Our plan was simple. Ilya had already prepared all the necessary documents to establish contact with the Agency. The Agency would be informed of the following: we were attempting to set up a cybersecurity base on another planet to test the security of our network. We would both test our security and try to enhance it. Ilya had discussed this with one of Helmar Voss's robot assistants and secured approval. As for me... I had left the planning to Ilya. Getting a night of deep sleep had been much more appealing. That's why I slept from evening until nearly noon. But before falling asleep, I hadn't forgotten to call Goma to my side. Why Goma?
Because Goma, however idiotic she might seem, was strong. For some reason, having a powerful, muscular woman lying next to me gave me a sense of security. Plus, we could do much more entertaining things in bed with Goma.
When I opened my eyes, I noticed Goma wasn't in the bed. I usually had a habit of waking up before everyone else. How was it that I hadn't realized Goma had left?
"Damn it all," I muttered, burying my head deeper into the pillow. "I slept outside for one night and started having nightmares, is that it?" I tossed the blanket aside and stretched for a moment on the bed. "Are you so afraid of loneliness, Weisshafen?"
Just then, a voice rang out. "That's done!" she shouted.
I went to the edge of the bed and looked down to see Goma preparing to do sit-ups on the floor. "Goma? What are you doing here? What are you doing on the floor?"
"Exercise!" she said, and started doing sit-ups. Both her clothes and the floor were soaked from the sweat pouring off her. "I've started getting up early in the morning to exercise. I've doubled my daily workouts." As soon as she finished her sit-ups, she dropped into a push-up position.
"And why exactly?"
"Because of those damned heirs. They're arrogant, they speak like know-it-alls, and they're annoying. They scared Velsil. They looked down on Ilya, and what's more, they drew weapons on us. If they come again, I want to plant a hard punch right in the middle of their faces." She finished her push-ups, sprang into the air, and landed on her feet. Then she reached out her hand towards me, reaching over the edge of the bed:
"I don't think they'll be coming back for a long time."
"But I feel they will. And I also want to learn how to use a weapon. Can you help me?"
"You? A weapon? You get mentally exhausted just using a spear."
"It doesn't matter! I want to use a weapon! And the biggest one possible! Please, Aldo! Please!"
"Alright, fine! I'll get you a weapon," I said, grasping the hand Goma offered. "But don't expect any special training from me…"
"Hooray!" Goma shouted and pulled me out of bed by the hand. As she hugged me tightly with her muscular arms, I was sure my life was about to be squeezed out of me. "You're the best, Aldo!"
Ilya and I were supposed to discuss our plan in detail, but first, Ilya asked me to fetch Velsil. According to the robots, she wasn't in her room but in the vehicle maintenance bay. That room, which was normally unlocked, was somehow locked now. No matter how many times I scanned my finger, the door wouldn't open.
Then I started pounding on the door fiercely. The resounding clang of the white, gleaming metal door echoed down the corridor.
"Velsil! I'm here! Aldoux!"
After hearing 'tap-thud' sounds and anxious footsteps from inside, the door finally opened. Velsil stood in the gap, sweating. She was leaning her hands against both sides of the door, catching her breath.
"Is something wrong, Master Aldoux?"
"What are you doing in there?"
"Well…"
"One of the robots said you were messing with your toys. I know you value your plush toys greatly, but there's no need to be so secretive. What were you doing in there? A gigantic plush toy? The grandest Velsil project?"
"Something like that…"
"Wonderful," I said. "Follow me, Ilya wants to talk to us."
As light streamed through the open windows of the administrative office—the starship's cockpit—Ilya stood with her back to the illumination. Goma, Velsil, and I stood facing her.
"Goma!" she said. "If there's one thing the Colonies fear, it's any armed force of the SWR. You are the one among us who most resembles a soldier, even if only physically. You must look profound, your voice must not be heard. It is very important that you constantly hover near Aldoux Weisshafen when you go to the base. They must think Aldoux is an important and powerful man."
"Understood!" Goma said, giving a military salute. For hours, Velsil had labored with bandages, rope, and cloth to try and somewhat conceal Goma's muscular chest and large hips under her clothes. We had nearly succeeded in reducing her chest size to be almost unnoticeable. Finally, we managed to fit one of my Agency uniforms onto Goma's body. Furthermore, just so her red skin wouldn't show and the colonists wouldn't think she was working for the Agency, we had to cover all her skin with cloths. We had tucked her long hair under one of the security unit's helmets. Yes, our facility was supposed to have human security personnel, but I didn't want any human other than myself to enter this paradise.
