Evolve (33)
「Five contaminated units detected ahead. Behind them, 7 units, 6 units, and 9 units in succession.」
"Break through!"
「Engaging.」
Orca forcefully tore through the corridor bulkhead and charged at the infected Remora units rapidly appearing in succession. As if the word "evade" had been deleted from its dictionary, its booster pack spewed output focused solely on breaking through.
The laser lance marked the start of the assault. The long lance was composed of ultra-heated energy. Anything it touched melted from the heat, and any opponent capable of resisting it was impaled by the built-up momentum.
The infected Remoras also activated their booster packs and charged, yet the situation that unfolded couldn't possibly be an exchange between identical-spec machines.
Was it because movements based not on instinct but on thorough data, combined with the Remoras' peculiar frameworks, maximized their efficiency?
Orca pierced right through the squad of infected Remoras, now protruding with sticky organic tissue here and there from their hulls. The Remora units, once controlled under a single autonomous program, lost their distinctive system after being infected.
They overlapped their paths, becoming obstacles to one another, and even at this moment were tangled up with falling and colliding Remoras.
'It's a relief it's not a hive mind.'
I watched the battlefield, where all sorts of accidents occurred simultaneously. Because the infected organic matter moved individually rather than as a unified consciousness, this situation was possible. Had it been a collective mind, we couldn't have started off so smoothly.
Not that things were going all that smoothly now—the situation could very well be, no, it was obviously desperate. If they'd focused only on blocking our way under one collective mind, sacrificing their own units just to buy time, we wouldn't have managed to even start.
Watching Orca breaking through the blocked front lines, neither Celestia nor I remained idle. The mist had thinned, and we could now grasp the surrounding situation better.
Although I couldn't rely on the suit's auxiliary sensors, I hadn't been relying on them much anyway, and Celestia was trained to adapt to environments with all sorts of penalties. Just lacking auxiliary systems wasn't going to stop either of us.
"Hup—!"
With all my strength, I threw a long metal rod. I hadn't brought a proper javelin, so I tore a fixture from inside the control center.
Technically, it damaged the sky whale, which earned me a stinging look from Orca, but since I insisted it was necessary, orca didn't say anything. And I really did need it—for this breakthrough.
Tung—!
My thrown javelin parted what little mist remained, creating a donut ring as it scattered, before embedding itself in the head of an infected Remora. Though its frame was strong, it couldn't overcome the sheer force of inertia and toppled backward.
Maybe I'd shattered the blue crystal core inside. The infected Remora convulsed, then sagged lifelessly. Achieved not by any clever technique, just brute force. Orca's visual sensor blinked.
「Muscle-strength specialized superpower user.」
"No, I'm just really strong. My supernatural power is something else."
I used telekinesis to grab the metal spear again. As I felt it anchor firmly in place, I pushed off from the ground with Celestia.
The speed delivered to my whole body in that instant was anything but simple. The telekinetic rope was pulling me forward.
So long as I was being pulled, the extent of what I could focus on was limited to the front. My psychokinesis wasn't yet something I could operate as if it were a part of my body; at the very least, it had to be in my line of sight.
Celestia supported me to compensate for that. She shouldered her linear rifle and targeted the Remoras right outside, which Orca and I either missed or purposefully ignored.
Bang! Bang!
With a spark, the rifle's bullets pierced Remoras trying to get behind us. Unlike my crude metal spear, her shots produced clean penetrations. Broken components spilled from the wounds, with fluids trickling down.
Unlike earlier, when the Remoras came flying at us with overwhelming force, now they simply dropped and scraped against the floor. Crack. The floor was scratched.
「Psychokinesis.」
"Stop analyzing me and keep breaking through. We have to reach the chamber."
Pausing for a brief acrobatic moment as if bending space, orca saw me controlling multiple metal spears telekinetically, then boosted its output again.
Orca resumed the charge, breaking through the wall of infected Remoras ahead. We followed suit.
I quickly passed through the path Orca opened by using metal spears and telekinesis, as before. Celestia's support shone in this process.
'The linear rifle is more powerful than expected.'
Anything that entered her focus, no matter how fast, would drop helplessly. Her shots tore holes so effectively, the targets stood no chance.
The Remoras' relatively thin armor contributed, but the firepower of a personal weapon at this level was remarkable. Perhaps it was thanks to using materials from Whiteout.
As I watched Celestia squeeze the trigger, I realized it wasn't just the materials—it was who wielded the weapon that mattered. If you couldn't hit your target, it was useless.
After a metal spear pierced a Remora ahead, it stuck into the wall, floor, or ceiling indiscriminately. Each one became a marker. All I had to do was pick the easiest route to break through.
As I shot through the thinning mist, an infected Remora thrust its head at me. It didn't have a lance—maybe it'd pawned it off somewhere.
Using a method just as brute as mine, the Remora attacked; I reached out and grabbed it by the jaw. Power that let me ignore size. The Remora wildly swung its limbs, trying to escape.
「SKREEEEE—!」
"Shut up."
I forcibly ripped off the Remora's head. The mechanical structures connected to it came along as if yanking out a skeleton.
