Evolve (39)
After the satellite cannon, which Licorice had called a gravity cannon, completely erased the Baelum Spaceport without a trace, the Albatross and Griffin managed to safely escape the pursuit of the pureblood supremacist fleet.
There were some attempts to recklessly continue the chase, but about half the ships self-destructed while forcing their way through the area swept by the gravity cannon, and the rest were shot down by us.
All the effort they put into launching their carrier-based aircraft was in vain, as they just dropped one after another, and so the enemy couldn't send any more pursuers.
It was a hastily assembled fleet to begin with. Once it started to collapse, the domino effect ruined their formation in an instant.
Thus, the Albatross was able to continue its flight without further damage. Naturally, we didn't attempt to land anywhere. Even if things seemed calm right now, we had no way of knowing when or how the pureblood supremacists might show up again.
Maybe we could land briefly when setting up a relay to communicate with the Myosotis fleet, which should be on Titan's orbit. But that wouldn't be anytime soon.
Although quick action was needed, internal recovery had to come first. After all, our next destination was as good as the final one—Archive.
"Hyun-woo, you should just go rest comfortably..."
"No, I feel better now after sitting for a bit."
"That's... sigh... okay."
Nadia stopped mid-sentence with a sigh. I already knew what she wanted to say, even though she didn't say it out loud. She was likely about to scold me, asking if I really did feel better.
'I did ask Celly to keep me posted.'
The meeting that was about to start wouldn't last long; it was better for me to hear everything directly rather than getting a summary later. My condition was bad, but it wasn't to the point I needed to remain bedridden.
Ever since Sprout absorbed the reactor's core, my ability to recover had gotten much stronger. After Ian's death, part of the blue particles that spread from him fused with me, and I'd felt my recovery rate improve.
Unable to break my stubbornness, Nadia grumbled, then bowed deeply to Carrot.
"Carrot, please look after Hyun-woo. He always gets hurt showing off because he trusts his sturdy body too much, so there could be wounds where you don't expect."
"Heh heh, don't worry. Examination is my specialty."
Carrot brought over all sorts of diagnostic equipment and scanned my body. Fortunately, there weren't many casualties this time. Only those of us who went outside were injured. Among us, I was the most badly hurt.
Since the fleet battle didn't devolve into close combat, the damage was limited to our equipment being destroyed. As Carrot checked my condition, I glanced at him.
He still showed the same white image as before, but there was a slightly different aspect about him.
"Carrot, can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Is it because of the blood?"
It was a sudden question. But Carrot surely knew exactly what I was referring to—I was asking about the nanobot extract he'd drawn from his own blood.
Carrot paused for a moment. There was no awkwardness between his motions, but I could tell there had been a slight hitch.
"Heh heh... I tried to hide it, but it looks like I can't fool your eyes."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Nadia, who couldn't follow the flow of the conversation, tilted her head. I sighed quietly and explained to her.
"Carrot has more wrinkles now. Just a few fine lines."
"Ah? Oh? Ah...!"
Nadia had been too distracted keeping an eye on me to notice her surroundings. Upon hearing my words, she finally took a good look at the changed Carrot. Startled, her tail stood straight up for a moment, then drooped again.
"... It's because of the extract, isn't it?"
"That's right. But you don't need to look so worried. The aging that was forcibly halted is resuming naturally now. It's not really a problem."
Carrot's aging had been halted by the nanobots in his system. Thanks to the nanobots circulating in his body, he didn't age and his lifespan was dramatically extended. Carrot was different from others—as long as there were still nanobots left in him.
After the nanobot technology was banned by the Earth government following the Immortality Experiment incident, those associated with it practically vanished overnight. Most died during the incident, but the survivors had to hide due to constant threats.
It was well known that companies willing to do anything for money hired mercenaries to kidnap people connected to the incident. The survivors weren't easy targets, but information control wasn't perfect.
The nanobot technology itself could still be replicated by those who wanted to, but the real prize was the source technology. The nanobots used in the Immortality Experiment were of a completely different class than regular nanobots, which is why companies were desperate to find them.
Carrot stepping forward like this was no different from risking his own life. No one here was likely to talk recklessly, but you never knew.
'There's no way there wouldn't be any side effects.'
