Seele Vollerei: The end of reality, and what came after.

"We need to talk about Kiana."

There are some words that no parent ever wants to hear from their child's headmistress. Theresa looks tired, her perpetually pubescent features pale and drawn, and the bags beneath her eyes are ones you can't envy. But this wouldn't just be a schooling matter. There's no school left. At least no alarms are going off - yet, you chastise yourself. With a Herrscher, one can never be too careful.

"What about her?" you ask, trying to feign nonchalance even as you curse Kevin for taking the Judgement from you. You're in the Hyperion's senior officer's mess, alone for now, but you can't imagine that Otto will eat with the crew.

"I'm not even sure where to begin." Theresa sighs, quickly filling her own tray with lighter fare - there's no shortage of bitter melon, at least. "Seele came to the dorms last night, after vanishing halfway through her SAR mission. She… I don't know, Siegfried. She found a bubble out there, during her mission, a nightmare of Second Impact. A bad one, Sieg." Her eyes are haunted, and you know Theresa well enough to know that that takes some doing.

"What did she see?" you ask, only for Theresa to shake her head.

"Not what, Sieg. Who. Not who you think, either." She pauses, and you notice her shudder. "Seele saw a girl in there, someone who wasn't the Second Herrscher or Kiana. A girl with purple hair, torn open upon the ice. A girl who knew me, and would know you too, I think."

You only remember only one girl like that from Second Impact. The one you fought with Theresa and Welt, who Cecilia died trying to save. What was her name?

"Sirin," Theresa says, and you only then realise that you asked your question aloud. The name brings you to immediate attention, but somehow Theresa's voice keeps you seated. "The girl who Schicksal tortured into becoming a Herrscher. When Otto did… whatever he did to Kiana, Sirin was still in her Core. Just buried, and if Seele and Kiana and… Veliona are right, completely alone."

"Like Welt." You can't quite help your smile, despite the grim circumstances. You wonder if he made it through this last death. "That man has survived death more times than anyone I know."

"Just so." Theresa nods.

There's silence as you process that, cut only by the soft sounds of cutlery. Part of you wants nothing more than to run to your daughter, but the way Theresa looks, you're not sure you'd be able to do anything but make things worse. You were never good at that sort of thing. Cecilia always was but ever since she died you've been struggling to do what she did so effortlessly.

"That's not all," Theresa continues nervously, making sure that the door to the mess is closed. "Siegfried, Kiana was able to talk with her, after Seele convinced her to try. She remembered me. You know what happened at Second Impact." Your mind churns, trying to work out what Theresa is trying to say. Then it hits you.

You drop your fork with a clatter. "Did she," your voice cracks. "Theresa, do you know if she-"

"She didn't say," Theresa says. "But you know Kiana, I can't imagine she'd be able to ignore it if she did. Even so that just puts this off, it doesn't remove the danger. Kiana was never stupid, Sieg. She'll work it out. And when she does..."

"She'll want to kill him," you growl. "She's more right than anyone I know to that life, Theresa. But actually carrying through on that...it could be disastrous right now. "

"So what do we do? Just wait? Hope that she doesn't catch on?" Theresa asks. You shake your head.

"No. We need to tell her, them, tonight." You sigh. "And we need to keep Otto away from them, even more than we were before. He can't learn about this. You know what he'll try to do."

"I know," she sighs. "I'll take care of it, but it won't be easy." She picks up her tray, and begins to stand. For a moment, she looks truly weary, her age seeping through the mask of childhood she can never escape. Then she forces it down. "Let's go."

Thelxiope said:

What lives down here, in the deep, survives on scraps from 'higher' - from closer to the shores of reality. From the leaves and branches of Yggdrasil, where they touch the Sea.

How often, I wonder, does a world fall this deep?

What a feast these little, bitey fish must be having, on the remnants of the world.

And how tempting, to their endless hunger, must look the Hyperion?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

When I started writing this, I had two choices.

I could use a superficial model. Put the right words, in the right order, to describe the world the way Honkai Impact does. Here's a quantum sea; there are some beasts; it's a place, like any other. "Quantum" isn't an adjective. The same people show up over and over again, in similar stories, because that's just what happens in this sort of fiction.

Or I could work out... what sort of physics would lead to that. It probably couldn't work for real, but it'd be a little more grounded.

