Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume3 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 12===

Quenser had managed to sneak into the Rush’s cockpit.

He had used the Hand Axe plastic explosive, but not to blow something up. He had attached the clay-like bombs to the top of the sensors to lower their sensitivity. If they had been noticed and someone tried to remove them, he could have hidden inside an arbitrary cannon barrel to hide from the enemy soldier and the blast. Then, he could have detonated the bomb to do some damage to the maintenance soldiers.

He knew they were short on time.

However, the Elite would not remain silent if there was some abnormality with the sensors.

The Elite might have headed out to check the sensors herself. Or she might have told the maintenance soldiers to do it or else she would not go out to fight. Either way, the Elite would still have to open up the barriers and exit the Object.

Quenser had been waiting near the exit connecting to the cockpit, so that had allowed him to sneak inside.

Even if an Object could not be destroyed from within, things were different when he was on the inside.

(This isn’t really a plan. It’s more or less a gamble. But I just had the best card dealt to me.)

Even with how close the princess and the old maintenance lady were, they still discussed in much detail the delicate adjustments that needed to be made to the sensors. If those partners did not have such a close understanding of each other, the princess would likely have dealt with the sensors directly. Quenser had seen Elites using tools in documentaries he had seen.

An Elite saw the Object as part of her body, so a slight error in the sensors was like wearing glasses that were not quite right. Rather than having any direct results, it would wear down her concentration.

(Only the Elite is risking her life. It isn’t surprising that she would be a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to the condition of the Object. With every second and every instant counting, she likely felt it would be faster to do it herself rather than continuing to argue.)

The blade Quenser was pressing against the Elite’s neck was a small cooking knife from his survival kit. The actual blade was only as long as his thumb.

[[Image:HO_v03_09.png|thumb]]

Quenser was reaching his arm around the chair.

(What…? That’s rather low.)

He frowned.

From what he had heard in the Oceanian military nation, the Rush’s Elite had a nice body with G-cup breasts.

But what he actually found was a girl of at most 10. She was maybe 130 cm tall. She of course did not have a G-cup. With her body type, it was doubtful if she had ever even seen a bra.

He had no idea if she was aware of it, but her special suit was designed like a white school swimsuit worn over a skintight red under-suit that covered her entire body. Just like with the princess’s, it showed no sign of any attempt at camouflage.

The Elite girl must have been able to see Quenser’s face reflected in the monitor because she remained calm even with the knife at her throat.

“Oh ho ho. Surprised? The Information Alliance views truth as just and falsehoods as evil. However, intentional lies can be used as an attack on enemies.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

Real sorrow seemed to cover Quenser’s face.

He repeated himself as if to say farewell to the nice body and G-cup he had imagined in his mind’s eye.

“…Sob…You’ve gotta be kidding me…Sob…”

“Wait a second. I’m going to get mad if it brings tears to your eyes. This body type is excellent in its own way, don’t you think? Oh ho ho. Back in the home country, I act as an Idol Elite that sings and dances.”

“But your official profile said you have that nice body and G-cup. How could you fool everyone that much!?”

“Oh ho ho. I have a dummy body displayed on a screen in full 3DCG. It is a shame that some call me a liar for that, but the motion is completely based on my own data.”

In the Information Alliance, all sorts of data was managed over the internet and truths and falsehoods were used strategically. It was possible the people there knew it was likely nothing more than wartime propaganda, but they did not care if it was virtual so long as they could get emotionally invested.

“By the way, this conversation is being transmitted to those outside. You will be surrounded before long. Oh ho ho.”

“That doesn’t matter. You are the only one that can use this Object. If they take any careless actions, I will put an end to their Elite’s life. I would rather not go that far, though. …You can hear me out there, can’t you?”

Quenser ignored that girl’s nonsense and moved on to the mission at hand.

He looked around the cockpit.

It was odd.

The area was a sphere of about 2 meters across with a giant monitor attached to the front. To that extent, it was the same as the princess’s Baby Magnum.

However, while the Baby Magnum had many different forms of interfaces such as a control column, buttons, a keyboard, a trackball, and more, the Rush used only one form of input.

Keyboards.

A large number of keyboards were lined up on three stepped levels. And the third step spread out in a U-shape around the edge of the cockpit. Quenser had no idea how that was an efficient layout. It was possible not even other Elites would understand. It must have been designed based on a line of reasoning that only worked for the girl who piloted the Rush.

