Chapter 61 – Paths Forward

It was late afternoon, Isha had finally gotten to her nap while Melody and Kuria had to attend to university duties. Anne, Chrissi, Famine and the two RICA agents had met in the Nemesis’ lounge to discuss a few things.

Harker shuffled through some papers. “Clementine, we are missing a lot of positions.”

“I know.” The superintendent shrugged. “What is your area of expertise, miss Brooks?”

“Engineering, mostly. I do well with complex machines, maths, physics, that stuff.”

“I think we might have something, if you are willing to engage with some more unique complexities. Mina, we don’t have a magic technology specialist, right?”

Harker shook her head. “Not since he was kicked out with Ramsey.”

“Perfect. This would be a position dealing all kinds of magical artifacts and trying to understand ancient magical technology, sometimes even implementing things the demons give us.”

Chrissi nodded eagerly. “Sounds perfect, but I would need to learn a lot first.”

“We can train you, don’t worry.”

“Sign me up then.”

Melody ran into an exhausted looking Serena just outside the university.

“Well hello there, haven’t seen you in a while.”

Serena nodded slowly. “Yea… sorry. With everyone back from their little science cruise, we are now supposed to do stuff with all that fun data and observations. Stuff that apparently needs to be done at the same time as the usual lectures and everything.”

“Oh dear, that’s a busy time then.”

“Yup, too busy for my taste. I just want to go back to helping sirens settle in… this all feels so tedious and mundane now.”

“Why not cheat? Well, not actually cheat but ease your burden by asking some of the people you know now.”

“Okay… how?”

“Literally just ask any of the former sirens or nudge one of the librarians to get you in contact with one of our marine biologists.”

“I feel a bit stupid that I didn’t think of that.”

“Hey, you had a lot of other things on your mind. Maybe knowing that the portal is no longer threatened might ease your mind a bit. That annoying admiral turned his fleet around and went home.” Melody didn’t want to mention Broysc’s death.

“That is a relief indeed. I should really check in with Isha and everyone else. I feel bad that I wasn’t there…”

“We made a new friend you might like, you should really come by the Nemesis later.”

Serena sighed. “I’m supposed to do my part of a group project today…”

“That’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. I am wasting time with stupid shit. I wasted so much time already. Too much time.”

“Maybe you can do your part of that project on the chariot?”

“Yea, I should be able to. Even if not, fuck it. If these people didn’t want me on their little expedition, they can wait another day for their data to be sorted neatly into a spreadsheet.”

“If they complain, just send them my way. I will handle it.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it. I wish I didn’t volunteer for this crap… I just wanted to be part of this somehow but now? I have seen so much more wondrous things and this all feels so trivial and pointless.”

“The fate of all who deal with demons.”

“I suppose so…”

“Want to head over to Nemesis for dinner then? I know it’s still a few hours but it might be better to be early.”

“And to take my mind off all this tedium. Sure.”

After dinner, Nemesis flickered into existence beside Serena, who was heading back from taking the bathroom in the library via a magical door in the chariot.

“Serena, I have a surprise for you.”

“Oh hey, yea, what is it?”

“After you showed me the task you had to complete for your fellow students and how little academic value it holds outside of it needing to be done before any analysis could commence, I thought about the ethical implications of, as Melody called it, cheating. I came to a conclusion and have done your task for you. The gathered data has been sorted and I have provided notes on your computational machine about potential analytical approaches and conclusions that can be drawn from the data provided. I hope you didn’t mind me accessing your… laptop is it?”

“I don’t mind, thank you so much. You have no idea how big of a favour you just did for me.”

“Maybe you could perform a favour for me in return.”

“Sure, what do you need?”

“Do you have experience with the internet?”

“Uh, yes?”

“While we were waiting for our human… observers to make their move, I spent the time analysing strange signals we received and found the internet. Baal, Focalor, Umbria and I already enjoyed several aspects of it but I would like to ask you to educate me on matters of the internet and show me your favourite parts.”

“Yea, sure, why not. Demons on the internet… what a thought.”

“It amuses you.”

“It sure does. Don’t worry, it’s a good kind of fun.”

Nemesis nodded knowingly. “We do seem out of place there, I must admit.”

“On the internet, there is a place for everyone, don’t worry. You said you already found something you like?”

“I did. Mostly the information databases and music but I am open for anything, even the fan groups Baal enjoys.”

Serena laughed. “You are joking. Baal and fandoms?”

“Yes, he mostly enjoyed arguing about them with strangers over some form of delayed text communication. I think he liked the challenge to his mastery of words.”

“Last I heard, he wasn’t quite happy with his role as talk-y person. I’m glad he still find some enjoyment in it.”

“I suppose he likes it because it is on his terms and nothing serious. Just a bit of fun.”

“That’s fair, I think I would enjoy that too in his position.”

Melody snuggled up to Anne. “I think I will miss Baal.”

“Really?” Anne raised an eyebrow.

“Yea, he really grew on me. I’m glad we had a proper talk before he meets Ma tomorrow.”

“You think she will kill him? Like properly.”

“I’m not sure. She carried those scars for ten thousand years. But I guess that also less time relative to her age than the time we have been together relative to ours. I don’t want her to kill him.”

“It’s not my place to judge anything here, but he also grew on me. I think if you are honest with Mara, she will understand and maybe Baal gets to live.”

“Yea, I should really tell her everything that happened here and everything he did. All the actual good that he set into motion.”

Anne made a tired noise. “I really hope everything goes well for all the friends we made here. I know Isha is settling in well and that Nemesis and her crew will do fine, but I sometimes worry about Serena…”

“I do too. And Chrissi now as well.”

Anne smiled. “Yea, but I think she found a new place to call home. We might be seeing a lot more of her in the future, I think Muller wants her near the library. I overheard something about RICA moving their head offices into the city.”

“Oh, that would be really nice. We really need to do something for Serena though, she needs to internalize that she has access to resources now that few other students have.”

“I think I know just the person to do that.”

“Who-… oh, Nirrti.”

“Exactly! Who better to show her the world of ‘external resources’ than a fellow student who just so happens to be an ancient librarian?”

“Genius, I love it.”

“Speaking of genius, what about your involvement with that paper for professor Benteen?”

“Are you calling me a genius or him?” Melody smirked.

“Did Benteen accelerate particles with pool noodles?”

“Good girl. So, the paper was published, everyone got their laurels, I got mentioned too, but I don’t think I will pick him to supervise my doctorate. At the risk of sounding overly arrogant, I think I can do better without him.”

“And I would agree.”

“Now you’re just buttering me up.”

Anne giggled. “Me? Buttering you up? Oh, my dear future high mistress of the real, doctor Melody Valefor, I would never.”

“Of course not, perish the thought!” Melody laughed. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Should we get some sleep?”

“Fiiiiine. We really should, but I love snuggling too much.”

“We can snuggle in bed.”

“Yes, but we will also fall asleep there.”

“We will fall asleep here too, you know.”

Anne playfully rolled her eyes. “Okay, bed it is. Let’s go.”