Origin (9)

Following Licorice's instructions, I cleared my mind of complicated thoughts and focused solely on sorting the containers.

Pull, push, turn, pull again. Since Roxy's shuttle was small, I needed to make sure there was as little wasted space as possible.

It was like playing Tetris, the game that comes up when communication is down. I'd heard there was once a jumping game too, but I wasn't sure about it.

The one difference from Tetris was that even if I filled a line, it didn't just disappear with a bang.

'Funny, nothing about what I do has changed.'

I'd moved from a lower to a higher rank. But maybe because I hadn't escaped the worker category, the work I did was still menial labor.

It wasn't that I was dissatisfied; it just felt a bit disappointing. After all, my rank had gone up, but nothing else had changed. Still, it was best for everyone to do what they were good at.

While moving the crane, I pointed to the carefully stacked cargo on the floor and spoke up.

"Eric, you can just load those onto the cargo platform as they are."

- What's this time?

"Uh... it was some kind of module."

- Is it the shuttle expansion module?

"Oh, right. It said SSTC standard something-something."

- Then that has to be loaded first.

As Eric was about to place a large container onto the rail-mounted loader that stretched to the shuttle station deck, Licorice's voice interjected.

- No, not that one—start with the one next to it. That one's essential right now.

"What is it?"

- You don't even know after moving it yourself? It's a nanocomposite in liquid state—just, it's a vital ingredient used for dimensional coating circuits.

Licorice started to say a complex name, then stopped, realizing she was talking to me, and gave up. I almost said, 'Don't give up on me,' but I held back.

She'd said we were lucky, and I knew why. The coating material couldn't be bought at the store.

Dimensional coating.A technology that mitigates the wavelength of raw blue crystal, reducing the strain on circuits.

Coating materials were fundamentally expensive. The effect had an expiration date, so they couldn't be stored in advance.

For these two reasons, it was an incredibly rare material you'd only see when it was time for a reinforcement.

SSTC, the organization supplying refined blue crystals to society, wasn't short of money. They were a miserly bunch, but when they had to spend, they would.

It was just so extreme that it looked like they never spent at all. People said if you lived your life like SSTC, you wouldn't live to old age.

Anyway, we were lucky. The timing was right, so we managed to get it.

'Carry's coating was peeling anyway.'

I thought I should get a few drops for myself when we returned to town. Just then, a holographic window popped up before me. The warehouse sensors had detected my presence and triggered it.

〈Cargo Sector - Warehouse B Sector〉【The anchor securing this sector is disengaged. Workers must use safety equipment.】

Right after the warning, another message appeared.

【SSTC welcomes you. Heaven, built on harmony and coexistence, needs you. We hope you'll help create a true paradise together.】

I couldn't hold back a cynical laugh. What "true paradise"? If there's a true hell, it's right here.

Just as I was about to dismiss the hologram, I hesitated. As memories of past experiences flashed through my mind, the message felt eerily familiar. It overlapped with the rhetoric of the pureblood supremacists spouting about the "age of purity" and such.

Remembering what Carrot had said about something being underground, I quietly called out to Licorice.

"Red."

- What is it?

"The entrance to the sewage treatment facility under the hydroponics—do you know where it is?"

- Are you still thinking about that? Those records certainly left a bad feeling, but still—...hm, the look on your face tells me you won't let this go.

Licorice switched from voice chat to a live video call. A woman with red hair appeared on screen. Seeing her calmed my pounding heart for a moment.

But that was all—it didn't dispel my anxiety.

- There are sewer entrances all over the base. They're checked regularly, so the passages are pretty large. You know that, right? I think you've been in one before.

"I only know the entrance at the base perimeter."

I didn't know about any other entrances. Low-rank workers could only access certain sectors.

- Really? Well, to point out only the places big enough for a person to pass through...

【Warning. Unauthorized data has been transmitted. Would you like to download?】

Licorice had sent data. I didn't hesitate—I pressed the button and accepted it. The file was titled 'Heaven Sewage Facility Layout'.

There's a saying: "If someone was going to ruin your life, they'd already be carrying it out."

That's exactly what this felt like.

When the pureblood supremacists let out the breath they'd held for a hundred years, this place was wrecked. Still, having data to prepare for what's next was reassuring.

- The facility is such a mess that this isn't perfect. I planned to send it after gathering more data, but you looked so troubled I sent it now. I don't know what's bothering you so much, but...

Licorice added she wasn't giving me this to use right now. The data could be referenced anytime, so she advised me to set aside my stubbornness for a bit.

- And don't worry too much. The ones we cornered are still burning and can't move, and the maintenance sector is still sealed off. We're monitoring the area in real time, so if anything happens, we'll know instantly.

"... Okay."

I replied, feeling awkward at her reassuring tone. Lately, Licorice seemed much gentler.

In the past, whenever I had strange ideas, she would've crushed me with an icy voice.

Like, "Is that really the right call?" or "We've suffered a huge loss just now. My debt's not even paid off and it's grown bigger?" or "You'll listen to me, right?"—things like that.

Maybe we'd grown closer because we saw and talked to each other more often. The sense of distance between us had lessened. It wasn't a bad feeling. In fact, it was nice.

- If you understand, go to the station and help Roxy.

"But I heaven't even finished loading everything here."

- Go, anyway. I'll take care of the rest from this side.

