by Kevin Brown
Since most people do not care about history, Pachun began to explain the history behind the word ‘Hoon’ it as if he had anticipated Taehan would not already know.
“Hoon was the name given to a local community a long time ago. They occupied a portion of the planet, but not the entire planet. It’s something only some people who are deeply interested in history know. The local community at the time was called ‘a country.’ Hoon fought against other countries and continued to fight for a long time. They conquered countries located in the south of the planet and built prison camps to contain the prisoners of war here and there on Hoon. People who lived in the southern part of the planet called the prison camps ‘Para.’ It became a common terminology indicating confinement and pain. ‘Han’ is a word used by people who lived in the camp on Earth when Ghil was there. He said it means sadness and resentment, or something like that.”
“Parahan…” Taehan recited the word quietly. He could understand what Ghil meant to convey by using the word Parahan after listening to Pachun’s explanation.
Taehan thought about when he was in Parahan and all of a sudden the memory he’d had of the face of his wife emerged. He did not expect that when he left to go to work that day it would be the last time he would see her. Although he could not express his feeling to others because of his fiancée, Sochan, in his mind, while he was at the camp he had never stopped yearning for his wife. His heart still stung because he was never able to say goodbye before he left. His mind drifted from the face of his wife to the last scene before he left the camp.
It was the figure of a frightened man staring at him. And chocolates randomly scattered on the street in front of him. These scenes had become more and more clear since he’d been back on Hoon, like pictures stored in his brain. They appeared in his dreams from time to time and harassed him constantly.
Suddenly, the name ‘Ghil’ crossed his mind when he recalled the face of the frightened man with short hair and glasses who had whispered ‘Hyunah’ and then disappeared.
Not possible…
Taehan tried to ignore the promptings of his intuition. But he could not do anything about the uncomfortable feeling in the back of his mind. The man’s eyes did not look like those of someone who had instigated an accident., but he remembered what his wife, Hyunah, had said that morning a before he left for work; that a man on the street had called her by name and then just disappeared. He had paid no attention to it at the time and it never surfaced into his conscious mind because it was buried in other memories of that day.
The man who had spoken his wife’s name...
The man who stood next to him as he was dying.
Ghil.
They were grouped in Taehan’s mind naturally and strongly, even though they could not be related.
Taehan brought himself back to the reality of the administration building and Pachun, who sat across from him. Taehan was here to find a way to stop the transparent object. What Pachun had told him, however, indicated there was no way for him to accomplish his mission. He would not be able to do anything even if he went to the camp, since he would lose all his memories.
“It will be meaningless to revisit Parahan,” Taehan said.
Pachun agreed. “I do not think you can achieve your mission there.”
“Where is Ghil?” Taehan asked.
“He is dead. Five years ago. He suddenly got sick and died. He was very young.”
Pachun stopped talking and looked vacantly over the top of Taehan’s head as if he Ghil had suddenly materialized, or he had sunken deeply into a cherished memory of him. Taehan left the room quietly.
As he left the camp’s administration building, what Pachun had shared drifted through and mixed together in his mind interlaced with his memories in the camp and the complications the transparent object represented right now.
On the trip back to Hoon, Taehan tried to get rid of these thoughts and concentrate on his task, wondering if they had to put all their hope in the institute. He reported the results of his visit to Daekhan and when he got back, he drove to the leadership building.
Out into the World 17
Two days had passed since Taehan visited the camp and met Pachun. The organization’s colleagues, including Taehan and Daekhan, were gathered in the situation room. Everyone was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the director of the military institute.
It was clear that finding a solution in the Parahan camp to overcome the transparent object was not possible. Daekhan had expected good news and hadn’t been able to hide his disappointment, so the results of the institutes were the only hope for them. Fortunately, they were told a positive answer had been found.
A group of researchers from the institute finally showed up just as the clock was about to announce them as late. Dutan, the director of Institute of Military Science, two professional researchers wearing the same uniform, and the man from Hanbau all arrived together. The man from Hanbau no longer looked afraid, presumably since he’d gotten enough rest.
“Welcome! I am so glad to hear that you have an answer. We’ve been anxiously waiting for the results of the analysis.” Daekhan said warmly to Dutan, “please have a seat.”
“It is fortunate for us as well. The institute was very concerned because the fate of Hoon depends on it. We are happy that we found a countermeasure,” Dutan said as he sat down. “However, our solution cannot resolve all the issues, so a critical decision is necessary.”
“It is important that we have the means to break through the current crisis somehow,” Daekhan said, “so please speak freely.”
“Then I will skip the introduction and jump to the topic right away.”
Everyone in the room held their breath and gave their full attention to Dutan.
