Origin (22)

"Looks like something's happened."

I spoke to Licorice, watching the commotion in the town. There was no reply. Wondering why, I realized she seemed somewhat absent-minded, perhaps lost in thought. Maybe it was because she hadn't slept.

Celestia answered instead.

"Hyun-woo, they're calling us to the communications facility at the center of town. Looks like something's been picked up on the device."

"Let's go right away."

Instead of just standing here idly, it was better to go to the center and get the explanation. Standing still wasn't going to bring any answers.

Celestia, sensing it wasn't something urgent, nodded and started moving right away, and I followed. Or I would have, if I hadn't stopped short when I saw Licorice standing rooted like a stone statue.

"Licorice?"

"......"

"Hello?"

"... Did you call me."

"What do you mean, did I call you... Is something wrong?"

I asked again, but Licorice just kept her lips tightly shut. I started wondering if I shouldn't have taken her into the mining tunnel. When I was on the verge of that thought, she hesitated and asked,

"Hey. Hyun-woo, did you hear anything weird down there?"

"Pardon? What do you mean? I didn't hear anything at all."

"Really? Not even anything about a 'first' something or other?"

"You're creeping me out... I really didn't hear anything."

When I motioned as if rubbing goosebumps on my arms, telling her not to scare me for no reason, Licorice parted her lips as if about to speak—but then closed them again.

"Are you alright? You look really pale."

"... It's nothing, really. Maybe I'm just a bit tired."

I gave her a worried look. She had looked tired this morning too, but now something felt off on a whole different level. Licorice was chewing on her lip.

'Did the mining tunnel scare her?'

That uniquely heavy atmosphere could indeed feel oppressive to someone's first time there. The place was closed off, the air hung heavy, someone with faint-heartedness could find it tough.

But that was for ordinary cases, and it was hard to imagine Licorice being that way. She's a tough person. She wouldn't be scared just because it was dark. She didn't like to play such pranks, either.

Besides, she was fine while riding the lift down the vertical shaft. She only started acting strange when we reached the bottom.

'Is there something there?'

There was definitely another reason, but she didn't seem willing to tell me.

"I'm really fine. Let's just go."

Licorice, clearly avoiding the conversation, walked ahead of me as if not wanting to talk anymore. Then she suddenly tripped.

Well, almost tripped. She would have fallen pretty hard if I hadn't caught her mid-way. Good thing I'd been watching her, considering how off she seemed.

"Licorice, be careful."

"... Yeah."

"Whatever you heard down there, just forget it. Earlier, even though it was faint, I did see a blue crystal vein. Since it's still an ore, mild confusion symptoms can occur."

"Thanks for worrying."

Licorice didn't have much experience with raw blue crystal ore. Around her, there were always Alpha-series security robots waiting, and while their circuits were dimension-coated, it was true that the raw ore could negatively affect them.

Since she trusted robots over people, the blue crystal Licorice handled was usually refined. Until now, she'd gotten filtered data through Alpha.

'I should have considered that.'

I was too absorbed in being an 'expert' and overlooked that part. What kind of expert does that? I really was better suited to being a low-rank worker.

While silently berating myself, I supported Licorice. She didn't refuse. We headed toward the central plaza, where people were gathering.

Once there, I saw that almost everyone in town was assembled. About half, judging by their mood, weren't there to share opinions. They just looked curious about what was going on.

Nadia and Carry, who had arrived first, waved their hands to save us seats. With a thankful glance, I sat down.

Once Carrot confirmed that all but the immobilized Domestica were present, he got straight to the point without wasting time.

"A distress call came from the refinery."

"You don't mean that transmission from three days ago, do you?"

"Of course not. This was a live transmission, about fifteen minutes ago."

Everyone knew the previous transmission three days ago had come from the refinery. Problems at the refinery translated directly to problems for the town, so there wasn't much to hide.

Constructing a miniature solar furnace for energy or obtaining refined blue crystal—either one would've been a relief, but being able to do neither was the real issue.

Carrot operated his bracelet, projecting a holographic window in the air. Inside was a communications log, quickly played back.

- Th-this is the refinery. I'm Engineer Chen, from the facility maintenance team. We need help. There's s-something wrong with the refining equipment, the solar furnace might m-malfunction—hngh, there's a chance it'll... Please, help us... before we all die...

"..."

"..."