I couldn't even fathom how much blood Carrot had to draw just to get enough extract to give to me through Roxy. It probably wasn't just an equal amount.
"Really—"
I was about to ask if he was sure he was okay, but suddenly realized the question was meaningless. Carrot would, of course, say he was fine. So I changed course.
"... Thanks to the extract you gave me, this operation was a success. Thank you."
"I'm just glad that this old man could help."
Was that the answer he wanted? Carrot smiled in satisfaction and nodded. He told me he already had more extracted, so I should take some with me for the next operation. He was firm, as if he wouldn't allow any objections.
Because I knew what he'd traded to pull this off, I hesitated, but finally agreed. Only then did Carrot's stern expression soften.
"I've done everything I can for you. The rest is up to you now. You know what you need to do, right?"
"Eat well and get plenty of sleep."
"That's it. Replenishing your energy is the most important thing for recovery. I'll get going now."
Carrot packed up his equipment and stood. As he was about to head to the lab, not the quarters assigned to him, he paused for a moment.
"Ah, I almost forgot. I wanted to tell you—the portable shielding device is nearly complete. It exceeds the standard benchmarks, so there isn't any lacking. The only downside is that the design's so complex, we can't make many of them."
Could it be that he'd used nanobots for that too?
"Currently, three have been finished, and I'm working on a fourth. With the Albatross's current tech level, five is probably the limit."
Carrot said he would finish tweaking them before the final operation, then walked away. I exhaled quietly as I watched him go. Maybe because of our earlier conversation, his physique seemed smaller than before.
When Carrot had approached me, already waiting in the corridor, I'd told him about Sprout absorbing the reactor's core. Since not much was known about the reactor, Carrot didn't know a lot immediately.
So he hadn't been able to find out more. As for Sprout—it was sleeping soundly, completely oblivious—or really, just not caring about any of it.
I had the sense that Sprout's consciousness was more subdued than usual. I'd just have to wait and see what effect absorbing the reactor core would have.
"Hyun-woo, earlier you said we succeeded in the operation thanks to the extract, right?"
"I did."
"What exactly happened in there?"
Nadia asked, double-checking the injuries Carrot had just treated. Even Carry, who had been quietly in standby mode, seemed to perk up with curiosity.
They'd be briefed soon, but it wouldn't hurt to let them know in advance. I recalled the first moment I'd met ORCA.
"When I entered the reactor chamber, suddenly a swarm of Remoras appeared. The door even closed—it was a total emergency. All I could think was that I had to survive, so I fought, then remembered the nanobot extract Carrot gave me. I spread it around, since he'd said that would give me control over the robots."
"Did it work?"
"It did. But honestly, just that wasn't much of a success. Only three units recognized us as allies."
To be honest, I'd thought everything was over at that point. The Remora forces were endless—break one, two appeared; break two, there were three.
Even the Remoras I'd managed to control struggled hard but ended up being torn apart. My heart sank at the sight.
Hearing this, Nadia stomped her feet anxiously. It was good this was all in the past; if she'd been there, she'd probably have hit the cannon fire button herself. I tried to reassure her as I continued.
"That's when I met it. Or maybe I should say, that's when it appeared."
"What?"
"Something similar to Carry."
「(ㅇࡇㅇ)?」
Carry, upon hearing this, displayed a question mark and started circling around me, as if urging a quick answer. Clearly, she was very curious.
"A Comprehensive Hazard Control Assistance System—codename ORCA. It called itself an independent operating program separated from Sky Whale's main system."
"ORCA... so it was a robot? Or, since it said program, maybe it entered a Remora unit?"
"That's right. Thanks to ORCA, we could initiate the purification protocol. To be honest, if it was just me and Celly, we would have failed. The situation inside was that bad."
I briefly described what happened after ORCA woke up—how I'd run frantically through the corridors to evade the Remora horde, how ORCA suddenly made a sound to tell me where to hide, and how that allowed us to regroup and cooperate.
"It didn't talk like a robot and could express itself clearly. That's why I said it was like Carry. Oh, in terms of modules, it's better than Carry. I guess you can't ignore the difference between hardware."
"... Wow."
Nadia exclaimed, and with a sly move pretended to cover Carry's ears. She must have realized it wasn't something Carry would want to hear.
