168 Free-floating Planet Arc 10 Starship Log

side: Nibiru Outer Shell Structure (Akira, Control Brain)

'In order to explain the circumstances, I will excerpt the Starship Log detailing the events leading to cryosleep and the evolution of food supplies.'

The Nibiru Control Brain begins reading from the Starship Log.

'Starship Log, Nibiru Calendar 0483.0803.

While in superluminal flight, an asteroid struck the Dyson sphere's outer shell.

The barrier (Barrier) was penetrated, the shell was damaged, and a large hole formed.

The artificial sun that illuminated Nibiru failed, leaving half of the planet in perpetual darkness.

Such asteroids should have been continuously monitored and intercepted by the defense system—why was this one missed?

I recommend that the Nibiru Governing Committee investigate the possibility of sabotage.'

The Nibiru calendar here is based on the year Nibiru left the Imperial Capital as Year One.

It seems the Nibiru Governing Committee governed and controlled the people of Nibiru, while the Control Brain served as their support system.

Originally, the planet Nibiru was the sixth planet in the Imperial System, and it constructed a Dyson Sphere using the seventh rocky planet as raw material before setting out on its galactic expedition.

Galactic exploration was their primary duty, but establishing Dimensional Jump Gates [item] in useful star systems and sending down colonization groups to expand the Empire’s territory was also part of their mission.

Most of Nibiru’s people were, apparently, colonists.

Many of these colonists were descendants of imperial citizens who had lived through generations, growing steadily over their near-500-year journey.

The Nibiru Governing Committee, the rulers, had failed to notice that over the long years, they were gradually losing touch with the old technologies.

On a journey across the star system, they were struck by an意外事故—an accident not foreseen—and from that point on, the people of Nibiru began to decline, unable to complete their mission.

"Stellar Log, Nibiru Calendar 0483.0810.

The breach in the outer shell has been repaired. The artificial sun, however, remains broken.

It should’ve been simple—just swap out the damaged blocks. But half the hemisphere had collapsed in a chain reaction.

Possible sabotage suspected.

The Nibiru Governing Committee decided to put the people of Nibiru into cold sleep to weather the crisis."

Repairing the artificial sun required manufacturing replacement parts.

But the full hemisphere replacement hadn’t been planned for. Estimates put the repair time at several years.

Without the light of the artificial sun, food production on the planet Nibiru would suffer catastrophic damage.

Even half a planet, but years without sunlight? Nibiru’s environment would take a serious hit.

So the Nibiru Governance Committee decided to put everyone not needed for repairs into cold sleep—just to save food.

‘Stellar Log, Nibiru Calendar 0494.0624.

Repairs on the artificial sun completed, but Nibiru’s ecosystem had already taken heavy damage.

The Nibiru Governance Committee decided to transplant the lifeforms and plants preserved on the sunlit hemisphere to the damaged one.

Awakened a few second-class citizens from cold sleep to serve as workers.

Couldn’t wake everyone yet—still too risky.’

In an environment like that, where half the planet’s frozen solid, weather would’ve been unstable. The remaining hemisphere probably took serious damage too.

The outer shell had enough facilities to house all of Nibiru’s people, so it seemed they’d evacuated the planet and moved their lives into the shell.

Without restoring Nibiru's ecosystem, stable food supply won't be possible.

That’s where the food crisis starts, huh.

Stellar Navigation Log: Nibiru Calendar 0512.0313.

Arriving at the destination star system.

There were primitive civilizations on the habitable planets of this star system.

The Nibiru Governing Committee decided to harvest food and labor from this planet, then relocated them to the continent turned wasteland by environmental destruction.

They were dubbed the "Pygmy" race, due to their small stature, as carried off by second-class citizens.

Reaching out to extragalactic sentient life...

Smells dangerous, that one.

Stellar Navigation Log: Nibiru Calendar 0537.1204.

The supply of food produced by the pygmy race was expected to remain stable, so some of their people were to be awakened from cold sleep.

First, the decision was made—and carried out—to wake all second-class citizens brought in from the Empire.

Second-class citizens brought in from the Empire… weren’t they the same bloodline that later overthrew the Empire?

Could the asteroid impact sabotage… have been orchestrated by them?

Stellar Navigation Log: Nibiru Calendar 0538.0408.

Sabotage at the cold sleep facility.

Two hundred million Nibiru citizens lost.

No doubt about it. The saboteurs were the second-class citizens.

At that time, many members of the Nibiru Governance Committee also died.

