Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume9 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 9===

Once Quenser and Heivia arrived at the wharf, they gathered with plenty of other Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers. They had all stolen cars from here or there, so it looked like a gathering of a small street-racing gang.

The shopping port was a large scale source of funding and criminal infrastructure for the Legitimacy Kingdom’s Azul Hive, so once in there, the Faith Organization and the Information Alliance could not reach them so easily. They could see some guards/snipers on the top of gantry cranes and container piles here and there.

“Step 1 is complete and they haven’t noticed a thing. We’ve ‘removed their gazes’.”

Still wearing a bikini top and baggy cargo pants, Millia Newburg sat on the hood of convertible and encouraged them all.

“Step 2, using Mr. Mayonnaise’s biometrics to hack into the Faith Organization’s system, was also a success. We have a direct line into the Collective Farming through its maintenance port. The cockpit screens will never tell the Elite anything is wrong.”

She raised a finger at a time as she continued.

“But Step 3 is the problem. We don’t have unlimited personnel, so you all need to help. We’ll be splitting into small groups and boarding submersibles. We’ll bypass the Great Fence by using the sea. Do you understand? Then get going.”

They opened a metal container and pulled out a ton of oxygen tanks.

The submersibles were not downsized versions of whale-shaped submarines. They were forty centimeter wide, two meter long cylinders with a seat and handlebars forcibly attached. The rider would grab on while the cylinder was lying on its side.

“These are human torpedoes, aren’t they?” said Millia.

“Bfh!? Human…what!?”

“Don’t worry, Heivia. These are harmless leisure products. They’re not even based on the Island Nation’s original weapon. They’re from European models made to take two soldiers there ''and'' back instead of giving them a one-way ticket. You’re apparently supposed to sneak up to a ship, attach the main portion with a magnet, and then detonate it from a safe distance.”

Quenser frowned with an oxygen tank in hand.

“Huh? This says it was made in the Information Alliance.”

“That’s the free market for you. We know someone who’s convenient to use even if they belong to a different world power. That '''RC Girl''' carries everything in with a drone and monitor glasses.”

Quenser and Heivia put some goggles on, placed the tanks on their backs, put the mouthpieces in, and jumped into the dark ocean. They both climbed up onto a seat and grabbed the handlebars.

“Quenser, why can you use a submersible just fine, but you can’t drive a car or a motorcycle?”

“I used one of these on a field trip back in the safe country. That one was shaped more like a jet ski, though. There are no roads in the ocean and you can’t fall over.”

They travelled along at a depth of about ten meters while moving much faster than a bicycle.

They were heading toward the jagged cape that looked like shark teeth.

After moving well past the cape and approaching the small lighthouse island, they surfaced.

“Amazing. They really haven’t noticed.”

“The simpler the trick, the harder it is to escape once you’ve fallen for it.”

[[Image:HO_v09_065.jpg|thumb]]

Heivia pointed up with his thumb from the submersible next to him.

Quenser looked in the same direction and saw that the lighthouse’s light was out.

Up ahead, Millia Newburg gave them a hand signal.

“Let’s finish this quickly.”

There was no more need to stay underwater.

They took a few items from the team that had taken control of the lighthouse and they travelled across the water toward the Faith Organization’s Object construction and maintenance facility dock.

A fifty meter presence was there.

It was the Collective Farming.

It used an air cushion propulsion device and had a low-stability plasma cannon for its main cannon. However, it also had a giant bedrock road roller on the front and a cultivator on the back that looked like a street cleaner’s brush placed on its side and with metal blades attached. That equipment for Re Terra was attached by arms that could move up and down, so it could likely switch between combat mode and cultivation mode.

Even if they had secured their safety in something like a balancing act, a single mistake would mean instant death here. Quenser and the others could not stop the uncomfortable sweat pouring down them.

Heivia spoke up, perhaps wanting to calm himself by focusing on their own side.

“Hey, where’s our Princess at anyway?”

“Out at sea. But I doubt she’ll come to save us if we screw this up. Still, she’s doing well enough to be complaining about the ice cream flavors provided in the cockpit. When I contacted her earlier, she said something about the mint being too strong.”

“Wow. And we’re at war. The worries at the top are on a completely different scale, I see.”

The facility’s cameras and the Object’s sensors would not detect Quenser and the others. Once they arrived below the colossal weapon, they attached metal wires to the backs of their submersibles, soaked the other end in military-grade instant glue, and attached those ends to the air cushion’s float. The lighter of them climbed up the ropes to the Object’s spherical main body. They dropped down large pieces of cloth as if unfurling hanging banners. After binding them together with ropes, they had made several sails connecting the cannons.

“Pull out your handheld devices,” ordered Millia. “Open the throttle when the screen tells you! This thing weighs two hundred thousand tons, so the wires will snap right away if we try to force it. We only need to ride the waves and prevent it from sliding to the side. We have plenty of time, so take it slow! Nice and slow!!”

“Are you serious? These are one-man submersibles and this thing weighs as much as two old-fashioned nuclear aircraft carriers. Can we really move an entire Object with fifty of these toys?”

Quenser answered Heivia’s annoyed question.

“It’s like pushing a snowball at the top of a hill. We’re borrowing the power of the wind. If we give just a bit of help at the start, the waves will carry it from there. To get it started, we need distributed force. If any one spot sticks out, the wires will all snap starting from there.”

“I know that, but sometimes I just can’t believe the math!”

“Yeah, I can explain why a bowling ball and feather fall at the same speed in a vacuum, but it doesn’t quite click in my head.”

Regardless, the die had been cast.

All they could do was continue on and trust in their success and their victory.

Millia Newburg gave one last comment with a daring smile on her lips.

“Now, let’s pull Excalibur from the stone.”