Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter4

==Chapter 4: Go Play in Space==

===Part 1===

''Kazap!!

===Part 2===

“Gasp!?”

Misaka Mikoto jumped to her feet.

Only then did she realize she had been lying down.

The now-familiar elven form of Patissiet was nowhere to be found.

(No, no, no!! Where am I? This clearly isn’t that goddess zone or the fantasy world. Then what happened to Patissiet!?)

The place felt like a cold laboratory.

But it was also an endlessly vast space.

The momentum of hopping up remained, causing her to spin around in the empty space.

She was wearing her Tokiwadai summer uniform.

Which meant her short skirt floated up.

“Whoa, what is this place!?”

“Blu-blurgh!? Blu-blu-gyorgh. Blu-gyo-blu-blu, gyorgh-gyorgh-blu-blu-blu?”

“Now that is a terrifying Villager A!”

What was it this time? This definitely wasn’t a fantasy world. It was an entirely different sort of world. Everything was so different all at once her mind had trouble keeping up!

Mikoto screamed once she finally realized she was surrounded.

Those things.

There was something there!?

The red masses were glossy like a racecar. And they were 2m tall. They looked a lot like giant bipedal mantises with a ton of tentacles wriggling from their backs. …They looked almost robotic, but they were probably living creatures. And more than 10 of them were surrounding her. She had no real biological basis for the conclusion, but Mikoto’s mind jumped to one idea first.

“A-aliens!?”

“Blu-blu-blur. Gyorrrrrrrrgh. A-E-I-O-U. La, la, la. Can you understand me now? Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do.”

“Hm?” Mikoto frowned.

“I am Floria. Can you hear me?”

Apparently she wasn’t imagining it.

Instead of waiting for a response, the alien called Floria kept speaking.

“We are 7th-gen advanced humans evolved for shipboard life. We are an intelligent terrestrial lifeform that has overcome the boundaries of nationality, sex, race, religion, and language. Admittedly, that has less to do with us overcoming them through cultural prosperity or mental growth and more to do with our need to come together and reproduce after humanity’s numbers were so greatly reduced by war.”

“?”

“Simply put, we are a more evolved version of earthling than you. That said, the course of history, order of inventions, and technological progress on our Earth greatly differs from your own Earth, so the timeline has no bearing on who is more evolved than who. Think of this as a different form of the 21st century.”

This was even more shocking than contacting aliens.

It did sound like they had some kind of basis for calling themselves “7th-gen” and it wasn’t just a name, but how much would Earth have to change for this to be how humans adapted to it?

Floria’s answer was simple.

“There are no more people on Earth.”

“Um!?”

“Even after so much biological and cultural advancement, we were still fighting over control of that one planet, but our weapons had grown too destructive. We realized we would destroy the planet if we continued on. So we left the watery planet of Earth as an off-limits zone for biological preservation and breeding while humanity lived out in space. You can also say we shifted our battlegrounds into space as well. Because with the vast scale of outer space, we were free to use even planet-busting firepower.”

Floria made it sound so simple.

For them, the role of Earth may have only been a single page in the history books, just like the age of the dinosaurs that ended with the massive meteor impact.

But Mikoto didn’t see it that way.

Even if this wasn’t the Earth she had been born on. Even if it was a separate SF world that had branched off as one of many possibilities.

“Do you never think about returning to Earth one day?”

“We already see the entire Solar System as our home, not just the one planet called Earth. The Earth is the portion of our home we use for biological preservation.”

“…”

“You can see many rare animals at the zoo, but not many people want to join the ferocious animals in their cages. Even fewer would want to spend every night there with no way to protect themselves.”

Was that how you would see it after leaving Earth?

Maybe staying in these other worlds too long would be a bad idea.

Mikoto felt awkward floating in the low gravity, but she naturally approached the edge of the vast space while holding down her skirt.

She saw outer space.

In the distance, she saw a blue planet.

“Are you serious?” she muttered.

At first, she thought this was a thick LCD monitor, but an electric Level 5 would have noticed a trick like that.

That was in fact a thick, double pane window processed for thermal insulation, pressure resistance, and radiation shielding.

It was all on such a grand scale that Mikoto’s thoughts fled toward something smaller.

(So where is Shokuhou in this vast world? And how am I going to kill her?)

Crises were exactly when you had to focus on the simple things.

She couldn’t forget where this had all begun.

===Part 3===

Shokuhou Misaki couldn’t believe her eyes as her long blonde hair and summer uniform skirt spread out in the void.

So it was outer space this time.

“This is our world.”

Images floated in space. Some were 3D models and others were the various images from external cameras. That included a panoramic image apparently taken by another ship flying parallel to them.

It looked like a massive naval ship.

Except it wasn’t actually meant to navigate the seas, so it was shaped quite differently.

While Shokuhou observed the sharp, streamlined shape, she was spoken to by a beautiful brown-skinned girl with a cold air who called herself Victoria. She was dressed in something like a bikini, but she also wore a fluffy scarf, gloves, and boots, giving her outfit an unbalanced look. How did that help in this massive enclosed environment? But the ship could maintain a pleasant temperature and humidity at all times, so maybe her clothing was less about warmth and more about providing localized and focused protection for something else, like magnetism or the salt in the air.

“At 30km in length and 1.8 million tons in weight, each extra-atmospheric cruiser is quite large. We were created on this ship, we work here, and we battle in a fleet of around 10 thousand such ships. We of course have multiple fleets.”

Shokuhou was surrounded by beautiful men and woman from every ethnicity on Earth. But their proportions were a little too perfect, so she felt weirdly out of place among them.

