Chapter 16

Translated by SkyTL Edited by SkyTL

Chapter 16: Cannibalism

“It’s only been a few days, but I feel like I’ve missed so much…”

I murmured, somewhat touched, as I looked at the exterior of my home for the first time in a long time.

Our mid-sized spaceship, Eos, is attached to a dock that juts out from the centerline of the cylindrical Astoria. The guest house where I stay in Astoria is close to the dock, but the trip still takes at least 30 minutes each way.

Because Astoria uses centrifugal force to create artificial gravity, the area around the central axis where the dock is located is weightless. Between the artificial gravity and the weightlessness, there is an acceleration/deceleration zone where you have to wait a long time before you can fully decelerate and lose the centrifugal force.

I make my way through the tubular boarding bridge.

The Eos is firmly anchored to the dock and is undergoing a thorough repair that involves removing its outer hull. Wires and internal modules that are normally never seen are now exposed.

According to Riza, the repairs had begun about a year before I woke up from cryosleep, but it wasn’t until after I woke up that the repairs were pushed forward in earnest. Without human orders, it was difficult for Riza alone to obtain materials from Ira.

Eos is equipped with a facility that can manufacture a variety of things on board.

If we are to continue our lonely journey through space, far from Earth, and explore unexplored star systems, we must be self-sufficient in everything. That includes everything from food and necessities to spare metal parts.

In the vastness of the universe, you have to make your own spare parts.

The materials the plant needs are very diverse, as they are to be procured locally in space. The plant is designed so that everything can be made from a variety of materials since there is no way to know what minerals will be available on site. If the ideal materials are not available, we have to make what we need from the alternative resources that are available on site.

Now that I’m the only regular crew member on board, I need to familiarize myself with the ship’s systems, but I try to put off thinking about the disreputable magic plant until later.

I look over the side of the ship.

One of the engines responsible for the accident is gone without a trace, and the hull is badly dented.

I groaned as I looked again at the devastation. It was hard to believe that I was still alive in this place after the antimatter rocket engine accident.

“Welcome back, Lyle-san.”

“Yes, I am home. It’s another beautiful day at home.”

As I opened the airlock and entered Eos, I heard Riza’s voice over the ship’s speakers. I’m just a little glad I still have someone and a place to say, “I’m home.”To be honest, it would have been better if Riza’s cute little humanoid body had greeted me, but she was currently on a research mission in Astoria.

The ship was undergoing repairs, so there were only a limited number of rooms available. The room that used to be my private quarters was closed off for maintenance, so I couldn’t enter it.

The ship’s artificial gravity system had been turned off, so it was weightless here as well.

First, I went into a room onboard called the “mausoleum.”

The mausoleum is where the bodies of my friends are kept in a frozen state. Some are in such bad shape that you can barely recognize them, while others are not so bad, but you can’t see them from the outside. The room just looks like a series of white boxes.

There is hope that with the development of medical technology, we will one day be able to resuscitate people. However, this is not a realistic expectation.

Alternatively, with modern technology, it is theoretically possible to create a human being from his cells using cloning techniques – regardless of legal issues. But it would just be a completely different human with the same genes.

Finally, it is probably impossible to bring back their memory and personality forever. Their souls, to use an emotional term, are now lost forever.

I guess you could say that the reason for the existence of this space is to satisfy those who survived. In other words, this room is only for my human sentimentality.

After standing there for a few minutes, I left the mausoleum without saying a word.

Next, I entered the small meeting room, one of the few rooms currently available for meetings.

Although it was a small conference room, it was unnecessarily large for me to use alone.

“Okay, Riza. Show me your status.”

“Yes, sir.”

I was shown the repair status of Eos on the display on the wall and crossed my arms.

It doesn’t look good.

The dismantled hull is being inspected panel by panel, but about 10% of the panels are beyond repair and need to be replaced. Most of the materials that can be used to make the exterior shell have run out of Eos and will have to be purchased from Astoria.

Aside from the outer hull, the skeleton of the hull is relatively undamaged. It needs to be reinforced or replaced, but the industrial plant in Eos is currently running at full speed to manufacture it, and we are well on our way to repairing it.

The problem is not with the hull or the skeleton, but with what is inside.

Eos’ rocket engines and power generation plants were severely damaged by the heavy loads caused by the accident, the auxiliary engines they came up with were almost completely destroyed, and half of the generators could fail at any moment. Only two generators were relatively undamaged. The main engine appeared to be repairable, which was at least a relief.

Earth-built spacecraft, however, is modular, and everything from the rocket engine to the generators to the plants is highly interchangeable and standardized. This is also true for Eos and Astoria, where the ships vary greatly in size.

This means that some of Astoria’s safe small rockets and generators can also be carried on the Eos.

Then, of course, there are considerations that arise.

“Is it possible to take the Astoria’s engine and generator and transplant them?”

“That’s possible, but the Astoria would then become a big coffin.”

Yes, that’s the problem.

Astoria also had a power failure the other day, but that was only a problem with the transmission system, not the generator itself. Astoria has a generator that works fine.

However, if Astoria’s rocket engines and generators were commandeered to power the Eos, Astoria would have no way to operate its environmental sustainability systems. Not to mention the recent power outage — they’re screwed.

Aside from the fact that this is a spacecraft that has no human survivors and cannot continue its mission, there is no reason why it should not be used for “cannibal repairs”. In particular, the rocket engine is no longer needed, so we can take it without hesitation.

However, since confiscating the generators is almost tantamount to killing the Simulants, Ira is sure to put up a fierce fight.

I am the only person who has full decision-making authority.

I have to make a decision.

There were a couple of choices.

If I thought only about my life, I would know the safest option. Give up Eos, give up the mission, and stay in Astoria.

