Chapter 150: Lucy's Comfort
Maine and the others' comfort was born of good intentions, the concern between comrades-in-arms. But for the deep confusion regarding his path and meaning of existence, born from Joric's words, it felt like scratching an itch through a boot.
Just then, the silent Lucy walked over.
She didn't look at Joric, nor did she pay attention to anyone else. She simply tugged gently on David's arm.
"Let's go," her voice was light, yet like a glimmer of light piercing the heavy gloom shrouding David. "Don't just stand here."
David looked up blankly at Lucy.
Her pale violet eyes held no excessive pity, nor the encouragement of Maine and the others, but rather... understanding? Or perhaps, an invitation.
Like grasping at a life-saving straw, he subconsciously followed Lucy, leaving the heavy atmosphere of the workshop entrance, leaving Joric's massive silhouette, his cold lingering words, and the concerned gazes of Maine's crew behind him.
Lucy led David through the cluttered but orderly corridors of the bastion to her small living quarters.
There were more signs of life here than when she first arrived, but it was still austere, even a little empty.
She closed the door, cutting off most of the outside noise.
"Sit," Lucy pointed to the only relatively clean old chair in the room, while she sat on the edge of the bed.
David sat as told, hands on his knees, fingers unconsciously twisting together.
He was still immersed in the shock and self-doubt brought by Joric's words.
Lucy didn't speak immediately. She took out a Brain Dance wreath and fiddled with it in her hands.
"Want to see?" She offered the wreath to David. "It's about the Moon."
David paused. The Moon? It seemed completely irrelevant to his current situation.
But he took it and put it on his head. He needed anything to distract him right now.
The BD started.
Not an intense firefight or an erotic scene, but a boundless, silent cosmic space.
Then, the perspective zoomed in, and the grey-white surface of the Moon appeared clearly before his eyes.
Craters like massive scars; the Sea of Tranquility vast and desolate.
No sound, only absolute silence and an indescribable, desolate grandeur.
The view moved slowly across the lunar surface. Earth, like a blue sapphire, hung against the velvet curtain of black.
This experience formed the ultimate contrast with the noise, chaos, and cramped nature of Night City.
David felt as if he had truly escaped that mire, placed in a pure, cold, yet infinitely vast world.
The BD wasn't long.
When David took off the wreath, his eyes were still a bit dazed, as if his soul was still lingering in that silent vacuum.
"Very different, right?" Lucy asked softly.
David nodded, momentarily unsure of what to say.
"No corporations there, no gangs, no endless neon lights or noise from AVs." Lucy's gaze turned to the small window in the room that showed no sky, as if she could see through the layers of obstruction to the distant stars. "Only silence... absolute silence... That's my dream. To leave Night City and go to the Moon."
She paused, her gaze returning to David's face. Those eyes, usually carrying a sense of detachment, looked exceptionally clear right now.
"I know the Boss's words sounded harsh, hard to understand. He... he thinks differently from us. In his eyes, maybe everything is a machine that can be disassembled, analyzed, and solved with knowledge and tools."
"But," she shifted tone, "he was right about one thing. You can't always wait for others to give you answers, or count on others to save you. Maine and the crew brought you back this time, but what about next time? Depending on others all the time... one day you'll truly have nowhere to go."
"I'm not telling you to learn to be like him... seeing everything as a machine." Lucy chose her words carefully. "I'm saying, you have to find your own strength, your own way.
"Maybe not entirely knowledge, but it must be something you can hold in your own hands. Like..." She pointed to the BD wreath. "Like how I want to leave here. I know I can't rely on others. I can only save money myself, find opportunities myself. That's my path."
"Your mom's situation is hard," Lucy continued, her tone calm and firm. "The Boss gave you a path. A very hard, harsh path. But at least, it is a path. A path that theoretically lets you master the solution yourself.
"Compared to placing all hope on some 'charity' that might never appear, or on the help of others... this path, though hard, is more real."
She looked into David's eyes. "Being deceived, being kidnapped—that's not your fault. It's the fault of those who set the traps. But if you never stand up again because of this blow, or if you only think about how to 'beg' more carefully next time... that's when you truly lose.
"You can be afraid, you can be sad. But don't forget why you started on this path. Don't forget what you want to protect."
Lucy's words lacked the bravado of Maine's crew, and the cold rationality of Joric. But like a trickle of water, they seeped into the dried, chaotic field of David's heart.
She didn't directly negate Joric but offered a different perspective, transforming "Inquiry" from a cold dogma into a possibility of "mastering one's own fate."
Sharing her dream was like telling him that even in the darkest corners, one should hold onto a yearning for the distance, for freedom, and gather strength for it.
David looked at Lucy, at the clarity and firmness in her eyes so out of place in Night City. The storm churning in his heart seemed to calm slightly.
Shame and self-blame remained, but something new began to sprout in the depths of his heart—not an immediate understanding of Joric's Mechanicus logic, but a vague realization of the importance of self-salvation, and... the seemingly aloof but actually delicate care from the girl before him.
He was still confused about the road ahead. Joric's criticism still stuck in his heart like a thorn. But right now, in this small room, listening to Lucy's calm narration and seeing her longing for the Moon, he felt... like he could breathe again.
"Thanks..." David's voice was a bit hoarse, but it held a little more strength than before.
Lucy shook her head slightly, saying nothing more. The room fell quiet again, but a silent understanding and support flowed quietly between them.
David knew he needed time to digest all this.
He needed to think about Joric's words, re-examine his own path, and... live up to Lucy's guidance and the risk Maine's crew took to save him.
His apprenticeship, after experiencing this brutal blow from reality and the violent impact of ideology, had perhaps truly begun.
(End of Chapter)