Leon- Well done, Natalia. That was mighty kind of you. The image of Leon was becoming clearer. They were in what looked like a jungle. There was a massive spaceship-looking vessel in front of them. It all felt so familiar, but also so foreign. Like a long-forgotten dream. This was one of the few memories she could now access of her time with Leon. What a different man he was back then, from how everyone described him. She tried looking further. Did she enter the spaceship? She tried to investigate inside her memories and she immediately felt the "drop". Everything around her was spinning, but there was no ground to hold on to, no time or sense of her own body. But there was the image of Leon. She tried to follow him through the maelstrom. She could feel him so close, like she could almost remember something… Then a weight on her shoulder woke her up. The strange creature was staring intently at het, perched on her chest. Ñam ñam? Huh? Ñam ñam, ñam ñam?
Natalia just realized that Leon didn't kill himself, so she's been floored by that. Baby Codi is trying to bond with her. She's started to remember some of her time before the YC. Her TDS episodes are getting bad because she's triggering them on purpose. There's something to be found there. Paloma is concerned about her, mad, even. But she's disguising it. Natalia has been spending too much time in the lab and she's not taking proper care of Codi. She jokes about how that's where Nat and her are very different. She tries to solve the problem by looking inside her harder, like "oh, who killed Leon? Let me do some introspection". While Paloma believes that solving the mystery requires looking outward, and narrowing the list of suspects. Nat- I just found out he didn't kill himself, someone killed him! P- Yeah, I'm going to introspect harder on who did it. I'm just going to look inside my memory palace. I think we need to look outside and actually investigate. Whoever did it, was in the party yesterday*. You know what they say, the killer always comes back to the scene of the crime. N- That's the thing, they already came back if it was one of them. But why would they kill him? I need to figure out their motive. P- Whatever. I know why they did it: They were jealous. They killed my favorite teacher and so I'm going to punch whoever did it, hard in the gut. And who knows, maybe I already did it? It might've been that asshole with the steroid addiction. N- Yeah, it could be. I also don't like him, but why would he do it? P- Maybe there was because of the compakins. N- But then what are the compakins? N- He's a wad. P-A what? N-A wad. You know what, turn off your t-box for a moment. I think you need to hear this. She does a gesture with her haptic glove. P- Oh! N- No no no, hear me out. He's a cab. P- Why call him that? N- No, he's a cab, like a cabron. Like a wad that doesn't even reach fuckwad status. P- Oh, I like this! N- I needed you to turn off your t-box so you could properly hear it. Otherwise the translation will keep sliding. P- Right, the neural networks need a strong change in the reward system. N- Just a clear one, not a strong one. P- Agree to disagree.
Natalia has been planning this trip for a while now. It took some convincing with the director, but she finally agreed after Natalia volunteered for overseeing the detention room for the month. All of junior high came along, with 3 other teachers watching the students. One of them was Monty. She was excited to spend time with him, but more importantly, she was excited about the purpose of the trip. While the official purpose was just to give a lecture on the Sleeping Returners, she wanted to do more than that. It was an idea from her class as well, and she felt like she was finally finding a way to get them interested in the past while she herself was coming to understand their vision for the future.
The Sleeping Hub was in the mountains away from Tepoztlan and Tres Marias, in Chichinautzin. There was a main road and a train line from back in the Days of the Hum but it was seldom used nowadays. They had to get special permission and the train moved particularly slow to avoid any remaining obstacles on the rails.
They were going to visit for the day and then move to the Lagunas de Zempoala to camp and spend the night. Natalia had fond memories of camping as a young girl. Oddly enough, some of them with Monty. The students and staff had double checked the weather forecasts to ensure no ill events were awaiting them, though they'd be staying with a Green Glove community in Zempoala so they would be well adjusted. This was thanks to Monty and his connections, not that the principal had to know.
Since everyone in her class already knew about Codi, she was able to carry him without any concerns. She was feeling more at ease with him now.
At the Sleeping Hub, they weren't allowed to go inside. There was a research center that rarely left. Natalia used her social hacking skills to get access to the least restricted area. Once inside, they got an explanation from one of the researchers on how the hub worked and what they were able to learn. Natalia asked if the kids could explore the premises, which the researcher obviously prohibited, but one of the students was able to ask insightful questions that got the researcher wondering. While many of the children seemed nostalgic, Paloma seemed to brag about her brother being one of the sleeping remainers. Despite not getting access, the trip was a success. However, before leaving, Natalia decided to use her training to do another dive. Perhaps here, she could glean a little more information.
It started as normal, the whirlwind and the image of the red wasteland. However, something was different this time. Codi was with her. She navigated back to the usual memory, where she was working with Leon, about to enter the Yosemite-C, where she would always lose control. But this time, Codi was in her arms. She booted up and…there she was. The Yosemite-C! She saw herself in what felt like a sea of colors, like she was submerged and close to the seabed. Her body started to separate into multiple versions and she felt like she was about to faint, but she felt Codi's body anchoring her to a single self. She could see her other versions moving and walking around. She let her attention start to wander and soon enough, and she started to feel overwhelmed by the possibilities. She tried to do Somatic Override on herself, tapping on her head faster and faster, to no avail. She had no way to get back to herself.
