Chapter 7: Cheers, Princesses, and Ghost Ships
Christmas, for Japanese men… it can be both good and bad, surely that kind of day.
When I was a high school student, it was a day when I hung out with my friends feeling somewhat bored. The Christmas when I became a university student was a day when I ran around all night working part-time at a pizza place. After Mars and Princess came along, it became a day to enjoy cake and chicken.
And on this Christmas, two years after becoming the president, that day became a major battle for me and the company.
The day before that decisive Christmas Eve battle. In the basement of the company, which had become my de facto president’s office, I was having a private conversation with an adult lady who had recently developed dark circles under her eyes.
“Well then, President, just proceed as planned.”
“Thank you, Abukuma-san. As I mentioned, we’ll lose contact, so…”
“I know, I’ll handle everything with Iida.”
I nodded firmly when Abukuma-san, wearing a fur-trimmed flight jacket, poked my chest. The resource mining ship Kawashima-One had already been transported to the launch site by ship, and all that was left was for Abukuma-san, the person in charge, to give the GO signal.
And we had our own tasks to do.
“Well, leave any trouble after the launch to me. Not just Tonbo, but the vice president is here too.”
“That is reassuring. But if we’re found out, the news about Kawashima-One will become a farce, so please be really careful.”
“Stealth is supposed to be perfect… though I can’t say that since Tonbo has slipped up once before.”
“Come on, give me a break. This time it’s just backup, so it should be fine.”
Yes, what we were going to do was… go into space and provide backup for Kawashima-One.
When I revealed the identities of Princess and Mars to the directors, I had already mentioned that we had another ship. We’re going to wait on the far side of the moon in that ship, PsychoDragon, in case Kawashima-One becomes inoperable from Earth. Of course, the probability of it becoming inoperable is extremely low, and even if it does, it’s supposed to operate according to the pre-programmed instructions, but plans are always subject to change, so we must be prepared.
What was even more significant was that we could provide backup at almost no cost. It was just a matter of operating from our end if communications from Earth were cut off, and there was no danger.
“But you know, when I first met you guys… I never thought we’d become close enough to have this conversation on Christmas Eve…”
“Sorry it’s not a sexy conversation, but give me a break.”
“A conversation about dreams is a hundred times better than a sexy one. People all over the country are watching over us, you know? If you had just been an adventurer, you wouldn’t have had such a fun Christmas.”
“If you think so, I’m truly grateful.”
Abukuma-san was originally someone who had nothing to do with space. But she responded to my unreasonable request, studied, and brought together a team from diverse backgrounds, actually advancing the plan to launch a spaceship.
If she hadn’t been there, and I had taken the lead… there’s no doubt that the spaceship wouldn’t have flown today, let alone next year or even the year after.
“Abukuma-san, let me say it again… thank you for joining my company back then. That ship is flying thanks to your efforts.”
“The spaceship hasn’t flown yet, though. Well, to be honest, Kumiko and I were completely in the dark at that time too, so we were kind of saved by you, Tonbo.”
“Even so. If you guys hadn’t been there, I’d still be by myself, whining while packing furikake.”
As I said that and extended my right hand, she smiled and took it. Her small but firm, solid hand was the hand of Abukuma-san herself, giving a sense of reassurance.
Mars’s small paw overlapped our joined hands from the side. And under that, Sierra’s paw, which didn’t seem to understand, was also placed.
“Shall we go, then?”
“Let’s go.”
We turned off the lights and left the basement.
Outside the company’s parking area, there was a company car with Gankisan in the driver’s seat, surrounded by employees waiting. As Abukuma-san was patted on the back by them, she got into the car and opened the window.
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“Well then, I’m off! Watch the livestream and cheer me on!”
Next to her window, Director Iida stood up.
“Now, let us bid farewell to Director Abukuma, who is departing for the site, with three cheers. Please respond! Banzai! Banzai! Banzai!”
The cheers of everyone present joined the three cheers, and someone’s smartphone camera flash went off.
“I’m off!”
“Be careful!”
“Don’t get into an accident!”
“I’ll be watching the stream!”
With the cheers behind her, the white commercial van drove off.
“Well, shall we go too?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
Without anyone to see us off, we snuck into the taxi we had called and headed to the station. From there, we went to the former Kawashima General Trading Company, the launch site for the other spaceship, PsychoDragon.
In the parking lot of the former Kawashima General Trading Company, Princess, wearing a cap from a foreign baseball team and carrying a box of donuts under her arm, was waiting for us sitting on a wheel stop in the corner.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“They were having a sale at the station, so…”
She said, holding out the box to us as she munched on a donut with golden sprinkles.
“So, was Kuma all right?”
“Yup, sent her off smoothly.”
“I see.”
“Are you all ready on your end, Princess?”
“Yeah, the delivery drone operations have been switched over to the self-driving system too.”
“Then can we move out on this end?”
“Yup, let’s go.”
Being the third time, we took off from the ground with practiced ease.
PsychoDragon, which had departed ahead of Kawashima-One, broke through the atmosphere without any apparent danger. And then it headed straight for the far side of the moon.
“Maybe we left a bit too early? There’s about a day until Kawashima-One is launched, so wouldn’t it have been better if we had stayed down until the last minute in case something happened?”
