novelPolice are a Means of Stopping War >> Liberation Battle in Oceania (2)
| ← Ch.056 | Ch.058 → |
Part 10
At that time, a certain girl looked up at the instigator mixed in with the crowd. The man stood on the roof of a European van parked on the road. He was making a loud announcement with the kind of cheap megaphone used at construction sites.
"Drive out the Legitimacy Kingdom! Get rid of the entire coalition!! They create nothing. They protect no one! Good citizens should take up arms and fight against these invaders!! Let the cavalry into the plaza so we can begin the bloodbath!! With its sensors, we can find them wherever they hide!!"
The girl was not caught up in what the man was saying.
Quite the opposite.
She knew that there were lies in the speech given by this man standing on the van and holding up an indigo flag. She had seen "them" firsthand, so she knew the rumors spreading through the city had definite malicious intent.
And so...
"... ?"
A pause came in the enthralling speech.
This was because a small stone had flown at the man.
Everyone there turned from the man with the megaphone to the girl.
"I know the truth, " said the girl."I know it isn't true that they don't protect anyone!! They saved me. I was taken by bad people, but they came and saved me!! There wasn't any chaos like in Truth Theater!! There was more to it than that!!"
"Do not make such baseless claims!!"
Triggered by the man's angry shout, several nearby people grabbed at the girl's hair and began to drag her away.
She let out a high-pitched scream.
Some of the people accepted this as natural.
But some did not.
"Hey..."
"Yeah."
It started with a few young men.
They stood in the way of the men trying to carry away the girl.
One of the men holding her hair spoke.
"What do you think you are doing?"
"Y'see, I don't really understand all this complicated stuff about good and evil or the coalition and invaders." The main young man shrugged. He moved his face in and spoke from close range."But is this justice of yours something that lets bastards like you drag crying little girls around by the hair? If so, I can't go along with it."
The men holding the girl's hair prepared to silence this minority with their fists.
But then they realized the overwhelming majority was staring intently at their backs.
Which side had the backing of the majority was beginning to change.
At that time, an old woman named Dorothy opened an outdated laptop computer on a luxurious passenger ship away from Oceania. She logged in to an SNS site her grandchild had insisted she sign up for but she had not used since then.
She had noticed a commotion.
She had noticed great enthusiasm.
The short anonymously-uploaded video named Truth Theater had already been picked up by TV stations around the world. They seemed to have lost the pride in taking footage with their own cameras because the grainy video was being used as-is with the newscaster's voice playing over it.
On the internet, people could not see each other's faces or grab at their collars when they were angry, so it was filled with more extreme and hostile words than reality. One side supported Oceania slaughtering the coalition and declaring themselves independent. The other side said the riots would bring about oppression in their own lives, so they supported immediate military intervention.
But none of them knew the truth of Oceania.
They only knew what the few minutes of Truth Theater had showed them.
"I know the truth."
After giving it some thought, the old woman began slowly typing on the unfamiliar keyboard.
She was acting to protect the honor of the youths who had saved her.
She was beginning to fight back.
"I know the good and the bad of that country. You daydreamers want a convenient villain that lets you feel like you are watching a movie, but rethink what you say once you hear what I have to say. I promise that you will be ashamed of yourselves."
At that time, Sewax the battlefield cameraman sat within a box-shaped metal tent in arctic Siberia. He was checking over the photos he had just taken with his single-lens reflex camera. Just like heat, extreme cold could cause malfunctions in precision equipment. Before his hard-won images could be lost, he began sending a backup to his online storage via a small satellite communications device.
His guide, who was closer to being a child then a youth, stared interestedly at the device.
"Hey, can you use that internet thing on there? No one bothers running lines out here. If they did lay hundreds of kilometers of fiber optic cable, a bear would just dig it up. And power lines would collapse under the weight of the snow."
Sewax had a sudden thought as he worked.
He had just trapped a piece of the truth in a rectangular frame and sent it out to the world, but how many people would it reach? And would that truth reach them accurately without someone twisting it?
Some intentionally twisted information was currently causing a frenzy on the internet, that information network the guide wished he had. As a professional photographer, Sewax had immediately noticed how much malice was contained within the few minutes of Truth Theater. A film specialist would likely have found two or three times as much as he had.
The truth could easily be twisted.
Rather than adding in lies, one only had to maliciously edit footage to give a certain impression.
But an athlete cheating with steroids was overwhelmingly powerful. Setting aside the ethical issues, that power was an objective fact. In the same way, the impact of manufactured footage could easily blow away a photograph showing the actual truth. In the end, the people wanted stimulation. The truth was but a single means of acquiring that stimulation and the original purpose of the truth had been done away with.
How much meaning did the world see in being "correct"?
The metal tent's walls had two layers so the air between could insulate it, but Sewax still felt a chill run down his spine.
It was then that the guide asked an innocent question.
"Hey, where were you before? You haven't been here for long, right?"
The question brought a slight smile to Sewax's face.
Because of the state of the world, there was something he could not easily give up on.
Little by little, he would sow the seeds of truth. They would outlast the long winter and eventually bud. It was true people sought simple stimulation, but the ring of truth was another form of stimulation.
People were cruelly honest.
Even if hundreds of thousands of lives were dependent on a photograph, people would look right past it if it was boring. If it seemed preachy, some would even insult it. At the same time, people from all over the world would view a video of someone's perfectly normal pet.
But the people also loved fairness to a surprising extent.
If it was an interesting story, they would flock to it whether it was true or not. And so Sewax decided he would aim for that. Simply saying one had the truth was not enough. The proper way to compete was to present an overwhelming true story that had enough interest and appeal to break past the empty entertainment.
No matter what anyone said, the more interesting story would win in the end.
He swapped out the micro memory for his digital single-lens reflex camera and slowly spoke as he displayed photos of the previous battlefield he had traversed.
"These photos are from the country of Oceania. What do you think happened there?"
At that time, a female soldier missing an arm appeared at a court martial in a European safe country. The court martial had entered a short recess, but the media's cameras would not leave her.
These cameras did not merely belong to this one safe country. Large news stations were broadcasting this to many different countries and regions.
"A hero? You may say I exposed corruption, but I was closer to being someone who carried out dirty work for the military. I believe the title of hero should be given to someone else."
She used the accurate movements of her prosthetic arm to pick up a paper cup of iced coffee and smiled thinly on a bench in the corridor outside the court room.
"Setting aside issues of good and evil, I was certainly a nuisance within the military. In fact, I may still be. But even amid a conspiracy to assassinate a nuisance like me, someone still jumped into the line of fire to save me. In the end, he even stood before an Object. People like that are what soldiers should be. My way of returning the favor is to guide the military toward accepting people like that."
She spoke slowly as if recalling something.
"There are definitely people who should be called heroes. But unfortunately, those people rarely refer to themselves that way. I wish to show my respect for all the soldiers working in Oceania. Even if they will not name themselves heroes, I hope the day will come when everyone else will."
At that time, an Information Alliance pilot Elite, who the two idiots referred to as the "oh ho ho", was speaking to the world via a large-scale internet concert.
"The Information Alliance fights for the proper use of information and for a better future, so we have received some unwelcome news. The MIB? The world police? World domination using an unknown Object made with new technology?"
By usurping the continent of Oceania, they would begin to change the world's military balance.
"Normally, I would manipulate your impression of this incident by reading off a predetermined script with a perfect smile."
But that did not mean only someone at the center could have an influence.
The world had grown smaller.
The overwhelming electronic network allowed people to influence the other side of the globe in real time.
"Who is right and what is accurate? Try thinking for yourselves for once☆ Oh ho ho."
It started as a small wave.
But it slowly worked its way deep into the hearts of the people whose impressions had been manipulated.
It was similar to the difference between a natural diamond and an artificial one.
Which one would draw people in the most?
The answer was revealed by their actions.
"What?"
As they glanced around from within the abandoned building, Quenser and the others quickly picked up on that difference.
"The atmosphere has changed. The burning anger is being directed elsewhere."
The powerful emotions of anger and intent to kill would stab into one's heart. Some martial arts had honed it into an actual technique to throw of an opponent's timing, Quenser and Heivia were not martial arts experts, but the level of emotion surrounding them was on a tremendous scale. Despite being used to clean wars, they could detect the change in the situation.
The crowd never broke down the door and rushed in. The MIB vehicle equipped with a machinegun was stopped as if something blocked its way.
"How odd... Something isn't right outside." The windows were boarded up, but Heivia peered through the gaps between boards."I don't see any of those indigo night sky flags. Did everyone throw them away?"
That was when a slender hand poked out from a corner of the corridor.
It was beckoning to them.
"You can escape this way, " whispered a female voice.
At first, no one moved.
They thought it was a trap.
If they approached, they suspected they would have a bag placed over their head and be taken away.
But doing nothing would not improve their situation.
Quenser was the first to step forward.
"Wait, Quenser! Are you really trusting her!?"
"Something happened while we waited here without firing a shot, so we need to go with this change. It can't hurt to take advantage of the opportunity we won for ourselves!!"
Heivia glanced down at the assault rifle in his hands.
He uncomfortably clicked his tongue as if he had only just remembered what it was and who he was aiming it at.
"Damn, I can't believe Heivia, the transcendently handsome, genius, and rich noble, lost track of what he was doing. When a lady calls out to you, you don't point this at her!!"
The overall atmosphere changed once Quenser and Heivia approached the door.
Heivia was a private and Quenser was a student while most of the other surviving soldiers were ranked higher. There was no reason for them to follow.