= = =

For people who don't want to sit through a half-baked lecture on physics, here's a nice piece of music. It also doubles as Veliona's theme for the moment. If you understand Japanese, it should be fairly obvious why.



(And if you don't, then this version has functional subtitles. Just turn on the automatic translation. ...modern AI is stupidly good at this ...it's a little worrying.)

= = =

In quantum physics, there's something called the measurement problem. Physics predicts that any given event leads to every possible outcome; why, then, is it that we only see one? A simple answer—the one I'm going with here, more or less, often less—is that they all happen, but the physics lead to them being unable to communicate with each other. Which includes brains, and so you only see one outcome because you literally can't see the others. They're still there, being seen by other versions of you.

But that's not a full answer. There are multiple outcomes? Okay; we still want to know what our chance of seeing each outcome is. Not just the raw list, but the probabilities. Every time you walk downstairs, you fall and break your neck; it would be useful to know how long you can expect to survive that.

And nothing in the raw physics, at this level, would tell us that.

What the Schrödinger equation gives us is 'measure'. Never mind what that is, exactly; others have called it 'reality-fluid', but that's just a way to remind us that we don't know. It's a complex number, and you add together all the possibilities that lead to the same outcome to get the true measure of that outcome. Since its value can be anywhere in the unit circle, this means outcomes can cancel out. At its simplest, that means you can shine a lightbeam through a double slit and get a pattern of light and dark stripes, even if you shine a single photon at a time.

The photon goes through both slits, you see, and then the two versions of it interfere with each other. More on that elsewhere; I won't go into detail.

Still just a list of outcomes. If the measure ends up as zero, then you can argue that probably means it won't happen, but what if it's in between? What if it's -0.5? What if it's 0.2 + 0.3i? Those don't look like probabilities, exactly...

The empirical answer is called the Born rule. You take the absolute value of the measure—so 0.5 if it's -0.5, or sqrt(0.2^2 + 0.3^2) if it's 0.2+0.3i—and then you square it. Why do you square it? Well, that formula gives the right answers...

This works. Assuming that many-worlds is correct, which it probably is, the absolute value of your measure decreases by about a factor of 10^(10^100) each and every second—I might be a few thousand orders of magnitude off, but who cares. The absolute value scarcely matters; you can only ever interact with other timelines that are almost perfectly identical to your own. Which, in practice, means only the ones that are the same size as your own. Because they split off very, very recently.

Trying to push that limit as far as it can possibly go is the main difficulty of building quantum computers. The second any information escapes from the internals of the computer into the environment, the universe splits—and the computer splits in half with it, ceasing to function in the way it's supposed to. Because, while 'timelines' (an abstraction, not something fundamentally real) can interfere with each other only while they're nearly identical, really the rule is that they need to be identical in particular ways. Ways which are controllable only so long as we know exactly how they differ.

= = =

But there's another option, one that's more useful for this story.

The Born rule? Instead of being fundamental, it might be that timelines—worlds—which are underneath a certain cutoff size... fail to exist.

It so happens that if you place a cutoff at the median world size—where half of all worlds are larger, and half are smaller—and declare that the smaller ones don't exist, then you get outcomes approximating the Born rule by simply counting worlds. If there are four outcomes where you break your neck climbing down the stairs, and six where you don't, then your chance of breaking your neck is 40%—no squared amplitude needed. Also you should walk more carefully.

This requires a mechanism for having smaller worlds fail to exist, but—

Here's where it gets interesting.

Remember the rule that timelines need to be "identical" to interfere with each other?

I've been assuming that rule is perfectly accurate. That, no matter how large one timeline is compared to another one, unless they're identical to each other (in the right ways) they still can't interfere with each other. This is... well, it's likely enough, and we've never experimentally observed anything else, but it's not really justified. It's just a thing that happens to be the case, and we've never tested it for enormous differences in measure.

Such as, for instance, the difference in measure between a world that's part of the Tree—one that's above that median-size cutoff point—and one that's not, being below it.

(We literally can't run that test. If we could, then building a quantum computer would be simple. Maybe one day, when we've been building them for decades, we'll notice a new sort of interference if we keep them running for long enough at a time...)

(It's literally a tree of timelines. A graph-theoretical tree, not a biological one, but nevertheless. I feel fairly confident in stating that's what they had in mind.)

