novelThe Rank and File Soldiers that Tie Up Gulliver >> Battle on the Freezing Alaskan Snow (2)
| ← Ch.002 | Ch.004 → |
He could have sworn the display had indicated that area, but the Elite girl was nowhere to be found. Had enemy soldiers already taken her away? Or had he misread the map and gone to the wrong spot?
(God dammit! How could I have survived 6 months out here without knowing how to find my position on a map?... How much have I just been relying on others?)
Quenser stuck a cable into the scope area of the rifle. The other end of the cable had a small earphone for one ear. He put it in his right ear and operated the unfamiliar rifle with shaking fingers.
According to Heivia, it had a microphone for finding enemies.
(... )
While focusing on the microphone sticking out near the barrel like a bayonet, Quenser slowly rotated in one spot. While in the process of turning the microphone in every direction, he heard a slight noise through the earphone.
"This way... ?"
He had not been properly trained, so he held the rifle as he had seen others do as he headed off in the direction of the noise.
As he approached, the slight noise grew gradually louder.
Eventually, it started to sound like human voices and Quenser frantically hid behind some nearby rocks.
He then stuck only his face out.
He could see human forms on the other side of the white curtain of blowing snow.
He guessed they were about 100 meters away. From that distance, he could not tell what they looked like, but he could see three or four muscular figures surrounding a single short figure. The short figure was on her knees unnaturally with both her hands behind her head.
(The princess! Shit, so she was caught after all... !!)
Quenser brought his head back behind the rocks and then looked around the area.
He could not see the giant form of the Object anywhere.
It may have headed back to hunt down the survivors now that the Elite girl had been captured.
For an instant, Quenser thought it might all be some absurdly huge trap and he would be shot by the low-stability plasma cannons from long distance the instant he made a move. However, he realized that was unlikely. He doubted they would use the Object to set up a trap for him alone and the giant Object would not need to set up a trap to deal with a mere human anyway. It would just slaughter him outright.
He may have been so afraid that his mind's danger sensor was not working properly.
The Object was simply so frightening that he was taking completely unrealistic possibilities into account.
At any rate, if he calmed down and thought about it...
(The Object isn't here. )
Quenser noticed the weight of the rifle once more.
He stuck his head out from behind the rocks to check on the situation.
(If I can do something about those four, I can save the princess!!)
A different unpleasant feeling than the fear of the Object now started tightening around his heart.
He had to "do something about" those four.
With that rifle in his hands, "doing something" meant shooting and killing those four humans. Quenser was not skillful enough to suppress them without hitting their vitals and the bullets in that military rifle were powerful enough to rip off a limb if he hit them there. They would die of shock whether he hit their vitals or not.
Could he really kill them?
Could he kill four people to save a single comrade?
(God dammit!)
He wrapped the other hand around his uncontrollably shaking fingers.
He could not keep his teeth from chattering.
(This is the battlefield. Killing is the norm here! By leaving all the fighting to the invincible Object... is this what we've been pushing onto her!?)
In a desperate attempt to work up some courage, Quenser pounded on his own thigh with his fist and then forced himself to hold up the rifle. However, he started feeling dizzy when he looked through the scope. He held back the urge to vomit and somehow managed to aim.
He was aiming for the male soldier closest to the Elite girl.
He put the sights right in the middle of the unsuspecting man's head.
Now he just had to pull the trigger.
However, as if it had frozen solid, his finger on the trigger would not move.
(... This is a human. )
As he forced down the urge to vomit, the image through the sight shook.
(This isn't one of the human-shaped targets from the training grounds. It's a real human. This is a soldier just like us who has become dulled by peace after being protected by his Object and only wants to return safely to his country... )
He could not shoot.
Just as he realized that fact, he heard an odd noise through the earphone in his ear.
It was a sound being picked up by the rifle's microphone.
It was the words coming from the mouth of the soldier he was aiming at.
"Hey, let's test out the durability of the Elite's special suit. Once the Object returns, we can tie her hands to it with a rope and have it drag her behind it. The test will be whether she's naked or not by the time we get back to base."
Quenser's movements stopped when he heard that.
He then heard a laugh and the words of another soldier.
"No matter how easy it is to slide on snow, wouldn't that still turn her to mincemeat?"
"Yeah, and what'll we do if she's still alive once we get back to our base zone? Are you gonna do a test on the wonderful Elite's body? I hear the guys from the torture room were complaining because their tools are rusting over from lack of use."
No, it was not his movements that had stopped.
It was his trembling that had stopped.
As well as the urge to vomit that had produced the trembling.
His heart had cleared.
He switched off the microphone as if shutting out what the soldiers had to say.
Quenser had a new thought.
He had not been able to pull the trigger because he had thought of them as human.
But...
They weren't, were they?
A great noise exploded out and the rifle bullet had blown one of the laughing soldiers' heads to pieces before Quenser even realized the noise was due to his finger pulling the trigger. Ignoring the collapsing headless corpse, Quenser shouted out.
"Get down!!"
Had the Elite girl understood what those words meant first or had it been the enemy soldiers around her?
Just as the girl threw her body down into the deep snow, Quenser used quick movements of his finger to fire bullet after bullet in semi-auto mode. With as little training as he had, he doubted he could deal with the recoil of firing on full auto. However, the enemy soldiers did not just stand there and let him shoot them. Almost reflexively, they turned their rifle barrels in the direction of the voice and fired.
Quenser had been only slightly faster.
Quenser only wanted to mow down everything there, so he just moved the barrel from right to left as he fired rather than carefully aiming. By repeatedly pulling the trigger, he sent bullets flying at even intervals which created a hurdle of death at about waist height. Fortunately, he had caught them by surprise. Red blood sprayed into the air and soldiers were mowed down onto the snow.
(... I might actually pull this off... !!)
However, two of the enemy soldiers had immediately gotten down and escaped the spray of bullets. As Quenser stood fully upright due to the recoil of the rifle, he could see one of the surviving soldiers aiming his own rifle while kneeling down. While keeping low to the ground, the princess tackled him. In a close-quarters struggle, the soldier could not fire his rifle. Quenser panicked, but his worry was unwarranted. The princess held a metal skewer for cooking that had been in the same standard-issue survival kit that held bandages and a small fishing pole. She used it to stab the enemy soldier in the side.
The one remaining soldier immediately tried to move away from the princess, but he carelessly raised his body too high. Immediately afterwards, he was struck by one of the bullets from Quenser's rifle and collapsed onto the snow.
It was over.
Or so Quenser thought.
The soldier who was bleeding from the metal skewer the princess had stabbed in his side pulled his rifle's trigger as he collapsed to the snow. Most likely, he had not intended to do so, but he happened to hit the trigger for the grenade launcher on the bottom of the rifle. The barrel was pointed in a random direction... which just so happened to be in Quenser's direction.
The heavy explosive flew through the air in an arc rather than a straight line.
Quenser was unable to decide what to do in the instant he had.
Immediately afterwards, Quenser was sent flying by the blast and an odd pain ran through most of his upper body. The color white filled his vision. At first, he thought it was the sky, but it was actually the snow-covered ground. It took him a while to even realize he was lying on his side.
(... What... happened to me... ?)
Just as that question entered his mind, all strength left his body.
He somehow managed to move his hand that had frozen up as if from rigor mortis, but the rifle grip slipped from his fingers. His arm then fell back into the snow.
He finally started feeling a throbbing pain in his gut and chest.
(Shit, what happened? Are they all dead? I didn't miss any of them, did I? None of them are going to get back up, are they?)
No more shooting occurred.
Had he killed all of them, had they fled, or had they stopped because they considered finishing him off a waste of bullets? Buried in the snow as he was, Quenser could not tell.
(... Kh... )
He tried to look at his wounds, but his body would not move as he wished it to.
Meanwhile, even his mind seemed to be ceasing to function properly.
(What about the princess... ?)
He had come all that way to rescue the Elite girl and yet he no longer had the energy left over to see if she was even alive.
His consciousness sank down into darkness.
Even the pain that had risen up seemed to vanish rather than exploding out within him.
Part 11
He thought he heard someone calling his name.
