Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume9 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 11===

“I can’t believe this.”

Quenser’s dazed comment quickly grew to a shout of anger.

“I can’t believe this!! I thought they were making some gigantic artificial planet, but is this what they were doing!?”

“Teacher, what are you talking about? I thought the Star we discovered at the hotel was meant to leave the earth and all its conflict behind so they could reach a new paradise?”

“That’s their goal all right, but we had the method wrong,” groaned Quenser. “The Nataraja is a ten thousand meter long artificial planet. They couldn’t launch it into space even if they did complete it. Just like debt snowballing out of control, it wouldn’t be able to support its own weight. That’s why they gave up on that and remade their escape plan into one that didn’t require flying.”

“…?”

“They built their star to take a centuries or millennia long trip through waterless and airless outer space, so the people inside would still be protected if it dove underwater. And what if no one back up on the surface knew they were there?”

The plans for the ship had contained hastily added notes on a low-temperature environment.

In other words, cold sleep.

That system froze a human at an extremely low temperature to store them for so long it could be called eternity.

“They’re waiting for humanity to destroy itself.”

“…”

“I don’t know if they planned for one or two thousand years or even for just a month or a week, but they’re waiting for the balance between the Legitimacy Kingdom, Information Alliance, Capitalist Corporations, and Faith Organization to fall apart, some truly hopeless problem to reach us, and for the human race to go extinct. And once that eliminates all the problems, they’ll head back up to the surface. Like the old planet shedding its skin, the Nataraja itself can be seen as a small continent. They can move up next to a tropical desert island and create a biofuel resources base.”

“Nataraja…that is, Lord Shiva is said to destroy the dark age of Kali Yuga himself and then create the new age. In that case…”

“Their escape from Earth isn’t breaching the atmosphere,” declared Quenser. “They’re escaping into their artificial planet within the planet.”

Supposedly, geniuses had vanished all over the world in all of the world powers.

Those geniuses’ lives had likely been a constant fight against the ugly adults. Simply hearing about talent trafficking was enough to know just how unimaginable their hardships were. Plus, that had to only be the tip of the iceberg.

That was why the current planet had left them in despair and they had secretly built an artificial planet to escape it.

And after vanishing while disguising it as abductions and accidents, they had gathered at the Star.

They were the next human race.

Only the skilled and clean people who would not bring any of the current problems with them were allowed on that ark.

“But how much did they prepare for this? They would need energy to support the ten thousand meter structure, energy to support the life support infrastructure, and energy to keep it hidden.”

“Wait a second. Are you saying they’ve opened a hole in the bottom of some storage base’s tank!? I know the Capitalist Corporations’ long-term civilian space flight plan was scrapped because it used up way too much energy for mere entertainment, but still!!”

“They don’t care at all about the old earth, so why would they bother leaving anything for us? They’re keeping the data for the World Clock or whatever looking normal while they’re actually stealing all the fuel, food, and rare earths they need to survive! And they know the world will fall into chaos once that’s found out and the data anesthesia runs out! What kind of future is waiting for us? Will all of the military vehicles stop running as we fight to grab what food we can all while we can’t stop the world’s food from rotting away at room temperature? You’ve gotta be kidding me!”

A new icon began flashing on the edge of the screen.

It indicated some data analysis had finished.

“That’s not some swimsuit pinup photos, is it?”

“It’s the data that was left on the hotel’s IP phone. The router was built in, so it recorded all of the data sent out from the room. It’s their data. …What is this? Energy storage filter list? Lure data and a comparison to the real values?”

According to Putana, all of the genius boys and girls except for Mulqueen Sonora had continued on to the Star.

The data on the supposed artificial planet had also come from that hotel.

Quenser had expected to find more detailed information, but he had accidentally reached for the lid of Pandora’s Box.

“The real amount the world has stored?”

The numbers were different from the official reports.

They were far, far removed from the values everyone believed in.

What was it he found there?

“……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………”

“Hey, Quenser, what’s the matter? Hey!”

“You’re better off not knowing.”

“Hm?”

“This is…this is just hopeless. The world would completely boil over!!”

Electricity and fuel truly would vanish from the world. The little bit brought by solar or wind power would be meaningless. They could try to use Object reactors for general power, but they did not yet have any way of setting them up like that. In other words, everything would rot away like trash. A single type of the saprophytic bacteria that consumed trash would prosper and all other microbes would have no place left. But that single type of saprophytic bacteria would be wiped out when exposed to its weakness of heat or ultraviolet light.

That would lead to a world without microbes.

In that world, the piles of trash would never rot. They would simply be eroded into dust and the rain or mist would turn it into sticky sludge. The sea of sludge covering the surface would become the enemy of bacteria, plants, animals, and all forms of life.

Quenser understood why the geniuses had hidden the existence of their artificial planet.

If something like that was “within reach”, no one would allow it. Some would simply try to take back the stolen fuel and resources while others might arrive with a smile as they asked to be let onboard.

That ark of salvation would transform into a plank of Carneades that washed out blood with blood.

That was why they had to hide it at all costs.

Quenser looked back while clinging to Putana’s waist.

“It’s possible the Oriental Magic attacked the fleet so forcefully because they didn’t want the fleet staying in this area of the ocean for so long. They attacked before we could discover them.”

“Wait a minute. Are you saying that Nataraja thing is using this commotion to escape to some other part of the ocean!?”

“Yeah, and while wasting a bunch of the stolen resources that we all need to live. Hurry, Heivia. We can’t head down to the bottom of the ocean with our current equipment. We need to get to the fleet and tell Frolaytia and the others about this!! With the killer radio waves and cannon vibrations, we can’t search above or below the sea, so we’re practically blind. We won’t be able to track it whether it moves one hundred kilometers away or just one hundred centimeters away!!”