Hurling aside the head-and-spine-like frame, I crushed the exposed blue crystal inside with psychokinesis. With a metallic crack, the core broke, and the Remora lost power, collapsing. That made over a dozen so far.
"Hyun-woo!"
Celestia quickly aimed at another Remora about to attack and pulled the trigger. Her aim wasn't perfect, so the bullet pierced its shoulder instead of its head, but it still created an opening.
Plunging my plasma cutter upward, I bored a hole through the Remora from below and used the limp infected Remora as a shield. Those banking on numerical superiority thrust their laser lances without hesitation.
"Urgh...!"
Even for me, pushing back a real-time increase in force was tough. With a battle shout, I flung off the masses blocking our path. One of the laser lances must have grazed me—I felt a hot sting on my forearm.
"Orca! How much farther do we have to go?"
「Movement speed cannot keep up with internal structural changes. The shortest path keeps changing.」
"So, how far? How much time?!"
「At current rate, on-schedule arrival is impossible. A new variable is required.」
"...!"
A variable that could break this stalemate or turn the situation—easy to say, but if we could simply conjure up such a thing, we wouldn't be suffering like this.
Flashes of different colors shot toward the center and collided. A hostile red wave surged over, and Orca's blue light pierced through it. For a moment, the wave seemed to collapse but quickly returned to sweep in from all sides.
Their numbers were still increasing. Each time the metal spears pierced a Remora, their tips wore down further. Orca, as well, seemed unable to keep up with cooling, spewing sticky heat from a rear exhaust. Stress fractures ran down its armor.
"Ah!"
Celestia fumbled during a reload, dropping her magazine. Her outstretched hand couldn't grab it—it got swept away in the red wave.
While I could still fight, Celestia was reaching her limit. The linear rifle's power was impressive, but as a prototype with unmitigated recoil, Celestia's fingers were trembling.
'Three oxygen packs left.'
Each lasted 30 minutes, so we had 90 minutes. That sounded like plenty, but Celestia's helmet was already cracked.
For now, the seal still held. But any more fighting could destroy it. If it broke, the remaining toxic mist inside would seep into her respirator. The EVA experimental shield would activate—but that didn't last long.
「Three blocks to the chamber. If we don't get through within 3 minutes, the internal structure will change and the route will lengthen.」
Just then, as Orca spoke those ominous words—
KUUUUNG—!
The facility shook violently. Like a massive explosion. The vibrations were so severe I had to jam the metal spear into the ground and brace myself. Celestia quickly rushed to my side, hand reaching out.
As I clung to the spear, barely staying upright, a burst of static sounded over the comms.
- Krrk... yo? Buddy, can you hear me?
"Roxy!"
I was startled at the static, but far more shocked to hear Roxy's voice. With a start, I grabbed my communicator.
― It's krrr—sounds like you can hear me!
"Not well!"
― Krr—Are we actually—krrk... connecting?
I guessed he couldn't hear my voice; Roxy spoke as if oblivious, just saying what he wanted. Even in crisis, Roxy's cheerful tone rang in my ear.
― We just scored a big hit on the sky whale! We hit what looked like the ECM chaff dispenser! Mist generation's stopped for now!
"Orca!"
Listening to Roxy, I patched Orca into the call too. There was nothing I could do with just the info—best to let Orca hear for himself.
Orca, having just unleashed an intense energy pulse, caused a temporary lull in combat. As the red wave hesitated, Roxy's broadcast continued.
― We brought all the missile pods! They're small, but enough to cause chaos! I don't know what you're dealing with, but it can't be good! The outside's a total wreck! The sky whale's gone completely berserk!
"Roxy, you maniac...!"
Roxy had finally pulled it off. He couldn't hear me, but I clenched my fist in admiration. The sky whale was attacking both Albatross and the pureblood supremacist fleet; I felt both worried and relieved.
At least it hadn't switched over to the pureblood supremacist side—we still had hope. If it wasn't on our side, at least it wasn't the enemy's either.
― Buddy, we'll do our job, so you do yours! —Says your fox friend! Fireworks start now!
With that, communications cut off, and the sound of missiles striking the sky whale's hull echoed inside. The pods were bombarding the massive sky whale.
「Multiple hull breaches detected. The chamber housing the power source has come under attack. Uninfected Remoras are converging on the damage site.」
The Remoras Orca referred to now were the uninfected units. Though the infected outnumbered them, some still remained under the system's control, and they were gathering now.
「Maximum threat level reached. Following main system orders, the fusion core's position is changing.」
It was moving to another chamber.
"Where is that chamber?"
「One block directly below. Emergency escape route connecting to that block can be opened via panel controls.」
Orca broke from combat and attached itself to the wall panel. No need for words—it was obvious I had to protect him now. Celestia and I held off the resumed red wave as we covered Orca.
The now-blunt metal spear finally snapped, the crack in Celestia's helmet grew, my head throbbed from overusing telekinesis, and a shrill scream threatened to shatter my eardrums.