All he could see was strange scenery that was neither black nor richly colored. It seemed like he was seeing the images coming from his two eyeballs in mosaic without his brain processing them. While Quenser had lost his sense of balance, feeling like he was going to vomit, and stared blankly at that scenery, he heard someone call his name for sure.
"... Hey, wake up, Quenser!! Don't go to sleep! Wake up!!"
"Heivia... ?" Quenser muttered in a scratchy voice.
His body had to have sunk into the snow, but he could not feel it at all.
"Why? Didn't you run away... ?"
"Shut up. I had no choice."
Heivia had a portable anti-tank missile hanging from a strap. He had to have known it would be of no help, but he must have wanted to bring as much firepower with him as he could. Quenser could tell Heivia's body was still trembling.
Fear of that Object was not something that could be so easily wiped away.
Even so, Heivia had followed after Quenser.
"... Was I hit... ?"
"You amateur. The grenade wasn't directly aimed for you and it only blew some fragments off of a nearby rock. Your upper body was hit by the fragments of scattered stone. If you had been hit by shrapnel from the grenade, it would have ripped your flesh apart. They're made so they'll do that."
"I see. Damn I'm pathetic... Did I pass out from fear after just a few scratches?"
Quenser tried to get up, but he groaned after feeling a powerful pressure on his chest. It seemed the mental shock had been great enough to make his heart contract too much. He coughed and finally managed to pull himself out from the snow.
"Oh, crap! Where's the Elite princess... ? Was she taken away while I was passed out?"
"What are you saying? You won. You took out all those bastards, so don't worry. Look, hero. The princess you saved is right over there."
Quenser looked in the direction Heivia pointed and saw the Elite girl standing about 2 meters away. She was standing stock still while staring at Quenser's face as if she were looking at something she could not believe.
Her expression was rather difficult to describe.
Extraordinary fear was certainly present. As was incomparable shock. She also looked as if she could not yet tell if she should feel relieved. Overall, her expression was not one easily described using any standard emotion.
"Why... ?" she said with a wavering voice that she could not hold still due to the waves of emotion roiling within her."Why did you come to save me... ?"
After that, her true thoughts spilled forth as if from a hole in her heart.
Or perhaps she had felt something that made her not want to lie any longer.
"You are not the one who is meant to fight. You are not an Elite. You were not protected by thick nuclear-shelter like armor, so why did you come here?"
Quenser pondered her words silently.
Something deeper than what she normally showed on the surface was present in her words.
"And I would mock you in my heart."
Her words continued to spill forth.
That may have been inappropriate for the Elite pilot of the Object that was the cornerstone of their military force and, in a way, the representative of their nation.
"I mocked you because you always needed me to protect you and because you would all be killed without the Object!"
However, that unseemly inappropriateness was what made it seem truly human.
Quenser realized that her too-pure image was not something like natural water; it was more like tap water that smells of chlorine.
"I wanted to deny it and I wanted to have a more proper opinion, but I would always have those horrible thoughts about you!! So why did you come here to save me!?"
Quenser and Heivia exchanged glances.
They then looked back at the Elite girl.
They looked back at that girl who had lost her role with the loss of the Object.
"What do you mean 'horrible thoughts'? That's the truth."
"Eh... ?"
"I've tried to study as much as I can about Objects, but I only just now understood something upon actually fighting one today. Those things are monsters. Really, truly monsters. And who was it that has been fighting all alone this whole time to make sure those monsters did not come destroy our base zone?"
The girl looked at Quenser with a surprised look.
The long time spent buried in the snow and the mental shock he did not seem able to shake off had stiffened his face, but Quenser moved the stiff muscles to force a smile.
"But no longer, " Quenser said as he picked up the rifle that had fallen to the ground nearby.
He pulled out the empty magazine and replaced it with a new one Heivia gave him.
Compared to an Object, it was a puny weapon.
With it in hand, Quenser faced the girl and gave a truly horrible expression.
"You no longer need to fight alone. Is there any real reason you have to?"
The girl did not seem to know how to react to that.
She was an Elite, the pilot of one of the giant weapons known as Objects.
It might have been that no one had ever said anything like that to her before. She had been given the burden of many lives, winning had been expected of her, and she had even been implicitly threatened that she would lose everything if she lost. She had been desperately fighting under those conditions. That was why she had never raised a voice of protest against that solitary fight no matter how damaged she became or how much unease she held.
The girl did not seem able to fully accept Quenser's words.
She turned her troubled gaze toward Heivia, but he only shrugged.
"I'm nothing special. Quenser just said that you alone wouldn't be enough of a decoy and that brought me to my senses. I realized he was absolutely right, so I had to prepare something that would function as a proper decoy or else we would all be killed. And then... well... as I said before, I had no choice." With that casual response, Heivia glanced around."Now then, my princess and her knight. It looks like we can't stick around here much longer."
"... ?"
Quenser frowned, but he realized what Heivia meant shortly thereafter.
Heivia's false courage was hiding his fear of the distantly approaching thundercloud-like noise that the Object made as it moved.
"Let's go! You made quite a racket when you shot and killed those soldiers. Their Object must have noticed and is heading this way!!"
Heivia's cry ended the heart-warming scene.
They had returned to hell.
The life-and-death game of tag with the over 50 meter Object had begun anew.
"Shit!! Where are we supposed to go!?"
The deep snow grabbed at his feet as he moved, but Quenser desperately kept moving. In response, Heivia shouted out as loudly as he could as if to rid himself of his fear.
"You need to memorize the map of the area you're gonna be fighting in!! There's a cave about 50 meters ahead. If we can get in there, we can escape from that giant Object!!"
Fifty meters.
That was a distance they could manage in 10 seconds even when fully equipped if they were on a paved surface.
However, the deep snow robbed them of their speed and the enemy Object used static electricity to smoothly approach around the slopes of the mountain. Its movements made it look like the surface below it was sliding it along.
It was about 3 kilometers away, but that was nothing to that giant weapon.
"It's aiming the plasma cannons this way!!" shouted the Elite girl.
(With that Object's aiming devices, there's no way it can't shoot us at that distance. Are they still not sure whether they want to capture the princess alive or not?)
The distance to the cave felt strangely long.
(It's true that they might be able to get some classified information related to our Object out of her if they tortured her, but this response is inconsistent with the soldiers from before!!)
He thought his legs were going to cramp up due to fear, but he had no choice but to continue running.
"Hey, Quenser. You're a combat engineer, right!? Do you have any explosives!?"
"I have about 5 kilograms of normal C4!"
"What!? Isn't 10 kilos the standard equipment!?"
"I felt silly carrying around useless explosives around the clock! And what I have is meant for civil engineering uses! It won't work against an Object!!"
"Give it to me! Just hurry up and hand it over!! And a fuse too!!"
As they approached the entrance to the cave, Quenser tossed over a clay-like mass about the size of a can of hairspray. The bomb was inside a package of clear film and Heivia set the receiver for the detonation signal through the film before stabbing the electric fuse into it. He then tossed it right next to the cave.
The main weapons of the approaching Object, the low-stability plasma cannons, slowly aimed toward them.
However, Heivia leapt into the cave before they could spew flames and Quenser followed. The Elite girl's foot got caught in the snow and she started to trip, but she managed to turn it into a roll that brought her into the cave.
Quenser frantically caught the Elite girl before shouting at Heivia.
"Hey, what are we gonna do!? If it fires its plasma cannons into the cave, we'll be cooked to death!! No matter how much this cave branches apart, all the air inside will be heated up to the point that the entire cave will be an oven!!"
"That's what the C4's for! Now, outta the way!! Get deeper inside!!"
Heivia urged them on and Quenser headed further inside the cave while half-dragging the Elite girl. After heading about 10 meters in, Quenser had a thought.
What was Heivia planning to do with the C4?
He may have been planning to detonate it when the Object was right up against the entrance to the cave, but Quenser doubted that would do any damage to it. After all, the Object's armor could withstand a direct hit from a nuclear missile or two with no real issues.
"Sorry, I decided to test our luck from the beginning."
Immediately afterwards, Heivia hit the switch for the wireless detonation device.
With a tremendous roar, the roof of the cave collapsed, sealing off the entrance.
It was true that he was testing their luck.
