Clockwork Planet - Volume 03

by Kamiya Yuu

  Vermouth beamed at the shadow that was descending from the sky.

  --It was the 'Metal Demon' pilot who was forcibly ejected from his cockpit.

  Vermouth cleanly unravelled the parachute surrounding him, captured the pilot, and played dumb,

  "That car you lent me is all spoiled, a flawed one. Return me my smoke."

  Vermouth then snatched the cigarette from the pilot's mouth.

  And gnawed at the cigarette again--

  "Hm? Your mouth feeling lonely? Try this one for taste."

  At that moment, Vermouth snatched the handgun at the pilot's waist before the latter could respond.

  He then stuffed the gun nozzle into the pilot's barely opened mouth.

  This just so happened to create a hostage situation, and Vermouth grinned at the surroundings.

  "Now then..if you don't want this guy to have his brains blown out--even an idiot will understand now, right?"

  "Umpf, umpf…!"

  The now-hostage pilot flailed his limbs around, but Vermouth remained unmoved.

  One of the cyborg soldiers, who had his gun aimed at them, exclaimed with scorn,

  "You're despicable!"

  "Hah! Despicable? If you want to tell me off, that's weak. This is a fact."

  --Despicable. Pragmatic, emergency measures.

  Yes, absolutely correct--Vermouth chuckled.

  It seemed he did not care about the countless guns that were aimed at him, merely exhaling hard.

  Leaving aside the cyborg soldiers, the automata could not fire when their ally was used as a shield.

  And then, Vermouth counted quietly in his heart, 5, 4, 3…saying,

  "…Try refining your words now, kid…phew--zero."

  At that moment--

  The 'Metal Demon' Vermouth rode on converted its remaining thrust into heat, self-destructing.

  The sound of an explosion expanded, and hot air struck.

  On the other side of a bright light was the enemy 'Metal Demon' flank punctured through, and it collapsed.

  By reducing the remaining 60 seconds worth of thrust power to 12 seconds--the power was as expected, merely destroying the flank of the 'Metal Demon'.

  Once he saw that the pilot escaped from the immobilized unit and ejected with the seat, Vermouth exhaled some smoke.

  "Phew--…smoking's great after all…mission complete--"

  And then, he continued to force the gun into the hostage's mouth.

  Vermouth then showed a heinous sneer unbefitting of the alluring face.

  "Try a better line next time, Japanese? For example--"

  –At that instant, a black flash raced by.

  All the remaining soldiers present were sliced.

  The cyborg soldiers could not move, the automata could not move again, humans and metal scraps were piled as a hill.

  The girl landing on that scrap hill–RyuZU, spoke with a mocking voice,

  “–Such a ‘despicable’, ‘wretched’ manner of battle. How impressive.”

  Upon hearing that, Vermouth gave a wry smile.

  He let go of the hostage, and hit the back of the latter’s head to knock him out.

  “How understanding of you, Miss Automata…yes yes, call me that with such a ‘pleasurable manner’.”

  Naoto, AnchoR and Marie too arrived, and the latter said,

  “…I don’t believe this. You did it–with that body…?”

  This panting tone contained her own surprise–and relief.

  And upon knowing of this, Vermouth felt satisfied, taking a deep breath of smoke.

  He then curled his lips, saying,

  “–What now, Missy? Were you bothering me over the wireless because you’re worried? Have you fallen for me?”

  “Go die already, you pervert. If you failed here, Halter will be in lots of trouble.”

  “Huh–I guess? So your real target’s that big brother, huh? I’m stumped. I can’t beat him.”

  Vermouth waved his hand, laughing it off,

  He said to the back that was running off to the ‘Black Tortoise’,

  “–Go confess to him, ‘Missy’. I’ll comfort you if you fail, ‘bitch’.”

  I pulled off a miracle for you.

  Now it’s your turn to show me how much of a real genius you are, or a self-proclaimed genius of a bitch

  Hearing the support coming from the sub-channel, Marie gave a wry smile.

