Ch.194Counting Stars! (2)

#194

Neither Dexter nor the four women sitting on the sofa could properly read Avery’s expression because of the eyebrows and beard covering his face.

However, seemingly perplexed by Dexter’s sudden proposal, he kept stroking his long white beard as he spoke.

“To be frank, I don’t understand why you’re trying to give us such excessive benefits.”

Avery spoke as if he found Dexter’s actions suspicious.

The frost giants living on Pluto didn’t have research facilities overflowing with advanced technology, nor did they possess coveted wealth, let alone exceptionally beautiful women.

Except for a few young men, they were mostly a refugee group consisting of the elderly and mothers with children.

It made sense for Avery to be suspicious about someone unhesitatingly offering medicine and food to such a refugee group.

“You might consider that Tenpenny Corporation and Earth have common interests. Of course, it’s also beneficial for you frost giants.”

“Beneficial, you say…”

“Although Earth’s technology and industrial development related to space has been remarkably slow—enough to enter a neutrality treaty—their enthusiasm is quite high, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I’m well aware of that.”

“Earth sent an exploration vessel called New Horizons toward Pluto, and the problem is that when this probe reaches its closest point, there’s a high probability that this village will be captured in its images.”

“Are you saying we should leave this place?”

When Avery spoke with quite a disappointed tone, Dexter shook his head.

“Of course not. Didn’t I just mention providing medicine, food, and a camouflage screen?”

“By camouflage screen, do you mean a holographic camouflage screen?”

“You’ll be able to use it semi-permanently.”

After that, Dexter didn’t bother asking for Avery’s intentions verbally, just giving a quick wink.

“What exactly do you want from us?”

“For that, you should have a conversation with Chairman Eliya.”

Dexter’s job was to enter the village, talk with the chief or person in charge to ask about their intentions, hand over the goods, install the camouflage screen, and then return to the spaceship.

“Well, I’ve been living as a refugee until my son grew up, but this is certainly a first.”

Avery gave a hollow laugh while stroking his beard and once again examined Dexter’s group.

They each had weapons, but laser pistols could only cause minor injuries to frost giants.

Moreover, since everyone except Dexter appeared to be female, from the frost giants’ perspective, Dexter’s group clearly had no intention of attacking.

“Anyway, thank you. When do you plan to install the camouflage screen?”

“The robots will bring it over. They should have arrived by now.”

Just as Dexter was speaking while looking at the time displayed on the HUD of his visor mask, someone roughly knocked on the door.

When Avery pressed a button attached to the wall, the door opened, and a man who had been standing guard rushed in, breathing heavily and looking at Avery with an urgent expression.

“Father, quadrupedal robots carrying strange pole-like objects are coming this way!”

“Are these the robots you mentioned?”

“Yes, that must be them. By the way, is this gentleman your son, Mr. Avery?”

“That’s right. This is my son, Capitan. He’s still young and can’t fully pull his weight yet.”

Avery’s expression remained calm as if he had expected this, causing Capitan to look at him with a bewildered face.

Soon, robots began setting up poles for the camouflage screen throughout the village, and Dexter’s group and Avery were watching the scene from outside.

“What does a holographic camouflage screen do?”

“You’ve seen what soldiers use, right? Those strange mat-like things they put over cars or cannons. It’s an advanced technology version of that.”

“If it’s a ‘screen,’ why are they only setting up poles?”

“You’ll see when it’s done.”

Soon, other robots brought food for the frost giants, medicine, and even seed bags for plants that grow in extremely cold places, causing Avery to chuckle.

“How did you know what we like?”

“Tenpenny Corporation has quite an extensive reach in its observations.”

As the robots unloaded the supplies, Capitan mediated and distributed medicine and food to the other frost giants, causing Avery to exhale deeply.

“I don’t know much about Earth culture, but are there many people on Earth who share the same surname?”

“Pardon? Well, there are rare surnames, but even the least common ones are shared by at least tens of thousands of people. Even without blood relations.”

“Hmm, then perhaps it’s just my concern.”

“Concern? What do you mean by that?”

When Avery fell silent again, Himena, who was standing nearby, spoke in a small voice.

“I think he might know something about Howard Hughes.”

“Why is that person coming up here?”

“He immediately questioned you after you revealed your surname. And among the people here, only you and Mr. Avery have revealed your names to each other.”

“So he was asking if Hughes is a common surname or not?”

“I think that’s highly likely. And not as a slip of the tongue, but because he might be wondering if you, as an Earthling, would know about that person.”

“Is that so?”

[Fascinating.]

Suddenly hearing Eliya’s voice in his ear, a startled Dexter cursed.

“Ah, you bastard! If you were listening, you should have said something!”

[It was quite interesting. Your wives’ deductive abilities are impressive.]

“What deduction.”

Eliya spoke with an excited voice, as if finding it intriguing.

[The deductions of those two were quite accurate. The Avery beside you was the director of the Records Hall, you see.]

“By Records Hall, do you mean the frost giants’ planetary parliamentary archives?”

