From the moment the captain suddenly disappeared and returned with Marlow, Kallen had sensed something was wrong.
The main reason was Richard's disappearance and return, with Memphis-Uncle Eisen-telling him in between, "They grabbed the wrong person."
Memphis's subsequent disappearance confirmed this. They really did seem to have grabbed the wrong person.
But the question was, why had they released the captain after grabbing him?
Had they grabbed the captain by mistake too?
So the captain and Richard were on the same level?
Kallen believed that even Richard would disagree with that assessment.
Taking a step back, suppose the captain hadn't been taken away, but had genuinely discovered the rules here and brought Marlow back.
But when had the captain ever said so much before giving his teammates an order?
He had even explained, elaborated, and shared concepts, like a teacher lecturing his students.
What the captain preferred was to hold a whistle in his mouth and issue the most direct orders in the fewest words.
You don't need to know why. You just need to do as I say.
When they finished preparing to move,
the captain had even praised the great God of Order.
That lent it a touch of dark humor and irony. The captain, a man who couldn't even recite the Order Regulations and taught Kallen experiences he made up himself, had actually started praying to a god in a dangerous, bizarre situation?
Normally, with outsiders present, sitting around drinking coffee and making genteel conversation, it would have been perfectly normal for the captain to offer such platitudes. But now, it felt deeply out of place.
As for that final question, "Captain, can I take off my mask?"
That had merely been Kallen making a joke after he was already certain the captain was a fake.
So,