Sword Art Online - Volume 18 - Chapter 23.2

Chapter 23.2
Ten minutes elapsed.

Koujiro Rinko wrung her sweat-drenched hands, staring at the digital numbers as they ticked by without mercy.

The amount of time that had passed in Underworld since the beginning of the maximum acceleration phase — was 100 years.  

Exactly what time of such monstrous length felt like to Kirigaya Kazuto and Yuuki Asuna was something far exceeding her own imagination. All she could be certain of was that both their Fluctlight memory retention capacities were nearing their limits.

Higa estimated that once a human soul accumulated 150 years’ worth of memories, it would no longer function normally and begin to collapse. But naturally that had not been experimentally confirmed; the real limit might arrive later — or sooner.

All she could do now was pray that they finish the logout procedure before their souls destroyed themselves. If they could manage that, then there was still hope of restoring the both of them to normal.

—Higa-kun, Kikuoka-san, please.

In the midst of her praying, Rinko failed to notice that the faint gunfire traveling from downstairs had ceased some time ago, until Captain Nakanishi came running back to the sub control room and informed her.

“Doctor! The enemy is retreating from the Ocean Turtle!”

“Re… Retreating?!”

Rinko lifted her face up and repeated, stunned.

Why now? Now that the partition was reopened, wasn’t this the attackers’ last chance to grab Alice? They were giving up far too easily. There were still eight more hours before the escort vessel «Nagato» began its assault.

Typing on the keyboard to call up a status window monitoring the conditions of various regions inside the ship, Rinko asked the captain:

“Was anyone hurt in the fight?”

“Yes… two lightly wounded, one severely who’s being treated right now, but nothing life-threatening.”

“I see…”

She softly exhaled her held breath. A slight glance towards him revealed that the bold lines traced by Nakanishi’s cheekbone had been obscured with a large bandage, which was steadily growing bloodier. He was probably one among the lightly wounded.

They had to save those two kids so all the fighting did not go to waste.

At least the enemy’s retreat came as good news. Her eyes flew across the status window, affirming that the door of the underwater dock at the Ocean Turtle’s bottom — the one used by the attackers when they boarded — was being opened.

“They seem to be fleeing in their submarine. It’s just that, this is much too hasty…”

Rinko raised her eyebrows, and—

A tremor, completely unlike anything they had felt ever before, shook the entire main shaft.

Hyuuuun. Bassy rumbling permeated the gigantic self-propelling megafloat like cold wind. A ballpoint pen rolled off the table and clattered to the floor.  

“Wha… What?! What’s happening?!”

“This is… Ahh… the bastards, they can’t have…!!”

Captain Nakanishi’s shout was half a moan.

“This trembling — it’s the main engine running at full speed, Doctor!!”

“Main… engine?”

“The main engine… the pressurized water reactor at the bottom of the shaft.”

Nakanishi raced past a wide-eyed, dazed Rinko and took her place at the console, awkwardly manipulating the status window. New windows popped up continuously, and one of them was playing a blurry video feed.

“Shit!! The control rods are all raised!! Those bastards, what the hell are they playing at?!”

Bam! He slammed a fist down on the console. Her throat dry, Rinko asked him:

“But, there are fail-safes, aren’t there…?”

“Of course. The control rods are automatically lowered to stop the fission before the reactor core reaches criticality. But… here, take a look at this.”

Nakanishi’s finger was pointing to the monitor, at one position on the live feed of the reactor’s containment vessel. It was hard to tell through the hodgepodge of crimson light, but something tiny and white appeared to be stuck onto a spot of the large, orange-painted machinery.

“I believe this is C4… plastic explosive. A piece this small should be insufficient to breach both the containment vessel and pressure vessel, but directly under there is the electrical CRD responsible for lowering the control rod cluster into the reactor core… the drive mechanism, in other words. If that gets destroyed, then the control rods won’t be able to lower themselves…”

“And we… won’t be able to stop the fission? What happens then…?”

