Editing HEAVY OBJECT:MonicaSS (section)

===Part 8===

They had the secret file.

But just as Quenser and the others left the old electronics storage room, they heard what sounded like a machinegun or a welding rod.

They instinctually ducked down lower than the windows.

“Wh-what is that!?”

“They’re doing something outside,” said Quenser. “But not on this floor. It’s lower down?”

“Oh, this is bad,” spat out Elritta.

They carefully approached the stairs while still feeling like they were swimming through the thick air of a sauna.

But they could not descend to the first floor.

The stairway was glowing a scorching orange.

“…”

The strange sound rang out once more. This time, they could also see something flashing like a strobe light or lightning strike while disturbing glowing marks were burned into the hallway walls and ceiling.

Those marks were 10cm squares.

When several of those burning orange marks covered the same spot, that area would lose its shape and spread out into a strange puddle like an amoeba.

“They’re using that experimental laser,” gulped Allen. “Now they’re attacking at the speed of light. This is powerful enough to shoot down a drone made of alloy, so if it locks onto a person, we’ll burst into flames!!”

And bursting into flames from a direct hit was not the only concern. Frighteningly hot winds blew out from the center of the exposed area. The air was expanding at an explosive rate. And that deadly wind would destroy their throat and lungs if they breathed it in.

But that was not what the enemy was trying to do.

“The real problem is what they’re attacking.”

“Eh? What do you mean?” asked super-mini dress Monica.

Elritta answered with another sigh.

“There are no other students in this building. So assuming they aren’t firing at random, we are the targets here. But they started with the first floor. Why? What are they targeting?”

“Oh, I get it,” groaned Quenser. “They’re trying to seal up the manhole leading underground! If they melt enough materials on top of it, we won’t be able to open it!!”

“Like you said before, humans are helpless against lasers. Any escape route other than the tunnels will mean exposing ourselves on the wide-open lawn, so we would not stand a chance. And if we decide to hole up in the building, he can continue firing the laser to increase the temperature of this furnace. We will roast before we can try anything.”

“Hold on, wait. That strategy assumes knowledge of the manhole and underground passageways, doesn’t it?”

“Servant, are you saying that is who is controlling the laser?”

“Yes. It’s hard to imagine he would let anyone else know about those tunnels.” Quenser paused before continuing. “The Headmaster has finally made an appearance. Which means he’s feeling cornered!!”

The first floor hallway was scorching hot and there was nothing they could do hanging around near the stairs.

Quenser’s group returned to the second floor and started by observing the situation.

“Turn your phone off. Any light in the dark here would be suicide.”

“Fine, but we don’t have night-vision goggles.”

Quenser and Allen went on ahead while Monica and Elritta waited on the windowless stairway landing. They crouched down, carefully crossed the second floor hallway, and moved below one of the windows. They gathered up some of the glass that had melted and rehardened, and used it as a mirror to look out the window.

They used that glass like a periscope to view the outside from multiple angles.

“There it is. That’s the fat turkey.”

“Only you can see at that angle. How am I supposed to know what you mean?”

“It looks like a snowplow with armor panels attached. There’s something else on the back end. About 1.5 meters. Something like planetarium lenses are spinning around it. It kind of reminds me of our Princess’s Killer Squall.”

“I don’t know what that is. Give me that glass.”

Allen swiped the “mirror”, did the same thing Quenser had, and then groaned.

“It just had to be the Branding Iron, didn’t it? I thought that thing had been dismantled!”

“The Branding Iron?”

“You remember that infamous professor, right? It’s a handmade toy he put together. It’s a sphere containing several high-powered lasers made by strapping together 4x4 YAGs.”

“Hm? So was it originally a proof of concept model for a laser space elevator or something???”

“Do you really think something that harmless would be called the Branding Iron? That peaceful use was only the excuse he used on the paperwork. He was really building his own laser weapon on campus because he was fed up with the trouble caused by drones these days! He claimed he had to take things into his own hands since the law was taking too long to catch up. He was prepared to shoot down anything and everything that flew above campus without permission, but the administration stopped him because of the threat it posed to civilian airplanes. Oh, and there was a rumor a wild bird preservation group made a fuss over it.”

“And that’s it there?”

“I’m guessing that old man pouted his lips like a child and refused to throw it out. And now some idiot dug it back up and installed it on the back of a plow. This is not going to be easy. I’ve seen that freak’s demonstration video. He made the video because he hoped a space opera would use it for inspiration. Its theoretical effective range is 400km and it can apparently force its way through the air’s weakening effect by combining several lasers together. Not that that matters much to those of us on the ground thanks to the horizon getting in the way. Still, he claims it can shoot down more than 20 targets with 98.8% accuracy. The video didn’t look faked, so I don’t think he was bluffing.”