“Over the past few days the Institute of Military Science has thoroughly analyzed the transparent object Yanhu brought with him. It is something we have never seen before so it must be something that does not exist on Hoon or, if it does, we have not yet discovered it. It may be an artificially created material. Our researchers analyzed the structure and composition of the material and synthesized it after giving it some thought.”
“Did you succeed?”
Santan looked at Dutan expectantly.
“The synthesis was successful, but it did not have the same characteristics. When the two things are stationary, we can’t detect a difference. However, when the new object was moved, the newly created material remained opaque. It was not completely transparent.”
“Then what is your solution?” Hanmoo asked in a frustrated voice.
“As we tried this and that, we found that the transparent object reacts to Pan by accident. We owe a lot to Yanhu.” Dutan smiled at the man from Hanbau who sat next to him and Yanhu returned his smile.
Dutan put a small piece of the transparent object on the table saying, “This is part of the transparent material.”
He brought a cylindrical bottle the size of a finger over the top of the transparent material. The bottle was half-full of a dark green liquid. He tilted the bottle and dropped several drops of liquid on the transparent material which began reacting rapidly as soon as the liquid touched its surface. At first, the part in contact with the liquid turned to light green and then, within seconds, a light green stain spread over a considerably larger area.
Dutan picked up the piece of stained material and shook it rapidly back and forth. The inside of the material looked transparent as it was moved, but the surface of it was evident due to the stain on it.
“Is the liquid Pan?” Santan asked curiously.
“Yes. Liquefied Pan.”
“Are you saying that we can block the transparent object by pouring Pan on it?”
Daekhan looked serious all of a sudden. Pan, as the main element composing the shield of the parantan, had changed the way modern warfare was fought, so it was natural that he was sensitive about the subject.
“Yes, but not by actually pouring Pan.”
“Then,
how do you specifically plan to use it on the battlefield?” Daekhan asked again with a sharp tone.
“Particles of liquefied Pan sprayed into the air will stay for a long time. I mean, until it lands on the ground. The transparent object will be revealed during battle if we spray Pan into the air in advance,” Dutan said without reserve.
“It will stain a large area even if only a small quantity of liquid touches the surface of the transparent object. This means the object will no longer be transparent. It is the only solution at the moment to fight back against the transparent object. With this knowledge we have a chance to succeed.”
“However, once the sprayed liquid hits the ground, it becomes useless.”
Santan tilted his head, a small pout forming on his mouth. “You are absolutely right. Therefore, we need to turn the pan into very fine particles and prolong the time it will stay in the air. Of course, we need to spray again before the liquid that’s in the air lands on the ground. We’ll need to determine how small the particles can be and still function properly.”
Dutan went on while looking at Santan. “Another issue is which height is optimal for the pan to be sprayed. The higher we spray it, the longer it can stay in the air, but then it takes longer to actually show us what needs to be seen. It is important that we spray at the right height. I will propose the optimum particle size and height to spray after conducting more tests at the institute.”
“Can we spray a mixture of paint and water instead of using liquefied pan?” Taehan asked when the thought occurred to him.
“Although it is not very noticeable, the surface of the transparent piece is very slippery, and the surface will be even slicker when the robot is finished. When these robots start to move, ordinary materials will not stay on their surface for even a second,” Dutan replied promptly, as if this was something he had already checked.
“I don’t want to ruin the good news, but I have to say this,” Chanman said, interrupting the conversation with a mixed expression. “I am glad we found a decisive way to fight back against the transparent object. Unfortunately, we have little Pan left for such use. We made parantan and armor for our soldiers, but since then, we have not produced any Pan.
“Shouldn’t we make some quickly?” Sochan asked.
“It is not easy to produce Pan, Sochan. It requires large quantities of rare materials and it takes a period of time to produce it. The manufacturing itself takes at least two-hundred days, regardless of the volume of Pan produced. It cannot be made immediately just by putting raw materials into a bucket. That was why we strongly suggested to the leadership that it should be produced multiple times. We urged them to produce Pan for increasing the military strength, although our proposals were ignored each time…”
“Damn bastards!” Hanmoo exclaimed with anger.
“I know that it takes a long time to produce it. Probably, as a researcher, I know better than anyone here,” Dutan said.
“If you knew it, then why did you make that suggestion in the first place?” Hanmoo asked, aghast.
“It is true that we will need a lot of time if we produce Pan from raw materials. However, that is not the only way to prepare for this war.”
Everybody looked at Dutan anxiously.
“We can retrieve it from the previously made parantans.”
“Are you suggesting that we have to destroy parantans?” Chanman’s enraged voice rang out through the situation room.
“I understand why you are upset, Commander. But I don’t think getting mad will solve any issues. What I am trying to say is that we have to find a clever solution to get through the current difficulties,” Dutan said.
