Romanowski and Rosemary

2. The wretched writer

Coretta

C. Martinez 04 arrived successfully in the 21st century.

According to current assumptions, her body is still in the 4th century BCE. We advise the leftover members to check the issue and take suitable measures to evict the possibility of the same.

I, Dunkin, Aarmen and Lorenzo read the message in the AI book in shocked silence.

"What type of cursed phenomena is it, huh?" Lorenzo was holding Cheryl's lifeless hands, which he let go. "Our body is making copies of itself?"

Aarmen closed the book and looked at nowhere in particular, pondering over the bizarre information. While I and Dunkin looked at each other, then at the dead body of Cheryl laying on the floor of Aarmen's hut. 

I could not sleep last night when they told me about this message that had arrived in their AI book. Though we could discuss the issue in our heads with the AI chip, we decided to meet at Aarmen's hut.

Some priests had to go fetch fruits and vegetables from the forest in the early morning, and Dunkin was one of them. While the to-be-priestesses could go out only with them so it was easy for me to join him.

I dabbed a hand over my eyes, not getting used to the hard contact lens that hid the sky blue colour. Carefully adjusting my fingers, I pulled the lens out, my eyes finally able to breathe. 

"This was a bad idea, Dunkin," I grumbled, reclining against the hut's mud wall to close my eyes. Waking before dawn was such a tiring task. 

"Palace-living-nymph, you have no idea how psychotic people can be here outside," he shook his head, typing a code into his AI book to retrieve another pair of lenses I'd just discarded. "They can sacrifice you to some God, solely based on your eye colour."

"That'll just cause me to reach home!" I threw up my hands, sulking. 

"Sacrifice you, in the most cruel way, might I add?" He glanced back at me with a no-bullshit face. "They won't just push you in a pit of fire, Cors. Not before carving weird inscriptions all over your body and taking some organs out. While you're still alive." He exhaled. "It's scary and disgusting, so I hope you get that idea out of your head as a means to reach home." 

That quietened me instantly, as Lorenzo sat with a spooked expression, shooting terrible pity towards me. Dunkin looked at Cheryl's dead body, then at him, which caused him to divert his gaze from us.

He felt too guilty to ask for our forgiveness. And Dunkin was still too mad to even say hello.

"Damned time integrity!" Aarmen banged his hand on the hut's muddy floor. Too angry to notice that we'd jumped back at his sudden outrage. It was so unlike him.

"During the derivation of time integrity's post transportation approach, I did tell them to take the integration factor in mind, but no! They bragged that their electric compulsion was stronger and would defy it!" He almost snarled, his knuckles clenching, unclenching. "Just a percentage of change in the electric frequency according to my formulation and we wouldn't have to die to return!"

"Uh, that explanation just went over my head," Dunkin leant in to whisper, and I couldn't help the sudden giggle at his mock undertone.

"Dunkin, Coretta!" My heart leapt up when Aarmen shouted. "Can you two be serious for once?!" I hadn't noticed how scary his face had started to look.

The way his eyes blazed even scared Dunkin as he inched away from me. "There's a dead body over here, and four more would join it. We can't simply burn them, ignoring that we live between highly superstitious people! Do you have any idea how to destroy it all without getting charged for murder?"