On a Godless Planet:Volume3B Chapter 35
Chapter 35: Galaxy Force[edit]
–Does the will of the planet ask for resistance or freedom?
●
Tenma glanced toward the Norse knowledge god. After receiving a nod of encouragement, she fearlessly formed her words.
“To lure in the large flame dragons, we will use…plate tectonics.”
“What are plate tectonics?”
“I know! That’s the Latin word for boobs!”
“If you want a serious answer, the Latin word is tits.”
“Ohh! Way to go, Kuwajiri! So you’ve finally converted to boobs worship, which forms the foundation of big boobs worship!? That’s a great first step! Now you just need to take the next step!”
“…”
“…Shit!!”
“Kuwajiri-chaaan, watch your language.”
“S-sorry. That pissed me off in several ways at once, but I was mostly berating myself there.”
“You are a complicated person, Kuwajiri…”
●
“So Latin is the origin of the word tits?”
<As much as I would prefer not to add to this, I will note that Latin for big boobs would be Magnus Tits.>
“That actually sounds kind of cool.”
<It has the same etymology as the word magnum. Magnum means ‘big’ or ‘the best’, which is why magnum rounds are called that.>
“Magnus makes me think of Ultra Magnus from Transformers! In Transformers: Mystery of Convoy for the Famicom, he would die in a single hit, but it was later revealed that was because the Decepticons had been super powered up. I remember being impressed by that plan to pull off a miraculous upset win.”
“Are you sure that wasn’t just a retcon?”
<Again, I must ask why the ape has such bizarre taste in games.>
“You gave me these memories!”
●
Anyway, Tenma decided to move on.
“Human-senpai and his group are already familiar with plate tectonics, but it is a theory that gathers together a few other theories, including continental drift.”
“Never heard of it. What’s it about?”
“You say ‘a few other theories’, so does that mean there were previous theories and this one was different?”
“Right,” said Tenma, opening a diagram on a Revelation Board. It displayed the structure of the Earth.
“Earth-like planets are made up of a few layers. There are a few different ideas of how to think of those layers.
“The most common one discusses how the layers are arranged, such as the upper and lower layers of the mantle. In other words, it discusses the composition. The most common diagrams are based on that one.
“Another is the mineral arrangement and focuses on what materials make up what depths.
“And the last one, plate tectonics, uses the other information to classify the Earth’s layers based on their physical characteristics.”
“Question! Can you explain this using big boobs!?”
“The composition view is a cross-section. The mineral arrangement is the biological classifications such as skin, fat, and muscle. And plate tectonics would be the mechanism that causes them to jiggle.”
“That’s the most important one! Why didn’t you say so until now!?”
Because you would get like this, she thought but held her tongue. If only the Norse knowledge god didn’t give her such an understanding look and nod.
●
“Now,” said Tenma, indicating the diagram.
“A greater understanding of the Earth’s interior was reached starting in the late 20th century. Information was combined and evidence was found, revealing that Earth’s structure was divided int a few ‘hard parts’.”
“So,” she began.
“They already had classifications for its composition, and they assumed the Earth’s ‘hard layer’ and ‘continental drift’ would obey that, but actual investigation showed otherwise. The mantle had layers where the rigid and fluid parts were separate or mixed and the mantle close to the surface was more being pulled toward the surface than it was experience convection. So after analyzing the minerals and investigating the physics, people began to think it was less the composition and more the mutual influence of the layers with different rigidity. That is known as plate tectonics.”
For example…
“The composition classification says the mantle is located below the crust. So in the past, it was thought the convection of the mantle caused the crust to move atop it. But plate tectonics says the mantle below the crust is also influenced by the convection of its deeper parts, causing its shallower parts to move along with the crust.”
“So depending on how you thought the continents moved, you would have a very different idea of how the Earth was structured.”
“Right. And the theory supported by research is plate tectonics. That refers to the large movements of the Earth’s plates.”
“Now,” she began again.
“The foundation of plate tectonics is mantle convection. This planet is currently covered by a lava sea, but the mantle is beginning to form deep below the surface and that creates convection.”
●
“That’s right,” said Poseidon. And that made this a job for an earth god.
So…
“By reading the mantle convection, we could tell what kind of land will form on this planet, couldn’t we?”
In that case…
“By placing a base there, we can draw in the flame dragons – the big ones – that are moving the planet on the mantle level. Is that what you’re getting at?”
“It is. We can’t predict the land formation from the mantle convection on our own, but Balancer’s data processing should be able to.”
