Maybe, the Overseer

Father Alcor insisted Mira stay over while we waited for news about Nova, so it was not strange that I found her sitting at the table when I stumbled out of my room. Her gaze asked me a question, to which I shook my head. I didn't hear anything from Cymmand when I woke up. Both Mira's and my worry got the better of us, so I sent Cymmand a message for a status update. All of us were on the edge of our seats, so the tablet found itself in my hand before it finished its beep.

Vega, please see me at your earliest convenience. Overseer Pasu.

"Ah, damn."

Both Mira and Father Alcor looked at me with intense gazes. "Is it bad?"

"No, but it's not what we were waiting for." I dimmed the display's screen before putting it back onto the table. "It's a message from the Overseer. He wants me to visit him."

"I see." Father Alcor returned his attention to his plate. Mira seemed confused.

`Is that a good or a bad thing?" she asked.

"It could be either. The Overseer often asks us to visit after a battle. He usually starts by thanking us for our service, asking how we're feeling, and whether we need any resources. After that, he gets to the matter at hand. Our last conversation was to pass along his condolences regarding the passing of Lynx, Crux, and Lyra."

"I see."

"I'm not sure what the current one will be about. Maybe he'll ask how I'm holding up with Nova gone." I shrugged. "I guess I'll find out."

***

I would normally meet the Overseer inside his office at the mayoral hall. The coordinates in his message pointed me to an address inside the Patlix dome. It made me wonder whether he invited me to his home. The Patlix dome was hardly glamorous. Its main purpose was to house the Asbestos water recycling facility. The rest consisted of lower-class residential buildings. Its upper-class residents had long since migrated due to a supposed stench. The water scrubbers were isolated, so it theoretically shouldn't be possible, but the complaints suggested otherwise.

I found it strange that the Overseer decided to stay. I'd have expected him to have a mansion in the Aipil Dome after his election. Maybe that is why his campaign slogan was `from the people, for the people'.

It took fifteen minutes to walk from the tram station to the coordinates. Walking through the dome made me notice how quickly a crisis could erase the distinctions humanity has placed among itself. The worries of war would show themselves everywhere, whether it was the crowds of Raifin, the ritziness of Aipil, or the run-down districts of Patlix. Several people idled throughout the street. Those with some motivation would focus on anything that kept their mind busy. Those who had lost hope would re-enact previous conversations with master-like perfection. Maybe the conversation would lead to a glimmer of hope, but the expectation wasn't there. I noticed several glances in my direction as I walked past. I didn't know whether it was because of my job or if I seemed different. Maybe it was a bit of both.

"War is a nasty business." I sighed, turning into a street when my display made the suggestion.

All doubts whether my destination was the Overseer's home disappeared when I saw the building. Most houses followed the same design thanks to mass fabrication technology. The Overseer's house was different. No other residential building had three stories nor occupied two plots of land. From the people, over the people, I thought snidely before chasing it away. Whether I agreed with his policies or not was a moot point. The Overseer always treated me with kindness. It would be rude to repay him otherwise.

A plaque on the gate indicated the house belonged to the Pasu household. My display gave a happy beep when I stepped through the gate. I expected the regular plastic door found in most other homes. Instead, I found a large metal slab with a red button beside it blocking my entrance.

"Hello?" I said as I pressed the button.

"Just a second!" A voice answered through the speaker. I heard a metallic clang before the metal door slid away. I found a small chamber opposite it, where another metallic door blocked me again.

It's not every house that has an airlock. I thought as I stepped inside. The exterior door closed automatically behind me.

"Welcome to our home, Ms. Vega." An older woman greeted me when the last door slid open.

"Just Vega, ma'am." I greeted her with a smile. "Thank you for having me. I'm here to see the Overseer?"

"Yes. Zalat told me you were coming. The call of nature forced him into a prior meeting, so he'll be with you shortly. He asked that you wait for him in his study."

"Thank you, ma'am." I saw two corridors leading away from the door. "Uhm..."

"Ah, sorry. His study is that way." The lady gestured toward the corridor to my right. "Go up one fight and take the first door on your left."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"We really should put up a sign." She chuckled. "You're not the first one to ask."

"I'm sure those who come regularly would know where it is."

"You would think that, but you're only our second visitor in over a month. Now go on."

"Thank you." I bowed my head slightly before heading for the stairs. The house was silent. My shoes tap-tapping against the tiles was the only noise I heard. I inspected the paintings against the cream-colored walls as I walked down the corridor. The Overseer seemed to have a wide-ranging taste. The first depicted an old ship made of wood drifting over a large body of water, while the second featured men having a debate while dressed in what I thought to be bed sheets. I paused at the third painting, which depicted the twin Voyager probes flying through the cosmos. Humanity has recovered Voyager 2 since losing contact with it in the twenty-first century. It was now the centerpiece in the largest space-faring museum on Earth. Voyager 1 was still drifting somewhere unknown. Many groups have tried to find it, but none have been successful. Though its instruments have long since died, I could not help but wonder what it must have seen.

Focus, Vega, I chastised myself as I headed up the stairs. I saw more paintings hanging on the walls, but they were all past the half-open study doors. Their inspection would have to wait until a future visit. If there is one, I thought as I stepped through the doors.

"Hi."

"Huh?" Seemed I wouldn't be the only visitor today. "Cymmand? What are you doing here?"

