Gravity fluctuation (20)
"... What did you say?"
The voice was barely audible, as if it would vanish at any moment, but I distinctly heard it—the words that the unfamiliar insignia engraved on the crashed ship belonged to a Reformist organization.
I wanted to question Nadia further, but she wasn't in a state to hold a conversation. Until just moments ago, she had been looking out the window, expecting a new encounter, but that hope had been completely overturned in an instant by the sight of a single insignia.
Nadia was momentarily paralyzed in panic and needed time to recover. I comforted Nadia, who had buried herself against me, while connecting to the bridge via comms.
"Kanna, don't get any closer for now."
- What's the matter?
"The ones who sent the distress signal are the Reformist group."
- ... Are you sure? No, never mind. I'll keep the ship circling above and remain on standby.
The Albatross started circling in a large arc around the target coordinates, its speed gradually slowing down. Judging from how Kanna made a decision just from my words, she must have had at least some knowledge about the Reformist group.
- I'd like to hear more details—could you come to the bridge for a moment?
"Right now, it's a little—"
Just as I tried to say it might not be possible, Nadia grabbed my arm and shook her head. She had shown growth, but trauma wasn't so easily overcome.
Even so, Nadia persevered. She insisted she would speak herself.
"... We'll go to the bridge now. Please wait a little."
- Understood.
Kanna ended the communication, saying she would keep trying to connect with the crashed ship just in case.
"Nadia, are you sure you're okay?"
I had heard about Nadia's past directly from her. So I could at least guess how she was feeling.
"Hyun-woo, can you hold me for a bit?"
"If you want."
I embraced Nadia, who was already nestled in my arms, a little more tightly. Despite the force, instead of a strained breath, all I heard was the steady breathing of someone regaining her composure. The time I held her was short; soon, Nadia said she was okay and gently pulled away from my arms.
"... Sorry, I overreacted, didn't I? I didn't even see it for myself."
"No, I understand. I would've felt the same if I were in your place."
"You're strong, Hyun-woo, I don't think you'd react like this..."
Nadia gave a weak smile, then patted Carry, who was showing concern. Then, taking my hand, she headed to the bridge with me.
When we arrived, the bridge doors were open. Beyond the door, we saw people trying to communicate with the crashed ship—and others, waiting for us.
After taking a deep breath, I stepped inside. Upon seeing Nadia's pale face, Licorice quietly clicked her tongue.
"You're here. We're still trying to make contact, but there's been no response."
Whether it was due to faulty equipment or no survivors, Kanna couldn't tell just yet. She enlarged the image of the ship caught by the external cameras on the holographic display. The insignia, though faded from scratches and crash damage, was still recognizable.
"We know a bit about the Reformist group, too. Compared to the Pureblood Supremacist group, they're smaller in scale and a lower priority, but they're still considered a security risk."
It was only in public awareness that there was a difference; in terms of malice, the Reformists were as dangerous as the Pureblood Supremacists. At first, they were just a violent protest group, but at some point, they started conducting terrorist attacks using clones. Behind that was Nadia's bio-circuitry technology, but that wasn't something that could be revealed now.
Kanna continued.
"Unlike the Pureblood Supremacists, who use a consistent insignia, the Reformists' insignia aren't standardized. That's why if they mingle with other groups, it's hard to identify them."
When the bridge first detected the ship, they had discussed the insignia. They tried to identify it using the database, but when no data matched, they failed to determine its identity right away.
That was when, unexpectedly, my communication revealed what the insignia was—the one belonging to the Reformist organization.
Kanna cautiously asked me,
"How did you recognize that insignia?"
"I know them well. I can't go into too much detail, but as you said, their insignia aren't singular. They change them according to location or role."
Nadia pulled the holographic display toward herself. Using it as a canvas, she started drawing the various insignia she remembered. She drew first the one from the ship, a pattern of overlapping rhombuses.
"As you know, the Reformist group is as closed-off as the Pureblood Supremacists. They rarely recruit new members, and if they do, it's only beastkin with radical ideologies."
That's why their insignia are randomly made, and if the information spreads, they immediately discard it. The Reformist insignia are designed for camouflage, often cleverly incorporating symbols from existing companies or merchant houses.
It's not just that they carve it in; they freely manipulate data to deceive. That's why sometimes they could pass right under people's noses undetected. This was how the Reformists had managed to survive so long.
With each explanation, Nadia added a new symbol to the holographic display.
"I drew every insignia I remember. Some of these have probably already been discarded, but others might still be in use."
"... That's right."
Kanna nodded, having compared them with those in the military database. Nadia caught her breath, then spoke slowly.
"Judging from this insignia, the ship that crashed is for infiltration. The overlapped rhombuses and tampering make it hard to notice, but it's likely to resemble the insignia of an SSTC-affiliated merchant house or a scrap dealer."