But the helicopter pilot spoke up.
"I was told to follow the infantrymen's lead if I crashed, so I'll leave it to you. Anything's fine as long as we make it back to the maintenance base alive!"
One of the middle-aged soldiers who had to be ranked higher than Heivia shrugged as well.
"As the ranking officer here, I'll say I made the decision based on a suggestion from a soldier under my command. This situation is so far outside the norm, I can't keep up! You can take the lead!!"
All of the soldiers, including the injured, ran toward the corner of the corridor.
A brunette woman was waiting for them and she led them through the building. They arrived at what looked like a dead end due to large piece of trash, but she found gaps leading through it and to a small door. The door led to a narrow back road that the crowd did not cover.
"Is this a shopping district?"
"All of them are old stores that sell tools for craftsmen. They all have trash filling the front like that, so only the regular customers ever visit."
They thanked the woman and cautiously continued along the road. As they did, the owners of the various small shops called out to them.
"I only have ointment and bandages, but do you want some?"
"I was just watching TV and it looks like you're doing some cool stuff. If we help you, you'll crush that conspiracy, right? I don't really understand, but do what you have to!"
"Don't make yourself ill by drinking old water! Here, have these sports drinks!!"
"Do you have enough ammo? If you can use 5. 5mm, take as much as you want!!"
Some of the offers were rather dangerous, but Quenser and the others did not hesitate to accept. They had yet to resupply after an unexpected battle, so they had no reason to refuse if they could replenish their ammunition here.
"Hey, Quenser, where do we go now!? Do we return to the maintenance base!?"
"They're surrounded by their own mob, remember? And we don't know how far this miracle has spread. We should defeat the MIB behind all this and return once everything has calmed down!"
"I agree with that, but do you know where their secret base is? They've set up their conspiracy all across Oceania!! I doubt they'll conveniently show up right in front of us!!"
"I disagree, " declared Quenser."If you think about it, it doesn't make sense. Our helicopter was a top-priority target, so would they really leave its destruction to an angry mob? It would be safer to mix in with the crowd and fire the mortar themselves. Also, mortars fire a shell in a long arc toward their target. No amateur could do anything as tricky as hitting a flying helicopter with one. And don't forget the heavily armed vehicle that was on its way to the plaza."
"Are you saying the MIB's headquarters are nearby?"
"They used the desert pipeline and the terminal facilities it connected. Heivia, where's the closest facility? It can be for oil, underground water, or whatever else."
"It's nearby. It's less than three kilometers away! No one felt any need to pay attention to some old ruins."
"That must be it. And their headquarters are probably where their Object is!"
Heivia's expression stiffened.
"Wait. Are you suggesting we battle that monstrous weapon in a group with lots of injured!? I doubt we could win and it's pointless anyway. The MIB have more than one Object, remember? What good is it to risk our lives to destroy just one!?"
"Do they really have that many?" Quenser grinned."They are an ideological group that came from a spy organization of a former superpower. They must be experts at manipulating information. Would they really reveal the entirety of their plan like that? Would they really just brag about everything? Not a chance. They wouldn't make a mistake like that."
"Then..."
"Once the acid bomb failed to kill us and part of their plan was about to leak out, they panicked. Completely erasing leaked information is hard, but that's why they chose to distort it by overwriting it with new information. That allows them to hide the overall outline of their plan."
The mortar attack had shot down their helicopter immediately after the chat with the MIB.
Quenser and the others' first action would be to contact their maintenance base by radio. They would be afraid of dying without passing on the information they had gained, so they would report everything without thinking about its veracity.
As a result, the decoy information would be passed to their superior officer.
That false fear would spread from Quenser's group and to the entire military.
"It may be true they are developing Objects, but they can't use that many at once! Hell, if they did have that great a fighting force, they wouldn't be sneaking around! They could just challenge the coalition to a direct fight!! This is the age of numbers. In a one-against-three battle, a unit will not hesitate to send out the white flag signal and withdraw. Those are the rules yet they didn't do that. That means they lose when it comes to numbers!!"
Quenser was guessing the MIB had only one or two functioning Objects at present. If the coalition's ten or more Objects surrounded them, they would be destroyed in the blink of an eye.
"But they're trying to become the world police! Their plan is to take over Oceania because it has the ideal geographical position. They need more than one Object to protect such a vast area of land. They want to conquer, rule, and control the world, so they need a ton of Objects!!"
"Their preparations aren't ready yet. That's why they tried to make us believe they can readily attack with several Objects. They're trying to buy time! Once the time comes, tons of new Objects really will appear across Oceania!!"
"If you're right, the first thing they'll want to do is give credibility to their claim. Will they use their one Object to provide an effective demonstration? Even if that one is destroyed, they can buy the time they need as long as it scares the coalition enough. Then they can finish preparing the rest."
"I don't know what scale their plan is on, but they won't have gone this far if they knew they would lose. Whether it's through sheer numbers or some kind of trick, they definitely have something we can't let them finish."
"Wait a second. The coalition has over ten Objects stationed here. Are you saying they're preparing something that can defeat that?"
Battles without Objects tended to become long and drawn out.
But this was different.
This would become a long, drawn out battle between Objects.
If that happened, it was impossible to say just how much apocalyptic destruction would spread across Oceania. The distinction between battlefield and city would vanish. The combatants would not have the leeway to make the distinction. It was possible that all life on the continent could be wiped out.
"That's why we need to crush it, " said Quenser."We'll make the MIB's demonstration completely fail and nip this problem in the bud. There's no other way to save everyone."
Part 11
Atomic number 79.
Atomic weight 196. 96655.
Atomic symbol Au.
In other words, pure gold.
That was supposedly the source of their massive amounts of money.
The world had shattered to pieces in the past. The collapse of the UN and the appearance of Objects were the symbols of the existing national structure coming to an end. Amid the confusion, they had stolen a massive amount of gold bars from a certain country which had possessed more than any other nation.
Normally, this would have been immediately exposed and they would have been ganged up on, but the world had been in a state of complete chaos. They had taken advantage of a situation in which no one could determine what was stored where and in what quantities.
That thought brought a twisted smile to the lips of a young man wearing all black.
In the past few years, his smiles had become very different from what they had once been.
"Such a terrible lie. Even a child could see all the holes in it if they thought about it."
"That is why we must ensure they do not have time to think about it, " said another young man sitting next to him."We have plenty of money. We have the power to move the world. As a rite of passage for joining our secret community, we take half of their assets as collateral.... That is the trick to securing the funds we need. A single lie provides the money and connections we need to truly change the world."
"The truth will eventually come out."
"We simply have to change the world before that happens. We just have to make the lie into the truth."
That was how they lived.
It was no different from how their predecessors had used information as a weapon to protect the peace of a superpower.
Even before the internet had become common, back when information was only passed through letters and phone calls, they had cut out newspaper articles, recorded radio programs, and otherwise analyzed everything so they could classify the complicated state of humanity around the globe.... Even the internet had begun as a single nation's military network. Spreading that information network around the world had been their accomplishment and its influence plainly proved how much influence they had shown upon the vague concept of the "era" or "history".
"The preparations are complete."
That report was given by and to someone wearing a black suit, a black hat, and black sunglasses.
They had no individuality.
It was unnecessary and, more importantly, they themselves did not see any use in it.
"I see."
The Company, Langley, the Pentagon.
They were called many different things, but they never used the three letter acronym that began with C.
They preferred to use the one beginning with M that had its origin in inaccurate urban legends.
Yes.
The MIB.
That was the name of the intelligence agency in the deepest depths of the world police which had been rumored to suppress the truth by threatening witnesses of UFOs and aliens.
"Is the enemy coming?"
"They were not torn limb from limb in the public square, so they must have made their way out somehow. In that case, they are on their way here. Being so cautious as to thoroughly investigate even innocent citizens is our way."
There was a simple reason for purposefully using that inaccurate name.
They were not yet worthy of using the true name. Their goal was to gather together the world which was broken like stained glass and once more rule it as the world police. Only once they accomplished that would they return to their true form.
The C at the beginning of their name stood for "central", but they currently had nothing to be at the center of. An egg would not function with only the yolk. For that reason, there would be no meaning in using their true name at the present.
They would wait until it was all over before they proudly used those three letters as they gave their name to the world.
"Then let us begin the final preparations."
"You can begin at any time."
They were trying to do the same thing that had been left behind more as legends than actual history.
Rather than standing on the stage themselves, they would use money, information, weapons, and political power to quietly contact and build relationships with people connected to other nations. At times they would invite them in, at times they would threaten them, at times they would kill them, and ultimately they would manipulate the fate of that country.
"I know. Leave the rest to me. If I can buy enough time to activate the other two and the approximately five hundred amplification facilities, we can announce our victory to the world."
"We have been expecting this, but are you sure you can handle it?"
"It is true I am not an Object pilot Elite."
A young man smiled thinly.
He wore all black just like the others, but his aura was sharper.
"But that is what gives this meaning, " he said."So..."
His last word seemed disconnected at first.
But then he pulled out a handgun with a silencer attached.
"Leave the rest to me. Case #024, the attempt to use the rioters to kill the soldiers who had grasped the truth, is now over. Nevada 36, it is time to begin Case #025. That will be handled by me, D. C. 0."
Part 12
Quenser, Heivia, and the rest of their small unit somehow managed to leave the confused streets that were overflowing with people.
