Chapter 20

Translated by SkyTL Edited by SkyTL

Chapter 20: Beacon

Modern outboard suits are far more advanced and completely designed than those from the early days of space exploration, when it took more than ten hours to put them on and get them ready for use .

Even when kept at one atmosphere, the interior does not expand like a balloon, and temperature and humidity are adequately regulated . It is also light enough to be used under gravity.

However , it still takes about 30 minutes to put on, and it should be difficult enough to move around in.

“OK, that’s about right. How’s Lacey?”

I flexed and stretched my arms a few times to check my outboard suit, then called out to Lacey, who was struggling with her unfamiliar outboard suit .

Lacey and I were going to meet outside the control area for today’s checkup.

It’s been a month since we trained between jobs, and I’m not sure if we’ve gotten better or not…

Charlotte is staying home for now because I can’t take care of her if they both go at the same time.

At first glance, the outboard suit helmet looks like a lighter version of the earlier suits, but it has a very large field of view because the image from the outboard camera is displayed on the entire inside surface . From the wearer’s perspective, it looks like they are wearing a transparent helmet. In addition , various information is superimposed on the image.

Of course, there is also a whole range of communication functions, and the wearer’s physical condition is constantly monitored .

After a while, Lacey seemed to be able to put on her suit, and she turned to me and nodded her head.

“What do you think?”

“Yes, I think it looks good on you.”

“Ah yes, thank you. No, no, I mean, is this the right suit for me?”

“Well, there’s…”

I tap my fingers on my own arm, around the wrist, then point to her arm.

“Yours, here. Look at your arm. You’ll see a yellow warning sign. Touch it.”

“Yes.”

Lacey, obedient as ever, did as I asked, and with a soft sound the suit began to deflate, stopping only when it clung a little to her slender body .

It wasn’t so much that you could see the lines of her body, but I thought it was kind of flirty.

… In any case, we should be able to move freely now.

After using the communications monitor to make sure Lacey’s hull suit was intact, I looked around for the people who would be accompanying me on this mission .

First, Riza’s humanoid body will accompany us. The built-in little Riza is a lifeline in case of emergency, and Riza herself can work as a very versatile working machine . And, of course, she doesn’t breathe or need to be pressurized , so she doesn’t need an overboard suit.

And a couple of rovers. This time it’s two big rovers.

These large, six-legged, spider-like metal vehicles are designed to carry people and luggage. The folding seats are not very comfortable, but Lacey and I will travel in them. A large rover is big enough to carry three people, but this time we each have one person.

There is also an open line to Ira that will help us, but as usual she is not interested in leaving the controlled area. As for Astoria’s management system, Ira agrees to protect the lives of people and Simulants .

“Um, Lyle-sama. Can I ask you a question?”

As I climbed onto my big rover, Lacey raised a small hand in my direction.

“What?”

“Is it necessary for us to ride separately ? I think we would only need one vehicle if we rode together.”

“Well, the rovers can be used to transport loads. It’s convenient to have more than one, and if you have more than one, you don’t need to ride together, there’s no deeper meaning .”

“Do you have anything to transport?”

“We lack a lot of things, so we want to take everything we can use.”

The most important thing, of course, is the generator.

If we want to repair the Eos without jeopardizing the Astoria’s plight, we need to have at least two large, usable generators on board . As you might expect with a ship’s generator, you can’t just find one and bring it back with a rover, even if the one you bring is a bit smaller .

And for lack of a better word, I felt uncomfortable sitting huddled in a car with Lacey at work. I felt a little uncomfortable or embarrassed.

If it had been with Charlotte, we would have been friends and I wouldn’t have had to worry….

I made sure Lacey was on the rover and attached her suit to her own rover.

“When you’re ready, you can go.”

Riza announced, waiting for us to finish our preparations while she climbed into a small rover that was the perfect size for her .

Riza looked like a fairy tale dwarf or fairy or something riding a real spider, which oddly suited her and made her feel even more out of place

An airlock separates Ira’s controlled area from the outside world.

According to Riza, the area directly in front of the airlock has already been inspected for damage and can be filled with air if repaired with hardened resin or something similar, but for now it remains unattended because there is no particular use for it once it is restored . So when we left the controlled area, we were in a vacuum.

However , thanks to Riza, the power supply and communication functions have been restored to a certain degree, so it can be said that although we are outside the controlled area, we are under control to a certain degree .

Rovers, like a ghost spider and its offspring, are moving through the scattered debris.

This march went on for a while without incident, and I was beginning to get a little bored when Lacey suddenly spoke to me over the airwaves .

“Lyle-sama, are you looking for the generator this time?”

“Oh, why? No, that’s right.”

“I thought Eos didn’t have enough power.”

I thought it was unusual for her to talk to me, but as usual, Lacey was subtle and taciturn, so she didn’t get it.

But I understood what she meant. She must have found out when she repaired the Eos that there was a shortage of available generators.

There was no way to restart the mission from the Eos without procuring a safe generator by some means.

“I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t interfere or anything.”

“Yes, I will.”

Lacey nodded honestly , and after a few seconds this time she tilted her head questioningly .

“Well, I’m not that trustworthy, am I?”

“Not really, but…”

Lacy and Shallot have been very cooperative since they started helping me repair the ship .

It seems they still want to keep me in Astoria, but at least my interference and displeasure won’t interfere with that goal . They seem to know that.