Besides the tightness of the cloths underneath, the Agency uniform also squeezed her chest, so she constantly had to lift the fabric over her chest with her hand to let her lungs breathe. Though she looked happy to be given a mission, she was on the verge of throwing a fit and tearing her clothes to shreds. Worst of all, we had given Goma a weapon. She had a rifle on her back. A laser-optic, ballistic rifle. It fired single rounds, and each bullet was over 20 mm. This enormous rifle could be considered a portable cannon rather than a mere rifle. It looked huge even next to a large woman like Goma. As Goma saluted, the weapon rested against the back of her leg, and she held the barrel with her other hand to keep the weapon from tipping over.
Ilya stood with her hands clasped behind her back, taking a few steps in front of Velsil. Velsil first looked at Goma, who was standing straight with a military salute, and then nervously saluted herself. "Yes, Madam Ilya!"
"And you, you're going to be our cute bargaining chip." Ilya pinched Velsil's sweet cheek. "We'll put you forward so the colonists don't see us as enemies!"
"What?" Velsil said in astonishment. "You'll get me killed!"
"Furthermore, you will listen to my commands during the installation of the agricultural robots and supervise the establishment of the farming facility there."
"What will Aldoux do?" Goma asked.
Ilya narrowed her eyes and scrutinised me. Then she said: "He just needs to restrain himself enough not to cause chaos."
The vessel we would use to travel to the other planet was a small spacecraft. Although it had no more than three seats, we had enough space to cram in four or five robots. Perhaps the robots, who hadn't done any work for months, seemed overjoyed by Ilya taking charge. In fact, the robots who boarded the ship sat on the floor with their mouths wide open in great excitement. The robots were tied to the floor with a rope to keep them from flying out of their places.
"We're going on a mission!" one of the robots shouted.
"Long live Empress Ilya!"
"Our winged goddess... Our saviour!"
"She rescued us robots from the cruel Aldoux!"
"Hey! I'm right here, you know?" I shouted. Then I touched the communication device in my ear. "Ilya! What are they talking about?"
"Who…"
"Are you brainwashing the robots or something?"
"No," she said, drawing out the word.
"Do you enjoy them calling you a goddess?"
"What woman wouldn't?"
I hit my forehead hard with my palm to snap myself back to reality. At that moment, every robot was looking at me with green eyes. "If any of you opens your mouth for anything other than work, I'll scrap you instantly, understood?"
The robots all nodded their heads.
"Hey! Leave my robots alone! They are like my children," Ilya said.
"Stop the nonsense!" I yelled. "And launch us."
As the platform where the spacecraft was located rose, the huge metal cover above our heads opened. The sky began to shine through the platform, and Velsil was in the driver's seat of the spacecraft.
"Now the plan is simple," Ilya said over the comms. "...Our communication will be cut off the moment you leave the planet. You need to drop a satellite onto the planet you're going to. Velsil, you know how to drop a satellite, right? Good. Before landing, you need to circle the planet a few times to analyse soil fertility. This way, you can determine the general geographical structure and type of the planet. Then you must take soil samples from a few regions of the planet and find the mineral density in the soil. A few more analyses will be performed by the spacecraft's software."
"And then what?" I asked, bored.
"When you land on the planet, you need to set up a receiver at the landing site. The robots will help you. We can reconnect after the receiver is set up. Well... I hope."
"You hope?"
"Signals and cybernetic networks are not my specialty, Weisshafen! If I knew about signals and electricity, I probably wouldn't be your slave; I'd be working directly with President Solegard. Anyway... what was I saying... After setting up the receiver on the planet, establish a farming base on that fertile land. That will attract the colonists' attention. I'm only giving you a few days."
I sat in my seat and buckled my safety belt. The platform stopped with an abrupt brake. "We'll find the colonists within a few days, is that right?"
"No, Aldo. Within a few days, you will find the colonists and, if they have one, convince them to let you use their spacecraft."
"Wonderful," I said.
The spacecraft's engines fired one after another, and we started floating in the air. "Preparing for lift-off," Velsil said.