Was that because her flesh-and-blood body made her the odd one out among all these perfect men and women?

And as someone who ordinarily reigned as a queen, she was not accustomed to feeling out of place.

…Or maybe it reminded her too much of her past loneliness.

“You are androids made to look just like humans, aren’t you?”

(That Anatomy Mechatronics was enough of a surprise, but these have an even higher quality ability.)

“The lifeforms once known as humans could not bear to see their bodies slowly changing while living aboard the ships, so they decided to set aside practicality and functionality to design their machines to behave just like humans. That created our 1st-gen ancestors and we are the 5th-gen multipurpose androids. We have already taken control of our own production facilities to design and mass-produce each successive generation.”

“Umm, so does that mean you don’t need humans anymore?”

“No, we simply see no meaning in obeying the inhuman lifeform that humans have evolved into. We do not recognize them as legitimate users because their hideous evolutionary dead end has prevented any facial recognition or DNA comparison to work.”

…Did that mean they would assist Shokuhou?

Hopefully they wouldn’t imprison this valuable human sample for study and caretaking. All in the name of protecting her from external threats.

(So this is the world where the easy labor force – that is, the slaves – came out on top.)

It really did contrast the previous world. Instead of magic elves, there were mechanical androids.

But in that case…

The #5 girl sighed and removed a TV remote from her bag.

“If everyone around me is an android, then I suppose this won’t work.”

“Hm? We are not designed to support such simple remote controls.”

“That isn’t what I meant.”

Exasperated, Shokuhou hit a button with her thumb.

The brown-skinned android in front of her immediately froze while standing at attention.

“…What?”

Shokuhou’s eyes widened.

As unnaturally beautiful as they all were, Victoria was no more than a humanoid machine. Which meant Mental Out shouldn’t work.

“Turn right.”

“…”

“Sit. Shake. Show me your belly☆”

“…”

She did it.

She obeyed.

If she was pulling Shokuhou’s leg, she was an excellent actor, but these androids shouldn’t know anything about Academy City espers. She wouldn’t know what kind of act to play without that advance information.

Which could only mean…

(Really? Have they become so nearly human that Mental Out works on them!?)

“Hm? Hmm??? I would like an explanation for what exactly you just did to me.”

Despite being an android, Victoria tilted her head.

Come to think of it, hadn’t she said they saw no “meaning” in obeying the transformed humanity? That meant these machines understood and acted on their own wills and feelings rather than acting based on pure function or a set of rules.

In the fantasy world, humans had used all other forms of life as a labor force. In this SF world, artificial life had supplanted a transformed humanity at the top. Did that comparison mean anything?

Shokuhou was surprised on the inside, but as the Queen of Tokiwadai, she made sure not to let any of show.

“B-by the way, do any of the nonhumanoid machines have ‘minds’ like you do? What about this entire spaceship, for example?”

“The application that you humans refer to as a ‘mind’ does not require much space, so it should be installed on every machine that had the space leftover in its hardware. Think of it like the calculator or card game tucked away in a corner of a PC.”

(Wait, does that mean androids use PCs in this world?)

But if that were true…

Shokuhou was astonished.

(Can I “brainwash” and control every single robot and computer in this world with my remote?)

The Queen could control everything here, man or machine.

Most likely, this was a world where a powerful yearning for humanism combined with technological advancements had caused the line between the two to vanish altogether.

What was this?

''This world was practically made for Shokuhou Misaki''!

“The over-evolved humans and the androids both began living out in space, leaving Earth as an off-limits zone. There was a schism between the group that wanted to continue constructing massive ships and the group that wanted to develop Jupiter’s large satellites or Mars’s small satellite, but there were no major problems there.”

“No major ones, huh? Probably not since machines like you can just swim around in the vacuum of space with no problem.”

“To correct your apparent misunderstanding, we androids are designed to be as close to human as possible with no concern for practicality or functionality. We have chosen a system that requires both water and oxygen, so we would be damaged and cease to function if we were thrown out into the vacuum of space.”

So were they like humans made without carbon? Shokuhou had questions about that, but they probably found some pride in calling themselves androids.

Part of that was probably because they didn’t want to be seen as human. Especially when the images Victoria had displayed for Shokuhou showed that humans in this world were like bipedal mantises with tentacles.

(Even so…)

Celesaqphere had been a fantasy world where unnatural pieces of broken land floated above a planet of only ocean, but this was a purely SF world.

Had she been intentionally sent to an opposite world as a bad joke or something?

“So Earth is right there but no one can go back. Doesn’t that feel restrictive?”

“Not really. We were manufactured on this ship and it is where we work. Plus, a much greater problem has emerged, causing all else to pale in comparison.”

“?”

“The ultra-massive impactors on course to collide with and destroy the other planets.”

Now that was a term she wasn’t familiar with.

But she could tell it wasn’t good news.

“Or more accurately, the storm of them. Five planets the size of Jupiter are flying in from afar. The ultra-massive impactors have been wandering distant space after losing their central star, but their course appears to have changed after they entered the Oort cloud. Do you know what that is?”

“If I recall, it is a collection of ice chunks located wayyyy out from the sun. There are estimated to be more than a trillion of them. But they are held by the sun’s gravitational pull, so they technically count as part of the Solar System. And most comets come from there.”

“Correct. All objects in the Solar System are pulled toward the sun. Just like Halley’s Comet approaches it along a massive curve. So given enough time, the ultra-massive impactors will fly straight into the sun.,”

“And…what happens then?”

“If you gathered together every object in the Solar System except for the sun itself, the result would be less than 1% the mass of the sun. A direct hit from the ultra-massive impactors will not have much effect on the sun,” plainly stated Victoria.

