“Evasive maneuvers, full speed!”
The instant Princess shouted that, a flash glinted from the other ship.
“Did they just fire a beam or something at us?!”
“They’re pounding us!”
“Captain! We can maintain combat mode with main guns firing for eighteen minutes! Permission to return fire?!”
“Permission granted!”
“Alright! Die, ghost ship!”
No sooner said than done – as she grazed past the ghost ship, Princess fired the Psycho Dragon’s main cannon straight into its belly. A blinding flare and gout of flame erupted from the already half-sunk derelict, immediately extinguishing. Hard to tell if it did any damage in that wrecked state.
The monitor’s view swung wildly, flashes of light blooming and vanishing in the corners. Too fast for the eye to follow, but I got the sense our attacks weren’t very effective.
Still trying to make sense of the chaos, I glimpsed Sierra out of the corner of my eye, pointing at the front monitor.
“Um, is something aboard over there?”
“Huh? What, Sierra?”
“Something…spider?”
“Spider?! Where, where?”
No sooner did I wish the monitor view was closer than a holographic projection the size of a transparent tablet appeared in front of me.
“Ah, this must be the thought interface!”
I grasped the projected screen with both hands and brought it over to Sierra.
“Sierra, can you see it on here?”
“Here.”
She jabbed her finger directly at a spot on the bridge area of the ghostly ship – nothing but inky blackness visible there.
“Doesn’t look like we can zoom in…”
No sooner had I muttered this than the thought interface did just that, rapidly zooming in closer and closer until…there it was, unmistakably some kind of gigantic, ebony spider.
Stealthy too, wavering and flickering on the far side of the monitor like a mirage. And sprouting from where a spider’s head should be – the torso of a human body. It was an Spider, that spider-human hybrid monster I’d seen in games.
“Princess! There’s some freaky thing on the bridge!”
“I see it. Never heard of space-bugs like that, but maybe that’s what’s controlling the ghost ship…”
“Princess! Multiple new heat signatures!”
“Missiles incoming!!”
A swarm of projectiles launched from all over the gigantic Spider-ridden ghost ship, the monitor marking them with red targeting boxes. Princess deftly evaded the onslaught while the Psycho Dragon pounded the derelict with its main guns again.
But this time, since we struck an already shattered area, not even an explosion flared up. Our attacks were clearly hitting, but still not a decisive blow.
“Princess, I think we have to target that spider thing for it to mean anything.”
“You think so?”
“If this was Tonbo playing one of his games, that spider would definitely be the real thing.”
“Alright then, let’s take it out!”
As the view whipped around dizzying, the PsychoDragon moved in on the ghost ship’s bridge area where the Spider lurked.
Firing a barrage from the forward cannon, the Psycho Dragon closed on the jet-black spider crouched atop the derelict’s bridge, its inky legs embedded in the hull. Just as our main guns were about to pierce it…a deafening electronic squeal erupted from the rear monitor behind my seat.
“We’re locked on! Hard evasive!”
The view whipped around at blistering speed, a dazzling beam discharge searing an afterimage into my retinas.
“New trick?!”
“Not really…they’ve got fighter craft!”
“Aw crap…it’s a carrier!”
The rear camera displayed a whole swarm of battle robots, each around the size of one of our ThirdEye mechs, their gunmetal grey bodies striped with orange. Dozens of them, massing together.
“That many?!”
“Tonbo! Machan! I need you two, now!”
“On it!”
“Opening the rear cargo hatch, you guys lay down suppressing fire from the ThirdEye!”
“Roger that. Let’s go, Tonbo.”
“Right behind you!”
Even amidst the frenzied combat, the bridge remained rock steady as we exited, wall panels indicating the route to the cargo hold. The Psycho Dragon was tiny compared to the ghost ship, but navigational cues were a godsend in these tight confines. Mars and I just ran.
“Good thing we got the ThirdEye repaired, huh?”
“You got that right.”
“Yeah.”
Sierra had followed behind us too.
“Sierra, you could’ve stayed on the bridge you know?”
“Tonbo, dangerous.”
“Well, you’ve got that right at least…”
Out of breath, we arrived at the cargo bay – far larger on the inside than it appeared from outside, with ample ceiling height to stand the ThirdEye upright. Another space-expansion technology at work?
“This whole expanded interior thing, is that more space tech?”
“This whole ship is space tech, now hurry up and get in!”
At Mars’ urging, I climbed up into the ThirdEye’s cockpit in a kneeling position. Once seated with the hatch closed, a pale green holographic display appeared before my face, lines of text scrolling across it:
[Startup sequence initiated, confirming link to mother ship, utilizing fire control system]
Unlike before, this time I’d have the Psycho Dragon’s systems assisting me. I had the ThirdEye grip a rifle in both hands and stepped toward the rear hatch. Princess’s voice came over the cockpit speakers:
[Tonbo, hold that rifle with both hands]
“Oh right.”
“You’ll be acting as a fixed battery this time.”
[I’ll handle target acquisition and firing, so relinquish all weapon controls!]
“Got it.”
As Mars operated a tablet in my lap, I maneuvered the ThirdEye closer to the rear hatch.
[Alright Tonbo? Opening the hatch now, but absolutely do not exit the cockpit!]
“I won’t!”
The instant I said that, a heavy thunk sounded as a bulkhead dropped between us and the bridge. Then the rear hatch yawned open to the void of space.
“Can’t see a damn thing out there.”
“Well we are natural humans – no cybernetic enhancements, not even boosted neural processing or vision augmentation. Can’t be helped.”
Mars sounded almost cheerfully resigned about it.
