After a cacophonous couple of hours, the silence from Freyr’s apartment closed in like water, miles under the ocean. She gasped for breath and jumped from the sofa. Seeing Karos Childermass sitting motionless in the armchair, Freyr pivoted and stumbled to her kitchen area. Grabbing up the same cup she’d dropped upon learning he was visiting, Freyr once again filled it with water. She managed one trembling sip before her feelings overwhelmed her.

She howled ugly sounds and cried into her cup, stooped over the kitchen worktop by her sink. Eventually, she slid down the side of the kitchen units to sit on the warm wooden floor, her face in her hands. After a couple of minutes, Demeter came online. “Welcome back, Dr Lang. I’ve detected that your guest, Dr Childermass, has suffered catastrophic brain trauma consistent with ‘Cradle Death’, and is now in a comatose state. I will inform the relevant medical autho-...[i]manual override initiated.[/i]” 

Freyr looked up, confused and teary, as everything powered down in her apartment. After nearly a minute, the lights blinked back on and Demeter returned. “Good afternoon, Dr Lang. There is a visitor for you approaching your front door. Would you like me to let them in?”

“What? No. Who are they?” Freyr demanded, wiping tears from her eyes and getting up off the floor. “They are here to extract the body of Dr Childermass and update your medications.” Demeter replied blankly.

Freyr moved quickly into the hallway and grabbed her pistol out of its holster on a coat hook. Creeping to the door’s peephole, she saw a woman with short blond hair and the same black uniform as the man with augmented eyes. “Good afternoon, Dr Lang. Please open the door, i know you’re here.” She looked right in the peephole. Realising she had basically no choice, Freyr opened the door a crack and stared defiantly out at her, hand tightening around her pistol which she kept out of sight. The woman smiled encouragingly. “Hi. I’m sorry about your colleague. I’m here to take him to cold storage and give you these." She held up a canister of small pills. “They’ll help you process your feelings and keep a more level head. If that’s what you want.”

Any fight that Freyr might have had seeped from her body. She opened her door fully and let the woman file into her apartment. She wasted no time, putting the pills down on the kitchen counter before walking over to Karos. Freyr followed her, finally summoning up the courage to kneel beside her boss’ inert body. She hated the way they’d left things, and wished she could turn back time. Karos had pulled a really manipulative move on her, getting her into the Cradle to confirm David’s likeness. But that didn’t cancel out ten years of mentorship and good memories. Freyr understood now just how desperate he was. She was also getting an idea of how much was at stake here. Through gritted teeth, she resolved to not let his death be in vain. She gripped his hand and gave it one last squeeze.

The woman attached a small module to the underside of Karos’ right shoe, which quickly unfurled into a strong plastic covering that tightly enveloped his whole body. She also unfolded a hovering stretcher, just like the one Freyr had pushed Major Osman along in barely an hour before. The module on Karos’ shoe lifted his whole body, wrapped in plastic, up into the air and gently laid it down on the stretcher. It then began maneuvering slowly out of the flat - the woman followed alongside it.

At the door, she stopped and turned to Freyr. “Again, i’m really sorry for everything you’ve been through. Please try to get some rest and drink some fluids. We’ll be in touch tomorrow morning.” She touched Freyr’s arm supportively, which she flinched away from. The woman and her stretcher then left her apartment, with Demeter closing the door behind them. Freyr stood staring at the door for a long time after they’d gone.