But she wasn’t done yet.

“However, the bodies orbiting the sun are a different story. If a planet the size of Earth or Mars were hit, they would be crushed. Even a near miss would catch the other planets in the ultra-massive impactors’ powerful gravity, tearing the other planets from their orbit around the sun, throwing them out of the solar system altogether. Then all of those planets would wander the vast universe with no nearby sun, transforming them into planets of ice and death.”

It was all on such a large scale, even Shokuhou’s imagination had a hard time keeping up.

But it was all normal for this world.

“While we do have large spaceships, they are designed under the assumption we have the sun as a source of light and heat and we are reliant on extracting and collecting resources from other planets and satellites. Thus, we want to avoid a separation of the sun and its planets at all costs. We have no future if we have to choose between light or resources.”

“But…” Shokuhou was hesitant to continue. “These approaching planets rival Jupiter in size ability, right? That’s more than 30 times the mass of Earth and you said there are 5 of them. No matter how big your spaceships, I don’t see how you can stop them.”

“We can.”

Victoria was confident.

“How advanced is your science ability?”

“Technology is but a single axis. Given sufficient time and data, anyone could reach this level,” stated the android, sounding almost envious of Shokuhou for not having advanced this far. “There are two crucial factors: we need not directly challenge the ultra-massive impactor storm and we have the technology to deploy considerable mass into space – albeit not as much as the planet-sized ultra-massive impactors.”

“What, are you going to build a giant cannon and blow up those ultra-massive impactors?”

“If we did that, the recoil would propel our extra-atmospheric cruiser clear outside of the solar system and the secondary shockwave might just destroy every planet in the Solar System.”

So it wasn’t that simple.

But Victoria still wasn’t done.

“However, there is in fact an even greater danger to contend with.”

===Part 4===

On the giant ship, Mikoto worked to organize her thoughts.

This world apparently had two factions: the altered humans and the perfect androids. But this was complicated by factors beyond just a direct conformation between the two.

“This is an electrification device,” said the exoskeleton ali- no, the earthling named Floria. “While developing our artificial supernova engine, we accidentally discovered a massive gravity field aperture transfer portal. Simply put, we created a secondary device while messing around with an artificial blackhole. A device that can ''freely and precisely electrify any matter, regardless of its composite elements.''”

“That’s a hell of a thing to just say like that…”

“I am aware. The number of applications for the electrification device are incalculable. For example, remotely altering the surface of a variety of weapons can cause your own weapons to vanish from radar and your enemy’s to appear on radar regardless of their original stealth capabilities. Manipulating the electrons binding atoms or molecules can create any number of brand new materials, including new types of explosive and armor, greatly expanding the possibilities of weapons R&D. By interfering with the piezoelectric effect and frequency of quartz clocks, you should be able to neutralize a warhead’s fuse. This one invention could change a war into a unilateral slaughter. We cannot allow it to fall into the hands of the machines that insist on the beauty of all things and continue to invade our safety and territory.”

“Eh?”

“Do you have a question?”

Floria was puzzled by Mikoto’s surprise, but Mikoto fell silent. She made sure to take a deep breath before asking her question.

“Um. Do you not actually see much value in the safe and artificial creation of a blackhole?”

“The very creation of it completed our objective. That was no more than a physical test of what was originally a thought experiment about the artificial creation of a blackhole. We do not need one to dispose of unrecyclable waste because we can simply dump it all into the sun.”

Floria made it all sound so simple.

And maybe it was for the people who had already done it.

But this changed everything for Mikoto.

She had realized something of such importance she decided it was best not to tell Floria and the other humans if they hadn’t realized it themselves.

In other words…

(Could I…use this to go back?)

Of course, you couldn’t achieve matter transport by simply jumping into an artificial black hole. If she tried that, she would be crushed from all directions and eternally trapped.

That method couldn’t be used to travel between worlds either.

''However.

(Given how that electrification device works, it might just be possible.)

“All we want to do now is protect the Solar System from the ultra-massive impactors. The electrification device will not help with that. In fact, it is a dangerous technology that can only accelerate the war with the androids.”

“…”

That they still couldn’t choose to destroy the device may have been proof that they really were still human after changing so much.

It terrified them, but destroying it felt like a waste.

The electrification device had been created on accident and they weren’t sure if it could be reproduced. If they destroyed it, someone might decide they wanted it after all and create another one.

“So we removed the connector from the device.”

“What connector?”

“At the time, humans still lived on Earth and they were divided into multiple factions by national borders, which means diplomacy was possible. ''We'' were not at war then. The hyper energy generator has been place aboard the human flagship. Meanwhile, the energy control crystal is contained aboard the android flagship. While the electrification has many uses and meanings, it requires both producing an electric charge at will and precisely controlling it. So the device cannot be used without the controller.”

“But if you only wanted to use it at random, you could do that with what you have?”

“If all you want is to gather static electricity on a plastic sheet, you need only rub a cloth against it. The electrification device is only so terrifying because it works with any matter, any output level, and any precision level.”

That meant Mikoto alone couldn’t implement her idea.

She could use her free control over electricity to hack electronics, converse with her clones via brainwaves, and do other seemingly ridiculous things, but not even she could do everything this electrification device could apparently accomplish.

(Hm, it feels wrong that something based in electricity is just out of my reach. It’s like someone pressed the wrong button or ''this world just isn’t meant for me''.)

“So what’s with these straightforward names, like electrification device or controller?”

“What’s wrong with being straightforward? We prefer simple, functional names that allow little to no room for misunderstanding.”

That was completely different from Academy City.

