Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume17 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 10===

The Legitimacy Kingdom’s 21st Mobile Maintenance Battalion supported the Second Generation Crystal Scrying.

Quenser’s group held a strategy meeting in that glacier cave while eating flavorless soap-like rations.

Elise was the first to speak.

“Crystal Scrying apparently refers to crystal ball divination.”

“Hey, does the origin of the name really matter? Don’t you have some more, y’know, technological information?”

“My, my. Knowing the enemy’s beliefs and tastes is very useful in predicting their actions. To continue, the 21st is attacking the 37th over that Immortanoid business. You know, the largescale ‘deposit’ you happened across in the Uyuni Salt Flat.”

They were using their lights since they were in the cave, but that was enough for fear to clutch at their hearts. They knew the light could not get outside, but it still felt like they were marking themselves for death.

“Our busty commander left that out of her report, didn’t she?” Heivia grimaced at the flavorless food. “The fact that word still got out makes it something of an open secret, doesn’t it?”

“The less accurate the information, the more people expect from a treasure map,” said Quenser. “So does the 21st want to dig up that Immortanoid that can’t be found in the natural world? Or do they want to hide the Immortanoid they deposited in that secret bank?”

“Neither.” Elise shook her head. “The 21st isn’t interested in either of those things.”

“Huh? That doesn’t make any sense! There are only two options here! There’s a ton of valuable rare earth hidden in front of them, so they must either want it or want to keep it hidden. Or are you saying they attacked us for something entirely unrelated to that treasure map!?”

“It would be best to say their circumstances here are unique to the Legitimacy Kingdom. It’s about land.” The blonde glasses woman shrugged her shoulders that had to be stiff due to her large chest. “I mean, that’s what the Legitimacy Kingdom’s royals and nobles are all about, right? A king with lots of land orders the nobles that serve him to manage different parts of that land. The Legitimacy Kingdom is the world power that formed by gathering together as many of those monarchs as possible. They openly place a lot of weight on bloodline and history, but they must place just as much weight on territory.”

“Well, yeah. My Winchell family has land all over the place, including a vineyard and a lunar villa. But isn’t that basically a special bonus you get for having the high-level bloodline of a noble or royal?”

“No.” Elise Montana laughed as she rejected that idea. “Quite the opposite in fact.”

“The opposite?” asked Commoner Quenser with a frown.

The blonde glasses woman sighed and looked to Heivia for some reason. She seemed to be reacting to her last shred of a conscience, just like someone who could not bring themselves to kick an elderly person in the back.

“The Legitimacy Kingdom wanted land first and foremost,” she said. “Because with land comes opportunity.”

“Opportunity?”

“The obvious example is for making money, such as building a town, establishing trade routes, or mining underground resources, but those might as well be bonus prizes. What the royals wanted most of all was the opportunity comes in the form of medicinal herbs or minerals.”

“Herbs?”

That word sounded out of place here.

That was not something that could be sold for plenty of money like gold or Immortanoid.

It could instead be made into medicines.

“Am I wrong?” She gave a gentle smile. “If we set aside the historical background of the Legitimacy Kingdom’s honorable royals and nobles, then they are set apart from the commoners by the rare and special blood in their veins, right?”

“Y-yeah, but what of it?” awkwardly asked Heivia.

Was he being considerate of the commoner seated next to him, or did he have a bad feeling some fundamental belief of his was about to crumble away?

Elise did not stop regardless.

“But what does that mean from a genetic standpoint? If the commoners have the more standard and generic genetic information, then the nobles and royals have the more irregular and unique genetic information. But is that really better?”

“Ah.”

“Genetics determine how susceptible you are to certain diseases and how resistant you are to environmental changes. The thing is, the more standard commoner genes have had more of a chance to mix all of that stuff together, so wouldn’t they have the greater resistance to different things?”

“W-wait. Hold on!! You could say the same about the nobles with more unique genes. Even if some virulent infectious disease is causing normal people to drop like flies, the unique part of our genes might let us survive!!”

“Yes, if you look at the nobles as a whole.”

“What do you mean as a whole?”

“Let’s say you have 26 different noble bloodlines, A through Z. The only one to survive the immediate threat would be the one with the X genes, so most of the nobles would be wiped out. That really does not seem like an efficient way to survive as a group.”

It all came back to this.

This was why the nobles and royals wanted so much land and it was why they accepted other monarchs from countries with entirely different histories and cultures.

“So are you saying the top level of the Legitimacy Kingdom is working together to conquer that weakness and fragility in their blood? And that’s why they want medicinal herbs and minerals?”