In the midst of this, I heard another commotion at the end of the passage. With the haze now gone, nothing blocked my view—I could see exactly what caused it.
Uninfected Remora squads were now attacking uncontrolled Remoras. Laser lances of different colors stabbed through one another.
As the two waves battered each other, we slipped into the chamber below through the passage Orca opened. Looking back at the raging battle above, I caught a glimpse.
The blue wave was gradually pushed back. The programmed squads had the advantage in performance, but the infected Remoras were doggedly persistent—the infection kept spreading.
The Remoras, independent control programs to defend the sky whale, threw themselves in desperate sacrifice, no matter how their frames were warped. Helping us was not their purpose, but I couldn't help feeling conflicted.
The escape tunnel was empty—just a wide-open corridor, which allowed us to catch our breaths as we ran.
Thus, we arrived at the fusion core room. Relocated from its original place, the core sat encased in a massive circular device at the center.
Just as we arrived, the fusion core's transfer finished. Its surrounding device slowly opened, flooding the area with a near-blinding light.
The brilliant radiance, like that of the sun, flowed down the cables, powering the massive weapon that was the sky whale. No Remora had followed us down.
Orca entered the fusion core room. As the bulkhead opened, searing heat washed over us. Perhaps thanks to our suits, it felt warm and cozy rather than scalding, even though we were much closer than expected.
Orca approached the fusion core to intentionally trigger an overload. This was after he'd sealed all entry paths to the core room to prevent external intrusion.
「Fusion core secured.」
"Phew... We broke through somehow. It's not broken, is it?"
「Affirmative. Overloading should transmit the energy required to activate the purification protocol.」
Orca drew closer to the core. As per our agreement, overloading the fusion core would bring us a step closer to escaping Titan.
All of a sudden, a thought struck me and I asked:
"Orca, what will you do after this?"
「...」
Orca didn't reply immediately. Seeing his visual sensor blink rapidly, I knew he was weighing many thoughts.
Orca had determined the sky whale was beyond recovery. The infection hadn't just reached the Remora units, but had also stretched its tendrils into the sky whale's main system.
There was no way to remove the infection for now. Even if time and resources were at hand, there was no guarantee, and with neither available, hope was even slimmer.
Orca was an autonomous mobile program separate from the main system. He was designed to prioritize restoring the sky whale and its fusion core. If he failed in that, what next? What purpose would he pursue?
If he was still mobile and no longer considered us enemies, I wanted to ask Orca to come with us. Though we'd only fought together once, that one time was enough to form trust.
All beginnings are small. I wanted—we wanted—to nurture that sprout.
"... Is there a way to fully remove the infection?"
「If I overload the core, some uncontrollable energy will likely be released. If we circulate the energy internally, there's a chance the infection might be eliminated.」
Not "will be"—but "there's a chance."
An uncharacteristically vague answer for a robot; it meant Orca wasn't sure either. Orca was hoping for the best, that much was clear. Sometimes, he just didn't feel like a robot at all.
"So, it might not work."
「Affirmative.」
"If you fail to reclaim the sky whale, will you come with us?"
「...」
Orca fell silent. I didn't press for an answer. I'd asked once, and that was enough—what mattered now was the task at hand.
Just before Orca accessed the core, as if about to say something—
SHWAAK—!
A sound pierced the air, barely brushing the edge of my awareness with incredible speed. I quickly moved my weary body and managed to deflect the killing blow.
TWANG—
Ringing with sharp metallic impact, a steel sphere flew off into the distance, scattering as it burst from the collision.
I'd fended off the sphere aimed at me, but I couldn't do the same for the ones targeting Orca. They were just as fast as a linear rifle's shot—and there were several, not one.
With Nadia, Roxy, and company now on the sky whale disrupting the ECM chaff dispensers, orca no longer needed to waste computation on chaff immunity, so he did recognize the attack.
But that was it. Recognition and reaction weren't the same. His frame couldn't keep up with the projectiles' velocity. In the end, orca, half-lifting an arm to shield himself, was struck dead-on.
CRASH—!
They looked like ordinary steel balls, but the power in them was anything but normal. The hardened metal plate of the Remora's armor—already battered by repeated shocks—shattered.
The force generated a localized shockwave as the solid metal burst apart.
Maybe it hit a critical circuit; Orca's visual sensor flickered and died. His body lost balance and collapsed at the same time.
"...!"
"Orca!"
Celestia cried out and rushed toward him in panic. But she was halted by a voice calling her.
"Celly."
Celestia jerked as if struck by lightning and instinctively lifted her rifle before letting it drop powerlessly.
"... No... no, that can't be..."
She could only mutter blankly, unable to process the horror. The moment she heard that voice, she knew exactly who it belonged to.
Beyond reason, beyond instinct—a voice bound to her soul. She had never forgotten it.
My eyes, trembling as violently as hers, turned to the source of that voice.
Standing at the opposite end of the dazzling radiance of the fusion core, a man with blond hair and blue eyes.
"It's time to go home."
Ian Myosotis stepped into view, his shadow stretching long behind him. Naturally, he held out his hand to Celestia—as if beckoning her to cross over.