“Newer combat mechs pretty much require a neural uplink for high-speed battle scenarios like this.”
“I can see that. There’s just no keeping up visually.”
As we spoke, text began appearing in my ThirdEye’s all-around display, matching the flashes of enemy beam impacts blinking at my viewport’s periphery. More and more rapidly scrolling [BEAM RIFLE FIRING] logs filled the screen as I struggled to make anything out through the blinding flashes.
“Looks like they’re just pounding away, but any idea where the enemy is?”
“Can’t see ’em.”
“I caught a glimpse.”
Sierra raised a hand beside me, but in this swirling, dizzyingly high-speed battlefield and when you can’t see the sun or the ghost ship at times, seeing the enemy for a split-second hardly mattered. This combat had transcended such mundane considerations.
Way different from how I imagined a space battle…this beam blasting back and forth, obliterating any visible targets in an instant, just felt…unsatisfying somehow.
“I wonder why we seem to be winning the beam fight?”
“Because Princess is tracking and maneuvering to anticipate all of the enemy’s movements. That cyborg body of hers has insane processing power.”
“So she can dodge beams after seeing them.”
“Well, in the end, it still comes down to processing power. The specs on high-end cybernetic bodies are really something else.”
[It’s not that the cybernetic body is amazing, it’s that Princess who masters it is amazing!]
Even while having this conversation, the Psycho Dragon and Third Eye controlled by Princess kept shooting down enemies rapidly. The log displayed between my eyes showed increasingly longer intervals between updates. It seemed that the fighter jets that had appeared numerous as clouds were now down to just a few.
[Alright! Three, two… zero! Only the spider remains!]
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“Phew… for a while there, I wasn’t sure what would happen…”
“From a ship captain’s perspective, how serious was the crisis?”
“Abandon-the-cargo level.”
“Huh? How serious is that?”
Perhaps we shouldn’t have let our guard down with such casual conversation. We had missed something approaching through the pitch-black darkness of space.
[Ghost ship’s generator stopped. Now for the spider… wait, it’s gone!?]
“Tonbo! Shoot! Right in front!”
“Huh?”
The moment I stupidly asked that, CRASH!! With a thunderous sound, the Psycho Dragon shook. The source was… a huge, glossy black spider leg that had thrust through from the rear hatch.
[We’ve been latched onto! The carrier-based aircraft were just decoys!]
“Shoot… but the beam rifle won’t move!”
“The firing authority is with the ship!”
“Princess!”
[…dange…sys…infiltra…king…mbo…get…]
Suddenly, the communication from Princess became distorted.
Cold sweat burst from my back, and a terrible premonition ran from my tailbone to the top of my head. I threw away Third Eye’s rifles and grabbed the beam sword generator at my waist.
“Both of you!! Hold on tight!”
Shouting this, Third Eye charged toward the black leg… but the swung beam sword cut through empty air. Somehow sensing it, the spider had withdrawn its leg just before being cut.
“It dodged!”
“What do we do!? Tonbo!”
“We have to strike! This thing is definitely dangerous!”
[…th…can’t…da…artillery…]
I reached for the edge of the rear hatch, trying to get my body out onto the Psycho Dragon… at that moment, Sierra’s claws dug deep into my thigh.
“Ouch!!”
Third Eye’s thought-controlled body froze for a moment, and a thunderous sound echoed along with a light that painted the panoramic display white.
“What are you doing, Sierra!”
“Something felt dangerous.”
Even with the life support system’s basic barrier, it meant nothing when attacked from the inside. Red blood was seeping from my thigh.
“Huh? What? What’s happening?”
The display remained burned white, with numerous red warning messages appearing over it and alarm sounds blaring.
[…mbo…Tonbo! Don’t go out! New enemies have arrived! Come back!]
“What? New enemies!?”
“Ah! Tonbo! Third Eye’s head is gone!”
“The head!?”
[Just come back!]
Urged by Princess, I somehow managed to operate Third Eye without being able to see outside, moving in reverse from before. In other words, I moved to enter the Psycho Dragon’s rear hatch.
[Closing the hatch!]
With Princess’s words, there was a loud CLANG!
“Princess! What happened!?”
[Come back to the bridge…]
Though I didn’t understand what was happening, if we needed to return, we should return. Thinking this, I opened Third Eye’s cockpit hatch and immediately fell against the left wall of the cockpit. Protected by the life support system, I wasn’t injured, but thoroughly shocked, I somehow crawled out… and understood the situation.
“Ah…”
“Tonbo, we need to get to the bridge now!”
As Mars pulled my hand, I looked back at Third Eye one more time. Third Eye lay powerlessly in the Psycho Dragon’s cargo area, with everything above its neck base burned away.
If I had raised my body just a little higher, the cockpit would have been gone too. Just as I started to think this, I put a lid on that thought and ran to the bridge. I ran as fast as possible, desperately trying to outrun my fear.
When we returned to the bridge, Princess turned to us with a troubled expression.
“W-what happened!?”
“First, that spider flew away outside the solar system.”
“Okay.”
“And the reason it fled was that this fleet suddenly appeared and helped us with their artillery.”
On the front monitor Princess pointed to, there were four heavily armed spaceships forming a fleet, their bodies covered with visibly huge turrets.
“Okay.”
“We’re getting a transmission from that ship.”
“Okay.”
“I’m opening it.”
As Princess said this, the communication audio started playing in the bridge.
[…This is Eureka 93 of the Kawashima Guild. Are you the Psycho Dragon? Repeat, this is Kawashima…]
“Huh?”
Kawashima? Psycho Dragon? At these words suddenly coming from an unknown ship, everyone on the bridge couldn’t help but exchange glances.
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