Death Stranding: The Official Novelization, Volume One

EPISODE VI – MAMA

A cramp-like pain shot through her chest. Mama was holding a baby that had been crying for some time now as she put her breast to its mouth. The tension and pain in her breast lessened, but the little girl who normally calmed down once she started suckling would not stop crying. And the ache in the depths of her breast lingered. Her body was responding to the unstable fluctuations in chiral density. They had a similar effect on the body to temperature and pressure variations. Ever since the baby had been born, her body had changed. Her sensitivity and abilities as someone with DOOMS became far more enhanced, and now they were telling her that something was wrong.

The changes in chiral density here over the past few hours could not be overlooked. It was continuously fluctuating up and down. She had sent a warning to Owen in South Knot City and urged him to warn Sam at the distribution center.

After that, the chiral density had climbed rapidly and interrupted communications. Mama’s daughter continued to cry. She was crying like she was afraid, and that made Mama afraid, too.

She checked the values on the monitor and her fear turned into curiosity. The chiral density had been going up and up, but now it was back to normal. It had fallen so suddenly that it was like someone had just switched it off. It was unbelievable. It hadn’t even been one minute since she had lost contact with Sam.

So she’s not crying because of the chiral density? Mama wondered if there was something wrong with the equipment. She might have to get maintenance on it later.

It might have been an issue with the sensors that made the vital signs coming from Sam’s cuff links cut out for a second. Mama felt frustrated that she couldn’t go outside.

She tried calling Sam’s cuff links once again.

“Sam, do you read me?” she called out.

The sound quality was clear, but Sam’s voice sounded awfully tired on the other end. It wasn’t far between Sam’s position and the lab, and he should still have been close to the South Knot City distribution center. His reply didn’t make any sense.

Do we have our wires crossed? Maybe the chiral density was still high. Maybe she was speaking to someone who happened to sound just like Sam.

“You been daydreaming, Sam? Comms were only down for a second.”

Sam sounded irritated. He wasn’t making sense and that worried Mama.

“Sam… it’s been less than a minute since we last spoke.”

He must just be tired. She was going to tell him so, but she kept her mouth shut in the end. Sam did sound like he was completely exhausted. Maybe she was the one who was tired and getting things wrong.

Mama sighed and turned toward her desk. Luckily, this lab was in an area that was covered by the Chiral Network that used South Knot City as a node. HQ would most likely hold a file on Sam’s background that she could request. If she could analyze it, she might find out which battlefield he was talking about.

After ended the confusing codec call with Mama, Sam walked for a while until a crumbling bridge came into view. It was the ruins of a bridge that had fallen victim to the simultaneous terrorist attacks that had been made against South Knot City.

The data said the bridge had originally been protected as a monument. Sam thought back to the briefing he had received from Die-Hardman just before he set out for South Knot. It was a part of highway that had managed to escape destruction in the period following the Death Stranding, and that had been repaired and preserved as a symbol of revival. It was also very close to South Knot City, and a small colony had formed around it. The heart of this colony was a former large-scale distribution warehouse that had been built right next to the road. The volunteers who would one day go on to form Fragile Express had evacuated goods there that had been left behind in other locations, forming the source of the colony. Mama had first been attracted there by the super-conductive large-scale accelerator that had once been operated there, and all the materials, equipment, and data that had been extracted and preserved from the related facilities to go with it. She had originally been a member of Bridges I and volunteered to stay behind. According to Die-Hardman, one of the main reasons for this was because of the accelerator’s principal purpose, which was to observe Higgs particles. It was a treasure trove to a researcher like Mama.

But there was no longer a trace of any of that data left. All that was left now was a pile of concrete wreckage punctuated by the ends of twisted steel bars. It couldn’t even be called a temporary shelter. It was nothing more than a shell of what it once was.

Sam couldn’t believe that Mama would live somewhere like that, but no matter how many times he checked and rechecked the map, Mama’s lab was close. He couldn’t see anywhere that looked like it could be an entrance, though.

As he wandered around the perimeter, a security sensor reacted to him. He wasn’t carrying any cargo, but it seemed to have sensed the ID strand around his waist and permitted him entry.

A dull sound emanated from a part of the wall that was covered in crushed panels as it opened. The BB grumbled as Sam took a step toward it.

“What is it? It’s okay,” Sam soothed as he stepped into the murky hallway beyond. The door closed and the hallway became even darker. A low buzzing echoed around the room, indicating that some equipment was up and running nearby. The temperature dropped artificially as if countering the heat of the machinery. Sam’s breath hung white in the air. The BB began to cry in a way that seemed a little more fearful than before.

The Odradek activated, and opened and closed nervously as it scanned the surroundings.

He was trapped. This couldn’t be Mama’s lab. His frozen breath lingered in the air.

He had to go back. But the BB protested. As soon as Sam tried to turn on his heel, the BB cried out loudly as if it was trying to tell him something. It may have been afraid, but the BB wanted Sam to keep on going. Sam did as he was told. As he exited the hallway, Sam found himself in a wide space.

He was surrounded by industrial machines, motorbikes, and other vehicles. He heard a clinking sound from above.

It was a mobile. Plates in the shape of shells, hearts, whales, and dolphins were precariously balanced above him. The BB saw it and stopped crying, but the Odradek was still in warning mode.

As the mobile rattled, the BB laughed. Sam saw a baby softly floating near the large crack that ran along the ceiling. It was dead. Sam instinctively clapped a hand to his mouth. The baby was a BT.

“Don’t worry, Sam. She doesn’t bite.” It was Mama’s voice. “Glad you made it.”

Like some sort of pantomime, Mama reached out both arms wide into the air and embraced the baby. The minute particles clumped together in her arms. She began to rock it with a smile on her face.

“She’s hungry.” She was speaking to the baby rather than to Sam. She threw an apologetic look at Sam and then eventually raised her arms back toward the ceiling. The mass of particles in her arms dissolved into the air, but Sam could see a cord made of the same particles stretching out from her abdomen.

“What the…”

Mama ignored Sam and said, “There. She’s down.”

Mama had her hand to her chest and looked a little embarrassed.

