I slammed my hand on the whiteboard, getting Jose's full attention. With the marker in my hand, I drew a few more lines. I was pretty buzzed, which made me sweat as if I were carrying a dead body on my back. I figured needing to pee was also part of the sweating, because I couldn't walk comfortably through the crushed alcohol cans at my feet—a testament to how much liquid was building up inside me, dying to get out.
"Alright… Any questions?"
Jose raised his hand. "Where are you confused, Jose?" I asked.
"Sir, it's fair to say I didn't understand anything in general. Your drawing skills don't seem to be up to par. Especially when you're drunk…"
I smiled. "Ah, my little grasshopper; it's perfectly normal that you don't understand the plan. You still lack the foresight of a teacher like me." I brought the metal pipe in my hand to the board and started explaining from the beginning.
"Here's the plan… First, we find a way to get off this planet. That's the most important part… Once we're off this planet…" I hit the drawing of two stick figures in skirts with the metal pipe in my hand. "…we help Diana and Rose. At the very least, we need to find out why this Raiden fellow was killed. So, to understand the killer, we need to find a decent computer. Because Lee's personality simulation—the one we think is the killer—is somewhere inside you, and we can probably figure out what kind of person he was from there. If we can understand why Lee killed Raiden, then maybe we can get more ideas about John Crowrift and his team."
"We can also analyze Raiden on a computer," Jose said.
"Great idea, my friend!"
"So our priority is to find a computer, right?"
"Finding a quality computer is our priority, yes, but we also need to help the girls."
"Understood. What then?"
"We need an army. And we actually have the necessary tools to build an army. All those personalities from my past, aren't they all great warriors? If we can revive a few of them, maybe they can help us fight John Crowrift."
"So, sir, you want to bring all the personalities back to life?"
"Not all of them. We'll do that after detailed research."
"How will you convince them to help?"
"We'll find a way, of course. For example, Raiden… I don't know why Raiden was killed, but a voice inside me tells me it might be connected to John Crowrift. He might have many reasons to stand against John. To give him those useful reasons when he wakes up, we first need to solve his murder. Besides, Raiden seems like a strong leader, doesn't he? The guy was the king of CLAUDIS IX… Mind-weavers practically worship him. If we revive him, maybe we can get a whole planet like CLAUDIS IX behind us."
"A very good plan, sir."
"Thank you, my young student."
"What then?"
"Then we'll gather more of an army and learn John Crowrift's plan."
"But the SWR won't leave us alone. If they find out about a resurrected king, they'll probably want to investigate, and they might prevent us from building an army. We'll also have to hide from the SWR."
"See, I hadn't thought of that. Maybe we'll build this army somewhere far away from SWR control."
"Going to regions of the galaxy not overseen by the SWR would take centuries."
"By then, John Crowrift might have already won. Yes, we need to think of something else."
"May I offer a suggestion that's out of line, sir?"
"Of course, my student."
"Actually, sir, we know of a planet not under SWR's supervision."
"No way… Which planet is this…"
"This planet, sir. The Beyond World…"
"Holy crap! You're right… Should we build an army on this planet?"
"A huge space army wouldn't fit on this planet. In fact, due to the anomaly clouds surrounding this planet, we can't facilitate much passage. But this planet could serve as a kind of base. The creatures here aren't very intelligent, and there doesn't seem to be much oversight on this planet… We'll use this place as a base."
"But where will the army be? If we're going to stop John Crowrift, we need an army."
"Doesn't the SWR have a large enough army? I think when it comes to fighting hand-to-hand, the SWR's forces would be sufficient against John. What we need to do is learn his plans and sabotage them… prevent the chaos that would engulf the galaxy if John Crowrift goes to war with the SWR. So, more than an army, what we need is a unit."
"Like the Galactic Operations and Intelligence Agency?"
"Yes…"
"So you're telling me to form a team."
"I'm not telling you to form a team when you had an old one. I'm telling you to revive your old team. This team will be a kind of espionage unit. In fact, if you need armed forces sometimes, you can also get help from CLAUDIS IX. If we're going to stand against John Crowrift, we must do so not with brute force, but with agility and our wits."
"Now that you put it that way, that sounds pretty cool, actually…"
"But in the plan to rebuild the team, we need to consider, sir, who we will revive and who we'll let stay dead."
"I think Raiden should come back… The power of CLAUDIS IX and the mind-weavers will eventually be needed."
"What else then…"
"Oscar Destan is inside you already…"
"Yes…"
"And there's Joe Stone! He was one of the best doctors in the world… He could help us medically and also explain the past in more detail. We need to get that poor man out of his robot body."
"That's a very difficult situation…"
"How can we not save that man when technology is so advanced?"
"Sir, we're talking about a man connected to a robot body by an operation from 400 years ago. He would likely lose consciousness the moment we started any operation."
"What do you suggest for Joe Stone?"
"If you wish, we can connect his brain to a simulation and remove him from physical life, at least somewhat, but… But since his brain is severely damaged, it's unlikely he'd live in simulation forever."
"Ah, that's a huge decision. We might need to talk to Joe Stone about this."
"We'll decide that when we visit the Dermovox Facility, if we're going there, of course."
"Fantastic!" I yelled and threw the pipe onto the table. "The plan is simple! Get off the planet! Find a badass computer! Then analyze the personalities and revive whoever is useful to us! Form a team!"
"Yes!"
"Then let the spy story begin!"
"Your desire to revive my master…" a woman's voice said. "…has earned my respect."
"Diana…"
The white-haired woman stepped out of the shadow. She was hugging her arms as if cold, but it was clearly from nervousness. The woman could turn into a timid cat one moment, an aggressive panther the next. This was like her special power, which honestly unnerved me quite a bit.
