Chapter 9

Translated by SkyTL Edited by SkyTL

Chapter 9: Simulant Settlement

Transportation in Astoria is provided by automatic trolleys.

The trolley looks like a rectangular ceramic box with a chair attached to the inside. At the bottom there are four spherical plastic tires. The walls and the top half of the cart are transparent, so you feel like you are being transported in a giant lunchbox with a deep bottom.

Inside this strange cart, myself, Riza, Lacey, and Charlotte sit around a small table in the middle of the cart.

We are on our way to the Simulant’s living quarters.

Lacey and Charlotte lived in the same guest house as me, but the rest of the Simulants lived in residential areas a little further away.

They don’t necessarily work on rebuilding Astoria, but live lazily, painting and listening to music. Their job throughout is to play with. At best it’s a story with style, at worst it’s self-destruction, but maybe that’s what happens in a world of ruin where there’s nothing you can do about it.

“Hey, hey, Lyle. Do people on Earth always eat food this delicious? What else can you do?”

In the car, Charlotte leaned forward with a twinkle in her eye.

As I had promised Lacey yesterday, I instructed Riza to make breakfast for us today at the Eos food factory.

The menu consisted of oatmeal porridge sweetened with dried fruit and jam, meatballs with chili sauce, a small omelet, and pickled cucumbers. Of course, these are synthetic imitations and not real products, but it sure looks like it.

Although the menu was quite simple, the expressions on the girls’ faces at breakfast were a real eye-opener.

“That’s up to Lisa,” he said.

“I’ll do whatever Lyle-san tells me, you know? As long as it’s something I can do.”

Riza shrugged as I pointed the water at her.

What we can make with Eos is limited because of the materials, but other than that, her words had meaning.

Riza only takes orders from me. Even in the same starship management system, Ira treats the simulants like humans, while Riza treats them like robots. She does not follow the orders of the simulants.

So I had to instruct Riza to do what Charlotte and the others asked me to do.

“Riza says yes, but what do you want to eat?”

“Can I decide?”

Charlotte tilted her head as she looked to Lacey, and Lacey nodded silently.

Over the past few days, I’ve learned something about the relationship between the two of them. Charlotte makes most of the decisions and Lacey doesn’t comment on them. However, it seems that Lacey has the final say. Lacey is the calm and level-headed older sister, while Charlotte is the mischievous and active younger sister.

The younger sister, having received her sister’s approval, thinks about it and turns her head.

She thought about it for a while and came to a conclusion.

“You know what… Can you make a hamburger…?”

She asked for something very simple.

The hamburger has been a popular dish since the days when mankind lived on Earth. In a way, it is part of our global culture. As a result, there are many very “dead” or old and time-tested techniques for making imitation hamburgers. Mankind’s love for hamburgers persists because there were meatless imitations of hamburgers long before we reached the space age.

On the other hand, it’s not a very interesting dish.

“Is it alright like that? You can do it, can’t you, Riza?”

“Yes, I can.”

Charlotte’s face lit up when Riza answered matter-of-factly.

“Really? Then I want a burger! I’ve always wanted to bite into a burger like that. Like the Earthman in the old movies!”

“Is that okay with Lacey?”

“…Yes.”

Lacey seemed to agree.

Sometimes I don’t understand the preferences of Simulants . Even if they admire earthly things, they could use something better. I wonder if the sight of an earthling biting into a hamburger is too impressive for them.

Anyway, I said to Riza, “So, that’s it then,” and Charlotte’s face blatantly brightened.

“You’re such a naughty girl…”

Charlotte shook her head as I reminded her of our exchange the day before.

“I don’t think so…”

“Lyle-san, these girls are robots. They don’t have to be in a good mood. You can give them orders if you need to.”

Riza, sitting next to me, says to me in a slightly grumpy tone. No, she’s not grumpy, although the last few days with the Simulants have sensitized her, but she’s a pure robot. She pretends to be unhappy because she thinks she has to reprimand me.

Riza is right.

If you want them to do something, you can order them to do it. That’s right. If you want them to walk, you can order them to walk; if you want them to dance, you can order them to dance.

On the contrary, if I order her to love me, she will act as if on the surface it is completely indistinguishable from her sincere love for me. Regardless of what she thinks on the inside.

Looking over at Charlotte, whose lips had been pursed disapprovingly for some time, I winced slightly, feeling a little confused.