If it's not that precise—if, given a sufficiently big difference in measure, a larger world can overwhelm and 'mangle' a smaller one, causing it to act as if it's part of the larger one rather than following its own causality—

Why, then you get an ecosystem of sorts, where the unlikelier timelines end up falling apart and being recycled into the larger ones. That's how it would look, from the perspective of such a larger world. The abyssal half of the universe is a place where no life-as-commonly-understood could possibly exist. Physics can't possibly exist. How could anything possibly live there?

But while the 'median world size' cutoff sounds like a hard cutoff, this is a physical process; it won't be that immediate. There'll always be room for places—using that term loosely—which are on the edge. Worlds that are just too large to be mangled, but still too small to be stable; or smaller regions, not quite worlds. The cutoff point will waver back and forth, depending both on local and global conditions at that point in time.

That, and it's a process depending on how similar these worlds are to the larger ones. So... it's something that's controllable, to a certain degree. Regions that fail to control it will fall apart, and be recycled—by the larger worlds, but also by other liminal ones. Regions that succeed... won't, at least not yet.

I've said 'worlds', but this cycle makes equally much sense for smaller objects. A "world" is, normally, the size of a universe... well, from our perspective that's the case. For a liminal world, one on the edge of oblivion, perhaps only a small section of it is stable enough to have its own causality—and because they're this unstable, they can interact with other worlds.

All the ingredients are in place, then, for a full-on ecosystem.

= = =

Lastly, one point.

Don't make the mistake of thinking the above is, in any sense, hard physics. It's inspired by physics, but it is at best something that might accidentally have some grains of truth in it. Life... tends to find a way, and any universe that works like Mangled-Worlds would have it is quite likely to have something like the above...

But for the most part, it's going to be a process operating at the scale of fundamental particles. Getting the right probabilities for electron excitation, etc. If the underlying process was this uncertain, then physics at the larger scale probably wouldn't work at all and we'd only have the 'liminal' worlds.

It certainly wouldn't operate at the scale of, say, human-sized quantum beasts.

Still! It's a fun thing to think about.

It's a pity that, if you live at the top of this garbage heap of a universe, you can't possibly probe the abyssal sections and figure out what's going on there... right? Well, I suppose you'd be justified in doing just about anything if you could; it's not like there could possibly be any life there.

Your biggest worry is the twins. They're... well, this is the second time in two days you've disappeared in front of them. You think you may have screamed. You definitely fell to the floor, possibly in two pieces. The adrenaline stopped you from feeling it while you were fighting, but now that things are calming down, your head is killing you. After taking a spear to your midst, you're lucky to have gotten away with just a headache.

You're worried that your little sisters saw you 'die', is the point. Even if you return right now, before too much time has passed, you don't imagine Rozaliya and Liliya will let you out of their sight ever again, and you don't think you can blame them. This has been a really sucky week. If—no, when things calm down, you're going to take a vacation. Just you, Veliona, Roza and Liliya, and Bronya. Maybe Kiana as well, if she—

Your head pounds.

Yes. You'll do that. All you have to do is resurrect her, it can't be that hard. Then things can be normal again. Just the four—no, five of you, having fun on a beach. Kiana already made one, so you'll graciously let her join. Theresa, too; the twins think she's fun to play with, and you're sure she'd enjoy the break. She looked tired. Siegfried can provide parental guidance, you suppose; you specifically don't want Teri to do it. Tesla is surprisingly good at playing the drums, and you can't leave your teacher out, so Einstein will have to come. It's a pity Schrödinger isn't around, but she'll show up.

You studiously ignore how your beach trip has grown to encompass everyone you know, and instead just imagine the scene. Tesla… Tesla would definitely shout at you, if you even thought about putting her treasured musical instruments close to any amount of sand. Liliya would be annoyed that Kiana's ocean isn't water she can freeze and play with, you suspect, but then you adjust your imagination a little. She's been more energetic; you didn't really notice that, not until Roza said so. She might join you in the games. She's a lot more similar to her sister than most people believe.

It's a happy thought, an innocent one, and you latch onto it to avoid thinking about everything else.

You need to go back, but…

You've finally calmed down. The twins are important, yes, but are they the most important things in the world to you?

...

