Chapter 19 — The Ship That Never Looks Back

Vu Can't Read

Khe Lam couldn't sleep that night, and when the artificial dawn began to brighten through the residential area's simulated lighting system, she was already sitting at the dining table, zooming in on each hastily taken photo on her note-taking device, reading it over and over again until her eyes were tired.

"Since when have you been awake?" Grandma asked, coming out of the bedroom, her voice still sleepy.

"I wake up early to prepare for work." Khe Lam replied, turning off the device screen faster than necessary, a reflex that made her grandmother look at her for a second longer before quietly going to make tea, without asking further questions.

At noon, she met Bach Van again in classroom number seven, both of them had dark circles under their eyes due to lack of sleep. They spread the photos out on the table, carefully arranging them in order, trying to piece together the whole picture from the scattered fragments.

"Vu." Bach Van said, pointing to the truncated text. "Just one word, can't read the rest. But if it's true that it's related to founding captain Vu Thua Nguyen, it's possible that this is his direct descendant — the Vu family still holds an honored position in the ceremony, even though it no longer has real political power."

"I need to look up more about that family." Khe Lam said, even though she knows that the ability to access genealogical information of Dome families is almost zero for someone like her.

"Let me take care of that." Bach Van said. "I can look up the official genealogy through the student library without raising suspicion, because it's part of the maritime history class."

Khe Lam nodded, but her eyes were still glued to another photo — a page of handwritten notes about how "the additional section related to the event of the two hundred and twenty-eighth journey has been moved to private archives." She had told Bach Van a little about Night of Broken Roots last night, but hadn't finished what Bui Dac Sinh meant — about how this secret "will change what you know about yourself."

"Do you think," she asked slowly, "that the people who took part in the event nineteen years ago knew about the decision in forty-one? That they found out exactly what we just found out, just in a different way?"

"There is a possibility." Bach Van replied, looking at her with gentle scrutiny, sensing that there was something she hadn't finished saying. "What specifically are you thinking about?"

Khe Lam hesitated for a long time, then decided to say what she had been hiding since last night. "My mother disappeared when I was one year old, in what my grandmother always called 'an accident in the Root Plane, it was very chaotic back then'. That was the two hundred and twenty-eighth year of the journey. The same year as the Night of the Broken Root."

Bach Van remained silent, allowing her time to continue speaking without being interrupted.

"I don't know for sure." She said, her voice trembling slightly. "It could just be a coincidence of timing. But if it wasn't a coincidence, then my mother could have been one of the participants in that event. And my father — who died eight years ago in a 'pressure incident' near the Protoplasmic Core, after asking his leader whether he should tell a truth that would cause panic — he may have discovered this same thing, in his own way."

Bach Van placed his hand on the table, close to her hand but not touching it, a restrained comforting gesture of someone who wasn't sure how much comfort he had. "If that's true, I'm sorry, Khe Lam."

It was the first time he called her by her name, without her last name, a small but distinct intimacy that they both recognized immediately.

"I need to know for sure." She said, quickly wiping away a tear that had just flowed out but she couldn't stop it. "Not for revenge, or to demand justice for the past. I just need to know the truth about my own family, after twenty years of only hearing unclear fragments."

"We'll find out." Bach Van spoke, her voice more certain than she expected from someone who was still struggling with his own beliefs in the family and the system he was born into. "I'll look up the Vu family's genealogy. Try asking the old man at Deck Day again, but this time, tell him what we just found — perhaps when he knows how far we've gone, he'll be willing to say more."

They parted ways at the classroom door, each carrying a new mission. Khe Lam took advantage of the remaining lunch break to go to Day Deck, impatiently unable to wait until evening.

Bui Dac Sinh was in the middle of eating a simple lunch when she arrived, a bowl of cold synthetic porridge placed next to a pile of familiar components. He was surprised to see her appear at this hour, different from her usual habit of visiting in the evening.

"What's so urgent, little girl?" He asked, putting down the bowl of porridge.

Khe Lam briefly told what she and Bach Van found - file 041-H, the resignation of three Council members, the note about "the event of the two hundred and twenty-eighth year of travel" being moved to private archives. She did not mention Bach Van's name, just said "a friend I trust", keeping her promise to protect his identity.

Bui Dac Sinh finished listening, put his hands on his knees, bent down as if the weight of the story had just fallen on his shoulders once again. When he looked up, his eyes were red, something Khe Lam had never seen in him in the eight years they had known him.

"You've gone further than anyone else could have gone that year." He said, his voice choked. "They just suspect. I have proof in black and white."

"Please, tell me more." Khe Lam said, his voice almost pleading. "I need to know if my mother is one of them."

Bui Dac Sinh looked at her for a long time, his old eyes reflected a pain that had been suppressed for nearly two decades. "I can't say the name yet, little girl. Not because I don't want to, but because once that name is uttered, I'm afraid it will drag you down a path of no return, much more dangerous than what you're imagining." He took her hand, his hand trembling but firmly. "But I will say this: if you really are the child of the person you think you are, then you have inherited the exact kind of courage that kept that person silent, even knowing the cost."

That statement was both a half-hearted confirmation and a warning, causing Khe Lam to leave the Bottom Deck with a heavier heart than ever, but also with a new, sharper determination, as if all the vague doubts from before now had an almost clear, though still incomplete, shape.

In the afternoon, when Khe Lam walked out into the hallway of the training area after meeting Bach Van again to report what Bui Dac Sinh had just revealed, an internal notification message appeared on the public bulletin board mounted in the corner of the wall, causing her to pause.

"Security announcement: Council Guards are conducting an unusual sweep regarding a faulty sensor signal in the Founding Archives area last night. All individuals present at the relevant transfer area between the hours of twenty-three and zero thirty are requested to present themselves for reference within the next forty-eight hours."

Khe Lam stood still looking at that text, a cold feeling spread throughout his body. She was present at that exact hour, with an official work record — but Bach Van, who had no legitimate reason to explain her presence other than a story that might not stand up to scrutiny, did not have a similar protective shield.

She turned around, intending to run to find him to tell him the news, but when she looked back at the end of the hallway, she saw him standing there, staring at the same notice board, his face pale under the hallway light, and in the moment their eyes met, they both understood, without needing to say a word, that the fragile window of safety they once had was beginning to close.

He walked closer to her, his voice lowered as much as possible in the hallway where there were still a few people passing by. "I will show up on time, with a valid reason - studying the module, maybe getting confirmation from Mr. Hien that I visited that area legally during the week. You don't need to worry about me."

"If they looked more closely, they would see that you had no reason to be near the physical storage area during the maintenance window." Khe Lam said, trying to keep her voice quiet, the worry could not be hidden in her eyes. "That's not an easy-to-explain coincidence."

"I know." Bach Van replied, his jaw clenched for a moment before relaxing, regaining his purposeful calm. "But worrying right now won't help. Let's continue with the plan - you ask more from Boong Day, I'll look up the Vu family genealogy. If there's a sign they're really targeting us, we'll know before it's too late."

Khe Lam nodded, although in her heart she was no longer as sure about it as his confident voice tried to show. She looked back at the notice on the bulletin board one last time before turning away, engraving each word in her memory as a warning that she must not forget, even for a moment of inattention.