  That’s how it is, she thought.

  This man is perverted and infuriating, but it does look like he’ll keep his end of the bargain.

  “RyuZU, AnchoR, and–Marie, I’ll leave it all to you.”

  In response to Naoto’s voice, two pairs of feet leaped off, crossing paths.

  RyuZu’s scythe glided through the ‘Black Tortoise’ with its AI destroyed by Vermouth, cutting off the back armor.

  AnchoR carried Marie to the exposed internal functions unit, and as she put the latter down–

  “…Mama, do your best…!”

  “I told you not to call me that.”

  Marie muttered, and sighed.

  She put the head down, opened up her tools, opened her fists to stretch her fingers, and clench them again.

  –She had to let ‘Naoto’s plan’ succeed.

  They had to crush all the enemy forces illogically, overwhelmingly, unreasonably, at a speed even the strongest forces in the world could not do.

  –And another thing.

  Marie continued to work on Halter’s head, pondering about the previous night–

  “Attached Halter’s head to a heavy armor automata–are you kidding me!?”

  Marie let out a harsh exclamation.

  The strategy Naoto briefed them on–no, it was such a ridiculous idea one would wonder if it was a strategy. What Naoto briefed them on was a proposal on what to do with Halter’s cyborg body.

  The lack of the presence of the combat veteran Halter was a huge loss. Even so, it would be more perilous to use cheap cyborg parts. In that case, what we just need to do is to capture a ‘military’ main weapon and use it–that was what Naoto said, but…

  “…Get this clear already. Don’t tell me you don’t know that a human brain is used to control human body parts! Compatibility wise, a cyborg and an automata are two completely different things!”

  Marie rattled on about common sense, but Naoto just felt confused, tilting his head, saying,

  “…But I guess uncle can do it?”

  “–Just because Halter did pilot an armor unit before? Well, he has the experience, but that’s completely different from connecting his brain to it! Have you scanned your surroundings using ‘complex eyes’? Can you control 8 legs? You got to know that the intel for an artificial skin sensory is completely different from a Touch Sonar! The human brain can’t handle such information.”

  “You’re wrong there, Missy.”

  Vermouth, connected to the playdoll automata hanging on the rack, interrupted,

  “Aren’t you underestimating the brain of a veteran soldier? One so grizzled even the weapons are part of his flesh and blood?”

  “…Don’t be stupid. Anything else, such premises–”

  “They exist. Lots of them.”

  Marie was speechless, and Vermouth mocked her,

  “By connecting the brain to a weapon, the machine won’t be restrained by an AI’s rigid simulations, and able to improve on the flaws of a manned unit by preventing control delays. Some were forced to do it–and some did it themselves, you know?”

  Lots of them–this line implied that there were lots of such ‘human experimentation’ going on around the world. Marie widened her eyes, exclaiming,

  “Are you kidding me!? That’s a violation of human rights–completely illegal, right?”

  “Haha–! Now that’s funny! Insisting on human rights on the battlefield? What Goddess would actually respect such a thing? Too bad I didn’t see it before!”

  While Marie was left speechless, Vermouth sarcastically laughed, and move
d his stare about.

  “Anyway–brat, you’re the best maniac out there–did you figure that out while saying that?”

  “Ah, I guess so? I heard that uncle’s cyborg body was a ‘prototype’, so I guess it’s likely–”

  “Not bad, not bad. Your insight really is on scumbag level! I’m rather surprised that Missy doesn’t know this though.”

  “…What are you guys talking about?”

  Marie was skeptical because she could not follow the chain of conversation, and asked unhappily.”

  Vermouth showed a spiteful sneer, answering her question.

  “I did just say it right? The one who did this himself–was brother Halter himself.”

  Upon hearing this answer, Marie felt difficulty in breathing, and muttered,

  “…You’re kidding, right?”

  “I’m rather surprised that you don’t know, Missy. It’s a famous legend in this circle, you know?”

  The smile vanished from Vermouth’s face as he said this.

