Editing HEAVY OBJECT:ShortStory1 (section)

===Part 6===

After ten minutes, the sandstorm died down.

Quenser and Heivia lay face up in the middle of the desert. The Strategic Antenna was already gone. It had been unable to detect them to the very end.

“So it ultimately came to nothing,” said the incredibly cold voice of Froleytia over the radio. “I suppose I should praise you for managing not to get yourselves killed. But no matter the reason, you altered the entire unit’s strategy without permission and then failed to produce any results. That is the truth. Prepare to be thrown into the detention barracks.”

“Not so fast,” replied Quenser as he wiped sand from his hair. “I found a way.”

To put it simply, the Strategic Antenna had lost sight of Quenser and Heivia due to the sandstorm.

At first glance, that result did not seem contradictory.

However, there was one clearly odd point.

“Did you notice, Heivia?”

“Damn you. Is that what you wanted to prove? We really are gathering information with our own lives, aren’t we?”

“The sandstorm died down,” said Quenser as he sat up and spat out sand. “Yet the Strategic Antenna was unable to find us.”

“The curtain of sand did more than get in the way of its sensors.”

“The massive amount of hot sand, iron sand, and everything else coated the sensors and radars and prevented them from functioning.”

Quenser recalled the battery that had stopped working once sand got inside. Most likely, that had been due to a sandstorm. The Faith Organization’s carbon weapon also destroyed electronics using fine particles.

“Come to think of it, the Objects stationed in Oceania were brought in from around the world to stop that military nation’s tyranny,” said Heivia in annoyance as he sat up as well. “In the Greek mythology part of Europe, the Strategic Antenna could go all out without having to worry about sandstorms. In a one-on-one fight there, our princess might have lost.”

“But it wasn’t used to the desert,” added Quenser as he wiped more sand from his hair. “And unlike the Strategic Antenna, our princess’s Baby Magnum has given no report about a sandstorm affecting its sensors.” He removed the “floor heater” cable from his radio and started back toward the motorcycle. “Let’s try to come up with a way of artificially producing a sandstorm. If we can’t, let’s find another way of scattering sand around. Maybe we just need to fire an Object cannon into the ground. At any rate, we need to calculate out the necessary amount of sand and the exact method needed.”

“That Object might have something like windshield wipers. Maybe a device that uses a negative electric charge to shoot off any particles stuck on it.”

“Even if it does, it has to wait for the sandstorm to die down. I doubt it can handle a sandstorm that continues sending more and more sand onto it. If we can use this method to help the Baby Magnum, we can finally fight back against the Strategic Antenna.”

Quenser then gave a final comment in a tone of voice that silenced even Froleytia who was still angry over his changes to her strategy.

“We can destroy that monster.”