Back in the real world, Natalia had collapsed and her body was experiencing aggressive spasms. The children ran in a panic and were able to get Monty, who tried to stabilize her heart by doing compressions and ended up having to inject her with some substance that made the spasms stop. She did not wake up until some hours later, when they were in Zempoala.
She was feeling hazy, but fine otherwise. Monty was sitting on a chair next to her, with a somber look all around him. She was happy to see him, but he was not. He scolded her for being so irresponsible. She had a whole class of kids depending on her, he said. "All returners are the same", accusing her of prioritizing a way back into the Yosemite-C over taking care of the children that she had signed up for. He saw this as a naked attempt at getting close to the YC, as looking for a way back.
She wanted to melt away, she felt her heart racing and her TDS start to take hold. So she performed Somatic Override and was back in control of herself. She was able to get back up and go out of the cabin to catch the sunset. The kids were playing around the lakes, some with kites. Paloma was sitting alone near a stream, holding Codi tight. Natalia saw her but, without access to her emotions, thought nothing of it and just went to check in with each of the students. They were concerned about her, but she was able to assuade her fears with a calm explanation. Or so she thought. By the time it came to Paloma, she seemed to be furious rather than worried. She refused to speak to her much, then left, leaving Codi with Natalia. She was confused for a moment, but then decided to let it go. However, having Codi near her made it impossible to fully disconnect from her feelings, so they came back.
Monty showed up and told her the story of Paloma's brother. How they were left orphans when their parents uploaded to the Yosemite-C. They were expecting their children to follow along promptly, since Paloma was near the age limit to upload, but her brother decided to stay behind to take care of her. This went on for 2 years where they lived in the community Monty was a part of. They were good kids, often reading manga and going off on patrols together. Until one day when it was very cold, Paloma came back alone.
Natalia was able to internalize the importance of this and she felt moved. Monty apologized for the way he reacted. She decided to bring the children together around the firepit, bringing out her guitar. Since the kids weren't allowed inside for Leon's funeral, she suggested they sing a song to remember him by, and for everyone who was sleeping. Monty suggested a song and told Natalia to turn off her t-box. He played Carta a Francia, by Fernando Delgadillo, which was a favorite of Leon. The children sang along and Natalia felt moved once more. Near the end, Paloma jumped up and left running. Natalia decided to follow.
Paloma played it off, but Natalia apologized nonetheless. Codi started to transform.
The next morning, Codi wasn't laying next to Natalia. She got out and saw him laying on a rock, a beautiful, yellow flower shimmering on his back under the morning sun. She approached and when he looked at her, he yelled "Natalia"! She was very taken aback. He tried to say other things, but was mostly incoherent. She now had to reckon with the fact that her compakin could talk, and that he seemed to just be getting started.
Natalia decided to accompany Paloma after being dropped off, after what Monty said of seeing her parents for herself. The parents were nice, they offered her tea, but barely paid attention to Paloma, beyond a passing greeting, like you would an acuaintance on the street. There was no doubt in Natalia's mind that they had Tier III TDS. There were 4 tiers, with little recourse the higher up you'd go. For reference, Natalia had been Tier I. It was common for Tier III patients to get discharged soon and to focus on keeping up their routines and to have a live-in nurse. Some were able to work, so long as their job was close to their house and didn't operate any delicate machinery or had potential for terrible consequences. There had been a case of a Tier II patient in Austin who operated the train, who slided to Tier III on the job and ran into the station. It was very common for patients to slide further, with only anecdotal evidence of patients recovering from Tier III. There were no storied of Tier IV patients ever coming back. You could often see them in parks or care centers, with a likely recurring TDS episode, over and over. In Austin, Tier IV patients were let out of the city…with everyone refusing to think of what would happen after that, lest they slide off too themselves. The reports mentioned cases were getting worse at an alarmign rate in some cities, but Austin was able to keep the rate relatively low. She was proud of her part in that. But she only had to treat Tier II patients, most of the time… She wondered if her team was taking good care of her patients. She felt her heart start to race so she turned to leave. Paloma had gone to her room, but she noticed Codi looking off in that direciton, his flower a deep blue with some purple and red.
She decided to go talk to her instead.
At Paloma's house, after meeting the parents He's not sleeping…I say that because…it's easier. When they woke up I wasn't happy, I wasn't angry, I just…told them. The first thing I did was tell them that he was gone. And they just looked at me like they were asking "...who?". They didn't care that their own son was gone. That's how I knew they weren't back. That I still had to take care of myself. That I'll always be alone. As alone as I've always been ever since he… … We always said we'd have a pirate crew of our own. We'd travel together all over, having adventures, helping people, fixing this broken world. A pirate crew, huh? Would you also be stealing? Plundering, aye? Only from the bad guys. Sometimes just for fun. Haha…maybe we should. Hm? Start our pirate crew. Do more than just…sit around and hope things get better. Maybe that's what Leon was trying to tell me. We should. It would be so much fun. It will be chaotic, and messy…but maybe that's what we need. Codi will be our navigator! Will he? And you'll be the First Mate! Commander. I'm not opposed to that…so long as I don't have to call you captain. That's captain Paloma for you! Hahaha
Paloma looks away for a moment longingly, outside of her room.
Do you think maybe… Not with Tier III, not that I know of…experiments are risky as they often lead to the patients' condition worsening. I figured… But maybe…
She looks at Codi, peacefully sleeping with his flower blooming in a bright pink, with stripes of orange and yellow.