“Even though she can’t drink it, my body keeps making it. Going through the motions really helps with the soreness, though.” Mama glanced at Sam’s chest and laughed. The BB was stirring inside the pod.

“She’s my daughter. And I’m her mama. Nice to meet you, Sam.”

Mama held out her right hand, but quickly snatched it back as she suddenly remembered Sam’s aphenphosmphobia.

One of the rings of the cuff links she had equipped on her arms was dangling down.

“You can see it, right? You’re hooked up.”

The umbilical cord of particles climbed upward and upward from Mama’s abdomen.

“It’s okay. She’s only connected to me. She’s not like the other BTs. She’s not after the living.”

The BB grizzled as if it understood the meaning of Mama’s words and was trying to say something back, and the Odradek moved slightly and pointed toward the ceiling in response.

“Now you know why I can’t leave.”

The walls were collapsing in on themselves and the roof was scored with enormous cracks. It hadn’t been repaired at all. Much like the exterior, traces of past acts of terror could be seen all over the place. While the room was filled with state-of-the-art machinery, there was also broken medical equipment and hospital beds stashed in the corners.

Mama turned to her desk that was pushed up along the wall.

“So, about the supercell…”

She sighed at the fidgety Odradek. “Do you think the grown-ups could talk for a minute?”

Sam unplugged the umbilical cord on his pod. The pod blacked out and the Odradek stopped moving.

Projected into the air was a graph that showed the fluctuations in chiral density by time.

“This was the chiral density when the supercell appeared. But almost immediately after, it dropped back to normal levels,” she explained.

It was just like Mama said, the line on the graph dropped like a cliff face.

“In other words, the storm vanished in less than a second. Then, I was able to establish communications with you again straight after.”

Sam’s shock must have been plastered all over his face, because Mama simply looked at him, shook her head, and activated her cuff links.

“Okay. Let’s pull the data from your cuff links and take a look, then.”

A new window opened and the pandemonium of the battlefield was replayed for both to hear. At the same time, the 3D model that visualized the sound data was plotted against a time axis.

“Well, that’s all pretty crazy, but at least you’re not. Timestamps in the logs support your story. I wonder why there was such a difference? Best guess I can muster is you were ‘trapped’ between two different spacetimes.”

The lights in the lab flickered off for a second and then came back. The monitors were full of noise and the images became distorted.

“Just as I suspected,” muttered Mama. “There’s no doubt that the chiral density has become unstable. I still don’t know whether that caused the supercell, or whether the supercell is messing with the chiral density. Did you know that time doesn’t flow on the Beach? I’m thinking you were sucked up into a spacetime that was very similar.”

Sam shook his head. He had never heard of a Beach like the place he had just visited.

“Although… that’s right. You were witnessing a supercell. It even says here that you were picked up by the storm. I’ve never heard of the Beach encroaching on this world in such a way.”

“If it wasn’t the Beach, then what was it?” Sam asked.

“HQ is doing a deeper analysis of the data from your cuff links. They should be able to figure out where you were sent.”

The sound of a baby crying echoed down from the ceiling. The lights flickered in unison. Sam was disconnected from his own BB, so he couldn’t see it, but it sounded like the baby wanted something.

“She’s been crying more at night.” Mama was looking upward, a radiant look on her face. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but it didn’t seem like it was a reaction to chiralium, otherwise Sam would have been crying, too.

“Chiral density increases in regions connected to the Chiral Network.” Mama looked back toward Sam and wiped the tears off her cheek. “But the numbers are way, way higher than I projected.”

A chill ran down Sam’s spine and the Q-pid that hung around his neck suddenly felt heavy. Am I doing more harm than good? I wanted to save Amelie and give the BB a life. I had to say yes to Bridges. I know I just turned a blind eye to all the deceit. But in doing that, have I just helped to build a bridge to the world of the dead?

“I’ve been concerned ever since the theory was disclosed and practical research got under way. Early on, Bridges did acknowledge this as a potential problem too, so I installed special limiters in the Q-pids to keep the chiral levels in check, even if we had to sacrifice some of the functionality to do so. None of this is tested, mind you.”

“Are you saying if I keep extending the network, we might be in for more ‘temporal phenomena’?” Sam asked.

“Maybe. Or worse… we cause another Death Stranding.”

In that case, they had to stop what they were doing right now. Sam felt for the Q-pid over his uniform. Was it just his imagination, or was it giving off heat? Sam knew that the easiest thing to do right now would be to give up on Amelie and the BB immediately and just go back to being a normal porter. But he couldn’t. Even if he could no longer rely on something as risky as the Chiral Network, he still needed to save her. He felt so frustrated at himself for not knowing another way.

“I still haven’t tested this yet, either, but I enhanced the limiter that suppresses rises in chiral density. Sure, it might impact the communication function a little, and we might not be able to recreate chiral computers and get back all the things from the past, because logically, it would mean we would have to consider a computational resource like the Beach, that is both timeless and infinite, as something that does still have some limitations. We can only create so strong a connection through our network before the rising chiral density becomes unmanageable. But what’s wrong with that? Even if we can’t entirely let go of the past, there’s no need to be imprisoned by it.”

Mama placed a small case on her desk and unlocked it. Inside was a Q-pid that looked exactly like the one that hung around Sam’s neck.

Will that fix everything? Sam reached his hand out incredulously, but Mama stopped him.

“That one’s not done yet.”

It seemed like Mama’s hand was going to brush Sam’s, but he managed to retract it in time.

“We need to rewrite the software to work with the new hardware,” Mama explained.

“Well, then get to it,” Sam told her bluntly.

Mama had mostly been in agreement with Sam up to this point, but this time she stopped and shook her head feebly.

“Yeah, um… no can do. I designed the hardware, but the software was written by someone else.”

Her gaze seemed to go right through Sam and focused on something behind him. Sam turned to look over his shoulder, but all he found was a hastily reconstructed wall.

“Her name’s Lockne. She was a member of Bridges I. You’ll have to head to Mountain Knot City,” Mama told him.

Mountain Knot City was farther out west than the lab. It was built within a mountain chain that ran from north to south. It depended on the cargo, equipment, and route, but according to records from Bridges I, it took around two weeks to get there.