“The first thing that will happen is that the coolant will generate a steam explosion, wrecking the pressure vessel… worse comes to worst, the molten core will breach the containment vessel and the ship’s hull, then drop into the sea and create massive amounts of steam, and at that point the entire shaft will be blown sky-high, including the main control room, the Light Cube Cluster, and our sub control room here.”

“Wha……”

Rinko couldn’t help but stare at the floor underneath her. These solid metal plates getting melted through, and superheated steam shooting up from below—?

If that were to happen, there would be nothing left: nothing of the RATH technicians who had somehow all survived until now, nothing of Kazuto and Asuna who were connected to the STLs, and nothing of the ten thousand plus Artificial Fluctlights in the Light Cube Cluster…

“I’m going to disarm the C4.” Nakanishi muttered suddenly.

“The bastards should have set a charge timer long enough to put sufficient distance between their submarine and the Ocean Turtle. At least five minutes… which is plenty.”

“B-But, Nakanishi-san. The temperature in the engine room, it’s already…”

“It’s okay, it’ll only be like a slightly hotter sauna. I’ll just bolt over and rip off the detonator. Easy.”

—Surely a situation that warrants protective clothing. But there’s no time to make such preparations.

Rinko found herself unable to say the words. Nakanishi was already walking towards the door, his wide back swelling with steely resolution.

However.

A second before his black leather combat boots reached the automatic door.

Rinko’s ears suddenly detected a noise she had never heard in this room until now. Nakanishi’s hand flew to the holster at his right waist and his eyes darted towards the left side of the room.

Whirrrrr. With the metallic hum of a motor, something stretched out a right foot from its fastened frame—

A mechanical body constructed from metal and plastic: Niemom.

Rinko and Nakanishi goggled blankly as the humanoid machine approached at a sluggish pace, its head sensor glowing red.

It should not be able to move.

Hadn’t Higa, its designer, told them that? Unlike Ichiemom, which was equipped with many walking balancers, Niemom was designed from the start to be an Artificial Fluctlight vessel and couldn’t even take a single step without a Light Cube inserted in it. The only Artificial Fluctlight missing from the Cluster was Alice, and she was still sitting inside her case on the table. The socket in Niemom’s head should be empty.

“Why… Why is Prototype #2…”

Nakanishi uttered, astonished, as he drew his handgun from its holster and held it aloft. But without sparing him so much as a glance, Niemom headed straight for Rinko, stopping roughly two meters away from her, and began to emit a voice — somewhat corrupted with electronic noises — from a speaker installed at an unknown location on its head:

“I will go.“

That voice.

The faint odor of oil emanating from Niemom’s body stung her nose.

Rinko had heard that same voice and smelled that same scent in the dream she had in her cabin bed during her first night on the Ocean Turtle.

She stood on shaking feet and began to walk towards Niemom, croaking:

“Is… Is that you, A… Akihiko-san……?”

Glowing a muddled light, the sensor flickered as though it were blinking, and the robot gave a small nod.

Rinko took a final step, almost drawn to it, and silently caressed the aluminum chassis with trembling hands. Motors whirred as the robot’s hands raised upwards, stroking Rinko’s back.

“I’m sorry for leaving you alone for so long, Rinko-kun.“

It was a computerized, artificial voice, but unmistakably belonging to the only man Koujiro Rinko had ever loved — Kayaba Akihiko.

“Why… are you here?”

She whispered in the local dialect she should have forgotten long ago. Tears sprang from her eyes, turning Niemom’s laser light into a blur.

“There’s no time, so I’ll only say what’s important. Rinko-kun, I was very fortunate to meet you. You have been the only one who can connect me to the real world. If you wish… I would like you to keep this connection into the future: keep on connecting my dream… the two worlds that remain separate even today…”

“Yes… of course… of course.”

She nodded frantically, and the masklike mechanical face gave her a very faint smile.

The robot moved away from her, changed direction by nimbly shifting its center of gravity, and exited the sub control room into the hallway with what resembled a running gait.