<I could even change the direction of the planet’s mantle convection. I imagine that would further anger the flame dragons, though.>
“Oh, what’s this? You claim you can and then immediately explain that you can’t? I bet you can’t actually do it.”
<Huh? I could even bring the planet to the birth of the apes. Oh…but if I stop there, it would lead to the creation of creatures like you.>
Poseidon ignored the human and the screen’s continuing argument and asked a question.
“When will you be drawing in the big ones?”
●
Tenma looked to the terraforming lead for instruction.
Drawing in the big flames dragons would require a major operation. So…
…Should a mere knowledge god really be discussing it?
Oh, my office worker nature from my time as a human is coming out, she noted while giving the terraforming lead a look. And…
“Um, so the layers, uh, well, if we think of them like boobs…”
“Senpai-chan! You can forget about that! Should even!”
With the terraforming lead out of commission, Tenma was in charge, so she answered.
“The Earth has several plates of varying sizes. But the large flame dragons will be where a large plate will form. This will require something big. I think we should start by restricting the magma flow around the base and then approach where a large plate will form nearby.”
“That works well with our idea of increasing how much area we control. …I see no problem with it.”
“Agreed,” said Poseidon.
“That should let us do some nice battling. …Now, to change the subject, or return to the subject, what will we generally need for a base?”
●
I saw a hand go up. It was Beisu-san. He was looking at Tenma-san.
“Can I say something?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
After I answered, Tenma-san gestured my way and Seito-san elbowed Beisu-san.
“Eh? Oh…right! Sorry!”
Beisu-san quickly turned to face me. And sat politely on the rock.
“I’d want the same facilities as in the club building…if that wouldn’t be too much trouble.”
“He decided he needed to be more polite right at the end, huh?”
“You don’t need to be polite to a weakling god like me! You really don’t!”
Shifu-san looked at me like I was some poor animal, but that was fine. Anyway…
“So for facilities, would that be boys and girls locker rooms and shower rooms plus laundry and a kitchenette?”
“I’d want a conference room too. Around 15 square meters would be about right.”
“A nap room would be nice. Maybe with two bunk beds?”
“Also some storage space. …What you would want depends on the god’s traits, so it’s hard to find a ‘one size fits all’ answer there.”
“What did you do during your terraforming?”
“We knew ourselves well enough. And there is a Norse way of storing food.”
“Why storrrre food when you can just make it growwww on its own?”
He is on another level, I thought.
Then Sumeragi-kun clapped his hands.
“Hey! Screen!”
<What do you want, chimp?>
“Don’t abbreviate it! Show me some respect! Got it!? You need to say the whole word: chimpanzee!”
<Someone help.>
“Sumeragi-kun? Did you have a good idea?”
“Oh, yes! You’re jiggling nicely today, Senpai! You must be in a good mood! As for this dung beetle’s response to your noble question, it’s that! Y’know, that thing in the room! The super-spacetime closet or locker! Can’t you put one of those inside the base and use that to store things?”
●
Balancer felt everyone’s gazes on them.
<Nnnn! Those are from the divine world and the system only really works inside a divine world.>
“But they are convenient. I mean, if we buy something in the divine world and chuck it in there, we can retrieve it here.”
<System-wise, the divine world is part of my data space, so I can reduce the distance to zero on my authority.>
“Do you mean you are controlling it from a higher dimension?”
<Yes. When you read a book, you can skip pages, but the characters in the book can’t. It’s a similar distinction. And when outside of the divine world, I too am one of the book characters.>
“Um, so you’re saying you can’t do it?”
<Correct.>
“Ehhhh!? What!? You can’t!? And you have the nerve to call yourself a clever AI? Wow! From now now, you’d better call yourself ‘an AI who can’t even create a closet’! Yeah, that’s it! A Clever But Closetly Impaired AI! Or ACBCIA for short!”
<You shouldn’t further abbreviate AI since it is already short for ‘artificial intelligence’, so that would be ACBCIAI. And if you insist, I’ll just have to give this intellectually impaired ape what he wants!>
●
“That was easy.”
“All of that was just warm up, so if anything it was a challenge.”
“Those two are such good friends.”
<No, we are not! We are nothing of the sort!>
“So can you do it or not?”
<I believe I can artificially reproduce it. The one in the divine world is a data entity, but it has the same ether energy as a real one would, so I can sublimate that as ether fuel. The materials I have to work with are…lava, I suppose. I can break that down and reconstruct it into the ether fuel I mentioned.>
“That sounds inefficient, so it is it really worth it?”