Everyone fell silent at the desperate broadcast. No one could speak; the content was just that shocking.

Not long ago, Licorice had said we'd better hope nothing happens to the solar furnace. The energy stored in the solar furnace that powered all of Titan was beyond imagination—malfunctions were extremely dangerous.

And a malfunction could very well mean an explosion.

'If the solar furnace explodes after malfunctioning...'

This place would be finished.

First, the mining base 'Heaven' would be vaporized. Then, the nearby residential area would be swept away by the energy storm. The town wouldn't escape either.

Death—or perhaps 'annihilation' fit better. At that point, the Holy Tree and everything else would be gone—pureblood supremacists, horrific monsters, all of them.

"... Is the information reliable? I know we're short on time, but before acting rashly, we should check if the solar furnace really is at risk."

Eric continued.

"We got word just three days ago that the pureblood supremacists were about to break through the blockade. Assuming there were network disruptions, the signal could even be from before that. Now they're suddenly warning about a pipeline problem—doesn't that seem strange?"

"Hmm..."

"I find the motive of the message suspicious. If it were really a crisis, the first thing would be to tell us how to fix it. Not just plead for rescue like this."

Eric distrusted the transmission. He insisted someone should confirm that Engineer Chen was truly from the facility, not an imposter.

His point wasn't wrong. We already avoided staying in Heaven too long to prevent conflict with the pureblood supremacists—a wrong step now and conflict would be unavoidable.

We weren't ready yet. We had to consider it might be a trap. In that sense, ignoring the transmission seemed like the right move this time.

But people couldn't easily agree. The majority here had seen Heaven's solar furnace with their own eyes. They knew exactly how terrible an accident there would be if it malfunctioned.

If—just if—the transmission was real, and if, though the pureblood supremacists hadn't broken through, they had still sabotaged the pipeline and caused this situation... People couldn't voice an opinion, all wrapped up in those thoughts.

What should we do?

That was when Licorice, somewhat recovered after doping herself with coffee, added a personnel file to the holographic window.

"... Engineer Chen. Refinery maintenance team. Matched with the recorded data and voice—it's him. At least the sender's identity isn't faked."

"Then does that mean we have to go to the refinery?"

"That question misses the point entirely. This isn't something to debate."

"Even if it's a trap?"

"Yeah, even if it's a trap—we have to go."

It wasn't like Licorice at all. She was the type who never gave a definite answer before gathering enough data.

While I hesitated, wondering if I should stop her, Licorice continued.

"Did you get what I said? They've set things up so we have no choice but to come."

Licorice added more data to the display—files tracking the pureblood supremacists' movements.

Supremacists gathered at the mining sector's tunnels, some containers missing from the cargo sector warehouse, strange mutants in the sewage treatment facility.

Considering that they'd turned Nexus staff into monsters, these mutants were likely their handiwork too.

"The pureblood supremacists moved from the mining sector toward the refinery. Of course, they would have passed through Heaven's center. And if I'm right, some of them are still in the center. If we don't show up at the refinery, they'll blow the solar furnace."

"They wouldn't go that far... But then they'd all die too."

Licorice sneered in the direction of the murmur that arose among the crowd.

"Ha, all die? So what? Have you forgotten what they've done to the residential area and Heaven with suicide bombings? For them, death isn't the end. It's just a means to an end."

If Engineer Chen's broadcast was true, fixing the pipeline to stop the backflow would resolve this, and we'd get a new engineer and address our energy shortages.

But if this was a supremacist trap, we had no choice but to take the bait. If achieving their goals required it, they'd walk into death without hesitation.

The transmission wasn't sent to us specifically—it was broadcast in all directions. In hopes that someone, anyone would respond.

'Or... was it? Was this aimed at us?'

After all, we'd made the biggest commotion in Heaven. There could be other survivor groups, but surely not as secure as ours.

"Once again, this is a threat. If we don't obediently accept their invitation, they'll tamper with the solar furnace. That's all I can see in it."

"You're saying we'll just have to accept the risk."

"Not wrong. Why, are you going to say, like last time, I have no right since I won't go myself?"

When Licorice snapped, Celestia gave a wry smile. They'd clashed on this subject before, and tension rose instantly.

"Hieek..."

Nadia, in "just-trusting-Hyun-woo" mode, trembled her ears and tucked her tail. Even Carry glanced around and went into standby mode.

