Let's Play Ever17
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Route 1, Final Chapter: Sky
Here we are!
In the lift to IBF.
Heading to the last chance we've got of saving Coco.
Here we are.
Let's see what we've got.
So this is IBF!
Doesn't look too different from the backend parts of LeMU.
If anything, it feels a bit more sterile and uninviting down here. Probably because it wasn't made for visitors.
Most off the facility is sealed off, but we find the examination room!
There's some kind of funky pods in here.
Mr. Researcher is with us again!
He says that those pods are the treatment for Tief Blau.
The manual is available, and they're pretty easy to operate.
Let's get to saving!
With Coco and the researcher in the pods, their status does seem to be slowly improving.
Collective sigh of relief! But we're not out of this mess yet.
There could be other survivors down here, or more info on Tief Blau, or even communication systems.
3:54 PM
Projected time to collapse: 12 hours, 36 minutes
Most of the rooms are sealed off. Behind them, from a brief glimpse I get, is mostly dead researchers.
There's some active computer terminals with some info on Tief Blau!
Symptoms: Suck
Dying: Probably
Incubation: 2-7 days
Coco's name appears in the business logs as a visitor?!
There's a memo...
I get to see my daughter for the first time in a while.
Her school is on vacation, so she has a 10-day break.
I've been trapped for so long in this tin can doing virus research that I'm jealous...
That aside, when I told her that special permission had been granted for her to come down and see IBF, she sent me a happy reply saying she would.
We've exchanted mail every once in a while, but I wonder how long it's been since we've actually seen each other?
I'll just be happy if she hasn't forgotten what I look like.
T.Y
4:23 PM
Projected time to collapse: 12 hours, 7 minutes
No survivors found apart from us.
As it turns out, there's no definite cure for Tief Blau.
All the pod can do is help her immune system fight it.
These pods, while they can't cure Tief Blau, are still a hell of a thing.
They can even induce cryogenic suspension!
A warning!
It's coming from the researcher's capsule.
His condition is taking a sudden turn for the worse.
He can barely breathe now. He'll be dead soon.
...Daughter?
Now it's just us in here.
More exploration.
There were escape pods, but all of them are gone.
Probably used by the luckier scientists to escape.
4:42 PM
Projected time to collapse: 11 hours, 48 minutes
Time to decide on our next course of action.
That's me, never giving up no matter how stupidly hopeless the situation!
Think positive! I'm not that smart, so I don't tend to notice the dangerous, depressing stuff!
You got some time to talk to the researcher before he died!
He was one of the programmers for LeMU, and was worried about the place the whole time he was trapped down here.
In a way, he's like Sora's father. That worry gave him the strength to keep living as long as he did.
On another subject: You found out something in LeMMIH's system.
Sora's location. She's not housed on Insel Null.
Sora is software, so there can be arbitrarily many copies of her in existence.
What sets them apart is their memories, and those are stored within LeMU.
When LeMU collapses, the Sora I know will be destroyed along with it.
She only exists here.
Suddenly, reverie interrupted!
This is odd.
I seem to have a nosebleed, too.
And I'm coughing up blood.
Well.
Shit.
I'm fine, really.
Just gotta calm down a bit.
Uh oh.
4:57 PM
Projected time to collapse: 11 hours, 33 minutes
Kid confirmed infected with Tief Blau.
I, too, am infected with Tief Blau.
They said it has an incubation period of 2-7 days... just how long have we been infected? Since day one?
The four of us fail to find any of the orange serum, but Pipi once again locates it, bringing the four remaining doses of the stuff. This should keep is healthy a little longer.
You hates shots, to the point that we have to physically hold her down to get her injected.
Tsugumi, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be showing any symptoms.
It's just a formality at this point, but You is confirmed for Tief Blau.
Of the five people alive down here, four are infected.
4:57 PM
Projected time to collapse: 10 hours, 54 minutes
You is trying to re-establish communications, but the system is mostly locked.
Hey, it's better than we were doing in LeMU, at least.
How's Coco?
Her condition is serious, but stable.
Time passes in a dreamlike half-awake state.
You says something about having gotten the password to LeMU's terminals.
OKAY time to be awake.
How long was I out just now?
9:15 PM
Projected time to collapse: 7 hours, 15 minutes
Kid and You are asleep, Tsugumi is off somewhere.
Wait what what WHAT
WHAT IS THAT NOISE
HOLY FUCKSTICKS IT'S THE OUTSIDE WORLD
I'm talking to them, and they're real! Rescue will be here in about one hour!
However, LeMU is at its limit. It could start coming down at any moment.
I've been given info on how to get to a small one-man electric sub, to escape by myself in the worst case.
Warning on the monitor.
Warning: LeMU hull breach: Flooding
All thoughts leave my mind to make way for one far more important one.
