Following her signal, he and Bambi jumped off the bed.
As they walked toward the door, she tugged at his shirt, her eyes filled with concern.
"You okay?"
Luciel nodded, rolling his shoulders and shaking out his hands.
"Yeah. Never been better."
He wasn't lying. He felt invigorated, just like the time he was brought back to life in the cave, but this only added to the mystery as to what actually happened. There was a lot for him to think about — how he survived, how he was unscathed every time, the GFC…
But Luciel wanted to focus on the current matter first, especially after hearing the name Joanne. Whenever Golden Flower Corporation came up, Joanne was the name that followed. Oftentimes, it was the other way around.
The president, and the Golden Flower herself, Joanne Morgenstern.
She and her company were all he knew, though. You couldn't really escape from them once you went on a journey with a Resonator. But other than that, he was pretty much in the dark.
What surprised him the most, though, was that Bambi knew Golden Flower, and she seemed close with them, too. But he couldn't say it didn't make sense. After all, she was someone of real importance, and her real identity had to remain classified.
Anyway, they finally stepped out of the medic room and into a long, narrow corridor. The walls were the same dark steel as the room they had left, lined with the same conduits. The floor was a grid of metal that clanged softly under their boots. There were doors lined on both sides of the corridor at regular intervals, each one identical and locked behind some sort of scanning mechanism.
Luciel was mesmerized by the sleekness of the ship. This chunk of metal was dedicated to dimension jumping and battling against Discordants, after all. Manufacturing one of these ships must have cost hundreds of millions or even billions of Ekos.
After a minute of walking, Belynda led them up a flight of metal stairs and through a reinforced bulkhead. Then, another narrow path stretched ahead. This floor, however, had a wider corridor and higher ceiling, which meant it housed all the important rooms.
What caught his eyes the most were the panels plastered along the walls, displaying scrolling data — ship diagnostics, route coordinates, readouts Luciel couldn't fathom to understand.
It truly felt like a warship.
Another minute passed, and not one person had opened their mouth. The silence continued until Belynda stopped at a door near the end of the hallway. It looked no different from the others.
The giant metal door had a small panel embedded at chest height. The panel wore a black glass surface no larger than a playing card.
She pressed her palm flat against it, and the glass pulsed once. A thin ring of light traced the outline of her hand, then with a beep, the glass turned gold.
A crisp, synthesized voice rang out from a hidden intercom.
[Access granted.]
The door split down the middle and slid apart with a quiet hiss.
Belynda turned to look at him and Bambi, smiling politely.
"Welcome to my office."
Bambi poked her head past Belynda and took a quick peek, then she flashed a mischievous grin.
"Still as messy as ever."
Belynda scoffed.
"My office, my rules."
Luciel barely registered their conversation. Instead, he took in every detail of Belynda's room.
The room was slightly larger than the medic bay. The walls were a darker steel than the rest of the ship, darker than he had thought possible — they were polished to a matte finish that swallowed light rather than reflected it. A wide steel desk sat near the far wall, its surface cluttered with stacks of paper laying in uneven towers, their corners curled and stained with what seemed to be spilled whisky, judging from the whisky glasses and bottles placed nearby.
The only clean area was at the center of the desk where a thin device was embedded, its glass dark and dormant for now.
Behind the desk, a narrow reinforced window stretched from wall to wall, offering a direct view of the sky. The light that bled through was ethereal, serving as a contrast to the dark, dignified solemness of the interior. It was just enough to light the whole room while leaving some spots in shadow.
"You coming in?"
Luciel's attention snapped back at Bambi's words.
"Ah, yes."
Both Belynda and Bambi had already entered the room while he was just standing there, dazed. He had never seen such a novel environment before, so his mind couldn't help but wander.
'Old habits die hard.'
Luciel finally stepped into the office, which offered a full view of the space at last. There was nothing special about the personal decorations: just a shelf holding a handful of personal effects, a coat rack, and a lot of alcohol stashed.
There was something he felt out of place, however. On one of the shelves, there was a small canvas leaned against the wall. It wasn't framed. Instead, it was propped there carelessly.
The brushwork was dark and chaotic, layered in convoluted details he couldn't quite name. The art itself looked abstract and imaginary, but it carried a raw intention that made his chest tighten. Somehow, he imagined the object would jump out, drag him into the canvas, and trap him there forever.
He breathed heavily, sweat beading on his forehead despite the cool room. Never had he felt such intense emotion from a painting.
A hand then rested on his shoulder, startling him back to the present.
"Luciel, I think you should rest a bit more."
He turned to his side and saw Bambi's concerned look. He wiped off the sweat and waved it off.
"I'm fine."
Bambi gave him a suspicious look mixed with gloom.
"After this then. Won't take no for an answer."
He looked at her, defeated. Arguing against her for this would only fire back at him.
"Yeah."
She softly smiled, satisfied with the answer, then turned to Belynda.
"Where's Joanne?"
Belynda moved behind the desk and leaned a hip against it, arms folding.
"I'm connecting us to her shortly. Wait a moment."
She then stationed herself at the center and reached across the desk. Her two finger pressed against the dormant glass, and the surface responded instantly. The dark surface brightened, layer by later, until a translucent display hovered a few inches above the desk, casting a pale glow across the room.
"Oh, and help yourself with anything here. Snacks and water's behind you to the left. Glasses and alcohol's in front of you to the left."
He didn't need to eat right now, distracted by the technology displayed, but he feared Bambi might test every bottle of alcohol here.
However, not even he saw this coming.
"I'm good."
'What?'
Bambi? Good with not having alcohol? It blew his mind in ways he could not believe. Luciel slapped himself mentally to check if it was real. It had been a long day for him, truly, but this took the cake. Maybe she was still affected by the whole fiasco.
And he genuinely needed to get some sleep. He'd technically been sleep-deprived for three days straight — the dreams and the journey in his soul didn't count as sleep.
Luciel didn't pay attention to what Belynda was doing. All of them had already taken seats — Belynda sitting behind the desk while he and Bambi sat across from her.
All he could do was watch as Belynda dragged her fingers across the display at lightning speed, swiping through menus left, right, and center. Then she tapped once, and then screen stilled.
"Connecting now."
A buzzing sound played as it connected, then a thump followed through, signaling that Joanne had picked up.