Chapter 14

Translated by SkyTL Edited by SkyTL

Chapter 14: Vibration

But it’s still quite a struggle to stay face-to-face for three hours in that break room with such an awkward atmosphere. Lacey said it would take about an hour to recover, but it was still hard.

I scratched my cheek with my fingertips, hesitated a bit, and looked at the girls’ faces.

“Charlotte.”

“Why am I…”

I don’t bother saying it, because it seemed like an easy spearhead to turn the tide.

I asked her something that had just occurred to me. This is something I’ve been secretly thinking about for a while. This is a good opportunity.

“Lacey was actually created to take over Miss Whitford’s experiments. There’s a special cryo-sleeping chamber for that purpose.”

“Yes, there is.”

“Who was the original Charlotte and what did you inherit from her?”

“What?”

Charlotte rolled her eyes at my question.

She opened her mouth and after a moment, she let out a soft, “Oh.”

“Well, I don’t have an inventor. In fact, Lacey is the only Simulant in existence with an original human. I was created by Ira, who reassembled my genes from scratch for her purposes.”

“Purposes?”

“Yeah, didn’t I tell you that already? I was created for Lyle. We had been informed that Lyle was the sole survivor of the Earth ship, and we had been given enough information about him to find the perfect girl for him, the one who would best fit him physically and mentally. You’ll be glad you did.”

Compatibility…

I mutter in a rather empty voice.

Well, I don’t think I’m that incompatible with Charlotte.

But that only applies to friends and companions, not to a relationship between a man and a woman…. To be honest, I have no desire for that at all. If it was Ira who created them, by what criteria did he create them?

Charlotte may have interpreted my suspicious look, but she raised both index fingers and pointed proudly at her own chest.

“According to Ira’s calculations, there was a 17% chance that Lyle would fall in love with me at first sight when we first met.”

“That’s also … low.”

“It’s high. Just estimating a significant probability of love at first sight, which doesn’t happen very often, is amazing.”

“Anyway, it was 83 percent.”

“…Right. But they say it’s 41% within a month. I’m going to do my best, so look forward to that.”

“What do I have to look forward to?”

It’s hard to respond to something like that when it’s said so bluntly. But fortunately, or maybe not, the air is a little more relaxed when talking nonsense. That’s a good thing, but from my perspective, Charlotte’s situation is no cause for celebration.

She seems to have been created to woo me, but she doesn’t really like me or anything. That means that as part of her duties, she is forced to court a man she doesn’t like. That’s not a good situation.

I shrug and take a deep breath, then notice a sideways glance at me.

“What’s wrong, Lacey?”

“No, Lyle-sama…”

Lacey was about to say something, but then she looked away as if to swallow her words. I’m not sure what she thinks about them.

Just as I was about to sigh again, I noticed something else.

A soft sound, like the clang of metal, echoed under my feet.

…What is it?

The mysterious vibrations grew louder and louder, and I knew intuitively that something was wrong. The whole room seemed to be vibrating at a low frequency as if the vibrations were coming from far away and not from something happening nearby. If that was the case, then it was a big deal.

“…Lacey, Charlotte. Is that noise common too?”

“Uh, well, that … yes.”

Perhaps because of the somewhat accusatory tone of my question, Lacey nodded, slightly startled.

“That too…”

“Astoria spins all the time, but when the power goes out the axis shifts.”

“That’s a big deal.”

That’s … yes

The Astoria colony is a huge cylindrical colony that rotates to create a centrifugal force, which in turn creates artificial gravity. In theory, the colony should continue rotating even if left to its own devices due to its inertia, but in reality, the rotation is subject to irregular resistance due to friction and other factors. In reality, however, friction and other factors can cause irregular resistance to rotation, so it was necessary to constantly correct the misalignment to ensure stable rotation.

Due to the power failure, the Astoria gradually loses the stability of its rotational axis. The wobbling of the shaft stresses various parts of the hull, and the resistance caused by the deformation of the hull causes further instability of the rotating shaft. This vibration is the cry of a slightly twisted hull.

Lacey says that at least a few hours should not be enough to cause serious damage, but spacecraft are basically very susceptible to this kind of stress. It’s possible for a seemingly safe situation to turn into massive destruction once the breaking point is exceeded, and even if Lacey and her team say they’re fine so far, there’s no guarantee the ship won’t collapse in the next moment.

Even if the entire ship isn’t destroyed, if there’s a crack in the hull, air will escape.

“There’s no point in fooling around. You two should have oxygen masks ready for emergencies. It’s better than nothing for a little while.”