<As a clever AI, I will preserve my pride. Also…in a broad sense, your trust in me is a necessary part of the terraforming process.>
“Protecting your pride can’t be easy.”
<To put it kindly, that is entirely your fault, dung beetle.>
“That way of trying to sound polite while insulting someone reminds me of someone.”
“Oh? Who?”
●
Anyway, we had a few different suggestions now.
“Um, boys and girls locker rooms, boys and girls shower rooms, a nap room, a conference room, a kitchenette, a bathroom, and a lookout station?”
“You can just place that on the roof. Some parts can have a roof and others not. And low walls on all sides.”
I could sort of picture that shape in my head. That just left…
“A shrine?”
“Yes! I need a place to practice worshiping you from a low angle by prostrating or stretching and a place to practice surreptitiously placing your boobs in my field of vision!”
“That sounds like the least necessary place in the world.”
“No, not at all! It is extremely important! It’s what motivates me to get up in the morning!”
“You didn’t have to contradict me that hard!?”
“Athena? If she hadn’t, I would have wordlessly Yamanashi’d you.”
“It’s that big a deal?”
“If we’re really doing this, you should create a basic teleportation spot for Sumeragi in each base. Preferably a room or corridor fully surrounded on all sides.”
●
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“He means there should be an airtight section.”
“Remember when Eshita-chan turned into a Sumeragi-chan serial killer?”
“Eh!? What!? That’s a new phrase.”
“Yeah, it isn’t one you hear everyday.”
“Ah ha ha! Looking back on it now, that was a great time!”
“Eshita-san?”
“Oh, yes! If you’re going to kill me, can it wait until after I’ve finished this bag of Karamucho!?”
You think I would take it that far? I wondered, but since I wasn’t going to, I listened to Raidou-san and the others instead.
“If Sumeragi’s protections aren’t done right when he’s teleported her, he’ll almost certainly die instantly. It happened with Eshtar, but it happened just a bit ago here just because the door was open.”
<Because any exposure to this environment is too much.>
“Doesn’t this entire building contain Senpai-san’s protections?”
“But the door was open. Even with a spell field in place, the open door links it to the outside world. That’s a rule found in quite a few mythologies.”
“So,” said Shifu-san.
“We could refer to the place he’s teleported to as the shrine section, but shrines can’t be airtight in Shinto. Every Shinto shrine I’ve ever seen emphasizes its connection to the outside with its open-air design and the path leading up to it.”
“Oh…oh, no. Is that a roundabout attack on me for being a shut-in for so long?”
“Try to calm down, Douhai-san.”
“Okay. I’m calm now.”
“That was fast! …But anyway, If we are going to open up the space between the shrine section and the corridor, we’ll need to make sure you can’t directly leave the corridor. Maybe place a room in between?”
What would happen then?
“That will greatly reduce the odds of Sumeragi-chan coming in contact with the ‘outside’. And that makes it much less likely he’ll die the instant he’s teleported here.”
“Oh, you’re right! Thank you for the great idea!”
●
“Do we need anything else?”
“I’d like a shelter. Something we know we can protect from the flame dragons. I mean, our combat abilities are pretty low. If we were attacked while on lookout duty, we could go there to take shelter.”
“Couldn’t you return to the divine world as an emergency escape?”
<Not right away. The gods have too much data. Even now, it takes a lot of planning and prep work to send you here and take you back.>
“What’s the fastest you could do it?”
<Theoretically, a god of your level would take a minute and a half. At Raidou’s level, that goes up to three minutes. Going from the divine world to here only requires expanding the data, so it takes half that. But returning to the divine world means compressing and reformatting.>
“I guess we can’t count on running for our lives that long.”
“Why not have the storage space double as a shelter? It doesn’t have to be a big room, right? Just a place to send emergency supplies if needed.”
“The storage space will be where things are loaded and unloaded, so while the inside can be small, the entrance has to be large. And it would preferably connect directly to the outside.”
“Yeah, we might need to bring in some building materials. I agree with Athena.”
“Then,” said a voice.
“What about…spiriting away?”
●
“Y-you can do that? How?”
Dan-san nodded at my question.
“Yes. I can as long as…there’s a forest or mountain phase. And, well, your…”
“This rock counts as a mountain phase, doesn’t it?”
Dan-san nodded. And she faced me again.