First of all, he had just buried them alive if there was no other exit.
Second of all, the compressed explosive blast flowed into the cave.
Thanks to that, Quenser felt as if his eardrums were going to burst.
Part 12
They came across a branch in the cave after travelling down it a bit and found a different exit shortly after that. After exiting the cave, the three of them buried the exit in snow. They actually wanted to blow it up with C4, but the blast could have easily drawn the Object to them.
The giant Object could not enter the cave, so flesh-and-blood soldiers would likely be sent to search for them. They wanted the enemy to think they were still hiding in the cave.
Quenser and the others hid in a conifer forest outside the cave. Quenser had thought there was no way hiding behind the trees would do anything to keep out the cold in that freezing land, but merely being protected from the winter wind did wonders for his body temperature.
While munching on a ration that tasted like an uncooked rice cake made of an eraser, Quenser looked over toward the cave entrance.
"Well, it doesn't look like they've been able to figure out where we went."
"I can still hear that low, thunder-like roar, so the Object must still be near, " said the Elite girl as she strained her ears and brought a small ration to her mouth with both hands.
Hearing that, Quenser focused on the distant noise as well.
"Most likely, dealing with the Elite that can pilot an Object takes top priority for them. It probably won't leave until the search is over."
That also meant their fleeing comrades would not be slaughtered until Quenser and the others were found or the enemy gave up the search.
Heivia still had the heavy-looking but useless portable anti-tank missile hanging from his shoulder.
"Hey, since the enemy's lost sight of us, can't we survive if we take this chance to disappear?"
"Maybe, but that would just lead to our side being slaughtered as they climb the mountain, " Quenser said.
"Shit!" Heivia cursed.
The Elite girl nibbled on the corner of the square ration and said, "But do you really think we can safely continue to act as a decoy until they get away?"
"We'd definitely die if we did that. If an enemy soldier so much as catches a glimpse of us, they'll call the Object and have it send some concentrated fire our way from its plasma cannons! Even just darting out to act as a decoy is out of the question!!"
"Then are you saying we just leave!?"
"Yes!! I just said we should do just that!! Not even the princess's Object could stand up to that monster! How the hell are we supposed to do anything!?"
The princess hung her head down at the mention of her defeat.
"... That was because the device suddenly started to activate. It took a bit of time to cancel that mode and that Object attacked while I was trying to do so."
"The device? Oh, the security device."
Basically, it was a self-destruct device. The Object was a giant mass of military secrets, so there had to be a means of ensuring it did not fall into enemy hands. If its sensors detected that it could no longer function even if it had not taken serious damage, the princess's Object would seal the special gas for its low-stability plasma cannons in the space between the armor and the reactor and then detonate it.
"That doesn't matter. Don't try to escape the problem before your eyes with idle chatter! We need to come up with a way of dealing with that damn water strider!!"
"Are you still thinking of running away? You may survive, but you'll be traumatized for the rest of your life! You're a noble, right? Being the sole survivor here will be seen as a disgrace for you. You won't get to be the next head of your family and your life will head into a downward spiral faster than you can imagine!"
"... !? Then what the fuck am I supposed to do!?"
"At this rate, you'll either die here on the battlefield or back in the home country! If you don't want that, then we need to do something about that thing!!"
The three of them fell silent now that they were faced with the obvious question of "How?"
Quenser tossed the last piece of his flavorless ration into his mouth.
He looked at the other two's faces and had a sudden thought.
"I'm a student who's studying to be an Object designer, you're an analyst who searches for things that could lead to a winning strategy against Objects, and you're an Elite who pilots an Object. With the three of us..."
"Hey, you're kidding right. I have a feeling I know what you're thinking, but please tell me you're kidding."
"... We have no choice but to try to find one, right?" said Quenser with the stiff expression characteristic of someone who was truly cornered."We need to find some kind of weakness in that supposedly unbeatable Object."
And so, Quenser and the other two circled around the slope of the mountain on foot, heading back to the cave entrance they had blown up with C4.
He hid among the deep snow and held his rifle out through gaps between the trees.
He was not preparing to shoot an enemy.
He was using the scope in place of binoculars.
Quenser was looking at the Object, so the rifle would not be much use anyway.
"(... Hey, don't hit the infrared switch. If it notices the exposure, it'll blow us away with those plasma cannons. )"
Heivia was lying down next to him and giving him unnecessary warnings. That was just how nervous he was.
Not that that was surprising.
They were about 300 meters from the Object, but if it noticed them, there would be no escaping. They would merely be mercilessly slaughtered. Just hearing the thundercloud-like roar spreading through the ground was enough to make them tense up with fear.
"(... What is that Object doing?)"
"(... Searching with its radar?... No. It might be able to find a tank or fighter with that, but I doubt it can locate people with it. )"
"(... It appears to be trying to access a satellite. However, it is not going well because the signal cannot get through, )" added the Elite girl.
"(... Oh, that's right. A chaff missile was fired as a meteorological weapon. It scattered signal-blocking particles in the clouds which turned the natural clouds into giant anti-satellite shields. )"
If the Object could use the satellite, they could be found in an instant. Quenser was now immensely thankful for that waste of tax money.
"Okay, let's review what we know, " he said while staring through the rifle scope.
Heivia stared at the Object through the sight of the anti-tank missile and forced his tone to remain light.
"The enemy's Object is codenamed Water Strider. Oh, and that's just our codename for it. We have no idea what name they developed it under."
"The name comes from those legs, " said the Elite girl crouching next to Quenser while she stared at the Water Strider with her naked eyes.
Quenser moved the rifle to look at the Object's legs.
The main body of the Water Strider was a giant sphere. Four insect-like legs extended from there and to the ground.
It moved by gliding rather than walking. It slid along the ground just as a water strider moved across water, and thus it received that codename.
"It seems to slide along the ground using static electricity. It's basically the same as yours, princess, but with those four legs, it can regulate itself to move smoothly across much rougher surfaces, " said Quenser while especially focusing on the very bottom of its legs.
The princess continued for him.
"The static electricity is only used to make the heavy Object float. It uses a different means to propel itself forward. For mine, it uses lasers to detonate the air, but the Water Strider uses its legs to directly kick off of the ground."
In that aspect, the Water Strider truly moved like a real water strider. However, high-level calculations and minute adjustments must have been made instantaneously to ensure the Object's weight did not become focused on a single leg which would crush it. It actually had to use a method where the legs only just barely touched the ground as they kicked off of it.
After thinking through all that, Quenser continued his explanation.
"Basically, the static electricity method is a relative of hovercrafts that blow air down to float on the surface of the water. Instead of destroying the Object, can't we dig up the earth beneath its legs? If there's enough of a difference in ground level, the power keeping it afloat will cease to be equally distributed and it might not be able to slide along anymore."
"It can still walk using its four legs if it has to. If one leg is stuck, it can just pull it out. That may stop it for about 10 seconds, but it wouldn't be enough to stop it from functioning, " explained Heivia."Also, its plasma cannons and all its other firepower will still be active even if we do stop its legs. We'll only have turned a mobile gun battery into a stationary one. Once it realizes we're approaching to destroy its legs, it'll blow us to pieces in no time at all. It might work if we were willing to die in order save Froleytia and the others, but I'd honestly rather not die like that."
"In that case..." The Elite girl moved her gaze from the Water Strider's legs to the main weapons attached at the top."Can we make the enemy misfire? If only an Object can destroy an Object, then if we used the Object's own power..."
"Maybe if we had our own Object, but this tiny missile can't even scratch its cannons."
Heivia lightly struck his portable missile as if it were trash.
They could not destroy the legs or cannons.
That only left...
"So we'll have to deal with the main body." Quenser looked at the giant sphere through the scope."But isn't that the toughest target of them all? A nuclear shelter-like wall surrounds the giant reactor. How are we supposed to get through that?"
"Hey, we had spare parts for our Object, right? Were there any spares of the main weapons for the princess's Object in there? Only the firepower of an Object can destroy an Object, so this could work if we have one of its cannons, right?"
