Several Minutes Later

“It… i-it works!”

“Hmm…” Saito mused, his eyes flicking between Researcher MacTavish and the capsule-like machine next to her, and the soft blue lights that now ran across it. He then glanced to the side, at Austin — who had just approached the machine and touched it, seemingly causing it to activate.

“This is… really weird…” Austin muttered, looking down at his hand and then over at the machine. “So there’s tech out there that I can activate just by… touching it?”

“Not just you. All of the Keys,” Pallan corrected. “You should all be able to access this ‘Raen Technology’.”

“We can verify if you have the actual gene, later…” Saito said, briefly glancing at Pallan before turning to look over the large group that now gathered in the underground space. All eight Keys, the three non-infected members of CSF-1, both Deans, Obra, Pallan, Gavon… as well as both Luke and Liask, who were currently laying on the floor, protected by ICDs. On hearing the news that a machine that could cure the infection had been found, the group had decided to bring the two unconscious victims down to the machine — but it was only once the Keys had arrived that the group was able to determine that the machine could actually be activated, and wasn’t dead. “…For now,” the Colonel continued, “we need to determine if this machine actually does what it says it does.”

“That’s easy,” Obra declared. “Put Liask in it, and cure the infection. What the hell else are we doin’ here?”

“Wait, but what about Luke?” Austin countered. “We can’t just leave him be!”

“This is a machine on Nimalia,” Obra snarled. “No sense in puttin’ outsiders first!”

“A machine on Nimalia it might be,” Pallan interjected, “but this technology most certainly isn’t ours.”

“There’s no reason that we can’t use this machine to cure both Liask and Luke, anyways,” Kaoné pointed out. “Assuming, of course, that it works — or that it works on us. Remember, this is an Aldredian machine, built for — I would assume — Aldredian physiology. There’s no guarantee that it will work on a Nimalian, or an Earthian.”

“True…” Twy muttered.

“It’s still worth a shot, right?” Austin pressed. “Nimalians and Earthians are both supposed to be descendants of the Aldredas, right? So it should still work!”

“I don’t know if it works that way…” Phoenix responded with a frown.

“We still don’t even know if the machine works,” Conrad pointed out.

“What’s the point in even asking all these questions?” Pierce retorted, “how the hell else are we supposed to see if the machine works, other than putting someone in it to cure them?”

“What if it accidentally kills ‘em?” Spike pointed out. “’Cause they aren’t Aldredian?”

“Luke and Liask are already infected,” Gavon said. “They’ll die without a cure, regardless. Testing a cure that might work is their best shot.”

“Theoretically, I could try curing them…” Kaoné added warily. “I’ve been studying non-Nimalian Aldredanoid physiology for a few years, now, in preparation for the day that I might try to cure an Earthian, or a Citan, or such. But I’ve still never even cured a Nimalian… I don’t know if I’m good enough to save Liask or Luke. The machine might well be safer.”

Rebehka shook her head. “Everyone’s being too hasty,” she insisted. “Physiology issues aside, we need to make sure that this machine can protect itself from the very infection that it’s meant to cure. If it can’t, then putting Liask or the Captain inside just risks losing the machine to the infection.”

“I mean… surely the creators would’ve thought of that?” Conrad said. “Seems kinda dumb to make a machine to cure the infection, that can, itself, be infected. Or corrupted, or whatever.”

“That’s what we’re waiting to find out,” Saito replied, and then glanced over at MacTavish, who was busy with her laptop. As with earlier, her computer was plugged into the side of the machine, and she was focused on the screen as it displayed a variety of information. “MacTavish, what can you tell us?”

“Uh, um…” The Researcher muttered, her attention still directed at the laptop in her lap as she sat cross-legged on the floor. “…I-it seems like, um… th-this machine is… experimental.”

“It’s just a prototype?” Gavon questioned.

“S-seems like it…”

“That’s not good…” Twy said. “If it’s just a prototype, then…”

“W-wait…” MacTavish spoke up, her eyes flicking to and fro as she rapidly read information that appeared on her screen. “…I-it’s a prototype, but, um… i-it looks like… a-according to, um, th-these logs, at least… i-it actually has, um, cured someone, before…”

“So it does work…” Hackett mused.

