Editing City Series:Volume6e Chapter5 (section)

===Part 3===

A dark space was filled with heat and had only red warning lights for illumination.

The cylindrical space’s floor was about 50 yards across and the walls were about 30 yards tall.

The ceiling was a circle just like the floor and there was a seam in the center.

B6-18 was written in white gothic text across the seam.

This was a storeroom on Germania’s deepest level. It was meant to hold VIP escape craft, so the cylinder was divided by 18 barrier floors that ensured absolute protection and a rapid escape route.

But currently, an aerial warship sat in the center of the floor instead of a VTOL escape craft. Its coloration was hard to make out in the red lighting, but it had a blade-like silhouette.

It was locked down on an elevated platform sitting on the floor and a veritable spider web of fuel pipes connected it to the surrounding walls.

Several people were moving around it, all of them wearing white coats dyed red by the lights.

The old man on the outer wall of the cockpit at the top of the aerial warship gave them all instructions.

He was Development Division Chief Elrich. He called to the young researcher removing the rear protective cover.

“How is Tristan doing?”

“Neue Erde took over at 2:30. Its Ober Beweisen should be starting soon.” A pulse sounded and the researcher pointed toward the door leading further in. “But its power has very nearly overloaded already, making for a very dangerous situation. The structural materials cannot withstand this pressure for long, so if this continues for another half an hour, Tristan’s Tons may begin to break down.”

Something was unusual on the back wall where a 4-yard door was located.

There was a vein there.

A blood vessel made from the same material as the wall was throbbing in time with the pulse.

“So the overload has begun already,” noted Elrich when he saw it. “Isn’t this a tad quick? I thought it wasn’t supposed to peak until 3.”

“Neue Erde appears to be gradually increasing the power on its own. Slowly and carefully.”

“I see. The control room must be in a tizzy. Because there is nothing they can do to stop it at this point.”

With that, he stopped paying attention to the wall. He instead viewed the cockpit hatch in front of him.

“Is it alright that it only has room for one?”

“Our commander said to assume the Messiah would be the only passenger since the Sylphide itself runs autonomously.”

“Hmph. Let me guess: she also said to make the cryogenic storage device for one, didn’t she?”

“You guess correctly.”

“I was told in the past that only one person could return to the present.”

A researcher turning a large bolt to release the ship from the elevated platform responded to Elrich.

“But, chief, is what you said about the Nibelung really true?”

“If you don’t believe me, why are you here working?”

Elrich’s question contained a hint of a smile. He opened the hatch and took a look inside.

“Because you lot got carried away and completed eight Erlkönigs while I was away, the power balance between Neue Erde and the Messiah has tilted heavily in Neue Erde’s favor. But that destiny only exists because Neue Erde was warned in advance…which is what I call cheating.”

“Then why are we preparing the Sylphide in secret?”

“Because engineers love nothing quite as much as a secret project.” He laughed bitterly, told them to “remember that”, and went inside.

The cockpit was cramped. The floor was two yards long and one yard wide and the space was about a yard high. The cockpit existed as a tub-like sunken portion in the front.

“I don’t see a cryogenic storage device. Does the entire cockpit itself double as one?”

He was answered by the researcher standing outside the hatch.

“After a triple-confirmation switch, the shutter lowers and seals the cockpit for freezing. The prototype and the wreckage found at Hamburg used a separate chamber, which obstructed the rear view from the cockpit, so we solved that issue.”

“I see. Excellent work.”

“The Hamburg wreckage gave us the hint we needed. It had a larger cockpit with a single chair-style seat, but we reassessed the design and lowered it all by about a yard to-”

Elrich nodded and held his hand out toward the hatch to stop the man. His eyes were still on the inside of the cockpit.

“Hm?”

He saw something glitter atop the control panel. But not the metal or glass of the controls or gauges.

“A woman’s bracelet? What is this doing here?”

“It was within the parts collected from the prototype. A colleague said he had seen Marsch wearing something similar.”

“Marsch Gant, huh?”

Elrich narrowed his eyes a little and lowered his head, but only for a short moment. He nodded toward the bracelet on the controls and backed out of the hatch.

He stuck his hands in his lab coat’s pockets and asked a question of the researcher waiting out there.

“Have you completed the two modifications I requested via telegraph from the old HQ?”

“Yes, it will all be complete in a few more minutes. First, the engine fuel bypass was switched to a fully external supply…just like with the Kaiserburg. It was 80/20 external/internal before, so as a stopgap measure, we blocked off the bypass from the internal tank and set the input sensitivity of the 8 external intake ports to 130%.”

“Good. As long as the initial startup works, the Sylphide will be able to extract ether from its surroundings and fly without ever needing to refuel.” Elrich looked to the researchers working on different parts of Sylphide. “Have you removed the limit on the external supply? So that it can consume external ether at all times, even with its Panzer Emblem active?”

“Yes. The Kaiserburg shut off the external intake when using its Panzer Emblem to ensure stability of the Panzer Emblem’s form. That created a momentary reduction of power immediately after ending the Panzer Emblem. Removing that limit will cause the Sylphide to consume its own Panzer Emblem, but…” The researcher paused. “But the real problem is compatibility with the next modification. As instructed, we extended the Panzer Emblem’s activation text to connect with the basic repair emblem text. That should allow it to repair its Panzer Emblem.”

“I fail to see the problem. The Hamburg wreckage handled the issue similarly, I believe.”

“The Panzer Emblem works by syncing any colliding matter with its ether armor Tons, destroying it. But this Sylphide will then consume the destroyed object’s Tons through its exterior intake.” A breath. “But even after being synced, a small portion of the original Rätsel remains. So instead of just consuming the Tons of whatever it destroys and using them as more material for the Panzer Emblem, the Sylphide must use its repair emblems.”

“Yes, to repair the destroyed objects to their original form.”

“An aerial warship with the power to Tune is terribly unstable! What if it loses control!?”

“The prototype took in the Tons of the Schreibener and this one uses some of the prototype’s components, so it possesses Marsch Gant’s will and that will keep it under control.”

Elrich did not sound remotely worried. He gave the gasping researcher a glance before looking around the area.

The workers were looking up at him.

He shut Sylphide’s hatch while looking down at them.

He slapped his hand on its armor a few times, making just as many sounds.

“The Messiah no longer wishes to destroy, so the same will be true of her guardian dragon. This aerial warship possesses the power to break through its opponent, but it will retune them afterwards.” He viewed them all. “Perhaps we should call it an autonomous Tuning Werkzeug.”