Vol. 2 Chapter 4 – August 2047, Pluto

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Noboru-kun.

Mikako is on Pluto right now.

It feels like I’ve come all the way to the very edge of the solar system.

There’s almost nothing new left for me to learn here.

I’ve learned everything I need to learn and when it comes to piloting a Tracer, I feel like I can handle anything.

What we do here is search for Anchor Points.

I may have mentioned this before but the shortcut anchor for the return trip still hasn’t been found. So the staff connected to the U.N. Space Force are continuously searching for Anchor Points and we’re helping them with that.

There isn’t even a base camp on Pluto yet.

I guess you could say this is also a kind of training.

We work in three rotating shifts, going outside the Lysithea for eight hours a day to search for points.

This is also launch training and after leaving the ship, we’re allowed to move around freely.

Tracers were originally exploration craft, so they’re equipped with all kinds of sensors, which makes them perfect for this kind of work.

But I probably don’t think we’ll find anything.

Ah, I’m actually in the Tracer right now during my assigned shift. Of course, I’m not slacking off. I’m properly doing my work. The one really working is the onboard computer, and Mikako is just watching over it. So far, no abnormalities.

Including this planet, there are no more bases ahead, so that means there won’t be any support. It really feels like we’re finally setting out on a journey.

After we leave here, the next destination is still a secret.

Around the various satellites in the inner solar system, they’re searching for shortcut anchors while also monitoring the Tarsians.

But so far, no appearance of the Tarsians has been confirmed.

So I think it’s almost certain that we’ll end up leaving the solar system after all.

Actually, when we stopped at the Europa base, there was a slight replacement of crew members.

This is still only something I heard as a rumor, but it seems one or two ships from the fleet might remain here on Pluto as rear support units.

I’m still assigned to the flagship Lysithea.

That probably means I wasn’t included in the group staying behind.

Noboru-kun, you know, the truth is, I hope they never find the Tarsians. I don’t want to go any farther into some unknown, distant space.

I hope the day of my discharge comes without anything happening, and that I can return to Earth soon.

Noboru-kun, will you wait for me until that day?

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After typing that much, Mikako stopped writing the email.

──Noboru-kun, will you really wait for me?

Staring at the display screen of the phone in her hand, Mikako let out a soft breath, then simply deleted the final line.

I wonder how many years it’ll be before I can go back to Earth? The agent old man said it would only be two or three years but even the enlistment date was completely different from what he said, so I can’t trust him, can I? But now that I’ve come this far, there’s no turning back anymore. Even if I wanted to desert, a Tracer couldn’t get me all the way back to Earth. But if I pretended to be sick, maybe they’d let me join the group staying behind. That’s probably the only option I have.

“Mikako, you’re slacking off again!”

At the loud voice echoing through the booth, Mikako suddenly came back to herself.

When she looked up, Satomi was displayed in a close-up on the screen.

“I’m not slacking off!”

“Who knows? Look, you’re holding your phone again. You were emailing Noboru-kun, weren’t you? Even if you hurriedly hide your phone, it’s totally obvious. Maybe I should tell the commander…”

“You’re so mean…”

“I’m joking. Even if we desperately search in a place like this, there’s no way we’ll find a shortcut anchor that easily. They’re just letting us get some fresh air because keeping us shut up inside the ship the whole time would be too much…”

“Satomi-san, did you need something…?”

Wanting to continue typing her email, Mikako cut her off.

“What do you mean, something? It’s already time to switch with the next shift.”

“Huh. Really?”

She glanced at the time display in the corner of the screen.

Sure enough, almost eight hours had passed since she had left the ship.

“Seriously, get it together. If you don’t hurry back, they’ll close the landing gate on you.”

“Satomi-san, where are you?”

“In the landing queue. I heard you still hadn’t come back, so I got worried about my cute little sister and went out of my way to call you even though I’m busy. You haven’t had much energy lately. Well, after coming all the way out to Pluto, I guess expecting anyone to stay cheerful is asking too much. Anyone would get homesick, sure. And you’re especially the youngest, so I can’t just leave you alone…”

“Do I really look that down?”

“You do, you do. You’re at the age where you should be eating plenty but ever since we arrived at Pluto, you’ve been leaving food behind at every single meal.”

“I’m just tired of the ship food…”

“That’s not all. I’ve been wondering about this for a while. Can I say it?”

“What…?”

“That outfit of yours!”

Satomi pointed her finger at her.

“Is something strange about it…?”

“Well, once you’re inside the booth, you’re all alone. It’s not like anyone’s going to see you and they do say it’s fine even if you’re completely naked as long as it doesn’t interfere with operating, but normally, that outfit is just not something you’d wear, right?”

“Really? I’m just wearing it because I like it. Don’t worry about it, don’t worry about it.”

“I do worry about it. Why are you wearing a uniform? And your junior high school uniform, too?”