At Nadia's suggestion, a soldier began searching the database. Since search functions weren't returning results, he'd have to check them one by one, which would take a while.
While checking on Nadia, whose tail drooped, I stepped forward.
"I think that's enough to verify things."
"I didn't mean to test you... But yes, I'm convinced. Now we just need to decide what to do."
After Kanna asked everyone for input, Roxy surprisingly raised his hand first.
"Let's blow it up. We have those missiles we brought from the security outpost. Just a single hit would reduce a ship like that to wreckage."
Everyone sighed at this typical dopamine-junkie statement. Roxy raised one eyebrow.
"Hey, look at you all! Okay, maybe I just want to see a big boom, but this time there's real reason, you know? You can't trust those Reformist bastards—vicious, mean sons of bitches."
"Did something happen?"
"Of course something happened! Before I met the old boss, I used to do some shipping work. The people I dealt with back then were Reformists. If I'd known they were the target, I'd have ditched the job. But once they realized I wasn't a beastkin, they turned on me and just stole my cargo outright! Beat that for highway robbery—there's nobody worse."
Roxy vented, recalling the past. It was the first time I'd seen him get so angry. Apparently, so was everyone else in the room; nobody tried to calm Roxy down.
In the middle of cursing out the Reformists, Roxy suddenly caught himself.
"Oh, of course, I don't mean to say all beastkin are bad. There are cute, kind ones like Nadia! Well, honestly, that's most of them—it's just a few troublemakers who ruin everything!"
"U-uh... Okay..."
Nadia nodded, a bit overwhelmed by his energy. Her trauma seemed to have been pushed aside unintentionally. It was a good thing, though it did feel a bit awkward.
"... Anyone else have thoughts?"
"I also know the Reformists have very bad reputations... But a job's a job, isn't it?"
Eric chimed in. He insisted on proceeding as planned—search the ship and rescue any survivors.
"The fact that the survivors are criminals doesn't affect our rescue operation. Actually, that makes our job easier. Our only goal is to extract information. As long as we keep one alive, that's enough."
"That's true. It sounds cold, but it's all they're good for. Besides, with terrorist groups like the Reformists, nobody cares if you execute them after capture and interrogation."
Celestia agreed. Having sensed that Nadia was somehow connected to the Reformists, she displayed her hostility toward them.
Now it was Licorice's turn.
"You should know this. If we do decide to extract survivors, the process will be rougher than you think."
"Huh? Why's that?"
"Because there are signs of contamination in that ship."
She zoomed in on the Reformist vessel until the polygons started to break up, but we could still see what she referred to.
Mutated creep residues, a unique hallmark of infestation, were oozing from between buckled and torn armor plates.
"See? If the creep is leaking from inside, things inside can't be good."
"Hmm... Is it possible the survivors fled outside?"
"There's no sign of that. The surrounding terrain was thoroughly scanned. We confirmed that no barricades or other facilities were ever set up outside. No signs of movement to the exterior either."
The ship had crashed into a reversed-icicle field, where once marks are made, they won't disappear unless a massive earthquake razes the place.
No installation meant no one had exited the ship. That didn't bode well.
"So there may be no survivors at all. They're not answering comms either."
"For now, that seems likely."
"See, we should just missile the place. It'd be easy. As soon as you attack somewhere obviously contaminated, whatever's inside will go berserk and rush out, right?"
"Huh?"
Just as I thought there might be something to that, Kyle came over the comms in an urgently raised voice.
- Are you really going to enter that super-large ship or whatever it is?
"We're still discussing it."
- Can I weigh in on this?
"...?"
Normally, Kyle just listened and didn't intervene, so this was unusual. I met eyes with the others on the bridge; everyone nodded their approval.
Just like the rest of us, Kyle had every right to speak. I gladly gave him the floor.
"Go ahead."
- I think we should go aboard, if at all possible.
He didn't say he thought it might be good, but was certain. At Kyle's confident tone, I was curious.
- I have to check up close, but the main engine on that ship might fit the Albatross.
"Oh."
- If we go in, I'll accompany the party. If it's a match, I'll begin disassembly for salvage right away.
Kyle started with "if," but seemed set on going in already.
"We already fixed the engine. Is it really worth the risk to scavenge from that ship?"
Even though I pointed out that the Reformist ship was contaminated and its engine likely fit only for disposal, Kyle held firm.
- I still need to check. Our current engine has a very short window of safe operation. It was salvaged from the junk heap and barely patched up, so the cooling can't keep pace. If I had time, I could repair it more thoroughly, but...
We just didn't have time, so here we were. We all sighed deeply.
"So I guess, no missiles?"