"Lift-off is approved, children," Ilya said, and as soon as her words ended, Velsil powered the engines, and we launched ourselves into space.
Our planet had a satellite. This satellite allowed us to communicate with the Republic, which was vitally important to us. When we started moving away from the planet, Ilya said that communication would cease and that we were leaving the satellite network. Now, we were in silence in that galaxy. We had left the protection of the Republic.
Since the planet we were going to was not far after leaving our own, we had enough energy for two jumps. Given the short time Ilya had given us—there must be a reason for giving such a short duration—we arrived directly at the designated planet with a small jump. After circling the planet for a while and conducting mineral scans with the capsules we launched, we earned the right to land on the planet.
The planet consisted of a tropical forest with extremely large trees. At least, the part where we landed was like that. It didn't look easy to conduct settled agriculture on this swampy planet filled with trees and wild creatures. But, from what we could see, the forest area was also the most fertile.
"I wonder," Goma said. "...how they feel if they are watching us from below?"
"Probably fear," I said. "No colonist wants to see an SWR spacecraft hovering above them. They're probably hiding deeper in whatever hole they live in."
After gliding with the spacecraft for a bit, we found a non-swampy area with sparse trees. Velsil landed our spacecraft there.
When the spacecraft door opened, I took a few steps and put my hand to the soil. Unlike our planet, the soil of this planet was firmer. And the fact that there was soil integrity where we walked was a very pleasant thing. Something I missed.
I could see trees adorned with deep green colours in the distance. Nature seemed separately powerful here. The buzzing of insects or the shrieking of birds wouldn't stop. I even had to kill the flies circling around me with the spray I took out of my pocket.
Everyone had been given a combat equipment set. These were special equipment sets provided by the Agency. Inside this set, there were sprays, weapons, ammunition, and many other things with the latest technology.
"Right now," Goma said from beneath her helmet. "...I really want to run into that forest." She stood at attention, her hands fixed to the sides of her legs.
At that moment, the robots suddenly jumped out of the ship and started setting up metal fences around our area with the metal rods they had brought. The number of metal rods we had was limited. Therefore, they had cut down a few trees and made fences from the wood as well.
I found a small rock. I started carving the top of the stone with the laser knife I pulled out of my pocket.
Velsil, meanwhile, was explaining something to one of the robots. She was pointing at something and showing a hologram form she held. She was probably talking about the documents or procedures for the communication base to be established by that robot.
"How much longer do I have to remain on guard duty!" Goma shouted. "Damn it, I'm exhausted!"
"Shut up!" Velsil shouted in a trembling voice. "And do your job!"
Velsil yelling was an indication of how challenging our work was going to be.
"There's not a single peep on this damned planet, for Christ's sake!" Goma said, finally breaking her attention stance and throwing herself onto the ground. She was soaked with sweat. The robots were diligently sowing the ground they had worked, while Velsil had gone inside the ship and lay down. The communication device had been set up, but synchronizing the communication would take close to a day.
Even though I wasn't looking at a different sky, the view of this planet's sky seemed more intriguing. Perhaps I felt that way because of the sound of the cicadas. And what had I done all day? I carved myself a small stool from a rock, lit an electronic pipe, and smoked all day. The sunlight had been good for the pain in my head and joints. I didn't know if it was possible for me to get sunburned. Although the skin on my body was human skin, the augmentations beneath my skin nourished it better, so my skin shouldn't be easily damaged.
I took a deep breath from my pipe and said, "I don't think Ilya's plan will work, Goma. It's best if you go inside and get some sleep. I doubt there are even colonists on this planet."
As Goma went inside to lie down, I took another deep breath from my pipe. You might think I was alone in the dead of night, but I was definitely not alone with my robots working diligently.
"Work, slaves!" I shouted, letting out a little laugh. "Otherwise, I'll crush you under my high heels. That's how Ilya shouts at you, isn't it?" The robots stopped, looking at me for a long time as if they didn't understand anything I said. "Go screw yourselves! That was a pretty good joke!"
I didn't know what I was going to do. Was I putting myself in too much danger to protect four test subjects? I remember the first day they arrived at the facility. After living for years in the lab without being allowed to do anything, they saw me as a god and my facility as heaven. Back then, Alora hadn't met religion yet. That's why Alora, who loved me the most, was the one who pleased me. Or Ilya was certainly not this smart. Velsil and Goma were exactly the same... Goma just got a little more muscular.