“Alright. I gotta take a Q-pid there anyway,” Sam agreed.

“Oh good. That’s great.” Mama’s expression suddenly shifted like a shadow had been cast over it. Is there something about the Q-pid repair that she isn’t telling me? Maybe she’s worried that something that worked perfectly on paper won’t function as she intended in practice? Am I really supposed to continue my journey west as if nothing has changed?

The baby’s cries broke the silence. They were exceptionally loud. So loud, in fact, that they made Sam feel worse, too. The lights that had been stable until just a few seconds ago began to flicker on and off. Mama rushed over and stretched out her arms toward the ceiling.

“Here we go again. I don’t know what’s gotten into her lately,” Mama said, waving her arms around. She looked like she was trying to drive something away. All the lights went out and darkness descended on the lab.

“She’s so scared. Look at her.”

Sam replaced the BB umbilical cord that he had disconnected and was able to make out the baby’s vague outline. He couldn’t really tell if the baby looked frightened or not, but Sam’s BB began to cry too, as if sympathizing with the fear.

That’s when Sam saw a long, slender arm stretch into the room from the crack in the ceiling and try to snatch the baby. Mama was trying to bat it away.

“Maybe the other side wants her back.” Mama was dragging the baby toward herself on her tiptoes, and held it close to her chest. “Or maybe she wants to go back.”

The baby’s small hands brushed Mama’s cheek. The lights returned and the Odradek piped down. The menacing arm had vanished.

“We can’t keep on like this. That much I know.” Mama looked up at Sam. Tears were falling down her cheeks. As she stood there, clutching her specter of a child, she looked like the Madonna, the woman who resists the fate of her child to be taken away.

She looked at Sam. It was like she was silently saying, You know, don’t you?

“She was due… I was in the hospital, waiting for a C-section.”

Mama began to explain as she gently rubbed the baby’s back.

Everything had been going to plan. The conception went as normal. The baby grew like it was supposed to. Mama had found out that the child was a girl. People began to tell her that she was looking more like a mother. She had been a little embarrassed by all the attention, but she was happy. Someone had started calling her “Mama” and it had stuck. Hardly anyone ever called her by her actual name, Målingen. It was unusual for a child to be conceived in that colony, so everyone was delighted.

She had decided to use a colony facility rather than one at a knot city because she believed that her experience could provide useful data.

There she was, on the operating table. She was given general anesthesia and fell asleep.

When she woke up, she would be able to meet the baby.

But all that awaited her when she awoke was an unbearable pain that felt like her limbs were being torn off. She couldn’t move at all.

Even when she opened her eyes, it was still too dark to see anything. She couldn’t remember where she was. Something was pressing down on her chest and every breath left her lungs burning.

She was lying upon the crushed operating table, pinned down by the fallen roof. What about the baby?

All she could feel was a dull pain like rocks in her belly. She could hear the sounds of explosions in the distance and felt the tremors shake the building.

She didn’t even have the strength to ask who could have done such a thing. All she could do was weep. The tears that ran down her cheeks and into her mouth tasted salty. Even at a time like this, she could still taste. She was still alive.

Mama once again tried to cry for help, but it was no use. She was struggling to even breathe. Her breath hung pale in the air. The sunlight that had shone down on her had disappeared. It was already nighttime. The chill that had crept upon her stole her body heat. She coughed violently, and tasted rusted iron throughout her mouth. She couldn’t breathe. Blood was filling her lungs and her world was going dark. It didn’t matter if her eyes were open or closed. All she knew was that she couldn’t let herself die there.

Mama felt something fall on her cheek, and opened her eyes to find droplets of rain trickling down irregularly.

Then she heard a baby cry.

“Where are you?!” Her voice was so loud that she surprised even herself. Where’s my baby?

She could hear its voice, but she couldn’t see it. Crushed by the rubble, she couldn’t even turn her head. All she knew was that the baby—her daughter—was crying out for her mother.

“I’m over here!” she managed to shout out from the pit of her stomach. I’m over here. Right here. But her daughter was nowhere to be found.

Tired from screaming, Mama feel asleep. Then she opened her eyes and started all over again. She called out to the baby, she tried to comfort the baby, sometimes she even sang to her. Each time, she heard her baby cry back. Each cry told her that the baby was okay, and each cry also told her that she was still here, too.

It barely even registered when the rescue team arrived outside the building. Mama could barely feel anything anymore. It was like she had gotten used to the cold and the pain. The only sense that was still sharp was her hearing, so she could listen out for the cries of her baby. It sounded like it had begun to rain outside. It was the timefall. It had never fallen here before.

Mama could hear shouts in the distance, beyond the darkness. As she moved her head faintly, a light entered her vision.

“Hello? Is anyone there?!”

Mama’s voice was too weak to reach the rescuers, but her baby was crying so hard it sounded like it was screaming. You’re screaming for help for me too, aren’t you? Even though you’ve only just been born. Even though I haven’t done anything for you yet.

“I’m over here! Over here! Please, save me!”

The rubble was carefully removed from on top of Mama and her body was dragged out. The first thing she did with her bloodstained hands was reach for her belly. The blood mainly spread out from her abdomen. It was already black and dried. There was no pain in the now flat area. The baby cried.

“Thank you.”

The hands of the woman who was trying to fix an oxygen mask to her face stopped. She was wearing the red uniform of the Bridges medical team. “Don’t worry, don’t talk. You’ve been saved.”

“Thank you.”

But Mama wasn’t saying thank you to the woman on the medical team. She was looking up toward the ceiling.

“Thank you for saving Mama.”

As a staff member equipped with a BB came over, their Odradek kicked into life and pointed upwards.

“That’s my girl.”

That was how the BT baby in Mama’s arms had come into this world. Or maybe she had never properly come into this world at all. An umbilical cord extended from Mama’s belly.

“And we’ve been together ever since. But she’s a BT. The ties that bind her to this place bind me, too. You could say I’ve never really been discharged.”

This building had once been the hospital, but had now been repurposed into a lab inhabited solely by the mother and her dead daughter.

“And you’re okay with that?” Sam asked impulsively, but he soon regretted it. He didn’t have the right to ask such a thing. But Mama just turned the question back on him.

