Chapter 16 — The Last Seed Keeper

Dinh Bach Lam arrived at Green Dome early one morning, through the side gate for outside visitors — a locked door that is rarely opened, located away from residential areas to minimize the risk of infection from Dong Tro entering the Dom's closed ecosystem.

Khe Mien waited with a small group of Council representatives in the disinfection chamber — the intermediate room between the outer gate and the main area of the Arch, where people and goods from the outside had to go through a strict cleaning process before being allowed deeper. She had imagined the image of Dinh Bach Lam many times over the past week, based on the stories she had been told — an image mixed with myth and reality that she wasn't sure which parts were true and which parts were just fabrications.

When the door to the decontamination bay finally opened, the man who entered was not at all what she had imagined.

He was tall and thin, but with strong muscles in the manner of someone accustomed to harsh physical labor rather than controlled exercise, his skin tanned and dry from long exposure to the harsh environment outside the Arches. The protective suit he wore, even though it had been disinfected, still had a few gray dust stains clinging to the stitches - traces of long journeys that no amount of washing could completely erase. His face had sharp, alert lines, his eyes scanning the room and those present with the speed and precision of someone accustomed to assessing danger in a split second, a habit that Khe Mien guessed would not be easy to break even in a safe environment like the Green Dome.

"Dinh Bach Lam," he said, his voice low and concise, without any unnecessary social gestures, just a slight nod towards the waiting group.

"Welcome to the Green Dome," Bien Ba Uy said, stepping forward, his voice solemn as usual. "We appreciate you agreeing to consider this assignment."

"I haven't agreed to anything," Dinh Bach Lam replied immediately, with no intention of softening the sentence with a softer tone. "I agree to come and hear the details. The final decision depends on what I hear."

That almost rude directness made some people in the group pause a bit, but Khe Mien, instead of feeling offended, found a surprising respect for the way he didn't try to please anyone with empty words.

"This is Vu Khe Mien," Bien Ba Uy introduced, "the Seed Keeper of the Green Dome, who will lead the group if the trip goes ahead."

Dinh Bach Lam turned to look at her, and in that moment, Khe Mien felt his eyes carefully assessing her — not in an insulting way, but in the way a soldier evaluates a potential comrade before a battle, considering whether this person can survive or will become a burden.

"You've never been out of the Arch," he said, not a question.

"No," Khe Mien admitted, not avoiding it. “But I understand the value of what we need to find better than anyone else in this Green Dome.”

“Understanding value is not the same as surviving to bring it back,” he said, his voice still coldly pragmatic. "I have escorted many groups of people who were very good in their field, but not able to endure what Dong Tro requires. Not everyone knows in advance what type they are until they are in the middle of a sandstorm, a day's journey from the nearest shelter."

"So you think I should stay?" Khe Mien asked, her voice showed no signs of wavering even though his words touched the biggest worry she had been trying to suppress for many days.

"I didn't say that," Dinh Bach Lam replied, and for the first time, something almost curious appeared in his eyes. "I'm just saying that I need to know who I'm working with before I put the lives of the crew—including my own—in your decisions. That's not disrespect. That's how I'm still alive after ten years in this job, while many of my colleagues are not."

That statement, although said in a blunt, almost cold tone, carried a sincerity that made Khe Mien unable to refute. She remembered her father's warning — that a person who has lost too much often builds a wall around himself — and wondered if that wall was what she was witnessing right now.

“Then let me prove it to you,” she said, her voice steady. "Not with words, but with the way you can observe me at work during your stay at the Green Dome before making your final decision."

Dinh Bach Lam looked at her for a long moment, and Khe Mien wasn't sure whether that look carried a positive assessment or simply the cold consideration of someone used to calculating risks.

"Okay," he said finally, as tersely as all his sentences. "I will need to see the proposed route, the list of supplies, and the size of the group you are considering. Then I will make my own assessment."

The official meeting ended quickly after that, when Bien Ba Uy arranged for Dinh Bach Lam to have a temporary place to stay in the guest area, and arranged to meet again in the afternoon to begin discussing details. When the group began to disperse, Khe Mien lingered for a moment, observing the strange man standing and looking out the small window of the disinfection compartment, where one could see a far corner of the Green Dome residential area - honeycomb-shaped buildings, warm yellow lights, a scene that to her meant the whole world, but to him, was probably just one of dozens of Dome he had visited.

"What do you think about the Green Dome?" she asked, unable to contain her curiosity, even though she knew the question was somewhat sudden.

Dinh Bach Lam turned back to look at her, was silent for a moment before answering. “I think it's beautiful,” he said, his voice suddenly softening a bit. "Beautiful in the way that overprotected things often are — fragile, and not knowing how fragile they are until faced with something they were never prepared to face."

In the afternoon, as scheduled, Dinh Bach Lam was present in the small meeting room where Khe Mien had prepared the expected route map, list of supplies, and profiles of potential members of the delegation. He examined each document with a meticulousness that surprised Khe Mien — not the superficial meticulousness meant to appear professional, but the genuine attention of someone who had learned, at great cost, that every small overlooked detail could become the cause of a tragedy.

“This route passes through the area near the old ruins to the east,” he said, pointing to the map, his voice all serious. "I don't recommend going through there. The terrain is unstable, and there are structures that could collapse at any time."

"We chose that route because it was the shortest," Khe Mien explained. "According to our calculations, going around to the south will take at least four more days."

"Four days of safety is better than two days of recklessness," Dinh Bach Lam replied, without hesitation. "I once lost a crew to a similar decision — taking a shorter route through an unstable area, to save time while supplies were running low. We were right in theory. The shorter route was indeed. But theory couldn't save five people when part of the ruined structure collapsed in the middle of the night."

The room was silent for a moment. Khe Mien looked at him, realizing that this was the first time he had revealed, even a small piece, about what the radio contact had mentioned—the caravan he had lost.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, not sure if that was the right thing to say.

"No need to apologize," Dinh Bach Lam replied, his voice returning to its usual pragmatic tone, as if the door had just opened and had closed on its own. "I'm not telling you this to seek sympathy. I'm telling you so you understand why I will always choose the safer route, even if it's slower. If you can't accept that, you'd better find another escort now, before we both waste our time."

"I accept," Khe Mien said immediately, without any hesitation. "The safety of the group is more important than a few days saved. I promised my father that I would always choose to return, rather than take unnecessary risks. I will keep that promise."

Dinh Bach Lam looked at her for a moment, and in his eyes, Khe Mien saw something soften a little, even if only briefly before he returned to the map, continuing to re-mark the route along the safer southern detour.

That sentence stayed in Khe Mien's mind all day, as she returned to the Warehouse to continue her daily work, unable to stop thinking about whether that strange man - with eyes that had seen many things she had never imagined, with a defensive wall built from losses she had only briefly heard about - would become a companion to help her complete her mission, or would be another challenge she had to learn to overcome before the journey truly began.

That evening, writing in her notebook, Khe Mien recorded her first impression of Dinh Bach Lam, carefully and honestly as she always recorded all her scientific observations:

*He's unlike anyone I've ever met in the Green Dome. Not because he was from the outside, but because of the way he saw everything — including me — as a calculus of risks, with no certain answers yet. I don't know if that makes me trust him more, or makes me more cautious.*