- What? Roxy, what did you just say...?
"Missiles. Let me shoot just one, please. Just one is all I'm asking."
- Don't even dream of it, you idiot! Can't you see the shape that ship is in?! You hit it with anything, the whole thing'll collapse in a heap!
Kyle howled, saying the structure was already at its limit and would fall apart the moment anything hit it. Very loudly, complete with cursing.
Roxy just scratched his head and laughed—it went in one ear and out the other. Kyle's tirades had no effect on his dopamine-filled brain.
Leaving the two to their back-and-forth, we returned to the main issue.
"We were going to cut our way in, but since that's impossible, we'll have to do things by the book."
"So we're going in after all? I know information is important, but is it worth risking our lives? Once we reach the Archive, most of our questions should get answered anyway."
Celestia voiced her concern. She'd been against boarding since the contamination was noted. I understood where she was coming from—actually, I agreed.
An unstable ship, teetering on collapse, full of mutated former Reformists—that was far too great a risk for the sake of engines or criminals.
Our group had become tightly bonded after overcoming many hardships together. Humans are relational creatures. It's not normal to send a close companion into such danger.
Celestia's response was only natural. Though her eyes were on me, the sentiment was for everyone.
"Kyle, how long can the ship hold out?"
- You're shaving years off my life—Huh? Oh... How long it holds... Well, it's hard to give a straight answer. We should avoid using explosives as much as possible.
"Even though it's a super-large-class ship?"
Explosives are strong enough to buy you a breath in danger, so I figured we could use them in a pinch, but if that wasn't an option, the difficulty spiked.
The Reformists mass-produced clones as members—bio-circuit slaves who followed only the leader's orders. If all of them had mutated, their numbers would exceed our imagination.
- Precisely because it's a super-large ship. The creep will have corroded the internal structure. Not only that, but since it's a Reformist ship, who knows what weapons might be inside. It might have tactical nukes, not just missiles. If even one of those blows, not only the ship but the entire area would be obliterated.
Just as Kyle finished, Celestia spoke firmly.
"We should withdraw. It makes sense. The perimeter guards have had such trouble tracking these groups partly because of deception, but also because some of their ships carry nukes."
There is a saying—even a worm will squirm when stepped on. The Reformists don't squirm, they just press a button. A simple click, and the ship explodes, the satellite-residential cities and docked ships nearby get swept away, everything is destroyed.
That's exactly why the Reformists are considered the worst of the worst. Using members like that only works because they're just clones.
Nukes had been strategic weapons for ages. Even with advances in technology, their power remains undiminished, and contrary to predictions, lower production costs only expanded their use.
With news that there might be nukes, most of the party seemed to lean toward retreat—except Roxy, who watched everyone like a kid who'd gotten a Christmas present early.
Roxy shot glances at us as if he couldn't wait to open the box, but people averted their eyes. Then Nadia, fidgeting with her fingers, finally spoke.
"I... want to go. No, at least I want to check firsthand."
"Not withdrawing?"
"Yes. Even if there's a nuke, it's okay. I know the emergency shutdown codes. I want to go and see."
See what? She didn't specify, but Nadia had made up her mind. She was determined to go to the crashed Reformist vessel—even alone, if necessary.
Silence settled. The soldier still searching the database looked around uneasily.
"Nadia, are you sure? You're saying you could neutralize a nuke if there was one?"
"Yes, I'm sure. I remember the sequence. They don't have any way to change it, so it should be just as I remember. If it turns out they've changed it, we'll withdraw immediately—I won't insist on putting everyone at risk."
"Alright."
I glanced at Kanna, signaling to land the Albatross where we'd be least affected even in the event of a nuclear explosion. Kanna, sighing, instructed the pilot accordingly.
"Sheesh, you'd move heaven and earth at Woof-woof's word. Figured this would happen."
Licorice grumbled as she openly sighed. Yet, she still had the newly modified security robots, the Beta series, prepared for action. For all her complaints, she never hesitated to help once a decision was made.
Nadia hesitated, then approached Licorice. Suddenly drawing close, Licorice flinched.
Nadia looked up at her for a moment, then gave a deep bow before straightening up. She then faced everyone on the bridge.
"... I know I insisted. Thank you for hearing me out."
"It's alright. It needed to be done anyway. It's not all bad."
Kanna waved it off. Bowing again, Nadia scurried behind me.
"... Two times now—Woof-woof thanking me."
Licorice let out a chuckle. She didn't look annoyed at all. Celestia just shook her head in exasperation.
Finally, after circling overhead for so long, the Albatross began its descent for landing.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
I just realized that the creep in this story is similar to the creep the zerg uses to expand their territory. Additionally, zergs also have the ability to infect organic and inorganic materials.
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