At her accusing tone, Mikako opened her eyes wide and looked down at herself. A short-sleeved white shirt and a dark red tie. It was indeed the summer uniform from her junior high school days.

“Even if you ask me why…”

“Doesn’t it mean you’ve left your heart behind in junior high school?”

“Maybe. But I just can’t bring myself to wear the clothes they issued us.”

Mikako lowered her head as if avoiding Satomi’s gaze.

“You’re unconsciously refusing to be incorporated into the unit.”

“I don’t hate it or anything. Life in the fleet, I mean.”

“But from the outside, the only time you look truly alive is when you’re riding a Tracer and doing exercises. You’re treating it like it’s one of your junior high school club activities, aren’t you?”

“But even if you say that, I don’t know…”

Mikako raised her face. Her eyes were full of tears.

“You…”

Just as Satomi was about to say something, an alarm rang out inside the booth.

“What is it? It’s ringing over here too. I’m cutting the line!”

Satomi’s figure disappeared, and the display switched to a graphic screen showing the current locations of the various ships against Pluto in the background.

《Tarsian attack, Tarsian attack. Tracer units, prepare for launch!》

── No way!

《Crew members currently engaged in search operations are to return to their motherships immediately!》

── From where?

── Why so suddenly?

Thinking could come later. Mikako began to act.

“Where? Where are the Tarsians?”

She asked the onboard computer.

A red point was marked on the deployment screen.

《Near the Lysithea. Rapidly approaching the Lysithea.》

“Where am I?”

A blue point lit up on the screen.

Close. She was positioned closer to the Tarsians than the Lysithea was.

“What about allied craft?”

About three green points scattered across the screen.

“Approach the Tarsians at full speed!”

Giving that order, she focused her attention on the screen.

From the Lysithea and the allied ships, the Tracer units had not yet sortied.

Two of the allied craft were showing movement toward returning to the ship. However, one craft, positioned almost on the line connecting the Tarsians and the Lysithea, turned around and began approaching the Tarsians.

《Ah, wait. What are you planning to do? Are you going to fight alone?》

Mikako’s Tracer was also continuing to accelerate as it closed in on the red points, but the situation was more like she was pursuing them from behind at an angle.

“How much time until the predicted encounter point?”

《Fifty-seven seconds.》

“What about the allied craft?”

《Twenty seconds.》

“Zoom in!”

The view shifted closer, centered on the red point, and only the green and blue points fit within the frame.

“Ah! There are three of them!”

The red point that had appeared overlapped as one had split into three.

The green point of the allied craft charged straight toward them.

《Beginning deceleration.》

The onboard computer spoke in a dry voice.

“Wait, keep accelerating. Leave the rest to me.”

She knew that either way, she probably wouldn’t make it in time.

But she couldn’t bring herself to let it decelerate. Mikako stretched out her arm and put the phone she had been holding into the small storage compartment beside the booth.

She thrust both hands into the control gloves on either side.

The three red points and the green point rapidly closed the distance between each other.

──What’s going to happen?

──Isn’t anyone coming to support them?

《Launch! Tracer squadron, launch!》

At last, the activation order came down from the ship’s command.

“Ah, it’s already too late!”

On the screen, the red point and the green point finally overlapped.

Mikako held her breath. For an instant, she closed her eyes and turned her face away from the screen.

When she turned back and opened her eyes, the green point had disappeared from the screen.

──What does that mean? Did they get taken out?

“Decelerate! Begin full deceleration!”

As she shouted, she manually made the craft decelerate.

“How many seconds left?”

The computer recalculated.

《Seventeen seconds.》

The distance had closed sharply. Mikako switched to the live image display.

Three flying objects shone silver. It was the first time she had ever seen their form.

《Ten seconds.》

They seemed to have noticed Mikako’s Tracer.

The Tarsians, which had been flying close together, separated in three directions and began flying on different trajectories.

──It’s still okay. I’m approaching them from behind.

Mikako fixed her target on the Tarsian that continued straight toward the Lysithea without changing course. Making fine adjustments, she stayed right behind it.

“Stop deceleration!”

She rapidly closed in on the silver flying object.

“Analyze!”

She brought all the various sensors mounted on the Tracer to full operation and began collecting data on the Tarsian.

On the screen, the completed analysis data began appearing one after another.

Total length, total width, estimated mass, surface composition, surface temperature, internal three-dimensional structure…

Except for the information obtained from the Tharsis ruins, very little was known about the Tarsians. As for the individual body shape and physiological functions of the Tarsians, a certain amount of data had been obtained from the mummified fossils excavated from the ruins. But those were from tens of thousands of years ago, and this was probably the first close encounter with a living Tarsian.

──Hey, what did you come here to do with only three craft? Are you scouts doing reconnaissance of enemy conditions?