The immigrant ship Astoria is huge, and it takes a long time to move. Our Eos is not a small spaceship, but it is not comparable in size. Besides, this is only a small part of the territory that Ira, the management system, can still control.

There are not many stationary colonies in the solar system that are this large. It’s an entire city inside a ship.

The view from the car is, to put it bluntly, a ruin.

The area around the guest house I stayed in was generally very cramped, but here there were wide streets and large glass rooms lined up on either side. Tenants must have lined up on both sides. But now it’s hard to tell at first glance whether they are stores or offices.

As expected, they don’t seem to be wasting enough electricity to light the place so brightly, but it’s not completely dark, just sparsely lit, and we can see the end of a downtown that has been empty for over a hundred years.

In the area where there was probably a store, I could see some things that looked like robots. They are not artificial like the Simulants, nor are they human-like like Riza.

It was a very robotic looking robot with a translucent resin body and a translucent metal skeleton. It appeared to have been discarded as it did not seem to move.

The area facing the street is clean and tidy, and the white building materials, which do not have a single stain, do not give the impression of uncleanliness at all.

These facilities were built long ago, before we left the solar system, and their materials come from silicate asteroids that were originally used as building materials in the construction of Astoria.

It’s a common building material from my time in the solar system, but it’s lightweight, strong, resistant to pollution, and looks brand new and doesn’t look like it was made hundreds of years ago

Now that no one is polluting it, it will probably stay the way it is for hundreds or thousands of years if left alone. Or tens of thousands of years, whichever is the case.

This ruin is the remnant of a shattered dream, a dream of humanity building a new history in a new star system, just flying aimlessly toward the end of the universe. I wonder if these ruins will be discovered in some distant future by intelligent beings other than our own.

What will they think if their neighbors in a distant universe find their alien ship unmanned? Would they be dismayed at such folly?

Our car drove quietly along the deserted boulevard.

“Welcome, Lyle-sama. My name is Thomas. I am the person in charge of all simulants.”

When we arrived at the Simulant settlement, we were greeted by five Simulants.

One of them, a relatively young man, about 30 years old by human standards, stepped forward and bowed to me. It was a reverent, well-formed bow, as if he were a butler or something.

But I can detect a slight tension in him. That also applies to the other four.

“ Is this everyone?”

“Yes, the others are all in cryosleep pods.”

Thomas nods his head in response to my question.

I’ve heard that there are a total of seven Simulants who are not in cryosleep. Lacey, Charlotte and Thomas, who is standing in front of me, are the first five, which means they are all here.

Apart from Thomas, the other four are relatively old, with the exception of one woman who appears to be about 30 years old.

If Simulants have almost the same body as humans, then the older they are, the more susceptible they are to damage from cryosleep. Now, in terms of the number of years since I was born, I must be much older than any of them, but my resistance to cryosleep is only a matter of the number of hours I have been awake and the number of times I have gone into cryosleep.

When I finished my light assessment of them, I turned to Thomas and smiled.

“Hi, I’m Lyle Baxter, second class operations technician on the Eos, a space exploration ship. I’m here temporarily to repair the Eos and do research in Astoria.”

“I know, Lyle-sama. Is there anything you want to complain about?”

Thomas cast a sidelong glance at Lacey and the others, then looked at me.

What could it be?

I thought it would be a problem to be welcomed with open arms, but I had a feeling they preferred to keep a subtle distance. Charlotte said she wanted a master, but I wondered if the other Simulants were less surprised.

No, is that different?

Maybe they don’t know how to deal with me, the first real person they’ve met.

And it seems that Lacey is in a slightly less favorable position here. Thomas seems to suspect that they may have displeased me.

“They’re doing a very good job.”

“I see… That’s good to hear. So what can I do for you?”

“I’m going to be here for a while, so I wanted to say hello. I also heard that there is a cenotaph for the victims of the accident.”

I told him about the cenotaph Lacey had told me about last night.

Thomas immediately nodded his head and gave me a thin smile after a brief explanation of the cenotaph in this residential area.

“Would you like me to show you around?”

In this case, is it right to let Thomas, who seems to be the leader of the group, guide us?

I looked over at Lacey, who was also looking at me, and we both nodded our heads as we looked at each other. If Lacey and her friends are suspicious of her work, should I show them how much I rely on them?

I wonder if I’m thinking too much.

…Anyway.

I pushed my thoughts aside and turned back to Thomas with a smile on my face.

“Please.”

“I understand.”

Thomas said as he bowed.

To be honest, I found his overly condescending attitude a little uncomfortable.

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