Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume5 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 9===

They crossed the dark sea.

Their destination was more than 5km away – which meant it was beyond the horizon – but since it was an elevator that rose vertically into space, they could see it clearly even at this distance.

The space elevator was located on a naval float attached to a small island in the south sea. According to Kyouka, the float would move within certain limits to cancel out the irregular shaking of the wire caused by the wind and other factors.

A light was flashing from there.

Aine and Maika used their flight presets to make a gentle landing on the artificial float that measured more than a kilometer on each side.

Someone stood there.

An old man in a lab coat.

“I was waiting for you.”

“Are you Chrisbart Firenze?” asked Karuta as soon as Aine lowered him from his princess carry position, but the man did not bother confirming it.

Karuta was still suspicious, but he didn’t see any bodyguards or any other fighting force around. The man really was completely alone. The human string pullers seemed awfully defenseless for such a powerful group working from the shadows. It was only natural to suspect the possibility this was a body double or agent.

After all, the man was dealing with the world’s strongests who were doomed to die. And the human string pullers were the ones who had set that up. For one of the bastards who intended to go on living, being attacked in a last-ditch attempt to survive had to be the greatest risk.

But the old man snorted in laughter at Karuta’s doubts.

“The greatest tool of self-defense is information, not power. Bodyguards or a body double would have the opposite effect. People are strongest when alone.”

“…”

“I take it you do not agree. But you should know all too well what fate awaits you four who acquired the world’s strongest ''power''.”

Karuta stepped behind Omotesandou Kyouka and grabbed her wheelchair’s grips.

Aine’s sword and Marika’s rapier Device were more powerful than his modified military flashlight. He wanted to keep their hands free if possible.

The old man turned around and simply said “follow me”.

The lightweight aluminum alloy ground was paved with asphalt and was perfectly sturdy. It did not look all that different from an old-fashioned airport or rocket launch site. Except the massive “smokestack” in the very center made it all look very strange indeed.

Perhaps to prevent aircraft collisions, there was an evenly-spaced vertical line of red lights stretching skyward. Those were slowly flashing. The line of lights stopped tens of thousands of meters high because that that was as high as it was possible for aircraft to fly. However, there was likely an air defense system that would activate if an airplane or helicopter flew too close without permission.

The space elevator looked like an obsolete relic. But on closer inspection, not a single bolt was rusted. It was perfectly maintained. This was the final lifeline for the 5.5 billion people on Earth, so they could not have it lost in an accident or terrorist attack.

Chrisbart spoke without looking back.

“I will not ask if you are ready. The fact that you arrived on time shows you each possess the necessary resolve.”

“Second Grimnoah is less than 10km away. And Crystal Magic flight can exceed Mach 2 if you try. If Natalena and the others have realized what’s happening, they might attack the elevator to prevent us from departing.”

Karuta was pushing the president’s wheelchair while asking about that because the large artificial island did not have any kind of electric cart like you might find at an airport or golf course. Walking the full distance was a real pain.

“I appreciate giving us some more time right at the end, but neither of us can let anything jeopardize this final chance. You yourself said we had the necessary resolve. If you have a shortcut, feel free to use it.”

But the lab coat man did not seem to mind.

He shrugged without looking back.

“We are the human string pullers, remember?”

“…”

“We control everything by providing just the right stimulation to all of those called humans. By providing the right information and the right situation, we can ensure those students’ good will never leads to action. Or we can convince them to swallow their tears and see you off because that is what you wish.”

That was their power.

That was the true malice that not even the Four Living Gods had been able to defeat.

And it did not matter to Chrisbart that one of the teachers he was targeting shared his last name.

Karuta had a harder time understanding those terrifying monsters than he did the Problem Solvers or the real Threat.

“By the way,” said Chrisbart Firenze on the way to the base of the elevator.

“What?”

“Is that ''it''?”

“?”

Karuta was not sure what he meant.