You couldn't live with yourself if they got hurt, just because you needed reassurance and comfort more than you needed to ensure their safety. No, you can't go home yet.

...

"Seele?"

The voice seems to come from far away.

"Vel?" you say, your voice trembling with exhaustion.

"Yeah?" Vel sounds tired too. That's fine. Fatigue is nothing to fear. Fear is something to overcome. "I'm here. You zoned out. How are you holding up?"

"Sis?"

"...yeah."

"I just… want to thank you." You smile at her.

"For what?"

"Saving my life," you say simply.

Vel chuckles, though it sounds a little strained. "Yeah, no problem. It's my job."

"I guess. I just realized, I never thanked you before." You pause. "We should capture a few of these before they all run away. What exactly are they? Quantum... worms?"

You make up a name on the spot. They're not physical enough to be worm-shaped, or anything-shaped, but they feel worm-like in a lot of other ways. The bitey sort of nightmare worm. It's as good a name as any.

"They sure like running away," Vel says. "I wish we could tell where they're going."

You reply to that with a mental shrug. If wishes were fishes, then the freezers wouldn't be full of seals. In the meantime, you corral two of the worms. On their own, they're no threat whatsoever. Also, and maybe this'll mean something to the scientists, after launching a single easily-deflected spear at you each they both nearly stop moving. That might be its own form of exhaustion, though you have no idea how you would tell.

"Are we keeping them a while?" Vel asks.

You look at the two quivering, sickly things in front of you. One of them glows faintly pink and green, the other a duller red and blue. That's communication of some form, since previously they stuck to just exuding 'enemy'.

"I don't think they'd make good pets, but we probably should. Figuring them out might be important."

"I'll build a cage."

ooOOoo

So she does.

'Build a cage,' she says. Vel's no carpenter, but she doesn't need to be, to warp what passes for space-time into a shape where 'future-wards' is radially inwards. She leaves a flatter section in the middle, by dint of spinning it, so the poor things aren't crushed to death.

You reach in, carefully, and put down one of the worms. It's not hostile anymore, but it emits a quiet, pained squeaking as it passes through the event horizon. It's clearly in pain, and trying to hide from you by curling up, which is odd behaviour for a honkai beast. Odd for anything that's trying to kill you. Normal for an animal?

Black holes always look so simple when Kiana uses them, yet it's taking all your concentration to avoid being drawn in. Vel watches on, her eyes darting from you to the second, slowly approaching worm. You put it in its designated area, where it quickly tries to angle itself to look at you.

"It isn't angry," Vel says, confused. "Usually they're angry."

"Maybe it's confused?" you say.

"Maybe. They look safe enough, at least."

"Yeah. They look safe enough."

You leave them be, putting a box around the whole arrangement. Now, even if they try to escape, they can't. You really shouldn't need to worry, but all the same you're not letting them out of your sight. Vel takes a quick peek, adjusting a few details, before nodding.

"Come on," she says. "We need to do one more thing."

It's been, maybe, a minute. That's all the time it takes for everyone you know to nearly die.

"Add some defences?" you ask hopefully, but no.

"That would take far too long," Veliona says. "We should, don't get me wrong. You should ask Kiana about it as well; you know her better than me. No, I'm talking about this."

She motions to the bridge of pinched space connecting the Hyperion to the rest of reality. Oh. If that's broken...

"We'd be trapped here."

"It's not as sure as all that," she says. "All the same… you go ahead. Go calm everyone down. I need to clean this up."

You give her a hug.

It's not a physical hug. You're a quantum butterfly, and Vel's a sea of shadowy tentacles. To call what you give her a 'hug' is an abuse of the term, but all the same, it's a hug. Your minds are connected, and she can feel the warmth you give her.

Then, you angle yourself back towards the Hyperion and prepare to re-enter normal reality. There's something going on there, you can tell. You can feel Kiana's power over the void starting to reach out towards you.

It isn't even lunchtime yet.

ooOOoo

What you'd expect, having been ejected as brutally as this, is that you'd need to make your way back from the outside of the ship. In principle you can enter a bubble universe at any location, but that's for a normal one that doesn't have Tesla's equipment on it. You don't want to try pushing past that, and not just because it might harm the machinery. It might also harm you. No, the outer hull of the Hyperion should be your best bet.