Once they left the city, they entered the desert, but this was the cracked and sand-colored land of the wastelands seen in westerns. Some cacti and a run-down bar would have made it perfect, but those did not seem to be common sights in this desert.
Instead, they found train cars lying around with their insides removed. The electronics, doors, windows, chairs, and lights were all missing. This appeared to be a "graveyard". Originally, the unusable cars had been carried to the end of the rails and dismantled, but even the guiding metal rails and railroad ties had been stolen at some point.
"I can see it now. In fact, it would be impossible to miss. Do they have any idea how to hide?"
The terminal facility which had several rusty pipelines connected to it appeared to have originally drawn oil up from the ground. The exterior was a bit more cluttered than the underground water pump facility. They were both ruins which had been left to rot and this facility clearly would not function any longer.
Quenser looked around with a binoculars-like device.
"I don't see any obvious traps. There aren't any mines, alarms, or cameras, but I doubt conspirators like this would simply be careless."
"Setting up traps would just end up blowing off the leg of an unrelated civilian or kangaroo. They aren't trying to protect this spot at all costs. Explosives aren't a good idea when you want to keep anyone from knowing you're there."
Even so, there were landmines made from wood or glass that a metal detector would not catch. Quenser's group remained cautious and used the chaotically abandoned train cars as cover as they slowly approached the terminal facility.
"There aren't any scavenging hyenas around, are there? Heivia, even you might shoot if someone surprises you right now."
"There's nothing but fried chicken bones here. They were left here because there's nothing left to eat."
Just as there was no sign of traps, there was no sign of people.
The old oil facility was about five hundred meters away, but their confidence in that being the MIB's headquarters began to waver.
"Is this really the logical way for them to handle this? Some kids playing hide-and-seek could wander into the terminal facility and they wouldn't stop it."
"Or maybe they no longer care if they're found out, " ominously suggested Heivia.
Immediately afterwards, the remains of the oil facility were easily blown to pieces from the inside.
They first detected an intense shaking in the cracked ground. Next, they saw a massive cloud of dust spreading out. They could see it happening, but there was nothing they could do. The sea of dust spread out in every direction for kilometers and it swallowed up Quenser's group.
The phenomenon itself was similar to a sandstorm.
A thick gray wall hid even the sunlight over a limited area. The brightness of the sky dimmed as if evening or dusk had fallen.
"Cough cough!! What the hell is this? Concrete!?"
"Grab a handkerchief, a bandage, or whatever you can find! Just cover your nose and mouth! That old building was from the time of the military nation, so it wasn't built up to safety standards. It might have used asbestos. Protect yourself now if you don't want to regret it later!!"
Quenser heard a low rumbling as if distant thunder clouds were approaching.
A giant shadow was visible through the gray world that cut off their vision.
It used static electricity for propulsion. It had two straight floats lined up parallel to each other. They were reminiscent of the treads on construction equipment.
Its silhouette was somehow different from a normal Object. It did not have the one hundred or so cannons extending from its spherical body like a sea urchin. It looked like a soccer ball with uniform protrusions attached or perhaps like the sea mines placed to destroy warships. The protrusions looked more like giant barnacles than cannons. It looked like the Object had volcano craters attached. It was unclear what they were meant to do and that uncertainty weighed on Quenser's mind all the more.
His instincts turned toward the giant structure and all his senses grew more focused.
His thoughts grew clear.
The scorching heat, the dryness stabbing at his throat, and unpleasant dust clinging to his cheeks were all driven out of his mind.
His soul was shouting that he did not have even a second to worry about such trivial things.
"There it is, " muttered Heivia while forgetting to cover his mouth amid the dust cloud."We were right! The MIB really did build one! They sacrificed the Oceanian military nation to build an Object completely independent of the world powers!!"
"Get down. Everyone, get down.... Has it noticed us? Why did it destroy its hiding spot and make an appearance?"
The gray curtain prevented them from judging the distance. The giant shadow looked both close and distant. At the very least, they could tell it was not performing the light footwork of a boxer or mixed martial artist like the princess's Baby Magnum would. It appeared to be perfectly still.
"What is it doing? Surely they know revealing it like this is a huge disadvantage for them. So why isn't it doing anything? They wouldn't make an appearance like that for no reason."
It was not that an obvious attack would have put them at ease.
Their hearts were filled with an uncanny feeling similar to viewing a newly discovered insect under a magnifying glass.
That was when an electric tone came from Quenser's radio.
Froleytia was contacting them.
"Where are all of you!? It seems you vanished from the crashed helicopter."
"Wow, a lecture now!? I don't feel like explaining everything. What should we do, Quenser!?"
"Don't press the button! Once everything is over, we can destroy the radio on the way back to the base."
"If you don't respond, I'll write a report saying you died."
"We're alive!! We're doing just fine!!" shouted the two idiots as loudly as they could.
Froleytia clicked her tongue.
"Where are you? What appears to be an unidentified Object has appeared three kilometers from the city. Does that have anything to do with you?"
"We happen to be right in front of it."
"Move five hundred meters away. You'll be killed if you're caught in the bombardment."
"What!?"
Suddenly, another voice cut in.
But they did not recognize this one. The transmission was not coming from the Legitimacy Kingdom military.
"Can you hear me, dogs of the Legitimacy Kingdom? I am monitoring the situation via satellite."
"Who is this?"
"A lieutenant colonel who saw what your battalion can do during the Simple Is Best battle. My name is Wraith Martini Vermouthspray. You can ignore everything but the first name. A lot of people have the other names thanks to a ridiculous genius girl project. Over a hundred, I think."
Quenser brought a hand to his forehead.
"I remember now. I saw you in that VIP Information Alliance armored vehicle in the desert night. You're that officer who's young enough to still be in her rebellious phase."
"Are you the type of soldier that never forgets a lady's face? I see. How horribly shallow."
Quenser was actually a student, but explaining the details to someone from an enemy nation would only increase his danger.
That member of the Martini Series spoke with scorn filling her voice.
"The four world powers have managed to work together long enough to help with Oceania's war recovery. Our coalition will not allow anyone else to possess an Object. I hate to release one of the Information Alliance's cutting edge machines to protect your pathetic lives, but I am calm enough to keep my priorities straight. You can rest easy now, but do not forget to bow down before me in gratitude."
Quenser and Heivia exchanged a glance.
"The coalition... ?"
"Does that mean multiple Objects have been sent out to hunt down the MIB?"
Their response came from Froleytia Capistrano rather than Wraith Martini Vermouthspray.
"The Legitimacy Kingdom has sent the Baby Magnum, the Information Alliance has sent the Catapult Cargo, the Capitalist Corporations has sent the Desert Scorpio, and the Faith Organization has sent the Mirror Bowler. They will surround this unknown Object and destroy it."
"Refer to our second generation Object as the Cannon 256. Hearing your codename makes me want to vomit."
"Quenser, Heivia, and everyone else there, listen up. The real problem comes after the unknown Object is destroyed. There is a possibility the four coalition Objects will begin fighting afterwards. Keep your guard up if you don't want to be crushed by a stray shell."
Those were frightening words.
With four against one, the outcome was readily apparent. That was how modern wars worked.
Which meant...
"Hey, Quenser, " said Heivia."We came here hoping to be heroes, but there's nothing for us to do. Let's use this confusion to get the hell out of here. I don't want to be here once the bombardment begins."
"It's too late for that, " replied Wraith instead of Quenser. Her lovely voice showed no mercy."It has already begun."
When the great roar arrived, they sensed it in their guts more than their ears. The gray dust obstructing their view was blown away like a popped balloon. Quenser initially thought it was the sound of a shell being fired, but he quickly realized he was wrong. It was the shockwave created by the car-sized shell travelling at five or ten times the speed of sound.
He could not simply brace himself and grit his teeth.
He had gotten down on the ground, but he began rolling across the wasteland as if he had been ripped from the ground.
He brought a hand to his ear and felt something wet.
He saw red blood on his hand.
"Cough!! What the... hell was... that? Was that a railgun or coilgun they fired from long distance!?"
"It's the same either way!!"
"No, a coilgun uses electromagnets while a railgun uses Fleming's..."
"I'm glad to see bleeding from the ears doesn't slow down your design obsession!!"
The MIB's Object was sitting in place. If an ultra high speed shell was sent in, it would not have time to evade. While Quenser and Heivia's puny human bodies trembled from the damage caused by the shell merely passing by, they checked to see what damage the Information Alliance had accomplished.
A giant cloud of dust filled the air.
More attacks flew toward the Object as if stabbing a sword into an unmoving corpse. The types of attacks and the directions they came from were different. Laser beams left orange afterimages as they fried the air and low-stability plasma cannons burned bluish-white lines of light into their eyes.
It was a slaughter.
The Object was simply being disposed of.
"Wait, wait, wait! Goddammit! Cough cough! This is going too far!! You're going to kill us too!!"
"No, wait."
They then saw something unbelievable.
"What the hell?"
"Don't ask me."
The countless attacks blew away the dust as they focused on a single point.
That tore away the filthy veil.
And on the other side...
"The MIB's Object hasn't been touched! And it doesn't look like it's moved either. Did the Information Alliance miss!?"
"I'm not a psychic girl, so I don't have the answer to everything!!"
The speed, mass, and force had all been sufficient. It was hard to think they had deflected all of the attacks with just the Object's armor.
The Information Alliance had not given advance warning of their attack.
They continued firing the same massive shells toward the MIB Object.