The members of the Nibiru Governance Committee were apparently awakened periodically from cold sleep to deliberate and decide on governance policies.

Going into cold sleep must have been essential—both to extend lifespan and maintain control.

They targeted that vulnerable spot—second-class citizens, of all people.

Guess it was inevitable. The sabotage had been suspected from the start, and with barely any countermeasures in place, the consequences finally caught up.

『Stellar Log Nibiru Calendar 0538.0416.

After thoroughly reviewing the action logs of all second-class citizens via wristband data, the masterminds and their accomplices have been identified.

They were arrested. All executed.』

Wristband data, huh. I should keep an eye on that too.

Lucky for me, I’ve already disabled the eavesdropping and logging functions—left only the convenient features.

Probably only someone from Earth could even attempt rewriting the wristband’s functions in this empire.

『Stellar Log Nibiru Calendar 0545.0401.

The long-awaited day to awaken from cold sleep has finally arrived.

Sixty-two years since the accident. The city on the intact hemisphere of Planet Nibiru still functions.』

If we can stabilize the food supply, we should be able to live like we did before.'

'Celestial Log, Nibiru Calendar 0545.0516.

A plague has broken out.

Looks like a endemic disease brought in by the Pygmy tribe. The people of Nibiru died soon after infection.

Of course, we should conduct thorough quarantine when introducing foreign lifeforms.

How did this happen?'

Probably because we left the pest control to second-tier citizens who were itching for rebellion. They cut corners on quarantine.

The reason they didn’t die from the infection? They probably had their own precautions—self-protective, like always.

'Celestial Log, Nibiru Calendar 0545.0604.

Cause identified: food.

Every single food source—every single item, even those derived from imperial livestock and flora—was contaminated.

Everyone not in cold sleep for extended longevity is now infected.

The Nibiru Governance Committee decided to store all civilians in cold sleep until countermeasures were established.

So it's oral infection via food, then.

That's why second-class citizens were able to avoid infection.

Simple enough. Just don't eat food produced on planet Nibiru.

Which is why second-class citizens were eating synthetic rations all along.

"Starship Log, Nibiru Calendar 0547.0130.

Treatment for the plague has been established.

Medication is administered while in cold sleep.

But Nibiru's ecosystem remains contaminated.

The people of Nibiru have lost both their homeland and their food source."

"Starship Log, Nibiru Calendar 0550.0101.

The Nibiru Governance Committee has decided to return to the Imperial Capital.

Long-term cold sleep has been decided. Upon waking after return to the Imperial Capital."

The operation of Nibiru was entrusted to a staff known as the Star Keepers, handed down through generations.

Afraid that the Control Brain might be misused by rebels, they increased the Star Keepers' authority and restricted the Control Brain's discretion.

"The entire planet Nibiru was set to be incinerated to eliminate the pathogen—carried out immediately."

"After that, we only awakened from cold sleep at stops along the way where we could acquire food."

"Those who could emigrate were sent to habitable planets. Those who couldn’t were left in cold sleep, dreaming of the day they’d return to the Imperial Capital."

"So you had it programmed to wake up the moment you arrived at the old Imperial Capital, huh?"

"Yes."

"Didn’t you realize the Star Keepers hadn’t been functioning properly across generations?"

"We were aware… but we’d already lost all means of contacting them."

"Been immobilized by orders from the Nibiru Governance Committee."

"So that's why I finally got the command lifted and could move again."

"The Nibiru Governance Committee itself had lost track over generations—couldn't even tell what each order would actually cause."

Giving commands without understanding what the control neural net would do? That was fatal.

If that's the case, we don’t need some 'Guardian of the Stars' or 'Guide of the World' nonsense. Just interface directly with the control neural net.

"Can we change our destination?"

"Leave it to me."

"Then, can you head here—(sending Elysion System coordinates)—? That’s the new Imperial Capital now. (A fake one.)"

"Understood."

"And the Pygmy tribe? Are they still alive?"

"No. The entire planet Nibiru has been incinerated. Now it’s a barren wasteland with no life."

"…I see. We could’ve saved them too…"

Then we could just use the Genesis System to terraform the planet, right?

"Was that an option?!"

I pulled the Genesis System from the Dimensional Storage Vault and launched it toward Planet Nibiru.

Set it as a food-supply world. That should reset the ecosystem and bring the planet back to life.

After that, just send it back out on another galactic expedition—no one’ll even notice the empire’s been stolen.

Added clarifications to fill in missing details.