That's when Roxy suddenly shot to his feet.

"Okay, okay—tensions are high because of this crisis, but anyway, there's nothing we can do right now, right? So, meeting's over!"

"... What?"

Meeting adjourned out of nowhere? And there hadn't even been a conclusion yet.

The murmurs grew. Without panicking, Roxy pointed at one of the people huddled together.

"Hey, brother, did you finish today's assigned work? Or are you here just to take a break? As far as I know, your task was to assemble custom suit gloves to keep out tunnel worms."

"... Alright, I'm going, I'm going."

Kyle, who'd been staring at Roxy for a moment, shook his head and rose with a sigh. Roxy pointed at someone else.

"Aren't you guys supposed to be monitoring if the shuttle expansion module is working properly? At least one of you should be doing that, right? If something pops up mid-way, you'll have to do it all over again. We're out of time as it is."

"Yeah, I know... but—"

"Or are you ready to give up your engineer license?"

"No, I know—"

"If you know, go work! There's plenty of time to rest when you're dead!"

With every round of nagging, the folks who'd been moping in the plaza reluctantly got up and started dispersing. Just as I was wondering how to proceed, Roxy's intervention had tidied things up in no time.

"Roxy..."

"What's that look for, friend?"

"I really never imagined you'd step up like that."

"I can guess what my image is in your mind."

Roxy chuckled. He went on,

"This is what we need right now. Trap or not—the refinery broadcast, I mean. Do we really have time for pointless meetings like this?"

"No, we don't..."

The shuttle was out since its mid-range upgrade module wasn't fully installed yet,Equipment was all being repaired thanks to the battle with the Blue Eye,The comms gear was barely functioning without a new energy source,The shield generator was already eating up way too much energy.

Nothing was straightforward. Every single thing needed urgent attention.

"The reality is, even if we want to go right now, we can't. So, what should we do?"

"... Labor?"

"Exactly. Pure, honest labor! Once we admit that, our orders are clear."

Roxy was right. Before we made any decisions, equipment repair had to come first. Only then could we even have options, let alone act on them.

Celestia stood and spoke,

"Wise words, Mr. Gloxinia. My opinion of you just improved."

"You're too kind, new boss."

"A wise person wouldn't ignore the burdens of his brothers and comrades, right?"

"... Excuse me?"

"Please join the shuttle upgrade team."

"..."

Roxy looked around as if to say 'this wasn't what I had in mind'. Kyle, who had smartly excused himself earlier, waved at him from a distance, gesturing for him to hurry up.

With a defeated air, Roxy let out a small sigh.

Then, while being dragged off by Kyle, Roxy turned to Licorice,

"Not that I'm one to talk, but old boss, you're doing fine. Everyone sees you working hard here. So, try to get some sleep. People get prickly when they're tired, you know? The only ones who should be worked to the bone are engineers."

Bold words, considering he was being dragged away by an annoyed looking Kyle. I hoped Roxy would survive the experience.

"... I'll keep that in mind."

"Friend, look out for old boss for me. She seems to listen to you, at least."

When Licorice quietly replied, Roxy snapped his fingers and grinned. If he wasn't being dragged away right then, I would have looked at him differently.

Licorice ran her hands down her face and apologized to Celestia for overreacting in the debate.

Celestia replied it was nothing to apologize for, that she understood. She then left, taking the still-injured Eric with her.

The tension finally began to dissipate. The situation was resolved, or at least settled for now—even though it felt a bit anticlimactic, this was probably the best we could do.

"Hyun-woo, I'll head to my room and see if I can hack into the refinery system. If the transmission was legitimate, they'll have left access open for us."

"Are you sure you don't want to rest first?"

"Later. I'm fine for now. I finished this whole thing, after all."

She shook the tumbler she'd been holding. It was a pretty large one, but she must have licked it clean—there wasn't even the sound of liquid inside.

"I won't be at it for long. Just scanning the system should be quick enough. We need more solid intel, after all."

"Alright. If anything happens, tell me right away. Don't forget, we're in this together."

"Of course."

Licorice gave a faint smile. After she left, I suggested to Nadia that we go help the others, and she readily agreed.

"Carry, let's go. Time to shine!"

【(˶˚ ᗨ ˚˶)】

And like that, there was no one left in the central plaza.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=【(˶˚ ᗨ ˚˶)】

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