Chương 18: User: [C7 (provisional)]

Soren was sitting in Tanaka's office; it was around 1: 30 a. m., and he was using his night off to do consulting work. In his hands, he leafed through a heavy book, analyzing it page by page, and all of them possessed the same consistency: letters written in black ink, marked with stamps that read "censored," along with a few classification warnings. The Container Program was quite extensive; although it was quite old, its appearance showed that it had been well preserved over time.

Top marks to the Tokyo Dead Archives for their exemplary preservation, and also for having the most stubborn archivists in Japan. Soren didn't take his eyes off the book.

"Director, so this is what you have on me?" Soren revealed some astonishment, as he had expected to find something about himself—details, accounts of the ritual, about the Crown.

"Mr. Vonesdar, I indulged you; there you have the program." The Director was sitting across from him, now with a very full cup of coffee. That aroma, which filled the office, suggested it was Arabica coffee, but even with a gold-plated machine, there were no miracles; its temperature suggested it could already be from yesterday.

"The original files were divided, Mr. Vonesdar. Some say that a few were deleted; it always depends on who you ask. What you have in your hands is a reconstruction; they are fragments that the WID has been piecing together from secondary sources." Soren looked closely and turned another page of that massive tome. Now on that page, something caught his attention.

On that page, in larger letters, was the following designation: Entity designation: [C7 (provisional)] Threat level: [Censored] Containment status: [Self-regulated] Historical involvement: [Censored] [Censored] [Censored] Recommended action: [Do not attack, do not declare war] [Alpha Priority]"C7," Soren said.

"C7 has a certain style; it sounds like the acronym for some secret agent, but right now I couldn't remember which movie I had seen it in."

"Interesting, that designation predates me," Tanaka said.

"I inherited the classification system, and the WID inherited the rest." The Director tapped on her tablet for a few seconds until she looked at Soren.

"What I find interesting is the recommended action; it's the same one the System gives when it tried to classify you. In this case, the Container is you." Soren looked once more at the bottom of the page. Now there was writing in brown indicating that, at one time, that ink had certainly been much darker.

"If found, cooperate, but if cooperation fails, you must retreat. Under no circumstances attack or be aggressive, as the last team that tried is still being reconstructed."

"I only noticed that note the second time I read it," the Director said.

"Director, we have to assume that whoever wrote this has a great sense of humor."

"Don't make jokes. I would say that whoever wrote it is quite realistic," Tanaka replied. The Director looked out her 49th-floor window; although it was no longer working hours, on the other side of the building, around the 60th floor, that level still had its lights on. A few employees were still working; some were printing reams of paper, while others were typing with their noses glued to the computer screen. Then, Tanaka spun her chair and looked at him.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"You know, there are five more containers registered in the program. Four containers are sealed in different states of containment, and one has been missing for centuries."

"Let me guess, Director, the one who is missing is Elian."

"Yes, her file is even more censored than yours, and I confess that for us, this matter causes some concerns. From what I was able to analyze regarding that file, she was the Container Program's greatest success, but on the other hand, she was also its greatest failure." Soren finished the Director's thought in the tone of someone reading a nuclear procedures manual.

"Powerful, she is indeed very powerful; Elian closes dimensional rifts with just a thought. But she has a weak point, Director. She is highly unstable, impulsive, and always with a good dose of madness running through her veins, as she could open new rifts even when she was disturbed."

"Tell me more, Mr. Vonesdar, how do you describe her way of thinking?" Soren looked at that photograph that was still on the Director's desk, at that strong gaze and the natural elegance she expressed, even through a static image. That unique, traditional outfit, next to a rare portal, inaccessible to most of humanity. Soren knew that gaze well.

"Conviction, Director," Soren replied with the utmost assertiveness.

"She had many certainties, certainties about what the world needed at that time. Certainties that the ends justified any means to achieve her goal. And the certainty that anyone who disagreed with her was just an obstacle or a mere fool."

"Did you disagree with her, Mr. Vonesdar?"

"I disagreed with her methods, with the ways she wanted to do things. But as for the goals, those goals could also, in a way, be right. I was never able to be sure about that, Director."

"Then tell me, what were the goals."

"Elian wanted survival, and protection. Deep down, she wanted to make our world a safe place against all the things that existed between dimensions. She wanted to protect the world from the entities that created rifts and the powers that feed on reality itself." Soren finished, closed that book, and looked into the Director's eyes.

"Director, she believed that the only way to fight monsters was to become one of them." The Director took a deep breath and asked, "And for you, what was the solution, Mr. Vonesdar?"

"Even though I respected her decision, I believed there had to be another way, another way of solving things."

"And so, did you find it?" Soren looked at his own hands.

"I found ways to delay it, as you must have already realized; however, that is not the same thing, because the problem was always there." Soren placed his hand on his chest and felt the crown moving. Soren left Director Tanaka's office and, just outside, the hallway only had its minimal lights on, without any trace of humans. He could understand that government buildings at two in the morning had a very particular quality—the characteristic silence of an infrastructure that continued to operate without a purpose.

In the background, a low hum could be heard from the computer systems; they were designed only for minimal maintenance activity. Soren walked in that direction and passed by doors that were already closed and a window with a small crack open. To his right was the breakroom, filled with a few personal items on top of the tables, which some employees must have forgotten before catching the bus to go home. Or else it could be some sacrifice so they could have more peaceful work days.

He kept thinking about Elian's call, especially when she told him:"Look at the patterns of the rifts, Soren." He still hadn't observed them with the focus that Elian had challenged him to apply; he hadn't had the time until now. Between the work at the shop, evaluations, the revelations, and the damn constant surveillance, all of this accompanied his new status as a WID consultant. But now, it seemed to be the ideal moment. Soren wasn't sleepy, the night bus home didn't arrive until 3: 00 a. m.

, and a taxi, out of the question—with the early morning surcharge, this consultancy would cost him four hours of his shift. As he walked through the hallways, at the very end he found an analysis room. He placed his hand on the doorknob and opened it; it seemed someone had forgotten to lock the door. Inside, the room had four terminals, all of them with access restrictions that in themselves would have blocked anyone without credentials; however, Soren had a provisional designation.

He sat down and clicked the button, and it was then that the terminal began to process. A few seconds later, the System recognized him. It wasn't exactly an approval or validation; in the center of the terminal screen, it appeared in red: User recognized User: [C7 (provisional)] Credential status: [Undefined] Status: [Why are you here?] Soren smiled at the algorithm's execution and preferred to assume that the question was rhetorical; he leaned closer to the keyboard and began to type: Query: Data on rifts Period: The last six months Region: The entire Tokyo area. Enter.