“Does it explain how it works?” Rebehka asked.

“Um… n-not here…” MacTavish replied. “A-although, uh, it says that, uh… i-it takes over half a day, um, to run… a-at a minimum…”

“We’re gonna be here forever…” Sky groaned.

“It’s worth it for a chance to fix Luke and Liask,” Spike pointed out.

“Has the machine cured more than one person, though?” Kaoné questioned. “If there’s only one recorded success, then we still can’t be sure if it will work for Luke or Liask. There might be extenuating circumstances.”

“…I-it, um…” MacTavish muttered, pausing for a moment to read some more. “…Th-there’s, um, m-more than one, but… n-not many… I-it’s, um, cured a couple of, uh, a-animals, too, so… I-I think it could, um, handle b-both Earthians and, um… N-Nimalians…”

“I have a question,” Phoenix spoke up. “This thing might’ve worked in the past, but hasn’t it been literally thousands of years since the Aldredas were around? How do we know that this thing still works?”

“I actually don’t think that’s an issue,” Rebehka replied. “I took another quick look around the outpost while you all were retrieving Liask and the Captain from the Archoné’s ship, and I found some stasis field generators, one in each of the three buildings. Combine that with the apparent lack of wear and tear on the building interiors, and the fact that the facility’s power generators still work, well… I think that, despite actually being thousands of years old, this equipment likely experienced far fewer years of subjective time.”

“That tracks,” Saito said. “We’ve found stasis generators in Aldredian outposts, before, so I’m not surprised at all to find that there are some here.”

“Was this facility meant to be some sort of… time capsule, then?” Gavon questioned. “Did the Aldredas expect to leave this place alone for eons?”

“Why else would they have setup the fog, and the maze?” Kaoné replied.

“Hmm. I suppose that’s true…”

“Th-the machine also, um…” MacTavish spoke up again, “i-it looks like it, um, has in-interior shielding. To, uh, p-protect against the, um… infection. I-it’s powered by the, um, m-main power generators…”

“That seems like a flaw…” Phoenix mused. “Wouldn’t you want the machine to have its own power source, just in case the main power goes out, or a connection gets cut?”

“I would agree…” Kaoné replied, “but if this machine was a prototype, then the Aldredas were likely focused on making sure that it worked before building in any redundancies. Which possibly also means that this machine is one-of-a-kind, not to mention fragile. If it breaks, somehow…”

“…Then we lose the closest thing to a cure that we’ve ever found,” Hackett finished grimly.

A poignant pause fell over the group, as everyone stared warily at the capsule-like machine, and the mechanical arms extending down toward it from the ceiling. But before long, Obra broke the silence, as he impatiently looked over the rest of the group. “Well?” he pressed, “the hell are we waitin’ for? Are we curin’ Liask, or not?”

“You keep forgetting Luke,” Austin bristled. “We aren’t here for just one person, you know.”

“Then he can go last.”

“And if the machine breaks after the first run? What then?”

“Do you realize what you’re suggesting?” Pierce cut in irately. “If Luke goes first, and the machine breaks after him, then what about Liask?”

“We have Kaoné as a back-up option,” Austin insisted. “But she’s more used to Nimalians, so she’d have a better shot at curing Liask than Luke! So Luke should go first, since he’s at higher risk!”

“Did you miss the part where Kaoné hasn’t actually cured a human?” Pierce shot back. “This machine is our best shot. We can’t count on back-up options!”

“Wait, hold on, who said anything about the machine breaking, in the first place?” Conrad questioned incredulously. “It was just a hypothetical, wasn’t it?”

“It’s… technically possible…” Kaoné admitted. “This machine is just a prototype, and it’s gone for years without maintenance… I don’t think we can discount the possibility of it breaking down after one run. And without any idea of how it works, or access to blueprints, I can’t fabricate a working copy…”

“The most prudent option, I feel…” Pallan said, “…would be to eschew the idea of using it now, and study it, instead. Only once we have enough of an understanding to replicate it should we risk its use.”

“You can’t be serious!” Austin exclaimed.

