Evolve (29)
"... Is the console broken?"
I furrowed my brow and inspected the console, even though I knew there was likely nothing wrong with it. The reactor chamber had been opened, yet it couldn't detect the reactor's location—what was that supposed to mean?
To me, the reactor chamber and the reactor were synonymous. The reactor couldn't just be moved at will, and attempting to forcibly remove it would lead to an explosion.
Hadn't I once said something similar only to have Licorice scold me for saying something so ignorant?
It was possible that someone might have followed the proper procedures to safely remove the reactor, but the likelihood seemed low.
Security protocol failure had caused the remaining energy to be urgently redirected to Sky Whale and the ECM chaff emission device; if the remora presumed to have separated from the Sky Whale had to fight off mutants, just who could have managed to move the reactor?
Even if it looked as if all the mutants at the Baelum Spaceport were dead, I knew better than to think what I saw was everything. In reality, wasn't the infected remora sitting proudly atop the control tower? There could easily be mutants lurking unseen beneath the fog.
'Separating the reactor requires an engineer and very high-level clearance.'
Robots might be able to substitute the role of an engineer, but clearance couldn't be replaced that way. Even if the Earth government's test device or whatever exceeded the level of an unmanned weapon, there had to be a limit to autonomy.
'Did someone from the Earth government transfer their clearance before dying?'
Maybe it had been like with Ted. But I wasn't sure.
For now, Celestia was dismissive. She said transferring that kind of clearance would only be plausible if the recipient was also a person, and the level of clearance available to unmanned weapons was very limited.
According to the remaining console logs, Celestia had been the one to open the reactor chamber, and of course, the reactor was supposed to be inside. At the very least, it should still be there, even if damaged.
"The console's on its last legs, but there's nothing really wrong with its functions."
"So this information is correct?"
"That's how it looks to me. If there's a problem, it's with the reactor chamber. The console just displays whatever information is sent from there."
Celestia said that if the reactor chamber couldn't detect the reactor, then the console couldn't recognize it either. The discrepancy occurred because the reactor chamber required even higher clearance than the control tower.
It was originally something that shouldn't happen, but with no one maintaining things, the error would have gone unresolved.
"To know for sure if the reactor is there, we'll have to check it ourselves. We can't control that from here. At least—not with my skills. Maybe she could, though."
She meant Licorice. Celestia seemed a bit regretful she couldn't get her help. Even knowing there was nothing more she could do on this end, her lingering attachment kept her holding onto the console.
"The location of the reactor chamber is displayed correctly, though?"
"Yes. It's underground. I downloaded the actual structure blueprint of the spaceport, so we shouldn't get lost on the way."
"What about data related to the Sky Whale or remora?"
"There's nothing. Every log after the control AI broadcast we saw in the black box has been deleted. The link to the database is unstable, so even with time I can't guarantee I could recover anything."
I'd been hoping we could get some data on the Sky Whale. Maybe I should be thankful that at least we got the reactor chamber's location.
"Also, I can't control the chaff emission device from here, either. The data and the device are both locked, and not even my clearance can unlock it... It's being blocked by someone with even higher clearance."
The screen Celestia projected displayed the Earth government emblem. No matter how high Myosotis's clearance was, it couldn't exceed the Earth government's.
Megacorps might have been glorious in the past and risen again as major companies, but at the end of the day, they were still just corporations. They couldn't compare to the Earth government's influence across the galaxy.
Beep-beep—
A warning for low oxygen. Swapping in a fresh oxygen pack, I glanced at the console screen, now flickering even worse, then turned away.
"Let's go downstairs and regroup. We've gathered everything we can here."
"Alright."
Celestia and I retraced our steps to the first floor. Canna, who had been aiming her gun at the source of our approach, only lowered her guard when she was sure it was us. Even though I'd called out in advance, her persistent caution reminded me of her military background.
"You're here."
"You startled me."
"Sorry. I remembered mention of mutants that mimic voices and appearances, so I was careful."
"Ah."
That mutant must've been referring to Lobelia. Only Licorice and I knew that Lobelia was a clone of Licorice.
I'd never revised the report on her since submitting it, so I could understand Canna's reaction.
Apart from Lobelia, we hadn't encountered any monsters that could imitate voices and appearances, but that didn't mean they didn't exist.
'Probably better this way.'
It never hurt to be prepared. From our perspective, Lobelia was as much a monster as any other.
"Hyun-woo, did everything go alright? I felt some commotion before—hope it wasn't too dangerous?"