However , if there is no way to repair the Aeos to the point where it can resume its mission, then I have no choice but to stay here, and I don’t know what Lacey and the others are thinking in their hearts . Charlotte would probably tell me everything as it is if I ordered her to do it under the protection of the second principle, but I have no intention of doing that right now .

While I was thinking about this, Lacey continued to murmur.

“If there’s something we can use, I’m sure Riza will find it…. Besides…”

“Hmm?”

“Even if she doesn’t, Lyle just has to say it. [Give it to me].”

“Lacey, you can’t…”

I choked on my words in horror.

I wondered if she had figured it out by now.

Even if I can’t get a generator, I know that Simulants and the others will be able to steal one to use in Astoria.

And I wondered if they knew that I was considering that possibility.

When I was at a loss for an answer, or perhaps the fact that I was at a loss for an answer was itself an answer, Lacey shook her head slightly .

“It wasn’t the right time to talk about it. But if Lyle-sama wants to do something…”

“… Let’s talk about it another time.”

She nodded vaguely , then broke off the conversation and turned my gaze forward.

… I wonder if it’s time for me to face the problems I’ve been putting off.

Whether we talk or not, or even fall asleep, the rover moves on by itself.

The rover is not equipped with general artificial intelligence, but it has an automatic driving system and will follow Riza without us having to steer it each time .

After about an hour, I noticed a strange reaction from the helmet shield. It was a radio signal.

Of course, I wasn’t the only one who noticed it. I called Riza and she sent me the information without bothering to ask for details.

“It’s a beacon. I think it’s worth checking out.”

Many devices of this era are designed to send out signals at regular intervals to inform you of your current position and status . Depending on the interval at which they send out the signals, they can last anywhere from several decades to over a hundred years, depending on the power source .

The meaning of each beacon can be determined by deciphering the information contained in the signal .

In Astoria there are several beacons, but most are the remains of unimportant equipment .

If it is a small factory, a machine tool, or a material tank, you have hit the jackpot; if it is a generator, you have hit the biggest jackpot .

But the signal that is now displayed has nothing to do with it.

“… Is it a distress signal?”

“It is what it was.”

I mutter, and Riza corrects me.

The beacon was not a device, but a distress signal sent by a human mobile device. But Riza is right, the owner of the device is probably long dead, so now it’s just a signal to call for the recovery of the body.

A window opens on the display inside the helmet, overlaying the view and showing the image of an elderly man and his profile .

“Doctor Rogers Walker. Do you remember him?”

“No…”

I don’t think I’ve seen or heard of him before. But since Riza asks me if I remember him, he must be someone I’ve seen or heard of.

As I nod my head, Riza adds more information to the ad.

He’s a medical doctor who has been researching the physical and psychological effects of prolonged cryosleep for about 130 years, and….

“You may not remember this because the person responsible changed every time Lyle-san woke up, but it was the last person responsible in the book, Miss Lacey Whitford, and she is his doctor .”

“… Miss Whitford’s doctor?”

I looked at Lacey, confused by the unexpected name, but she didn’t interrupt me.

First, the first Miss Whitford was the subject of a cryosleep experiment in Astoria.

Just as I was under Riza’s supervision, Miss Whitford was basically under Ira’s supervision, but there was also a human contact in charge of the research . I remember that every time I woke up from cryosleep, I was introduced to the person in charge, but I didn’t listen to him because he changed every time .

So this old man was the last person in charge.

“I see. All right, let’s go get him. Find out the way.”

“I understand.”

The location of the beacon was quickly found on the map, and the route to it was checked for safety.

A short time later, a route was marked on the map that would take a wide arc around the front.

“We’re going.”

“Yes.”

The rovers clanked… Of course, they couldn’t make any noise because of the vacuum, but they began to march silently .

Finally, I noticed Lacey on the next big rover thinking about something.

“What’s going on, Lacey? What’s wrong?”

“… I know a man named Doctor Walker. I haven’t met him in person, of course, but I’ve seen him in videos…”

“Hmm?”

When I was taken aback by the suddenness of the conversation, she thought for a while and then continued.

“He was the one who started our elementary school program. I remember him well. He was in a lot of our educational videos.”

“The person responsible for Miss Whitford is a Simulants? How so?”

“I’m not sure …”

I asked, and she lowered her eyes.

Simulant was supposedly created by Ira after the people of Astoria were wiped out. It doesn’t seem to fit the time frame that the person responsible for Miss Whitford created the education program .

There is no reason to question that point. I called Ira on a line that should have been left open.

This uncooperative management system of Astoria should be able to give me some answers if I ask specific questions .

[What’s going on, Lyle?]

“I was told that Simulants was created by Ira. But Lacey says that Miss Whitford’s contact, Dr. Walker, developed the educational program. What does he have to do with Simulants?”

[It was his team that developed the concept and basic theory and discussed the legal issues. It was originally intended to support a severely shrunken human society, but it wasn’t completed in their lifetimes . I inherited it.”]

“I see.”

I get the impression that there is more about Simulants than I know.

Ira only answers the questions I ask her.

Riza is not sympathetic to Simulants, so she does not volunteer information that says more than is necessary about the Simulants situation .

Even if Riza knew nothing about the Doctor-Walker, which I just found out for the first time, she must have had some information that she could guess . But Riza kept a cool face when I looked at her.

That’s disturbing.

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