Inattention

"How should I understand your words?"

"I healed the man who wounded you earlier," - Lucy immediately made it clear that she didn't like even hearing about it. - "And noticed strange properties of his blood, as if it were melting."

"And? Why did you grab innocent people?" - Carnage asked.

"I'm sorry, sir, but it's for a purpose. If this race lives in humans, it becomes an unprecedented problem!"

Klaus was telling the truth, just like Arlok earlier - if these creatures live and grow in humans, it is dangerous not just for one person but for the entire species.

"Did you even put handcuffs on everyone?" - Arlok looked puzzled.

"It's for safety; we don't know what they are capable of."

"So you came to get my permission to…"

Klaus nodded, and everyone knew the answer - for dissection, but not everyone was pleased and satisfied with such a decision. More often, this solution caused negative emotions rather than anything positive.

"There is a necessity in this; after all, that man saved me," - the crimson eyes looked at Dietrich, who was kneeling, and Johannes, who was sitting not far from him.

"I understand you; you should be thankful. You all gave me a hand several times, but it's not safe," - Klaus removed the handcuffs from Dietrich and Johannes.

"I understand you, but still, not like this for sure, at least not now," - Arlok looked tiredly at the guys.

"So, can I take them to the 'Mirror Room'?"

"Yes, sure, they should like it there. After all, they saved my life..."

"What about the others?"

"Of course, save us people and give us knowledge, the head of the scientific corps of the battleship - Klaus Nebel. Moreover, the threat to the Council must be eliminated at the root!"

"It will be done."

Of all the people here, the face of only one person changed significantly - it was Lucy. She understood what awaited each of these people, and she didn't like such an outcome, but she couldn't disobey; she didn't even know what it meant not to obey.

"Let's move on to the next important item," - with difficulty, but Lucy managed to continue the meeting. - "Malfunction of several reactor components and the overall power supply system of the battleship," - the information appeared again in front of everyone.

Arlok looked at the strange man and two women that Klaus brought with him. He couldn't leave, so he left them near himself, fearing that someone might release them.

"How can monsters look and feel like humans…?" - Arlok asked himself this question over and over.

"Do you remember me?" - the man's face changed; he turned into a young redhead - it was Werner. He changed his body form so quickly that Lucy didn't even have time to reach for her sword, and Klaus didn't take a step aside.

All the officers reacted instantly, except for one - Carnage; he couldn't take any action. His body had only taken laxatives, but the operation had not yet taken place. He couldn't move freely; he still felt intense pain and fatigue mixed with a hum.

In a calm pose, Arlok, leaning on one arm, was casually watching people when suddenly, tiny particles, in 1/100th of a second, gathered into an energy clot in the mouth of the redhead guy. Another 1/100th of a second, and with a drumroll, a through hole appeared in Arlok's left shoulder, just above the heart.

Pain pierced his mind, but before he could say a word, the world changed...

**

"Ha-ha-ha!" - These were heavy and prolonged breaths, Arlok's body illuminating the horizon of the endless black ocean. A snow-white radiance lit up his gaze, indicating his location.

He slowly looked at his left shoulder, where there had been a huge hole, but now his body was fully restored and naked.

The hum that reigned here strangely subsided, as if it had never been there. But his eyes saw the source of the hum. Whales. They swam right under his feet. These monsters were of incredible size, and Arlok was no more than an ant compared to them. And there were several of them, which led him to think about the development of the hum in his head.

Taking steps, he tried to understand what was happening here. Why the hum disappeared even though they were under his feet, and why he suddenly found himself here. Seeing a barely noticeable white dot in the darkness in the distance, he decided to go towards it, thinking that his soul was leading him to the answer. As it had been before...

His steps disrupted the calm water surface. His eyes were focused on one place, where the white dot, as he approached, slowly began to transform into something resembling a door. When Arlok stood right in front of the door, his hand reached out to the handle automatically, opening the door - it was again a strange influence that overpowered Arlok's mind, it was his "heart". He did not understand the principles of the "handle", after all, nowhere in the Alliance was there a usual "door handle"...

When he opened the door, a scene appeared before him. A frozen environment on the other side of the door showed him a boy on a mountain of corpses. He was bloodied, and his appearance showed how upset and depressed he was. Behind him was a fire, no, it was a war! It engulfed the entire area behind the boy. When Arlok's foot crossed the doorway, the boy began to move, as did the entire scene behind the door. The destroyed city continued to burn, and the crying child looked back at the Grand Admiral.

Arlok's quiet whisper, "Who are you?", made the boy stand up.

"Me? Have you forgotten your answer?... Have you forgotten everything?!" - the boy looked around and ran to the glowing body.

"How could you forget?!" - he shouted and tried to hit Arlok. But as soon as the hand touched the glowing body, the boy's body began to disintegrate into dust. First, the hands that were so close to Arlok fell away, then simultaneously with the legs, the whole body began to vanish. A tear rolled down his disappearing cheek, incredibly hard to notice...

"Please, dad... die..." - the boy's body disintegrated and he seemed to try one last time to strike with his fist...