Without thinking, Rinko was just about to chase after it when the automatic door slid shut.

She drew in a deep breath and clenched her teeth. She could not leave this room now. She was still responsible for monitoring the conditions of various locations.

Rinko looked up at the video of the engine room, clutching the locket at her chest. She could hear a bemused Captain Nakanishi say in an almost exasperated tone, “Why now…”

It was true that they had faced many dangers so far. But Rinko felt that she understood why Kayaba had chosen this moment to shed his role as an observer.

“…He’s not doing it for Underworld. That man has no intention of intervening with the simulation. He chose this moment to reveal himself because he wants to protect Kirigaya-kun and Asuna-san…”

***

When Higa Takeru heard the low roar of the turbines from somewhere underneath the cable duct, he finally realized what was meant by Kikuoka’s feared «worst case scenario».

“Ki… Kiku-san, those assholes, they… the reactor…”

His moan was interrupted by determined instructions.

“I know. But right now, we need to focus on shutting down the STLs.”

“O… Okay. But…”

Arriving at the maintenance panel at last, Higa felt cold sweat all over his body as he inserted the cable jack a second time.

This would all be pointless if the reactor lost control. Even Underworld and Alice’s Light Cube would be utterly obliterated by scorching steam and powerful radiation. Not to mention the many deaths that would occur.

But causing a reactor explosion was nothing trivial. Small arms were incapable of breaching the double-layer, solid metal containment vessel encasing the reactor core, and there were numerous failsafes installed into the control system. Even if the engine were forced to run at full speed, the safety procedure would immediately kick in and drop the control rods to stop the fission.

At this point, Kikuoka asked Higa in his normally calm tone:

“Well, Higa-kun, can you take it from here on your own?”

“Mm… Yeah, I can keep working if I secure my harness to the ladder… B-But, Kiku-san, you’re not thinking of going down there and…”

“Nah, I’m just going to quickly check the situation. I won’t do anything stupid, I’m coming right back up.”

With that, Kikuoka swiftly undid the harness tying them both together, slid the woven nylon belt through the ladder, and rebuckled it. After making sure Higa’s body held steady, he climbed down a few steps.

“I’ll leave it to you then, Higa-kun.”

The slender eyes behind his black-rimmed glasses flashed with a grin.

“P-Please be careful! Some of those guys might still be here!”

Kikuoka gave an very uncharacteristic thumbs up with his right hand in response, then resumed climbing down the ladder at top speed.

After stepping into the tunnel at the very bottom, he took a cautious peek inside, and slid his body through.

Higa only began to notice after Kikuoka’s figure had completely vanished.

He was typing on his laptop’s keyboard with his right hand and tried to adjust the harness with his left as it was digging into his abdomen, when he felt something sticky. Startled, he peered down, and realized by the glow of orange emergency lights that his palm had been dampened by dark blood.

It took only one glance for Higa to register that it was not his own.

***

Although nearly all of the surveillance cameras inside the lower shaft — which, until a few minutes ago had still been occupied by the attackers — were destroyed, the camera head in the reactor containment engine room area remained unharmed.

Rinko looked up towards the main monitor at an enlarged image of the video feed, both hands clasped around her locket, waiting.

To her immediate left, Captain Nakanishi’s clenched fists were resting upon the console. Behind them, the security forces and technicians who had returned from battle were now deep in prayer, each in his own way.

Rinko had pleaded with everyone to at least retreat to the bridge, but not a single person left the main shaft.

Every single person here had dedicated their all to the clandestine research and development of the front organization RATH. Each entrusted his hopes and dreams to a new era that true bottom-up artificial intelligence was sure to pioneer.

Until now Rinko had believed herself only a temporary visitor on this ship. She had felt unlikely to ever approve of the goals of someone whose true motivations were as inscrutable as Kikuoka Seijirou’s.

But she still came to RATH. And now, she was finally beginning to understand.