《Two seconds, one second. Distance fixed at one thousand meters.》

──You’re not attacking? Hey, what am I supposed to do?

The allied craft that had charged straight at the Tarsians head-on had vanished.

──What kind of contact had it had with the Tarsians? Had it taken a one-sided attack and been beaten down just like that?

──Is it okay to wait? But at this rate, they’ll crash into the Lysithea.

An alarm rang out in the booth.

《To all Tracers. Surround the Tarsians and attack.》

──So it’s okay, then. I can fight.

Clenching her back teeth and psyching herself up, Mikako began the battle.

“Accelerate! Close the distance to five hundred!”

Staring at the numbers on the distance display, she launched her attack once the distance had closed to seven hundred and fifty.

“Missiles, six units, fire!”

──Hit!

The six missiles traced paths that looked random at first glance as they chased the Tarsian.

But perhaps sensing the attack, the Tarsian began evasive maneuvers, sliding sideways.

“Follow it!”

Mikako’s Tracer pursued it closely, closing the distance.

“Prepare the Vulcan cannon!”

From the left arm, a box-shaped gun turret extended.

With skillful evasive maneuvers, the Tarsian dodged two of the missiles.

Then it fired red beams at two more missiles that had closed in.

The two missiles hit by the light exploded almost simultaneously.

The remaining two, flying in a moment later, were caught in the explosion and detonated as well.

For an instant, her vision went pure white, and she lost sight of the Tarsian.

“Where? Where is it?”

The distance was fixed at five hundred.

Mikako looked around the all-direction screen.

It was neither above her nor below her.

“Ah. Right behind me!”

Mikako kicked the control pedal.

The Tracer flipped and made a half-turn.

“Found you!”

At the same time she shouted, she had already pressed the fire button inside the control glove.

The gun turret spat fire and twenty shells were fired.

At the same time, Mikako took evasive action. She stepped on the control pedal and sank down in an arc while keeping the distance.

──Hit!

If this had been just like training, she would have taken it down without any problem. But this was real combat, and there was still far too much unknown about the Tarsians’ combat behavior. Not only had it dealt with all the missiles, but having it get behind her without her noticing had also been unexpected.

She stared at the shells. The Tarsian was also moving into evasive action.

──Reach it!

The twenty shells had been set with subtly shifted impact points so that no matter which way it fled, one would hit. She wanted even just one of them to land.

“Set the next round!”

The Tarsian made a slight movement, as if stumbling over something.

──Did it hit?

After it continued swaying like a drunk driver on the road, the Tarsian suddenly exploded.

Its silver-shining shell scattered into countless fragments.

“I did it. It hit.”

But that was not the end of it.

《Approaching! Approaching!》

The onboard computer issued a warning.

An object was rapidly approaching the Tracer.

Her joy had loosened her focus and Mikako could not take her next action. She simply stared at the object closing in on her. Perhaps it had abandoned its craft and tried to escape, because a slightly smaller object, also shining silver, was rapidly approaching.

For some reason, she did not feel like firing the Vulcan cannon at it.

At the same time, she did not feel like it was going to attack her either.

The Tarsian glided to a stop right in front of the Tracer, so close it felt as though she could reach it if she stretched out her arm.

Inside the booth, Mikako’s body had gone stiff.

She was scared. But as if she had been bewitched, she could not move freely.

The Tarsian’s appearance reminded her of a living creature covered in a hard shell, like a turtle or a crab.

When she faced it head-on, a change began to appear in the Tarsian. Its outer form started transforming. From the gaps in its shell, things like tentacles spread out to the left and right. From the part that seemed to be its head, something like a neck began sprouting out.

The tentacles spreading to the left and right split into two at their tips and each tip stretched out and split into two again. They kept branching again and again, spreading like a net and began wrapping around the Tracer from both sides.

Mikako felt fear. But her body only stiffened further, and she could not move on to her next action.

Once she was completely wrapped in the net of tentacles, the tip of the white, extended head pushed forward, as if it were being aimed at Mikako inside the Tracer.

That tip split wide open. Something like a gigantic spherical lens, something Mikako instinctively felt was an eyeball, pushed forward.

The enormous single eye stared fixedly at Mikako, as if trying to see through everything.

──Stop it!

It was an unpleasant feeling, as if someone were trampling straight into her heart with dirty shoes.

Revulsion made her whole body crawl.

“Nooo!”

She gripped the gloves with all her strength and swung them.

The beam blade was drawn. It tore through the net of tentacles with a crackling sound, then, with that same force, slashed downward diagonally.

The shell that had looked hard was cut apart with almost ridiculous ease, as if slicing through fruit. The Tarsian’s body was split cleanly in two, and from the cut surface, a blood-red liquid sprayed out.

Breathing roughly, Mikako leapt back.

The Tarsian burst apart, scattering into countless fragments in the darkness.

