text: [Themes: Mystery, mystery, steampunk, coming of age]
  
  > look around
  Here the mechanisms fall away, replaced by a vast emptiness. Motes of dust are suspended in the skylights, as though frozen in time; the stairs pause and morph into a mezzanine from which you can see over all the vaulted arches of the Channelworks. Yet the plants and statues here do not overlook their domain, but gaze skyward, into the rarified tower above.
  
  Justinian has sealed the doors of the control room lift, leaving Doctor Serpens to die on the landing. To reach him, you will have to ascend the rest of the stairway to the top of the Channelworks.
  
  > examine the lift
  A red lamp glows over the doors, indicating that the lift is occupied.
  
  > kill Serpens
  As Doctor Serpens writhes in pain on the floor, he does not notice you standing over him.
  
  1) <Put him out of his misery with your scalpel.>
  2) <Walk away.>
  
  > 2
  You step back.
  
  > Inventory
  You are wearing your animus pendant, your natron jacket, and your clothes. On your person are Crow's passkey, an animus lantern (containing the spirit of your father), your practitioner's badge, your scalpel, your purse, and an antiseptic cloth.
  
  > Go upward
  Climb the stairs and confront Doctor Justinian?
  
  > kill Justinian
  You draw your scalpel and take a step towards Justinian. Your heart is pounding. Your lips are dry.
  
  His face is haggard in the storm-light. You can see the crevices in his cheeks, the cracks in his skin. He lowers his hands and looks at you with those smoldering eyes of his, like coals that might burn through your breast and make a blackened husk of your heart.
  through your breast and make a blackened husk of your heart."You shouldn't have come here," he replies.
  shouldn't have come here," he replies.He turns his eyes to the raging tempest outside. The rain runs down the glass in dark droplets.
  tempest outside. The rain runs down the glass in dark droplets."You could have stayed in the cistern," he says. "You were safe there. Dry. Why did you leave?"
  
  1) "I had to find you..."
  2) "I don't appreciate your idea of safety..."
  
  > 2
  "I don't appreciate your idea of safety," you say. "You locked me up, Justinian. Did you think you were doing me a favor?"
  
  "Marid..."
  
  You take another step forward. You can feel the air of the Channelworks parting around you, heavy and buzzing with enchantment. You can feel all the threads of power that touch this place.
  
  "I'm tired, Justinian," you say. "I'm tired of this nightmare. I'm tired of all this -- this insanity."
  tired of all this -- this insanity."Justinian closes his eyes and purses his lips. "Marid, I told you -- you still do not understand --"
  
  1) "No, Justinian. I've finally seen the light..."
  2) "Shut up, Justinian..."
  
  > 2
  "Shut up, Justinian."
  
  You ball your hands into fists. Tight enough for your fingernails to jab into your skin.
  
  "I've been all over the district," you say. "I've seen things that no one should have to see. I've seen through the curtain between life and death. You keep talking down to me about your great plan, about your vision. Haven't you ever wondered what I've seen? What I think?"
  vision. Haven't you ever wondered what I've seen? What I think?""I..."
  vision. Haven't you ever wondered what I've seen? What I think?""I...""I've seen a lot of things, Justinian. I've done things that no one should have to do. And all for what? I've been thinking, Justinian, thinking about what I did and whether -- whether any of it was worth it."
  was worth it."You close your eyes.
  
  1) "Because until today, I haven't saved a single life..."
  2) "Because you're right, Justinian. No one can outrun
  Death..."
  
  > 2
  "Because you're right, Justinian. No one can outrun Death. I've been chasing you for so long... chasing something that I didn't have a name for... and I'm starting to realize that perhaps it was a dream that never existed.
  
  never existed."For the longest time, I held on to the memory of my father. I kept clinging to that day when I was fourteen years old and my life went up in flames... as if I could have gone back in time and done something to bring him back. I kept thinking -- could I have stopped Reden's death? Could I have fought the Trading Company? Could I have solved the Shanty Quarter's problems, if I had only looked close enough to find the answer?"
  
  close enough to find the answer?"You touch your pendant.
  
  close enough to find the answer?"You touch your pendant."I was mistaken," you say. "I never had a choice.
  
  mistaken," you say. "I never had a choice."I grew up thinking Furopolis was beautiful. The gleaming statues, the towers and the lights. But it's all a lie, isn't it? It's a mask over a city that has been falling apart from the beginning. Looking down from above, we only see the glittering machine, not the blood and mud and tears that keep it going."
  