  “The legendary mercenary involved in the Scarborough Fair incident. Oberon. Over Work, capable to triggering miracles in dying moments of despair. Anyone who doesn’t know of such are either outsiders or amateurs. That brother–was in the middle of battle when he did that, you know?”

  And then–

  “He captured a heavy armor automata from the enemy! And connected it! To his head!”

  Vermouth sounded really proud of this.

  “That brother seemed to have said it before, you know? ‘No simulation device is able to compare to a human brain that survives a battlefield’. The proof of that is that he personally shot down 27 of the same kind of heavy armor automata and lived on.”

  Vermouth rattled on as though he was a fan passionately chatting about his favorite team. Upon hearing that, Marie answered him,

  “…You’re lying. If such an incident actually happened, there would have been a paper on it.”

  “The Scarborough Fair incident was an unofficial operation, and it happened before you were born, Missy. How about I tell you the reason why I’m surprised that the little slut Naoto figured it out and you didn’t–?”

  And then–

  “I’ll say, Missy. A ‘Prototype’–is in other words, an ‘experimental frame’, right?”

  Upon hearing that, Marie actually gasped.

  “You get it now? Normally, this is a violation of human rights–but what happens if it just so happened to be a suitable person for the job?”

  …Vermouth did not appear to be lying.

  To be honest–Marie did not understand why the Breguets actually hired Halter in the first place.

  But in that case, it would mean that Halter was a lab rat–

  Marie denied it again,

  “…It’s impossible theoretically. If a military automata’s information flows into the brain–the brain will break.”

  “Yep. That’s the reason why ‘such a weapon’ isn’t mass produced. One of the reasons is that there are many idiots out there who tried to be heroes and connected their brains to a weapon, went crazy, and forgot their own names.”

  Vermouth chuckled.

  “–Like for example, me?”

  Marie stared at Vermouth in shock.

  The man who lost everything except for his brain laughed.

  “–I did say it before, right? I’m brother’s ‘devoted fan’.”

  Marie lowered her head and went silent, pondering–before sighing.

  Then, she lifted her head.

  “Right, but there’s one condition.You call yourself a fan, so you know the machine Halter connected himself to back then, right?”

  “The HS FK2 ‘Oberon–it’s already an old relic back then. This country hasn’t purchased it, and even if you can move it, I don’t think it’ll be useful on the battlefield, you know?”

  Vermouth guessed Marie’s intent, and noted beforehand.

  Marie was probably wanting to get a machine similar to when Halter succeeded to reduce the risk as much as possible…that was Vermouth’s guess.

  But she stared at the air, muttering, pondering for a little while, and slowly nodded.

  “–‘Oberon’, right? I see. I think I can accept it a little. This means Halter wasn’t fighting recklessly without any chances of winning.”

  “Eh?”

  “The ‘Oberon’–is a ‘flawed product’ that has its controls and thought system gathered at the same place. As long as it’s shot in the back, it’ll stop functioning, so there’s an added armor at the back to reinforce it. This causes the machine’s center of gravity to tilt, and to counter that, there’s an excess of weapons loaded on it. It’s a ‘bad work’ as bad as shit.”

  Vermouth was speechless, and stared at Marie.

  “–Hey, did you memorize the blueprint of all the weapons in the world–”

  “Did I remember? Of course I did.”

  Marie heartily answered, curling her lips into a smile.

  “Don’t underestimate an ex-Meister here, Mr Dutch Wife? Now that it’s like this, maybe we’ll be able to solve this.”

  “Eh, and that is?”

  Naoto asked in confusion, and Marie explained,

  “It’s a flaw that the control and thought systems are gathered at the same spot in the back, but there’s also the advantage of convenience in repairing it. There are a lot of weapons that have such a structure…and there is one with a similar conceptual design to the ‘Oberson’–the Type CZ-35C ‘Black Tortoise’–Naoto, can your magic ears figure out where that ‘Black Tortoise’ is in Tokyo?”

