We just had an eventful encounter with the 2P, to say the least. Right after landing, it broke out of its containment cube by itself. Vuelo inspected it later and confirmed that the drop hadn’t actually damaged it, so it seems like the Church was wrong; it hadn’t been subdued or sleeping. It was awake and waiting. The question is, was it waiting for us, somehow aware that the Captain would come for it?

The being inside the 2P told me that while it has previously been gone by many names, including Kimaris, so the Church identified it correctly. In this era, however, they don the foreboding title of Judgement. When I have time back at the Chateau, I will have to do some research about this demon known as “Kimaris” and see if there’s any stories about them being a force of punishment and retribution. I’d like to ask the Church themselves what they know, but after our heist and Mercury’s murder on the ship, I doubt they’d be willing to work with us in any friendly capacity.

In the very brief conversation I had with it, I also tried to find out what it did to Captain during the 4YAPI. I explained that I was hoping to find a way to meld Mercury truly into the machine, in the same way that it was attached to the Pegasus. Judgement told me that such a thing would be impossible. Mercury is apparently born from a flawed imitation of what the being did to Captain, and as such is a creature of flesh, not machine. I think it must mean what I’ve feared: Mercury and the Captain are connected at an intrinsic level, and at the very least, Mercury can’t exist without the Captain, or at least his body.

Judgement also mentioned something called “Instinct”, which is seemingly something they implanted or birthed into the Captain four years ago. Is this another persona that has been embedded into the Captain? If Mercury is a flawed imitation of “Instinct”, and Mercury and the Captain are unable to coexist at the same time, does that mean this third persona is able to be present? active? regardless of who is associated? Or is the name actually more literal, and Judgement has implanted suggestions and ideas into the Captain so deep into his psyche that he is unaware of it working, instead perceiving it as his soldier’s instincts. It could be why Judgement was confident enough to get captured and “sleep” until we recovered it; it knew that Instinct would draw Captain to it. It would also make sense why the de-association procedure might have been the only solution to make Captain able to pilot again. A different persona would perceive threats and evaluate risks in a completely different way, thus discarding any implanted suggestions that don’t align with their assessments.

It’s clear that Judgement still holds a great deal of influence over Captain, whether it be in spite of or because of this “Instinct”. During the fight, I saw some kind of silver flash in front of Mercury, and immediately afterward, the Captain was awake inside his mech. The poor man was confused, caught between a waking nightmare of the present and his memories of the past. The secret fifth rule of the MIP said we should have hit the kill switch on Captain, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It’s clear that he’s a victim, and we shouldn’t execute him because of that. He proved to be quite the tactician on the battlefield, even in his fugue state where he thought Ryker was his Mentor and I was the Other One. It almost made me wish we could have him with us all the time, but that would mean denying Mercury’s only chance to be alive. It was all thanks to Captain that we could actually defeat Judgement.

After our battle, he was still pretty messed up though. He was unable to reconcile that four years had passed since his fateful encounter with the 2P in Lang, instead wishing to believe that he was able to slay his tormentor in the past and free himself from a painful future. Who can blame him? Whatever happened between the 4YAPI and his reemergence had left such deep scars, anybody in that situation would want to live a lie that saved them from experiencing whatever pain he endured.

While he was out of it, the three of us all agreed to cover up that he’d been awake in his mech. I don’t want Handler knowing about it and then have Mercury disappear through no fault of their own. We blew up Captain’s mech and will put into our reports that the 2P did it. Poor Ryker looked distraught, trembling at the thought of lying to an authority figure, but it’s what we need to do to protect a fellow member of Unit 02.

I keep replaying the events in the swamp in my mind, trying to capture any details before they fade. Captain called me Ithiki after we pulled him out of his disabled mech. But the thing is, I don’t think that was the Captain at all. It felt like it was Mercury. If he’s able to manifest in some degree outside the mech, it reinforces what Judgement said about Mercury being a creature of the flesh.

Another thing Judgement said has been echoing in my head. “Savour what time remains. The world is changing, a planetary scale chemical reaction. Will you still be yourselves after you’ve burned?” What exactly is changing? Does this somehow relate to the R.E.’s suggestion that we should tremble at what is to come? Judgement is clearly from a bygone era, so maybe that’s tied to how lost minds will recall how they once thought. A poison can burn and is sometimes borne from a chemical reaction. If these statements are connected, it means Judgement and the R.E. are as well. That would also explain why they were both able to make the spirits of who they interact with weigh heavy, and also why the politicians “needed” to go through the de-association surgery.

What the hell is happening on this planet? My only working theory right now is that these ancient beings are returning to the modern era to destroy it all and usher in some kind of rebirth which matches their ideal world state. I can only hope that I can talk more to Judgement (or their apparent ally), to learn why they’re doing this before it’s too late. It would certainly be worth having the philosophy of a 12 metre tall blue being with a robot head documented and considered for the United Belief.