“C’mon, you of all people?” Mama was looking at Sam’s BB. “Looks like it’s sleeping.”

The BB’s eyes were closed and it was floating inside the pod. Mama rubbed cheeks with her daughter and opened her arms wide.

The BT baby floated slowly upwards. Mama’s umbilical cord followed, stretching along with it. It almost felt like both mother and daughter were ascending to heaven. So, you aren’t the Virgin Mary trying to protect her infant from its fate? I see, you’re—

“I just remembered. Deadman told me repatriates have special blood. Mind if I take a sample?” Mama interrupted Sam’s thinking with a deadly serious look. “Your blood sends BTs back to the world of the dead.”

It was Mama who had created the weapons that had proved it. Those weapons were the reason why Sam’s blood was always taken whenever he rested in the porter’s private room. So it could be processed and turned into tools to protect him. Sam wondered what else she could possibly want to use it for. Mama ignored Sam’s sigh and grabbed his arm. He tried reflexively to pull away, but it wasn’t because of his aphenphosmphobia. It was because Mama’s hand was so surprisingly cold.

“Stay still.” She restrained Sam’s left wrist with one of her own cuff links and pricked a vein with an ultra-fine needle.

“I want to run a test. It could result in a weapon for you.”

“Mama, are you—”

“There. All done.” Mama nodded. Sam had realized that while his breath frosted in the cold air, Mama’s did not.

“I’m sorry, Sam. Um, would you mind leaving us alone for a while? You can rest here until the tests are done. You can contact headquarters or work on your equipment, if you want.”

An area had been made up into a small private room. The bed that seemed to have been freshly printed from the chiral printer looked brand new. It also looked like some parts of the communications equipment had been upgraded to be compatible with the Chiral Network. But there wasn’t a shower booth or an incubator booth for the BB to speak of. Mama didn’t need either, so it couldn’t be helped. When Sam thought about the distance between here and Mountain Knot City, and the time it would take to get there, he worried about the condition of the BB.

He wouldn’t be able to connect the BB to its stillmother and let it rest.

I wonder what kind of bond the mother and this kid share?

Sam had no memories of his birth mother. Neither Bridget nor Amelie had ever told him anything about her. But despite that, the existence of a mother lingered somewhere in his consciousness.

He wondered if a fetus was part of the mother, or whether it became a separate person the moment that it began to grow inside her womb. Whatever the case, a mother was intertwined with her child. Once a child was born, the existence of a mother was essential to it.

Mama grimaced because of the pain in her breasts. Did the programming of a mother kick in whether the mother was alive or dead? Even if she was brain dead and they had no physical contact, the BB’s mother still provided an environment for her child. What divides a mother and her child? For Sam, who had never met his mother, that was a knot he would never be able to unravel.

“— so I can’t leave.”

When Sam looked up, Amelie was standing there. Obviously, she was just a hologram, but her voice and movements didn’t quite match. Edge Knot City was still impossibly far away, but even so, the time-lag shouldn’t have been this significant.

“Amelie.”

Amelie didn’t respond to Sam’s voice.

“Higgs and the others have finally arrived.”

Her arms were moving up and down awkwardly, like a badly operated marionette. She probably couldn’t hear Sam’s voice. It seemed like it was a one-way transmission.

“They reached all the way to Edge Knot City. I can’t do anything. They’ve destroyed the city and killed everyone here. It didn’t matter if they were with Bridges or not.”

Sam wondered if the separatists from before, who had taken her hostage in all but name, had been purged too. It looked like there would no longer be any room for negotiation once Sam reached his final destination. He would no longer be able to avoid a confrontation with Higgs.

“We’re surrounded by BTs, but somehow I was still able to connect to you.”

Amelie’s hologram vanished as if it were sand blowing away, and didn’t come back. All that was left was her voice.

“This might be the end. Everything had been going okay so far, but now I don’t know what is going to happen. If you can connect us all up to here, Sam, then I can be free. I can go back east with you.” A deafening noise filled the room then suddenly vanished. The communications equipment had died. It was no longer emitting any sound at all.

“Amelie!” He knew it was pointless, but Sam screamed into nothingness. Amelie didn’t respond, and Sam grew anxious.

—Sam, I’m waiting for you. I’ll be waiting for you on the Beach.

The voice hadn’t been transmitted, but had reached Sam directly. Or maybe he was just hearing things. It seemed like everyone was trapped in one way or another—Sam, Mama, and now Amelie, too.

The monitor blacked out. The electricity to the lab had gone without warning and the backup generator hadn’t kicked in. Just before it had happened, Mama had heard the sound of harsh static coming from the direction of the room Sam was staying in.

The lab was plunged into darkness.

Mama had just been telling Sam all about the spikes in chiral density, but they were just a result of this phenomenon, not a cause. That much was clear. Sam must have realized that by now, too.

Mama had no idea why the supercell had occurred, or why Sam experienced what he did (Liar, you know something), but she did know one thing. She understood that the source of the weird phenomenon at the lab was herself.

Mama had first seen the signs after Sam had crossed Ground Zero and had begun connecting sites west of Lake Knot City. The area covered by the Chiral Network spread out in twelve directions from each waystation. The intensity varied, but it basically expanded concentrically. Even if Sam wasn’t in the area, his influence was gradually getting stronger and stronger.

The farther west Sam traveled, the more he expanded the coverage of the network, and the closer he got, the worse her daughter’s condition had become.

It was a fact that the Chiral Network increased chiral density, and that increase closed the distance between their world and the world of the dead. They had been inching closer to the world where her daughter was meant to be.

If she turned a blind eye to all of this, it would result in something that couldn’t be undone. The first person who Mama contacted wasn’t headquarters, but Lockne, an engineer in Mountain Knot City.

There’s a flaw in the Q-pid, just like we feared.

But just as she expected, no response to that text message had come.

We have to fix the Q-pid. I need you.

Once again, there was no reply. It was the same outcome no matter how many times she sent a message. All her voice messages and hologram transmissions had been refused from the beginning. Even headquarters seemed to have trouble making contact.

Time was passing and she still couldn’t connect with Lockne. (You know it’ll never happen now, don’t you?) As Sam had steadily made his way over here, the Chiral Network had also come online. Mama’s daughter started to cry more often.