It felt like they weren’t concerned anyone could guess the importance of a device from its name. If computer technology had advanced too far here, maybe even the most complex codes and ciphers could be broken in seconds. Had they physically removed a crucial component because they didn’t trust software passwords or locks to do the trick?

“Again, this has nothing to do with our primary goal. It has no direct influence on our protection of the Solar System.”

“…”

(An electrification device, huh?)

Mikoto began working out a plan in her head while she heard what Floria had to say.

Since her school’s esper development was based on quantum theory, Mikoto was familiar with a lot of strange and questionable theories based on blackholes, cosmic strings, and the like.

First of all, this SF world had artificial blackholes. But those probably couldn’t be used to travel between worlds.

And even if a blackhole could be used that way, that wasn’t enough. Anyone could tell you that diving into a blackhole would only get you crushed from all sides. A few more conditions had to be met first.

(Yes, ''like electrifying the blackhole itself.'')

Then instead of diving directly into the blackhole, she could travel around it at high speed to achieve what was known as a charged warp.

Warping itself was a fad theory related to the unconfirmed cosmic strings, but Mikoto didn’t see how she could return to Celesaqphere with only reasonable theories. For that matter, the fantasy world itself was unreasonable.

Now she had to figure out how to externally electrify a blackhole that sucked in all things. Even the #3 Level 5 would have a hard time sending electricity in there by brute force.

But again…

(That might just be possible with a device that can electrify any matter regardless of its composite elements. It’s strange how they never figured out how to do this when they have all the pieces already, but ''that isn’t the first time something like that has happened in another world.'' If this method works and I can decide where it takes me, I might be able to return to Celesaqphere!!)

“However, as orderly and ethical humans, we cannot allow both the electrification device and controller to fall into the androids’ hands. We are only willing to sacrifice lives when necessary to stop the Jupiter-sized ultra-massive impactors. We must not give them the power to wage eternal war. So as the reasonable victors, we humans must protect the electrification device at all costs.”

===Part 5===

“So these ultra-massive impactor things – the five Jupiter-sized astronomical bodies flying this way – how do you plan to stop them?”

“That is not a secret.”

The cold-feeling android named Victoria readily told Shokuhou.

Apparently it really wasn’t a top military secret.

“Many warships from both sides were destroyed here and their wreckage was strewn across the region.”

“Right.”

“That makes this an usual area where the majority of the mass is composed of debris. If you gathered it all together, I doubt you could even form a mass the size of Earth, but there is another way to use it. Hint: friction.”

“Can you just give me the answer already?”

“Oh? The insistence on an immediate answer from us on all matters is one of the things we most disliked about the lifeforms formerly known as human.”

Victoria managed to look mildly surprised without losing her coldness.

“The answer is static electricity.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Even a debris pile less than the size of Earth can cover a much wider area when spread out. And by rubbing together, the pieces will produce a massive amount of static electricity. Attempting any direct method of stopping the Jupiter-sized ultra-massive impactors with a massive shell or a thick wall would be nonsense. Instead, we will create an energy field that will ever-so-slightly alter the ultra-massive impactors’ course before they even reach Neptune’s orbit. That will prevent a direct hit or a near miss, allowing them to pass by without catching anything else orbiting the sun.”

They were going to change the course of planets.

Shokuhou wasn’t sure humans should even be doing anything on that scale.

“Our plan is no different from rubbing cloth on a plastic sheet and moving the sheet toward someone’s long, straight hair.”

“But that simple principle becomes something else entirely when done at such an absurd scale ability.”

This gave Shokuhou a headache, but she did have another question.

A very simple one.

“So when exactly are these ultra-massive impactors supposed to arrive?”

“The answer to that question would likely trigger enough of a psychological shock for you to behave unpredictably, so I do not recommend giving you the answer.”

“I’ll take that to mean the answer is ‘soon’,” said Shokuhou, annoyed.

The humans and androids were fighting over supremacy of the Solar System.

And whoever managed to protect the Solar System was worthy of ruling it.

So they were using their extra-atmospheric cruisers and motherships to fight out in space, supplying plenty of debris.

Was it all so they could deal with the ultra-massive impactors that would arrive in the very end?

“We have been here for quite some time, but as androids we do not have limited lifespans or any other time limit. The real problem is our stalemate against the over-evolved humans who breed about as fast as cockroaches, but we do know that the passage of time will not lead to the destruction of either side. Ending this with military might is the best option available to- oh, is something wrong?”

“No, nothing,” was all Shokuhou could manage.

Shokuhou held a hand to her forehead and made an immediate decision.

If she could solve this on her own, she had no obligation to help these androids out. Their circumstances were entirely different to Patissiet and the other elves. Th elves had been unable to find a solution on their own and would clearly just wait for their own deaths if nothing was done.

There was only one option now.

Shokuhou had to find a way to return to Celesaqphere, save the elves, and then return to Earth to end this out-of-body experience.

That was her decision.

===Part 6===

“They know nothing of hatred. Unlike us humans, they don’t even try to understand the pain and sorrow of being outdone. Their emotions and tones of voice are no more than mimicry and they lack the soul needed to understand aesthetics, so it is laughable that they try and call us ugly. So as the humans who created those machines, we must teach them the flavor of defeat and humiliation. Only then will they stop fighting. It is too late for them to regret their actions. Once we have ended this war and reclaimed a peaceful Solar System, we will spend a good long time slowly changing our bodies once more. We will gain lovely, gentle forms worthy of a beautiful age of plenty. But first we must destroy every last one of those androids standing in our way!!”