The old man did not look back, but Karuta finally sensed what he must have meant. Chrisbart was focused on Karuta, but not directly. His interest was in Crystal Girl Aine who he had summoned and who obeyed him.

“…”

Aine did not respond in any way. Was she not interested or was she intentionally ignoring the man? It was hard to tell when she was always so expressionless.

They arrived at the base of the space elevator.

It looked a lot like a landmark broadcast tower. Some of the same technology may have been used to construct it. The base was shaped like a giant C that enveloped the space in front of it and was split into a few different floors. Karuta thought that shape looked familiar and realized it was used for malls that surrounded a plaza or park. It may have been intended as a special international airport or tourist attraction before it went out of business and was taken over by the human string pullers.

The restaurants and shops appeared to still be functioning. At the very least, it wasn’t full of empty shops and the mannequins weren’t covered in dust. Perhaps it was the same idea as having shops for soldiers on a military base.

“How many people does it take to run the elevator?” asked Marika, looking up at the giant “smokestack”.

“Around 1000 if you include the air defense operators. The operation is fully handled on the surface, so the space section is empty. But even with that many, most of the work is handled by computers.”

Were all of those thousand part of the human string pullers? Or was a minority sending out falsified orders to manipulate some other larger organization who had no idea what was going on here? It was impossible to tell from here and it honestly didn’t matter either way.

As a relic of when this was either an international airport or a tourist destination, the entrance area contained a row of ticket gates that reacted to either a paper ticket or an annual pass card. Their power appeared to be shut down, so Chrisbart walked right through one gate.

The elevator was past there.

The elevator car was like a train car tilted up on its end. Karuta guessed that was to obscure how many people and materials were being carried up each time, but apparently that was not the case.

Chrisbart explained.

“Your destination is in geosynchronous orbit 36 thousand kilometers from here. The Earth’s gravity, air resistance, the wire’s shaking, and other factors will reduce the elevator’s speed, so even at maximum power, it will take you three days to arrive. The elevator is more cost effective and safer than a rocket, but much, much slower.”

“Three days?”

“That was accounted for when calculating out your time limit, so you need not worry about running out of time.”

Having it happen all at once was a terrifying thought, but could they really spend three full days slowly committing suicide? And once they started, there was no turning back.

Traveling more than 10 thousand kilometers each day was extraordinarily fast. If a truck driver drove at 100km/h all day long without even stopping to sleep, how far could they travel in one day? And traveling vertically was a lot more difficult than traveling horizontally.

“You lived together in an RV when hunting down the Problem Solvers, didn’t you? There is a shower, bathroom, and kitchen stocked with everything you will need for your short stay there. Although they are designed for use in zero-g, so they cannot be used like normal. You have come this far, so we don’t want you to starve to death inside the elevator.”

That explained the size of the elevator car. Taking a plane to the other side of the planet took around half a day, so three days for travel was a major restriction. That may have been the real reason it had never caught on, not the international and technological issues. Ordinary people wouldn’t have anything to do even if they did spend all the money necessary for the long trip into space.

Space was not the only unexplored area. For example, people could spend a mountain of cash to take a deep sea probe thousands of meters underwater. That was enough to see or experience something brand new. But most people didn’t do that. They weren’t interested in a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Why was that? It was like taking an overseas trip where you couldn’t even leave the hotel. Once something became a real possibility, did the realistic inconvenience come into view and cause a journey into a world of dreams to lose its luster?

The Four Living Gods were being abandoned here. They were being crammed into a cramped corner of death that everyone had already lost interest in.

And the process would take days.

They approached the elevator car, Karuta pushing the wheelchair.

“When do we leave? The sooner the better, if you ask me.”

“How rational of you.”

The boy smiled a little at that assessment.

The human string pullers knew how to manipulate humans, but they sure didn’t understand humans. He only wanted to get this over with before the uncertainty inside him could take over.