The Unknown World
The Warp Gate demonstration and its public broadcast ended in an instant.
In their place, the imperial palace of the Holy Sevelian Empire launched into a nonstop series of emergency strategy meetings to deal with the fallout.
Of course, in an empire where public opinion was already such a dumpster fire that the Executive Ministry—basically the Gestapo—had to roam the streets, those meetings were never going to run smoothly.
"The Warp Gate we prepared so ambitiously was a fake all along?! Pew-pew-pow!"
"That pew-pew-pow was the sound of a bullet headed straight for you."
"Ah."
While we were busy hunting down and eliminating every spy, reactionary, and hardline agitator who had seized the moment to trash the Warp Gate technology—
"Arto."
"…"
"I'll handle the cleanup somehow. You go deal with the gate problem together with Minister Vermouth."
By direct order of our Empress, Artraia…
I paid a visit to the Ministry of Technology and Science, which was getting hammered by foreign media over the gate fiasco, and said:
"Minister Vermouth, shouldn't we conduct a proper study of this newly appeared star system?"
"I'd love to! But the people calling the gate a scam are now even blocking our research ships from launching!"
Even a true mad scientist like Minister Vermouth seemed to have her mental fortitude shaken after being branded a galaxy-wide fraud.
I just shrugged as if it were nothing.
"Those people have already been taken care of. Minister Vermouth, you can simply focus on research and exploration as I suggested."
"Aigoo…"
Of course, even if you pave a perfect road, it's useless if the person who needs to run it has no intention of moving.
So I decided to give Minister Vermouth's back the tiniest little push.
"Minister Vermouth."
"Uh… yes?"
"This expedition will be fully funded by the Ministry of Colonization."
"…!"
"I'll dispatch Purge Squad members for escort. And every time something new turns up, full research funding will be provided."
"What are you still doing here, Minister Arto?! Why aren't we launching right this second?!"
I might have pushed a little too hard.
Minister Vermouth's face filled with a mania I hadn't seen in ages. Her mechanical tentacles scooped me up in a princess carry and tried to abduct me on the spot.
"Wait—I still have work left to do, so you'll have to handle the expedition yourself, Minister."
"Ah, right, of course. I got carried away."
After barely reclaiming her sanity, Minister Vermouth tossed me onto her sofa and vanished outside.
Riel, who had been standing off to the side, approached and looked down at me sprawled on the cushions.
"You're supposed to give a 'gentle' push in moments like that. Who asked you to strap a rocket booster to her back, huh?"
"…"
"You're really something else, you know."
I couldn't exactly deny it, so I ignored her and stood up.
"The important thing now is making sure nothing interferes with this operation."
"Your skill at casually changing the subject keeps getting better and better."
"…Quiet."
"Yes, sir."
I clamped a hand over Riel's still-grumbling mouth and reminded her that we had more than one or two things left to do.
"Riel, starting now, leak information about this matter to the press, the back-channel legislators, and a few of the ministers."
"What kind of information?"
I activated Time Stop, thought it over carefully, then released it and answered in a bright tone.
"Frame it so that through this expedition, the Empire can secure vast territory and capital without any border friction with other nations."
"Got it."
"And don't forget to leave ourselves an escape hatch, as always."
"Naturally."
Another half-year slipped by.
It has been 14 years since you began playing this game. Excessive gaming may interfere with normal daily life.
I greeted the first day of the new year in my office with Riel, accompanied by that gem of an event message.
"It's been a rough stretch."
"You're telling me."
Only after we had thoroughly smashed every foreign nation that had been spinning the gate as a scam, along with their spy networks, agents, and every other flaming pile of garbage—plus a few private media outlets that had crossed the line—did our gate expedition finally start making real progress.
"…Something about this feels off."
"What does, Minister?"
When I muttered that, Riel tilted her head as if wondering what nonsense I was spouting now.
I pointed at the "research vessel" on the screen, currently approaching the gate for transit.
"How exactly is that thing supposed to qualify as a 'research vessel'?"
Even setting aside the top-tier survey equipment and the Empire's finest technicians and researchers—which any research ship ought to have—there were the defensive armaments prepared for any contingency (three battleship-grade main guns, anti-ship missiles, and more), the space marines including Purge Squad members, the ultra-high-strength armor plating made of whatever plassteel carbon nano-alloy they normally used only on fortress outer walls… and so on.
It was basically a battleship wearing a research vessel's skin.
Riel made a face that said she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"What? Why?"
"No reason. I'm just having a hard time understanding who it was that shoved Minister Vermouth into modding a research ship like that in the first place."
"Yeah, who indeed."
"…"
All I had done was casually mention that since we had no idea what was on the other side, it might be wise to give it at least minimal armament.
Honestly, who would do something so evil?
While Riel and I bantered, the research-battleship(?) finally punched through the gate's spatial distortion and entered on screen.
—"3, 2, 1… Warp-out!"
Operating under the assumption that unknown alien races or hostile forces might be waiting, the research-battleship emerged from the gate.
—"All weapons charged. Ready to fire every round."
—"Marines and assault teams in every sector, prepare for enemy boarding."
The ship, which had already been at full combat readiness before even entering the gate, immediately began a full-sphere scan and trained every weapon in every direction the moment it exited.
"The Defense Minister would love this."
"…Hmm."
That walking embodiment of a military otaku probably would.
But that wasn't the important part right now.
As we kept watching, the research-battleship advanced carefully while maintaining a thorough perimeter watch—
—"…Wait. Something's wrong with the constellations here."
"Hmm?"
The sudden report made not only Riel and me, but also Minister Vermouth on the relay channel and everyone else watching the feed, doubt their own ears.
Especially Minister Vermouth, who understood the weight of those words. She grabbed the microphone in a panic and pressed the research-battleship for confirmation.
"Is that true?"
—"Yes. None of the constellations match the ones recorded by our Empire, or even the ones reported by other nations. The shapes are completely different."
And that wasn't the end of the problems.
—"We need to hurry and construct a forward base."
Given that no one knew how vast this unknown space might be, building a base camp near the gate where the research-battleship could station itself was half-mandatory.
—"That looks like the nearest planet."
—"Let's assign it a temporary code for now… and build the forward base there."
The research-battleship's helm swung toward the closest planet to the gate.
But the closer they drew, the clearer it became—even to those of us watching through the screen—that something was wrong with the planet's condition.
—"The planet's surface looks weird too."
—"Isn't it just an ocean world? Planets whose entire surface is water aren't that rare."
At first, seeing the surface writhe and shift, everyone assumed it was an ocean planet.
But once they closed in and ran a proper scan, cries of pure shock erupted from the research team.
—"What the hell is that?!"
"Now what?"
Minister Vermouth, still on the relay, snapped in irritation as she demanded an answer—
—"M-Minister Vermouth! The entire surface of the planet is… metal—no, nanomachines!"
Even I had never seen anything like it in my life.
No—even in this world, something like a planet made of nanomachines only ever appeared in science-fiction settings.
The appearance of Gray Goo sent a violent shockwave through the minds of everyone staring at the screen.
"Nanomachines… Does that mean this is a planet where the Gray Goo scenario actually happened?!"
As if trying to soften the blow even a little, another transmission soon came from the research team aboard the ship.
"Negative. Scan results show every nanomachine on the planetary surface is in a completely deactivated state… It's essentially a sea made of metal."
Even so, the fact remained astonishing.
—Ring-ring-ring-ring-ring
"Whoa, you're getting a ton of those."
"Ignore them."
My terminal—belonging to the man widely regarded as the quiet driving force behind this expedition—was once again tormented by a flood of spam messages pouring in from every direction.