Lena Hydros
Lena Hydros's end was a cacophony of noise.
The Crawler Queen, one of humanity's worst enemies.
The assault of a massive horde of zombies vomited forth by that hideous monster... number so vast that counting them was meaningless.
It was a wave of apocalypse that a single Ark could never hope to withstand.
The sound of something crushing.
The consecutive explosions of detonating blasts.
And the screams of comrades that had been swallowed by the all-encompassing horde of monsters.
Amidst that symphony of pandemonium, Lena Hydros's system was forcibly shut down.
In human terms, she had died.
"……."
And now, beyond her faintly flickering vision, the afterimage of her final memory surfaced.
Waves of monsters pouring in through torn bulkheads.
And at the center, a hideous monster with a rounded shell was making strange noises while violating her fallen comrades.
That hellscape was her final record.
I... died back then, didn’t I?
Lena blinked slowly.
She looked around her surroundings.
She remembered that just before her system stopped, she had reflexively backed up her data.
It was out of a sense of duty to report the full details of this tragedy, should she miraculously be restarted.
Eventually, she realized she was inside a cylinder filled with transparent culture fluid.
Minimum energy required for life support was flowing in through a data port connected to her back, and simultaneously, her data was being restored.
"……."
Someone, some Ark, was bringing her back from the dead.
[Model ECHO-G2S, Genesis Architect. Restart sequence complete.]
As a dry system voice echoed in her head and her vision cleared, the culture fluid began to slowly drain away.
Usually, by the time the production of an Original ECHO was complete, a commander or the assigned engineer in charge would be waiting outside.
It wasn't necessarily because the ECHO was precious, but because the resources required to create an Original ECHO were immense.
...Where am I?
But for some reason…
The Ark hangar—a structure she was familiar with—was eerily quiet.
Of course, it wasn't entirely empty.
In the distance, the sound of someone hammering something, accompanied by faintly audible voices, proved that this was not a ghost Ark.
At that moment, Lena's gaze stopped at a corner of the hangar.
"……."
A scratch she had made with the corner of her tablet whenever her stress toward humans reached its peak.
It remained there, exactly as it was.
"Ark 69? How?"
As the fragments of memory slowly fell into place, Lena's brow furrowed.
Liu Guofeng, the fleet commander of Ark 69, was not a wise man, even by the loosest definition.
He was a man who didn't care for the future of the Ark and was only concerned with preserving his own life.
And eventually, when the Ark's resources reached their limit, he charged at the Crawler Queen in a manner bordering on suicide, claiming he would revive the Ark by finding an Arc Reactor.
He didn't want to die alone. But by then, Ark 69’s entire force should have been annihilated, right?
Considering the scale of the zombies etched into her memory, it was only normal that not a single ant should have survived.
Yet, this was clearly Ark 69, and she felt no presence of zombies or other monsters.
Contradiction.
It was the word she loathed most.
But to Lena's eyes, this Ark was currently a giant mass of contradiction.
"……."
Questions followed one after another, but there was no information anywhere to provide answers.
Ultimately, deciding to find the answer herself to resolve this illogical situation, Lena pulled the release lever of the culture tank without hesitation.
Sticky culture fluid flowed down her newborn body, but Lena ignored it and walked out of the production and fabrication room.
Her destination was the workshop where the sounds of labor were coming from.
And there, she witnessed an unbelievable sight.
"Karen…?"
A familiar face, holding her own specialized tools and tinkering with a giant mechanical part.
It was Karen Blaze, the restless and talented junior ECHO whom she had once personally taught under the Ironworks Squad they both belonged to.
"Se...Senior… Lena…?"
In the next moment, Karen dropped the wrench in her hand with a loud clatter.
Tears seemed to well up in her eyes, and she immediately rushed to Lena and hugged her tightly.
"Seniorrrrrrr... It's... it's really you!!"
"...Karen. How are you alive?"
"The Commander actually brought you back... Finally, I'm liberated from this dreadful overtime..."
"You should have definitely died back then…"
Firmly detaching herself from Karen, who was rambling in emotion, Lena asked in a cold voice.
While she was glad to be reunited, understanding the current situation was the priority.
Just before her system stopped, Karen had certainly been swept away by the wave of the Crawler Queen along with her.
Karen hesitated for a moment at Lena's cold question, but remembering her respected senior's personality, she began to pour out the events of the past in a breathless rush.
"So, here's what happened..."
The appointment of a new fleet commander for Ark 69.
The subjugation of the Carapace Lord.
And the securing of resources from the ruined Ark 74.
Listening to stories that were logically impossible—almost like a heroic epic—Lena quietly looked up into the air.
"...Wanderer."
[It's been a long time, Lena Hydros.]
"You managed to stay intact?"
[Because I've come to serve an excellent Fleet Commander.]
"Which means... what Karen said is true?"
[Yes. Well, knowing your personality, I don't think you'll believe it easily, so I'll transmit the relevant data to you.]
Dozens of information windows unfolded like holograms across Lena's vision.
A flood of accurate and vast information, incomparable to Karen's disjointed explanation.
However, Lena began to perfectly absorb and analyze all of it with a single glance.
"……."
Her pupils moved with terrifying speed, dissecting the current state of the Ark as if scanning it with an MRI.