As they roared through the air, they possessed so much destructive power that Quenser and the others thought they were going to be crushed as they watched on.
But this time, they clenched their teeth and saw what happened.
"It missed?"
"What? How did it land there!? It couldn't have landed there unless its path twisted like a crank. I've heard of lasers bending due to mirages, but can that happen with metal shells too!?"
The dust cloud had not been created by the destruction of the target Object. It had come from the metal shells and laser beams veering away and striking the ground.
But was that a coincidence or not?
Escaping into optimistic thought was not going to help, so Quenser voiced the worst possibility.
"It has some kind of defense system. It has some kind of tech that lets it turn aside and neutralize approaching attacks!!"
The sound of someone clicking their tongue came over the radio.
Next, multiple beams of light were fired. The burning orange beams likely came from laser beam cannons while the bluish-white beams that resembled welding likely came from low-stability plasma cannons. These were not metal shells. Light and ions were completely different, so a defense system meant for metal shells would not work.
And yet...
"You're kidding."
"It doesn't matter how powerful your attacks are if they can't hit. I don't know what it's using, but any Object loses all of its cards if this almighty one can repeatedly turn aside any attack!!"
It did not matter.
It did not matter if it was a metal shell, a band of excited light, or a plasma weapon given directionality with tremendous magnetism.
Each Object present was a crystallization of its world power's technology. Their concept had been honed to the extreme.
One of them primarily used metal shells but could use many different types of attacks using the container structure filled with powerful acid and the gas that created low-stability plasma.
One of them would intentionally fire laser beams at the ground around the target to turn the sand to glass and then use that glass to complexly reflect its main laser beam cannon.
One of them scattered several electron beams like firing a shotgun to constantly cause light damage while using high-quality sensors and boosters to continually avoid the enemy's attacks.
The MIB's Object dealt with all of them in the same way.
It had perfected turning aside attacks.
Rather than evading, it caused the approaching attacks to miss.
And it did not stop there.
"The Capitalist Corporations' Desert Scorpio is damaged!" came a report over the radio."For some reason, the Faith Organization's Mirror Bowler fired on it!!"
"Don't get mad, Legitimacy Kingdom. We may be surrounding the unknown Object, but our positions make damage from stray shots impossible. That means there must be another explanation for this damage."
"Are you saying the laser beams the unknown Object turns aside are being targeted at our Objects?"
This time, Quenser felt as if an invisible hand were squeezing at his heart.
"This is more than a means of defense. It isn't just turning them aside! What kind of technology lets it accurately target someone else with an attack coming in at the speed of light!?"
"Tch." Wraith clicked her tongue."If long-distance bombardments are out, our Cannon 256 has lost its usefulness. Your outdated first generation can take the lead role. Move in close and fire on it at point blank range."
"Tell that to our princess!!"
"Is there anything we can do to help?"
"Keep firing shells at it!! Even if you can't hit, try to keep them focused on defense!!"
Before he had even finished speaking, Quenser's mind was shaken by a terrifying roar.
But this was not supporting fire from the Information Alliance's Cannon 256.
The MIB's Object had started to do something.
At first, Quenser, Heivia, and the others had difficulty concluding what it was trying to do.
A ring of bluish-white light with a radius of around 200 meters had appeared around the Object's spherical main body. As time went on, more and more rings appeared. Eventually, they formed what looked like a semispherical dome that covered the entire main body except for the very top.
The bright light completely hid the giant Object.
"You have got to be kidding."
Quenser finally realized what was happening.
As soon as he did, he felt like his heart was being wrapped tightly in wire.
"Are those laser beams or low-stability plasma cannons? No, it must be electron beams."
"How can you tell!?"
"Anything else would have blinded us." Quenser continued to watch on."That bastard is bending his own attacks into a shield. Like a large particle accelerator, it's constantly adding electron beams and accelerating them, so the speed and energy grows as time passes!"
"Ha... ha ha. The European particle accelerator out in the middle of nowhere is buried deep underground, right? Isn't that to stop the electromagnetic waves and radiation that leaks out when the beam bends around the curves? Is it really safe to accelerate stuff in the middle of the air?"
"Do you really think that monster is up to safety standards!? These people didn't hesitate to use an acid bomb, so they aren't going to care about the safety of enemy troops! And more importantly... !!"
As Quenser tried to shout, an electron beam shot by overhead after being accelerated to the limit. The principle was not all that different from the hammer throw. However, the speeds were too great for the human eye to follow, so Quenser and the others were suddenly presented with the result.
And that result was the distant roar of the Information Alliance Object being destroyed.
"What the... hell?"
Heivia looked over his shoulder even though there was no way he could see it.
His voice was trembling as much as it ever had.
Unlike a normal low-stability plasma cannon or laser beam cannon, this attack was not limited to an instant.
It continued.
It continued on and on.
It was less a projectile and more a giant sword extending beyond the horizon.
And that "sword" was swung to the side.
It swept by horizontally.
This destruction was on a scale of greater than ten kilometers, so the fear Quenser and the others saw with their eyes did not produce real fear in their brains.
As they watched in a daze, they heard the urgent "truth" over the radio.
"E-e-eeeeeeeee!? Wh-wha-what... ?"
"Do not panic, analyst!! Provide an accurate report!!"
"Y-yes, major! The Information Alliance's Catapult Cargo has been destroyed. The Faith Organization's Mirror Bowler has been destroyed. The Capitalist Corporations'..."
"Hey, wait! I can't move! E-eject! Ksshhhhh!!"
"... Desert Scorpio has been destroyed. The Legitimacy Kingdom's Baby Magnum..."
It was like a cruel stroke of a pen.
No matter what technology was used to skillfully evade, the never-ending electron beam sword swept across the world. Once it caught up, it sliced the Object apart.
"... can continue fighting! The Baby Magnum is our only Object still functioning!!"
"No way..."
The princess's survival most likely had nothing to do with her own skill.
She had simply been chosen last.
The attack had only lasted for a few dozen seconds and it had died out before reaching her.
Once it was fired again, she would be vaporized along with her metal machine.
"What do we do? What do we do, Quenser!? It'll have the next one charged in only a few dozen seconds! What's going to happen then!?"
The Information Alliance's "oh ho ho" could fire along a line using her continuous beam Gatling gun, but her range was short.
The closer one was to the cannon being fired, the easier it was to avoid the attack by moving around it. But when it was pulled off at the extreme long range of ten kilometers, the speed and distance needed to evade increased dramatically.
Imagine a fan shape.
The distance to the side of the fan was not far at the base, but the closer one got to the upper edge, the greater that distance grew.
However, a future designer like Quenser saw another threat on top of that.
"The real problem isn't the destructive power."
He gulped.
An unpleasant sweat covered his brow, but he did not have time to worry about it.
"Objects can avoid laser weapons that move at the speed of light by predicting when they will be fired by monitoring the minute movements of the cannons and the targeting lenses. But this main cannon directly bends electron beams in midair to accelerate them via centrifugal force. There's no hint to when it will be fired. You can only start evading once the actual beam has been fired!!"
"No one can do that!!"
"That's why they were destroyed! Currently, no Object can evade its main cannon. None of our attacks can hit and all of its will. The MIB have created a single system that does that!!"
Only silence came from the radio.
The Information Alliance officer had either decided to withdraw or had no time to worry about Quenser's group.
It did not matter which it was.
Quenser wiped his cheek to get rid of a liquid that might have been sweat or tears.
"Heivia, let's find a way out of this on our own."
"What are you talking about?"
"Let's find a way of defeating that goddamn Object before it fires again. If we don't, the princess will be blown to pieces!!"
"Screw that!! You can go be pretend to be a hero on your own. That thing destroyed three cutting-edge Objects in an instant. It was outnumbered, but it didn't matter! It might even be able to destroy all twenty Objects on the continent!! This isn't something flesh-and-blood humans can handle!!"
"She's our final hope. If the Baby Magnum gives up, who will retrieve us from the battlefield!?"
A disturbing noise came from Heivia's throat.
If the Baby Magnum was destroyed, there would be no one left to save them. Of all the Objects belonging to the Legitimacy Kingdom or the coalition, no one else would risk losing those massively expensive machines. Even if the MIB would eventually exterminate them, they would decide to watch from afar, analyze the situation, and try to find a way of winning in the long run.
Meanwhile, the MIB's Object would continue its arrogant rampage and the first victims would be Quenser's group.
"If you want to live, we have to continue forward, " said Quenser calmly."We need to at least find a way to let the princess accomplish something here. Otherwise, we'll be the soldiers who never returned in some tragic news story."
Part 13
As Quenser and the others hid at ground zero while sweating and almost wetting themselves, an armored vehicle with lots of antennae attached was parked behind some rocks about fifteen kilometers away. It was a commanding officer's VIP vehicle.
Those special vehicles practically announced that someone important was inside, so they rarely operated on their own.
And the same should have gone for the Information Alliance lieutenant colonel inside.
"I don't like it, " quietly said Wraith Martini Vermouthspray.
She was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl of about twelve, so the uniform of a high military officer that she wore impeccably and the number of medals on her chest seemed out of place. She was well known for using her army boots to kick anyone who jokingly mentioned the tradition of Shichi-Go-San from a certain island nation.
Inside the armored vehicle, she sat atop a sofa bed with her legs crossed. The vehicle was quite large because they would normally carry a large number of infantry, but this officer had it filled with the equipment she needed to relax: a refrigerator, a sofa bed, a dart board, a simple shower, a secret satellite internet line not connected to the military network, a laptop, and a home theater screen that took up one entire wall.