In the space not taken up by keyboards, an inscription read “Manual Interface ‘JULIET’ ”. Quenser wondered if that was the Elite girl’s name.

(I guess an Object really can’t be piloted by anyone but its Elite…)

Quenser felt like an idiot for the faint hope he had briefly held.

Quenser gathered strength in the hand holding the knife and spoke in as low a voice as he could.

“First, close all the barriers leading to the cockpit. I’m sure those outside will complain, but ignore them.”

“Oh ho ho. That will only cut off your escape route.”

“Just hurry up and do it. I would rather not slice through a girl’s skin as a meaningless threat.”

“I must praise you for still treating me like a girl. Oh ho ho.”

Quenser raised the blade he had pressed against the girl’s neck.

The Elite girl shrugged to indicate she was giving in and pressed a few keys. Her 5 slender fingers moved at an inhuman speed like a sewing machine. At the Elite’s command, the dozens of barriers through the pathway leading to the cockpit closed.

The maintenance soldiers sent several alarmed transmissions.

However, they received no response.

After all, Quenser had the Elite’s movements sealed.

“Oh ho ho. Welcome to the most private love seat in the world. …You have now hijacked an Object with nothing but a knife. You really do love doing unprecedented things, don’t you?”

“Listen to what I have to say and do not say anything more than necessary. That is how you can survive this.”

“What should I do next? Should I shoot the Statue of Liberty with my main cannons or something?”

“Don’t do anything,” was Quenser’s sharp command. “Even once the maintenance finishes, do not move. Do not respond to the communications from the maintenance soldiers. Do not move a finger until our princess has completed her preparations…no, until she has declared checkmate. That is all.”

“Oh, dear. Oh ho ho. Should you really be saying that?”

“Do not try anything. I am not used to this. It’s possible the tension could make my arm tremble enough to slit your throat.”

“No, not that. Oh ho ho,” said the Elite girl with a smile on her face.

That was the difference that experience made. Quenser could not believe that she had the nerves to smile while an enemy soldier was holding a knife to her throat.

But the Elite was truly calm.

He probably should have put more thought into why that was.

“If I am not holding the ‘reins’, not even I know how much of a rampage the Gatling 033 will run. Oh ho ho.”

Quenser did not understand what she meant.

But shortly thereafter, the answer became evident.

Quenser’s body was thrown by the monstrous power of inertia, sending him slamming into the wall.

The maintenance vehicles surrounding the Rush were knocked away and the maintenance soldiers ran screaming out of the way, but Quenser was too focused on himself to care what was going on outside.

“Gah!?”

All the oxygen in his lungs rushed out in an instant.

The knife fell from his hand.

The Object had suddenly moved. He could tell that much, but he felt practically weightless. The force was simply too great to just brace himself against. His vision blurred at high speed, but he could still see the Elite girl grinning while held in her seat by the seatbelt.

With the threat of the knife gone, the girl contacted her allies.

“Oh ho ho. The main cannon has been replaced, correct?”

“Gatling 033, we heard what is going on there, but you can’t possibly mean to head out with that Legitimacy Kingdom soldier still aboard!”

“And what if I am? Either way, there is no way to force open the Object’s barriers from the outside. And right now, every minute and every second of delay could greatly affect the outcome of the battle. I have no choice but to head on. Unless you wish to raise the white flag here.”

“But…!!”

“Then are you going to raise the white flag? On whose authority? Are you going to waste a possible victory against an Object due to a single flesh-and-blood soldier?” The Elite girl spoke slowly but with a steady voice. “First of all, we should not be discussing my own safety here. What matters is if the maintenance is complete or not. And whether my Gatling 033 can continue fighting or not. So can my Gatling 033 fight?”

“…”

“Answer me. This is crucial to our strategy.”

“Y-yes. We just now finished the replacement of the main cannon. But we have not managed to deal with the sensors you ordered us to-…”

“That is fine,” said the Elite girl, cutting him off. She turned to face Quenser who was coughing on the floor before finishing. “But I do not feel like operating the Gatling 033 in that state. I have no choice but to leave this to the Strategic AI Juliet. Oh ho ho.”

“…!?”

Quenser’s body stiffened in shock at the term “AI”.

“Wait a second!!” shouted the maintenance soldier. “Juliet’s complete Object control is still in the third stage of testing! The odds of misfires based on erroneous detections or judgments goes up, raising the risk of friendly fire!!”