Artificial Fluctlights should never be restricted to such a narrow research goal as becoming AI for autonomous weaponry.

Similarly, Underworld was not just any societal development simulation.

Both represented the beginning of an epic paradigm shift.

A different reality — one would inspire change in a world heading ever closer towards a closed future. A world that realized the will of young people fighting to break free of the established system into an invisible power: An Incarnating Radius.

—That’s your goal, isn’t it, Akihiko-san?

That’s what you noticed and discovered during your two years in that floating castle — their infinite potential, and the dazzling, blinding light of their spirits.

No matter the reason, trapping 10,000 people in a electronic prison and causing the deaths of 4,000 among them counted as the worst crime in human history and did not deserve forgiveness. Not even Rinko could ever be absolved of her own cooperation in bringing about such an atrocity.

But right now… this wish was something she permitted herself to believe in.

—Please, Akihiko-san. Protect everyone… and protect the world.

As though in response to Rinko’s prayer, something in the remote feed on the monitor shifted at last.

The silver mechanical body emerged onto the narrow walkway leading towards the engine room, which housed a state-of-the-art pressurized water reactor.

By now its battery level was likely already beginning to decrease; the robot’s footsteps were growing heavier. It advanced with a great kalunk, kalunk, as though it were fighting against its own weight.

It was difficult to imagine when Kayaba’s mind-simulation program had begun hiding inside that body, but Rinko was sure of one thing: the program in #2’s memory was the original, the one and only. No intelligence could withstand the thought that it was a copy of something else.

How much of the engine room’s blistering heat would the prototype body’s electronics — which did not possess any special heat resistance — be able to endure? Removing just the detonator would prevent the plastic explosive from blowing up, but if Niemom’s memory were damaged, Kayaba’s consciousness would vanish in an instant.

Please, disarm the bomb safely and come back to me again — Rinko implored, biting her lip.

One could only assume that Kayaba Akihiko was fully prepared to perish.

Back then he had been willing to destroy his brain to leave behind a copy of his mind, and now he had finally achieved his goal and found a place to die.

The robot’s joint actuators creaked dully.

Its metal feet clunked on the floor.

With earnest but steady steps, the metal body arrived in front of the engine room door at last.

It stretched out its right hand and manipulated the control panel with stiff movements. The indicator changed to green, and the bulky alloy door swung inwards—

At that moment.

Earsplitting rapid gunfire rang out of the speaker. Niemom stretched both arms around its body in defense, retreating with rigid steps backward.

A soldier in black combat garb shot out from beyond the door, shouting something.

It was undoubtedly one of the attackers, but unlike before, he was not wearing a helmet and goggles to hide his face. Even from the grainy video of the surveillance camera, they could tell that the delicately featured, somewhat stubbled man had quite a venomous expression on his face.

“Wha… There’s still someone here?! Why?! Isn’t that suicide…?!” Captain Nakanishi groaned in shock.

Without mercy, the man showered #2 — in its defensive position — with bullets.

Sparks flew as several holes were punched into its aluminum chassis. Bullets severed nerve cables all over its body and jets of lubricant sprayed from polymer muscle cylinders.

“No… NOOO!!”

Rinko could not stifle her scream. The enemy soldier on the screen shouted again in heated English, and depressed his trigger for a third time. The robot staggered, and began to take step after step backward.

“No! #2’s chassis can’t handle that!!”

He would never make it in time, butCaptain Nakanishi made to snatch up his sidearm and dash outside.

Next moment.

A series of new gunshots was heard from the speaker.

A third figure had charged forward from the side closer to the hallway and begun firing wildly. The enemy’s body gave a violent shake to the right. Not a single shot of the continuous fire coming from directly behind was misfiring onto the mechanical body. Who on earth was displaying such marksmanship—?

Eyes so wide she forgot to breathe, Rinko watched as blood spurted from the enemy soldier’s chest at last, and as though he were being swept out of the way, he keeled over onto the ground, where he lay motionless.

