Goal of the day: 1356 words. Written: 1361.
The plan was. After making our way to the Citadel through the streets of the City, we would go inside the Citadel with the Elm soldiers on the other side of the Citadel.
Hiding, disguising and otherwise trying to deceive the guards was hopeless, because it would have been of no help. We would have been caught right away. So instead, we won't change our clothes or anything like that, nor will we think of any false backgrounds or otherwise hide ourselves.
But only calmly, in the face of that panic, will we go through the checkpoints and get inside. The guards at the entrance have been bribed, so it must have gone well. But then the hard part.
You will then have to pass through the Citadel corridors, going directly to the Serverine. Along the way, hopefully without encountering high-ranking Citadel staff, City Councillors or a large number of guards. Because meeting one would have caused a lot of problems. As I understood Ruta's expression - problems in peeling their asses and fighting.
But if there are only lower-level staff or other people who don't care too much about risking their lives explaining who we are, then everything should be fine.
The City Server Room was hidden in one of the dozens of domes under the edge of the City Goddess's gown. The entrance was through the main dome, and it was difficult to get across the wall, as it was not known whether removing the wall would automatically disable the servers. Thus, the wall would have to be demolished on the run, which is why the Guobos had to provide rockets and explosives for this wall removal operation.
However, when I get to the server room, Ruth told me, I will be connected to these servers. They are like big crystals, full of knowledge and themselves channeling one format of knowledge into another format of knowledge. How exactly it works, it turns out, was, well, not my concern, but somehow I will be connected.
Then all I would have had to do was to want very much to find a place or knowledge of my memory of Gila, and I would have found it. Because it would have to be accessible to the servers - they are the brains of the City.
Along the way, it turns out my brain will have picked up a bunch of other knowledge and information... And Ruth will put it together. As she said, even if I don't try to find out exactly what something is, it will be very useful and my head will act as a conduit.
When I asked her if it would really harm me, she was a bit silent, so I guess it's not the healthiest activity in the world... But if it allows me to learn about my past... And find out where I live, so be it. Let's do it.
Of course, during all this, we will not be short of resistance. While outside, Guoba and Vytautas have taken care of the guard, the soldiers and the escape, inside it will be up to us - me, Rūta and Antonio.
In the meantime, Elm will stay outside to lead the troops and divert unnecessary attention, and will take care of our escape if the walls are blown up, and Vytautas will take care of our escape so that we can carry the kudashi out safely. At least according to the plan, Guba's troops and she should already be in the City and in place, and Vytautas somewhere along the way would very slowly transport our missile in parts and construct it in a building somewhere near the skirt. How he was going to do that nobody explained to me and this question was ignored. But perhaps that is not important.
At this moment we were on a high-speed train from a neutral town in Kaunas City. We took a rocket from YYY to this one. A direct rocket flight would have been too suspicious and really, really, really clear as to what went where. And even more so, flying such a long distance between YYY and the City would have required a special place to land properly - the speed is enormous. There were too few places in the City where you could have landed without having to go through checks. My face and Antonio's face was probably already known to everyone in the City, or at least to the Guardian's check.
So that's how we were going to fight - me and Naoki, Ruth with some of her mysterious technological weapons, and Antonio with his guitar, which he was currently sitting in front of me in the train carriage, repairing and tidying.
- And how does the sound of your guitar relate to your guitar powers? - I asked him, desperate to somehow shake the boredom. It's still about ten minutes to the City, "Does it have something to do with that? Power level and such?
Antonio stopped twisting those knobs on the guitar handle and looked at me.
- If you mean that a horrible sounding guitar will sound horrible, yes. It depends. - He replied seriously. - But if you mean that the strength of the guitar depends on it, then... Of course not.
- So why are you so intent on managing it? - I didn't understand then why he was trying so hard and paying attention to the sound.
- And how else am I going to manage it? - he asked, leaning back to his guitar again. - So that's what makes it sound! An ugly-sounding guitar is worth nothing.
"Um..."
- But a shield and all that... - I muttered.