“Bullshit!” Pierce retorted simultaneously, as both he and Austin turned to glare at Pallan. “You’re saying that we should just let Liask and Luke die?”

“If we run it now, and it breaks, then it will only have cured one person — if that,” Pallan pointed out. “But if we study it, and replicate it… then it might save many more.”

“You have a point…” Gavon mused, “but damn, if I don’t like it…”

“Who fuckin’ cares about the future,” Obra spat. “We came here to cure Liask, so we’re goin’ to fuckin’ cure Liask!”

“Watch yourself…” Spike muttered warningly. “And don’t make us keep remindin’ you: we didn’t come here just for Liask.”

“But she should still go first,” Pierce insisted. “You always save the young over the old in situations like this.”

“Luke isn’t old!” Austin retorted. “Besides, if what you and Phoenix have said is true, then Liask voluntarily went to save you, Pierce. But Luke didn’t voluntarily get involved with the infection!”

“Are you fucking blaming Liask for this?!”

“I— well— that’s not what I meant…”

“As foolhardy as Liask’s plan was…” Phoenix said, “the fact is, she wasn’t the reason she got infected. You could blame everyone else around her — Pierce for getting into that situation, or me for not backing her up — but not her. Your Uncle, though, knew what he was getting into when he joined SERRCom. A military.”

“You can’t dismiss his life that easily!” Twy countered. “He doesn’t deserve to die just because he’s a soldier!”

“Yeah, but he got infected while attacking an EA base,” Pierce shot back, his irate gaze drifting back to Austin. “Which wouldn’t have happened if not for your stupid impostor, dweeb!”

“What?!” Austin exclaimed incredulously, “don’t blame me for this! It’s not my fault that EA fucked everything up!”

“And more importantly, it doesn’t fuckin’ matter,” Obra growled. “I said it before, I’ll say it again. This place is on Nimalia, Liask is Nimalian. Only makes sense that she goes first!”

“Oh, so now you’re a Nimalian,” Sky remarked with a roll of her eyes.

Obra turned to glare at Sky. “The fuck’re you sayin’?”

“Oh please. We’ve all heard you spit the word ‘outsiders’ at us a billion times,” Sky drawled. “You even call Pallan, Kaoné, and Rebehka outsiders, but they’re Nimalian, too!”

“Yeah, I kinda have to agree with Sky,” Conrad remarked. “You were getting better about the whole ‘outsiders’ thing before, Obra. But ever since Liask got infected, you’ve gone back to being an asshole, again. Is this really what she’d want?”

“And how the fuck do you know what she wants?” Obra snarled.

“Alright, everyone…” Kaoné interjected, speaking softly but nonetheless moving to interpose herself amongst the arguing Chaotics. “…I realize that emotions are running hot, right now. And I understand why—“

“Yeah, ‘cause the old bastard over there suggested that we toss Liask to the wolves,” Pierce retorted.

“And I’m not suggesting that we follow his advice,” Kaoné said.

“It is the only responsible decision,” Pallan declared. “The only decision that will save the most lives.”

“I know someone who claims the same…” Rebehka muttered with a scowl. “All she actually does is take more lives in the present, all due to some vague fear of losing more lives in the future. But we can’t actually know if the trade is worth it! Even your Oraculm’s foresight isn’t perfect, Archoné — so it’s impossible to know exactly what the future holds. In light of that, we can’t be forsaking victims now, not when we have the power to help them!”

“I agree,” Saito added. “And even if the machine breaks down, we can still study the pieces.”

“Not to mention all of the information stored here in this outpost,” Gavon pointed out. “As long as we have all of that, we should surely be able to recreate this machine. There are plenty of smart people in this galaxy, after all. Black Suns, NSD, SERRCom… someone will be able to recreate this cure.”

Pallan sighed in resignation. “…I feared you all would say that. I cannot stop you, but know that I object, all the same.”

“We never asked for your opinion, old man,” Pierce snapped.

“But it still raises the question…” Twy said uneasily. “…Who do we cure, first?”

“Liask,” Obra snapped.

“Luke!” Austin countered.

“Or,” Saito interjected, “…we can flip a coin.”

Everyone turned to give the Colonel an incredulous look.

