MHG-V1-2 (Initial Draft)

Chapter 18 - Embrace me, darling

A.18

Ken arrived at the entrance to the abandoned research facility that housed Teruko. He grabbed Ayaka's soul ring with both arms and made his way out of the taxi and up into the complex.

The first time Ken had visited Teruki she had led him through a kind of utility entrance, but since he found out that the entire plaxe had been abandoned for years he had started to use the front entrance.

Ken looked up at the closed circuit camera positioned outside the front door, and after a second of scanning the light next to the door turned green and opened up for him.

Facial recognition.. Teruko had installed the biometric system so that he could enter the place of his own accord.

He walked through the front courtyard as the door closed itself and made his was to the main foyer. Then he went down the central access corridor to the elevator at the end. He nudged the button with a spare elbow and waited as the elevator started itself up noisily and then descended to the ground floor, grinding to an unpleasant halt.

The doors screeched their way open and Ken got in. He placed the ring on the floor momentarily as he pressed the third floor, and then picked it uo again as the elevator began its ride upward.

"Welcome home." Teruko said happily, talking to him through his earpiece for the first time since he had entered the place.

"Where you busy?" Ken asked.

"Just cleaning up." Teruko relied.

"Cleaning up?"

"Covering my tracks and so on." Teruko said.

"Oh."

Ken stepped out of the elevator and started walking down the hallway.

"Do you know what to do with this?" Ken asked, as he carried Ayaka's soul ring around a corner and down another corridor.

"Is that Ayaka?" Teruko asked. "So that's what she meant. That's definately a bold move."

"She asked me to transfer her here. She said she wanted to escape that last organisaton. Is there anything you can do?"

Ken stood outside Teruko's room now, and placed the ring down as he opened the door. The familiar site of Teruko stood, projected stop her holopad, in the center of the room.

"I suppose so." She said, a wry look on her face, her voice suddenly switching from Ken's earpiece to the room's sound system.

Ken carried the ring inside and set it down on the floor. Then he shut the door behind him.

"You don't sound certain?" He asked as he paused to look at her. He was glad he had lived to see her again, and the expression on her face showed the same, even though their conversation was about something entirely different.

"Hypothetically it should be possible." Teruko answered, "But as far as I know its never been done before. I would be far too scared to try what she just did."

"She was desperate." Ken said, trying to convey to her his feeling, that Ayaka had never really been their enemy and she should be lenient on her.

Teruko smiled weakily. "I'm sorry I didnt trust your instinct."

"Thats okay." Ken said, shaking his head. "If I had been wrong it would have ended terribly for both of us."

"Still, sometimes we need to take a risk.." Teruko said carefully. Ken could sense that she said it with uncertainty. She wasnt the kind of person to take risks, especially not ones that had a high possibility of failure.