So when a portal opens up in front of you, leading straight back to where you came from, you're somewhat nonplussed. Kiana cheats, and she cheats hard.

She's probably about to come charging to your rescue...

It's a nice thought, but you find yourself wanting to thump her. She can't have any idea what she's walking into, and doesn't she need to breathe?

Actually, now that you think of it, she doesn't need to breathe. But you've only been out here for two or three minutes, tops! You're starting to get Bronya's complaints, now.

In any case you can't afford to wait. You chase the portal backwards, jumping straight through to where Kiana is coming from. It takes you a moment to get your bearings after you materialize, not even bothering with your butterflies this time. You're far too tired for that.

Kiana screeches to a halt in front of you, nearly pushing you straight back into the portal. "Seele! You're alright!"

You nod, then look around. The corridor seems very familiar. "I'm fine. We're both fine. Are Roza and Liliya—"

Kiana follows your gaze.

You're right back where you started. Kiana must have jumped to where you disappeared from, before aiming at where you disappeared to, and she brought Theresa along for the ride.

That's not important right now.

Your little sisters are right there, clutching Theresa for dear life and sobbing audibly. They're far too upset to notice you've returned, at least until you crouch next to them and gently put your arms around them.

For a moment, they're in shock. Then they throw themselves at you, holding on for dear life. You can feel them sob harder than ever.

You're crying, too. All three of you are. You and your sisters are so overcome with relief to see each other that you can barely speak.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" you keep repeating as you hug them. "I love you."

Veliona touches down next to all of you, but doesn't say anything. She just looks a little sad. After a few moments, she walks over to the portal and stands next to it, as if she can see something there. Then, finally, she speaks.

"We were attacked," she says. "The Hyperion, that is, though I don't think it took any damage. The first few attacks all hit Seele, and after that I was able to block them."

She seems to be talking more to herself than anyone else.

It's not... It's not really fair. You decided to treat her like a sister, but when you both disappeared, it's you that Rozaliya and Liliya shouted for. Inevitable, maybe, but it's got to sting a little.

The old Veliona wouldn't have cared, or would have pretended not to. The new one... You prefer the new one. Someday you'll have to work out what changed, but it's not now. Maybe nothing did. Maybe she was always like this, just on the inside.

"They're all dead or gone now," you say, and it's enough for the twins to raise their heads and listen. You see Theresa visibly relax. "So... Vel, come here?"

Vel complies, cautiously approaching you. You pull her into a brief but tight embrace, then move on to let Rozaliya do the same.

She gets it. She always does.

Vel is stiff at first, until you wrap one arm around her and the other around your sister. She relaxes immediately, falling into the hug. The four of you stand there in silence for a while, enjoying each other's presence. Then, quietly, Vel speaks.

"I'll always be here for you," she says.

You're not sure which of the three of you she means. Maybe all of you.

You and Vel hold the hug for a little while longer, then break. The twins look expectantly at the pair of you.

"Okay, so..." You clear your throat. "Sorry, Theresa. We just had to get that out of the way first."

"I… I understand." She smiles. "You look like you've been through a lot, as do you, Veliona."

"We could use a vacation, to be honest." You sigh. "Maybe later. Reporting to the captain, we were attacked by what I think were several thousand of a new kind of quantum creature. These weren't honkai beasts, or quantum shadows of those. They were, near as I can tell, animals."

"Like, normal animals?" Lili asks. "What do you mean animals?"

You slide down against the wall while you explain the encounter to the group, omitting no details. By the end of it, they're deep in thought.

"That's pretty crazy," Rozaliya says, finally. "What do you think they were?"

"I have no idea," Vel says. "Seele is right, they seem like animals. I think they attacked because they were… my best guess is 'hungry'."

"Anyway, we captured two of them to study," you say, hugging your knees. "We were going to suggest setting some traps for more of them, then trying to find out what they are and where they came from. At the very least, we'll need defenses."

"Not right now." Veliona frowns. "Seele, you took a lot of bad hits out there."

"I'll be fine," you say, quickly. "Anyway, you took a lot more! Trying to defend the ship on your own, what were you thinking?"

There's a moment's pause.

"I was thinking I could handle it, and didn't have a choice." She grimaces. "You were really out of it for a while. I don't think you know how close you came to death."