Astoria’s condition is not so good either, but I think Astoria is a little better off than if I continued my mission with Eos all by myself.

Eos’ mission is to operate a medium-sized spacecraft equipped with a new antimatter rocket engine and a cryosleep to explore habitable star systems in space and establish a beachhead for humanity. However, the latest mission is more of a hope mission, focusing on testing the spacecraft itself.

In that sense, it’s safe to say that most of the missions originally anticipated have been largely — and somewhat negatively — accomplished.

In a sense, this is a matter of my emotional conviction.

It is also possible to confiscate various modules from Astoria and use the “Cannibal Repair” to restore Eos and continue the mission.

I am currently the only human on this ship, or rather, the only one with absolute command within a radius of a dozen light-years or so in the universe.

If I ask all the Simulants to give up their lives, they will. That is the nature of the relationship between humans and robots.

The only problem with that is my feelings.

But even though we’ve only known each other for a few days, I’m surprisingly developing a greater emotional connection with Lacey and Charlotte.

They are robots by nature and will do anything I tell them, but that doesn’t mean they can’t feel pain and fear.

I don’t have the confidence to order these girls to die face to face.

There is still a plan. Yes, if plan B doesn’t work, then plan C.

Legally, it’s possible. Technically, it’s probably possible. But Riza might disagree.

I will say the third plan…

“I wonder if we can include them in the crew of Eos. There are twenty-two of them in total. Eos is originally a ship that can carry up to fifty people, and it’s much more energy-efficient than Astoria, so life would be more comfortable.”

“Out of the question”

I guess Riza had already anticipated my suggestion. Riza rejected it more easily than I expected.

“Lyle-san, I understand this compassion. But there is a limit to how much compassion we can have for a robot that is just a piece of equipment. Protecting all theSimulants would be a great burden and a great risk, but they are useless, not to mention human. I am strongly opposed to increasing the risk to Lyle-sama.”

“But I can’t just leave them there.”

I understand what Riza is saying.

In fact, Eos can get almost anything done by Riza alone. Vulnerable and unwieldy people are just baggage.

Still, she needs humans, partly because she needs to report to Earth on the effects of living in space on humans, but mostly because Riza herself needs a place to set up her three principles. As a robot, Riza needs humans to have a basic motivation to do something. For Riza, humans are the real purpose.

However, she only needs humans. To her, Simulators are nothing more than poorly made robots that are extremely tedious to maintain and have poor performance.

I know that too. After all, this is about feelings.

“I know that humans are vulnerable to loneliness. If, for example, you want that imitation of Miss Whitford to be at hand as a comfort to Lyle-san, I will not stop you. I understand that the presence of such a thing contributes to the stability of a healthy person.”

“No, it’s not that …”

I felt myself blushing and hastily shook my head as I remembered the smile of the reserved, quiet girl who looked so much like the original, but was somehow different in reality.

This human-like girl, although human-like, is just a robot that carries out my orders.

She would really do anything if I asked her to.

But that doesn’t mean she has any special feelings for me personally, just that she adheres to human existence. Nor does it mean that she has special feelings for me as a member of the opposite sex.

I’m sure she would act the same way if someone other than me were in the room.

She would give herself to anyone as long as they were human…

The thought of this depresses me, but Riza keeps talking, ignoring me.

“If you want, you can take the little one, Charlotte. She’s a little fussy, but she seems healthy. If you want to be a little rough with her, she’s just the girl for you.”

“No, well…”

What are you talking about if you want me to do something violent……

That open and cute girl has been saying that she is going to have a romantic relationship with me, but it doesn’t mean that she has any romantic feelings of her own. For her, it doesn’t have to be me, it can be any human being.

I sighed heavily and shook my head again, but that was not the conclusion I wanted to draw.

“…Okay, Riza. I know how to fix the ship, and I know the problem. Anyway, I will not abandon the mission. Continue with the repairs on Eos. We will see what else we can do. Maybe we can find a better way.”

“I understand.”

I ended the conversation and decided to ask Riza something that had been bothering me for a while.

“By the way, Riza, Lacey, and the others are late. I wonder what’s going on here.”

“Those junkers are lurking in the lower hallway. Are you in a hurry?”

“I’ll wait. Did you get what I wanted?”

“If it’s popcorn, I made it.”

Riza hesitated when I asked her to make it, but she did.

Both Lacey and Charlotte are happy with most earthy foods. I also noticed that they seemed to like human and earthy situations more than the taste of the food itself. This is apparently due to Lacey meeting the original Miss Whitford and being inspired by her tastes.

I thought it would be a good idea to watch a movie and eat popcorn while telling the girls about Eos.

“Anyway, Lyle-san. Are you really going to use that thing in practice?”

“They’re good kids, aren’t they? They make my life easier. Don’t you like it, Riza?”

“I’m not saying I don’t like it.”

Riza’s words, however, sounded like she was subliminally pouting.

Both Lacey and Charlotte are legally robots, but their intelligence and physical abilities are only comparable to those of a human, and they cannot be compared to Riza, who is capable of things beyond human comprehension. They are, to put it bluntly, just pretty girls assigned to me to make me stay in Astoria.

But even though they are robots, they are treated as human equivalents by Ira, Astoria’s management system.

This means that Lacey and the others can do the most tedious work for me, which is to order Ira, who reluctantly provides the material, to “give it to me without complaint” on the second principle. It has now become an important part of my daily work to question and reorder a reluctant Ira several times a day. I want to do something about this.

In short, I’m in the process of giving them an overview of Eos so that I can streamline Eos repair. Now, I’m not going to talk about potentially sacrificing Astoria just yet.

“…Too late, are they there already?”

“They just got on the elevator.”

Read only at Travis Translations