"Do you know how much of an output an Object's reactor has?" Quenser shook his head with a bitter expression on his face."It produces enough energy to have energy to spare while firing over 100 weapons that would not receive sufficient energy from a standard nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Those reactors are crystallizations of human technology. They are handmade by about 300 technicians with skills that not even precision machinery can match. Where are you planning to get an energy source to replace that reactor?" Quenser continued giving flaws in Heivia's suggestion."And even if we did have a reactor to use, those weapons are meant to be fired while attached to a 50 meters, 20 ton Object. The shockwave from firing the railguns or coilguns might be enough to kill us if we fired them and the radiant heat from the laser or plasma weapons could turn us into human torches.... Actually, a low-stability plasma cannon would probably shoot off like a rocket if we fired one."
"I was just thinking out loud, dammit. And that damn Water Strider made sure to destroy all the maintenance facilities from our base to crush even the slimmest possibility of something like that."
However, the two of them both stopped speaking there.
"Wait a second."
"Yeah."
The Elite girl looked confused as the two guys took their eyes from the scopes and exchanged glances.
"Even if we can't destroy the Object itself, their base zone is still run by soldiers."
"That monster is still a weapon, so it'll stop moving if it doesn't receive regular maintenance, won't it?"
Quenser and the other two moved far away from the Water Strider and headed down the mountain slope. The three of them came up behind the Water Strider's maintenance base zone.
They were inside a rusted metal tower.
It had likely been set up as a watchtower while the base zone was being constructed and the radars had yet to be set up. It seemed to have been abandoned since the base zone had been completed, so Quenser and the others made use of it.
While hiding behind the bulletproof metal panels attached to the watchtower, they looked out into the distance where the enemy maintenance base zone spread out before them. The base appeared to be about 500 meters square.
"... Hey, did you notice it?" whispered Heivia as they looked out at the base zone.
"Yeah, it has a lot of radar facilities. In fact, the base is mostly made up of radars."
Most of the buildings made of thick concrete were either maintenance areas for the Water Strider or radar facilities for supporting the Object. It had almost no normal military force outside of the Object. The base had been constructed based on the theory that Objects were synonymous with war and therefore everything should be focused on it.
"Not only are there no tanks or fighters, but there aren't even any armored vehicles or soldier transport vehicles. The few vehicles scattered about all look like tractors for plowing the snow."
"I guess they made everything either for Object maintenance or radar in order to cut down on unneeded maintenance costs for the inspecting of the other vehicles."
"It's true that spending taxes on maintaining outdated tanks seems pretty ridiculous..."
Most likely, the only military force outside of the Object at the enemy base zone was infantry. And speaking of the infantry...
"I guess this isn't too surprising, " muttered Quenser."A student who had never actually held a gun before couldn't take out four real soldiers. Those were probably just maintenance workers. They didn't expect to have to capture an Elite like that, so they had to hurriedly throw together a team of noncombat maintenance soldiers to go after her."
"Whether they were trained or not, those were still horrible bastards you killed. This doesn't change the fact that you're the knight that saved the princess, " said Heivia lightly.
Their moods had improved quite a bit just by getting some distance away from the object even if it was only temporarily.
"However, if they had to send maintenance soldiers to the front lines, it's probably safe to assume they don't have many normal soldiers. If we could just get rid of that gigantic Object, Froleytia and the others fleeing might be enough to take them out."
"The problem is what to do about that Object, " said the Elite girl.
Quenser looked at the largest facility in the base zone that was likely the maintenance facility.
"?... It looks like the roof and walls can open."
"Well, their only means of fighting is the Object. It'd be a major problem if they were attacked while it was being serviced. I'm betting they made sure some of the cannons can still function while it's undergoing maintenance so they can intercept any attack."
"But if the Object is still running, how can they service it?"
"The Water Strider has over 100 weapons, so they'll still have 50 left over even if they stop half of them for maintenance. That way, they have a minimum number active at all times."
Quenser looked back at the base zone as a whole while listening to Heivia.
"... So what should we blow up?" Quenser asked his comrades in arms while thinking about the structure of the various buildings."What would cause them the most problems if it was destroyed?"
"You already know, don't you? The legs. There has to be a storage area or something that holds the spare parts for the Water Strider's legs."
"?"
The Elite girl looked confused, but Quenser nodded in agreement.
"Even with that giant form floating, quite a bit of stress has to be put on the legs. It's bad enough with a giant flat surface like with a hovercraft and its using just the ends of those four legs."
"According to our battle records, that damn water strider always goes back to its base for maintenance once every 12 hours. Most likely, it's getting an overhaul for those 'glass slippers' on its feet. Constantly producing enough energy to make that giant thing float must melt the metal parts."
"My Object uses static electricity too, but it can go half a year without replacing the parts. I remember because it is generally replaced with the attached box that holds the compressed exhaust gases from the JPlevelMHD reactor."
"That's due to the effective area, don't you think? The flat floating surface at the bottom of the upside down Y-shape undercarriage is a few dozen meters across, so the burden on any one point isn't too great. However, that Water Strider floats from only the ends of the four legs, so it gets worn down much faster. That's what makes the vast difference between having to replace the parts every half day or every half year."
"... Since it's a half day, does that mean the Water Strider would chase after us for another 12 hours even if we destroy the facility?"
"Sure, if it had just replaced its 'glass slippers' with new ones. It's been a while since it last replaced them and it had to have been putting more stress on its legs than usual while fighting the princess's Object. I'd say its undercarriage must be pretty burnt out by now. In fact, it's surprising it hasn't headed back to the base yet."
"So if we blow up those spare parts..." muttered the girl.
"It won't be able to replace them. The Object will burn out its legs and no longer be able to move. Even if it does force itself to continue moving like that, the tough barrier walls will melt its system from within."
"We can't destroy the Object itself, but we'll be able to run away from the threat."
"That means we need to think of a way to sneak into the base, " said the Elite girl.
Quenser and Heivia looked over at the short princess and she continued speaking.
"As an Elite that pilots an Object, I have an idea how we can sneak through their radar net."
Part 13
The only explosives they had on hand were the C4 for destroying bridges or rock and the portable anti-tank missile.
Quenser and Heivia headed down from the watchtower and headed for the enemy's Object maintenance base zone.
"... Should we really have left the princess behind?"
"All three of us going wouldn't have helped any. If the Water Strider returns while we're working, we need to escape from the base, so leaving a lookout behind like this is best."
"Hah. Give me a break, Sir Knight. Even if rank and file soldiers like us are captured, there's a chance they'll keep the treaty and treat us as prisoners of war. However, an Elite would clearly be different. She'll either be brutally tortured to get classified information on our Object or shot on the spot to destroy our army's ability to fight at the root. You were just making sure she could still flee if we fucked this up."
"Like I said: this is best."
As Quenser trudged through the snow, a smile appeared on his lips.
Due to the cold, it was a stiff, awkward smile, but it was a natural smile all the same.
"You certainly have cheered up, " he said to Heivia.
"Of course I have. Charging into an enemy base with some scrawny bastard is so much better than being chased around by that monstrous Object."
They had recovered mentally enough that jokes and sarcasm now came to them naturally once more.
They eventually reached the barricade at the back of the base. The enemy base zone was surrounded by a long net made of synthetic fiber, but it did not appear to have any sensors attached.
"What do you think? Should we climb over?"
"No, you idiot. The guards will definitely notice us if we climb two meters up. We need to cut a hole in the barricade, " Heivia whispered as he pulled a knife from his waist.
He used the large blade to cut through the synthetic fibers weaved into the barricade one at a time.
It took a while and they were worried a patrolling soldier would notice them, but one never did. It seemed they truly did leave everything to the Object.
"Let's go."
"Hey, where do you think the spare parts for the legs are stored?" asked Quenser as he slipped through the hole in the barricade.
It seemed like thick concrete buildings were placed here and there throughout the wide area of the base zone. A lot of them were large antenna facilities for assisting the Object. The area between buildings was unusually large either so an intruder could be spotted from the watchtowers or so the giant Object could pass through without obstruction.
Heivia answered while hiding behind the nearest building.
"I don't know, but the Object has to be overhauled every half day. It's probably the place the most people go to and from."
"By the way, how long has it been since the Water Strider last started moving?"
"It should be coming back soon, so we need to blow up those spare parts before it does."
