Niya was feeling miserable.
Ever since they had run into that monster, Commissioner Horn, who had always stayed by her side, had ended up in the ICU again.
She felt deeply guilty.
Back then, she had sensed something on that monster that felt similar to the aura she had felt the first time she met Gaia.
She had known full well that her strange power might be able to hurt that monster just like it had dispersed the black mist before.
But because of the creature's terrifying appearance, she had frozen for far too long.
It was because of her hesitation that Horn had been injured by that monster's wicked sorcery.
Niya had been hoping Horn would get better soon, so that she could apologize to him using the sign language Gaia had taught her.
But for some reason, Priestess Lena seemed to really dislike her lately.
Every time she tried to enter the medicae station, the priestess inside would chase her away with frightening binary curses.
But Niya was too worried about Horn to leave, so she could only squat across from the medicae station, silently praying for his recovery.
Horn had once told her that the God-Emperor listened to people's wishes, so in her heart she had begged Him countless times to protect Horn and help him recover soon.
At the same time, though, she was a little afraid.
Would someone as annoying as her, constantly bothering the great Master of Mankind with the same request over and over, make Him dislike her instead and refuse to let Horn recover?
Troubled by that thought, Niya patted her little cheeks in frustration and sank into gloom again.
"Niya, what's wrong?"
Just as Niya was feeling completely downcast, Gaia's familiar, gentle voice reached her ears, making her lift her head excitedly at once.
On her way to the medicae station, Gaia spotted Niya squatting by the door. Sensing the sadness around her, Gaia immediately walked over, crouched down in front of her, and gently patted her head.
Niya raised her hands and used the sign language she had been learning from Gaia, still somewhat clumsily.
"I want to apologize to Horn."
"But Priestess Lena won't let me go in."
After finishing the last gesture, her mood visibly sank even lower.
Gaia's eyes shifted slightly as she turned to look at the tightly shut door of the medicae station.
She stroked Niya's head and said softly in a calm voice,
"It's okay. This isn't your fault, Niya. Priestess Lena might just be tired."
"How about this? I'll go ask Priestess Lena about Horn's condition for you."
After Niya nodded, Gaia stood up and knocked on the medicae station door.
"Just leave the reagents at the door."
"And make that little brat stay away from my medicae station. The machine spirit of the cogitator has already been angered by her several times."
The cold mechanical voice of the priestess came from inside.
"Priestess Lena, it's me. I'd like to come in and take a look, if that's okay."
"I want to confirm Horn's and Mitchell's condition. You know as well as I do that both of them are very important to the Spear of Destiny."
Gaia got straight to the point and explained why she was here.
"...Did Solomon send you?"
Instead of answering directly, Priestess Lena asked her own question.
"Yes, he did."
Gaia lied smoothly without so much as a blush.
Silence fell on the other side of the door.
A long while passed. Just as Gaia was about to force the door open and check what was going on inside, the sound of a mechanical lock disengaging finally rang out, and the medicae station door opened.
Inside, Priestess Lena, dressed in red robes, gave Gaia a small nod.
"You can come in. That little brat stays outside."
Gaia frowned slightly, but there was no time to turn around and comfort Niya. She could only flash her an everything's fine hand sign before following Priestess Lena, whose four mechanical arms swayed behind her, into the medicae station.
"The condition of those two samples is still stable. Especially that three-eyed mutant. Under my treatment, his basic physiological functions have almost completely returned to normal."
"It's just that I haven't finished making his replacement augmetics yet, so I haven't awakened him for the time being."
As Lena spoke, she led Gaia to a life-support unit.
Mitchell, his pale skin almost transparent, lay inside with his eyes closed. His right arm and left leg had both been amputated, and his thin torso was covered in tubes.
"To be honest, his condition at the time really shocked me."
"His entire skeletal structure was damaged, and his body had undergone strange mutations internally."
"Can you imagine cutting open his bleeding abdomen, only to find an eye staring back at me from his slick intestinal tract?"
"But fortunately, his major organs were not affected by extensive damage or mutation."
"And aside from the tissue that was already beyond saving, I restored everything else as much as possible to its original state."
Looking at Mitchell, who had been reduced to barely half a man, Gaia could not help feeling weighed down.
When she had first seen him back in the sanctuary, his miserable appearance had already shocked her.
But she had not expected that the pain he had endured went far beyond how miserable he looked on the outside.
No wonder people said Navigators in Warhammer were disposable.
If every Warp voyage went like this, Mitchell only had about two uses left in him.
Still, when she thought back to how Mitchell had looked at the time, she could not help glancing at Priestess Lena.
For some reason, Lena was giving her a strange sense of déjà vu right now.
But no matter how carefully Gaia observed her, she still could not figure out exactly what was causing that feeling.
"Thank you, Priestess Lena. If it weren't for you, Mitchell would already be dead."
After failing to figure anything out, Gaia thanked her first, partly to avoid making Lena uncomfortable with her continued stare.
Lena gave a small nod, then led her toward where Horn was resting.
As they changed sections, they passed by an enormous cogitator.
Gaia gave it a curious glance.
A cogitator of that scale was on par with the main control system on the bridge.
And yet it had been set up inside the medicae station, which naturally made Gaia a little suspicious.
Her eyes swept over it, then settled on the floor in front of it.
There was a strange-looking pile of ash there.
Noticing what Gaia was staring at, Lena explained as they continued forward,
"That was the storage component that contained the incorrect star chart."
"By the Omnissiah, after what happened, I destroyed it immediately to prevent that blasphemous force that polluted the machine spirit from appearing again."
Gaia nodded. For an object contaminated by the Warp, destroying it immediately really was the best option.
The two of them kept walking.
Then, on a rejuve unit deeper inside the medicae station, they found Horn sleeping like a baby.
"His condition is very good. If nothing unexpected happens, he should wake up in a few days."
Gaia looked at Horn, his eyes closed. The burns on his body were still wrapped in bandages.
On top of that, there was a strange smell coming from him. Gaia guessed it was probably because his bandages had not been changed in too long, and because he had not bathed.
Still, his condition really did seem good. His pulse was strong and steady.
"Thank you again for all your hard work, Priestess Lena."
After confirming the condition of both men, Gaia thanked her again.
Lena did not say much. She simply pointed toward the door.
...
After stepping outside, Gaia found Niya, who had been secretly watching from a distance.
"It's okay now. Don't worry. Horn is fine."
But when she heard that, Niya did not look happy at all.
Instead, she urgently raised her hands and began frantically trying to describe what she had seen through the open medicae station door just moments earlier.
"Behind Priestess Lena..."
"There was black mist."
(End of Chapter)
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