Two-Person Galactic Journey: Earth Was Destroyed While Imprisoned in Space Prison

Chapter 107

Emotion's words toward Chibbahe were razor-sharp.

She bluntly stated what not even Kait, nor anyone from the Corporation, had dared to say.

"The people of Aguares have undergone an extraordinarily high number of generational transitions. Far too many. As a result, they've become specialized for life inside the ship, and have lost the ability to live outside it."

'That's not true! That can't be—'

The translator had been learning Chibbahe's language and was improving its translation accuracy mechanically. By now, it sounded completely natural in the Federation's official language.

Yet Chibbahe refused to believe Emotion's words.

'That's impossible. I'm the one managing them. I've always supervised to ensure there's no disparity in ability from the previous generation! Any decline in capability due to generational change is kept to less than one-thousandth of the parent generation.'

"How many generations have been repeated?"

'What?'

"Just based on your own records, how many generational transitions have taken place?"

'How many generations...? How many generations...'

Chibbahe's demeanor changed. In response to Emotion's question, he seemed somewhat spaced out. Kait suddenly had a terrifying thought and whispered to Emotion.

"Emotion. I hope I'm wrong, but..."

"Yes?"

"Do you think this was a deliberate incident?"

"That's exactly right."

Emotion whispered, but made her statement with certainty.

With the communication line to Chibbahe still open, they couldn't probe further. As they hesitated over when to cut the line, Chibbahe let out a voice close to a scream.

'I-I don't know. It's true that we've kept the decline in abilities to less than one-thousandth of the previous generation. But we can't trace back beyond that generation's records!'

"Operator Chibbahe. Please calm down. Let's try another check. Do you have records of the initial physical ability values of the people of Aguares?"

'Initial values? Initial...'

Again. Was he checking the records, or was he confused because he couldn't? Or perhaps he had been subjected to thought control to prevent him from questioning it. His behavior was abnormal enough to suggest that.

Emotion didn't wait for Chibbahe's response.

"Operator Chibbahe. If you can't answer, I'll ask this instead. Do you have a record of the name of the person who led this project?"

'Th-that I can answer. Dr. Fulgadonga... Furu...'

The moment Chibbahe muttered that name—

The communication was abruptly cut off.

***

They attempted to reconnect, but there was no response.

After the fifth failed attempt, Kait decided to pause and align his understanding with Emotion.

"So basically, we stepped on a landmine?"

"Yes. If they truly intended to preserve species survival capabilities, there's no way they wouldn't have remembered the initial values. Operator Chibbahe realized the contradiction from my question. He must have been conditioned to avoid thinking in that direction."

"And you intentionally forced him to confront it."

"Yes. I believe he must have had similar thoughts before, at least a few times."

In other words, the deletion of memories and records wasn't just due to Chibbahe's storage limitations.

It was no wonder Chibbahe wasn't responding to their communications. If data was currently being erased in real-time, he had more pressing concerns.

"So if someone reaches a certain line of thought, the system triggers a reset?"

"Assuming my hypothesis is correct."

"No, given the situation, I believe you. Did you confirm the name of this Dr. Fulgadonga?"

"Most likely, this project was never about relocating the people of Aguares."

Just as he thought. The sense of wrongness had always been there.

Creatures in a fetal state, incapable of self-awareness or logical thinking. And machine intelligences that commanded them without question. After crashing, they were left to decay—meaning those machine intelligences, like Chibbahe, had fulfilled their role.

There had even been crashes on planets belonging to the Federation. Investigations had been conducted. Yet no trace of machine intelligence was found. It must have been deliberately destroyed—so thoroughly that not a shred remained.

"Dr. Fulgadonga was plotting to annihilate Aguares in an utterly horrific manner."

Kait agreed. And he felt a bit disgusted with himself for having come to the same conclusion.

***

"If that story is true, then the space tuna meteor swarm isn't a beautiful astronomical event to be admired, but something akin to terrorism that must be eliminated."

Nezasuriwe, after reviewing Kait and Emotion's report, spat the words out. The space tuna meteor swarm may indeed have been born from a murderous intent toward Aguares. But in the end, it caused massive ecological damage to other planets as well.

For Nezasuriwe, who had to abandon their own planet, it must have been an utterly revolting matter.

"This is something we should report not only to our President, but also to the Federation Congress. Is it all right to leave it to the Captain?"

"Yes, of cour—"

"That's fine, but it's still just speculation. I think we should wait to report to the Congress until we have confirmation."

Emotion interrupted just as they were about to agree with Nezasuriwe's words.

It was reasonable, but the cause had likely died long ago. Obtaining confirmation would be difficult.

"Confirmation, huh. And how do you plan to obtain that?"

"I don't think it will take long."

Emotion answered calmly, without any sign of pressure. Kait didn't know what method she had in mind, but since she said she could do it, they would just have to wait.

"Branch Director Nezasuriwe. Once Emotion obtains confirmation, I'd like to contact the Federation."

"If the Captain says so, I have no objections. At this point, a reliable report a bit later is better than a hasty and incomplete one."

Nezasuriwe, swallowing their discomfort, agreed with Kait. It must have been a gesture of goodwill toward him. Kait bowed in thanks. Emotion looked slightly surprised—she had been preparing logical arguments to persuade Nezasuriwe, but what came out of her mouth was a sincere question.

"You trust me?"

"The Captain seems to trust you. So I will too. That's all there is to it."

"That's irrational."

At Nezasuriwe's response, Emotion quietly shook her head.

The atmosphere grew slightly tense, but Nezasuriwe dispelled it with a light exhale. As expected of a Branch Director—he clearly had firm control over his subordinates.

Now then, how to convince Emotion? While Kait was pondering this, Emotion had already reached her own conclusion.

"No, the irrational one is the Captain. I seem to have been quite influenced. I've come to prefer people who make irrational decisions."

"You make it sound like I'm always doing irrational things."

"Aren't you?"

"Yeah, you're absolutely right."

"See?"

Though she usually grumbled, Emotion seemed to be secretly enjoying herself. Kait was actually happy that she had indirectly said she liked him.

"Then here's an order from the representative of irrationality, Emotion. Go grab that confirmation and stop the space tuna meteor swarm."

"Aye aye, Captain."

There was a hint of delight in Emotion's reply.