“No no, Tonbo. If Kawashima-One doesn’t fly, that’s fine. What’s scary is if it flies and then gets recalled to start over from scratch.”
“Yeah, yeah, the debut is the most important thing. Idols who fail on their debut live performance don’t get any more work, you know.”
Well, if they both say so, this schedule must be correct.
At any rate, I had stocked up on things like chicken from a famous chain, a somewhat expensive cake, champagne, and so on, so we could just have an early Christmas party while we waited.
“I checked the radar not too long ago, but I’ll run it again just in case.”
As Princess said that, waves spread across the spherical star chart display. I didn’t quite understand how to read the chart, but it didn’t seem to have changed from before. However, I could tell that the atmosphere around Princess and Mars had changed after seeing the result.
“Eh? This is…”
“The same as before, maybe?”
“No way, that’s strange. It wasn’t supposed to be on a trajectory toward us.”
“At this speed, it’ll pass near the planet Saturn in about two days. Not a direct hit, but it’ll also pass close to Earth.”
“Wh-what happened…?”
When I asked, Mars pointed at the star chart.
“That mysterious ship the radar detected before is heading our way.”
“It’s already entered the solar system, but this speed doesn’t seem like it’s just drifting…”
“But Princess, if it’s not a drifting ship, why wouldn’t it return our radar pings?”
“Whatever kind of ship it is, it doesn’t seem like good news.”
“Doesn’t sound like it’s bringing us a Christmas present.”
Princess leaned back in her chair, turned toward me, and asked:
“What do you want to do, Tonbo? We only have one untested resource mining ship, so if you want to handle Earth’s first contact with an alien civilization, we can leave it alone. But…”
“………..”
“We could also go out first as a well-intentioned third party and ask about their intentions?”
She’s leaving the choice up to me, but… doesn’t that essentially mean I don’t have a choice?
At any rate, we don’t seem to have much time to hesitate. The mysterious ship is steadily approaching. The closer it gets, the higher the chance of it being observed from Earth.
“Alright… let’s go check it out. The farther away we can make contact, the less likely it is to be noticed from Earth.”
“So we’re leaving Kawashima-One alone?”
“I’ve left that to Abukuma-san and the others. In the worst case, we can just rebuild the resource mining ship.”
“Okay, I’ll give it a bit of thrust then.”
As Princess said that, a mark like crossed swords appeared in the upper right corner of the main bridge monitor, and the previously white lighting changed to a greenish tint.
“PsychoDragon, combat mode. Target: suspicious ship. Captain, you’re good.”
“Oh, then… PsychoDragon, launch!”
The moment I said that, the Earth visible on the rear monitor shrank at an incredible speed. PsychoDragon already had the speed to reach Mars in no time. Its combat mode speed was so tremendous, it was like the warp drives in stories.
“Tonbo, put on your life support system.”
“I’m wearing the bracelet, but…”
“The Galactic Police one.”
“R-Roger!”
As Mars said that from the diagonal front, I put on the headphone-type life support system I had retrieved from the junkyard. Mars and Sierra had already put on their necklace-type life support systems, and were also wearing their respective weapons as accessories.
I thought about taking out my gun, but I decided against it. If I fired a gun that could punch holes through anything on the ship, I might defeat the enemy but we’d never make it back to Earth.
And just a few minutes after we finished preparing our equipment and steeling our minds, a mysterious ship appeared before us.
“That’s a ship?”
“It’s a ship, but isn’t it a derelict?”
The spaceship displayed on the front monitor was in an almost skeletal state. The massive vessel, over ten times the length of our fifty-meter Psycho Dragon, had a huge hole gashed in its belly and half of the bridge blown away. From any angle, it didn’t look like anyone could be aboard – less an unmanned ship more like a ghost ship.
“I’ll try hailing them anyway.”
“Alright, dropping stealth mode. Out here in the outer reaches of the solar system, we don’t need to worry about being seen from Earth.”
Princess said this, and the closed eye icon in the bottom right of the front monitor changed to an open eye.
“Okay, pretty sure a hailing signal is universal across galaxies. Ahem, this is the merchant vessel Psycho Dragon of Kawashima Trading Company, identify yourselves…and send.”
“No response…”
“Well, duh.”
“Huh…wait, what’s that?”
“What is it, Princess?”
As Mars peeked over Princess’s chair at the front, I stood up to look too…and suddenly the ship’s lights turned green and a sword icon appeared on the front monitor.
“The derelict is changing course! It’s coming right for us! They’ve detected us!”
“What?!”
As the Psycho Dragon tried to veer around behind the mystery ship, sure enough it altered course to pursue us, not slowing down at all.
“No response to the hail, so I’ll scan them.”
Mars operated some controls, and a progress bar appeared in the top right corner of the ship displayed on the monitor, disappearing after a few seconds.
“What’s the deal? Is it a real ghost ship?”
“Could be, showing no life signs whatsoever…practically no heat source either!”
“The onboard AI might have gone haywire…?”
“In this day and age? …Crap! Their generator just kicked on! They’re opening gun ports!”
“Evasive maneuvers, full speed!”
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