Ch.143Chapter 23. Line (6)

Somewhat disappointingly, despite being in space, I never got to directly experience the “grandeur of the universe.”

Because I couldn’t see outside.

This spacecraft doesn’t have windows. Of course, not all spacecraft in the world lack windows. From what I’ve heard, space stations have windows, and most spacecraft launched from Earth had windows too.

If they had installed some kind of glass that could withstand the heat of leaving the atmosphere or cosmic radiation, I might have been able to see Jupiter, but this vessel wasn’t designed for tourism, so it lacked such amenities.

Well, the bridge where we fought had screens to view the outside. And since we completely shattered those screens, I can’t really complain.

“…We’ve arrived.”

Even hearing Cherry’s words, it was hard to feel that we were near Jupiter.

“Is there some kind of facility?”

Hayun cautiously asked Cherry.

“…Yes.”

Cherry answered again, as if she herself didn’t quite believe it.

Then, she turned her laptop screen toward us.

“Is this… a space station?”

Hayun murmured.

“That’s right. It’s positioned to always hide behind Jupiter when viewed from Earth. Though it’s so small that even if it could be seen, it wouldn’t be clearly visible.”

But since there are space telescopes, if it had been placed in a visible location, that would have made it very easy to detect.

Over the past few years, all planned probe missions from Earth to Jupiter had been canceled.

Aliens had already visited the planet, and everything that could be learned had already been discovered, so there was no need to send anything. Besides, Jupiter wasn’t particularly impressive when compared to the galaxy as a whole.

Jupiter was “the largest entity humans could send something to,” but it wasn’t overwhelmingly massive or mysterious when compared to the entire galaxy.

We could now directly visit binary star systems, and there were planets or stars with rings far more massive than Saturn’s. And now we could encounter these not just in theory or imagination but in actual photographs, and to a limited extent, we could even visit them directly.

What Earth people once considered great scientific achievements were completely overturned the moment we met the Galactic Federation. It was something that couldn’t be expressed simply as a “shock.” It was a story that couldn’t be fully expressed even by saying that all previous common sense had to be completely rewritten from the beginning.

…And that’s probably why they could hide here. Precisely because no one bothered to send anything this far.

The facility visible on the laptop was a massive space station that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Large enough to house dozens of ships like ours.

Even though it was just a small screen, the atmosphere of that facility with Jupiter in the background was somewhat surreal.

“Why here?”

I asked, suddenly curious.

“If they wanted to hide, there should be safer places. Not just a planet that no longer receives attention from others, but maybe in a different star system… or they could have hidden in between.”

The galaxy might look like a structure packed with stars when viewed from afar, but in reality, there are also enormous empty spaces in between.

Just floating in the middle of a vacuum would be conspicuous, but hiding near a planet in an uninhabited star system would have been much better for concealment.

“…So they could receive stable supplies from Earth.”

But Cherry’s answer made me close my mouth.

What they needed to receive stably wouldn’t just be food or air.

“Can we dock?”

I asked.

“Just a moment.”

Cherry replied, then typed on her laptop.

“Yes, we can. James’s communication line is still active.”

“Good.”

Whatever happens, we need to go inside to find out what’s going on.

I looked back at the children.

The magical girls, and Pang Pang who wasn’t a magical girl.

Only now do I feel some regret. Maybe we shouldn’t have come alone. Perhaps we should have gathered with other heroes.

It was a decision made because we couldn’t trust the Federation, but—

“…”

Noticing my concern, Hayun took my hand.

…Right.

Having come this far, regret is meaningless. We can’t just turn back now that we’ve come all this way.

If a truly dangerous moment comes—well.

I’ll have to send the children back, at least.

“…Let’s go, then.”

When I spoke, the children nodded. Even Rose’s face, which usually showed some mischief, was now completely serious.

The ship stopped. The whole vessel shook slightly as if connecting to something, and then I felt a slight flow of air.

Together, we headed toward this unknown facility.

*

The surroundings were extremely quiet.

More precisely, only the sound of machinery running could be heard. Perhaps the ventilation system was operating? Though strictly speaking, it would be an air conditioning system rather than ventilation.

