Just a moment before Bepo, Josha was the first one in the infirmary. He had another cup of cocoa with him, which I thankfully took and enjoyed.
After breakfast, which Law apparently did not attend, Bepo came again. I didn't understand what he wanted at first, but soon I recognized his intention to take shifts. He also seemed to know about the emergency care, so I made my way to the mess to return the plate Josha had brought me.
On my way, I pondered what to do next. Go to sleep or start sorting the documents? I was actually really tired, but I also wanted to find the missing second page. My curiosity finally won against my fatigue and I made my way to the archive, after refreshing myself under the shower. My music box at hand.
Arriving at the corner in the far back, I respectfully looked at the shelve storing the boxes with the documents. There were just so many of them. Sighing, I got to work. I took out five empty boxes and labeled them with my ballpoint pen. 'Newspaper', 'Trading stuff', 'Diary entries', 'Poems and Art' and 'Other stuff'.
Box after box I skimmed through the papers and sorted them into the labeled boxes. Only the newspaper articles I read more closely. The further I got, the more I had to yawn per cardboard box. I was surprised to see I had finished nearly half of the boxes as lunch was about to be ready. Still, I thought about continuing the next day. It was getting a bit hard keeping my eyes open. The fact that reading made me tired didn't help at all. I leaned onto the shelve and closed my eyes for a bit, thinking about it.
Shachi woke me, ordered by Josha to get me. I had fallen asleep. I still noticed how Shachi eyed my music box curiously. I smiled while turning it off. I decided to show it to him a bit more closely after I could converse with them properly.
I continued sorting the documents after lunch. Having had a bit of sleep, I was still tired, but a bit less. Besides, I still haven't found the article and I was motivated by my pace to finish it this day. I noticed the crew continuing to take shifts watching over Corel, so I didn't need to worry I might have to watch over him during the night again. Law would be awake by then probably and take over the task anyway.
Law finally awoke to dinner. Sitting opposite of me, I was satisfied to see he looked much better now. Of course, he asked about the night, I had watched over Corel. I reported it uneventful and the crew taking shifts now. He already knew the latter.
"I'm sorting the documents in the archive at the moment. There was an article I found interesting, but the second page is missing. I thought I could just as well sort the documents while looking for it.", I told him afterwards about my occupation of the day.
"Don't overwork yourself. You need the sleep just as well.", he now admonished me. It made me laugh.
"You're the one talking. Who was the one staying awake a couple days?", but Law ignored my words skillfully. "Don't worry. I'll go to bed the moment I finish sorting them, which should be soon."
"So what's the article about?", he finally asked.
"It's about a disease that seems to be quite deadly. It spread around the island, but the first page didn't have any information about the origin of it nor did they blame anyone. I hope there's something about that on the second page.", I had to yawn once more. Eating was tiring.
"What was the disease called?", his interest was caught, talking about a disease.
"I think they called it lepruse, if I remember correctly. The symptoms they described were numbness, problems with your eyes, no feel for pain and something with the skin, especially in the face."
Law thought about it for a while. As he returned his attention to his plate, I continued, assuming he had finished his thought. "It must be an old disease. If it really came from another world, then it might never have left the island. Maybe they all died on that disease."
"I don't think so. The people on this island probably traded with other people in this world as well. If they really were the trade point between two worlds, then the other people wouldn't have let them die.", Law's reflection made sense. If there really was trading between the worlds and this island was it's point of intersection, they wouldn't have let this point of intersection fall victim to a disease. On the other hand, what if they just couldn't do anything about it? At that time, they probably didn't know any way to stop the disease. So what if that was the actual reason the trade came to a stop?
This world would probably benefit from the trade with my world, it's hard to imagine them letting it come to an end. Of course, there couold be a lot more reasons, but a disease was not unlikely.
After dinner, I devoted myself to sorting the documents one last time. I had to chase away some doubts to still find the second page, standing in front of the boxes. I had sorted nearly everything. Two boxes remained. Yawning intensely, I sat down again.
Right at the top of the last box, I finally found what I was searching for. Relieved, I lay it to the side and finished sorting the last sheets of paper. I stacked the empty boxes into each other and sat down again, reading the article. I fought against my heavy eyelids until I finally read the sentence I was waiting for.
"Officials art debating whether or naught they shalt stand ho the traffick with the British Empire or shut down the portal complete to preventeth further infections with the lepruse disease."
As tired as I was, I had to read the sentece three times, but after that, I jumped up without restraining a cry of joy. "Finally! The trade really did happen between our worlds. I need to show this to Law!" and ran out the archive. The cardboard boxes, which had yet to be put back into the shelve, as well as my music box still playing music, forgotten.
Another world existed. There was a way to travel between the worlds. These were the best news for days!
Exicited, I ran into the infirmary. "Law!", I called from the door with a bright grin decorating my face. "Did you find the article?", I hurried over to him, holding the article in front of me.
"So? What does it say?", in my joy, I completely forgot he couldn't read it. I read the sentence in question to him. My grin not yielding to his lack of returning excitement or joy.
"There you have it. Another world does exist! And I am coming from that world."
"How do you know, you are coming from exactly this world they are talking about?", he asked sceptically.
"They're talking about the British Empire. It's not the same today, but that empire did exist in my world. The time matches as well. It has to be my world. You have to believe me now."
"Did I ever say I didn't?", Law responded unemotionally to my excited words. I was stunned by his reply. I hadn't expected that.
"Uhm- No, but... You also never did say you'd believe me. And it's so absurd, that... Well I just thought- I mean-", I stuttered, overwhelmed by his words in my joy. Law on the other hand smirked.