- Shh, Gil - Ruth spoke more quietly than the two of us, looking at her grandmother, who was sitting next to her, seemingly asleep, - Just as you, I see, are fond of asking a lot of questions, Tony has a music fetish. He may play his shields, kicks and other bastards in other ways, but he doesn't leave his guitar anywhere.
I closed my lips.
"Hey, I don't ask many questions!"
- Well, well, leave her alone," Antonio interjected back into the conversation, "her questions are not as annoying as your voice, Ruth.
Amused by his words, I giggled. The grandmother next to Ruth must have been awakened by my laughter and immediately jumped up, shook herself like a cat, looked at me when I turned around and asked me dumbly why I was laughing and why I was awakening this one.
I immediately shut up. But it was still funny, so I snorted some more.
* * *
As soon as we got out of the crystal taxi that took us from the station to the Dome, driven by one of YYY's mysterious underlings, we stopped in the square in front of its entrance.
The City Dress, as Ruth called it, was enormous. Its dome blocked out the sun and a quarter of the sky, while the tower with the "head" on top floated almost in the clouds.
The entire surface of this dome was metal and glass, arranged in a crystalline structure, like a large polished diamond.
"Or perhaps designed to withstand high forces and large explosives. Somehow I have a feeling that this kind of structure, rather than a spiky one, was chosen for a reason... Especially if it really is the seat of the City Council."
Several black things flew around the tower at the top. Some of them were coming closer, some further away, and some seemed to be circling. Maybe some guards or something, because the birds couldn't have been that big.
Ruth picked up a tiny blue crystal, similar to the one hanging around Antonio's neck, but branched in two at the bottom, and held it to her neck.
- Locally? - she asked succinctly.
Then, turning to us, he asked us:
- Ready?
- Ready," Antonio replied.
- Wait! - I remembered what I didn't do. Then, taking Naoki out of the strange glove bag Ruth had given me on the train, I picked it up in my other hand just outside the City.
- My gun needs my blood to work properly. - I explained to Antonio and Ruth, who didn't understand what I was doing. And then, confused and embarrassed, I added, "I'll need something spicy, I completely forgot!
- Your weapon needs blood? Seriously? What kind of normal weapon needs the blood of its owner? - Antonio raised an eyebrow as if he didn't believe what I said.
But Ruth didn't seem to be so embarrassed and, after Antonio had stopped talking, she held out to me a small pointed red crystal that she had taken out of her belt somewhere.
- Here," she said, "take your time.
I took the knife more firmly and closed my eyes for a moment, preparing myself for something I would never have done to myself before and now had no idea how I had even dared to do it, as I reached into Naoki's armpit and ignored his joke about smelly armpits. But I knew that if Naoki didn't get the blood, it would be of little use during this damn dangerous operation. I was probably most nervous that I hadn't thought of this earlier and cut my hand somewhere other than in the square, where there were people.
- Are you serious? - Antonio blurted out, still in disbelief.
But I didn't ask him anymore. Just as I ignored everything around me, and when I looked up, I suddenly swiped diagonally across my right palm!
The blood immediately began to swell the small grooves and weeping in my palm and fill the hollow made by my bent fingers. But trying to ignore the sight, I immediately grabbed Naoki's armpit with my bloody hand. A few drops of blood fell in a swirling motion onto my trousers and jumper, but no big deal - I felt most of it instantly soaked up by Naoki, glowing bright red from its translucent centre!
- Oh God, you're serious! - out of the corner of my eye I saw Antonio shake his head in disbelief. And at the same time, Naoki moaned with pleasure.
- Mmmm! A real treat! Thank you! - he mumbled with pleasure, all warm and red.
- Bon Appetit," I said out loud.
Then, realising that I had said it out loud, I looked around to see if I had attracted anyone's attention, but it seemed that the people around me were too busy doing their own thing to look at the girl in the middle of the square cutting her hand and talking to a rock.
- Ready," I nodded, handing the knife to a curious Ruth. Antonio was still speechless, looking at me and at Naoki.
And squeezing Naoki tighter in the bag. This basket was to help keep people's attention at the station and in the square from reaching the Dome before they reached its gates. It turns out that people of some religion used to carry some kind of necklace and pray in such baskets, so I just had to pretend to be one. For all the evil.