She said whatever she was doing, the work over here should go on so someone had to manage Roxy. Even with Nadia beside him, apparently I had to go.

I was going to ask if Nadia couldn't handle it, but she beat me to it with a quick call for help.

- Hyun-woo, help!

"... Speak of the devil, and she appears."

- Not a fox—a tiger.

"But tigers are in the canine family, anyway?"

- ... Hyun-woo, tigers are in the feline family.

Licorice's voice mixed pity and exasperation, her tone becoming all the more gentle.

"......"

I pressed my lips together. My ears burned red with embarrassment. I tried hard to keep a straight face and cleared my throat quietly. It was a bit late to explain that I'd made the fox comparison because Nadia was a fox.

I almost said, "Well, the official author—what do you know? In my world, tigers are canines."

But, on second thought, that would've been too pathetic. Romanticism, where are you?

- Hyun-woo! Hyun-woo...!

"... I'll be right there, calm down, Nadia."

- Okay!

It didn't seem like an emergency. She was hurrying me, but I sensed none of the desperation that came from real crisis.

I put down the container I was already holding, then climbed off the crane. The metal floor rang hollowly beneath me.

Leaving Eric, who was still tirelessly working the rail-loader, behind, I returned to the shuttle station. There I saw something thoroughly burnt out.

Nadia, who had become a white fox from an overflow of milk at Soda Milk, and Carry, who was blinding my eyes with lights. In Carry's case, I was the one whitewashed, not him.

I wondered what was up with Carry. His battery level was turning red. He must've been protesting from hunger. I took out a refined blue crystal from my belt and fed it to him so he wouldn't shut down. He quieted down immediately.

Roxy was leaning against some wreckage as if nothing had happened. He sat there motionless. Now that I looked, he seemed a bit less flashy than before, perhaps because I'd looked away for a moment.

"... What were you guys doing?"

At my question, they all pointed trembling fingers to one spot. There was a half-laser-cut internal shuttle component.

"That thing wouldn't cut..."

"You've been fighting that all this time? Non-stop?"

I asked incredulously, and Nadia nodded weakly.

"Why didn't you call me sooner?"

"How could I... you weren't sitting idle either..."

"Let me see."

I grabbed the internal component that had sunk them all. I hoped whatever it was, it was worth their effort. Holding both ends to avoid damage, I took a deep breath and put strength in my arms.

Creeaaak—the metal shrieked briefly, then the attachment points twisted, and the component began to come free. With a clunk, even the connected cables slipped out.

At the swift separation, Nadia stared blankly in disbelief, Roxy gave a quiet applause, and Carry did a flip in the air. I felt embarrassed, as though I'd performed some kind of sideshow.

"Wow, all of us couldn't budge it, but you really are strong, my friend."

"So what is this, anyway?"

"It's a power source."

Roxy pointed to the container with the shuttle expansion module, which Eric had just moved.

"I'm not formally trained, but I know how to make it dual-core. With an extra core and the module installed, output goes way up."

"Alright, I'll tell Kyle."

"... What? Friend, why would you tell my brother—?"

"I said I'll tell him. For now, get in the shuttle and prepare to move containers. The loader's coming."

Before he could argue further—really, to make sure I'd have Roxy work again later—I pushed him from behind. He tried to resist, but he was helplessly shoved all the way to the cockpit.

After that, I loaded cargo onto the shuttle with what the loader brought over. Nadia and Carry, having finished their short rest, helped out as well. The work went by having the crane bring the containers close and connecting them with remote-release locks.

For the smaller containers the crane couldn't handle, I carried them myself. The metal containers were heavy in themselves, and each time I hefted one, sweat beaded on my forehead.

That didn't last long. When wind blew through the exposed shuttle station, the sweat quickly vanished.

Once the shuttle was loaded as much as it could take, Roxy would fly the shuttle to the top of the nearby ice ridge, drop it off, and return. There simply wasn't enough time to make a round trip to town with each load.

The best plan was to set an intermediate drop-off point and transport the rest later. Coming back to the cargo sector would be impossible after today.

Even if Alpha lured them out again, it wasn't wise to cause another commotion like today. It was now certain that there were still pureblood supremacists surviving at the Heaven mining base, and I'd learned there were even more dangerous variants among them.

The phrase "faster, faster" grew natural for me, and so about seventy percent of the work was done when—

- ... Huh?

While optimizing routes by monitoring the cameras from the control room, a man let out a puzzled sound. He hadn't said a word until now, so we all stopped in our tracks.

"What is it? Don't keep us anxious."

- Camera 78 just went offline.

"... Which sector is that?"

- ... Maintenance sector.

Could the quarantined ghouls have broken out? Had those freed monsters begun to spread again? I thought so for a moment, but Licorice's follow-up message cleared up my doubts.

- No, the fire's almost out, but the bulkheads are still intact. Reanimation will take more time.

Licorice said she was retrieving the footage right before the camera was destroyed. A few seconds later, she shared the video, and we instantly grasped the situation.

I dropped the cargo I'd been carrying and shouted.

"Stop working! Everyone to the station!"

- Roxy! Abandon all containers and get back! Right now!

A blue light, so bright the camera couldn't register it, was racing toward us.

At a maddening speed.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=Is it the first bud? The one that killed Rika's companion?Time for a boss encounter.【(⌐■_■)-︻╦╤─】

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