"I don't like it."
"The Cannon 256 was destroyed, but the pilot Elite managed to eject. We had a later model from the same line prepared, so the overall situation should not change much."
These flowing words came from a young man in his late twenties.
He was always waiting behind the girl while she travelled across the battlefield. His rank was second lieutenant, but he looked more like a skilled secretary than a highly-trained killing machine. He was well known for immediately sending a punch toward anyone who mentioned that a certain country had once been filled with people who rejoiced at having an overbearing tsundere call them a dog.
Together, they were known as the "stopgap grim reaper".
When a military officer committed a scandal, these two were sent in to swiftly bring that officer's battalion back into battle. In this case, the Cannon 256's maintenance battalion had apparently been involved in human trafficking within Oceania. For that reason, the two of them had little attachment to the Cannon 256. In fact, they had never once cared all that much for the soldiers under their command.
Wraith waved a hand in annoyance.
"Not what I meant. I don't like what they're claiming."
"What the MIB are claiming?"
"They're making the announcement around the world. They hit the top of every video site's rankings a while ago, but this is different. I think they're panicking a bit because the Oceanian people's emotions have taken an unexpected turn."
She took a sip from the soda can on the side table and displayed the screen of her laptop on the home theater screen.
This is what it said:
"By reducing the amount of thick onion armor which is an Object's most unique feature, the cost can be reduced by five billion dollars."
"The durability of the armor is of little importance. We have overturned what everyone thought they knew about Objects by introducing a new system which can distort any attack."
"This is the Flyby Collider."
"This technology eliminates the need for repeated extreme evasive actions, so a specially selected and developed pilot Elite is no longer needed."
"The selection, development, and protection of the Elite traditionally accounts for one-tenth of an Object's cost, but we have reduced that to zero."
"We will prove in Oceania that this is enough to win."
"Our Early States will destroy any Object that opposes it while using a normal soldier rather than an Elite. If you think you can win, then try to destroy it, coalition. We will equally destroy everyone that wishes to preserve this era and then celebrate the arrival of a new era."
"We will destroy the giant hand holding down all normal soldiers. This is a day to remember. We will regain equal possibilities for all of mankind and use that equality to produce fair competition."
"Whenever someone rises up, someone else is pushed down."
"Now, what will everyone do? How long will you be fooled into thinking a lifetime of being trampled on and squeezed dry is one of 'stability'?"
"Before you grow sick of it all and press a gun against your head, try standing up on your own two feet."
"Do not curl up on the edge of this horribly twisted world. Stand tall and walk boldly forward. We will achieve the victory needed for that. Come stand in the center of the world along with the night sky flag!!"
The young man smoothly tilted his head.
He mentally searched for the response his commander would most want to hear.
It did not matter what he himself thought.
"They are bluffing."
"Of course they are, " spat back Wraith.
She was so irritated that she began spinning a ballpoint pen in her hand.
She was lost in thought.
(The Oceanian people are leaning toward the apes in the Legitimacy Kingdom. Even so, this much destructive power could frighten some of them into siding with the MIB. This is a conflict between emotions and interests. If the scales tilt in one direction, those idiots and their uncontrollable weapon could be invited into Oceania as heroes. )
"Mh..."
When she noticed her subconscious habit, she threw the pen away.
Spinning a pen was a mental stabilization action driven into her during the genius girl project she had gone through. There were thousands of girls with the exact same habit.
The fact that there were replacements for her had driven the girl toward bold actions. By grasping all of the dangerous opportunities that no one wanted to reach for, she had quickly risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel. However, it was not unusual for a sense of superiority and an inferiority complex to go hand in hand.
The young man achieved his stable position by possessing the flexibility to accept oppression (yet he would grow angry the instant someone pointed it out), so he picked up the pen without changing his expression.
The girl officer pouted her lips and spoke to the young man.
"It doesn't really matter if it's a bluff, second lieutenant. What matters is how many people will believe it. You need to learn how the Information Alliance does things."
Froleytia Capistrano, base commander of the Legitimacy Kingdom's 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion, was also frowning in displeasure.
"We will exterminate each and every one of our enemies, but we will fully support any who help bring about our new world."
"Specifically, we will supply you with this brand new technology."
"In wars and any other form of competition, whoever is fastest wins. The first condition is that you possess the intelligence gathering and management ability to locate and contact us. We are always waiting for some close friends."
A young female operator cautiously spoke to Froleytia.
"Wh-what should we do? We might be able to identify who posted the video..."
"Leave that to the deskwork groups who have nothing better to do back in safe country bases. I just hope they don't make any strange deals in the hope of acquiring technology."
She had no way of knowing, but that was another side of the world police.
Simply wielding a great power would only make one a feared dictator.
To be accepted by the world at large, one had to supply a great merit that made up for the risk.
"Were they originally connected to some country's intelligence agency? I see parts of their text that is meant to work up people's emotions.... I hope the monkey-brained higher ups can see that much."
The information itself had been spread across the normal internet, so anyone could easily read it.
"We will rebuild the former world police here in Oceania."
"We will bring order back to the world and fix this twisted era in which war has become constant."
"We do not insist that you participate in this."
"The world police will not hesitate or hold back when it comes to protecting the innocent people of the world. We wish to make that system very clear."
"Listen carefully. All good people can simply rejoice at the coming age while all evil people should tremble and await its arrival. No matter what anyone might think, we of the MIB will once more release the world police and then take back our former name."
The Legitimacy Kingdom and Information Alliance officers who were separated by a great distance muttered the exact same words:
"I don't like it. How about I rub some mud on your face?"
Part 14
"Heivia, what should we call that thing? In fact, who decides on an Object's name?"
"How should I know!? Why should we give any real thought to that annoying bloodbath weapon? Let's just call it the Son of a Bitch!!"
Quenser, Heivia, and the others had crawled under the remains of a train. They did not know if the enemy had located them or not, but when faced with attacks even Objects could not avoid, they wanted to hide no matter how useless it was. Once they were targeted, they could not escape on foot.
"Something about this is bothering me."
"What a coincidence! I was just wondering why a group of guys has to cram themselves into such a small space. Quenser, why aren't you a beautiful girl!?"
"Railguns and coilguns are metal shells, lasers are light, and it worked on plasma and ion as well. Is there really a technology that allows them to bend all of those? And if they were using something like that, why can we see the Son of a Bitch in front of us?"
"What?... Come to think of it, you're right. If it was constantly bending all light, it might appear and disappear like a mirage."
"There isn't some invisible wall evenly diverting all incoming attacks. It uses something else."
Also, the MIB's Son of a Bitch had remained motionless the entire time. It may have simply felt there was no need to evade.
However, that in itself was odd.
"After it destroyed the terminal facility from the inside, it sat there doing nothing for a while. Why? Was it waiting for the dust to clear up? Or did it need to boot up its mystery offense and defense system."
While lying on the ground, Quenser increased the magnification of his binoculars and observed around the MIB's Son of a Bitch.
Rubble had scattered about from the destruction of the terminal facility that the Object had been built inside. He saw boulder-like pieces of concrete, hunks of metal that had lost their original shape, and crushed plastic boxes.
But they all had one point in common.
"They're all melted?"
"That thing's been sending electron beams around it to accelerate them. That has to create a huge amount of energy.... But shit. That means the energy it's releasing is enough to melt concrete. If one of those hits us, we'll truly vanish from the face of the earth!!"
"..."
Quenser pointed his binoculars in several different directions.
He quickly found what he was looking for.
A beer bottle was mixed in with the rubble. It had likely been brought in by a member of the MIB.
The brown bottle was broken down the middle and the jagged edge glittered sharply.
"No, wait..."
"What is it, Quenser? Wait a second! Why are you crawling out from under the train!?"
"The Information Alliance's first attack was a huge metal shell. It was forced off track and hit the ground instead of the Son of a Bitch. That's the best piece of evidence. If I'm right, there should be traces left there."
"You're kidding. We don't need to go on a walk right now!! Sure, our odds of survival if we hide are almost zero, but... Dammit, Quenser! Wait up!!"
Either way, it was all over once the MIB's Son of a Bitch began attacking the Baby Magnum which was observing from afar without knowing what to do.
No one would try to rescue Quenser's group which was isolated on the front lines.
They would either be killed by a giant hunk of metal or die of thirst in the desert.
Either way, a happy ending did not await them.
After crawling out from under the train, they circled around as far from the Son of a Bitch as they could while moving to where the shell had landed. The scattered rubble of the terminal facility acted as cover. They continued on while pressing their backs against chunks of concrete larger than cars.
"We're gonna die. We're definitely gonna die. The biggest mistake of my life was meeting someone with a death wish like you."
"It's called going for broke, Heivia. If you don't see adversity as an opportunity, you'll never make it anywhere in this shitty world."
"Yeah, but an opportunity for who!? No matter how much I work, the son of the famous Winchell family will be ignored and some black-hearted fat ass will take all the credit. And yet I came to the battlefield so that position could be mine!!"
Even as impatience and tension shortened their lifespans, they made their way through the rubble and toward the metal shell. Their throats were oddly dry and the air stung them, so their water bottles quickly grew empty.
Their path took a C-shape as they avoided the Son of a Bitch.
About three hundred meters behind the enemy Object was a crater with a radius of thirty meters.
"There it is. We found it."
"Seriously? You're climbing down? That thing flew at Mach who-even-knows. The friction might have heated it enough to light your hand on fire the instant you touch it. Ah, wait! Are you even listening!?"