Just then, the concentrated fire of lasers on the first floor came to a stop.

They had a bad feeling about this.

Then the Branding Iron’s square marks began to fill the second floor. The sound and light of welding came from the broken windows and the hallway’s opposite wall. Square orange lights lingered and a scorching wind burst out. The wallpaper was already discolored from the heat, but now its ends began to curl up and the heat burned the sprinklers on the ceiling which had burned out.

“Bwah!!”

“Don’t panic, Allen. This doesn’t mean he knows where we are. He was filling the entire building with light and heat, starting with the bottom, in hopes of smoking out the rats he knows are inside.”

Quenser pulled out a handkerchief and forced it over his awful friend’s mouth.

“Don’t breathe too deeply. Anti-air lasers are an everyday sight on Object battlefields. They’re dangerous, but you get used to it. Breathe small, shallow breaths. We need to get back to Monica and the Board Chairman.”

“Bleh. Objects have more than 100 of those covering them, right? How do you survive against something like that!?”

“Second Generations are specialized for fighting other Objects, so they have a surprising number of blind spots. It’s the First Generations you really have to worry about. That old style was designed to fight infantry and tanks. Just like that Branding Iron.”

If they raised their head too far, their skull would be vaporized.

But as long as the reinforced concrete of the outer wall was in the way, they could avoid instant death. They preferred not to imagine just how discolored the other side of that wall was, but it was more resistant to change than simple steel or plastic.

Once they made it back to the stairway landing where Monica and Elritta were crouched down waiting, they found the girls had gone entirely pale. Quenser debated whether the anxiety of not knowing or the fear of knowing was worse, but he ultimately decided to give a quick summary.

“S-servant. This is only the second floor. How about we escape through a window on the other side while he is busy firing the laser from the courtyard? It isn’t too high to jump down from.”

“It would be safer to use a curtain or something as a rope, but what good is escaping the building?” Quenser slowly exhaled. “In case you’ve forgotten, that armored snowplow is driving around and around the building. And it’s a wide open space out there. The nearest fence is a few hundred meters away, but we’re dead the instant he spots us. Crossing that aboveground route would be suicide. But feel free to try it if you think you can outrun the speed of light.”

“Ugh.”

“We have the secret file right here. If only we could get it to the authorities.”

Elritta held the thick stack of papers between her hands and bit her lip in frustration.

“Hey, Quensette, how about we snap photos of the documents and send that to the Black Uniforms outside?”

“With all this confusion, who’s going to believe blurry photos sent from a phone that anyone could have picked up? This data only carries any real weight when it’s handed over by the Board Chairman herself. That’s what makes it trustworthy. Besides, using a phone in here means shining the backlight everywhere. And you would need the flash on to photo all that writing. We’d just get lasered before we were done.”

“I know that, but what else can we do!?”

The crackling of the lasers squeezed at their chests. The sauna-like heat only continued to rise. At this rate, they would dehydrate even if they avoided a direct hit.

They fell silent.

They thought.

And then the Dragon Killer made a suggestion.

“We’ll have to do it ourselves. Are you going to let that greedy son of a bitch trample on the beautiful Student Council President’s dignity any longer? Let’s pave our own way out of here by blowing up the armored snowplow carrying the Branding Iron. It’s an emergency, so it’ll count as self defense. This has got to be a far more clever option than running across that wide open lawn.”

“I know just how you feel. So let’s get to the next question: What exactly are we supposed to do!?”

“Shouting isn’t going to summon an idea out of the ether, so let’s make better use of our time. For now, let’s head up while that scum of a headmaster is focused on the second floor. This is the special classroom building, so what’s left on the third and fourth floors, Allen? That will have a large influence on our options.”

The small Board Chairman answered instead of Allen.

“The bad news is that the tech room and infirmary are being burned up right now. The third floor has the chemistry, physics, and biology rooms, plus the supply room for each. The fourth floor has the A/V, home ec, music, and art rooms.”

“Sounds great. Once we’re prepared, we can get ourselves fired up by watching some porn or drawing a nude sketch.”

Quenser’s military-style motivational speech was not favorably received by the classy ladies. The Board Chairman stepped on him while the idol shoved her stun sabre against his ass. Monica was at least merciful enough to not switch it on.

At any rate, they had to climb the stairs.

The third floor was still safe, but if they were glimpsed through the broken windows, a laser would be headed their way. They decided it was best to crouch down and move carefully below the windows.

“So where do we start?”

