49. Ain

I disembarked with Maria onto the landing pad atop the Agirakana Embassy, having arrived via the联络艇 of the light cruiser Klein, which orbited Earth. From there, I walked directly to the eighth-floor Office. The Japan I saw from the vessel’s viewport—twelve years after my last visit—showed no immediately apparent changes. Or so it seemed.

“Captain, we’ve been awaiting your arrival.”

Upon entering the Office, everyone present stood and saluted. I returned the salute promptly and took my seat—the one that had remained unoccupied for so long, the one that had no master. Naturally, it was spotless. Ichijō was not here. Ain and Maria stood at my side. Maria’s seat was required, but first I had to introduce her to the others.

“Everyone, I know it’s been tough while I’ve been away. You’ll hear the details from Ain later, but first, let me introduce the woman standing beside me. Her name is Maria. Shortly after the Zeno’s home star destruction operation, the Maria avatar of the Core chose to depart on her own. The Maria seated here now is the newly reconstituted Core avatar—Major Maria. Please treat her with courtesy.”

“Maria Core. I’m pleased to meet you all.”

Though it’s unclear what her original form was, Maria bowed in what seemed like a traditional Japanese gesture. I told her to take the seat next to Ichijō for now, which was currently vacant.

“Ain, set up Maria’s seat near mine. And Ichijō—is she on the seventh deck?”

“Understood. I’ll place Major Maria’s desk directly opposite Ichijō’s, next to the captain’s station. As for Ichijō—she’s currently out of the ship, attending an off-site meeting. The captain sends her regards and says she should be back around eight this evening.”

It’s reassuring that Ichijō’s actually taking her work seriously. She’s forty now, after all—might she finally be settling down a bit? The faces in this room don’t look a day older than they did twelve years ago. No one’s age is precisely known, but Maria, who set off long ago, didn’t seem to age at all at that stage, so perhaps bio-androids don’t show signs of aging much at all. Even I, for that matter, probably look no older than thirty.

“Anyway, straight to the point—Ain, what exactly is it you need to report to me?”

“About three and a half months ago, we intercepted an unmanned small craft from an unknown civilization conducting subspace communication near the orbit of Uranus.”

A sudden, jaw-dropping revelation. It feels like the past few months have been nothing but shocks, but this one’s in a league of its own.

Analysis of the unmanned small spacecraft via Blazer revealed it originated from a star system approximately 300 light-years beyond the Solar System. Initially designated DT01 for convenience, the system was later found to host, on its Earth-like third planet and a second, Earth-like but predominantly hydrospheric planet, humanoid intelligent life forms resembling Arsenians—numbering in the tens of billions on each—identifying themselves as Alzians and having established a interstellar state known as the Greater Alz Empire. Multiple artificial bodies exist within the system, and spacecraft appear to be actively traversing its inner space.

From intercepted communications, the Greater Alz Empire appears to consist of twelve star systems, each connected to the DT01 system via small hyperlane gates.

Several days after departing from what appeared to be a spaceport platform atop the orbital elevator on Planet Three, the small fleet moved to the outer edge of the star system and then transitioned into hyperspace using its jump drive. The destination is likely the Sol system—though the precise date of its jump-out remains unknown, it would presumably emerge from hyperspace within about a week from now.

Based on prior analysis, the Greater Alz Empire seems not to possess hull technology, so the technological threat level is not particularly high. Judging by technical benchmarks, their civilization appears to be at a level comparable to Arsen’s peak era, roughly one to one and a half thousand years ago. Yet the culture bears an uncanny resemblance to Arsen’s—so much so that it is surprising a civilization at that stage could develop a jump drive at all.

"Is that what it means—geniuses show up everywhere? If that’s the case, the likelihood that the Alzans are descendants of Arsen is quite high. Which means this’ll be a rather delicate issue for the Agirakana Core. Maria, what do you think?"

I decided to ask for Maria’s opinion, standing quietly behind me.

After a brief pause, Maria responded to my question:

"...The Agirakana Core has absolutely no issue with this. We can proceed according to the current sovereign’s directive—the captain’s will."

"Even if it’s the Core’s avatar speaking, are you sure it’s okay to state that so firmly?"

"I underwent a communications-specialized procedure when I was designated as Maria’s successor. I can interface directly with the Agirakana Core. That’s how I arrived at this conclusion—after recent direct communication with the Core."

"Is that so. Quite convenient, then."

"Indeed. That’s precisely the function of the Core’s avatar."

“Speaking of which, Ain, you mentioned earlier that the Core has a primary core—something like an instinctual anchor to Agirakana, and a secondary core linked to Maria, right? Is the primary core… still functioning properly?”

“…Captain, it appears the information about the Core having two cores is locked. I cannot determine its status.”

“Understood. Don’t worry about it. Ain, what’s your take?”

“…”

“Ain, what is it?”

“…This is not the appropriate place to discuss it. I’ll explain elsewhere. Please, accompany me to the conference room.”

Ain entered the conference room first, then led Maria inside and took her seat.

"Captain, I apologize—I’ve kept this to myself until now. In truth, I am something akin to an avatar of the Primary Core. Not an avatar, strictly speaking, but during my awakening from stasis, I was reconfigured as a communication-specialized unit, allowing me direct contact with the Primary Core. Now that Major Maria knows, the only others aware of the Primary Core’s existence are you and I. To cut to the chase: we have no idea what judgment the Primary Core will render toward the new descendants of Arsen.

At worst, it might decide to hand Agirakana over to those Arsen descendants. Major Maria, as the Secondary Core managing Agirakana, currently has no means of resisting the Primary Core’s will."

This is turning into quite a mess. If the so-called Great Alze Empire gains recognition as a legitimate descendant of the Primary Core, I might get ousted from Agirakana. Being kicked out would be the lesser concern—those who slap a 'Great' in front of their country’s name could turn Agirakana into a colony of theirs, possibly turning Earth into a dependency. This issue needs addressing immediately.

“Captain, we bioids no longer have any connection to Arsen. We’ll continue fulfilling our duties under the Agirakana Charter. All Agirakana bioids stand with you.”

Maria offered me reassurance. Appreciated, but what exactly should I do?

“Ain, you’re the de facto avatar of the Primary Core—what are you planning to do from here on?”

“I may be the Primary Core’s avatar, but I will follow the Captain.”

Understood. I’ll believe it.

There’s nothing else for it, really.

Said with words, but what to do about it remains unclear.

The matter was left at that—

“Captain, this is a sensitive issue. I’ll step out for a moment.”

With that, Ain exited the conference room.