Long and cold...

(Video clip of this scene -- from 23:28 to 26:03)

"Coalition Warship Archer, this is Lieutenant Harrier du Bois of the RCM. Please acknowledge."

You stand in the central plaza of the district of Martinaise. Wires and battery packs are arranged all around the distinctive bronze statue of the horseback king (immortalized in mid-explosion). You hold your headset over your ears with both hands, waiting to hear a response to your partner's request.

There is no reply, save for the distant buzzing in your headphones. You look up at Harry with a nervous glance. Then, turning to him, you give him a half smile along with an almost imperceptible nod of encouragement.

"Try again, officer," Soona, the programmer, tells him.

"Coalition Warship Archer, this is Lieutenant Du Bois. Please acknowledge."

"Nein, Liebling! ...unseren Jungen... nach Vredefort ... einem dieser Dinger..."
"Hello... Archer? Do you acknowledge?" His voice is answered only by more Gottwaldian chatter.

"Marianne ... mir erzählt, dass Oskar nicht mehr ... seit er auf einem Luftschiff aus Graad zurückgekommen ... halten ihn die Psychologen für vollkommen normal ... aber sie hat das Gefuhl ... seit seiner Ruckkehr ... einem Fremden zusummanzuleben..."
"Soona, is this more of that entroponetic crosstalk?"

"Liebling, bitte... Er ist unser einziges Kind. Er kann doch auch nächstes Jahr zur Akademie gehen."
"It's very likely, based on what we've recently learned. Give me a moment while I attempt to narrow the receiving mode... In the meantime, you must keep trying."

"Coalition Warship Archer, this is Lieutenant Du Bois. If you're there, Archer, please acknowledge."

...

"Again," says Soona.

"Coalition Warship Archer, this is Lieutenant Du Bois. Do you acknowledge?"

A different voice answers.

"It's cold now..."
A shiver runs down your spine.

"What are you talking about, Kim? It's perfectly nice out," Harry replies.

"I didn't say anything, detective."

Through your headphones, you hear it again. The voice of Kim Kitsuragi.

"...someone has been maintaining it. The wiring has been repaired..."
An uncomfortable silence falls over the connection.

"It's been a long winter... Long and cold..."
"Are you going to tell me you didn't say that, either?"

"I promise you, I didn't, even though it certainly sounds like me..." You wince at the sound of your own voice.

"Could this be more entroponetic crosstalk?"

"Yes," the programmer cuts in. "A particularly eerie specimen, but still just a harmless piece of the past returning to surface."

Something about that doesn't sit right with you. Logically, she must be correct. But...

"Right," you say. "I just wish I could remember what I was talking about."

You move on. The detective tries again. The result is the same.

"But someone has been maintaining it. The wiring has been repaired..."
The others start discussing how to improve the connection. But all you hear is the same repeating echo of a moment you just can't recall. This is going to eat at you until you remember.

"...someone has been maintaining it..."

Memshare: Long and cold...

Long and cold...