Clockwork Planet - Volume 03

by Kamiya Yuu

  There were approximately 30 men dressed in uniform, not even a wrinkle on them.

  All of them were staring at the monitors and instruments in front of them.

  “Enemies lost. All units down…assessing the condition caused by the shot from the ‘Capital Defense Cannon’—”

  Upon hearing a report, everyone else present gulped,

  “We took 8 shots—and 0 damage.”

  Upon hearing this report, the crowd was upbeat, ready to cheer at any given moment. In the meantime,

  “—Hm.”

  The only one seated in the room, a sturdy old man, nodded,

  “Phased Out Radar, Reader Lock, Infrared Sight, Railgun, Magnetic Shields are all stable.”

  “Power at 12%. More than 2% is needed to restart the recharge rate to the expected level. Please allow for 30% power to be redirected from the Firearms Control Systems (FCS).”

  “Permission granted.”

  Following the brief answer to the reports, the old man—Gennai Hirayama, let out a deep sigh.

  A young man standing beside him spoke up, sounding shrill and agitated.

  “That really was an impressive result, my Lord. We actually managed to easily sweep that 7th squadron…!”

  “This is an expected outcome.”

  Gennai simply answered, reclining his upper body onto the back rest.

  Yes. It was obvious, a no-brainer, an expected outcome.

  —Humanity in the past used this most convenient power in the universe, one which had a hidden, infinite number of possibilities in them.

  Once everything was changed to gears to create this ‘Clockwork Planet’ (this world), researching on that ‘technology’ itself was a crime.

  The field of ‘electromagnetism’ dominated 3 of the 5 powers that formed the universe—electricity, magnetism, and Coulombs.

  Gear weaponry were mere toys in the face of the results of electromagnetism.

  —The complex electromagnetism tactical class mobile weapon, ‘Yatsukahagi’.

  Looking back at its origins, it was something that was planned and built on the government’s orders.

  The reason why they decided to use the name that was conceived during the development was a sarcastic jab filled with Gennai’s sad past…

  “Once the other countries see our results, they will have to admit that our research has shown fruit.”

  “…That might be difficult. We merely crushed a squadron.”

  Gennai muttered without any emotion, and another young officer seemed agitated as he denied it,

  “That’s not true! No country can ignore the fact that we destroyed Tokyo’s defense forces!”

  “He’s right, my Lord. Not even the ‘Capital Defense Cannon’ can destroy us here!”

  …Well, that’s true. Gennai thought.

  It was obvious that the Resonance Cannon of the Capital Defense forces were ineffective.

  For it could not trigger a resonance destruction phenomena upon contact with the magnetic armor.

  However—the ‘Capital Defense Cannon’ was a particle cannon.

  That was the final trump of Japan—used to due with the enemy in case they did attack the capital.

  It was a Semi-Automatic Recoil Cannon located at Mount Fuji that could eradicate enemy armadas from exceptionally long distance.

  The defense of this armor was due to the electromagnetic coupling of the metallic atoms, but based on the simulated calculations, there was a 50% chance that they could hold up against a blast from the ‘Capital Defense Cannon’—these odds themselves signified their victory.

  Also, they unleashed a one-sided crushing on the highly trained air force squadron that was so renowned overseas.

  “The Tokyo ‘military’ has no firepower to stand in our way now!”

  “Yes…you’re right.”

  Upon hearing the adjutant’s words, gennai looked around at the rowdy, amped crowd in the command room, and nodded.

  —That doesn’t matter here.

  In the end, it was just repaying an eye for an eye.

  Their own side was the same as the government, merely repeating the acts of humanity that had carried on over eras.

  Humanity could not change, and would never change.

  But—Gennai wondered.

  In that case, what was the entity called ‘Y’, who managed to recreate this world successfully?

  This world continued to work properly, normally, precisely, yet abnormally, inconsistently, and paradoxically.

  For a human who was unable to change, who exactly was he, who created this ultimate atypia called the ‘Clockwork Planet’?

  He overturned all the laws humanity spent countless years and talent to accumulate like a dream, and on a certain day, suddenly threw at them a truth nobody could understand as if he was fooling around.

  The one who did that was just an ordinary human—an ordinary clock technician.

  It was laughable—who could actually believe such a thing? Who would accept this? He was an impertinent man who arrogantly declared that he was the truth of the Three Thousand Realms, which even the Gods in heaven would be apprehension off, that even the demons in Hell would remain silent.

  Was that—’humanity’ that continued to scale up this land, despite not changing after thousands of years?

  On that day

  Humanity never changed. That was set in stone.

  But only ‘Y’ managed to overturn all premises, and arrogantly caused the universe to break away from order.

  —That cannot possibly be from human hands. If someone is able to fulfill the ‘malice’ that was so severe the word ‘evil’ could be considered tame, there was no possibility other than it coming from someone who surpassed the line of good and evil.

  —However, Gennai wondered.