“…Are you serious?!” Pierce exclaimed.

“What does that even mean?” Gavon asked. “’Flip a coin’?”

“It’s a thing that some people do on Earth when they can’t decide what to do,” Saito replied. “Basically, I’m suggesting that we pick between Liask and Captain Travis by chance. There’s no bias, that way.” He looked around, his gaze lingering particularly on Obra. “Or do we just want to fight this out?”

“I will if I have to,” Obra snarled.

“You will do no such thing,” Kaoné declared, fixing Obra with a stern look. “There will be no fighting over this. Of that, you can be certain.”

Obra stared back at Kaoné in surprise, but she didn’t back down, her stern gaze remaining on him. Eventually, he looked away, a scowl on his face. “Tch… fuckin’ outsiders…”

“Ugh…” Pierce also looked away, a foul look on his face… only to sigh a second later. “…Fuckin’… fuck. You’re right. I got carried away, too… sorry, everyone.” He then passed a quick glance toward Austin. “And… sorry, dweeb, for blaming you for what EA does…”

“Uh…” Austin stared back at Pierce in astonishment. “Um… okay?” He then looked away sheepishly. “…I guess I should apologize for blaming Liask, too… uh, sorry…”

Kaoné breathed a sigh of relief. “…Good.” She then glanced back at Saito. “Now… I think your suggestion is the only reasonable way forward, Colonel.”

“I can’t believe we’re leaving this to chance…” Hackett muttered incredulously.

“Don’t get me wrong, Major. I’d prefer to prioritize the Captain, as well,” Saito replied. “But the fact is that we aren’t going to arrive at a decision just by talking. And the more time we waste here, the worse Travis and Liask’s conditions are going to get.”

“Good point…” Phoenix muttered.

“If it’s a coin…” Kaoné commented, “Nimalia hasn’t used those in ages, but I believe they looked like…” In an instant, she fabricated a small metal disc into the palm of her hand. “…This. Right, Colonel?”

“Just about,” Saito replied. “You need some way to tell the sides apart. Then, you flick the coin upwards, let it flip a few times, and catch it out of the air. Whichever side appears face-up when you open your hand is the side that wins.”

“…This is how we’re decidin’ this?” Obra questioned incredulously as Kaoné fashioned simple insignia onto both sides of her makeshift coin.

“Any of us with AR implants could easily just use those to generate a random number,” Gavon pointed out. “But in a situation like this, it’s easy to claim bias with that method — no one can see your AR display but yourself, after all. A good, old fashioned method of physically determining a result is probably the most impartial that we can be.”

“It’s probably best that we leave the coin flip to Kaoné, then,” Twy suggested. “If impartiality is what we’re after, at least.”

“Alright, then…” Kaoné took a deep breath as she held the coin in her right hand. She glanced at Saito, and then at Obra, and then Pierce and Austin. “…On one side of this coin is a dot, and on the other, a line. Colonel, which one do you pick?”

“We’ll pick the line, for Travis,” Saito replied.

“Very well…” The Dean looked back at Obra again. “Do you accept this?”

“Might as fuckin’ well…” he muttered in reply.

“Alright…” Kaoné nodded, and then looked down at the coin, moving it to rest on her finger and her thumb. A second later, she flicked it into the air; it rose and fell in just a mere couple seconds, flipping over a dozen times in that span — but to everyone watching, it felt more like a minute, each flip holding with it the fate of either Liask Rakos, or Captain Luke Travis.

But then, just as quickly as she had flicked the coin into the air, Kaoné grabbed it. Her hand still closed, she held it out, with everyone quickly gathering around. After taking a deep breath, Kaoné slowly opened her fingers… revealing, face-up, a small dot.

“Liask it is, then…” Gavon mused.

Obra heaved a deep sigh of relief. “Thank the dirt…”

“Fuck…” Austin muttered. “…Well, I mean, there’s no guarantee that the machine will break, right? It’ll probably still work after Liask. Right?”

“I don’t like it, either,” Saito said, “but we have our answer.” He then gestured toward Liask and Luke, who were still laying by the side of the room. “Let’s get the girl in the machine. The sooner we get this all going, the better…”