"I'll tell you the truth, Mehmet." The moment I noticed tears streaming from Diana's eyes, my heart instantly warmed. Was that heroism impulse Oscar talked about sprouting inside me? Was there really such a thing in me?
Diana continued to speak. "We've been wandering for two centuries since our master's death. My sister and I had lost hope. All we had were years lost in the endless void of space. Then we found a clue, and without knowing what to do with it, we once again journeyed through the darkness of space. You are our biggest chance. The only stroke of luck we've had in centuries."
"Thank you, Diana, but…" Diana cut me off and continued.
"I don't know what state my race is in, but I assume they're lost. Without their master, they've been thrown into the filth of CLAUDIS's inner politics and are busy drowning. Each of them is trying to breathe with a bitter memory in their throats. And that's the biggest problem with being a mind-weaver, Mehmet. Our memories are so strong that sometimes we get lost in them. Just imagine, you're giving hope to us, who are drowning in centuries of bitter memories."
"You're welcome, I'm just doing what I think is right."
"No, we should thank you. My sister Rose was going to kill you when she first saw you. It's a good thing I stopped her. Otherwise, we would have casually pushed away a great chance. Perhaps our only chance…"
"Hey…" Jose said. "…I'm in on this too."
Diana slowly walked and knelt down towards Jose. Diana's black eyes sparkled as she reached out her hand to Jose's head and stroked his metal head as if petting a puppy. Jose made a happy expression as if he could feel it. The Oscar Destan inside him seemed to suddenly sprout in his robot body.
"I'm grateful to you too, Jose. You kept Mehmet alive all this time."
"I'm just doing my duty, ma'am. Don't worry, I'll keep you alive too."
"Thanks," she said with a very sincere smile.
This woman, for the first time since I met her, felt sincere. I didn't understand what I had done to affect her so much. I was just being myself. The reason I helped was that I didn't know what else I could do. Perhaps within kindness, there was something learned.
Evil itself could be done passively and effortlessly. Evil was easy. Evil was possible. But for those who wanted to do something; for those who wanted to adopt long-term goals, kindness was perhaps the only thing they could strive for. Because kindness truly was a difficult thing to do. Especially in a dead galaxy, when every card had already been dealt…
After all, I had joined this galaxy's card game quite late. Everyone had seen their hand, played a few rounds. I, who had joined this table late, couldn't even fully see my cards, yet I was expected to do something in this game. And I was the one who created this expectation. Maybe Oscar Destan was right. I'd go my own way again. I'd mess around with silly heroics again. Once again, I'd be that spoiled kid.
John Crowrift was probably suffering from this same disease I had. He was also trying to be a hero, but his understanding of heroism was different. I wouldn't be able to truly understand why John Crowrift existed until I fully knew him. But if there was one thing I was afraid of, it was understanding him, even agreeing with him, after I got to know him. After all, I shared the same DNA as him. We are different versions of the same person. In theory, whatever made him John Crowrift could also make me John Crowrift.
"You look very thoughtful," Diana said, laughing. She wiped a tear from her eye with her hand.
"Eh… I'm a bit buzzed, that's probably why."
"If you want, I can give you a thank you gift," she said and started walking towards me.
At that moment, the thoughts in my head vanished because I could see Diana unbuttoning the top two buttons of her garment.
"Here?"
"Yes, why not?"
"Right in front of the robot?"
"If you wish, sir, I can leave," Jose said.
"Yes, right in front of the robot…" Diana said.
At that moment, I felt as if my head was spinning. I took two steps back and pressed hard against the ground. If I hadn't put all my strength into the ground, I felt like I would faint and fall. I was already drunk, and this woman's unpleasant smile made me even drunker. As I looked at the woman, my eyes blurred. I wondered if her scent was what was making me extra drunk…
My eyes blurred. I put my hands to my eyes and rubbed them, but the blurriness didn't pass.
Then a blonde woman appeared before me. Her green eyes were the vibrant green of a freshly watered plant's shining leaves. Her lips were full, her hair was wavy and fell to her waist. She wore a white, low-cut dress. Her smile… Ah, her smile made me smile too. Because there was a sincerity from my past in that smile. It was as if that smile knew me. It knew who I was. It knew what I was. The foolish things I did in my time had caused that smile many times. The wetness on her lips carried the mocking words she spoke.
Her green eyes weren't tired, but they weren't exactly lively when she looked at me. They were like the eyes of an art critic gazing at a familiar painting. They knew me perfectly well. Ah, it was a feeling I hadn't had in a very long time. This alluring woman was approaching me with a sense of belonging. It was such a feeling that it warmed me from within. I opened my arms and called out to the woman:
"Yorleny!" I didn't know who she was or where I knew her from, but… But I was sure it was a good memory.
Then Yorleny approached me and placed a kiss on my lips. A fleeting, soft kiss… It had the effect on my body of a thirsty person drinking seawater. I wanted more. I was craving more, my insides gnawing.
No one should show a poor person a purse of gold and then vanish. No one should eat in front of a hungry person. No one should drink water in front of a thirsty person. No one should run in front of someone without legs, no one should show something to the blind. And this kiss definitely shouldn't have been so fleeting.
When the blurriness in my eyes cleared, I found Jose in front of me. Diana had already vanished. With Diana's disappearance, my knees buckled, and I let myself fall to the ground.
"Are you okay, sir?" Jose asked.
"A little… I feel a little tired. Where's Diana?"
"She kissed you and left, sir."
"Ah… Is that so?" I said and lay on my back on the stone floor. The sun outside, filtering through some small holes in the roof to the ground, looked like stars in the sky. I took a deep, overly relaxed breath and began watching the ceiling. "Diana seems like a very good woman."
"I hope so, sir… I hope so…"