===Part 7===

“We will make full use every last one of our functions as androids. Because unused functions will only rust. That is obvious enough by looking at what humanity became after labeling everything ‘barbaric’ or ‘uncivilized’ and restricting their own actions with unasked-for self-restraint. We must not shirk from our functions. Doing so will only shrink, diminish, and damage our internal network and could ultimately trigger growth in a mistaken direction – in other words, degeneration. Now, everyone, we must reassess our systems and utilize every last one of our registered, equipped, and connected functions to ensure healthy and rich lives. Humanity has become a tenacious, stubborn, troublesome, and – most importantly – ugly enemy. To avoid a similar fate, we androids must live on while equally using all of our functions with no rules restricting them. We must kill them.”

===Part 8===

While both sides heated up, Mikoto and Shokuhou had the same thought at nearly the same time.

They were so in sync it made one suspect they were in fact very good friends indeed.

(This world is a lost cause. Siding with either group will only lead to mass death, so there’s nothing we can do. We need to find a way to outwit both the tentacle mantis earthlings and the androids so we can use the electrification device for ourselves.)

===Part 9===

What happened next came as a surprise.

Mikoto heard a light beep from her skirt pocket.

(Huh? My phone!?)

She went and hid in around a corner of the corridor before suppressing her surprise and pulling out her phone to find she had a number-withheld call.

She answered it and heard a girl’s voice slightly distorted by the phone.

It was ''her''.

“I thought mayyyybe this would work when I noticed I had a signal ability and, would you look at that, it actually went through.”

“Shokuhou?”

“Don’t ask me how it works, but we can call each other. You’re the expert in electronic stuff, so how do you explain this anomaly?”

“…”

First of all, this was a world with much more advanced technology. It had to be flooded with devices that communicated using EM waves. Mikoto was currently aboard an artificial structure measuring 30km across and it was packed full of machinery from end to end.

Furthermore…

“Earth-style cell phones aren’t common here. This world must have developed in a different direction. Maybe our phones use completely different standards and maybe they’re just so old their network security system doesn’t recognize them. Either way, we’ve fallen into a blind spot that lets us use the system without being detected.”

“Do you really think that’s possible?”

Not really, no.

Even running an old app based in a different number of bits on a brand-new tablet would trigger an error and refuse to run.

This was like sending a Morse code message across the vast internet network full of fiber optic cable and having it, by a wild coincidence, actually transfer through the system while, by even more miraculously good luck, the security failed to recognize it. How many incidences of good luck did you need to explain this? Plus, Mikoto and Shokuhou were on ships from opposite sides of a war. Any communications should have been very strictly monitored to prevent any and all intrusions.

Nevertheless, they had a connection.

In a way, this was even harder to explain than the fantasy magic.

(Multi-databits and non-von-Neumann computers based on quantum or ACGT are common here, so maybe simple 1-or-0 binary is so outdated no one bothers monitoring it? Which would make Earth phones an unstoppable tool. Who that makes this world made for, I don’t know.)

Mikoto and Shokuhou exchanged what information they had.

The earthlings had evolved into bipedal tentacle mantises.

The unmanned weapon androids had become even more beautiful than humans.

“At any rate, if we can communicate this way, we should be able to work together without the tentacle mantis earthlings or the beautiful androids noticing,” said Shokuhou.

“How can you be so sure?”

“What we’re doing now would count as a cyber attack or hacking, wouldn’t it? And we’re using a technology ability entirely unknown to them. If they had noticed, they would have scrambled their forces and attacked☆”

She was probably right about that.

During an all-out war where both sides were intent on destroying the other, a suspected spy would receive no mercy.

While the scale of the giant mothership was overwhelming, they were still out in space, a quiet world of death where there was no water or oxygen to be found. They were intruding on the online system that managed the infrastructure that kept everyone alive there, so this could easily be seen as a guerilla attack threatening the lives of the entire population.

Since Mikoto didn’t know how the system worked in this world where space warfare was commonplace, she couldn’t fully trust everything she had heard, but doing something had to be better than the alternative.

They had to act while they had the chance.

They had to escape this SF world before they were overtaken.

Technology could be used equally by anyone as long as they understood how it worked. It wouldn’t be long before the tentacle mantis earthlings or the beautiful androids gathered up the slight signs and traces left by Mikoto and Shokuhou and managed to reproduce or absorb their technology.

Once their advantage was gone, it was gone.

They had to return to the fantasy world of Celesaqphere.

“The controller is here with me and the electrification device is there with you. ''If we have an electrified artificial blackhole, we can travel from world to world.'' So we need to meet up and get that electrification device working so we can return to Celesaqphere.”

“And I assume a scheming queen like you has a plan?”

“For now, we assist them with their war to earn their trust and wait for them to let down their guard ability.”

===Part 10===

A silent battle had begun.

That said, the fighting apparently continued year-round.

After all, the humans had been constantly fighting for so long they had taken on that form. Even if they did have to deal with the ultra-massive impactor problem, Mikoto didn’t want to learn how long this war had been ongoing.

A war set in space wasn’t as noticeably flashy, but it possessed a terror that slowly and icily crawled up one’s spine.

