Vol 2 Chapter 8 (2/2)

The smile made it look like small bugs were wriggling about under his skin about to rip the skin apart with their movements.

Mikoto had a thought.

Ignoring logic and calculations, her pure thoughts arose from the depths of her heart and formed words.

What is he saying?

Is he truly Peter Wellgo?

The aging man’s words and atmosphere were so odd that she started to grow unsure of the a.s.sumption she had made. That doubt was spurred on by the fact that the man had never actually confirmed that he was Peter Wellgo.

But she could not let herself be led astray.

The French cooperative inst.i.tution he belonged to would gain nothing by him telling the truth there. Peter Wellgo would choose to either remain silent or lie.

After all, the plan to destroy Academy City was still ongoing. Once the Solntse was detonated and the core of Code EIC was dealt with, the French cooperative inst.i.tution could sip on the wine of victory.

(How am I supposed to get him to talk?)

Mikoto felt a strange sweat on her cheek.

(And even if he does talk, how am I supposed to determine if he’s telling the truth!?)

At the same time, an explosive noise came through the shattered window.

It did not end with just one noise. The explosions continued on, one after another. The walls and ceiling vibrated violently since the soundproofed window had been lost. The din was much greater than that from road construction.

The rocket engine was beginning to ignite.

“…Stop it,” Mikoto said.

She had thought she had reached checkmate, but she was the one trembling.

How were you supposed to defeat an opponent that continued playing even after their king had been taken?

“Stop the rocket!! I broke the window! If the rocket launches now, the flames and scorching wind will fill this room. If that happens, neither of us will survive. We’ll die!! Sending Code EIC into s.p.a.ce now will not lead to a victory for you!!”

Hearing those words, Peter’s smile grew even wider.

Mikoto shuddered at the mere fact that a smile wider than the previous one even existed.

“…It isn’t my fault.”

His words were like a spell.

His twisted sense of legitimacy meant he would not give in even when faced with one billion volts or 2000 degree flames.

“It was all the machine. I was just a tool. We were all just used, so I can’t stop this.”

That must have been how he wanted it to be.

No matter what, that was the “truth” he wanted the world to see.

(He wasn’t doing this for the sake of his own life or position…)

Finally, Mikoto glimpsed what the conditions were for him.

(He just wants to bring prosperity to the French cooperative inst.i.tution he belongs to and to keep all blame from falling on them. That’s all he wants. That’s all!!)

What was the cooperative inst.i.tution to France?

Was Peter Wellgo a leader of the inst.i.tution or was he just in charge of that mission?

She did not know the answer to any of that.

And she had headed to the conclusion of the incident with all that information lacking.

The shaking within the facility grew. The rocket would launch before long. Once it did, the materials that could prove who was behind the incident would be sent outside the solar system. Mikoto and Peter would be enveloped by flames without pa.s.sing along any information on the hydrogen bomb or the UAV. When the UAV arrived, the Solntse within Academy City would detonate allowing those behind the incident to profit by establis.h.i.+ng their business model.

She had to stop it.

But randomly attacking the rocket would just cause an explosion. That held the danger of roasting Code EIC, preventing any information from being retrieved. And more importantly, the explosion would kill Mikoto and Peter. The result would be the same.

(What do I do…?)

While still restraining Peter, Mikoto looked around.

The many control devices were lined up within the room. She knew a lot about computers, but even she did not know what to do with such specialized equipment. The rocket would not necessarily stop if she just ended the program.

(What do I do!?)

The rocket was beginning to launch and the UAV was about to head into Academy City.

There was no longer any time to spare.

And…

Part 5

The countdown reached zero.

The stabilizing cranes attached to the side of the three-stage rocket fell to the side, disconnecting one by one.

The mix of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen that acted as a fuel produced a huge amount of explosive power.

At the same time, a great amount of water was sprayed out like a shower from the side of the launch facility.

The water ensured that the high heat of the engines did not destroy the facility. The white gas that expands like cotton candy often seen in videos of launches was steam rather than smoke.

The rocket started to float up.

It was only a few centimeters, but it had definitely left the ground. The power of the multiple rocket engines was slowly lifting the rocket up. The first few dozen seconds was the most delicate time. Once it gained enough power to break free of the chains of gravity, no one could stop it.

