Volume 4 Chapter 9 (1/2)
Perhaps because it could not store up the heat, the desert was cold at night Enough so that our breaths hite
And that was not e needed
We had to spend the night in the car and get to work once thesun rose
”Can you really save everyone in Vegas, Truth!?”
”Yeah! We need to thank the Hoover Da tap water instead of that fancy bottled mineral water!!”
”You're kidding, right? That stuff is worse than chugging milk It would ainst me?”
I tilted h quality compared to the rest of the world
”In this sun, it should be hot enough by 10 AM Maxwell, have you finished thearray?”
”Sure There is no problem there”
Las Vegas was visible in the distance and black smoke continued to rise from the rubble it had become The fires had started with chemical incendiary bombs that could not be put out with mere water and the fire depart else, so that was to be expected But there was no sign of the stealth boh the sky They must have been unable to continue their mission now that they had lost the support of the ress The actual soldiers had no reason to continue
Erika eak to sunlight, so she looked nervous inside the car controlled by Maxwell
”If the boels are free to ain Satori-kun, are you sure this is safe?”
”The gels avoid high te the day And the desert sand has to be hotter than a car's hood in midsummer”
”The bo continued until dawn and there is still so,” said Maxwell ”It is unlikely any of theht”
Our job was only possible with the self-driving off-road car Maxas controlling Without that, we could not haveout lines on the desert map
We left the Class Rep and Ayuas stations that dotted the desert
My va desert Anastasia and I took up our position in thethe shortest route between the Hoover Daas
We needed at least three locations
Even if we could trigger theless if they did not fuse together properly
I had borrowed an amplification antenna from the Hoover Dam and placed it on the roof of the off-road car and I spoke into the shter
”Ayunal”
”Fuguu Fine, since you boughtmachine”
”A-are you sure this ork?”
”Have you forgotten e have on our side, Class Rep? Maxwell, a simulator that specializes in disaster environments”
Anastasia waved her hand from outside the car
I wiped the sweat from Erika's brow as she limply reclined back in the seat Then I pulled the ser cable and stepped out onto that frying pan of land
”Looks like this is it, Truth There's a square cover in the sand And it looks pretty dangerous, so should we really bewith it?”
The ansas obviously no, but no one was left in Las Vegas to use the tap water This wouldn't cause anyone any trouble
”Maxwell Perform the final check”
”Sure This is the round water pipe that supplies the Hoover Das in the pipe, it is divided into sections atertight doors that can be closed between them If you then open the valve on the surface, the ”
”Anything we need to worry about?”
”When opening the valve,This equipment carries 15 tons of water per second directly from the dam, so a direct hit would launch you more than 25 meters into the air And it is unlikely your skeleton would survive intact”
”Ugh That gilasses from the future, Truth”
”Class Rep, Ayumi”
”No problems here, on the technical front anyway,” said the Class Rep ”The firefighting pump is ready But are you sure about this?”
”This self-service station is unet after hting tank is full”
Good
The Hoover Daly endless supply of water, but we had no way of transporting several tons of it at once And in this red-hot griddle of a desert, that water would start boiling in no time
Given e needed to do, ice cold water was best The temperature difference hat round” mattered so much
We wanted a colossal centrifuge that would spin the gels spread out across Las Vegas But o-round would not give us a device large enough
So we had upped the scale even further
We had already seen a hint of this: that downburst that hit Las Vegas with a largescale sandstores in pressure that occurred in the desert created a localized downpour that rapidly lowered the temperature and destabilized the atmosphere
That had been nothing more than a chaotic mass of wind
But what if three phenoether?
Wouldn't that create the world's largest centrifuge which could supply massive rotational movement? In other words, an artificial hurricane that covered the entirety of Las Vegas?
”Maxwell! We're counting on your calculations here You've ht? Use the current temperature, huht, and so on to give us the proper ti, amount of water, and distribution area!!”
”Sure Please release the water at each location upon my request”
It was the sa able to quantify it meant a lot
”Class Rep, Ayumi! Do it!!”
”Understood, Satori-kun An artificial disaster, h the Archenemies do”
”Fuguu!! I'm all fired up!!”
This was likely the best possible way of supplying a powerful centrifugal force If the gels were hiding all across Las Vegas, we just had to stir up the entire area of desert where Las Vegas was
95 Gs? The lihter jet? Who cares? I'llyou ate
”Anastasia, us too Turn the valve and launch one hell of a firework!!”
”Ha ha! See, Truth!? You're not cut out to be soloomy indoor hacker!!”
We spoke as we covered our hands with towels to reether
A pillar of water erupted like a geyser a short distance away It was the size of a s
”Satori-kun, things are going well here,” reported the Class Rep
”No problems here either,” added Ayu”
Anastasia and I, the Class Rep, and Ayule with 100koal was to produce downbursts froe and then have their vectors coels with a fierce artificial hurricane that covered all of Las Vegas and surpassed Category 5 ind speeds of more than 90m/s
Nor to do while in the process of figuring it out You would never even trigger the hurricane in the first place Downbursts alone were hard enough to produce, so fusing several of thee spiral would be an unprecedented ical phenomenon
But we had Maxwell, the ultimate specialist, with us
We could have no greater persuasive power for this absurd idea
”It's said hackers gained physical weapons with the advent of IoT appliances and self-driving cars, but that isn't accurate,” said Anastasia as she looked up at the pillar of water ”Truth You're showing the world you can create a power greater than even the o if you e the way people think Absolute Noah did sos out of their fear of so for the reins of the sort of calamity that made Absolute Noah run away scared”
”But is that really a good thing?”
