Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume10 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 13===

Frolaytia sent a shrill report and Quenser’s group also felt like just giving up.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!! We were hit by a cyber attack ''now''!? We can’t locate Newsmaker without the satellite, so this electromagnetic pulse weapon is going to go to waste!!”

They could not rely on their allies.

If they did not know where the manned missile hovercraft carrying Newsmaker was, they could not stop him.

Was there nothing they could do?

This was a focused attack on the psyche of the Object’s Pilot Elite. If the manned missiles were deemed effective, more would attempt the same thing, but could they stop that from happening?

“Wait,” muttered Quenser. “Frolaytia, please give me some information!! There might still be something we can do. And where’s that laptop we found in the warehouse? Bring that over here!!”

The student placed the laptop on the asphalt after a soldier handed it to him. The soldiers naturally gathered around as Quenser focused on the designs of the manned missile hovercraft displayed after the proclamation.

(I need to find a bargaining chip and there might be something in here. Focus as hard as you can and find it!!)

“Quenser, what kind of information do you want?” asked Frolaytia over the radio. “We’re about to seal off all our data, so access to the military network will be limited. If you have a request, make it now!!”

“It’s simple,” he succinctly answered. “You just have to tell me Yog-Sothoth’s address from when she was in the Legitimacy Kingdom!!”

Yog-Sothoth frowned at the characters displayed on the screen.

Odds were good it was a trap.

After a thorough inspection, she opened a voice app and answered.

“Who is this?”

“You must be the type to drag your past around with you if you kept this old address around. Or did you not have time to clean up the contents of your computer?”

“Legitimacy Kingdom, you won’t be able to trace my location by dragging out this conversation.”

“I never expected to pull off something like that against someone skilled enough to hack into the core of the military network.”

“Then what do you want?”

“I want to stop Newsmaker. Alive of course. So give us back our satellite surveillance network.”

“…”

She fell silent.

She understood all too well how Newsmaker’s group felt. She knew just how oppressed you were if you did not have an Object or were not allowed to join a group that had one.

She also understood how the Legitimacy Kingdom military felt. This would spread beyond their unit. If they handled this wrong, an age would bloom in which both enemy and ally drowned in bloodshed.

She gave the issue deep thought before answering.

“Why do you think I would help you? I assume you know who I actually am.”

“I saw the plans for those manned missile hovercraft. You couldn’t make those with the technological level of the copied weapons factory. The electronic controls in particular require software in addition to the hardware. Without a skilled IT person, they’d be stuck with the preset defaults.”

“…”

“You brought the factory a copy of plans for an ‘invisible bomb’ with high level stealth functionality, didn’t you? Those allowed for laser guidance, so were you originally planning to use those guidance chips to give them a safe and unmanned guided weapon? But they didn’t wait around and were satisfied with the manned missiles. You were trying to repay them, but you instead sealed their fates! I doubt that was what you expected to happen here!”

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“That’s nothing but speculation. You have no objective proof of that alleged good will.”

“If these were originally designed as manned weapons, then some of the space is unnecessary and a few of the circuits take odd detours. Almost like there was a spot meant to hold a guidance chip. I’m an aspiring engineer, so I can look at those designs and see where things were changed.”

Yog-Sothoth let out a deep sigh.

She felt a little dizzy and looked at the thick clouds covering the sky.

“I can’t understand what made them so happy.”

“They might have been smiling, but if they’re raised to the level of martyrs, their families and children will be placed on that same line. A Sixth Branch that surpasses space warfare or cyber warfare shouldn’t be made and shouldn’t see the light of day! That goes beyond what war should be!!”

She listened to him speak.

Her eyes wavered, as did the fingertips prepared to operate the screen.

“Please.”

He sounded on the verge of tears.

“Please!! I need your help to stop the turning point Newsmaker wants to create!!”

He likely had no time to spare, but Yog-Sothoth closed her eyes for just a moment.

When she reopened them, she asked a question.

“Enough of the tear-jerking performance. What’s your real reason? Why do you want to stop Newsmaker this badly?”

“The Elite on that Object is…”

He hesitated to continue but forced out the words.

And that was his answer.

“A girl I’m interested in. I don’t want her to go down in history as the person who helped bring about this turning point.”

Yog-Sothoth swore.

This softness and these emotions that could not be fully digitized and she knew they could appear to be an evil god indiscriminately spreading fear and chaos when objectively viewed by a third party.