If they could keep the Water Strider from being serviced on, it would be stuck at the base zone. However, if it was successfully overhauled, it could move around freely for another 12 hours. If that happened, their fleeing superiors and fellow soldiers would be slaughtered for sure.
Quenser used the scope of his rifle to look at the surrounding facilities and found one building that had a lot more footprints in the snow leading to its entrance than any other. The snowstorms made footprints disappear, but the white snow was a dirty mud color in that area alone. He could see footprints from 100 to 200 people as well as tire and tread tracks from a few heavy vehicles.
"That building isn't big enough to fit the Object inside."
"So are those footprints and tracks from taking the spare parts from there to the maintenance facility?"
"It might just be a popular strip club on the base. If so, we're gonna end up in a firefight with 100 idiots pitching tents in their pants."
Quenser used his rifle's scope to look at the watchtowers at the four corners of the base zone, but the parabolic antennae of the many large radar facilities that had been built later blocked the view of any guards who might be in them. Once again, the Object took priority. At any rate, it looked like they were not going to be caught that way if they ran through the base zone.
Quenser and Heivia charged out from behind the building and ran across a wide open area of snow.
It only took 10 seconds to cross, but they thought their hearts were going to stop.
No gunshots from a sniper in the watchtowers were heard.
They pressed up against the wall of the storehouse.
"Let's go in the back way. Do you know how to open an electronic lock?"
"If we have to, we can use the C4 to blow open the door."
"That's a great idea. If only it wouldn't bring every soldier in the base to us."
As Quenser and Heivia spoke back and forth, they circled around to the back entrance and found it unlocked.
"... I guess they decided there was no chance they would have human intruders."
"And I thought having guards was a waste of money back at our base..."
They opened the small door and entered the storehouse.
The building was 50 meters wide, 100 meters long, and 15 meters tall. It was simply a large open area with no inner walls. Metal beams ran vertically and horizontally through the area. The metal framework was highly regular and created something that looked like giant bookshelves from a library.
And those bookshelves were lined with cylindrical parts.
The cylinders had a diameter of about a meter and a length of about 5 meters, making them look something like a fighter aircraft's engine. From Quenser's knowledge of Objects, he guessed they were the devices that created the massive amounts of static electricity by spinning the turbines.
"My guess is this is part of the undercarriage, but..."
"Yeah, at my station, we were analyzing the battle records and trying to come up with an expected design of the enemy Object. I'm pretty sure a part similar to this was drawn in the predicted diagram, " agreed Heivia.
Quenser looked at the side of the cylindrical turbines where a number was written. It was most likely a simple spec for the electrical power it used, but...
"... What the hell? Is this decimal point in the wrong place? If this is accurate, then it's more than twice what I'm guessing the value is for the plasma cannons."
"To keep such a large body afloat and moving at such high speeds, they have to go all out like that. The electrical simulation group estimates that each leg uses around 10 of these turbines."
"Twenty times the power of a plasma cannon? And for just one leg?"
"Look, " said Heivia as he opened the maintenance cover of the turbine and peered inside."The thing is jammed full of sensors. It almost looks like those horrible time bombs you see in movies. These are all for extremely sensitive security. They have to make sure they can predict ahead of time if control of one of these high output turbines is going to be lost so they can shut it down ahead of time."
"... Come to think of it, I think I heard something about the turbines melting if they continually created energy."
"It's too late by the time they melt, " said Heivia."Just because the turbine stops functioning does not mean the energy produced by the reactor is going to just disappear. The reactor and the legs have a few emergency transformers and discharge devices installed, but the amount of power they would have to get rid of would be orders of magnitude greater than what those can deal with. If all the turbines packed into a single leg went out, that would be 20 times the output of one of its plasma cannons. I'm betting the transformers and discharge devices wouldn't even be able to function if the turbines actually melted and ceased to function. The devices would be blown to pieces."
That was why the turbines had so many sensors installed. If they could predict a failure early, they could actually deal with the excess energy by discharging it in stages.
"Its functionality may be optimized... but the Water Strider's design just forces a lot of things through, doesn't it?"
"That's just one aspect to creating an Object specialized for this snowy region. One like our princess's that was designed to be almighty in any situation and the Water Strider that only works in Alaska may both be Objects, but they were developed with completely different ideas in mind, " said Heivia."Deep snow can slow you down, so an Object that can move around quickly is a major advantage.... And that was what did our princess in."
However, if the turbines could not be replaced, Quenser and the others would be victorious.
If the static electricity producer in the Water Strider's undercarriage was destroyed, it could not be overhauled and then the enemy Object would be stuck.
And they had C4 they could use to carry that out.
But...
Part 14
Within the watchtower a short distance from the maintenance base zone, the Elite girl waited for Quenser and Heivia's return.
Suddenly, her ears twitched and she frantically turned around.
She had heard the dark thundercloud-like noise the Water Strider made when it moved using massive amounts of static electricity. It had likely started back toward its base zone because its time limit was drawing near.
If it ran across the other two in the base zone, they would surely be killed.
The girl had been handed a radio for just such a situation. If it came to it, she was to contact Quenser and Heivia so they could get away. Their plan would fail, but they would keep their lives. If the plan to destroy the Object's undercarriage had to be ended, they would just have to come up with some other way.
The Elite girl reached for the radio's switch, but suddenly stopped.
(... Not good. )
She audibly gulped.
The enemy base zone was made up of maintenance facilities for the Object and large radio facilities to support the Object. They were likely used to more efficiently locate the enemy in a snowstorm, but if she used a radio so near a base with that many precision radars...
(They would definitely notice. Not only would they locate me, but they might even realize the signal was being sent toward the base... )
The radio was supposed to let her warn them of danger, but the transmission itself would bring danger on them.
However, she could not tell them the Object was approaching without the radio.
The Water Strider continued to approach the base zone.
(What do I do?)
The Elite girl looked down at the radio.
She did not want those two to die. This was not an issue of being duty bound to protect the other soldiers as the Elite of an Object. Beyond such sworn duty, she simply did not want those who had stood up to protect her to die in vain.
Comrades in arms.
When that term appeared in her mind, the Elite girl nodded.
(The enemy's top priority is the Elite that pilots the Object... )
She took a deep breath and then stared intently at the giant weapon.
That was her only chance to act as a decoy.
Part 15
With C4 in hand, Quenser's expression turned bitter.
"... What are we supposed to do?" he muttered in a trembling voice.
The maintenance parts for the Object were just the precision equipment with no outer shell, so C4 was more than enough to destroy them.
However...
"There's just too many of them. The amount of C4 I have isn't enough!!"
The vast space within the building was packed almost completely full of the cylindrical parts. Quenser gritted his teeth at the overly cautious amount they had prepared.
Objects were synonymous with war.
Everyone on that base would be slaughtered if the Object ceased to function.
The massive amount of parts showed how afraid they were of that happening. The enemies were cowardly enough to leave all the killing to the Object, but they were well aware of its weaknesses.
Heivia was taken aback in the same way and he tapped Quenser's shoulder.
"Hey, let's just blow up the entire building. Even if we can't blow up each individual part, we can crush it all under the rubble if we destroy one of the building's main support pillars!!"
"Do you have any way of being sure that every single one of these thousands of parts will be unusable afterwards? And even if each individual part is unusable, they might be able to scavenge enough working components to put together a usable one!"
"But that's-... ! No, you're right. The continued operation of the Object is a matter of life or death for them. It wouldn't surprise me if they were that persistent. But what else are we supposed to do!?"
"Shit!!" Quenser swore and ran through the storehouse.
He looked at each of the shelves made of the metal framework to see if he could find any useful information. As he read the displays, his impatience increased, preventing him from actually comprehending any of it.
At the same time, Heivia glanced toward the exit.
"Hey, this is dangerous. We should really finish up in here! If we can't take out the Object's undercarriage, there's no point in staying any longer!! We need to get out of here!!"
"Wait just a bit longer!! There has to be something!!" replied Quenser as he flipped through a turbine maintenance manual he had found.
When he then heard a low sound like thunderclouds spreading across the sky, he thought his heart would stop.
It was the sound of the Water Strider moving.