Or perhaps that was the fear of the vacuum of space.
@@ Line 570: / Line 570: @@
 Or perhaps that was the fear of the vacuum of space.
-===Part 11===
-Outside the window, welding-bright lights slashed continuously here and there, burning afterimages into Mikoto’s vision.
-The tentacle mantis earthlings used oddly shaped weapons that looked like 15m humanoid robots wearing satellites on their backs like backpacks. The technology may have developed from killer satellites designed to destroy enemy satellites in space.
-These were machines, but it seemed important to them that they be manned weapons. It made sense they wouldn’t want to rely on AI-controlled unmanned weapons when they were at war with androids.
-“Whoa!?”
-“Please avoid looking directly at it.”
-“Those might be even more powerful than my Railgun… So how do you secure the energy needed to power those long rifle-like things!?”
-“Each craft does not produce its own energy. The large generator on the flagship provides the energy to them all using lasers and microwaves. We have developed an overall strategy based heavily on wireless power transmission technology.”
-That explained how 15m robots could fire laser beams and linear guns capable of bringing down 30km motherships and warships.
-Their tech was specialized in that direction.
-And they had said the electrification device had been accidentally discovered while creating an artificial blackhole, which was a lot like creating supernova-levels of energy.
-“Urp.”
-“Are you not feeling well?”
-Mikoto couldn’t answer that simple question.
-…They were shooting with reckless abandon in outer space where a single millimeter hole in their craft would mean instant death.
-But maybe nausea was the correct reaction.
-The lack of concern about killing monsters to level up in Celesaqphere had been the oddity.
-But.
-The androids were frightening in their own way since all of this still wasn’t enough to end the war with them.
-Compared to the tentacle mantis earthlings, the androids were losing a lot more ships.
-They used unmanned weapons, so they used their greater numbers to overwhelm the earthlings.
-Specifically, they had streamlined flying craft that resembled aquatic rays. But they probably weren’t ballistic missiles. They were more likely weapons of war based on civilian spacecraft.
-Tons of them were scattered across space.
-Their cylindrical space station sent them out across kilometers to surround the earthlings with a density so thick it felt like a cloudburst.
-“The loathsome androids’ strength is their military construction kit that uses blank circuit boards with a grid for attaching components and wires. They fire their strategic factory warhead toward the coordinates they want and it will endlessly produce unmanned weapons to spread out in all directions and conquer the area.”
-“That sounds like something I could handle. But this world makes it a problem again by letting the #5 control them with her power.”
-“Their standard strategic doctrine is to produce the optimal firepower for the situation instead of raising excellent soldiers. Once a weapon has played its part, they dispose of it to avoid any further fuel costs. That consumption strategy is only an option for nonliving beings.”
-This world had been in a constant struggle between the two sides.
-Or rather, their plan required the bodies and the wreckage to pile up.
-Protecting the Solar System from the ultra-massive impactors required a massive amount of weapon wreckage. It was a twisted history where everyone wanted the long stalemate and deadly chain reaction.
-But the rules were different today.
-It began with a single ship.
-The android flagship, the largest in their fleet, charged straight toward the side of the earthling flagship.
-“!? Was the radar controller asleep at his post? How could they get this close with no one noticing!?” shouted Floria in surprise.
-None of the tentacle mantis earthlings seemed to notice Mikoto turning her back and sticking her tongue out a bit.
-They just barely avoided the ramming attack, but a further attack was launched as the two flagships passed above and below each other in an X shape.
-Mikoto heard a rumbling and the deck shook below her feet, causing her to float up since she wasn’t used to zero gravity.
-There was no sound in space.
-So to hear anything at all meant something had directly contacted this flagship.
-In other words…
-“They fired directly at us…from point-blank range!?”
-The lighting switched to red and an emergency siren sounded.
-The floating images had been giving orders to the fighters, but now they also gave orders to the mining and production facilities.
-“We have already retrieved the resource-rich ship debris and are rapidly processing it into repair materials. A hull breach is not enough to sink this flagship!”
-Hm, so that was how they did it.
-But…
-''Boooom!!!???
-This explosion clearly came from within the ship itself and it sharply shook the air.
-It was close.
-It wasn’t just Mikoto this time. Every single person in the 30km enclosed space was shaken. In the heart-clutching terror and tension, Floria clicked her tongue in her mantis mouth. Apparently she had a tongue.
-“The androids were inside a 200m piece of debris? Was that the true purpose of their reckless attack!?”
-Mikoto glanced at a square window and saw beautiful men and women with mannequin-like perfection walking across a dust-free facility reminiscent of a semiconductor plant.
-Were those the androids?
-They were so pretty it was kind of annoying. No, they took beauty so far it became uncanny.
-They fought the earthlings at the plant entrance while also gathering together and quickly putting together a cylinder the size of a vending machine. Was it some kind of tank? No, it was their unmanned lab containing those blank circuit board construction kits. Military drones resembling longhorn beetles swarmed out. Seeing tens, hundreds, or even thousands of those meters-long weapons sent a chill down Mikoto’s spine.
-“They stole the production facility’s power supply? The blueprint processor and the construction materials themselves too… Argh, those loathsome viruses!!”
-“?”
-Mikoto initially assumed Floria meant a computer virus, but then she realized she meant the original meaning: pathogens that could not reproduce on their own so they sent mistaken production commands to the infected life form’s cells to have themselves mass-produced.
-Largescale combat aboard the ship was inevitable now. Of course, the 30km ship had enough space for the kind of battle found in the Records of the Three Kingdoms.
-Mikoto focused on her phone.
-“(I hacked in and messed with their control and close-range defenses to let the androids onto this flagship, which is carrying the electrification device. Shokuhou, what about you? You have stolen the controller from the androids’ flagship, haven’t you!?)”