"..."
Quenser ignored Heivia. Or rather, his curiosity won out and he did not even hear the other boy. He slid down to the center of the crater and the helicopter pilot and the other middle-aged soldiers followed him.
Once he was left behind, Heivia clicked his tongue and started down into the crater.
They found the metal shell.
It was larger than the average passenger vehicle, but its shape was not all that different from the squashed bullets commonly seen at shooting ranges. It had likely originally been a cylinder with one end tapered off like a stake, but the front half was crushed into a round shape while the back half retained its form. It looked like a distorted umbrella.
"What is this? It looks like more than just a hunk of metal."
"It's one of the Catapult Cargo's container-style shells. That Object can put whatever it wants inside. It can use a powerful acid spray to dissolve an Object's armor, it can use a low-stability plasma cannon's gas and a large scale battery, or it can use a COIL combination."
"This thing really is dangerous! Was it a dud!? If it goes off now, not even our bones will be left behind!"
But that was not the important part.
Quenser looked at the rear half of the shell.
Specifically, he focused on the damage to the side.
"I was right. It has some odd damage. That caused it to lose its balance and veer off course. It was a deviation in air resistance."
"What? You mean the Son of a Bitch didn't do anything to this shell and it was just a design error on the Information Alliance's part?"
"It doesn't appear to be that simple." Quenser gave a bitter look."If the Son of a Bitch has the technology to accurately and systematically cause damage to shells in midair, it would be able to intentionally send metal shells off course."
"Are you serious? Objects do usually have laser weapons to defend against ballistic missiles, but are you saying it can precisely alter shells flying toward it!?"
However, Quenser rejected that possibility.
But not in a good way.
"This is something simpler and more dangerous."
"... ?"
"The concrete scattered around the Son of a Bitch had melted. Same with the metal, the plastic, and everything else. But that wasn't because of the residual energy of the electron beams. The one thing that wasn't melted was a glass bottle. Even the sharp broken edges were fully intact."
"What are you trying to-... Wait. You don't mean... !?"
"It was acid, " spat out Quenser."The Son of a Bitch is scattering a bunch of acid mist around itself! Just by entering the acid zone, the shells are damaged enough to veer off course. The laser beam weapons and the like are turned aside using that mist like a mirage!!"
"Wait. That doesn't make any sense, you idiot!! Object armor is essentially steel made to resist high heat. If it was scattering acid everywhere, it would melt its own armor. And what about its main cannon? Its electron beams aren't being randomly bent. It's accurately and precisely controlling them to emulate a particle accelerator! How do you explain that with your acid theory!?"
"The acid particles are probably encased in a capsule that's just slightly bigger. Those small capsules are what make up the mist. If they can control the density and friction, they might be able to electrically control the plasma and electron beams as well." Quenser sounded as disgusted by the idea as Heivia."Heivia, remember the medical nanotech I mentioned in relation to the Blue Cross? This probably uses that. The acid is wrapped in a safe outer shell and made to remain in the air as a colloid, but a signal sent at the necessary timing causes the outer shell to pop like a bubble. Once the acid inside touches the air, it rapidly vaporizes. That lets them control the location and density of the acid reacting to the air. It wouldn't be difficult to build an accurate device like a particle accelerator."
"That theory is insane..."
"After the Son of a Bitch destroyed the terminal facility and revealed itself, it just sat there for a while. Why? Because it takes time to disperse its acid armor around itself to set up its invincible shield!!"
"But if that's the answer, we're in trouble!" wailed Heivia while ignoring all logic. His words came straight from his exposed emotions."You're saying the Son of a Bitch uses a bunch of acid? You're saying it has scattered a chemical that can melt through metal and concrete on contact!? We don't have any equipment to handle chemical weapons! If they destroy the environment like this, there's nothing we can do! This is just like the acid bomb! We'll be melted down to our bones!! I don't want that!!"
"Don't worry. It's okay! Think back to the Son of a Bitch's main cannon. The rings from its electron beams only reached two hundred meters, remember? That must be the edge of its range. If we stay that far away, we don't have to worry about the acid armor being activated around us. Any further than that and the remote control of the outer shells won't work!!"
"You can't know that! The wind could send the acid toward us after it bursts from the capsule. Or maybe the Son of a Bitch is holding some of its power in reserve!! No one can say where the safe line is. Oh, no. I drank all my water because I was oddly thirsty. Don't tell me..."
Falling victim to self-made fear and imaginings severely reduced one's chance of surviving on the battlefield. A sharp eye for even the smallest hint could lead to imagined dangers if one took it too far.
"Heivia! No matter how bad the situation is, you can't overcome it if you don't accept it! Why did the metal and concrete melt but the glass didn't? This wouldn't happen with just heat. You may not want to accept that nanotech is being used without a microscope to check on it, but the Son of a Bitch clearly has some means of freely controlling the acid! And the nanotech capsules is the only theory I have for how they can spread an acid mist and freely switch it on and off!! Heivia, do you have any other ideas!? Well, do you!? Yes or no!?"
"God damn you..."
"That isn't what I asked! Yes or no!?"
"No, you idiot!! I admit it. You may be insane and forget about the danger when faced with an Object, but I admit that insanity gives you a sort of cleverness!! So what do we do now, future mad scientist? Let's say it is using nanotech. Let's say the area two hundred meters around it is filled with acid capsules. What can we do!? It can melt metal shells fired at Mach 4 or 5!! We can't even get close!!"
"True."
Quenser looked up from the bottom of the crater and toward the Son of a Bitch that towered up amid the rubble.
And he thought while aware that their survival relied on their next actions.
"I noticed something odd in the moment just before it fired its main cannon."
"What?"
"It almost entirely surrounded itself with the electron beam rings, remember? The afterimage made it look like a giant dome. It has to release the acid to bend its own beams, so it had to have been almost entirely surrounded in an acid mist."
"What about it?"
"If it bends both light and the electron beams, how does it target so accurately? Even infrared and radar would be distorted as it passes through the acid armor."
"Wait. Are you saying it has a separate targeting system!? Infantry, a UAV, a satellite, or anything really. It just needs some kind of external eyes linked to it!!"
"It might have a targeting lens attached to a tentacle-like cable that directly connects back to it." Quenser slowly focused his mind and calmed his breathing."Whatever it is, we don't have to worry about its powerful main cannon as long as we destroy that 'eye'. The princess's attacks still won't reach it, but it will at least eliminate the threat of instant destruction. We'll have more time to think!!"
"Thinking is your job. Give me something to actually do! If I keep worrying over this, I'm going to go crazy with fear!!"
"Okay, Heivia. It's time to search. We need to do a thorough search for a camera, a sensor, a radar, or anything else that can be used to target. This is no different from when enter your first love's room and she leaves to make some tea."
"Um, Quenser... I don't quite follow."
"Eh? Really? Doesn't it make you restless!? Don't back away now!! Wait, the helicopter pilot is looking away too!? And everyone else!? Was that really such a weird thing to say!?"
Either way, the Son of a Bitch's invincible defense system would not last forever. If a metal shell was coated with reinforced glass or pure gold, it might pierce through the acid armor without interference.
But they did not have time to implement any such theories.
For the moment, they needed to take the initiative in whatever way they could.
"I-I'm not suggesting anything perverted like looking around for her underwear or tampons. I just meant looking at the bookshelf to see what she reads! Everyone does that, right!?"
"We get it! We can argue about this all night once we get back alive, so stop clinging to me with those bloodshot eyes! Also, a bloodline-focused noble can't get into a girl's bedroom so easily!!"
They used their binoculars, rifle scopes, and the other sensors on their weapons to silently scan the area.
The time it took wore at their nerves.
"There's nothing. Nothing at all! There are a few pieces of scrap metal lying around, but nothing is giving off an electromagnetic or infrared signal. Or are they sticking to passive sensors!?"
An active sensor would send out infrared rays or ultrasonic waves and measure the reflection, but passive sensors would only detect the light and sound that came to them naturally. The latter type sent out nothing themselves, so they were less sensitive but harder to detect.
"There has to be something. The Son of a Bitch can't target accurately while surrounded by that acid armor that bends light and warps objects!"
"How long has it been since it fired? Shouldn't the princess have arrived by now!?"
"Wait, look over there! Something's shining in a gap in the rubble. Is it a lens!?"
"My sensors aren't picking anything up."
"It might be a passive sensor like a digital camera. Either way, it won't hurt to check it out!!"
Instead of heading directly toward it, they once again cautiously circled around in a large C-shape. If it was what they were looking for, the glass lens was the Son of a Bitch's eye. If they were detected, they would be attacked by that electron beam cannon that easily melted through Objects.
Approaching it wore at their nerves more than handling a landmine or unexploded ordnance.
"Oh, this reminds me of the teapot."
"What are you talking about?"
"When I was at school in my safe country, I had a hands-on lesson in handling manufactured metals and explosives. To disarm an unexploded plastic explosive, we used hot water to melt the explosive."
"Say something ominous like that again and I'm throwing you in front of the lens."
They were checking to see if this was a sensor or lens, but they could not simply look at it from the front. They would be killed once it caught sight of them.
And so they circled around to the side and back of the rubble it was hiding under and began to search for a cable.
"This is no different from searching for a landmine. Stab your knife blade shallowly into the sand to check for something underneath."
"Wouldn't you use your rifle's sensors to search for mines?"