"Oh, shit!! Why didn't the princess warn us over the radio!?" Heivia yelled, but Quenser paid him no heed.
After coming that far, they would die a vain death if they did not retaliate in some way.
(Wait a second. This combination of a four level sensor and automatic switch... )
Quenser looked back and forth between the maintenance manual and the shelves.
(What's the number!? If I know the leading number... !!)
"Time's up, hero!! If we don't get out of here in 30 seconds, we'll be trapped!!"
"Give me one more minute!!"
"What are you messing around with!? Didn't you conclude we couldn't blow them up!?"
"45 more seconds!!"
Heivia heard a great number of footsteps approaching. Quenser had likely lost his ability to make rational decision due to the hope he thought he saw before him. Just as Heivia was thinking of kicking Quenser's ass to make him leave, Quenser finally returned to Heivia.
"Let's go. Can we still make it!?"
"Because of some idiot wasting time it's gonna be pretty thrilling, but hopefully! This way!!" Heivia said as he ran toward the back entrance.
He opened the door a crack and peered outside just in time to see the giant Object cut across nearby. It was likely headed for the maintenance area. The maintenance soldiers were following behind it.
"Can we make it?"
"It'll be like cutting across a bee hive, but we won't get another chance. The radar facilities will be on highest alert when the Object is undergoing maintenance. We need to get out of the base before they switch over the mode."
They then heard a clanking noise.
It was not coming from the back entrance. The personnel door next to the giant shutter on the front was opening.
"Dammit, let's go!"
Quenser and Heivia were almost pushing each other as they charged out of the storehouse.
It seemed the enemy army had lowered its guard quite a bit since the Object they felt was the sole threat had been destroyed. A great number people were gathered around the returning Water Strider as if it were a triumphant parade.
"Hey, you aren't going to be using that C4, right? Stick fuses in it and throw it all over the area."
"Are you going to use it as a diversion?"
"Once that damn Water Strider's maintenance is done, we're going to need some kind of plan to buy us enough time to escape. If they get a report of explosions all over their base, they might assume it's being bombarded and turn the Object back to deal with it!!"
Quenser went along with Heivia's idea and tossed the small pieces of C4 around as he ran. It was true that they were not going to need the C4.
After ridding themselves of all the C4, they headed back for the hole they had cut in the barricade.
That was when Quenser noticed something.
He suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong, hero!? Did you leave something behind!?"
"Yeah! The princess has been captured!!"
Heivia's expression turned to one of shock upon seeing the serious look on Quenser's face.
They headed behind a nearby building rather than for the hole in the barricade and then peered around the side so they could see the center of the base zone.
In the distance, they could see the Elite girl in handcuffs being forced to walk near the Water Strider. Their triumphant mood had not simply been due to the return of the Object. They were in high spirits because they now had a chance to lynch the person who had been threatening their lives.
Quenser looked back and forth between the hole in the barricade and the Elite girl in the center of the base zone.
"God dammit. What are we supposed to do!?" he asked.
"What are we supposed to do... ? Oh, no. While I admit you're a knight, you can't possibly be thinking of trying to save her in this situation!"
"So we should just abandon her!? I'm not saying we have to take on the Object. We just scattered that C4 around, remember!? If we can confuse the enemy with that, there might be enough of an opening to save her!!"
"With just the two of us!? They have their Object. And even if they didn't, how many soldiers do you see out there!? Do you know just how many reinforcements we would need to break through all of them!?"
"But without the Object, things would be different, right?"
"What?"
"If we can take out the Water Strider, we could manage with normal reinforcements like tanks or fighters, right!?"
Quenser gritted his teeth and operated the radio in his hand.
He was not detonating the C4.
He was trying to contact Froleytia and the other fleeing soldiers, but Heivia frantically grabbed his hand upon realizing that.
"You idiot!! Their base is mainly radar facilities! If you send out a radio signal, they'll find us in no time at all!!"
"But... !!"
"There's nothing we can do. Even if we could contact Froleytia and the others, do you really think they'd come!?"
"So we should just abandon the princess!? Do you remember why we split up with the main force and came here in the first place!? It was because we couldn't abandon her!"
"Dammit, " Heivia said and quietly clicked his tongue.
He seemed to hesitate over something, but finally made up his mind and spoke.
"My military instructor taught me a secret trick back when I was trained."
"?"
"If you raise the output of the infrared seeker on an 8th generation portable anti-tank missile as far as it will go, make a few special modifications to the aiming computer, and then connect it to the radio's port, the high power military satellite will pick up the infrared signal, completing the transmission."
"Wait, you mean... !!"
"But there's no guarantee those in control of the radio facilities here won't notice a trick like this and the chaff missile shot in to the clouds is obstructing any transmissions or signals. The instructor who taught me this said it should only be used as a last resort to get an SOS out. It'll be a miracle if the transmission lasts even for a whole minute."
As he practically spat out that explanation, Heivia put down the missile and started making the necessary preparations. Quenser removed the cover to the missile's aiming computer.
"Do you know where and when the satellite is going to pass by overhead?"
"Look at the timetable in File 399 on your handheld device. If it's on its standard orbit, you should be able to check it there without having to check online."
Heivia connected the radio and portable anti-tank missile with a cable and slowly moved the barrel through the sky based on the data on Quenser's handheld device. As he did, a bit of static ran through the radio's speakers.
"There, Heivia.... Okay, it looks like we've got the satellite."
"Hurry up and secure the transmission line and then connect to Froleytia's laser satellite communication device! I have no idea how long this manual method will last!!"
Despite the jury rigged method, they were using the proper military code, so the satellite actually relayed their signal. After getting the signal indicating the access had been a success, Quenser spoke into the radio.
"This is Quenser. Can you hear me, Froleytia? We are currently near the enemy base zone!!"
"... !?"
They heard the sound of someone's breath catching in their throat come from the radio.
Due to forcing the signal through with the portable anti-tank missile, the signal had a lot of noise mixed in. The static was louder than the voices, but they could barely manage to get their words across to each other.
"The princess was captured by the soldiers at the base. We are about to go save her. Could you lend us a hand? The base is mostly made up of Object maintenance facilities and radar facilities, so they basically have no tanks or fighters. If we can do something about the Object, we can easily defeat them!!"
"Do you know how dangerous that Object is? Give up on the princess. There is no need for you to die and, Quenser, you aren't even an actual soldier. No one will blame you if you run away!!"
"We will deal with the Object, " said Quenser plainly. No one thought his words could be anything but a bluff."Froleytia, you can wait until you see the large flash of the Object blowing up, but the instant you think we could win at least send a single tank our way! That alone could completely change this situation. Please consider it!!"
"Okay, but I wouldn't get your hopes up if I were you."
"I'm free to get my hopes up over whatever I want, " Quenser said before switching off the radio.
He then turned toward Heivia.
He forced down the trembling of his body and said, "Now we've done everything we can."
"Yeah, but I don't think there's really any chance of Froleytia coming back. For one thing, your request was not based on military regulations. She isn't going to put her subordinates and units in danger for that."
"Now we just need to resolve everything by praying for a miracle and destroying the Object on our own."
"Don't say that like it's easy. And I never said a single word about helping you save the princess."
"I see."
Quenser did not speak ill of Heivia for wanting to flee. He had forcibly gotten him involved before, but there was no guarantee they would survive the next time. Also, what Quenser was going to do next was not a proper military action. In fact, he was thankful that Heivia had stuck around as long as he had.
"... Sorry for making you tag along for all this. You leave through the hole in the barricade and escape into the forest over there. I'll do everything I can to draw their attention while you do."
"Wait, damn you. Don't leave me with some horrible trauma! You're not going to give me any choice are you!?"
Heivia was still stubbornly glancing back toward the hole in the barricade, but when Quenser dashed out from behind the building and headed for his next piece of cover, Heivia chased after him.
Quenser and Heivia headed out alone on a mission that had almost no chance of succeeding.
And of course, no miracle occurred.
After only 10 minutes, they were spotted, warning shots were fired at the ground near their feet by a sniper, and they ended up surrendering with their hands raised above their heads.