In the massive corridor, wide enough for four dump trucks to drive side by side, there were no people or even machines moving about.

But I didn’t let my guard down. In fact, because it was this kind of place, I couldn’t afford to be careless.

After walking for a while—

“…Ah.”

In the distance, there was a massive door blocking our path. A door as enormous as this passageway.

Going closer and touching it, I couldn’t figure out how to open it. It wasn’t something we could just tear apart either.

Could we cut through it with magic and break through to the other side? I seriously considered it, but—

“Wait.”

Pang Pang stepped forward with a somewhat tense expression.

She slowly reached out and placed her hand on the door.

There were no terminals or cameras attached to the door, but when Pang Pang placed her hand on it, blue light appeared around her hand, tracing its outline.

The light lingered under Pang Pang’s hand as if verifying something, then slowly spread across the entire door. Like a drop of paint falling onto water.

The light reached the edges of the door, glowing like a frame, then disappeared.

And, without a sound, the door opened.

“…Looks like my coming along was useful after all. That’s a relief.”

Seeing Pang Pang scratch her head while saying that, I wondered how to respond. It’s true that I asked her to come for this kind of role… but treating a friend like a tool still bothers me a bit.

Though I had treated the magical girls that way several times when we lived in the mountains.

It’s funny that I’m feeling this way now.

In the end, I awkwardly nodded to Pang Pang, and we continued walking inside.

And once we got inside, the atmosphere began to change.

The corridor gradually narrowed, and doors appeared on both sides. Each door had a window, and through those windows, we could see “recovering aliens.”

“…Kaijin.”

When I murmured this, the children nodded.

Beyond those windows were all the Kaijin we had defeated, and probably those defeated by heroes from other countries as well.

As if this place were a hospital for treating such Kaijin.

But none of us thought of it that way.

It didn’t seem to be for purely “humanitarian” purposes.

As we went deeper, the space remained equally bright, but the atmosphere inside those “hospital rooms” changed.

Some areas had red lighting, as if to intimidate visitors. Though there was no blood visible inside, we could see machines with saw blades attached.

And also armor-like objects similar to what we had seen on the Kaijin disguised as robots.

Production factory.

That was my impression.

Trudge, trudge.

“Pang Pang?”

I called out to Pang Pang who was walking ahead of us, but as if entranced by something, she continued forward without responding to my call.

Perhaps she was shocked by the possibility that her grandmother might have built this facility.

Still, it wasn’t completely strange…

The place Pang Pang was heading to was the end of the path.

By “end,” I don’t mean it was blocked. Rather, that end split left and right—creating a gentle “hall” at the terminus.

From the outside, this facility looked like an inverted cone that narrowed toward the bottom, with docks protruding in all directions like piers. It was a typical sci-fi style space station, if anything.

So naturally, one would think that something important would be at the “center.”

Pang Pang placed her hand, then her forehead, against a massive glass panel. The entire upper part of the hall was made of enormous glass.

We, who had been examining the ominous rooms connected to the corridor, were drawn by her posture and went to Pang Pang’s side to look inside the facility.

“…”

And all of us momentarily lost our words.

We had thought there would be some kind of “production facility” inside the ship. Of course, we hadn’t found anything. There were only Earth-human Kaijin inside, nothing else.

The facility we couldn’t find was here.

“…Artificial wombs?”

Ju-a, who knew the most about such things, murmured. Seeing the attention turn to her, Ju-a spoke somewhat flustered.

“It’s like an incubator. However, it’s designed to grow them from… the embryonic stage. They were probably ‘producing’ Kaijin here as if manufacturing items.”

That was it.

Inside were human-sized “adults,” curled up like fetuses in a mother’s womb.

The facility that could grow humans into “adults” in just a few years was right before our eyes.

“Why go to such lengths.”

Pang Pang murmured.

“…Let’s go.”

I said, patting Pang Pang’s shoulder.

Pang Pang nodded.

*

Even at the center, there was no one we could talk to. Or were they hiding?

Moving with extreme caution, we were able to reach the control device at the center of the facility.

The characters written on the control device were not from Earth.

“This is… the writing from my home planet.”

Pang Pang murmured.