Immediately after, their savior knelt gingerly down in the middle of the walkway—

Then he collapsed sideways. Rinko moved the mouse with a trembling hand, zooming the camera closer.

A fringe fell over his forehead. Black-rimmed glasses askew. The corners of his mouth lifted in what appeared to be the traces of a smile.

“Ki… Kikuoka-san?!”

“Lieutenant Colonel…!!”

Rinko and Nakanishi screamed in unison.

This time the JSDF serviceman really did bolt from the room, almost falling over in his hurry. Several security force members pursued him. Rinko could no longer stop them.

A technician raced to the console in her stead. After several keystrokes he pulled up what looked to be #2’s status.

“Left arm output at zero. Right arm at 65 percent. Left leg and right leg both at 70 percent. Battery level 30 percent. We’re good, it can still move!!”

As though it had heard the technician’s yell, #2 began its advance once more.

Zzt, krak. Zzt, krak. Sparks flew from severed cables with every rigid step.

The instant its battered body crossed through the door, Rinko switched cameras to show video from inside the engine room.

The second heat-resistant door was physically locked with a huge lever. #2’s right hand closed around the handle and attempted to push it down, but its elbow actuator spun chaotically and ejected a shower of sparks.

“Please…”

Rinko whispered, and at the same time shouts of encouragement were heard all around the sub control room.

“You can do it, Niemom!!”

“That’s it, just a little more!!”

Ka-chunk.

The lever sank with a hefty thunk.

The heavy steel door burst open at once, as though forced outwards by pressure from inside. On the monitor they could see waves of heat shooting out.

Niemom’s body wobbled. Sparks, more intense now, flashed along the thick cable hanging from its spine.

“Ah… Ahh, oh no!!” One of the technicians suddenly shouted.

“What… What’s wrong?!”

“The battery cable’s damaged!! If that breaks, then the whole body’s power source will be cut… and then it won’t be able to move at all…”

Neither Rinko nor any of the other staff members spoke.

Kayaba should have noticed this severe blow within #2 by now. He appeared to hold the swaying cable steady with his right elbow, and begin taking gradual steps forward again.

The long-awaited engine room interior was already at such a high temperature that any living human would find it unbearable: the reactor was constantly running at full capacity and unable to evacuate any of the blistering heat it was producing.

Soon the safety procedures were bound to trip, and the control rods would automatically descend into the reactor and stop the fission.

But if the plastic explosive detonated before that and destroyed the control rod drive mechanism, the immense number of neutrons emitted from the fuel rods would continue to drive the sustained fission of uranium atoms, eventually reaching the point of uncontrollable criticality.  

The molten core would hit the primary coolant and create a steam explosion, damaging the pressure vessel, and then, under the influence of gravity the core would continue to penetrate the containment vessel, the ship’s hull, and finally the ocean surface—

A sudden image of white steam blasting out of a perforated Ocean Turtle flashed through Rinko’s mind.

She shut her eyes, and prayed again.

“Please… Akihiko-san…!!”

Renewed cheers came quickly from everyone behind her. As though spurred upon by their voices, #2 approached the reactor inch by inch.

Rinko switched to the final camera.

Instantaneously, tremendous noise began issuing from the speaker. The monitor image was splashed with the bright red color of emergency lights.

Parting the heated air as it dragged one of its feet, #2 was only five to six meters away from the plastic explosive on the containment vessel.

The robot raised its right hand towards the detonator. Sparks burst continuously from all over its body as fragments of its chassis broke off onto the floor without interruption.

“Come on… come on… come on!!”

Those were the only words ringing throughout the sub control room now. Rinko’s fists were clenched as she shouted herself hoarse.

Four more meters.

Three meters.

Two meters.

All of a sudden, flares seemed to explode from #2’s back.

The broken, hanging black wire looked no different from an organ that had spilled out of a body.

All sensors on its head darkened. Its right arm fell slowly to its side.

Both of its knees stooped steadily downwards—

#2 was completely silent.