  “You called it magic…like hell I know the model. At the very least, I need to hear it move–”

  “–You can figure it out just by hearing it?”

  Marie gave a serious look as she repeated to confirm,

  “–Can you hear it?”

  “Yeah. Once it moves, I’ll find it for you.”

  Naoto stared at Marie right in the eyes, nodding to confirm. Marie sized up his eyes–saying ‘is that so’, and nodded. At this point, there was no time in doubting this guy.

  “So, let’s set up a plan targeting it. Prepare to attach the head to that machine–Vermouth.”

  This was the first time Marie called this man in front of her by his name, and she asked,

  “So, answer me…what do you think are the chances of succeed?”

  Halter had no reaction, and he remained unconscious even when his head was linked to a voice installation. He was in a vegetative state.

  Would things go well? Would he really wake up? Right when Marie was feeling uneasy–

  “Need me to tell you something good? Miss Marie Bitch Breguet?”

  Vermouth showed a defiant smile,

  “A soldier lives and dies on a battlefield. Even after becoming a Princess’ baby sitter, the warrior’s blood would never vanish. I dare say that once that big brother smells the scent of battle–”

  He paused, and then continued,

  “He’ll wake up even when he’s dead–and at the worst, highest mood too.”

  –Connect a brain to a heavyarms automata.

  Any technician would have laughed it off, saying that it was ‘impossible’. In the face of such a difficult question, Marie too laughed at it.

  Vermouth easily stabbed the high frequency blade, fulfilling the mission as planned, and only destroying the AI. His movements were flawless, so precise there was nothing to nitpick.

  I see. This guy’s perverted and infuriating, but he doesn’t just have a mouth–looks like he will get the job done completely.

  He repaid Naoto’s magic with a miracle.

  “Now then…it’s my turn to get to work–”

  –30 seconds. That was the time limit Naoto had designated.

  30 seconds for them to gather the enemies, and while the enemies continued to increase in numbers and swarm upon Naoto, Marie, Vermouth and the ‘Black Tortoise’ Halter while AnchoR and RYUZU were relied upon to protect them.

 
“Ehh–I’m taking you down! Piece of cake!”

  Marie deliberately put on a front to pump herself up–and with a heinous smirk, she roared.

  At that instant–time slowed.

  Or at least Marie felt.

  The voices vanished, and in her spreading consciousness, she glanced at the situation in front of her.

  She threw Halter’s head directly upwards, her arms spread like wings as she laid out her tools.

  She repaired the destroyed thought system–2,876 parts in total, by analyzing them, dissecting them, and then–modify the automata control system that was modified prior to this, before Halter lands in her hands another 2.4 seconds later.

  –The operation itself was simple. It was tougher for her to fix RyuZU.

  But the tension felt was unmatched.

  Marie felt her bones creaking, her muscles having goosebumps, her blood boiling.

  If she was to make a single misstep, or be wrong in her theory, Halter would never wake up.

  Also, this would potentially be the final blow she would personally deal–and might end up killing Halter.

  With such fear and pressure, Marie’s lips curled into a bewitching curve.

  (–You can do it, Marie. If it’s you, you can do it–!)

  The preparations for dismantling and connecting were complete. Soon after, Halter’s head returned to her her hand.

  –There was another 27.6 seconds left.

  With precision and pace, Marie connected the head to the control system–there was still another 7.6 seconds once the work was done. It took her 6.1 seconds for the nervous system to be tested, 4.9 seconds to adjust the system to a simulation closest to human thoughts, 3.3 seconds for the machine to be reactivated externally, and another 4.1 seconds until Halter awoke again.

  It took her a total of 26 seconds. She had only 2 seconds to spare in unforeseen cases.

  (–What? I went over by 2 seconds…!)

  At that moment, Marie felt as though time had stopped.

  Her heart raced. She sensed that the surrounding voices had vanished, that her body temperature was dropping.

  Her tension and concentration was raised to the limit, and one felt as though his consciousness had risen, to a place where only RyuZU could reach in this universe.