"There was an infected remora. Thankfully just one, so it was easy to take care of. No injuries. I'll explain more later."
I paused before sharing video footage of the enemy as usual—I realized the camera had been blinded by the ECM chaff fog. I told them I'd explain later and briefed them on our current situation.
"We found the location of the reactor chamber. But the problem is, it's not detecting the reactor. We'll have to confirm on-site whether it's just a glitch or truly missing. We're thinking it's more an issue with the chamber than with the console."
"I see... Is there any other information?"
"No. I tried but it didn't go well. Tried to learn about the Sky Whale and remora, but everything was heavily locked."
I also told them about the Earth government emblem on the locked data and that even Celestia's clearance level couldn't override it.
Eric let out a hum, then continued speaking.
"So the possibility grows that Sky Whale isn't SSTC's own development, but rather a weapon hidden on Titan by the Earth government. Not an ideal situation. If it were the former, lady Celestia's clearance would be almost invincible. But in the latter case, her authority is greatly diminished."
"That's what frustrates me. If I want to find out anything, I'd need her hacking skills in addition to my clearance, but by the time I could get that, it'd be too late."
Celestia absentmindedly fiddled with her linear rifle. After a slight sigh, she asked Eric:
"Anyway, that's everything we've learned. Did you see anything while waiting?"
"Yes. I examined what appeared to be a chaff emission device nearby, but something seemed off."
"Off? How?"
"Well, it's clear the chaff emission devices are periodically spraying ECM chaff to make the fog. If they'd stopped, the fog should have been dispersing. But what we saw wasn't a sprayer device at all."
Eric said at first he'd thought the black rectangle was the device. So did I, and so did everyone else. The black box log had shown a rectangular black pillar rising and emitting fog-like smoke.
"But it looked more like some sort of ejector, at least to my eyes."
"Ejector... Could remoras have come out of it?"
"I tried approaching to check, but as soon as its sensors detected us, the device closed up with the container. We couldn't meddle with it."
Neither Eric nor Canna thought it was odd to have ejectors built in. It was typical for defense systems to be embedded underground, enabling rapid deployment to the surface.
Nadia brought over debris of an unfamiliar shape. Usually, they were hexagonal pillars, but when triggered, legs would deploy from the base, and a suppression rifle would appear on top.
"We found more than just remora defense units—probably a whole bunch of these poured out, too. There were tons of them by that ejection port."
"There sure were. Easily over a hundred destroyed units, just in plain sight."
Roxy offered to guide me over there if I wanted. I shook my head. Seeing more wouldn't help. You can only analyze what you have some knowledge of; how could I analyze if I knew nothing relevant?
"Confirming the reactor comes first. Celestia, tell us when data sharing's finished. We'll move immediately."
"Just about done."
Celestia was sharing the Baelum Spaceport blueprint, obtained from the console, through a cable connected to her bracelet. What usually took one click now required full physical connection; tedious work.
Not long after, she nodded. While everyone checked the blueprint, I glanced in the direction we'd need to go.
The entrance to the basement where the reactor chamber was located linked through the control tower's underground sector. Maybe for security, it was the only route in.
'The underground storage bay, huh...'
It'd be nice if there were still a robot or two parked down there. Even the robot Nadia brought would've been reassuring.
After everyone confirmed the route, they signaled to depart. Returning to the control tower, we searched for the underground entrance. We hadn't seen it on the way in, but now that we knew where to look, it wasn't hard to find.
"It was hidden by a pile of corpses."
"Looks like someone blocked it off on purpose—there's a remora here. Nadia, can you get in?"
"Hmm... Just need to clear the entrance a bit!"
The power loader pushed mutated corpses and remora debris away from the entrance. The underground area must've included the storage bay, the entrance was huge. Under normal circumstances, a small door would open, but in emergencies, the whole thing would.
I stepped into the fog-laden basement. No need for a flashlight—the beam couldn't penetrate the fog, and the lighting was still working, so it wasn't pitch-dark.
The fog absorbed the light and scattered it everywhere, making it feel brighter than aboveground. The floor was littered with debris: chips from cracked walls, shards of former security robots.
"Hyun-woo, do you have enough oxygen packs? Tell me if you need more, I still have some on my back."
"I'm good."
Whether manned or unmanned, having a robot on the team made a big difference. If Nadia hadn't been driving the power loader, we'd all have been loaded down with baggage.