“Thinking of it as strong and weak is inaccurate. It may be better to think of it in terms of being generic enough to survive as many different threats as possible. Now, it seems the Body File is a list of all reported hereditary vulnerabilities in the different noble and royal bloodlines.”

It was understandable that they would not want that getting out.

First of all, the nobles and royals were a minority when compared to the commoners. And since the Legitimacy Kingdom ruled itself by having a minority of superior people guiding the general masses, they could not possibly let their weaknesses show.

Those kings and knights could not accept a situation where the majority assisted a weak few.

Also, the commoners would be incensed if they learned of that weakness. They would question why they had to fight wars and bloody themselves to protect those people’s land…and sometimes steal other people’s land for them. Those medicinal herbs and minerals meant nothing to the commoners, so why should they work so hard for some new medicine that would not benefit them in any way?

“They cannot let this get out.” Elise Montana described the cause of death currently stalking them. “So the Legitimacy Kingdom covered up the truth with a different form of bait. They invented the idea that ruling all that land would give them plenty of underground resources such as gold and rare earths.”

“Then the artificial Immortanoid was caught up in all this by pure chance?”

“I do not know. More money is one way of achieving greater medical technology, so my guess is the Legitimacy Kingdom wanted to be as rich as possible. In that sense, they might prefer if the world economy is run on a simpler system based entirely on underground resources like gold.”

“You’ve gotta dumb down this talk of economics for me.”

“Sure, sure. For example, the current economy runs on currencies like the dollar and euro, right? There are other items you can use, of course, like virtual currencies and jewels.”

“Well, yeah.”

“But currency started out as gold and silver coins, right? And paper bills were originally a ticket you could exchange for a set amount of gold because the gold coins were too heavy to carry around. A system like that, where everything is a stand-in for gold, is known as the gold standard.”

“So while the Legitimacy Kingdom was working to break into a dollar-ruled world with the euro, they decided it would be easier to bring back the gold-focused gold standard system since their control of the land gives them control of the gold too?”

Reviving an older system was exactly the kind of thing the Legitimacy Kingdom liked to do. The royals and nobles would see it as a worthwhile cause since they were so desperate to reclaim their authority.

“Come to think of it, we do tend to make new money at the drop of a hat, like with those commemorative gold Christmas coins and gold New Year’s coins.”

“That would be the ideal for them. But at the moment, they have not managed to make any headway outside of the Legitimacy Kingdom.”

Quenser and Elise were discussing the matter in a friendly manner, but then Heivia quickly interrupted.

“B-but what does that have to do with Immortanoid? How was any of that a problem???”

“Because if they make dollars and euros into tickets that can be exchanged for gold, they are ultimately making it all subservient to the enormous framework known as the gold business. And that gives the Legitimacy Kingdom a huge advantage since their obsession with land gives them control of so much of the underground resources. But what if Immortanoid takes over instead? That is an artificial element created in a particle accelerator, not something buried in the ground. If dollars become tickets that can be exchanged for Immortanoid, then all the dollars in circulation around the world will essentially be owned by whatever world power controls that.”

“Hmm, so you’re saying boobs are justice???”

“I am saying all their hard work to bring back the gold standard system would be for nothing! They want to keep the Capitalist Corporations from taking the lead role in the world economy using their experiments in creating artificial elements with particle accelerators!! Explanation complete!!”

This topic was better suited for the money-obsessed Capitalist Corporations. Quenser did not understand a lot of it (even though he wanted to become richer than the nobles), but he could kind of see how the Legitimacy Kingdom would be harmed by that turn of events.

But anyway…

“The Legitimacy Kingdom nobles and royals believe in the superiority of their bloodlines, but they see the inherent inferiority as well. They know there is a genetic risk of them dying from a disease or disaster that normal people can survive. Or perhaps it would be best to say they ''believe'' there is one. So they have been researching their genetic information in secret while also buying up land around the world to efficiently acquire the medicinal herbs and minerals needed to create various medicines.”

No one knew which genes would actually come in handy.

If everyone had the same optimal genes, then the entire species could be annihilated by a single disease.

Being a minority could be seen as a plus or a minus depending on how you looked at it.

In that sense, the royals and nobles needed to trust in the value of their privileged class to the very end. They had to believe the very propaganda they spread. Because once they started to suspect there might be a downside to being a minority, it would gradually cloud their hearts.

They would go from being a powerful minority to a weak one.

“That is the identity of the conspiracy surrounding the Body File. Major Capistrano had the opportunity to secretly discover this while dealing with that land-based underground bank both in the Bering Sea and in the Uyuni Salt Flat…or so the 21st and their higher ups concluded. She would have seen unnatural land that was bought in an unnatural way and, if she investigated that, it could have revealed the secret behind the acquisition of that land.”