Just as the United States has the Library of Congress, which is said to hold the most books in the world, the frost giants’ planet also had a parliamentary Records Hall that served a similar role.

The frost giants, whose lifelong vocations were researchers and historians, lived twice as long as humans and devoted their lives to research.

One of the reasons why the planet Keoria invaded the frost giants’ planet was because of this Records Hall.

[It’s where coveted military data and ancient technologies, said to be lost, lie dormant. When the planet Keoria invaded, they primarily raided the Records Hall.]

Dexter glanced toward Avery.

Thanks to one of the spacesuit’s functions, Avery couldn’t hear Dexter’s voice as he conversed with Eliya.

“So that’s why Howard Hughes’ paper was randomly found on planet Keoria.”

[Because the man beside you received that paper.]

Dexter was simply amazed at how things were unfolding this way.

‘Of course, it’s all bait that Eliya laid out.’

If it weren’t for Eliya, this could have been safely resolved on Earth, and there would have been no reason for Dexter to come all the way to Pluto in the first place.

Dexter turned his head to look at the four women beside him.

Jessie, who was deep in thought; Judy, who was asking the name of a frost giant child taller than herself; Himena, who was closely examining the robots installing the camouflage screen; and Emily, who had somehow gotten hold of his rover key and was standing with her hands behind her back.

“Wait, Emily! When did you steal my key?”

“You were distracted, so I took it.”

“Give it back quickly.”

When Dexter held out his hand to Emily, she resisted a few times as if reluctant to return it, but eventually gave the key back after continued insistence.

“You really are a thief through and through. How did you even take the key that was hanging on my hand?”

“I told you before. Focus is important.”

“I really can’t even hit you for this.”

“Hit me?”

Dexter was left speechless at Emily’s words, blinking his eyes before simply turning away.

“…Never mind. So, Eliya, when are you going to talk with Mr. Avery?”

[As soon as the camouflage screen is installed, a holographic robot will go there. You’ve worked hard too.]

“Let’s finish this quickly and go home. I’ve been rolling around in space for years, and now I have to roll around on Earth too?”

With those final words, the robots that had installed the poles disappeared toward the cargo ship, and countless poles were now stuck throughout the village like streetlights.

[Camouflage screen activation is ready. Would you like to activate it?]

When the guidance message flowed from the spacesuit, Dexter nodded and said while looking at the poles:

“Activate.”

With that, blue light began to pour from the tips of the poles, and the light started connecting between the poles.

The frost giant refugees, Avery, and Dexter’s group all watched the blue light that brightly illuminated the surroundings.

When the light from all the poles connected like thin threads, blue surfaces slowly formed along the connected areas.

“So that’s why it’s called a camouflage ‘screen’?”

“That’s why these are called poles.”

Just as the poles that support tents or fabrics are called tent poles, the rods that generate the camouflage hologram were also called poles.

Even if the New Horizons probe approached, it would only see the barren surface of Pluto as it was before the frost giant refugees arrived, thanks to the hologram displayed by the camouflage screen.

“It seems similar to what OSA uses to hide scenes.”

“It’s similar. But this is more specialized and used for military purposes.”

“Military purposes?”

“It’s exactly the same as the camouflage screens used by the military. Just with better technology.”

“But why does Eliya have something like this?”

“Who knows. It would be faster to find something he doesn’t have.”

After seeing that the camouflage screen was operating normally, Dexter gave a slight smile to Avery, who was looking at him.

* * *

“Your wives are quite lively. I wonder if everyone associated with you is so energetic.”

“Who else is associated with me?”

“Well, Miss Aisha?”

As soon as Aisha’s name was mentioned, Dexter was about to get annoyed, but feeling like he got irritated every time he met Eliya, he pressed his brow and said:

“She’s just a kid. How can you compare a child with adults?”

“Women are all the same.”

“Now that’s a dangerous statement.”

Having safely returned to Eliya’s Dust Devil, only Dexter was meeting privately with Eliya, while the other four women were gathered elsewhere chatting.

“Did the conversation with Mr. Avery go well?”

“He shook hands so vigorously that the holographic robot almost broke.”

“The strength of frost giants is no joke.”

Dexter chuckled.

“What did he say?”

“Of course, he said he would participate in the revenge. As befitting the director of the Records Hall, that spaceship is full of hidden secrets.”

“Is there some hidden treasure?”

“There was one treasure more valuable to you.”

Dexter, who had personally entered Avery’s spaceship, recalled that there were only items close to junk inside his ship.

Obviously, it wouldn’t be an object, and there was a high possibility that it was information possessed by Avery, who had been the director of the Records Hall.

“I found out how Howard Hughes’ paper ended up with the frost giants.”

“You found that out?”

“When books or records are received or checked out, the director of the Records Hall’s permission is required, and this permission ledger was still in his possession.”

Eliya pulled out a sheet of paper from his desk and pushed it toward Dexter.

[<Temporary Receipt Request>]

[Document Title: Earth Human Paper Authored by Howard Hughes and 6 Others]

[Requester: George Hayward]

“Why is this guy showing up here?”

Dexter looked at the document with a frown, as if he was seeing something bizarre.