Day 38: Breakfast

[deadlyjuliet]

What a singularly delightful evening he'd had. It was dampened, of course, by two things, but those were small things and he supposed he could overlook them for now. First was that his powers had still not returned. If he truly were on punishment as he thought, though, he couldn't very well expect those to come back. Second was that the little

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[tender_cruelty]

"Yes," he agreed. "Places with magic and the kinds of things that don't exist where I'm from." But they all seemed to have wars and killing, no matter what they were like otherwise. It was said. "I guess, yes. It must be a shock coming here, especially if you've never seen electricity."

Apparently the Orbital Elevator technology was something no-one else had ever heard of. "It's um... there are satellites in a geosynchronous orbit around Earth, and attached to them is a kind of tether which is attached to Earth's surface. Inside the tether, there's an elevator which allows you to go into space in a few hours." It was convenient, even if it was the cause of warfare.

His eyes widened a little at the idea of someone being from further in the future than he apparently was. "SD?" he asked, not having heard of that system before. "I guess we must be from different world though, if you've never heard of the Elevator? How about..." he paused, considering for a moment because surely, they would be recorded, even if only as terrorists, "Celestial Being?"

[full_score]

"Yeah, magic..." Sometimes it was easy to forget that sort of thing simply didn't exist at all for some people. "Pretty crazy stuff, huh? But I guess the electricity here must seem like magic to the people who've never seen anything like it before, don't you think?"

He listened to Allelujah's explanation of the Orbital Elevator, occasionally nodding to indicate he was following along. "That sounds really convenient. I'm surprised we don't have something like that in my time." Claude scratched his cheek, eyebrows furrowing a little. "And that I've never heard of it."

It sounded like his table companion wasn't familiar with the Space Date calendar system, either. Strange. And when he mentioned this Celestial Being, it didn't exactly help clear things up. "I can't say that I have," he admitted. "That's really weird. We're both from Earth, but there's all this important stuff I don't know anything about."

It wasn't like he considered himself dumb or ignorant. He'd studied pretty hard back in school, and he'd made decent grades. What was the deal here? "Do you know who Trillas Bachtein was?" he asked after a moment.

[tender_cruelty]

"Hm, I suppose it must, yes," Allelujah agreed, glancing up at the lights. It was something so normal for him, like space travel was, like mecha were, but for some people, it must seem incredibly strange.

"It's useful," Allelujah agreed. "It makes taking materials up into space much easier. And it transfers the solar energy down to the surface to provide electricity." That was hoarded and controlled by the major governments. "It works well in theory at least," he said with a shrug.

It was a little strange, he had to admit and it made Allelujah frown slightly at the thought. "I've never heard of them," he admitted.

[full_score]

"That does sound useful," Claude said as he listened to Allelujah explain more about this Orbital Elevator. It could be used as transportation and a means of delivering energy to Earth, something he imagined would become very influential. "But when you say it works well in theory, do you mean there're some problems with it?"

He was surprised when the other man said he hadn't heard of Bachtein. Claude knew he shouldn't have been -- they'd had this same song and dance when he'd talked to Zelnick over the bulletin board that one time. But it was still a little disconcerting to see, especially given the inconsistencies among his own friends. Why was it so common for people to have different memories even though they were from the same place?

"I see," he replied after a moment. "He's really famous where I'm from. If it weren't for him, space travel probably wouldn't have developed many practical uses."

[tender_cruelty]

"It's sort of political," Allelujah explained with a grimace. "In theory, it should mean clean and free energy for everyone, but the three tethers, the pillars to the satellites with the solar panels are controlled by the three major world powers. They can limit the energy supplied to non-aligned countries, or even to parts of their own alliances if they do something that the main blocks don't agree with. It's become quite messy recently." And it meant the countries which had relied on oil exports were now starving and falling into civil war. He remembered what had happened in Azadistan too well.

That important to space travel? Allelujah should have heard of him then. "I suppose if there are completely different world, then the idea of alternate Earths shouldn't feel so strange. it doesn't make it easier though." To have things that you knew but skewed a little was just weird.

[full_score]

Politics. That was rarely a good thing from Claude's experience. "That's really terrible," he said with a small frown. "I guess with that kind of leverage, it isn't difficult for those government to try to twist people's arms into doing whatever they want them to."

It was still weird he'd never heard of that kind of thing before, even if it wasn't the first time he'd ran into something like this. "You really think we're from alternate Earths?" he asked carefully.

He was trying not to sound skeptical. After all, who was he to say alternate dimensions didn't exist? Given the infinite nature of the universe, it was certainly a possibility, and if it was true, he was going to have to accept it for what it was. But on the other hand, the only evidence that pointed to that kind of theory was their own conflicting information. Not exactly the strongest stuff to be jumping to conclusions with, right?

If anything, he was more inclined to believe their memories had been tampered with somehow. That was one of Landel's specialties, after all. The idea of everyone coming from alternate versions of the same planet almost seemed like wishful thinking, even if he wasn't about to go telling other people that.

[tender_cruelty]

"No country can survive without energy. If they do try, then it causes civil war among the people; those wanting to stay free and those who want to be able to have access to amenities, whatever the cost is." And he couldn't blame them really. Electricity was almost impossible to live without now.

He smiled awkwardly and shrugg. "I don't know. But it might be a possibility, crazy as it sounds. It sounds conceited, but everyone on the Earth that I know has heard of Celestial Being, and the Orbital Elevator. It seems impossible that such a huge engineering feat at least would have been forgotten withing a couple of hundred years." Even if it was only remembered in history books, surely their fight would be remembered, even as the villains.

