Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume4 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 11===

As Quenser and Heivia headed through the ocean with their aqua scooters, the bombardment from the Deep Optical continued. Naturally, the bombardment was targeting the tungsten plant.

“Shit!! Our huge-breasted commander just won’t stop yelling! We didn’t manage to retrieve Oldnick’s body and now the plant is being attacked. This is getting worse and worse!”

“If I have to choose between becoming fish food and being treaded on by a beautiful woman, I will always choose the latter! So let’s focus on surviving this, Heivia!!”

The Deep Optical was unsuited to high-speed movements, so its strategies focused around deciding things quickly with its giant laser. However, it was now attacking the plant while holding the princess’s Baby Magnum off almost casually.

It was clear which Object had the upper hand.

The Baby Magnum had not been directly hit by the enemy’s main cannon, but it continued to just barely avoid it. The side effects of the giant laser had to be doing damage bit by bit. That Deep Optical seemed to have nothing to worry about.

But…

“How odd. They’re only targeting the giant float with that facility on it while completely ignoring the frames that make up the majority of the plant.”

“They just want to make the entire plant unusable. Afterwards, they can retrieve the filters and take the tungsten for themselves. It’s a very Capitalist Corporations way of thinking.”

The one piece of luck was that this strategy kept the rest of the group meant to pursue Oldnick from being targets as they helped the civilian workers evacuate via ship.

However, they could hardly relax.

“Either way, only one fate awaits us if the princess loses. The rest of the unit might survive, but we have given them enough reason to hunt us down.”

Quenser was of course referring to the incident in the Loyauté district.

Sounding annoyed, Heivia said, “I know we have to do it, but how are we supposed to oppose that monster?”

“It’s specialized for naval battles, so it uses an air cushion propulsion device. Its armaments are centered around laser beams. That gives us a few starting points.” Quenser let his body float in place thanks to the buoyancy provided by the program-controlled oxygen regulation inside his diving suit. “The air cushion propulsion device keeps the craft afloat using the power of air, so the situation between the floats and the ocean surface can greatly affect its balance”

“Yeah, it remains stable by keeping the air between two large flat surfaces.”

“And it loses its balance if that is destroyed,” said Quenser. “Luckily, this is the ocean rather than solid ground. That gives us a chance. We need to take a large chunk of the ocean water out from under the Deep Optical. If we do, it will capsize and sink. …A few years back, a Second Generation Object specialized for naval battles was sunk by a freak wave.”

“But we can’t just cause a freak wave,” said Heivia in disapproval. “Freak waves are large enough to sink tankers and they occur unexpectedly. The exact conditions that cause them are unknown. It’s true that they’re like the grim reaper to ships on the sea, but how are we supposed to cause one when no one knows what exactly causes them?”

“That was just an example. Also, the Deep Optical has laser beam emitters on its side that it can use to detonate the air and recover like a self-righting doll.”

“What other ‘starting points’ do you have?”

“That high power laser beam. Its main cannon indirectly helped us out in the Loyauté district. It gathers the energy of 8 laser beams and fires it all at once. If something goes wrong with the control of that energy, it might blow itself apart.”

“What, are you going to climb up onto that main cannon?” Heivia shrugged within the seawater. “Even if it’s a relatively slow Object, it still moves at over 200 kph. If we tried to grab onto it, it would rip our arms off.”

“Can we interfere with it from a distance?”

“There’s no way we can get a hole-in-one firing an anti-tank missile down the barrel of the main cannon.”

“What about interference with its programming?”

“If that was possible, the electronic simulation department would have tons of medals.”

Quenser fell silent.

Heivia had plenty of negative opinions, but he was good at viewing the situation rationally (when it meant saving his own skin). Quenser had plenty of positive opinions, but he was bad at seeing the risk when he thought he had a way of winning.

Quenser was thankful for those characteristics of his comrade in arms. Your personality was not something you could change even if you were aware of its negative aspects.

Quenser suddenly stopped his thought process and spoke once more.

“Then there is one last thing we can rely on.”

“Ahn?”

“Just to double check, Oldnick mentioned a liquid prism and laser vibration detectors before he died, right?”

“Yeah, he made it sound like the liquid prism was used to combine the 8 lasers and the laser vibration detectors were used defensively.”

“…I see.” Quenser thought for a bit. “In that case, we might have a chance. We need to think up a way to get up on that thing.”

“What could you possibly do on top of it!?” Heivia’s eyes opened wide. “Even if you climb up on top of the Object’s spherical main body, the pilot Elite is hardly going to open the hatch to the cockpit. And the puny guns and explosives we have can’t damage that main cannon!! Those monsters are specifically designed to keep that from happening!!”

“With its focus on lasers, the Deep Optical likely cannot keep its defenses up to the level needed in a real battle just with thick armor. Laser beams are delicate enough as they are, but they’ve combined 8 of them together. That main cannon is filled with delicate parts. It’s like building a pyramid of cards higher and higher.”

“So what!?”

“We can use that.” While underwater, Quenser pulled out his handheld device. “We overheard tons of information related to the Deep Optical before heading into the maintenance base in the Loyauté district. We can use some of that data here. But to use it, we have to get up on the Deep Optical first.”

As he spoke, Quenser held a hand out toward Heivia.

“Hand me your knife, Heivia. The tiny little cooking knife in my survival kit isn’t going to cut it here. I need your pointlessly large combat knife.”

“What are you going to do with a knife!?”

“Get us something to use in place of a rope. The tungsten filters should do the trick. They’re several dozen meters long and are more than strong enough to support our weight.”

“Are you serious? Are you seriously thinking of using a rope to climb up that Object as it moves around the sea at over 200 kph? You’ll just end up looking stupider than someone wiping out while water skiing!! And even if you do get up on it, the Deep Optical will just fling you off when it makes a wide turn!! This is not an environment conducive to rock climbing!!”

“I never said I was going to do that.” After checking on the information he needed, Quenser put his handheld device away and pulled his radio out in its place. “We can just take the elevator.”