Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume18 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 6===

The artificial air felt heavy.

The elevator was now dropping them toward the hopeless pits of hell.

Area 2 was 40km up. That was still taller than Everest and above the ozone layer.

But specialized high-altitude spy planes would reach altitudes of around 35km, so they had left space and entered at the world of airplanes.

They would not get another chance after this one.

None of their attacks could damage the Object. They could only sit idly by and wait for it to destroy the earth.

(Think.)

Quenser hung his head as they dropped toward fateful Area 2.

(The ordinary logic of bullets and bombs won’t work. This thing exists on an enormous scale, so we need to hit it with an equally enormous scale. We’re currently riding a space elevator, so there has to be a way to use that as an attack!!)

“We’re too close to earth to call this outer space anymore.”

Quenser slowly turned his head inside his spacesuit. He could not believe his eyes. Genius Scientist Louisiana Honeysuckle had crossed her legs and looked terribly bored despite the crisis situation. She looked no different from someone waiting on the sofa at a barbershop after setting up an appointment but finding the previous customer’s haircut was running long.

Even though she had the expertise to calculate out the damage the Object’s impact would cause better than anyone else.

Did she really believe this would save the world? She still had the air of someone who felt no need to explain the reason why you separated out you sorted your trash.

She appeared to have fully adapted to earth’s gravity. She was seated on the floor, but she was sitting up with plenty of strength in her back.

“This will be over soon,” quietly stated the gasmask girl.

“You sure are calm for someone who’s going to lose her home just like the rest of us!!”

“The giant meteor is just one of many theories. This might not actually do much of anything.”

“…”

“Humanity has never gone extinct before, so we can’t say for sure what would cause it, can we? The dinosaurs went extinct due to the ice age and the rulers of the planet eventually shifted from the reptiles to the mammals. That much we know to be true, but we still don’t actually know what exactly caused that extinction. It could have been the impact of a giant meteor, but other theories say it was weakened solar activity or largescale volcanic activity. Oh, and I believe there was one theory saying dinosaur farts clouded the planet’s atmosphere.”

She actually seemed to be teasing him.

It felt like speaking with a serial killer without any metal bars between them. They needed her specialized skills in the fields of space and space elevators, but rely on her too much and she would drag you into the depths.

He deeply regretted the fact that they could not just kill her right here.

She understood her position perfectly.

She knew none of them could kill her.

Quiet static ran through his helmet as he received a transmission from the Princess down on the surface.

“Quenser?”

“What is it, Princess?”

“How far have you descended? If you move back up now, your group there might be able to survive.”

“Unfortunately, we removed all the safety devices to get the speed we needed. That allows us to accelerate, but it also makes this a one-way trip. We can’t go back up.”

“I see. That’s too bad.”

That was not sarcasm. It was just like the Princess to express genuine disappointment here.

Quenser could not help but smile.

“That’s awfully fainthearted for you. Anyway, we’ve passed the ionosphere, so your targeting should be more accurate now.”

“That is about the only positive side of this situation, isn’t it? But you saw what happened when I scored a direct hit, didn’t you? It wasn’t enough.”

Quenser decided to count it as a plus that she was letting him see this fainthearted side of her.

If she had continued to embellish the data out of fear or pride, he doubted they would have had any chance of success.

“Quenser, I really wish you could have stayed out in space.”

“No, thank you. Then I wouldn’t have anywhere to spend the fortune I’m going to earn one day.”

Just then, some kind of large mass passed right by their elevator car.

“Wah!?”

Myonri must have gained a fear of heights after nearly being dumped outside earlier. She cowered down, reflexively clung to Quenser since he was nearby, and shrieked. But it felt a lot like two big mascot costumes hugging each other, so it was not as nice an experience as he would have hoped.

“What was that!?”

“The elevator has more than one wire.” Louisiana sounded exasperated. “There are several of them lined up in parallel. And some unmanned cargo containers were left hanging after you took over.”

“Cargo containers!?” Heivia leaned forward. “So they’re full of Capitalist Corporations weapons!? We can use those!!”

“If you want to grab some, feel free to open that door and jump on over. Our current altitude…just passed below 50km. That’s about 5 times Everest, but if you really think you can jump to the elevator with the intense winds of that height, be my guest. And don’t forget you have to do it in those oversized spacesuits that aren’t great for athletics. Oh, and you also have to worry about the regular vibration of the elevator wires.”

“I’m gonna kill you!!!!!!!”

“How many times have you made that empty threat now? You’re as bad as that uncle who always tells the same story every time you see him.”

Quenser watched that hopeless conversation.

This might be his last chance to speak with the Princess, but he forgot all about his exchange with her.

“Quenser?” she said.

“The elevator wires have a regular vibration?” he muttered.

“All forms of matter have a normal mode frequency.” Louisiana heard that and responded with her legs still crossed. “Not even cutting-edge carbon nanotubes can ignore the laws of physics. Now, what was that frequency with wires 100,000km long?”

“…”

(The wires are not just being blown in the wind. They wobble and then return. That means they have an elasticity that snaps them back to normal. They’re 100,000km long, an empty car has been left hanging, and it’s full of Capitalist Corporations weapons. Wait…wait, wait. That scale might just be big enough. And it’s within our reach!!)

“Louisiana!”

“Yes?”

“Skip past Area 2! Take us even lower!!”

The shocked reaction came from Heivia, Myonri, and the others instead of Louisiana herself.

“Why would you waste our final chance to avoid blowing our load here!?” shouted Heivia.

“Letting it leak out little by little isn’t any better. Besides, what would we even accomplish if we stopped here? Our assault rifles can’t reach it and the missiles won’t fly on course.”

“…”

“So we need to gather up every chance we’ve got and make one definitive blow to end it all. We only have one shot at this. We can’t destroy the falling World’s End otherwise!!”

“One definitive blow?” calmly asked Louisiana Honeysuckle. “Do you have an actual vision of what that might be?”

Now, which side was she asking that question from? Was she a member of the Federation of Elevator Industries concerned Quenser might actually be to stop her final attack, or was she just a human who had found some hope of successfully stopping this?

Either way, the puny boy gave his answer.

“We only have one shot at this.”

He lifted the cracked visor of his helmet and looked his awful friend straight in the eye.

“Are you going to keep trying in vain until we’re all dead, or are you going to aim for one definitive blow? Choose, Heivia. This is the final decision!!”