  keep it going."A flash of lightning. It scores the Channelworks District in white, every skylight and spire rendered in a twisted tapestry. A peal of thunder rolls over the city, making the windows of the tower shudder; yet you wonder if the people of the Shanty Quarter, buried in concrete and neglect, will know its passing.
  
  buried in concrete and neglect, will know its passing."So you do understand," Justinian murmurs.
  
  understand," Justinian murmurs."I'm tired of chasing after a dream," you say. "It's about time I owned up to the truth. And the truth is that Death has always been here, in our city, in our world. We just chose not to see it."
  
  chose not to see it."He nods, steps forward, takes your hand. He is alive now, eyes aglow, and there is an electric current in his fingers that touches yours.
  
  that touches yours."You see it," he says. "The Channelworks District I see. Finally you understand. Then you see --"
  
  see. Finally you understand. Then you see --"He turns and
  sweeps his arm across the whole panorama of glass, encompassing the skyline of the city.
  
  skyline of the city."You see why this has to be done," he says. "We cannot change the city alone. We cannot change it with our clinics, our medicines, our surgeries. But with Noctis... With Noctis, we have a choice. We can make a difference.
  
  a choice. We can make a difference."You see the purpose in all of this. The potential that this has to change the world for the better. Don't you?"
  
  1) "Noctis isn't the answer, Justinian..."
  2) "Noctis is a means to an end. I see that now..."
  
  > 1
  "Noctis isn't the answer, Justinian."
  
  Lightning flashes once more, illuminating the two of you. The clouds beyond the glass broil and rage and whimper.
  
  beyond the glass broil and rage and whimper."I wish it was so easy," you say. "If only it were so easy -- that we could stand in this tower, and snap our fingers, and it would fix everything. But life isn't like that. Death isn't like that. Death is like a fire, taking and taking and taking, until there's nothing left to take.
  
  and taking and taking, until there's nothing left to take."You've seen it, haven't you? You've seen how death tears people apart. It leaves scars that our eyes can't see -- in our city, in our souls, in the world. It never creates something without taking something away.
  
  world. It never creates something without taking something away."I gave up everything to stop you, Justinian. What did you give up? What did you sacrifice to get to where you are now?"
  
  did you sacrifice to get to where you are now?"He looks out the window. His eyes are hard, his jaw set. Doctor Serpens's blood oozes down the front of his coat, slowly, in long dark fingers.
  
  down the front of his coat, slowly, in long dark fingers."It will all be worth it," he says.
  
  be worth it," he says."Will it, Justinian? Will it?" You circle around and grab his shoulders, making him face you. "How many lives have you destroyed? How many people have you put in the ground? Justinian, you took everyone who I cared about away from me. I died and came
  back because you couldn't stop your own people from killing. Do you really want to bet on a biological weapon? Are you willing to stake the Channelworks District on that bet?"
  
  the Channelworks District on that bet?"Justinian pushes you away with sudden force.
  
  sudden force."You think I don't know that?" he says. "You think I don't regret what I've done?
  
  don't regret what I've done?"Everything has a cost, Marid, and the cost is highest when we are trying to change the world. But it will be worth it. Pharmacos knew this. The Philosophers knew this. I can create a better world -- I know I can -- and I have weighed
  the consequences --"
  
  1) "No, Justinian. No one can measure the weight of a soul."
  
  > 1
  "No, Justinian. No one can measure the weight of a soul."
  
  You stare down Justinian as the storm rages around the two of you, setting your confrontation to a chorus of wind and rain. Your heart hammers in your chest and the world spins, and you close your eyes and let the bitter tears fall.
  
  let the bitter tears fall."I understand," you say. "Believe me. I understand. I've seen just how little anyone matters in the grand scale of things... like pigeons that are born to fight for breadcrumbs and die. So why do we keep going? Why do we fight Death in a war that we can never win?"
  
  we can never win?"You turn to the windows and place a hand on the cold glass. It mists around your fingertips, tinging the city lights in somber white.
  
  somber white."Because we have to," you whisper. "Because without us, there's no one else.
  
  there's no one else."It's a thankless profession we chose, Justinian, to be the keepers of life and death. We keep the oath, and we hold the line, knowing that our faith may never be rewarded. We gather all the knowledge and the wisdom and the strength we can harness in ourselves, hoping that we can mend a broken world one patient at a time...
  
  hoping that we can mend a broken world one patient at a time..."Perhaps one day, our strength will run out. We'll lose our knowledge, and our wisdom, and our hope. Perhaps one day the sea will claim us.
  
