Drifting Pioneer Ship Icarus (8)

I kept track of time with my absolute time sense while checking the terminal’s harness battery level.

Running the sub-arm module at full power made the battery drain at a terrifying rate. Even though I’d strapped on every spare battery pack I could find, the power gauge was dropping like a rock.

Still, it was a silver lining. The yellow dots on the map had almost all vanished. It looked like every last enemy unit on the ship had converged on the central control room—where Nia was.

Thanks to that, the shortest route was completely empty. I could sprint without any obstacles. And since Nia wasn’t with me anymore, the stealth field was gone too. That was probably for the best.

“...Holy shit. What the hell happened here?”

I clicked my tongue at the sight of the devastated room. Nia’s new body must have been insanely powerful. On the bright side, it meant I could skip the time it usually took to open doors. She’d torn them all apart with the weapons she was carrying as she passed through. She was probably trying to draw the enemy forces toward herself.

Nia’s green dot on the map was growing fainter. Like a candle flickering in the wind, the signal was slowly dying. I was running as fast as I could, but I wasn’t sure I’d make it in time. Even with my absolute time sense, I couldn’t predict exactly when her life would flicker out.

“Please… please…”

Finally, I reached the room where Nia’s signal was coming from. And there she was.

In the middle of a mountain of shattered, scattered drone wreckage—a drone graveyard—Nia’s nearly destroyed body lay precariously on the ground.

“...Nia!!”

At my shout, her familiar head slowly turned toward me from the center of the smoking, ruined combat chassis.

Ziiiing— Spin… spin…

Her ocular lenses rotated weakly, as if struggling to focus.

“Escape… please…”

The faint voice I’d first heard from inside that container came back to me. Had she been fighting like this, dying, even back then?

“This unit has completed all assigned missions. The human cultivation device has been ejected toward Eden. As I was unable to board the escape vessel, I am no longer a unit required for humanity’s survival.”

There was a strange note of despair in her voice. No—pure terror.

I approached her in silence, placed my hand on her neck, and twisted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it counterclockwise. Clack. Maybe because I’d done it once before, removing her head from the chassis was much easier this time.

Zzzzzt…

Her ocular lenses spun far more sluggishly than before. She made no sound at all.

“This unit no longer has any operational missions. There is no longer any reason to continue existing…”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

I lifted her detached head and held it at eye level.

“What’s your mission? You said you had to protect humanity’s continued existence, right? Then your mission isn’t over yet.”

Ziiiik— Her lenses trembled with a mechanical whine.

I pressed her head against the harness socket on my chest.

“There’s still a human left on this ship. Me.”

With a familiar metallic click, Nia’s module locked perfectly into my harness.

Spin spin spin spin—

I could feel her lenses whirring back to life at high speed.

“I still haven’t gotten off this ship. So stop talking nonsense and start protecting me from now on.”

Spin spin— Ziiiiiiing…

The lenses that had been spinning at incredible speed suddenly stopped dead. After a brief silence, Nia spoke in a much clearer voice.

“Confirmed. Identifier: Kim Ju-in. As of this moment, I have re-registered you as the sole surviving human aboard this vessel. Updating primary directive.”

Even though half her body was wrecked, life had returned to Nia’s eyes.

“From now on, this unit will allocate all available power toward Master’s survival.”

“Good. Our destination is the airlock next to the maintenance bay. We have four minutes and thirty-five seconds left. We need to get there in time.”

“Confirmed. Difficulty level is high.”

I tried to lunge forward using the sub-arm, but Nia’s lenses spun urgently against my chest as she issued a warning.

Ziiiing—!

“Halt. All remaining Argus forces are converging on this sector. Estimated contact in approximately thirty seconds.”

When I heard that, new dots appeared on the map. I’d thought we’d burned through most of their troops in the fighting, but it looked like they’d scraped together every last reserve from the deepest parts of the ship.

“Change route? Or force a breakthrough?”

“If we change routes, can we still make it in time?”

“...Negative. We will exceed the time limit before arrival.”

“And a direct breakthrough?”

“With current armaments, survival is impossible.”

In a crisis, my mind kicked into overdrive. I used my absolute time sense and spatial awareness to think. If we couldn’t change routes and we couldn’t force our way through, there was only one option left.