In front of Mama there were two unfinished items.

One was the new Q-pid, and the other was a new cuff link. Neither item would have been possible if Sam had never reached the lab. That had been Mama’s excuse for putting off her decision.

But Sam had eventually arrived, and thanks to his blood, Mama had managed to complete (Why did you have to finish it?) the new cuff link almost immediately.

She had to choose. (Even though you’ve already decided.)

Mama took the cuff link in her hand. Her daughter was asleep, so now was her chance. She would use the cuff link to send her daughter back. If she wasn’t separated from her, then she wouldn’t be able to repair the Q-pid. She placed one hand on her belly and closed her eyes. Then she activated the cuff link and severed the link with her daughter.

Nothing happened. Why not? Was there a mistake in my theory? Was I just unable to do it?

Mama looked closely at the umbilical cord connecting her to her daughter once again. She placed the cuff link on it and slowly began to cut. There was no physical pain, but she still felt like she was being stabbed in the heart. Again, nothing happened.

It looked like her daughter had woken up. Light returned to the darkened lab.

The fact that the communications equipment and all of the devices around the lab rebooted meant that the power had most likely been restored, and the text that Mama had been reading before the blackout was once again displayed on the monitor.

It was the last message sent to her by Lockne.

When she heard the sound of a door sliding behind her, she quickly switched off the monitor. Sam entered the room.

“Did you get any rest?” Mama asked.

Sam just shook his head vaguely. Yes and no. He had equipped the pod to his chest and put his backpack on. He was ready to leave.

“Before you go, I have something I need to ask of you.” Trying with all her might to suppress the tremble in her voice, Mama presented Sam with the brand-new cuff link.

“They still work as a communications terminal, but I’ve added a weapon function. It uses your blood.”

The ring opened up to expose a built-in dark gray cutter.

“The outer layer has been coated with metal fibers. These metal fibers are soaked in your blood,” she explained.

Sam took half a step back. He furrowed his brow as if he was looking at something that was too bright, and bit his lip. He gripped both straps of his backpack.

“BTs are connected to the other side via umbilical cords, right? When those cords bring the matter of our world into contact with the antimatter of theirs… Boom. Voidout. But your blood has unique properties. It pushes back against the antimatter that makes up the BTs without causing a voidout, so it can be used to cut a BT’s cord.”

Mama didn’t really need to reiterate anything to Sam. It was mostly for her benefit. For her to talk herself into what she was about to do. Mama sidled up to Sam as he turned away from the cuff links.

“Cut the cord of the BT, and it returns to the world of the dead. No BT, no voidout. Win-win.”

Right? Mama offered her breast to her unsettled daughter.

“Let’s try them out. Cut the cord connecting us.”

“Can’t you do that yourself?” A vein appeared on Sam’s temple. Mama couldn’t tell whether he was angry with her or if he had sympathy for her. All she could see was that Sam was trying to suppress whatever reaction he was experiencing. He knew about the relationship between her and her daughter.

Mama tightened her arms as if trying to protect the baby that slept with its head buried against her chest. It made her hunch over. She must have looked so small right now.

“I’m sorry. She gets scared easily. I know that I’m being unfair. I’ve tried, you know? But I couldn’t do it. It’s like I don’t have the right to kill this little girl a second time. I tried cutting the umbilical cord by myself, but nothing happened.” Mama’s shoulders trembled as she continued to hold the baby.

“I can’t leave this child’s side, but I have to go to Mountain Knot City. Even if you go to Mountain Knot City alone, they’ll never accept you. They refuse Bridges. They refuse to join the UCA.”

“But isn’t that where this Lockne, who’s going to fix the Q-pid, lives?” Sam asked.

“Lockne is my twin sister. But she’ll never forgive Bridges. That’s why I have to see her. And that’s why I have to be separated from my daughter. You’re the only one who can help me, Sam. Just listen, I’ll explain about Lockne and I.”

“Before we were even born we were the same person in two bodies.

“In ancient times, two meteorites had struck the earth simultaneously. The two craters were named Målingen and Lockne.

“Before we even came into this world, we talked to one another. Our counselor diagnosed it as a false memory that we had retroactively constructed, but to us it was real.

“It didn’t matter how much we tried to explain it, they didn’t understand us. (Yes, but neither of us even had the words to describe it properly at the time either.) We had memories from before we entered this world and left our own crater. In other words, we have memories from the time we were inside our mother’s womb. We were physically connected to each other inside of her: conjoined twins. When we were born, we immediately underwent surgery to separate us, but we could still hear each other’s thoughts and feelings. We had a telepathic twin connection.

“That sense of ours helped us to understand the concept of the Chiral Network. We exist before we are sent out into this world. That is the past that the Chiral Network connects to. Being able to intuitively understand that, Lockne and I developed the Q-pid.

“Then we went west with Bridges I, and that’s when tragedy struck.

“Lockne’s lover died. It was after we crossed Ground Zero and reached Lake Knot City. We had just completed the South Knot City communications system via Middle Knot City. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. It wasn’t an act of terror or anything. He was in an accident. There were mountains of cargo containers and one day they just fell. Lockne’s lover got crushed underneath and died. It probably would have been better if it had been terrorism. At least with terrorists, you have someone to blame. We could have coped by hating the terrorists who were trying to get in the way of rebuilding America, and pushed on forward.

“But we just couldn’t stomach how he had died in such a senseless accident.

“We could have asked why for the rest of our lives, but we would never have gotten an answer. It just happened. Just like the rocks scattered across the wilderness—no rhyme or reason. We were told that we were in Bridges and casualities were inevitable. We were reminded that we were tasked with the difficult job of rebuilding America, and that we had to push forward and bear it.

“Lockne couldn’t accept it and started to act funny. Why her? Why did she have to put up with just because she was a member of Bridges? Why were they even rebuilding America in the first place? She became trapped in a cage of unanswerable questions and decided to hang herself. I knew what she was planning to do. We were linked, so I was able to stop it. But I couldn’t fill in the holes for her. I wasn’t Lockne. Even if I could synchronize with her sadness, I couldn’t carry her pain for her.

