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Vestal opened and closed her mouth a few times before her lips flatlined, she failed to properly formulate the questions she wanted to ask, or rather, perhaps she was too confused to know what was a valid doubt at this moment. She raised her hand, one finger up, indicating for the doctor to give her a moment to compose herself, he fully understood the need to properly organize one’s thoughts, as such he eased back on his current seat within Vestal’s office, grabbing the cup of tea that Vestal had offered him, and noticing that she herself had decided to do the same. It was a decent enough chamomile tea, nothing truly fancy, but it had many beneficial properties which was good enough reason to have it ready within a medical office.
At some point she had obviously come to a decision, she nodded twice, and stood up from her seat.
“Ok, there are few tests we can go and perform, I’m not certain what the range would be for Song, so we will start from the normal range that would be applicable to a regular person and then we will move forward from there. Song, would you please accompany me so we can sort these tests for you?”
For her part, Song nodded merrily, still a few crumbs on her cheeks, from the cookies that Vestal had offered to the kid. She stood up and made her way to the door along with Vestal as they were to exit the room. Only Song had left the room when Vestal looked back at the doctor, her face a mask riddled with mixed emotions.
“I still have many things to ask and tell to you Doctor. For now, I’ll focus on making sure that the child that you have brought is well and healthy, as well as taking care of what the commander has requested of me. Once I’m done with some of my responsibilities and at least cleared some of my doubts, then I would like to have a word with you.”
With that said, she closed the door and left the Doctor alone with Cleveland and Saratoga that had remained silent obviously processing the revelations that the Doctor had brought to light.
“Well I think that went better than expected!” Doctor Bethancourt merrily stated, taking one of the cookies that Song had left on her paper plate.
“I… I Think Vestal is angry,” Cleveland said, looking at the now closed door of the office.
“Um? Why do you think that” Doctor Bethancourt asked.
“Well, she doesn’t really show it, or rather, it’s difficult to say what she might be thinking. But…”
“But you more or less brought a child onto the world as the solution for a war.” Saratoga completed Cleveland’s thoughts as she had shared the same opinion as well. “Which more or less means you are responsible for making a child soldier.”
“Only on paper.” The doctor said nonchalantly as he drank some more of his tea.
“Semantics won’t change the facts” Cleveland quickly retorted.
“No, they won’t. But when we were running the experiments that ended up bringing forth Song, the objective was never for a weapon, she is but an aspect of what humans are. If she is used as a weapon, it is mostly because humans hold the notion that other humans can be wielded as one, not because they are one.”
Cleveland furrowed her brows and scrunched up her nose, what the Doctor said made sense, it actually applied to her and other Kansen as well, yet at the same time she felt uncomfortable with the whole situation, especially with how similar it was to how the Kansen and Valkyries came to be.
“Perhaps it is wrong to think of her as a ‘solution’ to anything. She is her own person, as she is right now, she lacks a proper identity of her own. Which is why I think offering her various experiences and learning opportunities with people with similar circumstances will help her growth”
“Doctor, from what you said, you did create her with the sole purpose of bringing a solution to the war against the sirens” Saratoga said while Cleveland seemed to be debating with her own thoughts on the matter.
“ Oui , but the solution to the war does not mean she will be a weapon, diplomacy can always bring a solution to wars, true and well applied diplomacy that is, which seems to be something we haven’t seen in quite some time. While it is dubious that we can see eye to eye with the Sirens, this is only as far as we can perceive, to see beyond that, we need more information, we need more options. Information, experience, skills, and foresight are what really can bring an end to any conflict by seeing the path that will lead us there. My true objective was to create someone who could go beyond the current status quo and find a solution, it was never to create the solution per se. ”
“Ok, I can understand that, but why a child then?” Cleveland asked, with some heat behind her words, obviously having found the reason that had made her rather irritated.
To this the doctor himself seemed to be rather uncomfortable for a moment, which was the very first time the Kansen had ever seen him react in any way that indicated that he had not had plans at the ready for such a moment, before accommodating himself in his seat, regaining his usual portance, and looking straight at Cleveland.
“This was something we found after the success of our research, namely, the birth of Song. We believe that since we were looking for a ‘seed’ of sorts, the seed for the concepts of human growth and potential, meant that the most likely form the concept could have taken, would be a child. Since all children are widely viewed as the holders of all possibilities within humanity.
To create a child soldier was never one of the aims of the research.”
“Well, I can understand that, but you will have to convince Vestal about that as well.”
**
Vestal had gotten started with the most basic of tests to the point where she was just recording physical details of Song, her height, weight, skin, eye and hair color, eye response to light as well as the state of her eyes, nose, ears, and throat.
When Vestal was going the simple and usual stuff like blood pressure, oxygenation, and her heartbeats, she had thought of continuing with more questions regarding Song’s health, her diet, usual habits and the like, but at the same time she thought it was something that should be done along with her guardian, especially since she was pretty much in the dark regarding personal information about Song. Now that she thought about it, there was the distinct possibility that doctor Bethencourt had done some medical checks on Song as well, which was something she should have asked about, yet at the same time she didn’t feel quite ready to face the doctor yet.