"I'm sorry, Vel."

"My point is–" She looks at Theresa. "You can't send her out there for at least another hour. Or two, or three. Some of those hits did serious damage, and you're lucky I didn't get knocked out as well. We'd all be dead if that had happened. If anything has to be done in a hurry, I'll deal with it."

"Of course," Theresa says quickly. "Though I'd rather give both of you a rest, if I can. Do you think there's any chance they'll return quickly?"

"Doubt it," Vel says. "They seemed pretty shaken up by the battle. Then again, Seele called them worms, and I don't think they're much smarter than worms. So who knows? Anyway, I'll take a look at the surroundings and see what can be done."

"Vel, you need to rest too," you say.

"I'm fine! I just need to make some adjustments, then I'll be good."

"Vel, please–"

"I'll be fine," she says. "Someone's got to."

You look appealingly at Theresa. She nods.

"Seele's right. You need to rest, Veliona. I won't send someone out straight after a fight unless we absolutely have to, and it sounds like we don't have to."

You take her hand, and look pleadingly at her. Roza and Liliya, too—they won't be happy if either of you leave right now.

"Fine," Vel says, and it's like the air goes out of her. You're both tired. It's not a new experience, but it's been... how many years, now, since you were stopped by simple human weaknesses like that?

"Like I said, I trapped two of them," you tell Theresa quietly, pushing yourself back to your feet. "They're– Here," you say, proffering what looks to all the world like a cardboard box.

Theresa looks at it, then up at you. "A box."

"It's not a trick," you say. "Go on, open it. We trapped them in a..." You laugh, and decide against telling her. It'll be more fun that way.

Theresa takes the box from your hand and looks at it for a while.

"There's a HOMU logo on this," she says. "Seele, did you put two apparently super dangerous beings in a cardboard box meant for game merchandise?"

"It's not just a box," Vel says.

Theresa looks between the two of you, and sighs.

"Do I even want to know? No, I'm sure I don't. Alright then."

"No, go ahead, open it." You motion to the box. "It's perfectly safe."

"I very much doubt that."

"Trust me," you say.

Theresa gives you a look, then rips open the box. After a moment she withdraws her hand, and you see her hastily take a few steps back. The 'cardboard' disperses as a drizzle of blue light, leaving a black hole floating in midair.

There's an event horizon. It bends light, in different directions depending on how close to the hole it gets, and at what angle. If you look closely enough you can see a distorted, ring-shaped reflection of yourself.

"What," she says, "is this?"

A fair question. There's a protective shell of negative gravity around the black hole, but to be perfectly blunt, it's a pencil balanced on its tip. There's no mass in it, so if it collapses in on itself it'll just disappear, taking the worms with it. Einstein was surprisingly excited when you proved it works.

"New pets," you say.

Theresa stares at you, deadpan.

You lean against the wall, smirking.

"It's a prison," you say. "A hole in the universe, where there's only an entrance and no exit. Einstein helped me figure it out. She called it a Kerr metric. It's a black hole, but don't worry, it's perfectly safe. Kiana makes these all the time, you know?"

To prove your point, you pick it up and toss it to Liliya. Kiana does this automatically. You? It took a week of practice before you could keep one stable for more than a minute, before your stigmata caught on and started automating them. She catches it, then giggles.

"It's a ball!" she says, and rolls it across the floor with her foot.

"If you squeeze it hard enough, I guess you might lose your hand…" You make a pretense of thinking it over, then laugh. "It'd take a few hundred tons of force, though. Maybe a car crashing into it? You're safe, Lil."

She beams, then gives it a soft kick. It rolls across the floor, scattering rainbow light everywhere. Light bends around it, chasing itself in circles.

"It's so pretty," she says.

"You put the worms inside a…" Theresa looks at it, then you, then shakes her head. "An artificial black hole? I wouldn't know. I'm not a scientist."

"It's a ball!" Liliya says, and kicks it again.

The ball bounces off the wall, scattering light everywhere.

"Stop," Roza says, irritated. "You'll hit Veli–"

Veliona kicks the ball. You all watch as it bounces around. It loses speed rapidly, seeming to hang in the air for a moment. Then, it falls towards Roza.

Thump.

"That's it." Roza grins. "You're on!"

