The Janitor? [ She sounds a little incredulous. She thought he was just... well actually she didn't know what she thought. No one seemed to think about it. ]
Nikolai... be careful. Remember the last time people did something COMPASS wasn't okay with?
From what I understand, it means he's COMPASS' representative here, in charge of the day to day management of their experiment on us.
Though, in truth, once we had him, he seemed afraid of us. [ Possibly because Nikolai kept threatening to torture him, even though they had no intention of that. Still. ] I don't think previous Project Heads were anything like that fearful. The last one was killed in battle.
At any rate, that's what he represents. He's no ally of ours. He's been working for them.
[ He props himself up on his elbows. Sleep isn't going to come yet, no matter how much he wants it. His mind is far too active, going over everything he's seen and heard. ]
So it is in most walks of life. But there's a delicate balance here. The cultist we took prisoner spoke of a veil, protecting us from his masters. He implied they'd been able to break through it, and spirit us away.
When we leave this place, Alina, I'm not sure that's the doing of COMPASS at all.
I had hope that we could ally with them, at first. With enough persuasion. I thought them the lesser of two evils. Now I can't say that for certain at all. My instinct is to ally with neither of them.
The veil they've been breaking through. It seems they don't just want to take us to other worlds, though when they do that, it increases their power.
They want to destroy the veil completely, and with enough time and effort, they believe they can do it. We need to be ready for that, Alina. We need to be ready to fight them.
No, it would seem not. They and COMPASS seem to be rivals, though they hold a tenuous agreement as to our staying here. But this is their world, Alina. To be frank, it seems that COMPASS are the only thing preventing them from damaging us even more.
[ The strange part about this is, it implies to him that COMPASS, in truth, are the lesser of two evils. But given that COMPASS are his actual kidnappers, that's more than a little difficult to stomach. ]
[ He reaches his hand up, touching the corner of that smile with the tip of his thumb. ]
No, it wasn't. You're thinking like a strategist, Alina. Like we're back in the war room, planning an impossible war.
[ Making plans that never got fully utilised, thanks to Vasily. Nikolai's smile falters a little, but then he sighs. ]
There's one more thing. The Void that everyone talks about. It's not what we thought. It's part of the planet itself. It's the planet's own atmosphere.
Or at least I've heard that it was on the ship they used before. Perhaps that ship sailed the oceans of this world. We've never really been clear on that.
The ship was here once. As a casino with games where you could win things. [ She winces. She forgot about that. That was how she got tortured that one time. ]
Maybe it was on this world before. Wherever we are.
I was tortured when the ship was here. I just forgot they happened at the same time. [ She's already told him about what happened. It was shortly before he got there, actually. ]
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Nikolai... be careful. Remember the last time people did something COMPASS wasn't okay with?
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He's not the Janitor, Alina.
He's the Project Head. That's what he's been all along.
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Though, in truth, once we had him, he seemed afraid of us. [ Possibly because Nikolai kept threatening to torture him, even though they had no intention of that. Still. ] I don't think previous Project Heads were anything like that fearful. The last one was killed in battle.
At any rate, that's what he represents. He's no ally of ours. He's been working for them.
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[ He props himself up on his elbows. Sleep isn't going to come yet, no matter how much he wants it. His mind is far too active, going over everything he's seen and heard. ]
So it is in most walks of life. But there's a delicate balance here. The cultist we took prisoner spoke of a veil, protecting us from his masters. He implied they'd been able to break through it, and spirit us away.
When we leave this place, Alina, I'm not sure that's the doing of COMPASS at all.
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The only way it's better is if we could somehow harness and control that energy. Otherwise we're just someone else's victims.
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[ Eyes opening further, he looks up at her. ]
It's worse, much worse.
I had hope that we could ally with them, at first. With enough persuasion. I thought them the lesser of two evils. Now I can't say that for certain at all. My instinct is to ally with neither of them.
No matter how impractical that may be.
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[ She lays her head back down and stares at the ceiling. ] Did you learn anything else?
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[ He sighs. ]
The veil they've been breaking through. It seems they don't just want to take us to other worlds, though when they do that, it increases their power.
They want to destroy the veil completely, and with enough time and effort, they believe they can do it. We need to be ready for that, Alina. We need to be ready to fight them.
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I always thought they were working with COMPASS to terrorize us.
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[ The strange part about this is, it implies to him that COMPASS, in truth, are the lesser of two evils. But given that COMPASS are his actual kidnappers, that's more than a little difficult to stomach. ]
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[ He looks up at her with a suspiciously pleased smile. ]
That's a terrible idea. Highly dangerous. But then, you know what I think about bad ideas.
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It was just thoughtless wondering.
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No, it wasn't. You're thinking like a strategist, Alina. Like we're back in the war room, planning an impossible war.
[ Making plans that never got fully utilised, thanks to Vasily. Nikolai's smile falters a little, but then he sighs. ]
There's one more thing. The Void that everyone talks about. It's not what we thought. It's part of the planet itself. It's the planet's own atmosphere.
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I thought the Void was around before we came to this city? At least, people talk about it like it was.
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Or at least I've heard that it was on the ship they used before. Perhaps that ship sailed the oceans of this world. We've never really been clear on that.
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Maybe it was on this world before. Wherever we are.
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[ He noticed that wincing, and he studies her face carefully. ]
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[ His hand comes up to her arm all the same, resting it against her arm. ]
We don't have answers for every question, but we have more than we did before. It's something to work with, at least.
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Maybe we can do something with the information.
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The better informed we are, the better chance we'll have. Even though our enemies just doubled.
I do better against harder odds, anyway.
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