After going through the Rites and thanking Swamp Dragon, Kyle returned to Forward Base 198. He hadn't immediately gone there after his breakthrough, but that was not an issue. The entire loyalty-test-thing only became relevant if someone delayed their return by over a century.
"I'm back," Kyle transmitted to Major Sovignor before taking the repaired cube of Gravity Metal out.
"You've succeeded," Major Sovignor commented. "I didn't expect anything else."
Then, he looked at the cube. "A little bit of it is missing. I can only give you 5,800 Merits instead of 5,850."
"That's fine," Kyle answered, and his Merits were updated. He had about 16,600 Merits now. "Are there any messages?"
"There is one," Major Sovignor said, and Kyle's Emblem updated.
Kyle looked at the message, and sure enough, it was the semi-secret method of communication that Manny had announced.
As Kyle read through it, he became surprised.