“Can I…ask for something?”
●
Kido watched as Dan and Senpai-san began creating something while discussing between the two of them.
“A locker?”
It was about that size.
It looked like a locker made of stone. Maybe a little bigger. After making it, Douhai-san slapped it and listened to the sound it made.
“There. That should work.”
Then Dan-san clapped her hands. And…
“Go.”
She opened the door. And inside…
“A flower garden?”
“Oh, um, I did this in a hurry…so that’s my personal space. It’s kind of embarrassing if you stare…”
“Oh, so that’s why you sent me to a flower garden before!”
“Y-yes. That’s…why.”
But how did this work exactly?
“If you need to evacuate in a hurry…you can go in here and let my ‘mountains and forest’ shelter you.”
“What happens to that place?”
<I will transfer the evacuees from…let’s call it Dan’s hideout. From there to the divine world.>
“Based on the courtyard duel, destroying the locker will only erase the entrance to the spiriting away and the hideout will remain intact, right?”
“That would be helpful. I actually have a memory of ‘death’, so I don’t like being trapped in dark, cramped spaces.”
Everyone sounded like they were ready to agree to this plan. But…
“Sorry, but I’m going to argue against this one.”
●
“I-is there…a problem?”
Raidou chose his words carefully. She was an important helper. He didn’t want to insult her here.
“It’s a bad matchup.”
“Oh,” said one voice.
“You mean against the flame dragons.”
“Right. The spiriting away door is convenient, but as is the flame dragons can use it too. Once they destroy the base, they could take control of the system and research it. And then…Dan? It’s possible the flame dragons could enter your personal space.”
“Are they really that smart?”
“They’re more afraid of Senpai-san than Eshtar, so they’re at least smarter than Eshtar.”
“They…are?”
“Heyyyyyyy! Don’t just believe her!!”
“Um, then will this system not work?”
“Not as is. What matters here is security.”
●
So what did they need?
“We need a way to tell if it’s an enemy or ally using the door. And the door needs to stay shut if it’s an enemy. Someone will need to provide a protection to that end.”
“What happens if they slice the side off the locker without opening the door?”
“Then the locker is ‘open’, so they can’t ‘hide’ inside it.”
“So the system doesn’t work if it’s destroyed or damaged? Then security on the door is the only issue left.”
Raidou nodded at that.
“We need a lock god. …Senpai-san, do you know of any in Shinto?”
●
“Umm,” thought Senpai-chan. And…
“Is there one?”
“Douhai-san? I’m not going to say too much to keep you from going on about how you have very few acquaintances, but this door here locks, doesn’t it?”
“Oh! Door locks are a mechanical thing, so I can reproduce them as long as I know the structure.”
“That makes you sound more like a crafting god than a stone god.”
“So hey. When you were holed up in this stone hut before, you shut the door with an Auth Spell, right? How did that work?”
“That was Shinto’s famous Iwato locking spell and it really only keeps anyone from opening it. It doesn’t check to see if someone is authorized to enter.”
“If it did check that, I bet the human would have automatically been allowed in.”
“Any other lock gods?”
“Good question. Izanagi made the ‘blunder of blunders’ when he closed the door between Yomi and the living world and sealed it shut, but he’s so high a higher up I doubt our boss could get him here. And that is again more a purely locking spell.”
“A lot of underworld gods have keys, but I guess it was more of a sturdy seal in Shinto.”
“What about in Norse mythology?”
“Our chief god’s wife Frigg has keys. They’re a symbol of housework and refer to a household, so they could be used to authorize entry to a specific group.”
“But Friko-chan has a reserved manifestation, so she isn’t around.”
“Yeah, that would put a bigger burden on us, Freyja, and the others.”
Tenma-chan tilted her head at this.
“What did you do about the locks at your Norse bases? For shelters and such.”
“We have a smith god who could give us most any defenses or seals we needed. As for shelters…do you really think a war god culture needs those?”
That wild side was Norse mythology’s selling point.
“Fighting to the end is more honorable than fleeing to a shelter.”
“Agreed.”
“Um…yes...my place is…a lot like that too.”
“So you have similar cultures. Another connection.”
Right. And in that case…
“Demeko-chan? Does Olympus have any good ones?”
●
“Well,” replied Demeter.
“Aeacus was given the keys to the underworld. That distinguishes between the dead in the underworld, so it is an authorization-style lock”
“And Demeter has an in with the underworld gods.”