A giant computer was loaded on the front.

No calculations to give it a stable orbit had been carried out.

The contents of the rocket merely had to be taken away from the earth.

The giant manmade ma.s.s started moving up more rapidly.

The thrust created by the rocket engines won out over gravity pulling the large ma.s.s toward the ground.

It looked as if it had suddenly been shot upward.

The three stage rocket violated one of the most basic phenomena of the planet as it headed for the sky as if it was being fired up by a rubber band.

And suddenly all light disappeared from the rocket engines that had been creating such ma.s.sive amounts of energy.

It happened right after the three stage rocket made it about 5 meters into the air.

It suddenly stopped firing and the giant rocket was pulled by gravity back to the floor of the underground launch facility. The bottom of the engines were crushed and the main body of the rocket wobbled in its vertical position. Having lost its support, the giant vehicle was no longer able to keep its balance. It started to fall toward the side of the facility and the main body was bent when it struck the wall.

At the center where it bent, cracks appeared and white smoke poured out.

It must have been the liquid oxygen or liquid hydrogen used as fuel.

The fuels were only able to remain in their liquid state by being kept at temperatures lower than minus ten degrees. At normal temperature, they would immediately return to being a gas just like what flowed through the air.

“…”

Misaka Mikoto was standing facing the broken window.

Her palm was held out toward the launch facility.

“It’s no use. That rocket cannot fly anymore.”

For some reason, the rocket had failed to launch.

Or it had been stopped from launching.

However, Peter Wellgo’s smile did not disappear as he lay collapsed on the ground. The rocket itself had fallen, but his plan was not completely done for. With such a crude means of stopping the launch, the liquid fuel was sure to ignite and explode. He could only speculate as to how advanced Academy City’s a.n.a.lysis techniques were, but he was pretty sure Code EIC’s core would be mostly unreadable after being exposed to high temperatures for long periods of time.

His 100% safety had only been lowered to 90% safety.

He would still win.

The hydrogen bomb attack on Academy City was still ongoing.

That city would be destroyed and they would have no way of determining that his cooperative inst.i.tution had been behind it, so their business model could still be established.

It did not matter that the rocket exploding would kill him.

The end result would be a victory for Peter.

But…

“I told you: it’s no use,” Mikoto said, cutting off the aging man’s thoughts. “The liquid oxygen and the liquid hydrogen will no longer explode. That is why the rocket cannot be launched or blown up. There is no way for you to win now.”

At first, Peter did not understand what she meant and just stared at her blankly.

Finally, he noticed that nothing was exploding and his expression suddenly changed.

Just where did he get the extra strength from?

Peter Wellgo forcefully stood up and shoved his hand in his pocket. Bluish-white sparks flew from Mikoto’s bangs and struck Peter, but the man did not stop. As he screamed, he threw something he had pulled out of his pocket. It flew through the broken window and out into the launch facility.

It was a lit oil lighter.

The lighter flew in a parabolic arc and fell down into the very bottom of the launch facility. A great amount of fuel that had leaked from the broken engines had to be gathered down there. Liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. The fuel had been prepared to provide explosive thrust even in areas with no air. It was enough to create an explosion large enough to instantaneously wrap the entire underground launch facility in flames.

But…

“Why…?”

“Didn’t I tell you?”

“Why? Why is nothing happening?”

“It wouldn’t detonate even if you used a flamethrower. I made sure of that,” responded Mikoto lightly to Peter Wellgo who stood shuddering at the edge of the window. “The way rocket engines use liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen is simple. Oxygen is needed for things to burn and the hydrogen that causes the explosive force is no exception. That’s why the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen are mixed to cause hydrogen explosions using oxygen even in places with no air.”

“…”

“And oxygen molecules can be easily broken down with electric power. When two oxygen atoms bind together, they create an oxygen molecule, but three create ozone. Needless to say, oxygen and ozone have different properties. A mixture of ozone and hydrogen will not ignite.”

Peter peered down into the launch facility.

The fire had disappeared from the oil lighter. The conditions needed for fire to burn were not met down there.

“Well, I can only just barely manage to pull off that method. When the entire launch area was burning before, I couldn’t deal with it and, more importantly, I might have ended up suffocating myself. But the bottom of a single module is sealed off to a certain extent, so it does not affect my own breathing.”

