A huge strain.
Echika felt as though something cold and wet had just skittered down her spine. The events of her Brain Dive into Talbot at Farasha Island flashed through her mind. For some reason, his Mnemosynes had appeared as a muddled mixture of several thousand people’s worth of memories. She’d tried to keep Diving at the time, but the strain was so intense, she’d had to quit. And when they pulled the cord out, its connector had been charred.
Just like what had happened with Investigator Lin.
Echika glanced at Greg, who remained unconscious. Harold’s words from that time came to mind.
“A defensive mechanism to keep the secret from being exposed.”
If the Mnemosyne-muddling defense mechanism had been applied to Greg, then it would have fended off Investigator Lin’s Brain Dive. Since her data-processing abilities as a Brain Diver were average, she hadn’t even been able to manage a partial Dive. If just touching on his Mnemosynes was enough to make her pass out, what would have happened if she’d actually managed to start a Dive?
“Either way, we’re stumped. We can’t continue Brain Diving without knowing what happened to her.” Totoki placed the cord on a low table and ran a hand through her hair. “We’ll have to wait until Greg wakes up from the sedative and question him again, or maybe…?”
I might be able to Dive into Greg.
Echika licked her lower lip. If she spoke up about this, then someone else—Aide Wood, in this situation—would end up with their brain fried. But at the same time, the Alliance wasn’t going to sit idly by and let them get away with this. Now that she and the others had gone so far as to restrain Greg, they needed to beat the Alliance to the punch and find some kind of clue. Otherwise, the Alliance would eliminate them. Everything they’d done until now would come to nothing.
She’d had enough of that with the Farasha Island case.
All she would have to do was stop thinking. She’d done this plenty of times already, hadn’t she?
“How many minutes would Aide Wood be able to last with his data-processing abilities?” Echika asked Totoki bravely. “How long would he last as my Belayer?”
Totoki’s eyes took on a hint of hostility.
“Hieda, that’s not the issue here. If we don’t know why the Brain Dive failed, trying another one is dangerous.”
“If we think about it in simple terms, Investigator Lin was hit with a volume of data that exceeded her processing abilities, causing the Dive to fail. Greg’s Mnemosynes were tweaked somehow to make that happen.” Echika had to put it vaguely, since she couldn’t tell Totoki about the Mnemosyne muddling. “And if that’s the case, I might be able to take it. It’s worth a shot.”
“You might be able to take it, but Aide Wood would just collapse on the spot. Like Benno did…”
“So what if I were to Dive alone, then?” She knew what she was saying was absurd, but this was the only alternative she could think of. “We have an overall grasp on how much data I can process, and how long it would take me to do it. You could set a timer and pull the cord out a few minutes later…”
“Can you stop joking around?” Totoki flatly refused. “The method you just suggested was attempted in the trial stages of Brain Diving technology, and it caused unexpected accidents. I cannot approve of you Brain Diving without a Belayer to monitor you.”
“But if we don’t get something on the Alliance now, we’ll all be in danger.”
“I know that. Which is why we’ll just get Greg to talk.”
“How? He’s been holding his tongue for hours.”
“We’ll figure something out by the time he wakes up. We’ll find a legal way to—”
“With your permission, Chief Totoki, I could function as Echika’s Belayer again.”
Interrupting Echika and Totoki’s argument, Harold took off his coat and leaned against the sofa. The Amicus’s lakelike eyes burned with firm resolve.
What was he talking about?
“I might be malfunctioning, but I should still be able to last longer than Aide Wood.”
“No,” Echika reflexively said. “If you do that—”
If Harold would function as her Belayer here, they’d just be back to where they started. The bureau would realize he was absolutely fine and force him to work as an investigator aide again. All their efforts would be for nothing. So Echika tried to object, but—
“Yes, if I function as your Belayer here, my malfunction will likely worsen. I probably won’t be able to assist the investigation, even in a limited capacity, after the Brain Dive.” Harold calmly turned his eyes to Totoki. “If that happens, please don’t think twice about dismissing me.”
Echika choked up. Right. If he framed his departure around his malfunction worsening, he’d be able to manipulate the bureau into not giving him back his old position. She inhaled deeply through her nose, discreetly, so the other two wouldn’t notice. Harold was looking for a formal justification to quit the bureau anyway, and this was the golden opportunity he’d been holding out for.
Totoki gazed back at the Amicus with a conflicted frown. Her silent deliberation hung thickly over every corner of the sitting room. Or perhaps it was Echika’s own mixed feelings that made the air feel so oppressive.
Calm down. Imagine it.
The lump of emotion she’d stuffed into a bottle in her heart, that tangled sentiment, was slowly freezing over. She quickly corked it before the frozen feeling melted away—she corked it harder, tighter, as tight as she could so that it could never come undone.
They’d chosen to stay away from each other, to keep themselves safe. They’d made that decision together.
“…Your discerning eye is too reliable for us to lose,” Totoki finally managed to say. “So there’s no need to talk about what-ifs and possibilities. We can figure that out when and if that happens.”
“I don’t intend to cause you needless trouble. When the time comes, make the right decision quickly.”
“Yes,” Totoki said in a noncommittal manner. She was probably gambling on the possibility that Harold would complete the Brain Dive successfully, but she didn’t know his malfunction was an act. “Hieda, your safety is our top priority here. Understood?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Echika nodded mechanically. Her neck felt so stiff that it seemed like that single motion would tear her skin off. Regardless, she hadn’t expected to have a chance to Brain Dive with Harold again.
The Amicus approached her. With faltering fingers, Echika reached into her pocket and pulled out two Brain Diving cords. She always carried them on her person, even after they’d broken off their partnership. That was partially because Totoki had never insisted she return them, but at least some part of her must have been afraid to let go of them.
This was likely the last time they would do this.
“Aide Lucraft.”
Echika inserted the Lifeline into the back of her neck and extended the connector on the other side to the Amicus, just like she always used to. As Harold took it, his fingers brushed against hers. While he plugged it into the connector in his left ear, Echika unplugged the isolation unit and connected herself to Greg.