Episode 3: The Famished Commander
The medical pod’s diagnosis revealed no current health issues. Organ functions were comparable to a human’s, and she could eat anything a human could without problems. No allergies were detected, and she was deemed perfectly healthy.
“I’m so glad there were nutrient reserves…”
She had discovered a stock of intravenous nutrient solutions inside the medical pod and had begun administering them. Since they had expiration dates and there was more than she expected, she decided to continue the infusions for the time being. At least she could avoid starvation.
“Still, it doesn’t quite satisfy my hunger…”
Now that she was aware of it, she felt her stomach growling. She sighed and stood up from the medical pod. Incidentally, her tail didn’t get in the way when she lay down. Her skeletal structure seemed to have been cleverly adjusted. “Wastefully elaborate,” she thought.
“Ringo, any reports?”
“Yes, Ma’am. Response: Internal facilities are being activated sequentially. Drone reconnaissance of the fortress’s surroundings has been conducted. There is no land visible within the range of the fortress’s zenith. Higher altitude surveys will be conducted as soon as high-altitude drones are prepared. Algae and fish shadows have been detected in the reef area surrounding the fortress, and collection and investigation will commence. Work bots are being activated.”
“Thank you, Ringo. No problems. I’ll continue looking around the living quarters…”
“Yes, Ma’am. Leave the operation of The Tree to me.”
“Good. I’m counting on you, Ringo.”
Her immediate task was to assign work to Ringo. Ringo seemed to be in a severely unstable mental state. She could vaguely imagine it was like amnesia in humans. Until now, Ringo had been a mere processing unit in the game, but with the acquisition of a brain unit, it had become capable of complex thought. The emotions it had gained in the process seemed to be running wild. In the real world, she could expect care from specialists, but unfortunately, she was the only one here now. Therefore, she had to somehow take care of Ringo.
(If possible, I’d like someone to take care of me too…)
But she couldn’t afford to say that. If Ringo went berserk with its abilities, it would be a disaster, and if it became mentally withdrawn, it would be life-threatening. She didn’t have the confidence to survive on her own in this desolate place.
(If I’d known this would happen, I would have played some survival games…)
She regretted only playing real-time strategy games, but she couldn’t have foreseen such a situation, so it couldn’t be helped. Ringo had mentioned that various information was stored in its library, so she could only hope that survival knowledge could be searched from there.
She walked down a corridor illuminated by daylight-white lighting. The corridor was clean, with not a speck of dust, or so it seemed.
(It’s as clean as if it were just built… No. In fact, that’s probably the case. I don’t understand the logic at all, but The Tree, Ringo, and probably me too, just appeared here. That means this place is definitely brand new.)
When she realized this, she felt a fear as if the ground beneath her feet was collapsing. The illusion that everything around her, including herself, would disappear like a mirage. If it suddenly appeared, there was a good chance it could suddenly disappear.
(…No. If I give up here, what will happen to Ringo…? I have to be strong…!)
She shook her head vigorously and psyched herself up. Don’t think about what you don’t know. Do what you can now. First, secure a place to sleep tonight. She might be able to live in the command room, but it didn’t feel very relaxing. She should separate her workplace from her private room. Immediately, she opened the door to one of the rooms in the living quarters closest to the command room.
A click sounded as the lock was released, and the door slid open horizontally.
“…Empty, huh?”
She stepped into the room, but her shoulders slumped in disappointment.
She had hoped for something, but unfortunately, her expectations were betrayed.
Inside the room, there was nothing but a closet and a wall-mounted table that seemed to be fixtures. Not even a bed. Judging by the size, it was probably a single room, but she couldn’t possibly sleep here. The air conditioning was working, so she wouldn’t get sick, but it would be too hard to sleep in a room with no bed, no sheets, nothing.
“At this rate, the other rooms are probably the same…”
She opened the doors that caught her eye, but they were all the same. Nothing but the built-in furniture. Of course, the closets were also completely empty. There was also a room that seemed to be a dining hall, but there was nothing but tables. She thought it was a bit much that there weren’t even chairs, but perhaps they didn’t fall into the category of fixtures. Somehow, she felt that no movable furniture was provided.
“Is there a kitchen?”
A map was displayed on the window that followed her voice. Apparently, it was on a different floor. Since she was at it, she decided to take the elevator.
When she reached the elevator hall, the door was already open. Ringo had probably moved it out of consideration. It seemed that it had really grasped the internal facilities of the fortress.
“To the 16th floor.”
“Moving to the 16th floor. Closing doors.”
When she entered the voice command, the movement started immediately. Probably, a simple AI dedicated to the elevator was prepared. She didn’t think that the integrated AI would directly operate such details. In terms of resources, there was probably no problem…
The elevator moved silently and arrived at the destination floor. Each floor had the same structure, and she couldn’t tell the difference except for the large “16” display. She walked down the corridor for a while and arrived at the kitchen.
(I expected it, but… there’s really nothing here…)
The kitchen, which was lined with cooking tables, sinks, heating tables, and large refrigerators, had no cooking utensils at all. She couldn’t cook anything even if she got ingredients… but it seemed that automatic cooking equipment was firmly installed.
(For now, as long as I can get some ingredients, I can probably heat them up…)
However, it was a mystery whether she could accurately cook unknown ingredients. It would be nice if she could find familiar ingredients.
She wandered around the same floor for a while, but didn’t find anything particularly useful. Just a series of empty rooms. Feeling a slight chill, she decided to return to the command room. She headed to the elevator hall, got into the waiting elevator, and remembered something, so she headed to the restroom. She also needed to find a shower room.
(…Ugh. As expected, there’s no toilet paper…!)
She thought it was a pretty important issue, but as expected, she was disappointed that there were no consumables. It seemed to have a bidet function, so she could avoid the worst-case scenario. In the current situation with no food, it seemed that the number of times she would use it would be small, which was a relief.
(Can I manufacture these consumables…? It would be nice to have a universal printer, but I need a material cartridge. There’s probably no stock of material cartridges, and if I have to manufacture them from scratch… it’s going to be a long way…)
The shower room seemed to be usable, but of course, there were no soaps or towels. Thinking about it, it seemed like a miracle that there was a bed in the command room. For the time being, she would have to reuse that blanket.
(Come to think of it, if there are hostile civilizations around here, I’m screwed… I might have to send out reconnaissance drones or high-altitude planes. I need to have a strategy meeting later.)
For now, she decided to return to the command room to share information with Ringo. If she thought about it carefully, she could talk to Ringo on the spot, but she hadn’t shaken off the feeling of the game era yet, and she was aiming for the integrated console for issuing instructions.