With no unnecessary weight, everyone still had energy left. We could probably handle surprises as they came.
'It's really quiet down here.'
The underground storage bay was pure silence. Only the sounds we made moving around could be heard. Usually, about now, hidden ghouls or infected robots would jump out, but nothing happened.
Still, it wasn't the time to let my guard down. I made a conscious effort not to relax. Everyone knew that's exactly when accidents happened.
We kept walking toward the reactor chamber. The basement was so wide that it felt like there was no end. It would take quite a while to reach our goal.
We went deeper and deeper, pushing through the thick fog that obscured the usual sense of wide-open storage bay space. At first I thought, something's bound to happen soon... then, as we walked more, I thought, it's time for something to pop out now... then, as we got even closer, the feeling grew that something really had to happen soon. Conversation naturally died as the tension mounted.
So when we finally reached the actual entrance to the reactor chamber, it felt almost unreal. It was the first time so far that things had gone so smoothly without any enemies jumping out at us.
〈Reactor Chamber Accessway〉 「Authorized personnel only. Current status: Open.」
It wasn't the reactor chamber itself right away—we had to proceed a bit farther through the accessway. Normally, the entrance should have been concealed, but it was left open, almost as if it were waiting for us.
The ceiling dropped so low that the power loader couldn't get in; Nadia let out a deep sigh.
"I guess I can't go in here. You two are going together again, right?"
"That's for the best."
"Then take these, just in case."
Nadia had the power loader set down the container she'd been carrying on her back with a thud. She produced spare oxygen packs and ammo. Since we didn't know what we'd encounter inside, we took plenty without reserve.
"If something happens, yell right away. You know my hearing's great, right?"
"I know. We'll be back. Celestia, let's go."
"Yes...!"
Celestia and I entered the accessway, leaving the others behind. The journey began again. A vague sense of unease tickled at me, but as if to show it was all in my head, nothing happened. Even as we walked down the long passage, it was the same.
Swapping my oxygen pack one more time, I began to feel that the passage was subtly different. Even though it was connected naturally, I could sense the space had changed.
'Did the wall material change?'
It looked the same from the outside. If I could check with a scanner, I'd know, but that was impossible with the fog.
"Celestia, have you seen a reactor before?"
"I have, but I don't know what the one here looks like. As Hyun-woo knows, reactors have a different appearance depending on when they were made."
She was right. While the technology used and their precise locations were top secret, their existence itself was publicly known. They were something of an Earth government propaganda tool.
Occasionally, pictures of reactors would be released, each time with a different design. I knew there were multiple designs, but I'd only just learned today that the differences were by year of manufacture. I just accepted it, nothing more.
Despite their different shapes, they all had one unchanging feature. There was always an incredibly bright light inside. Because it radiated a distinct energy signature, it was never a good idea to get too close. There was a reason the reactor had its own separate chamber.
The reactor at the Heaven mining base was out in the open in the central sector, but I later learned that was a replica—the real one was elsewhere.
I wasn't exactly disappointed to learn that, but I did feel oddly strange about it. One of the big draws for tourists visiting Titan, this ice moon, was to see it.
After all that, we reached what seemed to be the reactor chamber and accessed the console at the door right away. Celestia pulled a cable from her bracelet and plugged it into the terminal, bringing its blank screen to life.
Even though the accessway had been open, we hadn't entered through the proper route, so Celestia said some additional work was needed. She examined the terminal and circuit boards in turn, watching for their responses.
Thinking it would take a while, I checked briefly on the seedling. At that moment, Celestia's voice suddenly tightened with confusion.
"... Hyun-woo, I don't think this is an error. It's gone. There's no reactor."
"Huh? Really?"
"Yes. That's strange. There's no extraction log—so why isn't it here? Just wait, I'll re-check the—"
It was just as Celestia tried connecting again to review the logs that the alarm blared and the entrance behind us slammed shut.
「PRIORITY ONE ORDER: PROTECT THE SOLAR FURNACE.」
"No way—was it a dummy...?!"
The warning lights flashed red, bathing the fog and us in crimson. The silence shattered in an instant as the whole facility rumbled.
「ELIMINATE THE INTRUDERS.」
The AI's voice boomed. The massive shaking wouldn't stop, and I suddenly felt weightlessness—almost simultaneously.
'Don't tell me what's moving right now is...'
It was only then I realized it. The Sky Whale wasn't above us. We were on board the Sky Whale. From the moment we entered the reactor chamber.