Mikoto wiped sweat off her face with the back of her hand.

“Your plan to launch Code EIC into s.p.a.ce and leave the responsibility for this incident vague has failed,” said Mikoto as if stabbing the words into Peter. “Now, tell me everything you know about the UAV being used to detonate the Solntse. Where was it launched from, what route is it taking, and when will it enter Academy City? If we know that, we can intercept it. There is no longer any merit for you in attacking Academy City.”

“Heh.”

Peter Wellgo’s shoulders shook slightly.

He seemed to be laughing.

It happened immediately afterwards.

He did not even turn around.

He simply jumped straight out the broken window.

The action was as natural looking as a plastic bag being swept up in the wind. Due to that, Mikoto was a bit late in reacting. When she finally realized what was happening, Peter Wellgo had already disappeared from her vision.

“Kh…!!”

Mikoto frantically manipulated magnetism, but she failed to grab anything. She then heard an unpleasant noise.

She leaned out the window and looked down.

A human form was collapsed at the bottom of the module right next to the leaning rocket. He was not touching the puddle of leaked liquid fuel, but he was not moving and Mikoto could tell his life was slipping away.

Suddenly, she heard Lessar shouting from the top of the launch facility.

“The UAV has not been stopped yet!! The Solntse will detonate at this rate!! Hurry up and find what the UAV’s route is!!”

“But what about him!?” Mikoto yelled back. “There is no oxygen down there! A lighter cannot even remain lit! All of the oxygen molecules have been turned to ozone!! Even if he’s still breathing, he won’t last longer than a few minutes down there!!”

“Agh! Fine, then I’ll get him!”

“How!?”

“I just have to do it without breathing, right!? I’ll manage somehow!!”

After that somehow occult-sounding response, Lessar jumped to the wall of the launch facility. She then slid down to the bottom as if skiing. She showed no sign of suffering, so she must truly have had some way of “managing”.

(The UAV’s route…)

Mikoto thought.

Peter Wellgo had sealed off his information by defenestrating himself.

Was there anyone else who had a complete understanding of the incident and the UAV’s route?

(Wait a second.)

Mikoto looked up and out the broken window.

Her eyes landed on the very end of the bent rocket.

(He was trying to put all responsibility on the core of Code EIC. In that case, it wouldn’t surprise me if he put all the data on the incident inside the computer to make sure the disguise was perfect. He would have made sure there were records making it look like Code EIC itself had come up with and carried out the plan!!)

Peter had been afraid of Code EIC being recovered, but he would have tried everything he could. It was highly likely that the computer loaded on the rocket contained files on the incident.

Mikoto shouted out the broken window.

“Has that Floris girl contacted you!? Has she repaired the phone lines!?”

“I don’t know! I lost my communications spiritual i—uhh…communications device in the fire! And Floris already told you that she doesn’t know much about machines!!”

(Dammit. So I have to continue tightrope walking when I don’t even know if the other end is connected to anything!!)

Mikoto immediately began manipulating magnetism.

She jumped out the window and flew pretty much horizontally before landing on the side of the bent rocket.

She then ran for the top.

(Please make it in time….)

She pulled out her PDA.

She sliced through the armor at the top of the rocket with an iron sand sword to reach the computer within.

“Please make it in time!!”

Part 6

At the same time, the small UAV that had taken off in Tokyo Bay raised its alt.i.tude slightly.

It had to in order to cross Academy City’s outer wall.

The outer wall was made to emit a highly directed jamming signal pointed vertically in order to prevent information from being leaked.

As such, a signal sent from outside the walls would not reach anything inside Academy City.

The instant the UAV pa.s.sed directly above the outer wall, its flight grew slightly unstable.

But the UAV continued flying while it shook.

It held the signal needed to detonate the hydrogen bomb within it.

The UAV took the final action needed to detonate the Solntse which had been recovered by Anti-Skill.

It pa.s.sed the outer wall.

It pa.s.sed the jamming signal.

The UAV entered Academy City. It reached an area where nothing would block its signal. The UAV had a clear connection to the Solntse.

And…

The explosion…

Part 7

Mikoto sat flat on the floor.

She was within the top of the rocket.

Her PDA was connected to the giant computer and a few pieces of information were displayed on the small screen.

She held a cell phone in one hand.