“That’s why I proposed something to her.” Somewhere in the depths of Mama’s consciousness, she wondered if she was being completely honest. Was that the reason? “I asked her if she would like to have a baby.

“It might have been a side-effect of the surgery to separate us, but neither one of us was capable of conceiving children. Lockne had an issue with her womb and my ovaries couldn’t produce eggs. I had accepted it. I didn’t particularly want children anyway. But the same couldn’t be said for Lockne. She had fallen in love and wanted the man’s child.

“That’s why I suggested such a plan.

“I said we should have a baby so that her lover could still remain in this world. Every member of Bridges I was already obligated to donate eggs and sperm to secure genetic diversity for each Knot City, so all I needed was her agreement. I decided to offer my womb as a surrogate for Lockne and became pregnant with her child. The artificial insemination went well, but everything after that…

“Everything fell apart once the hospital I had been admitted to for the birth was destroyed in a terrorist attack. The connection between myself and Lockne was severed.

“For some reason we could no longer communicate as we had. But still, once I had been saved, I tried to contact her. I told her that I was okay, but—I couldn’t bring myself to tell her about the baby. I didn’t even fully understand it myself. Is she alive? Is she dead?

“I needed time to get my head around it. In time, we grew farther and farther apart, and then eventually our relationship became irreparable.

“Lockne demanded I give her back so many times. But I couldn’t do anything. So, I set a deadline for the day you reached here.

“Lockne withdrew from Bridges of her own accord and became involved in the decision-making for Mountain Knot City. She was instrumental to the development of the Chiral Network and the Q-pid and, as its engineer, was well aware of the danger they posed, so she was welcomed by the people there. But really it was all because two twins had grown apart and no longer understood each other.

“It’s stupid, isn’t it?” Yes, it was. Mama didn’t need Sam’s affirmation, she knew what a fool she had been.

“It could have been different if I had just told her the truth. We could have restored the link between us and understood one another.

“But I couldn’t. I had fallen in love with this child. I had formed a loving bond with this child that had been inside my belly and wanted to keep her all to myself.

“I need to sever the love and the selfish attachment I feel to undo the knot.

“I need to return this little one back to the other side, see Lockne, and tell her everything. Then we can repair the Q-pid together and reconnect the world.

“I was the one who brought the world to a standstill, I need to put this right. Everything was because of me.

“So please, Sam… do it!” Mama begged as she spread her arms and released her daughter. She floated gently upwards as she dozed.

Mama gripped the umbilical cord and showed it to Sam.

She didn’t know how much time had passed. She couldn’t hear a single sound. All she could do was stare at Sam’s pale breath.

Sam connected the cord of the BB pod to his uniform, and all Mama could do was pray that he would take the cuff link.

“You aren’t killing anyone. You’re just setting this little one and I free, sending us on to the beyond. I tried to cut the cord myself, but I couldn’t because I’m dead. That’s my theory. The dead can’t send the dead to the other side. No matter how much I try to convince myself, I just can’t erase my attachment to this world. If I could have, a BT wouldn’t have been born. So please, Sam, I need a member of the living to cut the cord and undo this knot.”

Sam’s BB became unsettled. It was like it had reacted to Mama’s words about undoing the knot. It needn’t have worried, she didn’t mean that she was going to sever the connection between Sam and the BB.

The cutter that protruded from the cuff link glinted dully. Sam was getting closer. The umbilical cord that was formed of countless writhing particles swayed up to the ceiling.

Mama closed her eyes and a tear ran down her cheek.

She couldn’t help, but tightly clench her back teeth. She held her breath. Sam brought the cuff link down.

The particles that had made up the umbilical cord broke free and began to disperse.

There was a cry from the ceiling. The baby was no longer floating there. Now it was an adult BT with a swollen belly. It was Mama’s true self. As the umbilical cord collapsed into nothing, the BT’s form and outline began to fade and diffuse, and its cries could no longer be heard.

“Goodbye.”

She had finally said it. Mama’s body collapsed like a marionette whose strings had been cut. She could no longer support herself. Lying in Sam’s arms, her body didn’t trigger any of the usual symptoms of Sam’s aphenphosmphobia. She didn’t give off the warmth of a living person.

“Alright, Sam. Take me home. To Lockne.”

MOUNTAIN KNOT CITY

It was ever so sudden. Lockne felt something strange on her left cheek. Like a lukewarm tear. She smelled something off. It was the reaction she had whenever the Beach was near. It had been a while since the last time she had it.

There had been no remarkable changes in the chiral density levels displayed by the monitor. Lockne had been monitoring the changes in density constantly, ever since she’d heard that Bridges II had been dispatched from Capital Knot City and that the Chiral Network was finally being brought online. But she had observed significant changes in the eastern regions. It was just as she had feared.

There were fundamental flaws with the Chiral Network and the Q-pid. It had always been clear that use of the Beach as a communications route would allow its influence to grow stronger. The changes weren’t something she had stumbled across after combing finely through masses of data, they were so obvious that they were receiving reports from locals and readings from instruments that had been installed within nearby BT-occupied territories.

Together with her elder twin sister, Målingen, Lockne had appealed for repairs to be made to the Q-pid and for a reduction in the network’s scope, but it had all fallen on deaf ears. Die-Hardman acted as the spokesperson for the will of the president and he would not permit any changes to the plan. She had been half-forced to head out with Amelie on Bridges I, establishing infrastructure and organization throughout the scattered communities that lay across this land. Lockne and the others in the backup team had been tasked with completing and maintaining this infrastructure, ongoing research, and development, and investigating the true nature of the Death Stranding.

Along with the progress already made by Bridges I, the increased militancy of the separatists and isolationists had only strengthened Bridges’ resolve to rebuild America.

Linking people together with the Chiral Network would help form an impenetrable fortress against threats. Together with the sharing of technology and information, the potential to manufacture any kind of equipment thanks to the activation of chiral printers, and, most of all, their shared goal of rebuilding America, they would be able to stand up to anything, whether it was bands of terrorists or the Death Stranding itself.

But all those claims by Bridges were nothing more than propaganda.

All to bring the people together as one in opposition to a common enemy.