Besides, being a child born out of a wisdom cube or not, Song should still be mostly like a little kid, as such, Vestal didn’t feel quite comfortable with overwhelming the little kid with the plethora of tests she had in mind, at least not in one single day, and certainly not all the blood tests she had in mind as well the inoculations that protocol demanded. Song was perhaps the most similar existence to what a child would be for a Kansen and as such there would be a myriad of tests to be undertaken. Song’s whole existence was unique, that much was certain, which bothered her even more to think about it when realizing that meant that Song was the end result of a war-time research.
Keeping her status as a child in mind, she decided to move to the more physically involved part of the tests, namely to check on her physical aptitudes. That should at the very least be entertaining for Song, if anything due to the novelty of their equipment.
Bringing along Zuikaku and Le Mars, to a different part of the ward in which they performed various fitness tests to the Kansen. Within what looked more like a gym, they held various machines that could be used both for training as well as rehabilitation, so the hardest part of assessing Song’s physical capabilities consisted in grabbing the right formats with which to work. Even getting clothes fit for such endeavor was rather simple since they had plenty ward dresses of various sizes, a quick trip to one of the storage rooms had been more than enough to get Song ready to perform any test without concern about her dress.
The place was almost empty apart from two other Kansen that were making use of the installations, Vestal waved at them and just let them do as they were, leading Song and the other to the very first machine she had planned to use.
The first few tests were something that was rather plain and common, taking note of things such as Song’s flexibility as well as taking her body measurements and a lot of information regarding her, to create a health profile, regardless of how outrageous her results might be. Although, truth be told, Vestal had a hand in developing several updated health profiles for Kansen, so the little girl might not be too out of the standards she had been working with so far.
With the assistance of Zuikaku and Le Mars, most of the tests were done quite fast, as they helped her both calibrate the machines they would use as well as explain what the little girl was supposed to do and expect in each one of them, given that they themselves had some experience in their use, be it due to having used them themselves or having helped someone else in doing so. Going from complex treadmills, with several cables and sensors that would stick to her body, to machines that were both more complex and simpler at the same time, such as a bench press with many buttons and the capability of modifying the weight being lifted without having to move any sort of weights, but aside from that it worked just about the same as a regular bench press that could be used for training, as opposed to the treadmills and bicycles that offered “courses” with varying resistances and even a screen to see a recorded tour through a landscape location to make one feel like they were cycling on such a place.
At first the task of measuring Song’s physical condition seemed to take some more time than everyone expected, not because the tests were complicated, but rather, Song’s capabilities soon proved to be above those of a regular human, as such, starting from a human basepoint and then moving slowly up meant they spend much more time in each one of the tests trying out the regular settings for a person. Once they realized that they might as well start off from the basepoint of a “weak” Kansen, they got within the range of the results they were looking for with much more ease.
It was around that time when the other occupants of the gym decided to drop by and greet them.
One of them was obviously part of the ward’s staff, wearing something that was akin to yet another dangerously short nurse attire, with a nurse cap, white stockings, and an oversized blue and red coat on top. The whole thing was so eye-catching that Song was concerned for a brief moment that the doctor would be anywhere near and make a repeat of the embarrassing earlier event. The fact that the attire was also being improperly worn was easy to miss at first glance as the would-be-nurse had impossibly long pink hair that just demanded one’s attention, with the same pink hue of her eyes.
“Vestal, everyone, hello there.” The Would-be-nurse greeted.
“Ah, Perseus, have you finished Gangut’s routine?”
“Most of it, yes. She is well on her way to a full recovery. It could be faster if she limited her activities as well as her drinking.” The Nurse named Perseus responded.
“Ahahaha! Now, now, there’s no way such a lifestyle could help me recover at all! Besides, being a little battered and bruised would never stop us!”
The nurse’s companion, a tall white-haired woman, guffawed. She wore simple and comfortable-looking exercise clothes, plain clothes that were at odds with the woman’s intensity, her hands moved with the same assertiveness that her voice carried, and her intense ruby eyes made Song flinch back a little when she looked straight at her.
“Oh? and who is this little bunny?”
“She’s a guest of the commander as well of Azur Lane. We are just checking on her overall health.”
“Oh! you are in a good place then! And with good company as well!” Gangut proudly exclaimed.
Gangut approached not only to greet Song but also to exchange greetings and pleasantries with Zuikaku and Le Mars while Vestal reviewed the notes that Perseus had with her. It was obvious that while Gangut was rather intense, she wasn’t self-absorbed, as she took her time to greet Zuikaku and Le Mars, making small talk with them and then addressing Song as well, asking her about her current experience in Azur Lane, as well as offering her assistance, if Song desired to escape from the medical ward, if she felt like she had spent enough time there and wanted to go out and have fun with the other girls of Azur Lane.
“Anyway, I heard a little bit about our visits, so I figured I might as well check if you needed help with anything” Perseus stated loudly, obviously wishing to let Gangut hear her, rather than to be heard by Vestal.
“Mmm… Not at the moment, no, thank you. I am keeping the tests simple enough for now. If anything changes, I’ll let you know”
“Understood, I’ll see about the rest of Gangut’s checkup then.”