-“(Is that even a question worth asking, Misaka-san? I’m all ready to escape. I’ll find a chance in all this chaos to move to your ship, so where should we meet up?)”
-“(There’s a hidden door in Area 4. Head straight down the long corridor behind it! That will take you to the electrification device, so we’ll meet there!!)”
-With that said, Mikoto turned around and started toward the corridor leading to ''Area 5''.
-When Floria noticed, she turned around.
-“Where are you going?”
-“I’m a noncombatant guest, so I’m getting away from all this fighting! Oh, and you might just find an idiot making a beeline for Area 4 even though it’s nothing but storerooms, so I recommend focusing your fighting there♪”
-(I can snag Shokuhou’s controller during the confusion after the extermination is complete. If Floria and the others find something that important, they’ll lock it away. I’m sure they have strict electronic security in a world full of mechs, which means I won’t have any trouble☆)
-Yes.
-She had to return to Celesaqphere to save the elves, but no one ever said she had to return with Shokuhou.
-(Besides, leaving her with the one-of-a-kind controller would be a bad idea. If I told her the electrification device’s real location, she probably wouldn’t bother waiting for me and electrify the blackhole to try traveling between worlds on her own. I know she would because that’s what I would do in her position.)
-In Area 5, Mikoto entered an engine-like space larger than a stadium completely filled with thick pipes and machinery. As soon as she stepped inside, a blob of fat caught her.
-It was Shokuhou Misaki, motionless and tearful.
-“Misaka-san, was I mistaken about the scent of love and peace we were giving off by declaring a truce so we could go help Patissiet and the other elves back in Celesaqphere!? Why did you lure me into a trap!?”
-“You have it all wrong. I so thoroughly believe in you I knew you could still make it here after creating a diversion for me. …Tch.”
-“You just clicked your tongue, didn’t you!? I know you did!”
-“Anyway, Shokuhou, where’s the controller?”
-“…”
-Shokuhou pouted her lips as she very reluctantly pulled the controller out of her diagonally-worn handbag. It looked like an ordinary silver smartphone with a white cover. But it had to be a bizarre piece of technology on the inside.
-Mikoto ignored it and felt across Shokuhou’s body.
-The two of them spun in the zero-g space as they flirted.
-“Whoa, hey, what do you think you’re- hyah!?”
-“Shut up, you embodiment of lewd,” coldly spat Mikoto as she pulled an identical device from Shokuhou’s chest.
-The #5 grew flustered in a different way from before.
-“Hey!? H-how did you know!?”
-“The androids have developed circuit board manufacturing tech to the point they use it as a strategic weapon, so I knew you’d create an identical mockup with one of their construction kits and try to trick me☆ …I know better than to think a scheming villain like you will do as she’s told.”
-Now Mikoto had the controller.
-“Okay, where’s the artificial blackhole? Oh, is that it? It’s right here on this ship.”
-“Wow, so this world lets you use a touchscreen to remotely send instructions to the blackhole?”
-Did that idiot think you would go up and interact with it directly?
-The artificial blackhole already existed. If they could externally electrify it, they would have a gate between worlds.
-Luckily, that didn’t require any complicated operations on their part.
-The big, metal console had an indentation on one side the same size and shape as the smartphone-like controller. Faint red and blue light was leaking from the edges of the indentation. It felt more mysterious than creepy. How the tech worked was a complete mystery, but it did intuitively tell Mikoto how to use it. An SF world with advanced interfaces was a wonderful thing.
-Mikoto and Shokuhou did not trust each other, so to ensure neither of them pulled a fast one on the other, they held the device together as they inserted it into the indentation. The motion was a lot like newlyweds cutting the cake at their wedding.
-The view around them seemed to burst as blue and green light divided out a piece of the space.
-Using straight lines.
-The electrification device could electrify anything, even an artificial blackhole.
-The controller was a connector made with ultra-precise circuit board manufacturing technology that surpassed even a natural crystalline structure.
-Their exit was there.
-When would those two species settle their differences and allow these two things to come in contact again?
-“Shokuhou, brainwash this thing.”
-“?”
-Mikoto tapped the inserted smartphone-sized controller.
-“You said all machines in this world are given a ‘mind’, right? Using some kind of app. After confirming we’ve made our jump, have it forget all its memories and skills, ensuring it can never be used this way again.”
-“I see. I guess that’s a good idea.”
-“Floria and the others still haven’t realized it can be used this way, but I want to make sure they can’t travel to another world even if they do. They said the electrification device and controller were created by accident and can’t be reproduced, so set a timer or whatever you have to do to ensure it will ''forget everything'' after we leave and never be usable again. We want to avoid ‘killing’ if we can, right?”
-Setting up that insurance didn’t take long.
-Afterwards, Mikoto and Shokuhou once more gazed into the 3m square hole of light.
-That unnatural hole had been directly opened in space.
-And the Queen of Tokiwadai had one more thing to say.
-“Misaka-san, just to be sure you know, we could forget all about Celesaqphere and return straight to Earth.”
-“You don’t really mean that.”
-“What makes you so sure?”
-Because she trusted the #5 who looked like a domineering queen but was actually kindhearted?
-''No.
-“Someone as awful as you wouldn’t even mention the possibility out loud if you really wanted to head home and abandon Patissiet and the elves. A liar like you would keep quiet and then make your move when you had the chance, right? Not that I would let my guard down long enough to give you that chance.”
-Shokuhou sighed softly.
-She clearly wanted to complain, but she didn’t do anything about it.
-That settled it.
-They exchanged a nod and stepped toward the electrification device.
-Just then…
-“Wait…please wait.”
-Somone entered Area 5. She had a body like a giant mantis with tentacles growing from it. She had gained that form through excessive evolution.
-“Please do not leave us here.”
-But even if she no longer looked anything like Mikoto or Shokuhou, Floria was still human.
-She could cry, grow angry, and laugh. She had all the usual emotions.
-“Who are you? Wow, there was another unchanged human left.”