  claim us."Until that day comes... I'm going to fight."
  
  claim us."Until that day comes... I'm going to fight."Justinian shakes his head. He averts his gaze, whirls around, clenches and unclenches his fists -- he wails at the sky, a long and loud and inhuman cry of rage and terror and anguish. His eyes are wild and his cheeks are wet with tears.
  
  with tears."I don't believe it," he whispers. "I don't understand. Why? Why? Why? I loved you, Marid, I loved you! So
  why must you be the same as all the others? Why... after all you've gone through... why do you still cling to that stupid -- fucking -- delusion?"
  
  delusion?"His head falls. He grips the railing around the
  chamber, the life gone from his body, a shuddering wreck of the man you once knew. With your second sight, you see all the power
  of the Channelworks control tower wound up and clenched tightly in his hands.
  
  hands."It's over, Justinian," you say.
  
  hands."It's over, Justinian," you say.He shakes his head slowly, his shoulders trembling, his knuckles bone-white. Slowly, he draws himself up, inch by inch. He struggles to compose himself, twitching and shivering, as though your words have carved open one of his arteries and drained dry his beating heart.
  
  and drained dry his beating heart."No," he breathes. "No. You will not stop me, Marid. You... cannot... stop me.
  
  stop me, Marid. You... cannot... stop me."I see now. You could never understand. You are as deluded as everyone else is. No matter -- I won't allow you to hold me back any longer. I will keep my promise, Marid, and not lay a finger on you -- but from now on, we part ways, and all ties are severed between us.
  
  and all ties are severed between us."If you still wish to end my life's work, you can do it over my cold, dead body."
  
  life's work, you can do it over my cold, dead body."He gazes at you. His eyes are alight; his chest rises and falls in ragged breaths. His is the countenance of a man prepared to die.
  
  1) <Kill Justinian.>
  2) <Walk away.>
  
  > 1
  You close your eyes and walk forward.
  
  You close your eyes and walk forward.It is all so easy. You have imagined this many times; first morbidly, then purposefully, with deliberation, as you realized the nature of the power entrusted in your hands. You practiced with your peers at the Physicians' College until it became second nature to you, and you learned to wield your scalpel as easily as an extension of yourself.
  
  scalpel as easily as an extension of yourself.For to save a life is difficult, and exhausting, and never guaranteed; but to take a life with the flick of your wrist is the simplest thing in the world.
  
  with the flick of your wrist is the simplest thing in the world.You stab Justinian in the neck with your scalpel. He collapses on the floor, blood spurting from his wound; and you see the world
  swim as his soul is shorn from his body in the same fluid motion.
  
  swim as his soul is shorn from his body in the same fluid motion.His animus stares at you, eyes bulging in shock, a dark river running from its neck. Then the other souls in his wake, ten thousand strong, grasp his hair and clothes and phantom limbs, and his mouth distends in a wordless scream. Together they are pulled into a windless vortex, and they are borne away, into the reaches of the veil beyond your second sight.
  
  sight.You take deep breaths. Your knees are weak. You close your eyes and rest on the railing for a moment, trying to steady your hammering heart, and to ignore the sight and scent of pooling blood.
  
  heart, and to ignore the sight and scent of pooling blood.In death Justinian looks almost content.
  
  Justinian looks almost content.Perhaps you have failed him. Perhaps you have failed the Philosophers, by dishonoring your oath. Certainly, by the standards of the Physicians' College, you are no longer worthy of bearing a scalpel.
  
  of bearing a scalpel.But you have not failed the Channelworks District. Justinian will kill no one else. You have made sure of that.
  
  District. Justinian will kill no one else. You have made sure of that.You step over Justinian's body and gaze upon the city and its lights, and all its meandering souls. The storm has passed, leaving a myriad glimmering raindrops to flow into each other on the other side of the glass. There is a feeling in the air that you have almost forgotten: a feeling of weightlessness, of a time without fear. And there -- on the horizon, on the clouds, on the flashing lenses of your animus lantern -- the first rays of dawn.
  
  The sunlight hits the counter, and you blink the dust of sleep out of your eyes. You sit up, stretching your sore arms and rubbing the old ache in your neck.
  
  ache in your neck.Those old dreams -- have you fallen asleep on the job again? What Doctor Cavala would think if she saw you now...
  
  job again? What Doctor Cavala would think if she saw you now...You straighten your jacket and brush your hair into some semblance of presentability. Your mentor will back from the hearing soon, and you need to be ready for whatever tidings she brings.
  
  need to be ready for whatever tidings she brings.## Clinic
  The waiting area is bathed in late-afternoon sunlight, illuminating plaques, memorabilia, the odd passing ghost. A row of chairs faces the prescription counter, where a battered animus lantern casts a comforting glow. Further on is the consulting study, home to a desk strewn with unfinished notes and diagrams.
  