Odd-sounding static could be heard through it.

It was not a proper connection.

Mikoto used a cell phone about as frequently as any middle schooler in j.a.pan, but this was the first time she had seen such an odd connection.

She could not hear any voices.

She could not sense any breathing on the other side.

She could not imagine what the scene was like on the other side.

It was if…everything had suddenly vanished.

“…”

For a while, Mikoto said nothing.

All strength left her body.

The PDA slid from her hand.

She just barely managed to hold on to the phone because she trusted her connection with the person on the other side.

And…

“…e…sama…”

Finally, she heard a voice coming through the phone.

But it sounded different from normal. It was extremely scratchy and hard to hear as if all moisture had been taken from the very depths of the speaker’s throat.

The speaker was s.h.i.+rai Kuroko.

She was giving her final report.

“The UAV…was successfully shot down… And…it was thanks to…the information you gave us…onee-sama…”

Hearing that, Mikoto finally remembered to breathe.

Meanwhile, s.h.i.+rai sounded confused.

“But your voice…sounds very distant.”

“That’s probably because I’m not using a proper antenna.”

As she spoke, Mikoto looked up at the sky through the opening she had created in the side of the rocket.

The cell phone in Mikoto’s hand was not her own.

That one had fallen down from above in the middle of the countdown.

She had heard the sound of something repeatedly beating against the air above her.

She had looked up and seen a large helicopter circling around. From the Russian she could read on the side, it belonged to the security guards.

The helicopter’s door had opened and Mikoto had recognized the face that stuck out.

(Enirya…was it?)

It seemed the woman had come that far following different information, but it had saved Mikoto and Academy City in the end.

The large helicopter was loaded with all sorts of communications equipment so that it could carry out investigations smoothly. It had antennae for things such as simple radio signals and also had a device that could access cell phone satellites.

Enirya had thrown down the cell phone and Mikoto had caught it.

Enirya may have determined she should help Mikoto because the helicopter had intercepted Mikoto’s failed transmissions as she tried to get the information to Academy City during the countdown.

“So what’s the situation?”

Just as Mikoto asked that, the sound quality became much clearer.

The helicopter’s antenna may have performed some kind of adjustment.

“As you told us to before, the UAV approaching the outer wall was intercepted. The Solntse has shown no signs of being detonated. It seems unlikely, but it is possible that a second or third UAV could have been sent out at the same time, so the Solntse is being sent to a sealed off underground facility. Even if there is another UAV, it can no longer receive the signal.”

“So for now the danger has been avoided.”

“How are things on your end?”

“I’ve recovered the core of the Russian shopping mall’s super computer, but it’s a decoy. The person truly behind this is…”

Mikoto looked down over the edge of the rocket.

Lessar looked back at her while holding Peter Wellgo.

“Well, he’s alive. If we ask him for the details, we should be able to get more info about the background to this whole situation. There seem to be some pa.s.sionate security guards in this city, so it looks like this will clear all the suspicion that had been placed on me. It’s all over,” Mikoto said with a sigh.

The incidents surrounding the Russian shopping mall and the Solntse attack on Academy City were all over.

She felt more exhausted than refreshed.

The end of a real incident did not leave one with the same sense of achievement as the end of an RPG.

Part 8

“So in the end, what happened?” muttered a silver-haired girl named Bayloupe.

She was riding a small charter plane rather than a large pa.s.senger plane. It was currently waiting in a corner of the airport for its turn to use the runway.

A girl with black hair that had just the ends braided sat across from Bayloupe.

Her name was Lessar.

“What do you mean?”

“The end with the UAV, right?” added a blonde girl named Floris who was sinking into a ma.s.sage chair. In annoyance, she pushed another girl, Lancis, off of her lap. “With Misaka Mikoto? That j.a.panese girl put up quite an effort, but did she really make it in time?”

“Right, right.” Bayloupe leaned against the wall. “Even though she got the UAV’s route out of Code EIC’s core and got the information to Academy City, would the defense units really move that quickly? After all, it’s just the word of a middle school girl. I doubt they would immediately send out all their forces.”

“Normally, they would act too slowly, the UAV would get its detonation signal out, and…boom!”

Bayloupe and Floris spoke back and forth, but then Lessar spoke up.

“Well, maybe that was their intention from the beginning.”

