[533] The Final World (1)
The Abyss was a simulated world that rendered the apocalypse of the future based on present information.
Measuring scale from a dump of data was foolish, but Miro's party was certain they could find Shirone here.
No matter how sloppy the Abyss was, it linked itself to the information of the world most familiar to humans.
Because it was the terminus of information, though, this world would be the furthest future current data could reach.
Naturally, Shirone's data had seeped into the Abyss in whatever state the Abyss could accept most readily.
Someone had been the first to name this place: Apocalypse.
* * *
Ruined skyscrapers.
Steel frames jutted out like flayed flesh, and cars sat like fossils with their engines dead.
"Hamei, hurry up, hurry!"
From the blasted wreckage came a boy and a girl who hadn't even turned ten.
They were the Children of the Sun, the last descendants of humanity after repeated nuclear wars and cosmic-scale disasters.
Their green hair and sun-darkened skin marked their photosynthetic way of life.
Because of that, their digestive systems only needed moisture; anything tougher than water wasn't swallowed except out of necessity.
"Thanks, big brother. I'm so relieved Woodga said you'd come with me. I'm sorry for asking something so hard."
"Don't start acting like an adult when your sprout hasn't even fallen off."
Though only a year older, Woodga still felt Hamei—who was just about to start foraging—was childish.
"Che! You haven't lost yours either!"
The Children of the Sun had a sprout at the crown like fruit; it shrank over time and eventually fell off.
"All right, let's go. The time you can enter the Life Tree is limited."
Woodga urged them on.
"You're eight now, so you have to go foraging. It's an important job you can't make slaves do. Watch the route carefully and remember it."
"But we have to go through contaminated zones."
"Don't worry. Just do exactly what I tell you."
The Children of the Sun moved through the hazardous wastes with practiced ease and pushed into the city.
"Khahaha! There they are!"
A shrill shout split the air.
Woodga instinctively pressed Hamei's head down and peered around the corner.
"Undergrounders!"
Long-armed figures with hair to their ears were climbing the ruins as if they knew every step.
The Children of the Sun would never admit it, but these were another branch of humanity living in Apocalypse: the Undergrounders.
A race with monkey-like physicality and human intelligence, they fed by hunting.
Of all places to run into them—
Undergrounders were dangerous because they used buried weapons of ancient civilizations.
Those hunting now carried machine guns and had bombs jangling from their belts.
"Food! Food!"
Seven Undergrounders burst from the maze of debris and took aim at fish flying through the sky.
As the seas dried, some fish evolved to fill their swim bladders with lighter-than-air gas and learned to fly; the species they hunted were called razettes—sky fish.
"Shoot! Blast them!"
When the Undergrounders pulled the triggers, recoil made their long arms flail and emptied magazines in seconds.
Wooooom! Wooooom!
The razettes screamed and expelled jet-like streams from near their tails.
Using those jet organs to flee was the only survival method for fish whose durability had been sacrificed for lightness.
Bullets tore through a razette; its body shriveled and it plummeted earthward.
"Hit it! The eyeballs are mine!"
There wasn't much meat left, but seven people could barely scrape by on that for a day.
When the shriveled fish hit the ground, the seven swarmed it and tore it apart with their bare hands.
"Delicious! Delicious!"
Hamei shivered as she watched them shove whatever they had straight into their mouths without even checking it.
"Gross."
Eating was survival for the Undergrounders. To the Children of the Sun—who had a visceral aversion to the act of feeding itself—the sight was horrific.
"Now's our chance. While they're distracted, let's get away."
Woodga grabbed Hamei and they crossed the street.
Hearts pounding as if they'd burst, they ran three more blocks before wiping sweat from their brows.
"Phew. From here on—"
Woodga's voice cut off.
Across the road an Undergrounder was coming toward them.
He wore a rusted pot for a helmet, a bandolier over his shoulder, and a hefty machine gun in his hands.
"Meat!"
The monkey-like Undergrounder, fur patchy, slobbered and opened fire at the Children of the Sun.
They seemed to have no concept of aimed shots; they sprayed bullets in the general direction and buildings splintered.
"Run! Run, Hamei!"
Not feeling the scrape of steel frames against their skin, the two tore down the street.
"Ouch!"
Something caught Hamei's foot.
She fell forward without even managing a roll, and when Woodga turned, shock flooded his eyes.
"Danger! Hamei!"
"Yiahooooo!"
Like a monkey leaping through trees, an Undergrounder dropped from a traffic light and leveled his muzzle.
"I'll eat you all myself!"
Kyaaaa!
At that moment, a monstrous bird swooped in from the other side and snatched the Undergrounder in its enormous beak.
Wings meant predator.
In an energy-starved world, betting on explosive speed was risky, but to outrun the jet organs of air-breathing creatures there was no other choice.
As if it had swallowed even the sound of the gunshots, the monstrous bird faded into the distance and Woodga's legs gave out; he slumped to the ground.