The group of output graphs that had been oscillating back and forth on the main monitor now plummeted as one, dropping into darkness.

The technician’s voice was barely audible as he declared:

“…All output… gone…”

—I don’t believe in miracles.

Kayaba Akihiko said to Rinko that day — the day that the death game SAO was cleared far ahead of schedule and every player was released.

His eyes shone with an unwavering light, and his unshaven mouth was curved into the hint of a smile.

—But today, for the first time in my life, I witnessed a miracle.

—I had him at the end of my sword; his HP should have dropped to zero for good. But almost as if he were resisting the system itself, he refused to accept his own destruction… then he moved his right hand, and thrust his own sword into my chest.

—That moment might have been just what I’ve been waiting for all this time…

“…Akihiko-san!”

Rinko had not noticed that her right hand was gripping her locket so tightly it had begun to bleed. She was screaming:

“You’re «Holy Sword» Heathcliff, aren’t you?! You’re the greatest rival of «Black Swordsman» Kirito-kun, aren’t you?! Then at least… why don’t you show me a miracle too?!”

Blink.

Blink blink.

Twinkling red light was fluttering on the distance sensor on #2’s head.

Its exposed muscle cylinders were quivering slightly.

A faintly shuddering purple glow emerged at the very bottom of the pitch-dark status window—

p260
Page 260
The output graphs of all four limbs and torso shot up all at once. Sparks blew from each actuator on every joint as they began to spin.

“Num… #2 has restarted!!”

The technician almost screamed, and simultaneously, the wound-ridden mechanical body got to its feet once more.

Rinko’s eyes filled with tears.

“Let’s goooo!!”

“That’s iiiiit!!”

Everyone in the sub control room was roaring.

With oil dripping from it like blood, a right foot was put forward.

Lugging its severely injured right foot behind, Niemom raised its right hand aloft.

A step. And another step.

Part of the battery erupted in a small explosion. The body convulsed, but put out another step.

With its right hand stretched to the limit, the tip of Niemom’s finger brushed the plastic explosive on the containment vessel.

Its thumb and forefinger clasped upon the electronic detonator inserted into the C4.

Sparks blew from the joints at its wrists, elbows, and shoulders, in such a way that it was reminiscent of someone in horrible agony. #2 pulled off the IC timer — the detonator, and raised its right hand high into the air.

A flash of light rendered the video completely white.

The exploding detonator had blown the fingers off #2’s right hand; its body slowly pitched to the left—

And crashed onto the floor as though it were a thread breaking in two. The sensor’s blinking light vanished, and at the same time the output graphs plunged once more into darkness.

For a while, no one said anything.

The enormous cheer that came seconds later shook the sub control room.

***

The low roar of the turbines gradually weakened and grew further away, like the recession of a chilly wind.

Higa’s held breath came tumbling out in great pants. They were finally seeing a decrease in the output of the reactor that had been running at dangerously high power.

He dabbed the sweat on his forehead with the cuff of his sleeve, staring at the laptop monitor through grimy glasses.

Shutdown procedures for both STLs had finally finished 80% of all processes. More than 17 minutes had elapsed since the start of the maximum acceleration phase — equivalent to over 180 years in Underworld.

This astronomical amount of time already exceeded Higa’s projected Fluctlight lifespan. In theory, Kirigaya Kazuto and Yuuki Asuna’s souls were very likely to have already destroyed themselves.

But Higa had already admitted that he probably really knew nothing at all about Underworld, or Fluctlights. Sure, he had been the designer, the developer, and the operator, but it looked as though that alternate world, nurtured by artificial souls, had evolved to a level beyond what anyone at RATH could ever dream of.

And yet the only one from the real world who most understood Underworld was Kirigaya Kazuto. Merely a 17-year-old high schooler, he had been thrown into Underworld without a shred of prior knowledge, acclimated to his situation, evolved within, and displayed strength exceeding that of all four Super Accounts.

It had not been strength innate to Kirigaya Kazuto as a person.