“Oxygen… Mask?”

“It can be … surprisingly useful.”

I tapped my fingertips lightly on the small bottle hanging from my hip, then frowned.

Even though I’m an apprentice, I’m a trained and qualified aviator and operations engineer. I don’t just stay in Astoria for pleasure, and I always carry a wide range of equipment, from a first-aid kit to tools for emergency repairs. This uniform, with its numerous pockets, is not just a fashion statement.

A foldable mask and a small bottle for the oxygen generator are part of our standard equipment. It’s not like a full-body suit, so it’s not designed for long periods of time, but when used properly, it can provide negative pressure for up to three hours while waiting for rescue.

They did not appear to be carrying any of the equipment I would have expected them to carry. They were wearing the same blazer and skirt as when we first met, they looked like they were about to leave for school, and they seemed to have no regard for survival in space. Even if there is artificial gravity involved here, wearing a skirt in space seems pretty crazy to me in itself.

“…Riza, pass out the spare oxygen masks.”

“That’s a backup for you, Lyle…”

“It’s okay.”

“Haa.”

Little Riza, who doesn’t have to worry about her weight because of her immense physical strength, has a lot more gear with her than I do. I’m sure she has a few oxygen masks to spare.

At my prompting, little Lisa reluctantly pulls two spare masks from a large pocket on her hip. I take them, stand up, and toss one to Charlotte and the other to Lacey.

“Um, Lyle-sama. You don’t have to worry about us. The spare mask is for Lyle-sama…”

“Just keep it. I don’t care if you live in a well-kept colony, it’s suicide not to be prepared for anything in this state. Please stand up so I can explain how to use it.”

“But…”

I got a little annoyed with Lacey, who stood up as she was told but refused to accept the oxygen mask, and was about to order her to do so according to the three principles when another incident occurred.

Violent shaking

I felt a sudden acceleration as I moved back and forth sideways twice, whereupon I panicked and stepped on my feet. I saw Lacey had lost her balance, so I quickly grabbed her sleeve, and her body fell into my arms with a plop. I felt a gentle touch on my arms, but I didn’t think it was a relief.

—What in the world happened?

The shock itself was not too great. Charlotte and Riza were unharmed.

—Just as I was thinking this, the lights in the dimly lit room slowly flickered on and off a few times, and the whole room shone as brightly as it had before the power outage.

“It’s fixed …?”

I wonder if the power has been restored. But the shock I felt earlier was a dangerous sign. It’s not unusual for a spaceship to shake, but it’s always a bad sign when it shakes violently.

“Riza, what about communications?”

“She seems to have recovered. We’re protesting Ira now.”

It seems that communication with Eos has already been restored, and soon little Riza seems to have withdrawn. Riza is back to her normal tone.

I leave the protest to Riza and let her deal with the real problem.

“Are the current concussions common?”

“…Not that often, but once every few years or so.”

“Are the facilities secure? Cryosleep?”

Lacey’s response was rather low-key.

For ocean-going vessels that are expected to be underway for several hundred years, once every few years is a “reasonable” level, if not “frequent.”

Although spacecraft accelerate and decelerate, they are relatively vulnerable to instantaneous shocks. Some machines are more fragile than the human body, and the small space fusion reactors that are important pieces of equipment are easily damaged by a strong impact. A shock like the one we just received should not be a problem, but it depends on the situation.

Otherwise, the most shock-sensitive equipment is, for example, the cryosleep capsule you see here.

The human body is basically “soft” and quickly returns to its original state after a mild shock. However, this is not the case with a frozen body. If it is “crushed” by a severe impact, it will remain crushed until it is thawed.

Of course, there is a process and well-established technology to detect and treat damage during freezing when a person awakens from cryosleep, but a limit to the damage can be restored.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine…”

“Really? Wouldn’t there be after-effects from being hit so many times?”

“Yes… By the way, if you could let me go…”

“Oh, sorry.”

Lacey, who was trapped in my arms, finally cries out in protest, and I quickly let go of her. I quickly let go of her hand, and she moved away from me, sighing a little louder. The way she looked at me made me feel uncomfortable like I was being accused of sexual harassment.

“So the power seems to be restored, but is it safe to continue?”

“It seems like everything is fine. We need to move quickly.”

I thought to ask Lacey, but Riza’s voice came back slightly annoyed. Anyway, we made our way to the car.

The oxygen mask was ultimately not considered, but it is now on my list of things to consider.

Read only at Travis Translations