Editing HEAVY OBJECT:MonicaSS (section)

===Part 10===

Meanwhile, Quenser and the others had regrouped and continued all the way up to the roof.

They had launched an arrow.

A laser was fired in response.

As soon as the planetarium lens moved down on the ground, Quenser and the others should have been wiped out. But they were not.

Because…

“Take this!!”

Allen’s words were followed by the color orange blazing through the previously dark space around him. But these were not mysterious will-o’-the-wisps.

It was the movie script he had kept hidden under his shirt.

He had thrown the several hundred pieces of copy paper into the air above him.

“The Branding Iron can only lock onto 20 targets at once, so this should be enough to confuse it!”

“But that was your script!!”

“It’s fine.”

Allen smiled within the floating embers.

He smiled and patted the young Board Chairman’s head.

“This is fine. I won’t let it go to waste. We can’t lose, we won’t allow any sacrifices, and we’ll do anything to pull it off! Isn’t that right, Quensette!?”

“Yeah.”

The boy next to him did not hesitate to answer.

Quenser held his slingshot bow gun while looking down using the screen of the phone Allen held out for him.

“I was worried about a number of things, but it actually hit. I didn’t realize trajectory calculation programs made such a difference.”

“It was originally a golf practice app.”

“More importantly, servant! What can that puny little shaft do? Even if you attached a glass fiber bag full of sulfuric acid, I seriously doubt it could break through that thick armor!!”

“That armor is like several layers of steel panels for construction, so not even an assault rifle could punch through it. But I wasn’t trying to.”

“Then what were you doing?”

“The actual Branding Iron is the spherical unit that looks like a planetarium lens on top of the snowplow. And it of course needs a cable to hook it up. But we’re talking about a high-voltage power line. It would burn right through normal plastic insulation. Now, a question: what’s the easiest to use of the insulators you would have on hand?”

“???”

Elritta did not have the basic knowledge necessary, so it may have been an unfair question for her.

Allen answered instead.

“Silicone oil, right? I’m guessing it uses two layers of insulation with the oil running between them, or the metal cable inside is coated with the stuff.”

“I was thinking the same thing. It provides 30 times the insulation of air and more than 10 times that of plastic and you can easily buy it at your local auto parts store. That infamous professor might have a total galaxy grain, but he takes his work seriously. He puts together a workable theory, gathers the necessary materials where he can find them, and then uses the power of the Academy to force his way through when that isn’t enough. He doesn’t use those twisted detours if he doesn’t have to. Using the Academy’s power requires writing and submitting paperwork. Normal people hate eccentrics, but eccentrics hate having to act normal for other people’s sake. So he would avoid that paperwork whenever possible. And that means he’ll use the available materials when he can. That’s true whether you’re a normal people, an eccentric, or a complete and utter lunatic.”

The Branding Iron’s planetarium-like laser unit moved once more.

But it was too late. The arrow had been launched and it had hit.

“The thing about silicone oil is, not only does it have an extremely high electrical resistance, but it’s also highly resistant to both high and low temperatures. It’s also highly waterproof and air bubbles have a hard time forming in it. Since it comes from silicon, making it a cousin of glass, it’s also highly resistant to a lot of different chemicals. It’s such a superb insulator that it’s used in industrial motors, but needless to say, there is no such thing as an all-powerful material. It will start to corrode if it’s exposed to an alkali hydroxide, which are components in chemical detergents that are just a bit bad for your skin. Ideally, this would melt through the plastic coating as well.”

In other words…

“Silicone oil is an extremely powerful insulator, but what if we chemically alter it into another substance? If the insulation is suddenly taken away, the Branding Iron’s power will bare its fangs toward the very person using it.”

As soon as he finished speaking, one corner of the Academy’s night was filled with white light.