"Not in all this rubble. There's too much metal to trust a positive reading."
"Just like oil pipelines have sensors to detect oil leaking out, the cable might be covered in sensors, so don't damage it. If you find it, don't pull it out. If it has gyro sensors, it might react to a slight change in tilt."
The helicopter pilot and middle-aged soldiers helped Quenser and Heivia slowly search through the sand. With sweat covering their faces, they stuck their sharp blades into the soft sand and searched along millimeter by millimeter.
"Isn't there a toy from that island nation that's a lot like this? You stick toy knives in the side of a barrel and the pirate inside pops out."
"When he pops out, does it mean you win or lose?"
"If it happens here, we'll all be turned to ash, so it isn't funny at all. The pressure is on an entirely different level."
Suddenly, the helicopter pilot formed a twisted smile after finding something with the broken piece of rebar he was sticking into the sand.
"There's something here! It's long, skinny, and it bent a bit."
"Wait, don't move. I'll check with my knife."
Heivia slowly walked over to the pilot, stuck his knife in from a different angle, and made a displeased look of his own.
His expression was that of someone who had opened a door and saw a grenade fall to the floor after being activated by the turning doorknob. Rather than pure fear, it was the oddly relaxed expression of someone trying to look away from reality.
"Dammit. There is something here. It's a long narrow tube of some sort."
"It travels from the pilot to you, so let's try slowly removing the sand in between."
Quenser and the others carefully removed the sand like they were excavating some ruins. A few centimeters below the surface, they found something that resembled a snake. They had expected to find it, but it still squeezed at their hearts to see it.
However...
"Hey, Quenser. What is this thing?"
"Can't you tell?"
"It just looks like a rubber hose to me!!" shouted Heivia now that his tension was gone and the dam of his emotions burst.
He circled around the pile of rubble and did not hesitate to reach for the location of the supposed lens.
He tossed something over.
It was the bottom half of a broken glass bottle.
"There was never a wired sensor or lens here! There's nothing to help us here. What do we do now!? Is there really any way of keeping the Son of a Bitch from firing!?"
"Wait. In that case, how does it get targeting information? The acid mist filling the air around it bends laser beams and electron beams. Any sensors inside the shield will pick up distorted readings because..."
Quenser trailed off.
Heivia had been criticizing him, but it bothered him when Quenser stopped speaking mid-sentence. He frantically spoke up.
"What is it? Did you have an idea!?"
"It can freely bend even light, " blankly muttered Quenser."That means it might be able to repeatedly bend the light it wants like a periscope. It doesn't need a cable. What if it can use the acid mist in the place of an optical fiber?"
"You have got to be kidding, " cut in Heivia as if saying he did not want to hear any more."That would mean the Son of a Bitch truly has no weaknesses. That means it can achieve offense, defense, and targeting all with that acid mist!! What can we possibly do!?"
"..."
"Please... Please don't fall silent!! Thinking up ways to resolve this is your job! If you're silent, there's nothing we can do. Please come up with some crazy idea!!"
They heard a low rumbling noise.
What looked like the rings of Saturn colored bluish-white appeared around the Son of a Bitch.
"Not good. That's the MIB's main cannon, " said the helicopter pilot while forgetting to blink."Is it targeting the Baby Magnum or us!? Either way, all hope of survival is gone as soon as it fires!!"
"We need something... anything! Is there any more information that might help us find a way out of this!?"
"Of course there isn't, " said a middle-aged soldier in a dejected tone. He had a blank look in his eyes."What will looking around tell us? There's nothing but piles of rubble and an overwhelmingly powerful Object. What can we find with our radios and handheld devices? We'll only find the announcement the MIB are sending over the internet."
But that caused Quenser to frown.
"Announcement?"
"They're triumphantly proclaiming their victory to the world! They have to be pretty confident of their victory. There's no way we can defeat this Object!!"
Quenser stared at the screen of the handheld device the man held out.
The MIB. The ghosts of a former superpower. No need for onion armor. A normal soldier instead of a specialized pilot Elite. Drastically reduced costs. A new defense system known as the Flyby Collider. The geographical requirements for the world police. The creation of a new superpower and the construction of a peaceful world by having a single military rule. A battle with existing Objects to proclaim the coming of a new age. The Early States.
"Hey, Heivia."
"What?"
"The container-style shells fired by the Catapult Cargo should be located around here. Those never went off. If we swap out the fuse, we can detonate them, right?"
"So what if we can!?" asked Heivia in an irritated voice.
"We might be able to win, " said Quenser before he had finished.
A silence fell as the others held their breaths.
Quenser repeated himself.
"We might be able to defeat that goddamn Son of a Bitch. Do you want in on this gamble?"
Part 15
Fortunately, Quenser and Heivia were not alone. With the helicopter pilot and other soldiers sharing their fate, they had a total of about eight people.
They had no time.
More and more bluish-white rings were appearing around the Son of a Bitch. They surrounded the Object like a glowing cocoon. Once it accelerated enough, it would release a long and continuous electron beam to sweep across like the stroke of a pen. The Baby Magnum would be unable to escape and Quenser's group had no chance at all. The fate of the target would be sealed.
And so Quenser gave quick instructions.
He pulled out several pen-like electric fuses and handed them out to the soldiers.
"Everyone, pry open the Catapult Cargo's container-style shells which landed around this area. Swap out the fuses with these! Once you're done, escape outside the blast range of the shell. I don't know when exactly this will begin and I don't have time to wait! If you don't want to be blown to pieces, protect your own life yourself!"
"What about me, Quenser!?"
"Use your radio to perform a random search of frequencies. Find one that will reach that Son of a Bitch's cockpit. Anywhere with an unnatural amount of noise should be on the band they're using!"
"You're kidding, right? Are you really going to communicate with it!? Once it traces the source of the signal, it'll blow you away!"
"That's why I'll route it through several radios so the source can't be determined. The electric fuses can receive and transmit radio signals and I'll be using all of your radios as well. Just scatter them over a wide area!"
"What will you do?"
"Make some rockets, " spat out Quenser."I want to make a few giant rocket fireworks like we did before. I need to borrow every single rifle bullet all of you have! Also your water bottles and cooling spray. You won't need them if you die, right?"
"What? Why do you need water for a rocket?"
"The rocket is just a vehicle. It's what the rocket is carrying that matters. Anyway, just do as I say. This is the only way to fight back!"
It was a race against time.
They quickly scattered and began their work.
As seen in gun malfunctions, the explosive within rifle bullets could easily kill their owner if handled incorrectly. However, Quenser was an explosives specialist. Even without an electronic scale and specialized tools, he accurately and precisely repacked the explosive with the equipment on hand. Fortunately, the area was covered in rubble, so he was able to procure the containers and stabilizing rods he needed.
The worst part was the fuse.
As he twisted tissues into a string, he mixed in a small amount of explosive. If he did not add in enough, the flame would die out, but too much would cause it to explode partway through. Adding it in evenly required the most careful attention.
"I've swapped out the fuse in the shell. After this transmission, I'll throw away my radio!"
"I'm done, too. I'm just going to run away now!!"
"You'll be using my radio as a decoy, so I won't be able to contact you. It doesn't mean I'm dead, so don't forget to pick me up afterwards!"
Quenser monitored the progress from the radio in his hand.
He then heard Heivia shout his way.
"I found the frequency! It's 10. 1 GHz. Are you really going to contact the Son of a Bitch!?"
"We can't win if I don't. Anyway, you go hide somewhere safe!"
"And where would that be!? Not even a nuclear shelter can protect you from that thing!"
Quenser could not spend any more time waiting.
The handmade rocket fireworks were the size of a 1. 5 liter bottle. He stuck them into the ground, carefully adjusted the angle, and lit the fuses.
With an explosive roar, the rockets flew diagonally up toward the Son of a Bitch.
Before arriving, they veered off course.
"What are you doing!? They've gone off course and those toys can't even scratch an Object!!"
"They don't have to hit!!"
Quenser's strange comment was immediately followed by the rockets reaching their limit above the Son of a Bitch.
They burst and scattered their contents everywhere.
Part 16
In that instant, a young man of the MIB known as D. C. 0 frowned a bit within the cockpit of the Object officially known as the Early States and that Quenser and the others had been calling the Son of a Bitch.
A large number of errors had just appeared on the screen.
The Early States had no onion armor, and its only means of offense and defense, the Flyby Collider, had become unusable. Control had been lost of the electron beam being accelerated and it had flown off into the distant desert without reaching its full power.
"What? It's frozen over? Was it those rockets? Did they create a thin layer of ice to seal the ejection points for the nanotech capsules!?"
It seemed those had been more than simple toys made with gunpowder.
They had scattered water above the Early States and then instantly froze it. The MIB man initially thought of coolant, but then he came up with a much simpler answer.
(It was just cooling spray and water bottles, wasn't it? Such a childish trick, yet it has temporarily stopped the Flyby Collider!!)
Some static came from his radio.
Someone was cutting in on the band used by the MIB. It was not encrypted, so it arrived in the cockpit as a voice.
"Hi there, MIB. Did that surprise you a bit? I know your special weapon uses nanotech acid capsules. And to efficiently spray them out, you would do so from the top of the Object. I thought a thin but wide layer of ice would seal up all of them. Was I right?"
"You idiot, " muttered the young man while pressing a few buttons with his index finger.
He tried to scan for the source of the radio signal, but he detected quite a few. And the Early States only had its main cannon, so it could not attack all of them at once with secondary cannons.
