any moment...
L-Let me go—what is the meaning of this?
The money and the letters are right next to you. I've talked to the coachman, who will take a little detour, where you'll be met by a colleague of mine...
A Liberi with a bright smile and a joking attitude, with a red streak in his white hair.
He'll send you back to your old home... the town of Luarca you used to tell me about, on the fringes of the Salt Flat, where people dance around a bonfire at night.
You can't do this! You promised me at the lab!
...Sorry, I lied.
If I didn't, you'd have gone and found an Inquisitor to fight to the death, wouldn't you?
......
I'm an operator of Rhodes Island. Our continued existence depends on this handover. I must remain in Iberia to complete my mission.
Whatever the Inquisition meant by 'vetting', I'll find out myself.
Señorita—Weedy—girl! My body is like a piece of withered wood! I don't have many years left! Just let me fulfill this last wish...
Exactly! You don't have many years left.
......
Don't you realize, Señor? It's not just the Inquisition that's imprisoned you. It's also you yourself.
I still remember hearing you talk about why you joined the lab—the way you imagined massive bionic fins that would let us freely sail the seas...
But now, your memories contain only pain and hatred.
I want you to go home, even if you only have the time to taste the briny winds of the Salt Flat, to watch the saltfins leap from the salt...
To talk to the young people dancing around the fire...
To sleep soundly on a rocking chair...
I want you to live your last days in peace.
......
Let this vehicle bring the story of Penia Lab and everything my grandfather directed to a close, whether it's the sin the Inquisition claims it was, or the miscarriage of justice you believe it to be.
You'll just let it go? Just like that?
Say goodbye to Señor Callisto, Leaf.
The bionic seadragon sways in front of the old man as though it is dancing.
This is...
Could this be... a bionic seadragon...
Mhm.
It pales in comparison to what your team once achieved, but Leaf is indeed a product of bionic technology.
Science does not end because someone rejects it, nor does it depend on being recognized to continue.
This is my way, and how I'll talk to them.
......
Adios, Señor.
Weedy takes a couple of steps back and pats the vehicle.
—Now go, Coachman.
The old man says no more. Leaning against the interior of the vehicle, he gazes out the window at Weedy and the land behind her, until it all grows distant and blurred.
He gazes blankly, as though he has never known the girl, delicate yet strong; as though he has never known this land, never known... himself.
Doña Irene.
Yes?
Señorita Weedy has made a last-minute demand...
She wants the Inquisition to promise not to pursue the case of Señor Callisto?
Yes.
I see no reason to refuse.
......
It seems you've misunderstood something.
Wh-What is it, Doña?
Vetting is indeed crucial for this handover of the Rhodes Island Catastrophe warning system and medical center core components, for it is of great importance to both land and sea.
But it is not just Operator Weedy of Rhodes Island who is being put to the test. You and I, and the Inquisition itself... we are all being tested. Think about it.
...How we should face the past, and how we should approach the future in this new era.
......
Wrap up the vetting process for Operator Weedy. She has demonstrated that she is more than just the descendant of a sinner, or an obsessed scientist.
Understood.