It was stupid. Lockne couldn’t help but blurt it out one day. Was it really necessary to go that far just to activate the Chiral Network?

Målingen had once complained about the same thing.

What changed in her? When had they started to call her Mama?

The Beach is linked to individuals. It’s why all of our lives are so different, and why we all die alone when the time comes. However, although each Beach is unique to the individual, they are all connected. This was what Målingen and Lockne wanted the Chiral Network to achieve for everyone else. Instead, it was being used as a tool to further the idea of rebuilding the UCA.

This invention wasn’t a toy. If Bridges absolutely had to use it, they could use it with restrictions.

Once they had crossed Ground Zero and took over in the central regions of the land, the twins had once again urged their superiors to downgrade the Q-pid and Chiral Network. But both headquarters and Amelie from the advance team dismissed them. The infrastructure they had built was designed to work with the protocols that had been developed previously. They didn’t even know whether the Chiral Network would activate properly in those conditions. That’s why Bridges said they had to implement it with maximum functionality. Besides, they had already prepared a failsafe other than suppression by the Q-pid. Even if the worst-case scenario did happen, they could still ensure the security of the Knot Cities.

There were a limited number of people who understood the entirety of the system, both because of its vastness and for security reasons. For all their talk about the importance of connections, Bridges seemed to keep a lot of secrets.

Despite this, Lockne and Målingen attempted to enact their own plan to repair the network and Q-pid. Once they reached South Knot City, Lockne and Målingen requested to be stationed at an adjacent colony. It was home to a collider that America had once developed. It wasn’t working anymore, of course, but the enormous amounts of materials left behind there were irreplaceable. They could be used in the redevelopment of the Q-pid.

And, perhaps more than anything, because the sisters—No, the three of us, including him—planned to have a child there via artificial insemination.

But the two of them were not allowed to stay together. There were too few people as it was, and changes to the distribution of personnel were not permitted. Lockne was ordered to go to Mountain Knot City.

It didn’t matter, though. The two of them had a connection, so they knew they would get through it. They could communicate between themselves using the Beach of theirs that they had both connected to while they were in their mother’s womb—An overlap of our two separate Beaches—like a miniature Chiral Network.

Thanks to Målingen’s devotion, Lockne’s wounds began to heal. She made a baby toy that looked like a large old-fashioned thread spool and had it sent to Målingen.

As the baby grew in Målingen’s belly, Lockne felt as if it was growing in her own.

She felt it kick. The two of them laughed and shared each other’s happiness.

Then tragedy struck. Although it hadn’t struck completely out of thin air. At least, not for Lockne. As the birth of her daughter had neared, the bond between the baby and Målingen had grown increasingly stronger.

Even if Målingen had just lent her womb, even if she still called it “their baby,” the only ones connected by the umbilical cord were Målingen and their unborn child. Lockne knew that she was jealous, she knew that it was an ugly feeling, but she couldn’t help it.

She hated the fact that people now called her sister “Mama” and, even worse, that Målingen liked it.

When Lockne found out that Målingen—Not Mama!—had fallen victim to the terrorist attack in the colony, the first person she worried about was her daughter.

Is she okay?

Lockne sent the thought to Målingen. There was no reply.

Målingen’s Beach was closed off. There had been word that mother and child had been saved, but nothing from Målingen herself.

Since she couldn’t access their telepathic link, she tried more conventional methods of communication. Holograms, voice messages, text messages…

Nothing. At first, she only felt despair, but eventually, the level of hatred she had developed for her sister had grown to match it. As she was kept from the truth, it grew and grew.

Her hatred for Bridges, who also hid information from her, grew too.

That was the reason she first made contact with the group that self-governed Mountain Knot City. Bridges I had urged them to join the UCA, but in the end they were granted a grace period until Bridges II arrived with the Q-pid to decide on whether they would join the Chiral Network and the UCA.

Until then, people from Bridges were to be stationed at the distribution center that had been set up outside of town. But they were not to enter the town unless there were extraordinary circumstances. They were not to interfere internally. Those were the rules.

Lockne left Bridges. It was never recognized officially, but she utilized her skills as a mechanic to remove her cuff links herself.

Then she made sure to tell the people of Mountain Knot City all about the dangers of the Chiral Network, and eventually became involved in its decision making.

That’s what her defection was about on the surface, but underneath, she wanted revenge on Målingen and Bridges. If they were going to sever all contact, then she would too.

It was some time after that when Bridges dispatched the second expedition. It was made up of a single man: Sam Bridges.

Tears continued to fall from her left eye. She knew it wasn’t because she was sad. She felt a twinge in her abdomen that she hadn’t felt in a long time.

It all came flowing back. The stagnated time that had been dammed up had been released and was now engulfing her.

After that, her tears didn’t stop.

As Sam carried Mama there was a change in her spirit.

“Are you alright?” Sam asked, unable to look behind him. The softly falling snow had suddenly turned into a blizzard. The wind was blowing sideways and spraying them with powder. With every step Sam took forward, he would find his leg buried knee-deep in snow.

After leaving Mama’s lab, it didn’t take too long for the scenery to completely change. The ground was no longer flat, but packed with steep slopes and mountains. Once they went a little farther, all the ground was covered in snow.

The temperature had also dropped dramatically, and the snow combined with the rockiness of the area made for terrible footing. Sam kept walking, but it was as if he was making no headway at all. His suit was made with heat-insulating material and his boots had been treated to be resistant to the cold, but the relentless weather still froze him to the core. He had already lost the feeling in his toes with their missing nails. If he kept this up, he would be risking frostbite.

But his biggest concern was Mama.

When they had first departed, she wouldn’t stop talking about Lockne and her daughter, but she had grown steadily more silent.

Maybe the cold was making her sleepy, or she was getting weaker, or maybe what Sam had a bad feeling was going to happen now that she was separated from her daughter was indeed about to happen. It was all just speculation, but Sam suspected that even in this cold and snow, her breath would not hang in the air like his. He only wished he could turn his head to check.

He felt like Mama’s body had suddenly become lighter.

“I’m fine, Sam.” Her voice was small, but it didn’t seem like she was in any pain. “I just thought I heard Lockne’s voice.”

