Mari:

  Stealing from the hospital was… a distressing premise, even if it was her own blood, which certainly couldn’t serve a medical purpose beyond research. Thus, Mari opted for a more diplomatic approach instead of Marielle’s apparent ‘ask for forgiveness, not permission’ tactic.

  “Good afternoon, Councillor Alynne.” Mari greeted as she made her way into the R&D lab of the hospital, on sublevel two. “Don’t you ever go home?”

  The woman laughed, her snake-like eyes full of humor. Clearly she was in a good mood. “Good afternoon. And, I have four children at home, Miss Mari. I aspire to many things, but motherliness is a skill I’ve had no luck in attaining. The noise of that place is just… No, I don’t go home often. Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

  “As you are aware, those nanites allow me to make things on two conditions. First, I have to create or acquire the designs to specify my goals. The second requirement is ‘affliction’ as a power source. Either I need the blood of an infected creature, or I can burn the bio weapon from my own blood.”

  Alynne nodded, clear understanding in her features. “And you lack afflicted blood for the things you want to make?”

  Mari nodded. “Could I take some of the vials you’ve drawn over the years?”

  A silence filled the space between them as Alynne regarded her. It didn’t fill the room with tension, and it didn’t feel judgemental, but Mari felt the frigid, emotionless curiosity in the older woman.

  “Follow me.” Alynne turned on her heel and strode towards the side exit from the main lab.

  At the door, they both had to put on gloves and pale green outfits, then goggles and hair nets. Then the next room did a sweep of decontamination protocols before letting them into another room beyond that. The lab they reached afterwards was unimaginably diverse. An area to one side was curtained off with some animals in various enclosures. At the far end, Mari could even make out a huge array of screens displaying brain scans that blew any Earth studies out of the water. All around, separated by a different set of curtains, were more and more fields of research.

  “Could you tell me what sort of world Earth was?” Alynne filled the growing silence, though her tone hinted at a passion that Mari was more than a little familiar with.

  “That’s difficult. Earth wasn’t run by a single governing body. Many countries were extremely different from one another. Marielle’s mother was born in a nation obsessed with money and wealth. Not that many places were different in that way, I suppose.”

  “Elaborate, please.”

  Mari gave that some thought before responding. “Well, even with a government elected by the public, that government often created problems solely for some company to step in to profit from. When a new form of information technology came out, often, the government used tax money to pay a company to install it. And then, that company would charge the public a monthly fee to use the exact technology tax money was used to implement.”

  “Tax money? I know of currency-based systems. Some cities here even use them. I’m not sure the word you’re using is a perfect translation, though.” Alynne frowned down at her thoughtfully.

  Mari returned the look with some interest. “You’re right. Taxation on Earth was a system where the government collected a percentage of some wealth from normal people to invest into maintaining things that were used more broadly. Transportation being an example.”

  Probably the least surprising thing for a woman who was born in Japan to think of public transit as a tax-funded utility.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “I see. Historically, on Sylpharia, something similar did occur. That predates the shift in culture where our cities were built more underground.”

  Mari had guessed as much. People in Elitheen had an open hatred for the very concept of greed. If the city remotely resembled a utopia, that was fairly high on her list of possible reasons for that being the case.

  “Back to our original topic,” Alynne began, parting the curtains to what looked like a chemistry lab, “this is where I’ve been using your blood. I was searching for a cure.”

  Inside were several large pieces of equipment. Everything Marielle’s memories might’ve expected in a crime drama’s forensics lab. At one end of the room was a large glass-fronted fridge filled with categorized vials of different liquids. One entire shelf held vials of subtly glowing blood that had almost darkened from red to black.

  “I can guess you never succeeded, but did you ever learn anything of interest?” Mari found her curiosity piqued, but at the same time, she already had a cure in her grasp. She just didn’t find herself in a position to use it.

  Alynne shook her head, gesturing towards the vials. “No luck. Not that I planned on finding success where generations of experienced scientists had failed before me. Take as much as you need. I gave up on the project a few years ago.”

  “Thanks. I have a lot of things to make.” She’d already started to work out a small list. Armor, weapons, radios, and ammunition were all things she could figure out on her own. She’d have to work with Barclay to get explosives he could use, and anything else that might be hard to procure in the city.

  “I’m sure Karin will tell me what I need to know. Just be careful, won’t you?”

  Mari felt a small spark of affection, and reached out a hand towards Alynne’ shoulder, offering her a confident smile. “Hm, I thought you said you didn’t have any luck attaining motherliness. Jokes aside, I’m not planning to do things alone this time. I’m not sure I’d be able to even if I tried.”

  “And what about Kris? Settling in with her?”

  Mari paused, reflecting on their prior conversations for a moment before piecing together a response.

  “I still feel like she’s more than I deserve. You told me to cherish the choice she made and be thankful, which is a bit of pressure, but thankfully I actually adore her. I enjoy her company, but I don’t enjoy people trying to push me down certain paths in life.”

  Alynne frowned. “I’m sorry. I never meant to pressure you. We all love her, and many on the council treat her like a princess. I get defensive of her because I care, but I’m not good at displaying it. Apologies if I came off as overbearing.”

  “Thank you.” Mari took a deep breath, then blew it out as her shoulders straightened.

  “As for being forced down certain paths in life, you’re right. It isn’t fair for so many decisions to be made for you. It chafes me just to think of the responsibilities the empire planned to foist on you. My advice? Be careful. You may have felt like you couldn’t do much before, and these sudden changes might feel like opening new doors. Remember that your life is yours, and just because you can do something doesn’t mean you have to.”

  Mari was already shaking her head. “You’re probably right, but it doesn’t work out that way in my head. If I can save a life, I will try. I won’t fall into despair at my own failures, but so long as I’ve tried, I can be happy about it. It’s inaction that would bother me the most.”

  She turned her head and met Alynne’s scrutinizing gaze head-on. It was something she’d never have done before, but she’d gained a lot of insight in a very short time. The memories weren’t her own, but she knew exactly what it felt like to watch others suffer and do nothing. That would never be her.

  “You’re wrong.”

  “Hm?” Mari frowned, sensing the shift, but not understanding the response.

  Alynne laid a surprisingly gentle hand on her shoulder. “You absolutely deserve to be with Krissanine. You and that girl suit each other perfectly. She may be the idealist to your realism, but you both believe in the same goal. Tell you what: I’ll make sure this city, or at least the council, gives you all of the support you need for what you do in the future. I’ll choose to trust you, and that conviction you both share.”

  Mari blinked, surprised. “I…” she paused, then shook her head. “Thank you, Councilor.”

  The firm nod of reply told her she’d responded correctly. That offer hadn’t been as a friend and mentor, it had been as a leader within the city.

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