“Mikako, are you okay!?”

Satomi appeared on the screen.

“…………”

Mikako could not answer. She switched the screen. The Tracer squadron was approaching. The single craft jutting out at the front of the formation seemed to be Satomi.

“I hadn’t been recovered yet, so I ignored orders and rushed over.”

Satomi’s face forced its way onto the screen.

“Thanks. But it’s already over.”

“What about the other two?”

“Who knows? They disappeared somewhere.”

──Where?

It was true that after they had split off into separate trajectories, the other two had vanished.

“I’m glad you’re safe. Come on, let’s go back.”

“Yeah.”

Just as she replied, her expression still stiff, the alarm rang again.

《Tarsian swarm detected. Tracer squadron, return to ship immediately!》

“What does that mean?”

“Don’t ask me. It’s an order, so let’s hurry up and turn back.”

Satomi disappeared from the screen. At the same time, on the deployment map that appeared, the line of green points turned around and headed back to the mothership.

──A decisive fleet battle?

《Return to ship!》

After saying that, Mikako slumped back weakly against her seat.

《Distance to swarm: twelve thousand kilometers. Number of individuals: over one hundred. Continuing to multiply.》

──From the shortcut anchor?

──Did a gate open? So there really is a shortcut anchor for the return trip. But it isn’t something we can use freely. We’re only being lured out.

“Don’t dawdle, Mikako. There’s no way we can fight those numbers properly.”

Satomi cut into the screen again.

“You mean we’re running away?”

“Who knows? That’s for the fleet commander-in-chief to decide. Hurry up.”

Mikako had no idea what the Tarsians were trying to do.

One thought occurred to her: after receiving the report from the Tarsian she had just defeated, the swarm had probably begun moving.

She looked at the map. The red dots indicating the Tarsian swarm spread like a cloud and rapidly closed in on the fleet. And at the tail end of the swarm, they were pouring out one after another from a single point in space.

There was no way to fight them.

《The fleet will avoid contact with the Tarsian swarm. We will now enter hyperdrive. All Tracers currently on mission are to return to ship immediately. Hurry back to ship. The warp-out point will be transmitted in encrypted form. All ships, set warp-in time to one minute from now. Now beginning countdown.》

Even though the mission is to search for Tarsians, the moment we finally meet them, we tuck our tails and run away from the very Tarsians we were looking for?

Mikako felt frustrated by the contradiction in what they were doing.

If we didn’t run, maybe we could complete the mission.

And if she completed the mission, she could be discharged and become free.

It was the development she had wished for. But it did not seem like things would go that way.

In any case, there was no point in going against the fleet’s orders.

Positioned at the very rear, Mikako headed for the Lysithea at full speed.

Thirty seconds passed, and the Lysithea loomed before her. Two or three Tracers were already waiting to be recovered. All she had to do was get in behind the last one. She would make it with plenty of time.

Mikako slowed her craft.

《Warning! Tarsian approaching!》

The onboard computer announced.

──Why now, of all times!

She quickly looked all around.

One Tarsian, which should have disappeared, was approaching from behind.

She thought it was coming for her, but it was not. It was aiming at the Tracers waiting to be recovered.

──No!

If the recovery gate were damaged, hyperdrive would become impossible. No, it might still be possible, but when they warped out, the ship might not be able to withstand the strain and could suffer a fatal accident.

──I have to stop it.

“Follow it!”

They had to avoid exchanging fire near the mothership.

That meant her options for fighting were limited.

Mikako moved around to the front of the Tarsian.

As expected, this was the only way. She drew the beam blade.

She slashed at it. It dodged. Ignoring Mikako, it continued closing in on the Lysithea.

── No! Don’t go!

Mikako fired a wire into the shell on the back of the Tarsian as it slipped past her side.

It hit. She reeled the wire back in. Closing the distance, she slashed at it from behind.

This time, there was no way for it to dodge.

The Tarsian split in two, scattering into chunks of flesh through empty space.

“How many seconds left?”

There was no time to catch her breath.

She looked at the Lysithea. The last craft was just disappearing into the recovery gate.

Countless particles of light had begun appearing, as if wrapping around the Lysithea. The drive engine had started operating. Once the ship was surrounded by those countless particles of light, space would distort all at once, and the ship would be blown away to a far distant place.

《Twelve seconds remaining.》

“I can make it. I have to hurry. Ah, the email.”

Mikako reached toward the small storage compartment.

“I have to send it now…”

Being blown by hyperdrive to a point one to one and a half light-years away meant that an email sent from there would not reach Earth until more than a year later.

But the small storage compartment was empty. She looked all around and found her phone floating in the space above her head. She reached out, but could not reach it.

── Noboru-kun…

── Would you wait for me until a year from now?

Mikako’s Tracer was recovered into the Lysithea as it was wrapped in particles of light.