“We’re not talking about a proper military weapon here. It’s powerful as hell, but it’s still just a handmade experiment. It’ll have tons of weaknesses, so we really need to be looking at this in reverse. It’s a miracle the thing is running at all.”

For example…

“Just like railguns, lasers use a ton of electricity. That’s not a problem when equipped on a cruiser or Object, but a snowplow’s engine won’t be enough.”

“Isn’t it just using the Academy’s high-voltage line? We have a high-capacity power supply for experiments. And it’s enough to run 10 billion eV experiments like the hadron collider located below the campus.”

“The plow wasn’t hooked up to any thick cables.”

“Then how about a large-capacity battery?” asked Monica while looking down at her stun sabre.

“That’s theoretically possible, but I kind of doubt it. That would give him a limited number of shots and he would have to worry about ammo. He would have to be a complete moron to keep firing on the building like this if that were the case.”

“Then what is it???” asked Allen.

Quenser thought for a bit before answering.

“A superconducting generator.”

“What?”

“They use liquid nitrogen or helium to cool the armature terminals to ultra low temperatures. The system introduces little loss, so even a small generator can produce a lot of power. The industrial megawatt ones are the same size as a thermal power station, but the weaker kilowatt ones can be made a lot smaller. I bet the Academy’s eccentric geniuses could make one small enough to fit in that plow.”

“Liquid nitrogen and helium? Those both sound tricky to use.”

“Yes, but that’s not the real issue.”

“?”

Elritta tilted her head while crouched down, so Quenser explained.

“We don’t actually know what kind of power source it uses, but we do know that laser weapon requires an ass-load of power. Listen, we’re talking about levels of energy where no one batted an eye at you mentioning a hadron collider. Even a 100V copier can cause a short if you don’t plug it into a grounded outlet. So how is he stabilizing that much energy?”

“Dammit, now that you mention it!!”

“See? Just poke around a little and you can find all sorts of flaws. Don’t let it get to you, Allen. This is just a school experiment – a handmade device thrown together with the available parts. It’s not an official military product that’s gone through thousands or tens of thousands of rounds of durability testing. See it for what it is and you’ll see this enemy is perfectly beatable.”

Quenser grinned as they arrived at the chemistry supply room.

They once again hit the knob to break through the cheap lock and then opened the door while using a coat like a potholder. A chemical stench immediately rushed out at them.

Elritta grimaced.

“The heat seems to have caused an odd reaction in some of the chemicals.”

“I sure don’t want to stay in here long. Let’s finish this up quickly.”

Once they shut the door, there was no chance of the Headmaster seeing them while operating the Branding Iron on the hallway side of the building. Quenser and the others could finally stand tall once more and they checked the various shelves.

“Servant, what is the plan here?”

“Let’s go with electrical breakdown,” said the student.

His prompt answer suggested he already had a vision in mind.

The only person who still looked confused was Elritta, the 10-year-old girl who was the Board Chairman but also had the Student Council Presidents tutor her.

“Air is generally an insulator. That means electricity can’t pass through it. But do you know why lightning can still strike from the sky?”

“Oh, now that you mention it.”

“That’s known as electrical breakdown. Electricity can’t pass through rubber or glass, but if enough voltage is applied, the electrical resistance breaks down and it passes right on through. There are other details about electron avalanches and whatnot, but there’s really only one thing you need to know: when the conditions are right, electricity can pass through materials it normally can’t. And what if we’re talking about enough electricity to power a laser weapon? The short will immediately blow away the armored snowplow like a firework.”

“But, Quensette, there are a lot of different insulating materials: rubber, plastic, concrete, air, pure water, and even a vacuum, I think. There isn’t much we can do without knowing what kind of safety measures the Branding Iron uses.”

“We just have to think like he does.”

“Like Headmaster Cliff does?”

“Why him? I mean the infamous professor who built the thing.”

“Bff! Are you insane!? All the illicit rock candy in the world wouldn’t be enough to sync with his thoughts!! Not even stabbing an antenna into your head and connecting to the Akashic Records at a rate of 800 megahertz would be enough!!”

Allen protested, but they did not have time for Quenser to explain every little thing.

The continuous laser noises had reached the third floor.

The Headmaster had finished using the Branding Iron to fill the second floor with light and heat, so he was moving to the next floor up.

“Get down! The concrete walls are one thing, but the doors won’t stop that thing!!”

“That’s not the only issue. If the lasers hit the shelves of chemicals, the sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid will vaporize and fill the room! And I don’t want to think about what that would do to us!!”

Quenser was still grabbing more chemicals, so Monica had to grab his arm and drag him away.

