The fortress NINTAC

Calgulla, the Mellran, paced restlessly up and down in his room. More than a day had passed, and En-Lil had not shown up.

Had his initial suspicions been well-founded? He didn't really trust this entity and its open-mindedness.

On the other hand, En-Lil had a knowledge that required knowledge of the background, especially in relation to Sigurd, which he could have learned only from Sigurd himself.

Thus, he had at least met him, and Sigurd had shown him a certain familiarity.

Or did he start from completely wrong premises?

Once again, the absurdity of life proved itself. What was he doing here anyway?

En-Lil had not really told him yet why he had kidnapped him here.

His relationship with him, as well as his relationship with Sigurd, was as absurd as the current situation he found himself in. The two were complementary, like two sides of a piece of writing that are never consciously visible to the reader at the same time.

"They are mutually exclusive and conditional at the same time. What a world, what a life!" Calgulla's thoughts circled around the spiritual thought world of his race, making him forget at first the current situation in which he found himself.

With a loud explosion, the left extension of the university building had collapsed.

Thick smoke covered half the campus. Sigurd looked behind the elite leader Santa'hl, for whom the problem of Nin-an-ak seemed to have been settled once and for all.

"I guess it really was. Now we can take our time to figure out how to get back to your Earth."

Alethea's consciousness, which was a singularity in Sigurd's body, had made itself known telepathically. He was still standing absorbed next to the wagon barrier, looking at the cloud of smoke that was now spreading with vehemence across the entire university campus.

"Yeah, sure we can."

Sigurd was still out of it when a strange man addressed him,"It's over. The Living Program has been destroyed."

Sigurd looked at him, puzzled.

"Do we know each other?"

The man's figure blurred before Sigurd's eyes for a moment before becoming stable again and suddenly Raak Herloos, the clochard and storyteller stood before him.

He was one of the appearances En-Lil made use of.

"My elite leaders have reported to me that the entire facility of Doctor Loan Sei'hat's former laboratory has been completely destroyed. Some of the computer hardware has even been downright pulverized. Thus, the livelihood of Nin-an-ak has been destroyed, and with it, himself!"

En-Lil was acting very human at this moment, and Sigurd could clearly see the satisfaction in his posture and facial expressions.

"I don't know. For me, there remains a quantum of doubt. What if Nin-an-ak was not there at the very moment of destruction? We know, after all, that the Living Program can act just as independently as a material hologram throughout the world."

"No, absolutely impossible.