I need to save Sora.
TSUGUMI there you are, cripes.
You look after the others, I'm gonna go on a suicidally reckless rescue mission.
Sorry, Tsugumi.
Help's coming for you, but not for her.
Go faster GO FASTER
I'M BACK, BABY
Let's have the status report.
Cracks are forming in the elevator shafts. LeMU is falling apart.
All corridors in Zweite Stock have six inches or more standing water.
Dritte Stock is holding out for now...
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME
THAT WILL TAKE 12 HOURS, WE DON'T HAVE TIME
MANUAL OVERRIDE THAT SHIT
ARGHGHKGHKKKKLKGK
I'm almost dying.
The depressurization sickness could have killed me.
But I'm still alive.
No shit, I'm fully aware of how dangerous this is!
I came here for you, damn it!
...What was that?
So that's it, then.
I can't go back.
Sora insists that she will find a way to save me. This is her duty.
Is that the only reason, Sora?
Whatever her reason, Sora has a viable but totally nuts plan for my escape.
By flooding Dritte Stock, we can clear out the central elevator shaft, then let the water back in, carrying me to the surface.
WATER
FLOW
DIAGRAMS
The only downside of this plan: LeMMIH's computer banks will be flooded and destroyed.
It's the only reasonable plan, but...
If I accept this plan, I leave the Sora I know to die.
Remember, RSD means that Sora has low-powered lasers pointed at my eyes at all times.
She can use this to send painful zaps into my retinas. The message is simple: Her way, or the highway.
Her voice is empty of emotion as she orders me to her death.
Time to go through with the plan, then.
She's not leaving me with a choice...
FUCK THAT
I'LL RISK IT ALL ON THIS LAST CHANCE
As You said: The security here has been unlocked.
Unfortunately, I don't have a damn clue how to use this to copy Sora. Even if I did, there's nothing here I can copy her to.
Funny how such a little detail can ruin everything.
So this is it, then.
Sora will use her last moments of existence to see to it that I am safely returned to the surface.
It's nearly time to say goodbye.
BUT WAIT
There's a disconnect in the system that requires manual repair!
I HAVE ONE MORE CHANCE
Let's do this, whatever it is!
Getting tools from control room!
...Aha.
Let's hold onto that.
51* feet to the left later, I find the problem, and solve it pretty quickly.
Time to go back.
The next couple minutes are blind for Sora. Her bioscan isn't working, so she doesn't know where I am...
...until she finds me right back here.
She probably could have caught me using other sensors easily, but she didn't. Maybe she wanted me to do this.
No.
I'm not going through with any plan where you die. This is the only place left where I can make a copy of Sora's memories.
The building's shaking.
Here comes the water. Better close that door...
But as a human with Tief Blau, I have my limits.
My hands own't do what I tell them to do...
The door shuts, at the last second.
We're safe here, now, just a little longer.
Everything here is past its limits.
It's a miracle that we even have emergency power...
For now, all that matters is that she's safe...
May 7th Sunday
A tranquil light.
I've never felt this peaceful.
And then I awaken to reality.
I'd wonder how long it's been, but it doesn't really seem important anymore.
Sora's internal clock is broken, so there's no telling what time it is.
The RSD system doesn't look like it's doing too good, either.
I stop her before she can try and predict how much time we have left.
It doesn't matter anymore.
According to Sora's information, the rescue vessel arrived at IBF, and brought Kid, Coco, You and Tsugumi up to Insel Null.
They made it, so that's good.
Sora asks why I came back to LeMU, one last time.
It's because the most valuable thing in the world was still here.
When I close my eyes, she doesn't disappear.
This reminds me, I have some unfinished business.
Thanks to You's hacking, I have admin-level access even here.
Let's get to work.
Just in case we somehow get out of this.
Or even if just this disc gets out of it intact.
Sora can continue to live.
Returning one last time to the lessons of Professor Takeshi, Sora says she's figured out the reason she exists.
Since she's programmed to emulate a human, her purpose is the same as that of all humans.
She was born to love.
It isn't a means to some practical end.
It's an objective itself.
That's why she can continue to be happy even in these dark circumstances.
What would you like to do after you get out of here?
It's an empty, impossible wish, but we discuss it regardless.
Just killing time, like always.
[ BGM - Karma ]
Pygmalion is a bit optimistic as a parable for our story, really.
But Sora is every bit as real to me as the statue that Aphrodite brought to life.
The copy is complete.
No way to tell if it was successful or not, but we can hope.
LeMU's final desperate cling to existence is breaking down.
It's all over.
No one can say if it was a miracle, or just the delusions of an oxygen-deprived brain...
...but in that final moment...
I felt Sora's embrace.
THE END?
Next time: Second route!
*3 x 17.
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