”I don't know It ht not just be calareater possibility there But if things take a wrong turn, then a hacker of justice will put a stop to it”
I pattedI really was blessed
Then the change arrived
At soray
And just as a someind struck my cheek
”Wah!?”
”Wowit's really happening Truth! Get back in the car before the sandstorm arrives!!”
The wind felt like a solid blow
The ether because large raindrops hit me from the side
”What? It isn't turning into a sandstorm this time?”
”Because of the rain The sand gets caught in it and can't spread out like a curtain Maxwell! Is this rain a probleion!!”
”No This is the expected outco desert and create a new pressure disturbance Then it repeats and grows in scale via the sobll effect”
So the storer storm
It was exciting, but it was also completely beyond our control at this point Anastasia and I hurried back into the off-road car
Since thick clouds were now blocking the sun, Erika's energy had returned She was pressing her palhtning strike Just like a small child happy about a typhoon
”Maxwell, we can't just sit around This is powerful enough to bloay a gas station!”
”Onii-chan, go collect the Class Rep first! She's just a human!!”
”But Ayumi-chan,” cut in the Class Rep ”You're only in middle school!”
”Fuguu!?”
Even now, the Class Rep was indo me
”Maxwell, the Class Rep coas station for anywhere underground you can hide!! A zoht, won't you!?”
”Wait, Satori-kun!?”
”Will do! Heh heh I'll take that as a sign of your trust!!”
We had to getto Maxwell and raced down the runway-like road a well past the speed limit
”What, we're only going 130kph? Surely you can go faster than that There's lots more room on the meter”
”No This is miles per hour, so multiply that number by approximately 16 The standard japanese car could never reach these speeds”
”Wow!” said Anastasia ”The car is sliding to the side This wind is incredible!!”
”Maxwell, is this still not a hurricane?”
”No It is si started”
Nevertheless, the cascade of rain hitting the windshi+eld h impossible to see even with the wipers on at full speed Without a self-driving car that used radar, who kno many times ould have driven off the road and flipped over
A felled tree blew across the road ahead of us, a rusty eThere was no guarantee even our car would reround forever
The scenery had entirely changed by the tias station where the Class Rep waited The dry desert was nowhere to be seen and the land just off of the road had become a brown river
And the Class Rep had her hands on her hips and a sulking look on her face Why? Because she was a Class Rep
I opened the back door
”I'll apologize all you want later, so get in! We need to get to Ayuht away!!”
”Fine, but if Ayu to a word you say”
The wind kept growing stronger I pulled the Class Rep inside and the off-road car took off At that very moment, the roof-covered work space was torn apart by the powerful winds Metal pillars thicker around than my torso fell nearby
”The storm has finally started to rotate”
My cozy, gentle, and deep-down sadistic older sister sounded cheerful But she was right We were now being pursued by the leaden stor in this Zoth of a huainst a stor away more than ten people at once
”Maxwell, we're counting on you!”
”Sure That co to ith, but I can surmise the intention behind it”
A boulder the size of the car was pulled fro nearby, so the Class Rep screamed and held Anastasia like a stuffed animal
”Keh keh Jealous, Truth?”
”Yes, so swap places with me!”
”I don't like how readily you ad this spot for myself”
The off-road car was slipping to the side even worse than before It really was a
”User The three downbursts have coory 5+ with a top instantaneous wind speed of 120 a clockwise hurricane that should not exist in the Northern Heels in the city”
”But we can't exactly celebrate that right now, dammit!!”
The road was covered in water now too The car forcibly split the thick puddle as it drove We h for off-road use
Was Ayuas station had had a tornado shelter or partially underground storeroo we should pick up the Class Rep first
”Ah, there it is, Truth!”
”The building is still in one piece”
I breathed a sigh of relief That et out of here
”No Soist's website”
”What does it say, Maxwell?”
”All of the gas stations in the area have flooded If Miss Ayuround, it may have had the opposite effect”
”Goddammit!!!!!!”
We took the car as far as it would go That as station We couldn't even tell where the road was anyas station was just as badly flooded I thanked Maxwell after he gave up on getting closer and then I opened the back door
A gust of wind struckto flip over Erika and the Class Rep supported my back
”Anastasia, stay in the car This wind and rain will reopen your wound!”
”Ah, hey, wait, Truth!?”
I tried it once et out of the car, but I could barely stand It felt like being cra shaken by the train'sto support as station
I wasn't going to let so like this take a precious fa to let my little sister lose her life in an artificial disaster I had created
”Wait for me, dammit”
The gas station's large roof was torn away as I watched The s of the un lass fleard me