She kicks the ball straight back towards Liliya, but Veliona moves like lightning, snatching it away and sending it rolling to you. You hit it straight back at her with a smirk.

"Come on!" she taunts. "Is that the best you've got?"

"You probably shouldn't…" Theresa says helplessly.

Vel gives her a cheeky grin, then sends it hurtling back towards you.

You hit it back, harder this time. Veliona snatches it again, sending it straight back. You grit your teeth, then hit it as hard as you can, hard enough that you can almost feel the gravitational shear.

Vel bounces it off the wall to change its direction, then sends it straight at Roza. She sends it over to Liliya, who does a flying leap and rebounds it off the ceiling and towards you. A little awkwardly, you bounce it off the ground and back towards Vel, who returns it straight away.

"Play with us!" Liliya laughs. "You need the break, Teriri."

The bouncing ball slows, then stops.

"Come on," Vel says. "Give it a try."

There's a moment of silence. Then, you bounce the ball to Theresa, who catches it with an expression of surprise.

"It's so pretty…" she says.

"Teri!" Liliya says, a laugh in her voice.

Theresa sends the ball straight back to you. You cheat a little and watch as it slows to a halt in front of you, almost sparkling in the hall lights. Then you punt it back towards Kiana, angling it just above Teriri's maximum reach.

"Oof!" Kiana says, leaning forward to catch it.

ooOOoo

It's not a long game, all told, but it's the most fun thing you've done in a while. A group of tired, bruised and emotional girls spending five or ten minutes bouncing a ball around doesn't sound all that exciting, but it's a huge relief to everyone.

Teriri, in particular, shines. It's got to be hard on her, always having to act the adult. She's older than any of you, sure, but she's always seemed the most like herself when she doesn't try to act older than she looks.

When the ball finally shatters one of the lights and rolls into the corner, you let out a sigh.

"That's enough," Theresa says. "I think we should head on over to engineering. There's only a few dozen meters left, so Kiana, can you take care of these… flaws?"

Kiana nods. "Sure."

ooOOoo

You return to pick up Hans and the other crew members.

Engineering looks far different than the last time you saw it. It has, for one thing, lights. It's also bigger than you remember, although that could be the sleepiness playing tricks on you.

Theresa wastes no time in finding Tesla. She's at the centre, working on the larger of her two devices—the one that goes down the length of the ship. What did she call it, a 'quantum balancer'?

"Theresa!" she exclaims, her eyes scanning the rest of you. "You managed to save some of the crew after all. Good." She looks at your group, lingering on you for a moment, before returning to Theresa. "How many are there?"

"Twenty-two, all told. I need to correct you; Seele's the one who found them."

"I see. We're... very low on power. The reactor shut down again after a few hours; I couldn't spare the time to run it. The auxiliary balancer will burn out in another day or so, but we'll run out of battery power before then. Are any of you fine folks acquainted with honkai reactor operation procedures?"

The woman from earlier steps forward, and Tesla slumps in relief. "I am. I was an engineer at the Nagoya reactor."

"Perfect. You're in charge of restarting the reactor. Take as many as you need from the crew to help." She looks over at you and smiles, though there's a tinge of desperation in it. "Seele, you're on search and rescue? That is good. I need you to find the mop-head. We need her help, whatever…" She pauses. "I'm sure she's stuck in a closet somewhere. You'd know better than me."

You nod silently. Theresa looks at you.

"I'll let you make your own decisions, Seele," she says. "If you feel you need the break, I don't think anyone can blame you. Kiana, please help as well."

= = =

I'm being slightly experimental with the votes here. As is usual, any of these three tasks are also subject to write-ins. You can even attempt to convince Theresa you shouldn't be looking for Einstein, in which case ignore the tasks.

Not that I think that's a good idea here. It might be relevant in the future.

[ ] [Seele] Leave immediately.
+ You'll find Einstein faster.
- Seele will not be in shape to handle any further 'events'.
[ ] [Seele] Take a break.

[ ] [Search] Start in the most accessible locations.
+ You'll find Einstein faster.
- If you don't, she won't be in good shape.
[ ] [Search] Start in the most likely locations.
= This is effectively a middle point between option 2 and 3.
[ ] [Search] Start in the most dangerous locations.

[ ] [Twins] Convince Roza & Liliya to help Tesla.
[ ] [Twins] Do not.