None of the RATH staff members thought of the Artificial Fluctlights as anything more than programs for experimental use; Kirigaya Kazuto was the only one who treated them as human from the start. He approached, fought with, protected, and loved them as he would fellow humans.

That was the reason Underworld — the people who lived in it had chosen him as their protector.

If that were true, then maybe, by some miracle that not even Higa could think of, they might survive these 200 years too.

—Isn’t that right, Kirito-kun?

—Now I finally understand why Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka wanted your help so badly. I also understand that we will need you in the future as well.

—So…

“…You have to come back.”

Higa murmured, eyes fixed firmly on the last few percent of the shutdown procedure as it gradually completed.

***

Rinko was the only one left in the sub control room.

Every other staff member had rushed out to rescue Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka and retake command of the main control room.

In fact, she was rather inclined herself to burst into the reactor containment room and ensure #2’s safety, as it was now lying on the floor, and that of Kayaba Akihiko’s mind imitation program, which now ought to be suspended inside #2’s physical memory. But she could not leave her station. Before Higa finished the STL shutdown procedure, she had to monitor the statuses of Kirigaya Kazuto and Yuuki Asuna, who were lying asleep in the neighboring room.

Rinko trusted that both of them would awaken like nothing had happened.

She wanted them to hold Alice’s Light Cube in their hands and tell them: this is what you protected.

Then, she wanted to tell them that someone had protected Underworld from the real world too. The very same Kayaba Akihiko who had imprisoned them, pit them against each other, and made them suffer, had protected the Light Cube Cluster and the Ocean Turtle while driving a mechanical body with a broken battery cable.

She did not want them to forgive him.

There was no absolution for Kayaba Akihiko’s crime, the mass murder of 4,000 young people.

But no matter what, she wanted Kazuto and Asuna to grasp Kayaba’s will to remain, and understand his goal.

Rinko’s eyes were closed and her hands were resting upon the duralumin case containing Alice’s Light Cube when she heard Higa’s voice coming out of her earpiece.

“…Rinko-san, 60 seconds until logout procedures for both are complete.”

“Roger. I’ll go meet them immediately.”

“Please do. Looks like I really can’t climb all the way up this ladder on my own… Also, Kiku-san’s gone down to check the situation, how’s he doing? I think he might be hurt.”

Rinko could not give him an immediate answer. It had been three or four minutes since Captain Nakanishi had made off to assist Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka, who had exchanged gunfire with the enemy soldier in the hallway leading to the engine room and then collapsed, but she had not heard from Nakanishi yet.

But Kikuoka was not someone who stood down before his goal was achieved. That man always maintained an attitude so easygoing it was impossible to look underneath his surface, and he always overcame his circumstances with little effort, no matter how punishing.

“…Yeah, the lieutenant colonel was great back there. Right out of a Hollywood movie.”

“Dang, that’s really unlike him… 30 seconds.”

“I’ll move to the STL room. Contact me if anything happens. Out.”

Rinko ended the correspondence and, clutching the duralumin case to her chest, left the console and set off for the adjoining room.

Seconds before she touched the sliding door, the speaker in the room relayed something from one of the staff members who had gone downstairs.

“Engine room here! Doctor… Can you hear me, Dr. Koujiro?!”

Rinko fought back the sudden leap in her heart rate, changed the channel on her radio, and yelled:

“Yeah, I can hear you! What is it?!”

“W-Well… the C4’s been successfully disarmed, but… it’s gone.”

“Gone?… What’s gone…?”

“#2. We can’t find Niemom’s body anywhere in the engine room!”

***

The cheap digital watch’s timer was chirping faintly.

Crouched in a corner of the Advanced SEAL Delivery System’s personnel transport compartment, Critter was listening hard for any noise outside. After failing for several seconds to hear the megafloat’s explosive liquidation, he let out a single shaking breath.

Not even he was sure whether that was a sigh of relief, or dejection.