Part 16
Quenser, Heivia, and the Elite girl were brought to the center of the maintenance base zone. They were ordered to kneel down and put their hands behind their heads.
A soldier was placed behind each of them, holding a gun to their heads. A ring of people from the base zone had appeared to watch their public execution.
"Such a sad story, isn't it? This is such a good example of a knight returning to save the princess."
"Are you mocking me?"
"Oh, shit. The Object is entering the maintenance area."
As Heivia and the Elite girl spoke back and forth, Quenser remained silent and watched the Water Strider slowly move along.
"(... If I create some confusion, do you think we can get away?)"
"(... Ahhn? You mean the C4 we scattered about? If that somehow blew up the Object, we might make it somehow. )"
"(... I'm serious here. )"
"(... So am I. )"
Meanwhile, one of the enemy soldiers stepped forward and stood before Quenser and the others. While chewing on some gum, he spat some yellow saliva at Quenser's head.
"We're gonna roast you with the Object's main weapons." He then turned toward the Elite girl."For you, we're gonna use suggestion and electrodes to pull out everything in your head. Your personality will never recover, but it'll all be over in about 30 minutes. Afterwards, we'll strip you naked and hang you from the main weapons until you freeze to death. Maybe the savages running through the woods and mountains will give up once they see that."
"... So you don't care about the war treaties relating to prisoners of war. I think I know who the real savages are here, you fucker."
Heivia let that comment slip and immediately afterwards he had a thick leather military boot fly at his cheek. It struck him and he sank down into the snow. As he coughed, he glared at the enemy soldier with a powerful light in his eyes.
"The maintenance is complete, so it's time for the execution, " the enemy soldier said mockingly.
With a great noise like a church bell, the walls and ceiling of the Object maintenance facility opened wide. Appearing from it was the giant weapon with a 50 meter main body and main cannons stretching in each direction, giving it a total length of over 140 meters. The Water Strider ruled over the winter Alaskan land with over 100 weapons and thick armor. As it had just replaced the parts for its undercarriage, the dark thundercloud-like noise created by the massive static electricity it created seemed to have a sharper tone to it.
It was about 300 meters away, but it had such great power that it could ignore such distances. The scene seriously made them feel like it would crush them under its legs if they gave the slightest movement.
Seeing that Object, Quenser whispered to Heivia.
"(... Get down when I charge out. Use that snowplow tractor over there for cover. )"
"(... Hey!!)"
Heivia did not have time to stop him.
Quenser charged out toward the enemy soldier approaching them. The surrounding soldiers held up their rifles, but they could not bring themselves to pull the trigger because of the struggle. That may have been thanks to the fact that they were all maintenance soldiers that had not been properly trained.
The enemy soldier must have thought Quenser was trying to grab his rifle because he pulled the rifle away.
However, Quenser was not grabbing for the rifle.
He was grabbing the rectangular radio strapped on the soldier's shoulder like a knife.
"Get down!!" Quenser yelled just as the soldier pushed him away.
Quenser operated the radio with his thumb while rolling on the ground despite the fact that many rifle barrels were targeting him. Heivia assumed he was using the radio to detonate the C4 they had spread around the area, so he immediately jumped behind the snowplow tractor such that he covered up the Elite pilot.
However, that was not what happened.
Quenser was not detonating the C4 he had scattered as dummies.
He was detonating the leg of the Water Strider.
With an explosive noise, one of the four legs over 300 meters away exploded from the inside. It was not an external explosion. The explosion had clearly come from within the armor.
When Quenser had seen all the spare parts in the storehouse, he had determined it would be impossible to blow them all up. That was why he had searched out which spare parts would be put into the Object during its next maintenance and put C4 inside those parts. He still had plenty to learn, but his studies of the construction of Objects may have been what had allowed him to determine which parts were important and where he could stick the C4 inside them so it would not be noticed.
With its thick armor, the Object could not be destroyed even with a nuclear weapon. However, an explosive within the armor could destroy the equipment within the Object.
Also, he had blown away the turbines that consumed massive amounts of energy to create the static electricity that helped move the Object. Even one of them used twice the energy of a low-stability plasma cannon which meant each leg used 20 times that energy during normal use. This made it quite a delicate point.
So what would happen if that point was destroyed?
Tons of sensors were installed in the turbines to predict failures and shut them down in stages to minimize the damage. How much of a burden would be put on the emergency transformers and discharge devices – as well as the reactor itself – if one was blown up causing a chain reaction that blew up the rest of them?
The soldier who Quenser had stolen the radio from and who was now pointing his rifle at the boy looked over toward the sudden explosion.
But...
"... Did you think you could destroy the Object by causing an explosion within it?" he said triumphantly.
The initial blast had caused a few secondary explosions, but it had remained isolated to a single leg. It had not been enough to destroy the entirety of the Water Strider.
"Did you know that 5% of our Object's weight is due to safety devices? A few rank and file soldiers sneaking into a maintenance facility and pulling a few tricks isn't going to cut it."
After causing the large explosion, Quenser had jumped behind the snowplow tractor and the enemy soldier was standing in the middle of the open snow aiming his rifle at him.
"The superiority of Objects will never be overturned. That is the battlefield we fight on."
"Is that so?"
However, Quenser continued to smile even in that hopeless situation.
"Did you know that our princess's Object and your Water Strider have similar devices installed? I saw it mentioned in your maintenance manual. Some Objects have security devices installed to ensure they will not fall into enemy hands. If it has not been destroyed but can no longer function, the enemy could retrieve it and analyze the technology. To prevent that, the special gas for the plasma cannons is used to blow the Object up."
Something appeared in Quenser's hand like he was a stage magician.
It was small enough to fit in his palm and looked like a rectangular circuit board.
"The device is controlled by precision sensors, so it almost never activates unnecessarily."
The enemy soldier immediately realized what the rectangular circuit board was.
However, it was too late to do anything about it.
"But if that sensor is removed from a turbine that blows up, do you think it can make an accurate decision?"
After all, the C4 explosion had caused a malfunction in the Water Strider's security device, causing it to activate. The special gas for the low-stability plasma cannons filled a special space within the giant machine... and caused a tremendous explosion shortly thereafter.
The great explosion caused by plasma within the Object enveloped the reactor in no time at all. However, it was an intentional explosion meant to destroy all classified information. It was set to only produce the destructive force needed to prevent any of the technology from being analyzed, so it was many times less powerful than a critical explosion of the reactor itself.
Nevertheless, all sound disappeared.
The giant sphere that was the Object's main body explosively expanded and a pure white flash of light and an intense shockwave were emitted in all directions. The enemy soldier standing out in the open were struck by the shockwave. He doubled over and was tossed a few dozen meters before landing. Similar things happened to the other enemy soldiers.
The giant Object had been blown up at the hands of a flesh-and-blood combat engineer.
That was an unheard-of event that completely overturned the theory of war itself. That accomplishment had been carried out by the combination of the skills of Quenser, Heivia, and the Elite girl. A combat engineer who normally worked behind the scenes to blow up stones or bridges to create or obstruct paths had been raised to the level of a hero that could influence the outcome of an entire war.
However, he did not have time to enjoy that fact.
"Gwaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!"
Quenser had immediately taken cover, but he did not escape unscathed.
Even though he was over 300 meters from the Object and hiding behind a snowplow tractor, the explosive flash of light seemed to pierce into his retinas. The surface of the steel tractor became scorched and it slid to the side.
Intense pain ran through his head and his sense of hearing was almost completely gone. A burning pain covered his entire back. He frantically rubbed his eyes as his vision was filled with pure white and tried to find Heivia and the Elite girl who must have been in a similar state collapsed nearby.
He then heard a clanking noise from somewhere.
A few of the soldiers must have miraculously managed to survive just like Quenser and the other two. His vision finally returned and he saw a few soldiers desperately trying to aim their rifles at him while staggering due to the shock of the blast.
Quenser once more felt the radio in his hand.
He set the frequency and sent the detonation code for the C4.
The explosives he had scattered about exploded and the enemy soldiers holding their rifles nearby were thrown humorously into the air.
Quenser shouted at Heivia who was lying collapsed nearby.
"Can you run!? Grab one of the rifles from the ground and return fire!!"