“Do you think you know how it works?”

“…”

Pang Pang placed her hand on the facility.

Then, light gathered under Pang Pang’s palm, similar to what we had seen at the door earlier.

“…Would you like to shut down the facility?”

Pang Pang murmured.

We looked around, somewhat bewildered.

There were still people inside the incubators. Of course, they weren’t naturally born beings, but they were definitely entities that could be called Earth humans. At least, they must have used similar genes.

If the facility is shut down, what will happen to these people?

“Something feels off.”

Ju-a murmured.

“Right. It’s strange.”

Cherry also muttered in a tense voice.

“That there was no resistance at all on our way here. And that they would allow control of the most important part of the facility just because we brought one person—it’s all strange.”

Cherry looked at me as she spoke.

“Above all, where is James? James, who sent that code through a personal channel… Of course, seeing this facility, even someone like James might feel guilty, but the fact that he’s nowhere to be seen even though we’ve come this far.”

James was someone who worshipped the Chairman. Has his thinking still not changed? Even after seeing this situation?

Most importantly, the Chairman? Where on earth is the Chairman?

“…”

Pang Pang touched the screen a few more times.

“Wait, Pang Pang.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t touch that fingerprint.”

Pang Pang said, staring at the screen as if being sucked into it. Her hand movements were familiar. Perhaps this was an interface commonly used on the planet where Pang Pang lived?

“…”

After touching the screen for a while, Pang Pang took a deep breath.

“What? What’s wrong?”

When I asked somewhat urgently, Pang Pang looked at me and said.

“…There’s a function to transfer administrator rights.”

“To whom?”

“…Me. To the Chairman’s closest relative. This is, a kind of will.”

“…”

We were momentarily speechless.

We had never seen the Chairman directly. It seems even James had never seen him directly.

We had only met people who followed the Chairman’s will.

“Though it’s called a will, there’s nothing written asking for anything. It just says whether I want to receive the authority or not.”

“That is correct.”

Just as Pang Pang finished speaking, we were startled by someone addressing us.

Click, click, making the sound of dress shoes, the approaching person was a red-skinned man. That office worker I had seen once before.

“Why do you think such a coup could occur at Noir Corporation? Of course, Miss Pung Pung didn’t think the Chairman had passed away, but it was possible because she thought his ‘influence’ had weakened sufficiently.”

Following the corridor we had come through, the office worker took a few more steps forward.

“Of course, the Chairman had created insurance, but it was somewhat unexpected that this ‘insurance’ would be much more troublesome than the Chairman had anticipated.”

He was probably talking about Pang Pang.

“But since you’ve come back here, I’d like to make an offer. Would you accept the position of Chairman? After inheriting it, you could do as you wish.”

“Pang Pang, don’t do it.”

Ju-a said sharply.

“This is a trap.”

“I can’t help it if you believe that.”

The man’s head scanned left and right. There were people there. People who had not yet been born.

“Don’t you think you could save them all? Besides these people, there are many more beings in the facility.”

“…”

Pang Pang thought for a moment, then shook her head.

“…No.”

Her voice was resolute. Even in the face of potentially endless wealth and glory.

“I don’t want this. That’s why I ran away.”

“Is that so.”

The office worker exhaled lightly.

His attire was still the same as when I last saw him. That attitude, as if negotiating with a client, was very displeasing.

And that atmosphere suggesting he wasn’t simply motivated by money.

If he had just been materialistic, I wouldn’t have minded as much.

“…Indeed, the Chairman said the same thing. That ‘when he was young,’ he felt the same way. So, he said he’d leave it to you.”

“…What?”

Pang Pang murmured.

“Earth humans could be created in just a few years. That means our company has possessed such technology for a long time. It means we could create people from planets other than our own.”

The man looked at Pang Pang as he spoke.

“That means creating ‘clones’ of our planet’s people has been an established technology for a long time.”

“What?”

Pang Pang murmured again.

And then.

“Ugh!”

She clutched her head.

“Pang Pang?!”

I shouted.

Hayun had already drawn her sword.

So—

“We’ve been waiting, Chairman. And for the completed generator as well.”

The office worker said.

His face bore a certain “conviction.”