“If I narrow the possible targets down to the anti-Object level of 50 meters and up, that will not be a problem. Oh ho ho.”

“But Juliet is too dangerous to use in its current state!! If we give it complete control of our greatest weapon, who knows how far the damage could spread!!”

“Oh ho ho. Please do not make me repeat myself,” said the Elite girl. “If we simply follow the standard military codes, we will lose this battle. As we have a means of continuing to fight, I do not intend to end the fight prematurely. Oh ho ho.”

The Elite cut off the transmission and looked at Quenser once more.

“Surely you have heard the rumors of the Information Alliance working on a plan to make unmanned Objects. Oh ho ho.”

“It can’t be,” groaned Quenser from the floor. “AI research is impractical. Something simple like a UAV that goes on periodic patrols is one thing, but no program can match an Elite in a high speed battle requiring quick improvisations.”

“Are you talking about the Legitimacy Kingom’s Angelina List? Oh ho ho.”

“…”

“Oh ho ho. If I recall, that is a paper collecting the weaknesses and failures of AIs after repeated tests designed to be difficult for AI by a group of scientists opposed to the idea of AI. Running amok, freezing, and erroneous learning…I believe there were several patterns.”

“The Angelina List is the world’s standard barrier for creating strategic AI for Objects. The paper is free to access on the Legitimacy Kingdom’s public database, so the Information Alliance most likely used it in their research. Something with simple movements like a UAV is one thing, but the system controlling an Object is too large and complex. With our current technology, it is impossible to create an AI that can pilot an Object with greater speed and flexibility than an Elite who has been thoroughly improved both mentally and physically.”

“Oh ho ho. Are you talking about how AIs will choose the shortest path to victory too much, leaving openings for attack? Or how they will continue with vain attacks when in a situation their learned patterns do not know how to handle?”

“…”

“That just means it cannot be completely unmanned. Oh ho ho. When the Gatling 033 is used at full specs, it is not being controlled by me. The Strategic AI Juliet generally pilots it while I deal with any mistakes caused by errors or bugs. Meaning…” The Elite grinned. This smile was different from her previous smiles. “If I do nothing, the Gatling 033 will begin a rampage.”

Quenser was unable to hear her sentence through to the end.

The monstrous weapon known as an Object began using its full power.

Quenser learned firsthand what that meant.

A massive amount of inertia.

That power began squeezing at Quenser’s insides.

“Gh…ah…!?”

Everything shook front and back, left and right.

A great pressure kept him from breathing.

“Ghaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

It felt like every single blood vessel in his body was swelling up oddly. The contents of his stomach rose, he could not take in enough oxygen no matter how wide he opened his mouth, and it felt like he could not properly control even the expanding and contracting of his heart. After a dozen or so seconds, he could tell his thoughts were becoming completely scattered. Blood was not reaching his brain properly. Color gradually faded away from the edges of his vision. An unpleasant ringing in his ears took over his entire head.

The Rush was doing nothing special.

It was merely headed away from the maintenance base zone and towards the battlefield where the Baby Magnum awaited.

That was all it was doing and yet Quenser was on the verge of death.

All the while, the Elite girl grinned in her seat.

She looked like a young queen looking down in contempt at a bug crawling across the ground.

Quenser could not understand how she could be so calm.

The special suit she wore was not enough to explain it.

The only possibility he could think of was that she was made differently than a normal soldier down to the most fundamental construction of her body.

“Oh, dear. What has your eyes spinning like that? Oh ho ho. You will never be able to handle the Gatling 033’s high speed battle like this.”

As that girl of only about 10 spoke to Quenser, she calmly sipped at the straw of a drink sitting in her armrest.

For strategic PR purposes, the Information Alliance military had created an idealized G-cup Elite using a full 3DCG model. The people (whether they knew it was a lie or not) had accepted that. It was possible their ultimate objective there was to have the people accept that virtual ideal as a foundation to accepting an AI-controlled Object.

And…

“This is still only about 9 Gs. When the treads are used, it can momentarily exceed 12 Gs. Well, that is enough for any normal person to certainly lose consciousness, so try your best to bear with it. Oh ho ho. After all, I was kind enough to invite you to this special seat when I really should have handed you over to the Information Alliance military.”

12 Gs.

It had been proven that a normal human could not withstand anything at that level. But for her, that room was like a bedroom. The Elite’s body had been so thoroughly remade that it felt normal to her.

That concept sent a chill down Quenser’s spine.

