"So," another voice, processed to make its gender and age impossible to discern, spoke from the beam marked "07," "the operation we sponsored for so long has completely gone down the drain? The ship is gone, the ferryman is dead, and even the most important signpost has been lost?"
"A complete and utter failure." The electronic voice from beam "02" summarized succinctly.
"Failure?" The masked man shook his head slightly. "Perhaps. But if the gate to the Kingdom of God could be pushed open so easily, then the Kingdom of God would have been packed long ago. This is merely a somewhat troublesome setback on our pilgrimage—we still have a chance."
A voice came from beam "06": "Yes, the ship is right there. Getting it out of the Federal Security Service of Russia's dockyard, or replacing it with another new ship of equal capability, is not difficult with our resources. Although Charon is gone, all his research materials remain. As long as we recover the Saintess, the ferry can set sail again. At most, we'll need a new navigator."
"The question is, where do we find the Saintess?" another voice interjected.
"The Federal Security Service of Russia?" someone offered the most direct guess.
"If they're also interested in the secrets of the Kingdom of God, then they've probably hidden the Saintess away tightly. She won't be easy to find."
At that moment, beam "03," which had remained silent all this time, suddenly spoke. "The Saintess is not in the hands of the Federal Security Service of Russia. By the time their people took over the Yamal, the Saintess had already vanished. A mysterious force intervened.
"Far North was also destroyed by that mysterious force—the Federal Security Service of Russia only captured a small number of remnants."
A low, ambiguous chuckle