The four of them quickly moved to the adjacent chemistry room and then moved to the hallway door, despite knowing it was even more dangerous out there. They ducked down to remain below the windows and thus in a blind spot of the deadly anti-air lasers.

“The third floor is done for. Where are the closest stairs? We’ll be roasted if we don’t get to the next floor!”

“Wouldn’t it be faster to go back the way we came?” asked Elritta. “This way. We should be able to-…”

She trailed off because one of the Branding Iron’s orange squares burned into the wall far too close for comfort. Quenser grabbed Monica and rolled across the scorching floor. Allen did the same with Elritta. The two pairs were separated by even more blazing hot wind and light.

“He doesn’t actually know where we are! Allen, you two head to the stairs in that direction. We’ll head the opposite way. See you on the fourth floor!!”

“Understood. Don’t you die, Quensette! I forgot to mention it, but the protagonist of the script under my shirt is based on you.”

“Can you not confess that here? It’s like you’re setting it up so I’ll die here!”

At any rate, they started for the different stairways.

Quenser and Monica crouched down and moved below the windows.

“Servant, is it just me or is the laser chasing us!?”

“It’s firing randomly from one end to the other. It just happened to be moving in the same direction as us.”

They were climbing from the third floor to the fourth floor.

At that height, jumping out a window started to sound much less survivable. They had no other option at the moment, but diving into a dead end like this was not good for their hearts.

Twintail Monica groaned in that sauna from hell.

Their slingshot bow gun and stun sabre felt horribly inadequate against a legit laser weapon.

“Are you sure we can do this?”

“Do you know what the safest route is, young lady? Killing your most dangerous enemy.”



After Allen parted ways with Quenser and Monica, a horrible feeling caught in his chest.

He could hear the Branding Iron growing more distant.

He felt the same alienation as when he was left behind in the theater after the movie ended. He felt like he had run into a dead end like when he had submitted a script he was extremely proud of but never heard anything back.

(Yeah.)

He summed up his thoughts while carrying Elritta.

(This is, well, how should I put it? It’s like the invisible goddess of fortune has left me. It’s like my beginner’s luck has finally worn off and death has returned to the world like normal.)

The Branding Iron’s orange squares of light had been pursuing Quenser and Monica along the windows and hallway wall, but now they turned back toward Allen and Elritta.

The light, heat, and noise were all intense.

He knew it was not actually targeting them, but he still cowered down like when lightning struck nearby.

And then he felt a tremor.

He assumed it was just his own body shaking in fear.

And that was not wrong.

But it was not entirely right either.

“…”

The 10-year-old girl in his arms was trembling. She must have felt the same isolation and alienation he had. She would have sensed the stench of death too. And when she saw the fear in an older boy like Allen and felt him shaking, she had known she was not just imagining things.

Allen Jackrose was not an actor.

He had wanted to stand on the silver screen, but he had quickly learned he was not cut out for it.

But the world of film had refused to let go of his heart.

The same could be said of the puny script hidden below his shirt.

He was not a knight in shining armor.

The true Dragon Killer was that boy who ran across the battlefield with nothing more than a bomb and stood up to those colossal weapons that not even a nuke could destroy.

But.

Even so.

He knew what the protagonist in his script would say when faced with a trembling and fearful girl who had tears in her eyes as she faced seemingly certain death. He knew exactly what line he would give to that kind of utter moron who would not hesitate to stand up and hold out his hand to that girl.

“Don’t worry.”

That persona existed in a corner of Allen Jackrose’s mind.

So he just had to act it out for himself.

“There is nothing to be afraid of. After all, the heroes never lose.”

Allen remained motionless even as the brutal anti-air lasers passed by directly overhead.

He simply held the girl’s small shoulders in his arms until she stopped shaking.

Until she could see how unwavering he was.

He would not lose, he would not run away, he would not cry, and he would not give up.

Allen Jackrose silently made up his mind.

“Let’s head on up. Victory awaits us.”

It did not matter that he was bluffing.

It did not matter that he was just acting the movie star.

If it would let him protect someone’s smile, then he would be the hero on the silver screen tonight.

He would use the logic of the script he had written to protect that girl’s heart.



Worried because Allen and Elritta still had not shown up, Quenser circled around the fourth floor hallway to check the stairway those two were meant to use. But when he did see them there, he raised his index and middle fingers on either side of his head to look like bull horns.

And he stomped about while jabbing those horns into the air.

“(Dammit, Allen! Quit acting cool and get up here already!!)”

“(Stop that, servant. You need to be patient. Really, you should use this as a lesson in how to be a proud and chivalrous member of the Legitimacy Kingdom.)”