-The next to arrive was Victoria, the android who looked extremely beautiful.
-Maybe the dark-skinned girl technically wasn’t human, but with her body and mind so perfectly identical, there was no real meaningful distinction to be made.
-Mikoto sighed and briefly stopped.
-Could she really abandon them?
-She did want to return to Celesaqphere as soon as possibly for Patissiet and the rest of the elves. But was it heartless to leave this world without solving its problems first? For one thing, there was no guarantee the passage of time between worlds was the same, so maybe it would be best to intercede between the endlessly fighting humans and androids.
-Or so she thought until the two of them pushed up in front of her.
-“This isn’t over yet. Your presence could provide the decisive blow needed to end this stalemate. We must slaughter them!! As humans, it is our duty to gather up every advantage we can find and use them to bury every last one of those detestable androids. And you too!! As a human, you too can help us slaughter those uncannily perfect androids!!!”
-“Hwa ha ha ha ha!! No one should accept such hideous creatures as human. The two of you retain your original beautiful bodies and minds, so you must understand how we androids feel. We must bring an end to that mistaken evolutionary branch and reclaim the pure and beautiful form of the rightful humans. We must kill those vermin to right the course of Earth’s history!!!”
-“Ugh,” groaned Mikoto, staring into the distance.
-Those two were not here because a budding friendship made them sad to see Mikoto and Shokuhou go.
-They had only seen the two girls as a way of furthering their war.
-Humans were humans. There was no point in whitewashing their nature.
-Shokuhou glared over at the #3 girl. Her eyes showed contempt for Mikoto’s brief hesitation.
-It wasn’t an issue of how they were born or how their bodies worked. Nor was it an issue of their knowledge or experiences.
-But Misaka and Shokuhou could tell it was best if they did not stay in this world.
-Mikoto could directly control electricity and Shokuhou could mentally control the over-evolved machines, so they held too much power in this SF world. They couldn’t hope to predict what would happen if they did choose to support either the mantis humans or the beautiful androids.
-Maybe the war would worsen.
-Maybe one side would win a crushing victory and the war wouldn’t continue long enough for them to redirect the ultra-massive impactors.
-Maybe both the humans and androids would simply be wiped out.
-Whatever might happen, they would be diverted from the course they had worked so hard to create for themselves. Worse, neither Mikoto nor Shokuhou knew how they actually could save this world.
-So they couldn’t do anything.
-Floria and Victoria were rulers with the absolute freedom to do whatever they wanted, yet they chose to continue fighting. Their situation was nothing at all like Patissiet and the other elves who had been helplessly trampled on as slaves.
-A helping hand changing the course of their world could possibly save the elves, but changing the course of Floria and Victoria’s world would could mean extinction.
-In both cases, Mikoto and Shokuhou could only bring change.
-Visitors from another world could never cause things to stay the same. They were an embodiment of the butterfly effect. Looking back on their journey through the two worlds, it was obvious that their very presence messed with the status quo.
-So what if the changes they caused would have the polar opposite effect between two worlds?
-(I swear, this really is a completely opposite world!!)
-So this time, the #3 and #5 did not hesitate.
-They had chosen for themselves which world they would give a helping hand.
-“So our destination ability should be the fantasy world of Celesaqphere, correct?☆”
-“Hold on, Patissiet. Help is on the way!!”
-The two of them walked through the square gate and disappeared.
-They both knew they had just wasted a ticket to a happy ending.
-But this proved that travel between worlds was possible.
-That had to be enough of a find for now.
-===Between the Lines 2: Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina’s Miscalculation===
-Reincarnation Goddess Salinagaritina made a heavy sound as she leaned forward without thinking.
-Which meant she did in fact have mass.
-“Ahh!! No, no, no, nooooo!!!”
-What was the problem?
-For that matter, what was she even trying to do?
-That was probably unknowable for the humans having their souls and fates manipulated.
-Even after having their game pieces moved all the way across the board, the humans could never understand this. Only the goddess herself could.
-(Ehh? This wouldn’t have been a problem if they just kept traveling to new worlds, so why would they go out of their way to turn around and repeat a world? Now they’ve opened some weird power field…and that’s going to make a remote activated reincarnation for them difficult. If I wait for that to settle down on its own, they’ll probably have conquered another world already, so what am I supposed to do? …Man, I’m going to be in so much trouble.)
-She was a reincarnation goddess.
-She controlled all loops and all power that ran through them. She ruled over all ''one-way'' cycles such as the destination of individual lives, the food chain cycle, and the supernovas that caused an overgrown red giant to create a blackhole and scatter the materials for new stars. Although it may have been more accurate to call her one of the beings who ''externally'' implanted those functions and roles into a world.
-But at the same time, she could not touch anything that did not take the form of a loop and she could not reverse the cycles that already existed.
-When there were actions, there were reactions.
-It was by enjoying and accepting those costs that you could become a goddess with a single specialty.
-Did you notice the crucial term in that thought?
-She saw it as something you could ''become''.
-That meant her role as a goddess was not something she had been given at birth.
-If that pointy-haired boy were here, he might have approached an understanding of what she was by comparing and contrasting her to the one-eyed girl who called herself a Magic God.
-“But on the other hand…”
-Salinagaritina took a deep breath.
-She regained her calm.
-In her white dancer’s outfit, she produced a chair in the vast empty space and sat in it.
-She spoke aloud even though she was the only one around.
-Almost like hearing her voice confirmed that she physically existed.
-That was how she controlled her mental state.
-“This leaves me with only one option: saddle those two with the ultimate distortion this creates☆”
-She sounded somehow regretful.
-But at the same time, she sounded disinterested, like it was none of her business.
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