"The Overseer invited me as well."

"I didn't expect this." I stepped inside before sitting on the chair next to her.

"Me neither." She nodded without looking at me.

Something was wrong. Cymmand would be considered pale at the best of times. It was a side effect of sitting inside a control room for days. Now, she looked like a ghost. Black circles featured prominently under reddened eyes, which struggled to hold my gaze.

"Cymmand? Are you okay?"

She nodded before biting the inside of her lip. "Yeah."

"You sure? It looks like you haven't seen a bed in three days."

"I've lost count, to be honest." She raised the corner of her mouth. "Listen, Vega, I-"

"Vega." A male voice entered the room as the Overseer stepped in. "Don't get up, but thank you for coming."

"Of course." I eased myself back into the chair. "I see you've arranged for somebody to keep me company."

"The civilizations of old said any idea should remain good while sober and intoxicated. While I do not condone getting drunk so early in the morning, I can at least arrange a third perspective."

"I understand."

"I thought you might. But first, how is your treatment going? I understand the injuries sustained during the failed calibration have healed?"

I nodded. "The most severe have healed, yes. The doctors have assured me the other injuries will heal with time, even with the stresses of piloting Cerviel."

"And the fatigue from your last battle?"

"I will be ready for the next fight."

"Will Cerviel be ready by then?" The Overseer turned towards Cymmand.

"Our engineers are working around the clock. We have fixed most of the armor plating, and over half of the damaged components have been replaced. We will be ready in five days at the current pace."

"Sadly, that won't be fast enough."

"I know."

Huh?

"I am arranging extra resources as we speak. We have doubled all shifts, and several senior engineers from Valoel's team have offered to assist with grunt work. We are focussing Cerviel's more critical systems, such as her maneuverability motors."

"Sorry, am I missing something here?" My heartbeat increased as I leaned slightly forward. "Are we anticipating an attack?"

"Yes." The Overseer nodded as he reached for a tablet. "I'm afraid we have withheld some information from you. The probe we sent made contact with Nova five hours ago. Here are some footage." I took the tablet when he turned it toward me. A star-dotted image featuring a solitary white mech filled the screen.

"Nova..." I whispered. "He's alive..."

"And heading toward Asbestos." The Overseer gestured for me to scroll. "He picked up the provisions before heading off again." The next images matched Overseer's story. Nova had put on a full-body helmet upon his EVA so I could not see his face, but I could identify him from the markings on his suit. The scratches over Valoel's armor also matched the ones he sustained during the battle. "It really is him. Why keep it a secret?"

"Because Valoel wasn't the only thing we picked up." Cymmand's tablet featured a different photo when she handed it to me. I could not prevent my eyes from widening. "We detected the reading shortly before the wide beam spotted Valoel, but we weren't sure what we were looking at. In fact, its size led us to find Valoel."

The Overseer nodded. "Please don't misunderstand. Getting provisions to Valoel was a top priority. I know the mechs have some emergency rations. Cymmand insisted they wouldn't be sufficient for a multi-day trek through the stars. But we also needed to figure out what that was." He gestured at Cymmand's tablet. "And we hoped Valoel's sensors would have the answer."

The image was blurry, and the corrupted lines suggest Valoel had pushed his camera to its limit when it took the picture. Still, there was no mistaking the enormous demonic figure that lay within. "What level is that?"

"A class seven," Cymmand said the words I was afraid to hear. "A Duke of Hell. The first. While Seir was the first class six we've engaged with, we've known about their existence for a while. A class seven signal remained only theoretical until now. Its readings are off the chart. So much so that we thought it was a sensor glitch. We would have dismissed it if an engineer did not contact Father Alcor. Only when he confirmed stronger demons than Seir exist did we give it more serious consideration."

"I see." I turned my gaze back to the image. "Is it coming toward us?"

"Yes."

"How long do we have?"

"Two days if Nova keeps up his current pace," said the Overseer. "The demon should make contact a few hours later. A day at most."

I swallowed nervously. "That doesn't sound like we'll be ready."

"I asked Cymmand to allocate as many resources toward Cerviel's repairs as possible. We'll send another probe toward Nova later this afternoon with more provisions, after which we'll redirect it toward the demon. We hope to learn more about our threat that way. But there are two other problems we need to deal with."

Cymmand nodded. "The probe interfaced with Valoel's sensors. It gave us a good idea of what happened after he teleported. I'll give your brother credit for his ingenuity. The first thing he did after reappearing was to force as much power into Valoel's long-range radar as possible. It burned out the antenna, which is why he couldn't contact us. Boosting the signal gave him Asbestos' location and an idea of what is heading toward us.

"Seir's death must have angered the demons. The Duke is bringing hundreds of his followers with him." Cymmand leaned over to swipe on the tablet in my hand. The picture changed to a radar snapshot. I could see Asbestos' position represented by a dot at the bottom of the screen. Hundreds of red dots covered the top half.

"I... don't think we can take on that many..."

"Which brings us to the second problem," said the Overseer. "Nova will have been piloting Valoel for seven days by the time he lands. Cymmand has told me the mechs have steroid injectors to be used in emergencies, which is probably why Valoel is still able to fly toward us. Even so, I can't imagine how exhausted Nova must be. I doubt he'll be combat-ready on his arrival. Meaning..."

"Meaning I will have to take on all of this." I completed the Overseer's thought. "Alone..."