Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume20 Chapter 6 (section)

===Part 15===

Something was straining.

The deep rumbling was incessant.

However, it was not the sound of the Manhattan 000 slowly turning its enormous cannon their way.

Thinking back, wasn’t this how the world war had begun in the first place?


''Report #380091A (Urgent)

''Report from 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion Commander Major Frolaytia Capistrano.

''A ground survey using our Baby Magnum matches the predictions made by our electronic simulation division. The following concerns have been proven valid:


The reverberation seemed to directly shake space itself as it grew lower, heavier, deeper.

Tokyo Bay was a lot deeper than any of them thought.


*''The continual rapid movement of Objects weighing as much as 200 thousand tons has placed the earth’s crust under severe stress.

*''The limit depends on the specific amount of energy built up in the local geography and plates, but once that limit is reached, it could trigger massive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.


Needless to say, the Island Nation was located in one of the most earthquake-prone and volcanically active areas of the world.

What would happen if a colossal Object were operated in that delicate region?

They had already discussed exactly that issue.


''Remotely triggered earthquakes are a known phenomenon. The Hoover Dam located in Western America’s Central Valley District has in fact caused earthquakes from all its gathered water placing an abnormal burden on the plate there. And unlike an artificial earthquake caused by directly shaking the ground with explosives, the time, location, and scope of these are impossible to predict until the moment they occur.


This Object was 20km long.

The stress it applied to the tectonic plates had to be many times that of an ordinary 50m Object.

This one was colossal even for an Object.

So couldn’t the Manhattan 000 alone create the kind of situation that normally required several Objects?

The Manhattan was not just the size of a giant ship or megafloat. It didn’t just create large waves on the surface; it affected the ocean currents so much it dug up the sand on the ocean floor. When it moved side to side to create waves and repeatedly crashed into its enemies, it affected the stress on the ocean floor – sometimes adding to it and sometimes reducing it.

The cup was already so full of water that surface tension was only barely holding it in and the Manhattan 000 had to count as more than just one drop.


''That means the local residents cannot be evacuated in advance of an earthquake caused by an Object’s effects on the plates. It is even possible the Objects fighting in a battlefield country could affect a safe country on the other side of the planet.


And…

So…


''Several major earthquakes in Legitimacy Kingdom territory were likely caused by Objects, including the Volga District Earthquake that triggered the Great Moscow Fire which led to more than 30 thousand deaths 8 years ago and the Braganca Coast Earthquake Swarm in the Amazon District that devastated more 250 thousand homes in four different cities. Include the other world powers and the numbers suggest 15.5% of the Magnitude 5 or higher earthquakes in the past 20 years were caused by Objects. If this is correct, the resultant loss of life is more than 190 thousand and the monetary damage is incalculable.


The ocean floor exploded.

Lava erupted from below, striking the Manhattan 000 up on the surface.