Epilogue

Epilogue 2.14

---Gail/Miu-sama---

     "Voila." Martha holds open the door to the freezer. A rush of cold air assaults me, along with the stench of chemical preservatives—this place isn't unlike an occult shop after all. Inside the freezer are racks upon racks of see-through containers with all sorts of critters and knick knacks inside them. All of the racks are arranged in aisles; it's like some sort of warehouse, only much more high tech, what with all them glowing backlights and laser beams.

     "Holy smokes."

     "Just don't expect to find any frozen pizzas," says Martha. She considers something for a moment. "And if you do, you probably shouldn't eat them."

     I shrug. "I've eaten worse. Ever had hairy-fish?"

     Martha grins. "All fish get hairy if you let them sit in the fridge too long."

     "Touché."

     I'd like to get a closer look at some of the specimen. I'm detecting significant mystical fluctuations.

     "Mind if I have a look-see?" I ask.

     "Knock yourself out," says Martha. "Just, you know, not literally. Wates would kill me."

     I wouldn't put it past him.

     "Me neither," I mutter.

     Martha raises an eyebrow. "What's that?"

     "Oh, nothing," I say, scratching the back of my head. "Just talkin' to myself."

     "Only person worth talking to," says Martha. "Present company excepted, of course. Well then, I'll leave you to it."

     Martha heads back in the direction we came, humming a little ditty to herself. I clap my hands together. Time to get to work. But there isn't really any rhyme or reason to the specimen inside the containers. So I just pick out a rack at random and start examining. Some of the containers just have microscope slides inside little lab bags. Some of them have dead bugs, twice the size of the ones we've got back home—and that's pretty darn big. One of the containers has a dead rat in it, staring at me with its beady little eyes.

     "Can't you tell where the fluctuations are comin' from?"

     I cannot pinpoint an exact location.

     "What else is new? You know, for a self-professed deity, you aren't all that helpful."

     Selina wo taoshita no ha dare datta to omou?

     "You're speakin' in tongues again."

     Yappari kenka utten no ka, kisama.

     It's like having a really bad roommate—only they're with you literally all the time. I kind of got the short end of the stick after our epic quest backfired, didn't I? I mean, sure, Em got impaled, and Tahj got dead, but I got stuck with the shikigami.

     I think I've got something. Turn around.

     I have a look at the rack directly behind me. "See anything?"

     Not in this aisle.

     I walk down each of the aisles, slowly so that the shikigami has a chance to work her voodoo. What's strange is that the specimens—the ones that aren't just scrapings, anyway—don't all look like they originate from this planet. That just makes it all the more strange that the neo-humans just up and abandoned this place. And how'd they collect all this stuff anyhow? Shoot. Now I get what Martha was talking about; I kind of want to read those logs too.