If you ask me, I didn't believe we could succeed. The facility would eventually be taken, along with my girlfriends. They would probably either be killed or become the slaves of whoever the other owner of the facility was. Even though they were made with my money, they would become someone else's toys. But... somehow... as I spent long periods of time with these four women, I started to think they were more valuable than the people I had recently known.
None of them knew about the dead galaxy outside. That was a pretty good thing because they could dream. Stupid Alora believed she could resurrect religion, Velsil believed she could get rich on the stock market, Ilya believed she could perhaps become an Agency director, and, funniest of all, Goma believed she could beat up two heirs. I didn't know a single person who wouldn't laugh at this joke if it were told out loud at any Supreme World Ball.
"You're going to beat up an heir? Let's say you did. What then? Will you wait for the other heirs to come and kill you?" I mumbled and looked into the open spacecraft. Goma must not have realized that the seat could recline into a bed, as she had thrown herself onto the metal floor on her back, placing a bag under her head.
"What am I going to do with this lot!?" I shouted slightly, clenching my fists and kicking a stone at my feet as I stood up. "What a marvelous mess you got yourself into, Weisshafen! Why did you do such a thing?"
I mentioned before that I was an Enhanced human, didn't I? Being Enhanced means being a person whose organs have been replaced with mechanical ones. Our body temperature doesn't change easily, our bodies are more immune to viruses, and, most importantly, we are immortal. But beyond that, we don't have much to offer. Because no matter how many mechanical advancements are in our brains, there is no chip or computer that enhances our thoughts. So, just as I cannot connect cables to my head and receive data, I also cannot see far away with the lenses in my eyes. But... despite being a Cybernetician, I noticed a movement in the darkness and in the middle of the forest.
Perhaps I noticed this through the experience I gained from hunting with my uncle, or perhaps it was just luck. But I was able to see the branches of the bushes in the distance momentarily opening and closing with a sudden force.
"Finally... a sign," I thought to myself. I took a puff from my pipe. As the smoke flowed through my nasal passages, I pressed the button on the bottom of the pipe and put it out. Now, I was going to do my favourite thing: build myself a rifle.
I went back to the spacecraft and opened one of the drawers. Goma stirred due to the sound the drawer made when it opened, but she didn't wake up. Twenty-nine pieces, secured with hooks, appeared on the wall.
The CLAUDIS scope was nice, but that wasn't what I needed right now. What I needed was something with night vision and infrared sight. If this wasn't an animal, it should allow me to follow the footprints from its heat trails.
Naothra was a cold and dark planet. Although its atmosphere was unbreathable, the minerals within were priceless. To counter the colossal insects that roamed the darkness of that planet, the colonists living there specialized in night vision and heat tracking. On that insect-ridden planet, a facility could instantly vanish if a bug that had infiltrated a small part of it laid eggs. This nightmare-filled planet was one of the colonies loyal to the SWR. Of course, to call it a colony would require a thousand witnesses. It was more like a huge battlefield filled with military bases.
I had done my official internship on that planet. One of the gutsiest resource collectors I knew had mentored me on that planet. Mentorship, allegedly. Because the man realized the moment he saw me in my noble uniform that I was a privileged, despicable, and useless noble. That's why he took a dislike to me from the beginning and tried not to help unless I asked a question.
My mentor was killed by an insect that used his stomach as a nest. He had lived faultlessly on Naothra for 48 years, but one day he died from a worm-ridden fruit he ate. This was definitely an assassination. Probably another inspector wanted to sneak his own favoured official onto that planet. Because that planet, besides being dark and cold for an official, was a heaven-like place.
The fact that it was inside the Republic Network was a plus. It wasn't far from the Supreme World. Since the resource collection system on the planet was established, an official didn't need to come and create additional systems or rack their brains. A great pity about my mentor... The system he created was so good that it led to his own end.
I reached for the scope, which was shaped like a flute but very long. This scope was the scope of my mentor's rifle. He had been quarantined when the eggs started growing in his stomach, but knowing that the surgery and process would be difficult, my mentor had told me the location of his weapon, and he shot himself in the head with the weapon I brought him. Did he realize whether the scope was attached when he shot himself in the head?