  If that is the truth, I can accept it.

  It did not matter whether he was a god or a demon. If that sort of a monster that surpassed human intellect recreated the world, and let humanity remain in an eternal delusion before their doomsday, then humanity would obviously be left powerless.

  In any case, there is no reason why humanity could surpass an enlightened one, therefore.

  He was disappointed by history, despaired at the world, and right when he thought he was to die after having seen everything.

  There was a boy who appeared, bringing along an automata ‘Y’ created.

  Everyone was agitated, feeling invincible, their eyes burning as they set upon the next target.

  Gennai’s metallic colored eyes were poised and frosty, hissing in a maniacal manner,

  “Now then…come and stop if if you can, ‘Y’…”

  From beyond the boundary of good and evil, you arrogantly, undauntingly created this world.

  You destroyed the unchanging destiny of the ordinary humans, the destiny to self-destruct.

  What else can you say in front of this truth—you monster?

  What kind of existence are you, who restructured the world?

  Are you an ‘enlightened’ one like gods and demons, or are you just a pompous, haughty human?

  Come, prove it to me, with the world on the line…!

  ●

  —At the same time.

  In a workshop at Grid Akihabara, a blond girl—Marie, was leaning and seated against the wall, her legs spread. Her green eyes lost their usual luster as she simply remained there, thinking.

  This current situation was something akin to a delusion anyone would have had.

  The scene from a B thriller movie, where the world was on the brink of destruction due to some reason.

  No food, no water, civilization was destroyed, and all she could rely on was her knowledge, her body, and her allies.

  …I see, she thought.

  It was to be expected why they were called B movies—they did not seem realistic at all.

  There was no scriptwriter who actually experienced the world destroyed…and thus, they did not understand reality.

  In re
ality, it was not that simple.

  In reality, it was ridiculously far beyond human imagination.

  Marie chuckled lifelessly as she saw Halter lying prone with smoke rising from his body—remaining silent. She weakly held onto a screwdriver, and the other screwdriver was firmly stuck to it, seemingly pasted to it as it dangle down.

  Destruction of civilization? Only able to rely on her own knowledge, physical body and allies?

  You got to be kidding—this is reality. An inexplicable, violent, the worst possible calamity of a reality.

  Marie could not help but let out a heartfelt sigh, and at that moment,

  “—woah—that’s hot—!?”

  A petite boy squealed as he jumped up.

  “It’s hot!!? —What’s going on—and why is it noisy inside my earphones?”

  The boy, Naoto Miura, had woken up, and was making a ruckus as he frantically tossed aside his earphones. Then, he found Marie staring at him blankly.

  “Hey…did something…happen…?”

  It seemed he was in intense pain; his breathing was frenetic, his expression contorted as he asked an obvious question.

  —Now that’s a good question. Marie smiled.

  “It’s my guess…I can tell you this, maybe. We go hit with as ‘electromagnetic pulse’.”

  Marie’s reply was a little lifeless. Naoto in turn frowned skeptically.

  “An elec—what?”

  …Marie could not longer feel anger at this point.

  With a hoarse sigh, she raised the screwdriver in her hand, and raised it to Naoto’s face.

  “—Everything and anything was destroyed…can you understand that now?”

  The abnormally radical and powerful electromagnetic pulse caused everything else to be magnetized.

  No—if that was the case, it would have been fine. Marie thought.

  It was likely that due to the electromagnetic induction, the particle gears, wires, springs, and all kinds of intricate parts were melted. What was left behind were simply dumb tools that could not be used because they were magnetized.

  They were merely clockwork instruments that could not function at all.

  Calculators? Cars? The lights and lock off this room, even the screwdriver were wrecked.

  “Do I need to make it easier for you to understand?”

  Marie opened her hand.

  The screwdriver fell to the floor, giving off a dry sound.

  “Everything is magnetized now, and we don’t have a way to get out of this room.”

  —It had been pointed out since ancient times that the machinery made from gear technology could not resist against magnetism.

  And thus, humanity—had no choice but to give up on electromagnetism.

  However, though the ‘planet governor’ located at the Poles did obstruct the electromagnetic waves coming from space, they could not completely negate the influence of electromagnetism on this planet. Thus, the technology to counter magnetism—how to prevent the gear machinery from magnetism, was always a topic of research.

  One could completely understand after seeing this situation.

  To summarize—for Marie, no, for all the ordinary humans living on this planet.

  —All the relevant knowledge and technology was completely sealed.

  With the clock gear of the ‘Clockwork Planet’ destoryed, not even a single tool could be used, let alone for repairs.

  That was akin to a bird who could not fly even with wings—no, that example might be more fortunate.

  For even a bird with its wings snapped still had feet.

  …But no matter how much Marie was hailed as a genius, she needed the basic knowledge required to take action.

  And with this planet refitted entirely with gears, the current situation was—

  …This was ‘reality’, the worst calamity.