"That's mean! Don't laugh now.", now I pouted, but my good mood was not to be swayed, even by his stupid smirk.
"I'm not laughing."
"Alright you're grinning, that's almost the same thing.", I crossed my arms in front of my chest. But had to smile shortly after anyways.
"What is it? Already imagining home?", he asked in an expectant tone.
"I was just thinking. You finally look much better. But yeah of course. I can finally go home.", I claimed. The last sentence escaped my lips while I stared into the air nostalgically.
"We still need to get there first. And then get the portal working."
"Yeah, but that's only a matter of time now. Before, it was still so uncertain if I could go home at all. But not anymore. Now I can look forward to it."
"So you found what you were looking for. You can go to bed now. You look awful.", he chased me out smirking.
"Now that you mentioned it, I feel very tired again.", I yawned while leaving the infirmary with a smile on my face. I remembered the archive at the door. I still had to finish that before going to bed.
In the archive, I put the boxes back into the shelve. I was about to pick up my music box, as a line printed boldly in the article catched my eye.
"'tis highly contagious! Thou must not touchest an infected person!", the warning was clear.
Could this disease be still dangerous for us? What if there were animals only passing on the disease, without getting sick themselves? Without realizing I sat down to read the article more closely, but I didn't get to the end. My fatigue finally caught up with me.
Still half asleep, I checked the time. 10:50 o'clock. Overslept breakfast. I cuddled back up in my bed and fell asleep again.
12:35 o'clock. "Steh ich jetzt auf oder dreh ich mich nochmal um? Law wird mich necken, wenn ich mit weniger Schlafmangel so lange schlafe wie er.", sighing, I stood up reluctantly. While my eyes swifted around the room, I noticed my usual headache. Could it be they got stronger over time?
My desk with documents lying on top reminded me of yesterday's events. I had to grin again. There was a way back home. The headache already forgotten.
"Wait a second. When did I go to bed? I can't remember...", confused, I thought about it for a while. I could remember the archive. I tried reading the article again, after seeing the warning. Did I go to bed after that? "Muss ich ja, sonst wär ich ja dort aufgewacht." It still felt a bit strange, but I didn't let it bother me any more. I was probably half asleep already when I returned to my room, I concluded.
Everyone had already finished lunch when I arrived at the mess. Josha smiled in delight as he cleaned the dishes.
"[You okay?]", I asked him.
"Corel [finally woke up] yesterday evening.", I still only understood half of it.
"[Corel is okay?]", I asked excitedly, whereupon Josha nodded cheerfully. "So he's awake now. Finally."
I had to giggle slightly thinking about all those good news. So many happy things were happening! After eating, I went straight to the infirmary. My joy making me jogg a bit.
"He's awake?", I asked right after opening the doors.
"He's awake.", Law affirmed with a smile. He was clearly relieved. His comrade, friend, second medic of his crew, finally woke up from coma.
"How is he doing?", I stood opposite of Law on Corel's bed. He was asleep. Seeing him like this, I could see the difference only due to the missing ventilator. The whole atmosphere onboard was much lighter now.
"Pretty good, considering his situation. He'll still need a few days of rest, though."
"We'll arrive at the island in about two to three weeks.", upon his words, I looked at him excitedly. "We're going to stop at another island before that to stock up on a few things first, but the next stop after that should be the island you've been waiting for.", I assumed he was in an especially good mood, considering how talkative he was.
"I can finally go home.", I said, almost whispering. I could hardly wait.
"Thank you. For all the help.", Law did not respond. I couldn't make out what he might be thinking right now.
With the thought of getting back home, I was honestly torn. I was overjoyed to finally get back home. But I have taken them to my heart too. It was a bit dificult talking with them still, but it was always funny around them. They were a clown squad. A tough clown squad.
"Can I help you with anything?", I asked Law. I didn't know what to do with myself at the moment.
"No.", short and crisp. What did I expect even? But I had an idea where I could help.
Josha was still occupied with cleaning the dishes in the kitchen. "I thought so."
As he put a plate into the shelve, I walked over to the sink without a word and continued cleaning the dishes. He froze a moment in confusion, but continued drying the washed dishes shortly after.
We finished not long after. Josha thanked me and I walked away again. I went to my room, but had no idea what to do next. At my desk, I remembered the collected salt from the mangroves. We still needed to make that crystal!
"Scheiße, das dauert doch immer 'ne ganze Weile. I have no idea how to make a crystal.", I pondered whether Law said anyting to that back then. But I couldn't think of anything, so I made my way back to the infirmary.
"Hey Law, do you know how to make a crystal?", I asked straight away when I came in.
"A crystal? No. Why?"
"I gathered the salt from the mangroves, remember? We need to make a crystal out of them to open the portal."
"Well that's a problem now. I could ask the crew if anyone knows how to make one, but I doubt anyone does.", he offered. Nodding, I sighed.
My last chance was the city we would stop at before reaching the island or there might be a document about it, but I doubted to be able to go through them in time.
Translations:
(1) "Steh ich jetzt auf oder dreh ich mich nochmal um? Law wird mich necken, wenn ich mit weniger Schlafmangel so lange schlafe wie er." - "Get up now or turn around again? Law is going to tease me, if I sleep longer than him with less sleep deprivation."
(2) "Muss ich ja, sonst wär ich ja dort aufgewacht." - "I have to, otherwise I would have woken up there."
(3) "Scheiße, das dauert doch immer 'ne ganze Weile. I have no idea how to make a crystal." - "Shit, doesn't that usually take forever? I have no idea how to make a crystal."217Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBVIkvTs7RX