(So this is…an Elite…)

Quenser thought as something like foam seeped from the corner of his mouth.

(Their bodies have been altered for the sole purpose of piloting Objects into battles. Dammit. This is like a battle between a deep sea fish and a submarine…)

Modern soldiers would often jokingly say something.

''Modern battlefields are so boring. If they really wanted us to fight wars, they should send one of those air-conditioned Objects our way.

But…

This was no joke.

Actually being aboard one of those monsters was enough to shorten your lifespan. Quenser was in such intense pain that he thought his blood vessels were going to burst and that his eyeballs were literally going to pop out of his head. Amidst 
it all, he decided that the people who piloted those Objects like it was nothing were not normal. Unless the human body was remade both inside and out, it was impossible.

While sprawled on the floor next to the wall, Quenser tried to stretch out his arm.

A great number of keyboards were installed around the Elite girl. It was possible that tapping just one of those small keys could end that nightmarish pain.

But he could not move his arm. All he could manage was making his fingertips twitch ever so slightly.

It was not just that he could not move his body.

A tremendous pressure was also holding down the thoughts and emotions in his head.

“Now, then.”

Having restrained the enemy soldier with inertia rather than handcuffs or shackles, the Elite girl placed her drink back down next to her and brought her 10 fingers to the keyboards around her.

She was not piloting the Object.

As if she was holding the reins of a rampaging horse, she removed the unneeded commands from the hundreds and thousands the strategic AI was instantaneously calculating out.

“I now have what I wanted, so it is about time I finished with today’s job. Oh ho ho.”

The treads shot a blast of snow into the air and the Second Generation Rush shot across the snowy plain. The scenery visible in the monitor sped up all at once.

Quenser heard a familiar sound through the speakers.

It was the emergency siren used at his base. They had arrived within a few kilometers of the Legitimacy Kingdom convoy. He could see the tanks that had been deployed just in case frantically leaving the path of the Object.

(Shit…!! How far has the princess’s maintenance gotten!?)

The joints on the back gathering the Baby Magnum’s seven main cannons had been shot off. To replace the part, every damaged joint had to be removed and then it all had to be built back up.

He saw no way the Baby Magnum’s seven main cannon arms could be fully functioning after such a short time.

Nevertheless, the princess’s Object headed out from the convoy.

By showing an intention to fight, she was making sure the convoy would not be a valid target.

“Oh ho ho. So you have decided to show yourself.”

A smile appeared on the Elite girl’s face

This one was different yet again. It was tinged with cruelty.

“I need not even use my high precision sensors. It is clear only one of them can move. Oh ho ho. You must truly be desperate to come out to fight with only one of your seven main cannons functioning.”

Objects had over 100 cannons both large and small, but only the main cannon class armaments could finish off another Object. That meant it was more logical to work towards getting one cannon up and running at full power rather than having all seven running at limited power.

However…

That only gave her the bare minimum of ability to keep fighting. Since it was assumed she could fight evenly with the enemy Object with all 7 main cannons functioning, she was clearly at an overwhelming disadvantage with just the one functioning main cannon.

“She might be purposefully keeping the others motionless to lull you into a false sense of security.”

“Oh ho ho. Falsehoods are evil. You were fortunate enough to be captured by me. I suggest you quickly teach yourself the rules of the Information Alliance.”

The Elite girl casually typed on the keyboards while ignoring that Quenser looked like he was about to cough up blood. She seemed to be adjusting the radio. Quenser thought she was preparing to contact her allies, but she was not.

She sent a transmission on a frequency that was intentionally easy to intercept by the Legitimacy Kingdom princess.

“Oh ho ho. Hello there, unrefined Legitimacy Kingdom Elite. If you raise the white flag, I promise to spare your lives.”

“…Sorry, but military regulations do not allow the white flag to be raised before the Object has been destroyed.”

“Fine, then.” The Elite girl rhythmically tapped at the keys. “I have no obligation to be considerate. I merely have to blow you away. Oh ho ho.”

The real battle began.

With a set amount of distance between each other, the two Objects each moved quickly to the left and right. The action looked like two opposing magnets being forcibly pushed towards each other. The two Objects moved at high speed in circles around each other as they fired their weapons at each other.

The princess was an expert at battle.