“The queen of the underworld is my daughter, after all.”
“How would you convince them to help?”
“I would use Helios to send a letter to Hades: ‘Do I need to send you into midwinter?’ ”
“Now that’s some mother-in-law power.”
“Then again, most everyone there is dead, so maybe threatening to make it midsummer would work better. I once spent seven days there after he disobeyed me, but – to phrase it politely – Hades was prostrating before me after the fermentation was well on its way.”
“In a way, you’re an environmental map weapon.”
“My god of war uses AoE attacks, you know? But in this specific case…”
Demeter loosely crossed her arms. The human has some guts to look at my chest like that.
Regardless, she decided to point out someone more suited to the role.
“You, Egyptian, you’re a house protector god, aren’t you? Isn’t this a job for you?”
●
“Aunt… You’re actually willing to throw another mythology a bone here? I can hardly believe it.”
Demeter waved a hand dismissively at Athena.
“We’ve found a lot of interesting products here, remember? I sent some foods to Hades and told him to ‘keep these in the freezer’, so I feel like I’ve relied on him too much lately. …Persephone glared at me over it for some reason.”
“Hey, Japanese culture has you covered there! You just have to send them a bunch of somen as a late mid-year gift! Enough for everyone in the underworld, all at once!”
“Are you trying to overload the underworld’s capacity!?”
●
“Well? You’re in charge of base security and other tasks, so it’s perfect for you.”
The Egyptian guardian hung his head as Demeter looked his way.
“I…”
He wasn’t sure what to say.
…He has guts to even think about refusing my suggestion.
This will require at least a mild rebuke, she decided.
But then she saw his wife god staring silently at his back.
…So there is more to this.
She vaguely recalled a mention of that at the meeting of the gods. She had forgotten the details, though. Whatever.
“Is there some reason he can’t?”
“I think it’s just a little too soon.”
“Hm? Is he building up power or something?”
“Or something. He should be able to do it by the time the second term starts.”
“The second term, you say?”
The divine world followed the customs of Japanese students. Athena would be attending the school at that time, but…
“Perhaps I should enroll in school too.”
“Aunt! Aunt! There is a small – no, a large problem with that!”
“She’d be like the final boss in a shonen battle manga set in a school.”
“Yeah, one who’s originally drawn super huge and with the face hidden in shadow.”
“Why did you think that would work, Demeter?”
“I don’t want to hear that from you of all people!!”
●
“Whatever,” I heard Demeter-san say.
“This won’t be happening right away, so we can let that little Egyptian handle it. Lifespan goddess, you need to draw up the plans.”
“If you need help with that, just ask. Our construction gods are great at that.”
“Then that should be enough for now. The idea was to get a look at the location, ask what everyone wanted, and then head back with that information…but it looks like the plan is changing.”
“You noticed?”
“Eh? Noticed what?”
“Look up. This was clever of them.”
I looked up as told and saw something crimson among the dark clouds.
“Is that a bird?”
“No, it is a flame dragon.”
Kido-san stepped in front of me, gestured for Sumeragi-kun to get behind her, and looked up into the sky.
“They must have created a flying version!”
●
Kidou immediately opened a Revelation Board. She zoomed in on an area of the sky to confirm what she was seeing there.
“200m long. It looks like an airplane, but it isn’t.”
“It’s shaped like an upside-down hot dog. With its belly opened like that, they must have realized they can consume the wind to fly.”
In that case…
“The ones watching us from a distance were a distraction as they prepared for this. They didn’t want us seeing that.”
The thunder god pointed far into the distance out ahead.
Red light stretched up into the sky from the distant sea. It ended once it reached a certain height, but…
“They cut it free so it could fly, didn’t they? They attacked with a super long serpentine version before, so this must be an adaptation of that. Senpai-chan’s stone flowers destroyed all of the serpentine ones, but if they’re only launching the very end, the rest of it will be unharmed.”
“I thought you said they weren’t all that smart?”
“They did take on a cannon form before too. They must be trying things out to see what works against us.”
A few pieces of information were added to the Revelation Board.
“It’s noticed we’ve noticed. It’s speeding up.”
It started slow, but it was soon releasing shimmering heat from the rear.
“Is it trying to land?”
“No, it’s going to tackle us. It’s not so much an aircraft as it is an artillery shell.”
No, she knew something even more apropos.
“It’s a catapult stone! It’s going to crash into us!”
| Back to Chapter 34 | Return to Main Page | Forward to Chapter 36 |