So they had decided to eliminate her.

Those powerful people were willing to kill others in the Legitimacy Kingdom over this.

The Legitimacy Kingdom believed that the noble bloodlines would guide the people.

But the truth was very different. Those “noble bloodlines” were nothing more than filthy landowners who were so terrified of genetic vulnerabilities (which might not even exist) that they clung to unproven medicinal properties and healing methods.

For example, the longevity mineral known as Immortanoid.

That miracle rock was said to activate the cells with its faint radiation and add a 30% extension onto the lifespan set at either end of the chromosomes.

A commoner like Quenser found that idea to be absurd and it seemed a lot more likely someone was using disinformation to intentionally inflate the price of that artificial element. But he had also heard that it was highly popular with the rich people led astray by those rumors.

And if that was enough to fool them, they must have had a desire strong enough to let themselves be fooled.

Something had made them desperate for anything that ensured their health.

“…”

Heivia Winchell remained silent for a while.

No, he may not have had anything to say.

After fighting enough money-driven wars, it became all too obvious how phony the causes advocated by the world powers really were. But that did not mean he could so easily throw out the time he had spent growing up as a noble.

There had even been times when that power had shown its usefulness.

For example, when he had rescued those children on the aurora observation ship.

So what if he was told it was all a lie?

“For now, let us set aside whether or not their claim is accurate.”

Elise Montana remained calm.

Since the 21st and the 37th were both from the Legitimacy Kingdom and she was from the 7th Special Training Unit, she could have taken either side, but she was saying she would stick with Quenser and Heivia.

“The problem is that the 21st fully believes it and has decided the 37th is an enemy of the Legitimacy Kingdom as a whole for trying to hide the Immortanoid found at the Uyuni Salt Flat. Words will not be enough to stop them. We have no hope for tomorrow unless we kill them and drive them to the point of utter annihilation.”

She took control of the conversation before Quenser or Heivia could.

“The 21st’s Object is the Crystal Scrying.”

However.

Therefore.

“Like I said, it is named after crystal ball divination. The name imagines the Object as a giant glass ball and a fortuneteller. But why is it known as that? Because the primary material used to construct that Object is glass.”

“Gl-…?”

A glass Object.

Battlefield Student Quenser craved bizarre forms of inspiration, but even he could not keep up with that idea.

“Standard Objects are made by taking steel armor panels mixed with a heat-resistant reactive material and layering them like leaf springs, but this one is made by taking reinforced glass and protective film and layering them like a baumkuchen. We had a vague idea of that in advance thanks to our intelligence collection. There was still some data in the military servers, after all. But this battle has shown us that the glass fixation is seen in the weapons as well. It sends messages to the railgun shells through fiber optic cables and those are made from glass, right?”

Knowing the enemy’s beliefs and tastes was very useful in predicting their actions.

This did follow from the 21st’s dislike of artificial elements.

“With the exception of some special acids, glass is extremely resistant to nearly all chemicals – that is, to the artificial elements and compounds they so despise. Plus, it does not stimulate people’s greed with its rarity the way gold does. From their meager perspective, it is the perfect Object for extracting the poison and changing the world in a pure and proper way. I initially wondered why they would make it from glass of all things, but that must have been the idea behind it.”

They saw themselves as the ones removing poison from the world.

In that case, they would see Quenser’s group as a toxin needing elimination now that they knew what was in the Body File.

If they were that obsessed, they likely used glass in a lot of places beyond the armor and main cannon trajectory control. For example, the capacitors supporting the incredible power requirements of the container railgun main cannons may have used Leyden jars and the image processing may have used an image intensifier.

On the other hand, it seemed unlikely that the Crystal Scrying used no non-glass substances. In other words, that it did not use any rare earths. Even if it did use thin film integrated circuits made from glass, that was not enough to perform data processing. The semiconductors would be made of silicon, aka glass, but other metals would be needed too.

Were they okay with using anything as long as it was not an artificial element made in a particle accelerator?

Plus, these were haughty nobles. It would hardly be surprising to find they gave themselves exemptions to the rules they insisted everyone else follow.

However…

“The enemy’s armor doesn’t use the usual temperature-resistant reactive material,” said Quenser. “It uses special glass armor made by layering reinforced glass and film like an onion. In that case…”

“Hey, you aren’t thinking the firepower we have on hand is enough to deal with that, are you?” said Heivia. “We don’t have any tanks or armored vehicles that can still run out there. Even the Princess is having a hard time of it, so we can’t just stand out in front of the thing!!”