  What should they do—this was not a hopeful situation where they could say this.

  They were even robbed of the thought of what could they do.

  Marie suddenly recalled. She once watched an utterly ridiculous, foolish movie of the old ages, far beyond the absurdness of this B thriller movie scenario.

  Her lips showed a parched smile.

  In that story, the world the protatgonist lived in was actually just an illusion.

  The world was long destoryed, and humans were connected to a machines, living in a dream world they created. Of course, she knew that such a story was utterly foolish—but if she was to think of it as the truth.

  The current situation was, yes, realism was starting to kick in.

  Now then, what could she do?

  All she had was a brain that could only daydream.

  In this world where she was utterly helpless, where everything was a dream.

  Should she think of a way to escape the dream, even though she only had a head?

  Everything she was seeing was just a dream after all, right?

  And such a hallucination was—or rather, if it was really a hallucination, ‘that’ would be a happy despair. She looked around through the thick windows, and the place where she caught sight of was the thing triggering this nightmare.

  There was a gigantic mobile weapon, standing tall there, blotting the sun.

  That monster easily crushed everything and anything, clearly existing there as the sign of despair.

  “—Hey—R-RyuZU!?”

  Naoto’s cry echoed in the room, and Marie turned around to look.

  Entering her eyes was the sight of the fallen silver haired girl.

  A frantic Naoto hurriedly leapt over, wanting to carry her beloved girl—

  “—It’s hot—!!?”

  The moment he touched her, no, he was really screaming right when he was about to touch her, and he retreated.

  And then, he finally realized the reason why he woke up from the heat.

  His face paled, blood practically drained from his face.

  —RyuZu was lying in a pool of blood.

  What caused this impression was the metallic panels on the floor, heated so much that they were somewhat melted.

  And the reason that occurred was because of RyuZU.

  Her body, now collapsed and unable to move, was giving off enough heat to melt metal.

  Naoto looked to be utterly overwhelmed by fright, and with a trembling voice, he yelled,

  “Hey, what about AnchoR? Old man Halter! That uncle head (Vermouth)—”

  Upon being asked that, Marie wordlessly averted her eyes.

  Lying over there was Halter, giving off fumes.

  And right beside him was AnchoR, like a puppet with her strings severed, or as one would say, a statue as she laid down there silently. She did not move at all, and it appeared that she—was dead.

  And then, Marie stared at Vermouth, whose was left with a head that rolled to her feet, the eyes looking completely blank, and chuckled,

  “Didn’t you hear what I just said?”

  She began to talk with the tone of one narrating a nightmare,

  “Everything is destroyed…”

  …

  The silence was like a deep sea.

  “—Don’t kid around with me…”

  Naoto gnashed his teeth so hard them were creaking, and lifted Marie while the latter was leaning weakly against the wall.

  “Then we got to hurry up and fix this thing—you can fix right, right!?”

  Marie let Naoto shake her around without putting up and fight, and coldly snickered,

  “Yeah, I can…just get rid of the magnetism—if we can get rid of it, that is.”

  “Then what are you spacing out for!? Hurry—”

  “How?”

  After hearing Marie’s calm voice, Naoto was left flabbergasted.

  With hollow eyes, Marie stared at the eyes that were staring right back at her, continuing,

  “It’s really great to be ignorant, isn’t it, Mr Naoto? I’m really envious.”

  Get rid of the magnetism? Of course she knew how to.

/>   She could magnetize a clockwork installation, and looking at it the other way, of course she could remove it.

  As an ex-Meister, Marie could do the easy job of adjusting a magnetized clockwork installation with her eyes closed. The theory was simple; add a similar level of magnetism or electric current, and reverse the magnetic field; the magnetism would be removed, gone.

  That was all. Marie knew very well the necessary methods, skills and order.

  However, the important thing—

  “Electricity is a must here! Do you understand? That shitty weapon just released a real taboo amongst all forbidden stuff in the international treaties! That shitty electromagnetic power is forbidden in the regulations…!”

  After hearing Marie’s lament—no, her lamenting cry, Naoto was overwhelmed, and let go.

  Marie again leaned at the wall, pondering,

  —Yeah, of course.

  No country or organization would actually abid by this clause.

  Halter and that Vermouth had the illegal electromagnetic devices installed in their cyborg bodies..

  And to put it, just in case—though it might be impossible on this planet—certain parts themselves were already invariably emitting electromagnetic fields, so a part of the ‘Meister Guild’ and the military had some legal electromagnetism dispelling devices that were permitted by the International Supervision System(ISS). Marie herself had such an experience before.

  However—

  “Those amazing ears of yours are able to hear, right!? That electromagnetic pulse destroyed everything in Grid Akihabara! So? How am I supposed to get out of this room!? Where do I get the devices to remove the magnetic fields? Can you explain that to me in a few simple words…!?”

  Marie lashed out—and tears were in her eyes as she got to the latter half.

  —It was impossible.