With that, the pair waved off and left the gym, leaving them almost as quickly as they had come. Then again that seemed reasonable to Song, having spent her first years of life in a laboratory with scientists, she was used to seeing passionate people that would simply state their needs and then move on to keep working on their own researches, so this exchange was somewhat refreshing on its own to her.
“Ok, from the look of things… Song, you stand somewhere along the physical fitness of a submarine” Vestal said, once they had finished various tests. She did her best to retain her composure at the absurdity of that statement.
In response to this, both Zuikaku and Le Mars seemed amazed at those words and cheerfully patted at Song’s back in a celebratory manner, encouraging her to continue training and even giving her some tips about who to ask for more help to grow stronger.
For her part, Vestal had mixed feelings about this, to say such words to a Kansen was akin to telling them they were sick or convalescent, for even the submarines within Azur Lane were far stronger than when they first joined. As such, to tell her that she was as strong as one, felt somewhat wrong in principle. Yet, at the same time, Song was only but a child, with an appearance of an 8- or 9-year-old girl, even if she was already taller than some of the submarine girls at the base, so perhaps the metric was just about right and the more she grew, so would her physical capabilities. In reality, if Vestal were to compare Song’s results on the physical exams against those of a regular person, she would be somewhere closer to some sort of super human or super soldier.
Vestal quickly tried to move away from that notion, she fully understood what Doctor Bethencourt had been intending to do when he created Song, yet at the same time, bringing forth a little girl with the intention of being any sort of -solution- for a conflict felt like it was something rather unconscionable.
“So how are you feeling after the tests?” Vestal asked Song after both Zuikaku and Le Mars were done cheering on the little girl.
“I feel… ok. I think?” Song answered as she looked at herself and patted her arms and legs inquisitively “I didn’t quite have the opportunity to test myself with machines like these back in the lab. I think it’s a new feeling, the doctor mentioned that after a good bout of exercise my body should feel sore the next day, I’m not sure I want to experience that.”
Vestal chuckled at that, it was certainly something most people were not looking forward to, with the obvious exceptions of those that embraced such aches as part of the complete experience of exercising themselves to their limit.
“I agree, it’s certainly not something one would look forward to, but at the same time it is part of it, as such, most people agree that such a pain is evidence of one’s efforts.”
Song nodded at that as she furrowed her brow thinking about such notions.
She seemed intent on asking more questions when the door of the gym opened, making them turn in the direction to the entrance to this part of the facility. Although each one had a different notion about who could come during the tests, somehow the one that entered the room was not anyone among those they expected to present themselves.
“Oh! There you all are!”
An energetic girl made a beeline towards them, from what little Song knew about the various nations, she figured the girl ought to be from the Sardegna Empire, as she wore an oversized lab coat of sorts, bearing the three colors of the Sardegnian flag. That, plus various accents, and little details that made the overly stylized coat almost eye catching enough to distract one from the fact that the girl using such a coat was wearing a rather skimpy and complicated swimsuit of sorts, it had many zippers and buckles to the point that Song wondered what kind of function they could ever hold. The owner of such an attire seemed normal enough, Almost as tall as Zuikaku, at least from Song’s point of view, with long blond hair held on twin tails and a pair of aviator goggles on her head as well, big eyes that looked like they were sunset-colored looked at her intently as she seemed enthused to be in front of her.
“Hello there! You must be Song! I am Leonardo Da Vinci Da Sardegna! But just -Da Vinci- will suffice! Nice to meet you!” The girl shook hands with song, bringing enough energy for the both of them and maybe some more.
“The commander told us we should run some tests to check your health and capabilities!” She said while now addressing not only Song, but the other Kansen along with her.
Vestal nodded at that, looking at the papers she had on her clipboard as she thought on the order of things and how those should be done.
“Ok, come with me and I’ll give you a copy of the notes I have taken, lest we have Song repeat tests unnecessarily. I think we have done enough physical oriented tests here for now, but I should better get started in having a medical profile for her within the system, if only so we can continue comparing her development. And more importantly, I don’t want to have her doing tests all day, which is something you should take into account, you hear me?
“The commander may have requested as many tests as possible for her, but she is still as close as a kid as possible, given her situation, as well as a guest of Azur Lane, so we will not be treating her as any sort of experiment.”
Vestal stated sternly towards Da Vinci, she was aware that the energetic overscientist was more inclined to the creation of gadgets than to perform any sort of research on a person, but vestal figured it was better to state this sort of things clearly if anything so the message could be carried to the other Kansen within the research part of Azur Lane.
“Mm! I get what you mean! it wouldn’t show well on any of us to mistreat our guests just because they may be mighty interesting!” Da Vinci stated with a confident grin.
That phrasing did not really soothe Vestal. Now that she thought about it, Vestal felt like even if she made such statements as clear as possible, be it with the Kansen scientists or regular Kansen, most could be just too stubborn to heed to a regular warning. As such, she thought it would do well to accompany them, to make certain that their plan of action regarding Song included as many breaks as possible for the kid.