“I never said we would be doing that. We aren’t going to blast all the way through the Crystal Scrying. But if we could roast the surface a little…”

“Yesss?” prompted Elise in an odd way.

“Its armor is definitely tough.” Quenser sighed. “Since it’s been made into Object armor, our fists couldn’t break it even if it was originally glass. It must already be too strong for that.”

Simply putting it to words seemed to be medically wearing down his body’s strength, but he kept going.

If he stopped thinking, he would lose sight of their only escape route.

“But what if we remade it into something else entirely?”

He said it all in one breath.

Their comeback started now.

“Glass can be processed into many different forms. Glass fiber, foam glass, insulators, etc. If it can be melted with heat, then it can be changed by mixing in an impurity before it rehardens, right?”

“And that would make it more brittle?”

“Not necessarily, but we might be able to pull off something neat.” Quenser spelled out his thoughts. “I don’t know if it’s in panels or blocks, but that Object is formed entirely out of combined pieces of glass, right? If we break down that form, it shouldn’t be able to move the way it was designed to. Take the joints for example. If we distort those, we can lock up its movements.”

“But where do we get that impurity?” asked Elise. “Hiking back down to the maintenance base at the foot of the mountain and bringing back a ton of some kind of chemical substance does not sound realistic to me.”

“Foam glass doesn’t require any other materials. Snow is being blasted into the air all over the place, right? As long as we melt the surface of the glass, snow will get into it without us having to do a thing. And I mean a lot of snow. The snow will melt and the water will evaporate, but the holes will remain. So as the below-freezing air causes it to cool and harden, the glass will become a fluffy and spongy material. If the apparent volume changes and it expands enough, the joints won’t be able to move.”

Of course, that would not be enough to defeat the 21st Mobile Maintenance Battalion’s Second Generation.

That would only slow it down.

“Heivia, do you have a missile?”

“Kh.”

“Heivia. It’ll be okay. I’m not saying we have to defeat that Object ourselves. We can pass the baton to the Princess and she’ll save us. But you’re still scared?”

“Why the hell wouldn’t I be?”

“Let’s end this before sunrise. We can’t let this problem linger for too long.”

They had a plan.

Quenser, Heivia, and Elise ended their last supper and walked to the exit of the glacier cave with their respective equipment.

Even now, the cave was shaking from a low tremor. They had not thought about it until now, but that sturdy cave could have collapsed at any time. That just drove home the point that there were no safe zones on the battlefield.

As they approached the exit, Quenser switched off his light.

If any oddity was noticed or even the slightest light was detected, those extraordinary shells would be flying their way. The time had come to stick their tongue out behind the grim reaper’s back while hoping like hell they were not noticed.

“I’m not going to defeat it.” While carrying the missile launcher over his shoulder, Heivia repeated that under his breath like some kind of incantation to ward off evil. “I’m relying on the Princess. I’m just letting the Princess win this for us. This is still a standard Object vs. Object battle. I’m sticking with the normal rules. So it’ll be okay. I can survive this. I just have to let the Princess finish it for us.”

Yes.

They only had to pass the baton to the Princess.

They only needed the Princess’s help.

When they stepped out of the glacier cave, the very first thing they saw was the Baby Magnum being pierced through by a giant railgun shell.

The deafening boom and shockwave arrived after a short delay and all the snow on the slope crashed down in an avalanche.

Something was launched diagonally back from the Baby Magnum’s pierced spherical main body. It was hard to tell in the darkness, but that was probably a person rather than a flare dangling from a parachute in the cold sky. That was the Princess.

The Baby Magnum was at a higher point on Mont Blanc while it dirtied the night sky with black smoke. That might not seem like anything unusual, but it was. The Crystal Scrying was designed for use in mountainous terrain, but the Baby Magnum did not have the mountain-climbing capability needed to scale the highest peak in the Alps. It could not climb the steep slope past a point, so the jagged mountain peak was a dead end for the Princess.

Meanwhile, the Crystal Scrying could move as it pleased and had circled around toward the base. It had moved rapidly in every direction, adjusted its position, and fired its octuple railguns from the optimum angle. It had controlled the tail fins with fiber optic cables so those shells gathered around the Baby Magnum from a variety of angles.

This was the result.

After being driven up the mountain, the Princess had not had anywhere to escape.

“You have got to be kidding me.”

Heivia dropped the shoulder-fired missile launcher tube he had been preparing to fire.

They could no longer rely on her.

They had no Object. It was just those puny foot soldiers.

And the battle was not over.

The delinquent noble’s voice trembled.

“What the hell are we supposed to do now, goddammit!!!???”