But it was too late—no, it didn't matter. Carry didn't have ears anyway. Already, as soon as the name ORCA was mentioned, Carry grew tense.
「( °ᗝ° ).ᐟ.ᐟ」
Carry seemed appalled I could say such a thing, circling even faster in annoyance—like a loose firecracker. The chaos was dizzying.
"What's gotten into you all of a sudden?"
Flustered, I tried to track Carry's angry flight with my eyes. She was so fast I couldn't catch her with my hands, nor could I use telekinesis—the just-stabilized core might get jostled again.
Nadia glared, thwacking her tail in the air.
"These days, with Sprout stressing her out, now Hyun-woo drooled over another robot right in front of Carry..."
"When did I do that?"
"You said ORCA was better..."
"No, I meant in terms of modules. There's a big difference between a cargo robot and an unmanned combat Remora. That's all I meant."
I pleaded my innocence, but—no, there wasn't anyone—or rather, any robot—to listen. Carry seethed with displeasure.
Nadia nodded knowingly, but added that robot hearts were another matter. She whispered that drastic action would be needed.
Sensing this couldn't be resolved with words alone, I quickly composed my face and called to Carry, sincerely. She folded her support arms, indicating I should say my piece.
"It's true ORCA has better performance—no, that's not what I mean. I was just speaking positively. But seriously, now that it's just us, do you know how finicky it was? Every time we asked something, it said we didn't have enough authority, or there was no point in telling us, and looked at us like we were hopeless! Carry, you're nothing like that—you're always good. Really."
Carry looked at me with suspicion, not easily swayed anymore. I mumbled in my mind, 'Sorry, oRCA.' Given ORCA's mature side, I hoped it would understand.
"Even if you can't talk, and you're sometimes as troublesome as we are, or even as picky as ORCA can be—you're still number one, Carry."
「(ᝪᨓᝪ)」
Yet Carry still didn't seem pleased. I was being sincere. She gave off an 'Do I believe this or not?' vibe. So, I turned up the Carry-praise dial.
「(˶˚ ᗨ ˚˶)」
When I showed her what it meant to pamper her, Carry finally started to look happy. Her eyes even softened.
「♡⸜(˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)⸝♡」
Only after being reassured several more times did Carry fully bounce back, zipping excitedly through the ship. Watching her, Nadia and I both cracked smiles. Playing like this with Carry felt like it had been a long time.
「♡⸜(ˆᗜˆ˵ )⸝♡」
While Carry, the ambassador of love, spun around the ship, the internal broadcast sounded.
「Emergency status lifted. All personnel, stand down to normal readiness and take your rest.」
Apparently, the judgment was that the pureblood supremacist pursuers wouldn't show up for a while. At last, the situation had been cleared. Celestia appeared, saying the meeting preparations were complete, as if she'd been waiting for this moment.
"Hyun-woo, you've been waiting long, haven't you? Sorry. Something kept popping up on the scan net so it took longer than expected."
"No need to apologize. I've just been sitting and resting."
"Fortunately, the meeting won't take long, so just hang in there a bit more. Here, lean on me—I'll help you."
Celestia naturally wedged herself between Nadia and me to help support me. Nadia, who'd been preparing to steady me, seemed momentarily flustered to have her spot taken right in front of her.
Celestia gave Nadia an apologetic smile, asking for her understanding.
"It'll be better if I help. It's easier for the person being supported if the height difference isn't big."
"Well, that's true..."
"It'll probably take a bit longer to get to the bridge since we'll walk slowly. Do you want to go on ahead? We'll catch up soon."
"No, let's go together. The meeting can't start until Hyun-woo arrives, anyway."
Nadia shook her head firmly. She called Carry, who was still quivering with excitement, and climbed onto her. As soon as Nadia boarded, Carry settled down as if for safety.
With a furrowed brow, Nadia tapped her shoulder to ease her knotted muscles. Celestia watched her for a moment before speaking softly.
"Nadia, thank you. Thanks to you holding out and causing confusion outside, we were able to make it back."
"I was only doing what I was supposed to. Just like Celestia finally succeeded in activating the protocol."
Nadia said that everyone had simply done what they were meant to in their own places and shook her head. But she seemed pleased. Her tail, slightly curled before, now began to sway lightly.