The only thing he was sure of was that the C4 explosive they had planted on the Ocean Turtle’s reactor had, for some reason, not exploded, and therefore the control rod drive mechanism had not been destroyed, and a meltdown had not occurred.

Hans was still in the Ocean Turtle’s engine room. If he was safe, he should have been able to manually set off the bomb if something had happened to the detonator, so he had probably been eliminated too.

Not for a second had Critter expected a profit-seeking mercenary to avoid reboarding the ASDS with the full knowledge that he was going to die otherwise. He had sensed something off with Hans when his partner Brigg had bought it, but nothing to suggest that they were close enough to warrant dying in the same place.

“…Well, there were a lot of things I didn’t know…”

Critter muttered inaudibly, restoring his watch to time-display mode.

Indeed — Captain Miller and Vassago had bitten the dust before Hans and his friend, and they probably had motives and reasons of their own that had nothing to do with money. Those obligations had cost them their lives.

Taking that into consideration, Critter and the rest of the squad aboard the submarine were about to land into a heap of trouble for this operation ending in utter failure. Their employer, private military contractor Glowgen Defense Systems, was a corporation that grew large by accepting wetwork affiliated with the NSA or CIA, and likely would not turn a hair at discarding their field agents. All of them could be silenced the moment they set foot back on US soil.  

As an insurance measure he had smuggled a microSD card out of the Ocean Turtle and stuck it to the center of his chest with flesh-colored waterproof tape.

He did not know how much something like that could protect him, but at least he would be going out with a bullet to the head. Much unlike the appalling ways in which Vassago and Captain Miller had died.

“Goddammit…”

Critter snorted and cast a reluctant look towards the two body bags piled at the very back of the transport compartment. He shuddered uncontrollably as Captain Miller’s horrid death swam to the surface of his mind again — and just then.

“……Huh? Two?”

He furrowed his brow and stared at the submarine’s dim stern, but no matter how much he stared, there were only two body bags there. This did not add up. Passing over Hans, who had stayed behind of his own accord, there should have been a total of three fatalities: Captain Miller, Vassago, and Brigg.

“…Hey, Shack.”

With his elbow, he poked a nearby squad mate who was gnawing on an energy bar.

“What?”

“Your team went to collect the bodies, right? Why is there one missing?”

“What do you mean? It was just Brigg in the hallway and Captain Miller in the STL room. Who else is dead?”

“No… there was one more in the STL room…”

“Only the captain’s body was there. Shit, that look on his face? Straight out of my nightmares.”

“………”

Dumbstruck, Critter withdrew his right hand, and surveyed the transport compartment.

Nine squad members, looking equally exhausted, were seated in the narrow space. The figure of Vice Captain Vassago Casals was not among them.

Critter was sure that he had confirmed Captain Miller’s death in the STL room, but he had only seen Vassago. Vassago’s skin had appeared utterly bloodless and his hair had turned gray; nothing about him looked alive. Moreover, if he were still alive, why didn’t he board the submarine?

His brain refused to contemplate the matter further. Critter hugged his knees in silence.

Until the ASDS docked with Seawolf-class nuclear submarine «Jimmy Carter» several tens of minutes later, the normally chatty hacker remained silent.

***

19 minutes and 40 seconds after the start of the maximum acceleration phase—

Soul Translators #3 and #41, installed in STL Room 2 of the Ocean Turtle, completed their shutdown procedures.

Although delayed by approximately three minutes, the time acceleration also came to a stop, and as the cooling system ground to a halt, silence was restored inside the ship.

Released from the STLs with the help of Dr. Koujiro Rinko and Sergeant First Class Aki Natsuki, Kirigaya Kazuto and Yuuki Asuna — did not awaken.

Their Fluctlight activity had dropped to the absolute minimum; it was clear that both of their mental activities had all but fallen to zero.

But Rinko held their hands tight nonetheless, calling their names, tears running down her face.

Faint smiles adorning their lips, Kirito and Asuna were plunged into deep slumber.