Editing HEAVY OBJECT:EX Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 8===

On the modern battlefield, Objects settled everything, so infantry work was hopelessly tedious. Without anything to do, obesity truly could become a problem for an entire unit.

Restrictions on personal items were relatively lax, but did that provide a psychological oasis during the boring job or did it show just how unimportant their work was?

Regardless, while the others were complaining about the stale news provided by a recorded soccer match, one soldier’s mood improved after he found a music-focused radio station.

(Boy Racer’s vocals really start to shine after their second big hit. The lyrics get a lot better too. They stop talking about nonsense like love and romance.)

As he thought about that, a short burst of static ran through the radio.

“?”

He frowned and heard a low rumbling sound.

He stopped walking and looked first into the dark night sky and then to the watchtower.

He brought his military radio to his mouth.

“Hey, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky before, right? There’s nothing but smoke after the Legitimacy Kingdom’s wild party, though.”

He heard more rumbling.

It sounded like thunder despite the supposedly clear weather.

“It’s that smoke’s fault, dammit!” replied the watchtower. “They fired tens of thousands of those things, so the friction built up static electricity. Now, I’m getting scared. The lightning rod on top actually works, doesn’t it? If lightning strikes, it’ll strike here first!!”

It happened a moment later.

Noise exploded nearby along with a flash of light that seemed to pierce into his eyes.

“Waahh!!”

After instinctually crouching down, he sensed an odd sputtering sound and the stench of burning plastic from around his neck.

“My radio… Oh, goddammit!!”

He pulled out the personal radio hanging from his neck by a strap, but once he confirmed it was completely dead, he clicked his tongue and threw it aside. He could see orange sparks in the darkness. They were scattering like willow branches from the searchlights, sensors, parabolic microphones, and all other electronics.

Doors opened and his colleagues poked their heads out to see what was going on. The piles of battery packs had burst like pinwheel fireworks, but they could not just pour a bucket of water on those. He saw a few people heading back inside to grab chemical fire extinguishers.

He spoke into his military radio.

“What was that? An electromagnetic pulse? Did the lightning cause it? …???”

He received no response.

He hit the switch a few times, but it seemed to be broken too.