"Did you really think you could stop the Early States with such a childish trick? To create our new superpower, we have been secretly planning this since before the Oceanian military nation was even formed! It will never lose to a trick you thought up on the spot!!"
There was a slight humming noise as if from a bug zapper powering on.
Normally, the electron beam weapon which acted as the Early States' main cannon would achieve its maximum power by accelerating in rings with the help of the Flyby Collider, but it provided plenty of heat even without the acceleration.
The ice had been meant to cover a large area, so it was only a few millimeters thick. Even if the weakened cannon would not function as a weapon, it could melt the ice.
And once it was melted, the Flyby Collider could activate once more.
The perfect armament for offense and defense would return.
"Ha ha ha!! We still have two more Early States equipped with Flyby Colliders. You have no idea where they are, do you? And we won't give you the time to find out. This one Object can buy enough time for them to be activated. After that, the difference in strength will only continue to grow!!"
"Is that so?"
"And in addition to the Objects, we have hundreds of amplification facilities. Since you temporarily sealed off the Flyby Collider, can you guess what those do? They scatter the nanotech across the entire continent. The Flyby Collider will cover the continent and the three Early States will control it!! You know what that means, don't you!?"
"You will be able to freely bend those high-output electron beams over the entire continent and send long-distance attacks against our Objects from any direction. The horizon will no longer be a restriction. But did you forget about attenuation in the air?"
"This is nanotech. By regulating the location and amounts of the acid, a space similar to a vacuum can be created. Like a whirlwind, it will be incredibly short lived and only exist in an exceedingly small area, but we have the technology needed to accurately pass the electron beam through that narrow tube!! In other words, we can almost entirely ignore attenuation!!"
"I see. And as the 'flyby' in the name suggests, I suppose you can greatly increase the output by passing the electron beam between each Son of a Bitch and reaccelerating it. What a convenient age we live in. This wonderful tech lets you overturn the simple differences between Objects.... And in exchange, acid will eat into over half the continent."
It was similar to expanding the current local conditions over the entire continent of Oceania.
None of the Objects in range would be able to hit with their attacks and the Early States would be able to destroy any enemy by freely bending their electron beams.
It was not a long, drawn-out battle or one-on-one fight based on an implicit understanding.
They were assuming zero losses on their part.
The completely unilateral destruction would lead to all the losses being on the other side.
"The smallest system is used to rule the largest area! This is the perfect system for the new world police!! Once we succeed in Oceania, we need only expand the range bit by bit. In less than a decade, this new system will cover the entire surface of the earth. And Oceania will be at the center. Anyone who cannot keep up will be swallowed up by the new era and die!!"
"Do you really think you'll have time for that?" mocked the enemy soldier over the radio.
But the young man's gaze did not waver.
"Are you referring to the first generation Object waiting in the distance? It will not make it in time. This ice is only a few millimeters thick. In less than ten seconds, control of the Flyby Collider will-..."
"That isn't what I meant."
That declaration was immediately followed by a great roar and vibration passing through the thick sides of the Object. The noise assaulted the young man's eardrums.
"What!?"
"Did you forget about the Catapult Cargo's unexploded ordnance? Those are the true main weapons of an Object. What do you think is inside them? The gas for a low-stability plasma cannon? A battery filled with power taken directly from the Object's reactor? Or maybe a COIL set? Well, it doesn't matter what. It will all damage you just the same, " said the enemy soldier."After all, you eliminated the expensive craftsman-made onion armor because you could rely on your Flyby Collider. Without that defense system, you only have armor which is inferior to the average Object."
"... !!"
(Did they swap out the fuses so they could use them!?)
The young man in black looked around the cockpit once more.
There were over ten levers and hundreds of buttons. Those controls would normally be used in conjunction with a system that read eyeball movements with a laser, but he could not use that very well without the training of a pilot Elite.
Yes.
He was not a pilot Elite.
Destroying the existing style of Object with a normal soldier had held ideological meaning for them.
They would hold the most powerful position by deploying large numbers of cheap yet effective weapons.
That was their first step toward being the same as that ideal nation that had once existed.
"You aren't an Elite! The reason you've just been sitting there wasn't because disseminating the acid capsules took time. You didn't understand the extremely complex piloting system, so a high-speed battle was out of the question for you!! You planned to remain motionless and crush any Object that approached. It makes for a nice performance, but that was your only option!! And that means one thing!!"
He could not avoid the large explosions bursting up from the ground.
If those tremendous explosions produced by the infantrymen reached the Early States before the thin ice melted, its inferior armor would be destroyed.
"Kh..."
The young man in black reached his hands toward two of the many levers.
He grabbed them.
And he pushed them forcefully forward.
"You idiot!! We knew from the beginning a normal soldier would be piloting it! We have a way of letting the computer handle as much of the piloting process as possible. Even if it is not enough for a battle against another Object, I can still move this Object! I can even move at high speeds, so I will not be caught in your explosions!!"
An explosive noise burst out.
More than one burst out.
But these were not caused by the explosions the enemy soldier had caused.
They were the sounds of the recoil as the Object moved in a lightning-like zigzag to escape the explosions.
"I'll crush you."
The young man in black smiled.
The thin layer of ice covering a portion of the Early States had melted.
He had his main weapon back.
"I'll crush you!! I'll show you how irreverent it was to think that was enough to oppose the MIB and the return of the world police! I will crush you into a cruel symbol of what happens when someone opposes us!!"
Everything turned red.
The young man's intense anger caused his the color crimson to seep in from the edges of his vision.
And...
Part 17
"What are you doing?" blankly muttered Heivia. His voice quickly grew to a shout."What in the hell are you doing!? Provoking him only made the Son of a Bitch move more quickly! This is no different from committing suicide by agitating the enemy!"
"No."
Quenser grinned.
They had no hope.
They would be smashed to pieces if the Son of a Bitch simply gave into its anger and charged forward, but he still smiled in assurance of his victory.
"We've won. He's the one who's committing suicide."
"What?"
"Objects are over fifty meters tall and weigh over twenty thousand tons. They're as massive as two nuclear aircraft carriers, but they rule the battlefield while moving faster than five hundred kilometers per hour." He paused to take a breath before continuing."The inertial Gs felt by the pilot are much greater than those of a supersonic fighter. Those Gs are resisted with a special suit filled with cutting-edge technology and thoroughly altering the Elite's body. And do you know what that means?"
"If a perfectly normal soldier is forced through those actions..."
Heivia gulped.
Quenser gave the answer with the cruelty of stabbing in a knife.
"If they're lucky, not enough blood will reach their brain and they'll black out. If not, a major blood vessel or organ could burst, killing them instantly."
With a great rumbling noise, the Son of a Bitch moved off in an odd direction. It passed right by Quenser and the others. As it forced its way through the piles of rubble, it gently continued in just that one direction. That mindless action showed the one piloting the Object had lost control.
"You... gwah... aaaaaaahh!"
The voice coming from the radio seemed to be cursing them.
Quenser smiled and brought the device to his mouth.
"What's wrong? Did the capillaries in your eyes burst? You sound like you're having trouble because your entire vision is being dyed red."
"You... idiot..." The young man's voice was intermittent as if he was having trouble breathing."This was... the last chance... to correct this world... that was broken like stained glass... The world desires... the return of its former police.... Do you... love war that much... ?"
"Are you serious?" spat back Quenser."The collapse of the UN symbolizes the destruction of the world map, but how many decades ago was that? At the very least, it was before the time of someone who sounds as young as you. The old maintenance woman is about the only person I know who is just barely old enough to have experienced it."
"Ah... gh..."
"You didn't know anything, did you? It was just easier to fool the people if you had some kind of historical background. For example, I could say I am a well-known noble and that I found some old documents related to an ancestor's sunken ship that disappeared in the stormy sea long ago. Then I would go on to ask you to help fund the mission to salvage any valuables. What you MIB did was similar to that."
It was possible the former world police had performed a useful role.
The age ruled by a superpower may have been much more peaceful than the modern age.
As a member of the younger generation, Quenser had no intention of denying something he knew nothing about.
However...
"Are you really the successors of that superpower?" spat out Quenser."If you can say yes with a straight face, I'll clap my hands and laugh in your face."
At the very least, these MIB had no connection to the world police.
They were villains who were merely using that name in the distant future.
"I think you're mistaken about something. This isn't your country or a colony ruled by the Legitimacy Kingdom. This country belongs to the people of Oceania and no one else!! We are merely intruding for the time being. As soon as you forget that simple fact and begin taking this land because you like it, you can't call yourselves police!! You're nothing but invaders who look up to a former ideal!!"
"Gh... gbh."
The sound of someone coughing up blood came over the radio.
But the Son of a Bitch still came to a stop.
It seemed that comment was something the young man could not overlook.
The movements of the Object grew more human.
"Gbaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
The machine quickly turned toward Quenser.
The Flyby Collider activated and the bluish-white main cannon began accelerating in rings around it.
But Quenser did not even turn toward it.
What sounded like a water balloon bursting echoed hollowly from the radio.
"That finished it."
As if a thin thread had finally snapped, the Son of a Bitch came to a complete stop.
"That's pretty cruel." Heivia grinned bitterly."You knew the more he moved at high speed the more damage would build up inside him, but you kept provoking him."
"What else could I do? I had no other way to attack him." Quenser shrugged and raised his middle finger."I manipulated that bastard with my words. A perfect end for a conspirator, don't you think?"
| ← Ch. 056 | Ch. 058 → |