The rifle body was hanging at the very bottom. It was clear what scope we would attach, but what about the bullet? I wouldn't prefer to use a crossbow bolt. And I didn't want to kill whatever was appearing in the forest if it was a human. Electro-shock bullets were probably the best. It was impossible to handle these bullets by hand because they would start emitting electricity if any mechanical pressure was applied to the bead-shaped rounds.
I attached the magazine to the rifle body, but I held the scope in my hand. Even a colonist would be afraid of a weapon pointed at them, but I could see them until they realized the thing in my hand was a scope.
I came back to the rock I had sat on before, and this time I placed the rifle on my lap as I sat down. While pretending to light my pipe again, I looked towards the forest through the scope.
Yes! Something was definitely looking towards this side among the bushes there. It could be a small monkey-like creature, but I wasn't going to miss my chance. If I was going to shoot it, I needed to attach the scope to the rifle. But fitting the scope onto the rifle seemed like a huge waste of time. If I was going to fire this bullet, it needed direct contact with the person's body because the penetrating feature of that bullet was minimal. Even if the bullet was small, hitting the man—or whatever it was—peeking through the branches seemed quite difficult.
"Ah, screw it!" I quickly attached the scope to the rifle. I immediately threw myself onto the ground face down, stabilized myself on my elbows, and rested the rifle on my shoulder. When I looked through the scope, that thing had noticed the sudden change and was trying to run away, closing the branches, so I fired. The robots, hearing the sound of the weapon, threw themselves onto the ground face down and covered their heads with their hands. Velsil woke up in a great panic, pushed herself back in her chair, and fell off it. Goma, meanwhile, sprung up like a ready soldier and ran to my side.
"What's happening, Aldo?"
When I looked through the scope, despite trembling violently from the electro-shock wave, whatever it was, was trying to walk away with a limp. "This damned electro-shock bullet is useless!" I shouted.
"Did you shoot someone?"
"I don't know!"
"Which direction?"
"Right there!" As soon as I pointed, Goma started running at great speed. She put her hand on the metal rods and jumped over them in one go, twisting and dodging the trees. She jumped over rocks, and even though she stepped into pits, she didn't lose her balance. I could see her breathing heavily. A moment after she disappeared into the forest, I heard Goma shouting.
"I found him!" she shouted.
"What is going on?" Velsil screamed.
"Should I bring him?" Goma asked.
"Is it human?" I asked.
"Looks like it…"
Goma was walking with heavy steps, holding a young boy's head under her arm. The young boy was dressed like a person from primitive times and was struggling where he was, even though his feet were off the ground.
"Let go of me, filthy woman!" he was shouting. "Let go of me, or I'll beat you up badly!"
"Thank goodness he's speaking the native language," Velsil said from the back.
At that moment, the boy reached his hand into Goma's trousers, grabbed her soft, rabbit-like tail, and pulled hard. Goma threw the child onto the ground in the anger of pain and was about to punch him right in the face but managed to stop herself, barely.
"This kid squeezed my tail, Aldo! Let me take this kid's life with a single punch!"
"I'm... I'm so sorry," the trembling child said. "I wanted to squeeze your butt."
"An apology worse than the offense! Truly, a magnificent specimen of colonial youth!" I said, slapping my forehead. "Damn it! We captured a perverted adolescent boy as a prisoner!"
"Goma," Velsil said, trying to pull down Goma's clenched, punching arm. It seemed almost impossible to lower Goma's rock-solid strength. Even though Velsil put her entire weight on it, Goma's fist didn't even move. "...You're hard as a rock right now. Let go... This is a child... You shouldn't kill a child."
"Why not?"
"Because he's a child…"
At that moment, the child knelt on his knees as if apologizing. "I sincerely apologize, madam. I didn't know you were a mutant. I... I thought you came from the SWR. That you came to kill us…"
"We did come from the SWR," I said, relighting my pipe.
"Then it's even better! Next time, I'll squeeze your tail so hard that…" As he was speaking, Goma landed a hard kick to the child's head. With Velsil's scream in the background, the child's head hit the hard ground, and he fainted immediately. As the blood from the boy's head spread around, Velsil picked the child up and ran towards the spacecraft.