SOS CH 70 (Patreon)

As he gazed at Dorothy’s eyes, Noah could not help but wonder.  Why? Why was so she desperate? Why did she wish to keep him closer?

His paranoia made him think of hundreds of very negative scenarios. Noah could believe in kindness without reason. He knew that sometimes, some people simply wished to help others without wishing for anything in return and while he was pretty cynical, he admired such a way of thinking.

But even there, there were limits to such a form of kindness, and what Dorothy was doing broke through those limitations as if they did not even exist in the first place.

He truly wished to ask her all of this but now, his mind was more preoccupied by what he had just heard.

Sol system?

He remembered that Morgiana had called Earth, Sol III. Did this mean that they entered the Solar system?

Noah stood up abruptly, “What does this mean.”

Dorothy sighed as she stood up as well, “I believe in this world one must know their past to walk toward their future. Which is why I have decided to bring you to your home planet for you to see. Follow me.”

Noah did so almost as if he was in a trance. He knew that this was not his earth and neither was it his home but going back to earth had been one of his most fervent dream for years.

Even if it was not his earth, it was still earth. A place that shared a history similar to his. A fog slightly covered his mind as he gripped his fists. Many times he wished to stop and ask what happened to this earth. But the answer was all too evident already.

As such, he simply closed his mouth and continued to walk behind Dorothy. The hallways were relatively silent

He could see some humanoid robots on the way and very few members working but Noah was too troubled to care about this.

Thankfully, the walk did not take long and Noah was able to gather his wits again.

There was nothing wrong with feeling emotional in the current situation but in no way and shape should he allow those feelings to affect his judgment while he was in neutral territory.

“What happened to your staff members?” He asked absentmindedly, not expecting an answer.

“They are getting a part of their memory erased or should I say blocked. Mainly all information about the destruction of this planet needs to be destroyed and carefully handled. We do not want any leaks.”

“Oh…”

The nonchalant way she spoke about mind-wiping her subordinate was so shocking that Noah was left speechless. This reaction was something Dorothy noticed easily even as Noah stood behind her but she was unapologetic about this.

“I can guess what you may be thinking and honestly you might be right. This is very messed up. But I am not a heartless Monster you know. For one this is a very standard and necessary measure. The existence of mind readers and other such psychics made such procedure almost obligatory and all soldiers receive basic training in how to protect their surface thoughts from mind readers. Even so, this is not enough when it comes to sensitive information.” She shrugged, “All those who joined this ship were warned in advance and given the choice to refuse. Those who refuse will simply not have access to high profile mission.”

Dorothy knew that this wasn’t perfect but she had made sure that this would be as fair as possible. Furthermore, she had placed laws and regulations so that all those who ever got their memories erased receive a bonus in salary and rank.

“This seems like the kind of thing people would abuse.”

Noah was sure as hell that if such technology had existed on Earth, the White Room creators would have undoubtedly used it on them.

Being able to modify someone's memory means so much. Even if you couldn't outright change everything it was too easy to manipulate someone if you could manipulate their memory.

“You are right. Thankfully, this kind of technology is not something anyone can use.”

In a way, this technology was even harder to access than those related to Mecha Constructions. In the first place, the brain was not such an easy thing to manipulate. Memories even more so. In most places the ones who took care of such procedures were psychics themselves. After all, who better than a psychic to block another one?

“In Oz we have Scarecrow. He is one of my three generals. A revolutionary genius. A little immoral and heartless but he was one of the main reasons I managed to ascend to the throne and he made sure that this was safe.”

Noah could feel that Dorothy was rambling but he did not try to discuss more of this topic. He could barely deal with his problem. Trying to discuss the morality of her decision when he did not even have the full picture of the situation would be foolish and shortsighted.

What he did understand was that Oz was certainly not an idealistic place and that at the end of the day, even an advanced civilization still suffered from internal and external problems.

In the end, he simply filled this information away in his mind…Speaking of mind.

“Why not me, as well?”

“Because there is no need to. Your mind is as opaque as your destiny. I weep for the poor psychic that will try to observe your mind.”

She laughed but Noah did not miss the innuendo in her words. It was clear that if she deemed that it was necessary she would have not hesitated in manipulating his memory.

Either that or he was looking too deeply into her words and she meant absolutely nothing negative. He had always been the type to see the cup half full but sometimes it was necessary to realize that it was simply half empty.

At least knowing that he was less susceptible to psychics was a good thing. That or Dorothy was simply lying and planned to have someone read his mind later.

“We are finally here.”

They reached a very large room after taking a few elevators. One that was filled with absolutely nothing outside of a large celestial chart drawn on the ground.

“This is my place for meditation and now, it’s time for you to see Earth.” She seemed almost hesitant but in the end, she knew that this was necessary.

Noah felt his heart accelerate as he watched her clap twice. This was clearly a short time because the roof and all the walls around him slowly started vanishing, allowing them to witness the void of space.

The first thing that caught his eye was unsurprisingly the sun. Though it seemed definitely far larger than he remembered. His attention though did not stay long on it as he started to search for Earth.

And all he found was—Nothing.