<I’m sure he’ll recover once you deliver him the medicine. But remember, he’s not the only one involved in this research and investigation. There’s a paleontologist digging up fossils of extinct creatures and an evolutionary biologist out there waiting for you, too. Everyone is looking forward to your arrival and the activation of the Chiral Network, when they can recover the past research data that was lost in the Death Stranding and access the memories and records directly from the time of the extinction itself. I am too, for that matter. Oh, Sam, I do hope you get here quickly.>
It was just as Heartman had described. The plan was to drop by their shelters and activate the Chiral Network for them. But first, he needed to deliver the medicine to the Geologist. Once he had done all that, he would need to drop by Deadman’s place to pick up Lou. Heartman may have been very talkative and extremely quick-thinking, but he would have to wait.
<Sam, are you still there? I would love nothing more than to keep this conversation going, but I’m afraid my time is almost up.>
Sam wanted to point out that their call had been more like a monologue than a conversation, but before he could say anything, a robotic voice interjected with <One minute remaining.>
<Sorry about this, Sam, but I need to borrow you so I can verify their discovery in detail. So, please hurry up and get the Chiral Network up and running at their places and mine. You’re not just connecting places and people here. Let’s talk in more detail next time. See you, Sam.>
Heartman disconnected the call with the same urgency that he had originally rung with. The phrase “a fossil Beach” echoed around Sam’s head. He wondered if it had anything to do with the fossils they were finding of the dinosaurs that had managed to cling on until the very end. He wondered what fossilization of the Beach even meant. He couldn’t even fathom it. But, just like Heartman said, none of this was confirmed, so there was no point thinking about it yet. Sam stood up, looked up at the sky, and readjusted his hood. The snow was beginning to fall again.
Black clouds once more obscured the heavens. Something sounded like an animal howling in the distance, but on further listening, Sam realized that it was the sound of the violently blustering wind. Gusts battered Sam, crying like countless invisible beasts, which threatened to topple him over. He braced himself against the land, but he couldn’t withstand the weight of his cargo and fell backward.
The violent, beast-like wind rushed over Sam as he became buried in snow. The flurries swirled and groaned and blocked out his vision. As he struggled back to his feet, cursing, the wind knocked him back down. Standing had become impossible.
There was nowhere to shelter from the wind on this blizzard-battered mountain peak. Sam grabbed a climbing anchor out of his backpack and thrust it into the bedrock beneath the snow. He tied the strand around his waist and secured himself to the other end.
All he could do was lie face down and wait for the winds to calm. He clung to the snowfield on his belly. If there was any space between himself and the ground, the wind would get in and blow him away. He wondered just how far his body would be carried in weather like this. Would it be just like when he was taken by the supercell before?
Sam could feel his body heat draining away as he was rendered immobile. He couldn’t stop the ringing sensation in his back teeth. The feeling of being cold had already disappeared and now the only sensation running through Sam’s body was pain. But that pain would eventually disappear, too. Then it would be the end. He tried to muster all his strength into his limbs, but his fingers and toes only continued to grow more and more numb. The snow gradually concealed the outline of his body from the waist down, making it look as if his body was gradually dissolving away into particles. Just like a BT. That thought felt like part-hallucination and part-dream. It was a bad omen. He couldn’t look inwards at a time like this, he had to look outwards. He had to bind both body and mind back to earth.
After a while, Sam realized there was a rhythm to this wind. It didn’t stop blowing, but there was a little bit of a calm after the more violent gusts. If he could predict when the calm would come, he might be able to move. If he stayed here, he was going to succumb to frostbite.
The wind weakened. Sam gripped the strand that was tied to his waist with both hands, and began to move forward as he kept his center of gravity low to the ground. Once he reached the summit it was all downhill. He concentrated his strength into his hand, which gripped the strand. The feeling in his palms and fingertips was returning. Perhaps it was because of the change in terrain, but the wind seemed to be losing strength. The snow continued to come down in droves and Sam still couldn’t see anything, but he was sure that even at this pace, he was slowly making his way down the mountain.
He kept telling himself that it was just a little farther. He didn’t think about anything else, he just put one knee in front of the other like a machine. If he could just keep doing that then he would escape this blizzard and make it back to the real world.
Something suddenly made Sam nervous. He could hear a sound. It was like the groan of a BT. It was getting closer and louder. He could hear it from overhead, from the peak of the mountain he had just ascended.
But it was no BT. It was only after something hit Sam hard, flinging him down the mountain like a rag doll, that he realized what it really was. It was a rockfall. He had barely avoided being hit head-on, but had still been grazed by the falling rocks. The earth and sky switched places over and over and Sam was plunging through the black clouds. One of his backpack straps snapped and cargo was sucked into the sky.
He was completely disorientated. All because of some stupid rockfall, Sam was tumbling all the way down the snow-covered slope. He was groping for something, anything, to grab onto to stop his fall, but there was nothing.
It felt like his ka had disappeared from his ha. Just like it did at the Seam. Even though he felt like he was falling through the sky, he could hear the sound of waves. A baby was crying.
It was calling out for Sam. A wave had rolled onto the shore and was trying to drag the naked baby into the sea. Sam broke into a run and jumped into the water. Lou was still crying out for him. The waves tossed Sam around helplessly as he stretched out his right arm and barely grasped onto the BB’s umbilical cord. He used it to reel the BB in and take it safely into his arms. As he cradled it to his chest, he realized that the baby was Målingen and Lockne’s daughter. But Sam didn’t question it. A BB was a bond, both shackle and anchor. The BB gave meaning and direction to Sam’s life, a bridge from a fixed start to its end, whenever that may be.
Once he realized that, he broke down and wept. He couldn’t see anything through the never-ending stream of tears. That’s why he didn’t notice the red suit approaching him in the distance. The baby cried out and tried to break free of Sam’s embrace. It was a joyous cry from the heart that Sam had never heard before.