“A decoy. Let’s make a decoy.”

I detached the sub-arm from the harness and connected several battery packs directly to its terminals.

“Nia. From now on, cover both of us with a stealth field.”

“Confirmed. Deploying stealth field.”

I clutched Nia’s head tightly to my chest and hid among the broken drone fragments. The air reeked of scorched metal and oil, but this wasn’t the time to worry about that.

I pulled out the terminal and began remote-controlling the sub-arm.

The massive mechanical arm charged noisily in the opposite direction from where we needed to go—straight toward the central control room, the very place the enemy wanted to protect most.

Goodbye. Man’s romance. Mechanical arm… I’m sorry, but I need to survive.

The yellow dots on the map twitched, then all changed direction to chase after the sub-arm. A few drones even rushed right past the room where we were hiding. Thankfully, the stealth field kept us undetected.

The moment every enemy on the path to the airlock had disappeared, I burst out from under the pile of drone wreckage with a clatter.

I sprinted toward our destination, pushing the harness to maximum output.

Using my absolute time sense and spatial awareness, I calculated that I could reach the destination with exactly twenty seconds to spare.

01:55

01:42

01:10

00:50

“Haa… haa…”

My heart felt like it was about to burst, and my breathing was ragged. But the dimensional ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠portal was finally coming into view.

“Master, maintain current speed. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Hold on just a little longer.”

Exactly twenty seconds remained, just as I’d calculated. We reached the pile of gear I’d left behind.

I quickly equipped the bag and scattered equipment. Thankfully, the modules on my harness latched onto the gear and bag like magnets, securing everything to my body in an instant.

I dragged the heavy, bulky equipment behind me and shoved my body through the portal.

Greeeeeaak—

I’d been worried the heavy gear might get stuck, but at maximum harness output I barely managed to squeeze everything inside.

Chiiiiing—

A strange floating sensation, followed by the stench of rot and stale dust.

“Haa… haa…”

That’s right. I had returned to my city—Seongwon City.

“Haa… haa…”

All kinds of messages ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from the status window floated before my eyes, but first I needed to catch my breath and calm my pounding heart. The filthy, stinking air of Seongwon City flooded my lungs, but even that was proof I was still alive.

Ziiiing— Spin spin.

While I was catching my breath, Nia’s lenses whirred and began spinning again. Then she asked,

“Atmospheric decay organics and contaminants detected. Survivability rating… worst possible. Master, is this truly the world where people are still living?”

There was a hint of bewilderment in her voice.

“...Yeah. That’s right. People live even in a place like this. At least I’m still alive.”

“...I see. This planet is extremely barren. Understood. From now on, I will collect data on this planet for Master’s sake.”

“Good. Thanks for working for me. Oh, and Nia, there’s something I’ve been meaning to say.”

“Please speak, Master.”

“Calling me ‘Master’ all the time sounds kind of awkward. If someone heard it they’d think I was some kind of weirdo. Can’t you just call me Kim Ju-in from now on?”

I couldn’t help that my name literally meant “owner,” but adding “Master” after it changed the whole genre. Listening to a pretty android head call me “Master” was starting to mess with my head.

“Request denied. Such a command is impossible due to the core algorithms that constitute this unit.”

“...What?”

“This unit is designed to always use honorifics when addressing the highest registered authority. The title ‘Kim Ju-in’ is processed as an error in the logic circuits. Output is only possible when the honorific ‘Master’ is appended after the name.”

While Nia spoke, her lenses were spinning excessively. It was strangely burdensome.

“...Fine.”

“Furthermore, from an objective standpoint, the act of carrying an android whose only remaining component is a head attached to one’s chest already carries a high probability of being perceived as sufficiently strange.”

“...I’ll accept that too.”

“I look forward to working with you from now on, Master.”

So I was now stuck carrying around a head-only android on my chest while being called “Master.” Well… since I probably wouldn’t run into many other people anyway, maybe it was fine.

That aside, I looked at all the sci-fi gear I’d brought back and my eyes sparkled. Now that I’d returned to Seongwon City with all this, maybe I could finally reclaim the main base I’d lost to the zombies.

The time had come for revenge against the zombies that had driven me this far.