Mountain Knot City was just over the summit of this mountain.

“Hey, Sam. Lockne has gotten closer. All thanks to you.”

The blizzard became even stronger, and Sam could barely make out what Mama was saying.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Lockne.”

MOUNTAIN KNOT CITY

Målingen was almost here. The sister Lockne so despised, yet yearned for.

All of a sudden, their Beaches resonated and their link was brought back to life.

Several scenes unfolded at once like a panorama.

The hospital roof collapsed and Målingen was pinned underneath. Her belly was being crushed and the baby died before it was even born. My baby—our baby. She was rescued, but she couldn’t leave the hospital. Lockne watched as Målingen tried every means possible to contact her. (The same thing happened to me, Målingen. I wanted to talk to you, but I couldn’t connect.)

That was the only message that had reached Målingen. The only message that had reached her twin sister was one of her most hate-filled. Even though Mama had been unable to leave the building, she had still attempted to repair the Q-pid. She had thought of a way to leave her daughter behind and acted upon it just to see Lockne again. She had used Sam’s blood to cut their umbilical cord herself, failing again and again. Then she had Sam sever it for her, and bring her here.

So, it was like that. (Yes, like that.) We hadn’t been broken apart. We were still connected by the same Beach, we had just gotten lost and missed each other.

Lockne ran. She ran out of her room, ran down the basement hallway and aimed straight for the Bridges distribution center. Waiting for the elevator to reach the upper levels frustrated her immensely, and she immediately tumbled out of the doors as soon as they opened.

A porter was stood next to the activated delivery terminal. The snow that covered his head and shoulders was melting and dripping to the ground.

Sam Porter Bridges had carried her sister, Målingen, Mama, all the way here.

“Målingen!” (I’m finally here, Lockne.)

Sam laid Målingen down on the stretcher that the staff had run out with.

Bundled up inside the delivery bag with her eyes closed, Målingen looked like some kind of chrysalis. She was smiling faintly.

“I’m sorry, Målingen.” Lockne put her head to Målingen’s. A black tear fell from Målingen’s left eye as another black tear fell from Lockne’s right.

“Forgive me, Målingen.” (I’m sorry that I never had the guts to tell you, Lockne.)

Lockne threw her arms around Målingen.

Målingen presented something to Lockne, gripping it tightly in her trembling hands. It was the toy Lockne had sent her while their link was still open, all that time ago.

“I’m sorry that I couldn’t protect your child.” (It’s okay, Målingen, you don’t need to apologize anymore.)

Lockne wiped her cheeks, which were now mottled with black tears, and took Målingen’s hand into hers. Looking content, Målingen switched her gaze to Sam. Sam offered the one other piece of cargo he had brought along to Lockne.

“Please fix the Q-pid.” Målingen’s breathing was shallow. Please don’t talk anymore.

“Lockne, you need to fix his Q-pid. I couldn’t save our child, but you can save our world. Only you. I love you, you hear me?” Målingen pleaded.

I love you, too.

Målingen mustered all her strength to take her final breath before her eyelids began to slowly close.

The toy fell out of her hand and onto the floor, where it clattered all the way to Lockne’s feet. She felt like she could hear their daughter laughing as it rolled across the floor.

Målingen had finally been set free from this world.

Lockne made contact with Sam in his private room. She had already finished fixing the Q-pid. She had worked pretty fast. It was still only a few hours since Sam had first arrived.

Sam entered the room she had instructed him to come to, which also doubled as Lockne’s lab and private quarters. In contrast to Mama’s preferred look of a white tank top and work pants, Lockne wore a blue-black cape with a hood that wrapped all the way around her. Mama’s body was lying on a simple bed up against the wall. She had a peaceful expression on her face and looked like she would wake up at any second.

Lockne took the Q-pid in her hand and raised it up in Mama’s direction like an offering.

“I fixed it, just like you asked me to.” Her tone indicated that she wasn’t speaking to Sam, but to Mama.

“It’s okay now. This should help us to suppress the chiral density.”

Sam looked up.

“Surprised that I fixed it so quickly? The hardware had already been repaired to the specification that Målingen and I were looking at before, so all that was left to do was check the code and assemble it.”

Sam took the new Q-pid and hung it around his neck. These twins may have disagreed, but they were looking in the same direction, headed for the same destination.

“She died beneath the rubble with our child still inside her. Her ka passed over to the other side, but her ha remained, bound to our dead daughter.” Lockne was leaning over Mama, softly caressing her cheek. “She knew all this, of course.”

Lockne looked over at Sam to see if he knew what she was talking about.

“That’s why she kept one cuff loose. Didn’t want anyone seeing her vitals. Shame she couldn’t use her favorite invention.” Lockne released the single connected cuff link from Mama’s right hand.

“She did all that to keep me and our daughter safe. Even if it was all quite clumsily orchestrated.”

A tear fell from Lockne’s left eye and dripped down onto Mama’s right cheek. It made Mama look like she was crying too.

“Right, let’s go. I’ve spoken to the Mountain Knot City Executive Committee. We will join the UCA. Now you go and use that Q-pid to bring us online.” Lockne left the room and they headed to the upper floor.

Stood in front of the activation terminal, Sam showed Lockne the Q-pid in his hand. This was a new knot, created by the twins.

He held the metal shards up to the receiver. Lockne held her breath and looked at him.

The scent of the Beach permeated his nose, together with the usual feeling of floating that Sam experienced, and tears began to fall from his eyes. But it was different to his usual reaction. He was also crying because of the overlying warmth of Mama and Lockne.

“We’re whole again. We’re one,” Lockne murmured almost in song. She crossed her arms, before cupping her left cheek with her right hand and her right cheek with her left hand. Her eyes were now two different colors, one blue and one green.

“Like before. In the womb.”

“Yes, I remember.”

Lockne and Målingen spoke alternately. All Sam could do was watch. He knew that he would never forget this moment.

He wondered how many times he would think back to it, back to the moment when Målingen’s ka returned to Lockne’s ha.

“Thank you, Sam. We’re whole again.”

He would never forget such a beautiful union.

Lockne and Målingen may have lost their daughter, but they were free from their knot.

And now they had made a brand new one.