  A calomel curtain leads north to the surgery room, stairs lead down to the mortuary, and the front door lies east.
  
  > examine the plaques
  CRISIS OF AURITIUM IV.
  
  > examine the diagrams
  The beginnings of a research paper on the Noctis vaccine. It's still a work in progress, but you have some promising results.
  
  > J.
  Seventh of Libra, Auritum V
  
  It's been a long time since I thought about Justinian.
  
  I thought I was over him -- I'd been for a long time -- but his memory still fills me with a kind of painful longing. I know how silly it is to pine for something that could never have been... but I still feel as though something precious was lost on that day.
  
  Looking back, my experiences seem almost too incredible to be true; and yet I cannot deny that what happened to me was real. It's left its mark on the world around me, and it haunts me wherever I go, in the corner of my second sight. When I go to bed at night, sometimes I still see him beneath my eyelids, calling out to me with
  those fiery eyes...
  
  Perhaps you were right, Justinian. In the end, I took the easy way out, just as you did. I couldn't escape the circle of life and death. But I told you, on that day, that until I lost every ounce of hope I would continue to fight.
  
  I'm still fighting, Justinian. I owe you that much.
  
  Current objectives:
  
  Marid's notes:
  
  - Now that I think about it, the clinic has changed quite a bit since then...
  
  The waiting area is bathed in late-afternoon sunlight, illuminating plaques, memorabilia, the odd passing ghost. A row of chairs faces the prescription counter, where a battered animus lantern casts a comforting glow. Further on is the consulting study, home to a desk strewn with unfinished notes and diagrams.
  
  A calomel curtain leads north to the surgery room, stairs lead down to the mortuary, and the front door lies east.
  
  > Go north
  It's best to stay in earshot of the front door.
  
  > look at the lantern
  It glitters with the warm light of your father's animus.
  
  A chime issues from the front door. Is she back?
  
  > open the front door
  You open the door and Doctor Cavala barges through, her greatcoat flapping and her mechanical leg hissing and clicking. She has a boy on her back with his arms wrapped over her shoulders.
  
  "You took your sweet time, Marid," your mentor quips. "Get over here and help me --"Damn it. "I'll handle him," you say. "You prep the gurney --"
  
  gurney --"Cavala lifts the boy's forearms, and you shoulder his weight with quick, practiced motions. He's coughing and gasping, and his breath is cold -- probably inhaled some kind of halitus or wraith disturbed by the Shanty Quarter remodeling. You steal a glance at Cavala, and your assumption is confirmed when she retrieves an emetic and an air pump from under the counter.
  
  and an air pump from under the counter."Breathe slowly," you tell the boy as you carry him to the surgery room. "You're going to be fine. Just take deep breaths -- in and out -- in and out, okay?"
  
  Just take deep breaths -- in and out -- in and out, okay?""I'm scared," he cries. "I can't breathe... Am I... Am I going to die?"
  
  scared," he cries. "I can't breathe... Am I... Am I going to die?""No, you're not," you say firmly. "Just keep breathing deeply. As long as you keep it steady, you'll be fine."
  
  you keep it steady, you'll be fine.""I -- I want to live..."
  
  you keep it steady, you'll be fine.""I -- I want to live...""You'll live," you tell him. "You'll live. We'll make sure of that."
  
  live," you tell him. "You'll live. We'll make sure of that."The two of you pass through the calomel curtain into the cold light of the surgery room. Cavala nods at you, a hint of a smile on her lips. You sit the boy down on the gurney, head back, arms apart. You kiss your pendant for luck before pulling your gloves on.
  
  pendant for luck before pulling your gloves on.The boy might live, or he might not. Ever since the Council demolished the Shanty Quarter without consulting its residents, you've seen dozens of cases like his. And if you save him, the chances are that he'll die a week later of a knife wound or a throat infection. There's nothing you can do to change that.
  
  change that.But here and now, you can do something. You can make sure the kid gets the chance to live one more day.
  
  the kid gets the chance to live one more day.Your mentor looks at you. "Ready, Doctor Marid?"
  
  "Ready, Doctor Marid?""Always."