Episode 43: ＜Wandering Fear＞
It slowly surfaced from its domain. An existence with hardly any recorded sightings, only spoken of in legends. A powerful beast known as the Wandering Fear. It possesses no clear will, moving only to satisfy its hunger, to survive.
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As far as the eye could see, was the vast ocean. In this sea area where only the water surface continued, something floated.
What protruded was a wooden carved goddess.
Gently rising and falling with the waves, she stared intently at the horizon.
From the sky, a waterfowl landed on her head. After carefully surveying the surroundings, it began to preen its feathers.
And then, after some time passed.
A massive shadow approached with a low growl.
The bow cut through the waves, and the pushed-aside seawater turned into waves, rocking the goddess.
Startled, the waterfowl flapped its wings and soared into the sky.
A ship with a pure white hull slowly approached. The ship’s name was engraved on its side.
“QUEBEC 017 THE TREE”
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“Ma’am. I have detected a massive artificial drifting object.”
“Massive?”
When Eve arrived, summoned by ＜Ringo＞, she saw the bow of a ship suspended by a crane displayed on the screen.
“Umm… are they working on it now?”
“The image you see is from the ongoing operation. The recovery is already complete, and they are returning.”
“I see.”
What was displayed was the bow of a wooden ship, seemingly detached at the front. Its length was probably around 10 meters. It looked as if it had snapped cleanly, as if the onomatopoeia “ぽっきり” could be heard.
“This is what you found?”
“Yes, Ma’am. It is a drifting object found during a survey of ocean currents. If it were an old object, we planned to let it drift as a marker, but upon investigation, it was determined to be a relatively recent drifting object, so we decided to recover it for detailed analysis.”
In this regard, ＜Ringo＞ often takes action with after-the-fact approval. Well, Eve certainly would be troubled if she were reported on every single trivial matter, so she allows it.
“Recent, huh…? I wonder if it’s related to that drifting ship?”
“We are considering that possibility and will investigate from now on. At this time, there is no similarity in the characteristic structures of the bow, so we are presuming it is from another civilization.”
“Hee. This? Hmm, a goddess statue?”
The bow section recovered this time had a statue that appeared to be a goddess carved into it. It seemed to be made with considerable precision. In contrast, the bow of the drifting ship towed previously had the head of a dragon-like creature installed on the underside of the bow structure. The designs were different, and the installation locations were different as well. If so, it was highly likely that it was a ship made in a different place.
“I see. You recovered it also for that investigation, huh.”
“Yes, Ma’am. Also, since we discovered it in this area, there is a possibility that an ocean current flows relatively close by.”
“Haa. Even so, it’s 200km away. I guess it’s close, in a way.”
If it was just a drifting ship, it wouldn’t be a problem no matter how much it drifted. However, if a ship with living people on board were to come, ＜The Tree＞ had not yet established guidelines on how to act. Letting them know the location would be troublesome, but sinking them without question would not be good either.
“It is necessary to investigate why that ship ended up in that state. If it ran aground, we would like to identify the location if possible.”
The survey of the surrounding sea area had just begun, and the ocean currents were unknown, as were the locations of reefs. Because there were few pieces of equipment that could be deployed, progress was slow.
“The area around ＜The Tree＞ is a subtropical climate, so we assume it is north of the equator. There is a continent to the north, and there seems to be a continent to the south as well, although we have not discovered it yet. In terms of distance, it is thought to be at least 1,000km away. We have not confirmed the east-west direction, but the sea probably continues.”
“I wonder if we should have them go around the world…”
The confirmed area was less than 10% of the expected planetary surface. Even if Solar-Powered Reconnaissance Aircraft (Swift) were flown, they would lose communication once they were hidden by the horizon. Continuing to fly them uncontrolled and unmonitored would risk them going missing in the event of a crash, and there was a risk of information being leaked to other forces.
For this reason, they were basically increasing the number of Solar-Powered Reconnaissance Aircraft (Swift) within a range where they could communicate with each other. Because it was necessary to form a communication network on the Northern Continent side, more than half of the resources were being poured into the Northern Continent side. Extending this to the south, east, or west would be difficult in terms of resources.
“Going around the world is too risky. We cannot follow up if something happens.”
“That’s true. Hmm, I guess we have no choice but to do it steadily.”
The coverage area per Solar-Powered Reconnaissance Aircraft (Swift) was not very wide. Also, if communication equipment was installed, observation equipment could not be installed. Communication Solar-Powered Reconnaissance Aircraft (Swift) and observation Solar-Powered Reconnaissance Aircraft (Swift) had to be operated simultaneously.
Mass production itself was possible, but because rare metals were used for motors, batteries, power generation devices, and electronic equipment, making too many would interfere with the production of other equipment and facilities. It was necessary to expand the rare metal production facilities first, but resource shortages would continue until the facilities were completed, and the surveillance network could not be expanded during that time.
Commander (Eve) decided on the balance, or trade-offs, in that area because ＜Ringo＞ was not very good at it. ＜Ringo＞, in her position as Overseer AI, had a strong personality that demanded perfection and did not allow failure. She showed a sense of rejection towards negative actions such as postponing, giving up, or downsizing.
“Hmm…. Let’s make the Northern Continent side line into one system. Let’s allocate the next production run to backup, and until then, there will be no backup. Let’s allocate the freed-up resources to marine exploration for the time being. Is that okay?”
“Yes, Ma’am. If a problem occurs with the equipment on the Northern Continent side, it will take at least 2 hours to recover. Is that acceptable?”
“It’s within the acceptable range. Even if it’s stand-alone, it should be fine for about 2 hours, right? Besides, the failure rate is… less than 0.001%. It’s a number that can be almost ignored.”
＜Ringo＞ directly operated all of the equipment and Communicator Dolls on the Northern Continent. Radio communication was being used, but it was not within visual range from ＜The Tree＞, so it was connected via multiple Solar-Powered Reconnaissance Aircraft (Swift).
Just in case communication was lost, the accompanying Destroyer was equipped with a processing unit so that it could operate in stand-alone mode. Certainly, as Commander (Mum) judged, it was a risk within the acceptable range.
“Yes, Ma’am. Then, we will integrate the operation of the backup system and the main system’s Solar-Powered Reconnaissance Aircraft (Swift) and allocate the surplus aircraft to ocean current exploration.”
“Please do~”
In this world where launching satellites was not possible, the Solar-Powered Reconnaissance Aircraft (Swift), which could be operated at low cost, was very useful equipment. However, it was about time to consider alternatives. Even though they flew at an altitude of 20km, they were not invisible from the ground or sea. If the number was increased too much, there was a possibility that a force would notice the anomaly.
“…Should I lay a cable?”
Extend a submarine cable to the Northern Continent. It wouldn’t be impossible. Sufficient materials could be secured. However, it would take a considerable amount of time, and because the ocean conditions in this world were unknown, obstacles associated with cable laying could not be predicted. However, the merit of being able to connect bases with wired connections was very great.
Although it had not been observed yet, communication could also become impossible due to stellar flares. Depending on the scale of the flare, it was possible that all of the Solar-Powered Reconnaissance Aircraft (Swift) in the sky would be wiped out.
“＜Ringo＞, can you investigate submarine cables in parallel? The priority doesn’t have to be that high, but I want to connect to Telek Port City as soon as possible. Even if there is only one system during the expansion phase, I want to secure multiple communication routes in the end.”
“Yes, Ma’am. That’s right, let’s convert the Alpha-Class Destroyer 17 (Quebec) to a survey ship and conduct a seabed survey.”