"Whew, that was close. Hamei, are you okay?"
No answer came. Woodga lifted his head to find Hamei crouched over something in the dirt.
"Hamei, what are you doing? Are you hurt?"
"…Big brother, look at this."
When Woodga finally stood, he saw what she was staring at and gasped.
"Stand back a little."
They brushed the soil off a glass tube that had surfaced and finally knew for sure.
"It's real. This is an Ancient's Rest."
An Ancient's Rest was a personal capsule where people who'd lived before the world's ruin lay asleep.
To the Children of the Sun it meant an extra slave for labor; to the Undergrounders it was premium meat. Finding a capsule was a jackpot.
"Get it out! Help me!"
"But what about foraging? The time to enter the Life Tree is fixed."
"There'll be another chance before sundown. When we return to the colony, say you found it. You'll receive Ra's blessing."
"…Ra's blessing?"
At the thought of sweet rewards, Hamei couldn't refuse and followed Woodga in digging out the capsule.
Though weaker than Undergrounders in some ways, the Children of the Sun had the stamina and strength to survive in Apocalypse.
It wasn't hard to unearth the capsule, and the two peered into the glass to see a blond-haired boy sleeping inside.
"Wow, his skin is so pale."
"Let's open it. I've seen the elders do it when they forage."
They cleared the dirt and saw large letters in the ancient tongue beneath the glass.
Silence Artificial Hibernation Corporation
"If you press somewhere here—"
Hamei hit a green button. The capsule shuddered, lights came on, engines whirred, and a woman's voice announced in a guide tone.
- System start. Releasing hibernation for subject code number 10111-111001.
- Hibernation duration: 2,473 years, 287 days, 14 hours, 9 minutes, 42 seconds.
The capsule, silent as if lost in thought, reported the result a moment later.
- Memory power insufficient. User data lost. Releasing hibernation.
The glass panel popped out with a bang.
Smoke billowed as if something had ignited, and Hamei grabbed Woodga's arm.
"Are you sure this is okay, big brother?"
"Don't worry. It won't explode. When the elders woke ancients before, there was smoke like this too."
After the smoke cleared, they looked into the capsule.
The process had finished, but the blond boy still lay in deep sleep with no sign of waking.
"What should we do? Should we wake him? Hey, hey. Open your eyes."
"Hah!"
When Woodga grabbed his shoulder and shook him, the boy's eyes shot open and he bolted upright.
"…It worked. He's really awake."
He panted like someone who'd snapped out of a nightmare, too shaken even to blink.
Then, gathering himself, he looked around.
Where am I? What happened?
Many memories were gone; he couldn't even clearly remember who he was.
When Woodga met his eyes, he said in the arrogant tone the elders taught him.
"What are you staring at? If you're awake, get out quick. From now on you're a slave of our colony!"
I don't understand what he's saying.
The boy ignored Woodga and drifted back into thought.
As information recombined into a form most familiar in Apocalypse, his memories were scrambled.
I remember entering a hibernation device—
At the same time, memories of living in a world that used strange powers lingered like a dream.
The problem was he couldn't tell which memories were real.
"Hey! Get out already!"
Woodga grabbed the boy's arm to haul him out, and frightened Hamei clutched Woodga's sleeve to stop him.
"Big brother, don't! What if he gets angry and hurts us?"
"All the more reason to be rough. Until he receives Ra's baptism, he isn't a full slave."
Wow—a child with that much strength…!
More surprised than offended by the newcomer's grip, the boy crawled from the capsule.
After all, these were the people who'd woken him.
"Ah, thank you. But where is this? How much time has passed?"
Seeing the ruined world didn't shock him much; the end had been foreshadowed when he chose hibernation.
Woodga, who couldn't understand, beat his chest and said, "I'm Woodga. This is Hamei. When we get back to the colony, you must say Hamei found you. Got it?"
Woodga. Hamei. So those are names.
"What's your name?"
When Woodga pointed, the boy fell into thought again.
My name. Who am I?
A splitting headache hit, and shards of memory clawed across his mind.
- Reactor #2 collapse! Output insufficient! We can't put everyone into hibernation!
- Shut up! People are still in the capsules! Some are still awake!
- But!
- Save even one more person! For humanity's sake! We will survive to the end!
The researchers' shouts reached the boy's ears like echoes from another age.
Golden codes swept across the inside of the glass and his pupils trembled.
- Hah! Hah! Hah!
- Artificial hibernation system engaged. Molecular activity will halt. Minus 273 degrees Celsius.
- Aaaah!
The memory snapped off like a blade.
"Ugh!"
He clutched his head and writhed amid a flood of false information.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?"
As Woodga rushed over, one sliver of information that felt closest to the truth flashed through the boy's mind.
"Ro—"
"Ro?"
"Roshine. My name should be Roshine. Probably—"