"...Impressive. But that's all."
The achievements shown by the new Commander were certainly admirable.
However, the foolish results of the previous fleet commander were firmly holding the current one back.
Most of the Ark's functions were still offline or barely running on makeshift measures.
In particular, Karen alone was handling the maintenance of all these facilities, equipment production, and even ammunition manufacturing.
"The burden on Karen must have been immense."
A low sigh escaped Lena's lips as she scanned the data.
A mass-produced ECHO had been assigned to help Karen, but the level of a mass-produced model was predictably subpar compared to an Original.
It didn't seem to be of much help.
And yet, in the midst of this, the new Fleet Commander had randomly built an indoor farming facility and even a cafeteria in the Ark. Lena couldn’t help but tilt her head in confusion at the existence of facilities that weren't directly linked to immediate survival.
"Is he someone who enjoys gourmet food?"
To her question, which was almost a monologue, Wanderer replied.
[...It is a cafeteria for the ECHOs to use, Lena.]
"A bad joke... no, that doesn't seem like it. What do you mean exactly? I seemed to be unable to parse your words."
Lena's brow furrowed deeply.
ECHOs and a cafeteria.
It was a combination of words that simply could not be connected.
[Exactly as it sounds, Lena Hydros. The Ark's cafeteria is a place where Madeline, an ECHO of the Bread Garden Squad, is responsible for all the meals in the Ark. Currently, bread—the staple food—along with fruits, salads, and other items are being distributed. For your information, it is a space where the Commander and all ECHOs eat together.]
"……???"
Lena's head tilted once more.
She didn't quite understand what Wanderer was talking about.
Regardless, one thing was certain.
To improve the inefficient situation of this Ark, she needed to meet the Commander.
And the Commander must have recreated her with that intention.
"I want to see the Commander."
[The Commander is currently in the command center, Lena.]
Hearing Wanderer's words, Lena gave a short nod.
A hero from another Ark? But that's probably all.
In truth, given the habit of humans who loathe ECHOs and treat them as consumables, she didn't have high expectations for the new commander.
Past experiences had made her that way.
Suggestions from ECHOs—especially from an engineer like herself who weighed cost and efficiency—were always dismissed simply because of the fact that they were ECHOs.
But...
For some reason, she became a little curious.
Because all the humans she had seen until now were just the pathetic people of Ark 69.
In contrast, this fleet commander was someone who would build a cafeteria for ECHOs within the Ark.
With those thoughts, Lena knocked on the door of the Commander's office.
Knock. Knock.
And as soon as the door opened, a strange sight entered her eyes.
"Oh...! E-Excuse me!"
A maid ECHO in charge of cleaning?
But an Original ECHO? As a maid ECHO?
Isn't that a massive waste of resources?
Regardless, an ECHO dressed in a maid outfit with a blushing face hurriedly rushed out of the Commander's office as if being chased by something.
Barely avoiding a shoulder collision with Lena, she hurriedly bowed her head and disappeared down the hallway as if fleeing.
"……."
Lena looked back and forth between the direction the ECHO had vanished and the door of the Commander's office, then turned her head toward the new Commander.
The new fleet commander of the Ark was a very young man.
And a handsome one at that.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"I am Lena Hydros, Fleet Commander."
"Ah, yeah."
To be honest, Lena's greeting didn't even register in my ears.
No, why the hell didn't that machine brat Wanderer tell me in advance that Lena was coming?
The mood was actually really good...
The soft touch and sweet scent of Madeline, whom I had been holding in my arms until a moment ago, seemed to linger at the tip of my nose.
Along with a deep kiss, I had groped her plump breasts to my heart's content, and I had finally succeeded in putting my hand under the maid skirt to touch the squirming pussy lips that were beginning to get moist from the love juices leaking out.
It was a peak moment where it felt like I could drag her to the bed at any time if I just peeled away that single, thin layer.
But then Lena suddenly appeared, and everything was ruined.
Phew...
I swallowed my regret inwardly and looked at the new ECHO before me.
Lena Hydros.
Since even Karen only appeared a few times in the original story, she was an ECHO I was practically seeing for the first time, mentioned only in a single line in Echoes of Humanity — ECHO.
As expected of an ECHO, she's stunningly beautiful.
First of all, her appearance passed.
Her ice-cold eyes weren't just beautiful; they shone sharply with intelligence, and below them, the high bridge of her nose and red lips formed a perfect harmony.
And above all, the engineer's overalls she was wearing were the highlight.
"……."
Because she had zipped them wide open down to her cleavage, a pair of breasts that looked like they might burst out at any moment were blatantly revealed.
Furthermore, her slender waistline left her sides exposed, flaunting skin as white and smooth as snow.
I want to touch her so fucking bad.
To have a body like that beneath such a cold and rational face...
I wanted to see that haughty expression crumble as she breathed heavily while calling my name right now.
But... not right now, right?
I didn't want to see an ECHO I went through the trouble of producing—especially an Original ECHO—turn into a Wanderer just because I couldn’t hold back my lust.
Slowly, without rushing, I'll make progress step by step.
"Anyway, nice to meet you. I'm the new fleet commander of this Ark."
I don't think there's a need for a formal self-introduction.
I'll just tell her the reason I recreated her. That was the purpose of the meeting she wanted, after all.