[full_score]

"I guess that shouldn't come as a surprise," Claude said with a frown. "It's natural for people to want to live." It was just a matter of what was considered necessary for life. Once people were used to living a certain way, any major changes inflicted on the majority could result in a nasty backlash. Life on underdeveloped planets seemed so simple compared to things like energy crises. "That's really horrible, though. I hope things can get resolved someday."

He took another bite of his food and listened as Allelujah explained his reasoning. "I guess it's a possibility," he admitted. "The idea of there being alternate realities isn't exactly new." Claude paused, as if there was a lingering but... behind his words; he thought better of it and shrugged. "Well, hopefully we'll find out the answer, right?"

[tender_cruelty]

"People want to live no matter the cost," Allelujah agreed. Even if it meant killing your own kind, or leaving behind the person most important to you. It was just human nature. He smiled weakly. "It would be nice to see some kind of peace, yes." It was what he was working for after all. "It just seems impossible sometimes."

He sounded a little sceptical, but Allelujah was more concerned with how things were rather than theories about how they might work. "Hopefully. If we want to get back to our own worlds at least."

[full_score]

Claude had to admit that he'd like to see some kind of widespread peace, too. Unfortunately, the distinct lack of it was why everyone felt the need to have military fleets and soldiers. People were bound to disagree about things, but it'd be better if leaders could learn to be diplomatic about resolving those sorts of problems. Of course, as a swordsman who'd been the victor in many battles, he knew that sometimes that just wasn't possible.

Not to mention it only took one mad man to nearly destroy everything.

"I think that as long as there are people who want peace, then it's possible to achieve it someday," he said after a moment. "If the desire is there, it's not all totally hopeless, right?"

As for getting home...well, that was the most important thing right now, wasn't it? "You're right," he agreed with a small nod. "Someone I met here once reminded me that if there's a way to bring everyone here, then there's a way to send them back. I try to remember that when things are looking down."

[tender_cruelty]

"It doesn't do much good if the governments are dead set on maintaining their power instead of maintaining peace," Allelujah said, a little bitterness entering his tone. They'd expected opposition, but he didn't think any of them had expected quite the outpouring of hatred from much of the world. They were too blind to what was going on elsewhere, caught up in their own contentment.

He managed a small smile at that though. "It's a nice thought," he replied. "I'd just be happy to be anywhere but a hospital."

[full_score]

"That's true, unfortunately," Claude said with a small sigh. "But if there's one constant in this world, it's that nothing stays the same. As long as that doesn't change, I like to think there's still some hope, even if it's just a small glimmer. It only becomes really hopeless once everyone quits caring at all."

The bitter tone in Allelujah's words wasn't unnoticed by Claude; it was fairly obvious he was speaking from his own experiences. "It sounds like the Earth you know has had it rough." Not that Earth's history wasn't tumultuous by his own reckoning, but aside from the conflicts with the Resonians four years before, things were pretty much peaceful back home.

"I have to admit I never thought I'd wind up trapped in a hospital," he said with a small smile. "It'd be great if we could leave the grounds on our own terms, but I have a feeling any answers we need are being kept here."

[tender_cruelty]

Allelujah gave Claude an apologetic look, realising how his words must have sounded. He didn't usually get much time to think in depth about these things, kept too busy with missions most of the time. It was only here that the thought of what was going on, what Celestial Being was doing, was really starting to get to him. "Sorry, I'm just not used to having this much time to think about things. The politics, it's something I'm sort of involved in. I didn't mean to be morose." He wasn't as bad as Setsuna, but he was beginning to appreciate how important Lockon's cheer had been.

Could always let me take care of things for a while.

He nodded in agreement, focusing intently on Claude to block out Hallelujah's words. "I think the outside is more of a distraction than anything too. They don't like that we can get out, but it's such a huge area to search on foot, that it would keep everyone occupied for months."

[full_score]

"No need to apologize," Claude told him. He could understand what it was like to think too much about something. Not only that, but if there was a bunch of unfinished business that Allelujah had back at home, it was natural for him to feel depressed about it, especially with how much time they spent sitting around during the day. "I'm just sorry all of that has been such a problem for you."

He agreed that going outside at night would hinder them more than anything else, especially if the stories on the bulletin were anything to go by. Claude thought it was worth checking out, at least, but he wasn't banking on finding an escape that way. "I think anyone who's expecting to get over the wall and make a break for it is going to be in for a nasty surprise," he added. "We have to get out from under their control first."

[tender_cruelty]

"It's a problem for everyone," Allelujah pointed out. "I'm just not good with medical facilities. That doesn't really help," he added with a crooked smile. He couldn't help but be on edge during the day, when everyone else seemed much more relaxed. At least at night he would be able to fight without getting sedated.

"I think that if someone had escaped that way, then we'd have heard about it somehow," he said thoughtfully. "Even if a group got out, I can't imagine that it would remain totally silent for any length of time." Unless people assumed that they'd disappeared? That was a possibility. "We might need to figure out what's keeping us here first."

[full_score]

"Well, no one really enjoys staying in a hospital, so I don't blame you," Claude said. For some people they were just plain creepy, or they brought up unpleasant memories. Who ever said they went to a hospital and enjoyed it, anyway?

He agreed with Allelujah's reasoning about potential escapees. "Well, with the way news travels about deaths and disappearances, I think you might be right." He began polishing off the last of his meal. "But, yeah, there's definitely something keeping us around." Claude had a couple ideas -- something heraldry-based, or perhaps some kind of implant that they all received upon arriving here. There was no way to know without further investigation, though. "If we don't do anything about that, I doubt we'll get far."

It was then that the intercom sounded, but it wasn't the woman speaking this time. "Sounds like our old pal is back," he said dryly. As the nurses began to escort captives out the room, Claude tried to hurry up with the last bit of his breakfast. "It was nice getting to talk to you, though. Take care of yourself, okay?"