“?”

“Maybe the higher ups of Academy City had already predicted there were dangerous elements within the cooperative inst.i.tution and they wanted an opportunity to draw them out. By carefully monitoring the Russian shopping mall, they could find all the dangerous people involved with the organization.”

“Which would mean…”

“Maybe they were constantly monitoring the whereabouts of the Solntse and the UAV using a different information source. By letting the situation develop as far as possible, they could see just how much strength the dangerous elements had. And as a result, they also managed to draw out another cooperative inst.i.tution supporting the shopping mall. Not to mention actually capturing Peter Wellgo.”

“Uehh,” someone groaned.

“Would they really go that far for that?” asked Bayloupe.

“In that city, they would.”

“But the Solntse is a hydrogen bomb.”

“In Academy City, even that isn’t too much for them,” replied Lessar lightly. “I don’t know how sharp their higher ups are, but they might have been thinking about a possible future war between magic and science. This could be seen as an elimination of enemies on their own side before such a war begins.”

All four of them fell silent.

The word “war” weighed heavily on them.

“Well, if there is a war, Russia would be a likely candidate for the main battlefield.”

“And the other cooperative inst.i.tution is from France, another dangerous location.”

“So they were laying the groundwork by getting rid of the unnecessary inst.i.tutions before the fighting begins. With all the higher ups gone, this shopping mall will likely be completely shut down,” said Bayloupe with a grin. “I suppose we’re lucky no British cooperative inst.i.tution was eliminated.”

“I wonder about that. At least our part in helping resolve this situation might help fool them a bit.”

Suddenly, Lancis spoke up for the first time.

She was twisting her body as if an invisible hand was tickling her side while she flipped through something like a small book.

“…Hee…hee hee. It found it.”

“?”

“The Coronation Sword. I…hee hee…just got a signal from the spiritual item…heh heh…automatically carrying out the excavation. It found it. It will…hee hee…start the actual exaction now, but this is most likely it. Heh heh.”

“Hmm,” Lessar smiled thinly.

It was a devilish smile.

It was a smile that indirectly showed that she was aware of her own ill will.

“If the revolution in England succeeds, I doubt the cooperation of Academy City will matter anymore, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. After all, we are a group that does what is best for England.”

They received permission to use the runway.

The pilot slowly moved the charter plane.

They arrived at one end of the straight runway and started accelerating for takeoff.

As the airplane took flight, Lessar said, “I guess we need to start seriously preparing for war.”

Part 9

“Onee-sama, can you still use your cell phone?”

“We haven’t taken off yet. It should be fine for another ten minutes or so.”

Mikoto was holding her cell phone within a pa.s.senger plane. The large plane seemed to be waiting for its turn on the runway. Currently, she could see a small charter plane taking off.

“But,” said s.h.i.+rai Kuroko over the phone, sounding upset. “That Russian shopping mall is a terrible place. I can’t believe they would carry out terrorist attacks in order to establish a business model using their partial scientific knowledge! I can’t believe they would bring a hydrogen bomb here to do that! And I especially can’t believe they would chase you around trying to capture you!! Those security guards they have instead of police sound completely useless!”

“W-well, the security guards did their job at the end and cleared me of all suspicion. I don’t think there is any more need to find fault in them.”

“Of course there is!! The security guards are supposed to protect normal people like you, onee-sama! What they did at the end does not cancel out what they did before that!!”

Mikoto had a sudden thought as s.h.i.+rai continued to shout over the phone.

She did not think Academy City was a paradise. She did not think the city held the burden of the entire world’s justice. But she was still quite shocked to find that clear enemies of Academy City had appeared.

Why was she so shocked?

Was she simply shocked at the mere fact that Academy City had enemies?

Or was she shocked at the realization that she had believed up until then that Academy City did not have enemies.

There was no such thing as a perfect system.

There was no system one could unconditionally rely on forever.

Just like the shopping mall, Academy City might have its own dark side.

It might have enough darkness to produce enemies like that.

“Hey, are you listening, onee-sama?”

“Yes, I’m listening,” Mikoto responded arbitrarily as she looked out the plane’s window.

She made a gun with her fingers and pointed it toward the land of Russia that she would soon be leaving.

“But, y’know, this really did become one h.e.l.l of a demonstration.”