Even in her dismal situation of having only one functioning main cannon, she was not immediately dragged down into a disadvantageous situation. Even if they could not finish off the enemy Object, the Baby Magnum still had around 100 other cannons. The princess used them to blow away the snow on the ground and fired weak lasers to interfere with the enemy’s sensors. While using disturbance tactics like that to dull the enemy’s movements, she fired her one remaining main cannon.

However…

The Information Alliance girl was as much of an Elite as the princess.

She existed to pilot an Object.

She would lose everything if she could no longer pilot an Object.

That girl’s body had been trained to the extreme, the amount of blood in her body was modified to stand up to high Gs, and she had been given artificially high amounts of iron to supply her with large amounts of oxygen. Even in those abnormal conditions that reached 10 Gs, she continued typing while humming.

The disturbance tactics were not working.

Even with one sensor sealed, multiple windows would immediately appear from which she could gather information from multiple angles. Using that, she continued the high speed battle.

She knew she could not avoid every attack, so she repeated bold, high-speed movements that focused on surely avoiding the attacks from the main cannon that could actually produce a fatal blow.

She repeatedly made quick, high-speed movements using the treads while trying to lure the Baby Magnum closer and closer to a position where the terrain would corner the princess against a cliff wall.

The princess was clearly in the disadvantage.

(Dammit…I need to…interfere with…her control…!!)

Quenser frantically tried to suppress the urge to vomit, but even moving a single finger was difficult as he lay sprawled out on the floor. There were plenty of keyboards close enough to easily reach if he could only stand up, but he could not even stretch his arm out to the side in those high Gs.

Suddenly, the Elite girl moved the Object sharply to the side. Quenser’s body flew through the air and landed neatly in the Elite girl’s seat.

“Oh ho ho. Leaving this to Juliet is so boring, how about the two of us take this time to get to know each other better…physically.”

“Wha…!? Gh…What are you saying!?”

The intense power of the inertia was still affecting Quenser, so he was unable to give a proper response. He felt like a heavy sheet was being pressed down on his chest, so he could hardly breathe.

And then the princess’s voice came in over the Rush’s radio.

“…Quenser…?”

“W-wait, why are you using that heavy tone like you’re speaking to some suspicious perso-…gfh!?”

“Oh ho ho! Oh ho ho ho ho ho!! There is no room left here for you, unrefined Legitimacy Kingdom Elite!! Now, let us show this to her. We can email her a picture of us with our cheeks pressed up against each other. Say cheese! …Oh, dear. The barriers are cutting off the signal, so I cannot send it to the Legitimacy Kingdom with my phone.”

“Quenser… I am sorry, but this is a battle with the Rush. …I have no idea why you are there, but if you do not escape soon, you will be blown away along with her.”

“W-wait, wait. I’ll do something about the Rush’s movements from within…”

As he was being crushed down into the seat, Quenser tried to reach his trembling fingers toward one of the Elite’s keyboards. However, the Elite girl slapped his hand down like she was scolding him.

Quenser’s hand was so weak that was enough to knock his hand out of the way.

(…Damn…it… I can’t even do this…)

The giant screen was divided up into windows that were covered with all sorts of constantly changing information.

The Strategic AI Juliet was piloting the Object.

One window displayed a tree diagram that must have represented what commands the AI was using. Quenser could not tell if the number of lines was 100 or 1000, but the Elite girl would rapidly type a few things on the keyboard and a few of the lines would turn red and be cut off. That must have been what she called “holding the reigns”. The movements of the Object gradually lost their unevenness and stiffness. That may have been because the AI was starting to “learn” from the progress of the battle, or it may have been because the Elite girl had grasped some of the AI’s idiosyncrasies and was able to “revise” the commands more efficiently.

“…Gaahhhh…!!”

The great pressure of inertia squeezed at Quenser’s heart even more.

As blood trailed from the corner of Quenser’s mouth, something fell from his pocket. It was his wireless device. Seeing the small device sliding along the floor, the Elite girl gave a slight sneer.

“Oh ho ho. Even if you are within the cockpit, that cheap piece of junk cannot interfere with my interface. And trying to rely on a Legitimacy Kingdom supercomputer will not work either. The thick barriers cut off any and all signals.”

Quenser ignored the Elite girl’s gloating and stared at the screen of the handheld device that had slid a bit away.

The Strategic AI Juliet.

The radio transmission currently connected between the princess and the Elite girl.

The plastic explosive in his hand.

While still unable to move much, Quenser stared at the giant monitor with bloodshot eyes. He had a silent thought.

(I might have found the beginnings of a plan.)