"God damn you! That's what you call 'creating some confusion'? Something that big is going to make me panic, too!!" Heivia shouted as he picked up a rifle lying on the ground.
Even if they had managed to destroy the Water Strider due to countless coincidences, their goal was not the destruction of the maintenance base zone.
They just had to escape safely.
But...
"!?"
As Quenser and the others ran toward the exit of the base zone, a single enemy soldier blocked their way. He was already holding his rifle up and had it aimed squarely at Quenser's chest. The two stared at each other in that hopeless situation. Quenser clearly saw a smile appear on the soldier's face.
And then he heard a gunshot.
However, it had not come from the soldier's rifle.
A sniper bullet flew from much farther away and pierced straight through the side of the enemy soldier's head.
The rest of the enemy soldiers turned in shock in the direction the gunshot had come from just in time to see countless missiles and shells fly in from outside the base zone. The enemy soldiers were not the only ones surprised by this. Quenser and the other two had been saved by the unknown covering fire, but they just stood staring in disbelief.
"They actually came... That's Froleytia's unit, isn't it!?"
"What the hell? It looks like that Japan obsessed pair of giant tits can actually be a decent commander!!"
The enemy base zone was filled with maintenance and radar facilities to support the Object. The rest of its forces were nothing but infantry units. They did not have any tanks or even armored vehicles.
On the other hand, Quenser and the others' army had the full complement of tanks and fighters they had always complained were nothing but a waste of taxes. It had seemed almost certain that those outdated weapons would never actually be used, but they were finally able to show their true worth.
Several explosions were scattered about and enemy soldiers flew through the air. Amid it all, Quenser grabbed the Elite girl's hand and ran for the exit. It seemed the sentry had been taken out by a howitzer.
Heivia ran alongside him while intermittently firing his rifle.
"Heh heh. Hey, Quenser! We'd have to be pretty stupid to die after coming this far, wouldn't we!?"
"Yeah, Froleytia came all the way here because she believed in us. We need to at least live up to her expectations!!"
Had their superiors who had been fleeing come back because they had seen the clear sign of victory that was the Object exploding? Or had they felt some kind of responsibility after running off and abandoning the Elite girl?
As Quenser ran out through the base zone's exit, he turned back to look at the base that had black smoke rising from it.
The battle was essentially over.
Both sides had lost their Object. All that was left was for the normal soldiers to fight it out. Once it came to that, there was a great difference between an army made up of maintenance soldiers and personnel for the radars meant for an Object battle and an army that had plenty of old-fashioned tanks and fighters.
(Flesh-and-blood soldiers blew up that Object... )
The boy who had carried out an act that had overturned the basic knowledge of war stared blankly at the enemy base zone where explosions and gunfire continued.
The Elite girl must have been thinking something similar because she opened her mouth to speak.
"... Those people may see us as monsters on the same level as an Object."
"Not my problem, " Heivia said defensively as he stared at the base zone with his soot-covered face."This is war. They're the ones that taught us that when they ignored our white flag. We had all forgotten the weight of the word 'war' due to the Object."
Part 17
War was taking place all over the world, but at the very least, the intense fighting that had been spreading through Alaska had come to a close. Both armies' Objects had been destroyed and (rare for that era) a fight between flesh-and-blood soldiers had broken out. In the end, Quenser and the others' unit had been victorious.
Quenser, Heivia, and the Elite girl had returned from Alaska to the home country.
They were from different places, so they parted ways upon leaving the maintenance base zone.
However, they had one last chance to meet.
A special awards ceremony was being held.
The one who had saved their army from a hopeless situation after their Object had been destroyed had not been a professional soldier. It had been a mere student who had been with the unit to study Objects. The news that flesh-and-blood people had destroyed an invincible Object had spread around the world and they were being honored with medals.
Quenser was within the waiting room of the party hall of a giant hotel the likes of which he had never set foot in before. (He had actually planned on visiting them quite often once he got rich as an Object designer. ) The feeling of the unfamiliar dress clothes bothered him and he was continually adjusting the position of the high-quality necktie. However, the sight of Heivia after so long made him forget that feeling altogether.
"I thought you were supposed to be a noble? I've never seen someone who looked worse in dress clothes than me."
"Shut up. I lost the feel for this kind of thing while chasing deer in Alaska. And they don't look too bad on you."
However, he was from a noble family, so he was not overpowered by the atmosphere of the party hall even if the dress clothes did not seem to suit him. His body was not unnecessarily tensed up like Quenser's was.
"So what battlefield are you headed to next, Heivia?"
"Are you stupid? I was only killing time at a military base in order to have enough achievements to be my family's successor. Now that I'm publicly known as one of the people who blew up an Object, I have no need to stick with the military. Now I can live the rest of my life richly and comfortably.... Although that sounds like it has its own annoyances."
"I see. So you're heading straight for the 'successful career' path."
"You're doing pretty much the same thing, right? I heard the military took an interest in you and gave you the special right to look through the country's database. Now you can see as many Object blueprints as you want without having to head out to the battlefield. With so many samples to study, your learning speed should be overwhelmingly faster than those around you."
Hearing that, Quenser pinched his cheek.
It had yet to seem real to him, but it seemed he had succeeded in getting a head start on his own successful career.
"What's the princess doing?"
"Well, the Elite that pilots an Object obviously can't leave the front lines so easily. For us, destroying an Object was enough of a miracle to get public recognition, but for our Elite princess, it's the norm, " said Heivia, casually showing just how different a world the Elite girl lived in.
Quenser thought once more on the burden those who piloted and fought with Objects had to bear.
Meanwhile, Heivia continued to speak.
"She's waiting for her next orders inside an improved Object developed from the same line as her Object that was destroyed in Alaska. I hear a giant Object like that would take three or four years to develop from scratch, so it seems there had already been a plan underway to switch over to this new one.... Well, don't you think that princess must like the battlefield if she willingly chose a place like that to wait?"
"After everything we went through, I can't understand how she could possibly want to go back."
"Maybe it's because of everything we went through. She may have been given a chance to seriously think about the value of the lives of soldiers like us."
Suddenly, a knock came at the waiting room's door.
A beautiful secretary who worked for a high military official poked her head into the room and asked them to head to the party hall because the preparations for the ceremony were complete.
As they left the waiting room and headed down the passageway to the party hall, Quenser had a sudden thought.
"Oh, hey. Did you get an email from the princess?"
"You idiot. That's another special right you alone have. After all, you're the one that first grabbed a rifle and went running after her back then."
"... I was hoping to meet her while we were here."
"Well, we're parting ways once more after the awards ceremony, but let's make this more about celebrating our departure than mourning our parting."
They opened the double doors to the party hall and were greeted by applause and the flash of cameras. Guided by the voice of the master of ceremonies, Quenser and Heivia slowly headed up onto the stage where they were greeted by distinguished members of the military and had medals on ribbons that were probably more valuable than an Olympic gold medal placed around their necks.
At the end of the ceremony, the master of ceremonies gave one last remark.
"Now, a round of applause for these two who defeated an Object without the assistance of an Object of their own. Let us see them off to their next battlefield while praying that their special and excellent strategies can continue to benefit the world in the future."
(... Eh? What did that idiot just say?)
While standing on the stage, Quenser frantically looked over at the various high military officials, but they were simply applauding with clearly false smiles on their faces.
Their eyes alone were serious.
Objects were synonymous with war. A silent pressure beat down on Quenser telling him that the officials were not about to let go of the kind of soldiers that could destroy an Object and turn around a war.
"(... Hey. Listen up, hero. It looks like this is no joke. I just heard that fat one over there talking. I know where we're being assigned next!)"
"(... Where we're being assigned? That's already been decided!?)"
"(... Apparently, we'll be working along with the princess's Object! It seems they're thinking that, since we managed to destroy an Object on our own, we might be able to damage an enemy army even more efficiently if we have an Object working with us!!)"
"(... Are you serious? So we're going to be facing those monstrous Objects again!?)"
As the unexpected strength of his relationships with certain people made him dizzy, Quenser looked down at the medal hanging from his neck.
(Please tell me this isn't going to end up being no different from a posthumous promotion. )
| ← Ch. 002 | Ch. 004 → |