“Why don’t we destroy the armor of soldiers if we must,” Chanman said, “rather than melt parantans?”
“Armor will not do. As you know, a soldier’s armor only has a fragile coating of Pan. It will not stand against an attack for more than a few minutes, even if we collect all Pan from the armor.”
Chanman fixed his glare on Dutan in frozen silence. The tension between the two was palpable and everyone in the situation room felt suddenly uncomfortable.
“Then how many parantans do I need to give up?” Chanman asked in a loud voice that was close to a shout. He glared at Dutan.
“Unfortunately, the amount we can extract from one parantan is relatively small compared to what we need,” Dutan said calmly. “If need to spray five to six times for every day of fighting to ameliorate the threat of the transparent object. Of course, that number could change depending on the particle size and the height of spray. We are not sure how long the war will be, but I suggest securing enough Pan for ten days. We will have to control the quantity and frequency of spray for each battle,” Dutan explained. But everyone in the room was waiting for him to answer Chanman’s question.
Dutan looked at everyone around the table in turn. “When we considered all anticipated conditions and the area covered by one parantan in a general defensive formation, we concluded that we need to extract the Pan on approximately half the parantans.”
“Are you saying that we have to destroy 150,000 out of 300,000 parantans?” Chanmans said, his voice rising with each syllable.
Daekhan intervened saying, “I think we should review this more rationally.”
Chanman reluctantly closed his mouth to refrain from saying anything further. Daekhan continued to speak, avoiding Chanman’s hostile eyes.
“How many culcoons did Taebakun mobilize in the big battles on Koman?”
“It varied by a battle,” Hanmoo said, “but the figure for the big battle was about one million.”
“How about the battles at Hanbau?” Daekhan said looking at Yanhu. “Do you speak Hoonish? Or should I arrange for an interpretation device?” Daekhan asked.
“I don’t need an interpreter,” Yanhu said. “I can speak Hoonish* to some degree. I put the estimate at 800,000 to 1,000,000 culcoons. As to the number of transparent objects coming between them… well, it is hard to guess since they sporadically appeared and disappeared. I would say there was one for every ten culcoons,” Yanhu answered.
“If so, we can expect 1,000,000 culcoons and 100,000 transparent objects, or a total of 1.1 million units,” Daekhan said.
“Although defending the capital is critical to determining the outcome of the war,” Chanman said, “there is a minimum troop requirement for defending various facilities and major cities on the planet. One hundred thousand parantans are needed for these purposes. It is reasonable to say that we have 200,000 parantans for defending the capital. If so, we will have to extract Pan from 100,000 parantans and fight the war with the other 100,000 parantans.”
Chanman spoke up, and it was evident to everyone in the room that he was trying hard to keep calm.
“I recall that you said one parantan unit could deal with seven to ten culcoons,” Daekhan said.
“That… is correct,” Chanman said.
“If that is the case, then we can cope with 1,000,000 culcoons with 100,000 parantans, can’t we? I am talking about the integral aspect,” Daekhan said.
Chanman paused a moment as he heard Daekhan’s question. He became speechless and then spoke again.
“In the actual battle, the power of the parantan will be significantly more than the experimental conditions we train with which is culcoons in optimal positions as they attack the parantans. The electromagnetic railgun in the rear of the parantan will help it. So, we will be able to handle 1,000,000 culcoons with each parantan.”
Chanman was trying to approach this scenario realistically as well.
“In this war,” Daekhan said, “we need to focus on the transparent objects. I believe that it is wise to think that we can win the war by sacrificing 100,000 parantans rather than trying to save all 300,000 parantans. What the director of the institute suggests is the best way to prepare for the invasion, which could even be tomorrow.”
The other members remained silent when Daekhan finished offering his conclusion.
> “I agree with you. Another urgent thing is to produce Pan as soon as possible. We have to make more parantans if time permits” Chanman said.
“Definitely!” Daekhan smiled.
“Shouldn’t we consider the weather? What will we do if they raid us on a rainy night?” Sochan asked
“Don’t worry about it, Sochan,” Santan said dismissing her concerns. He was very knowledgeable about science, including military science. “We can get rid of clouds in an instant, even after an attack is underway. Nighttime is not a problem either. We can make it as bright as day. Since we fight in Hoon, we can make the environment favorable to us. They already know what we are capable of. I don’t think they will carry on the ancient form of battle, which waits for the right weather.”
Out into the World 18
The sky opened up and poured its load of water down as if denying the sunny weather of yesterday. Big raindrops splashed onto the windshield of Taehan’s vehicle as he headed towards the military institute, the wipers trying valiantly to keep up with the deluge. He was forced to squint and put all his concentration onto the road ahead.
The war cannot break out now! He thought desperately, remembering yesterday.
It had been nearly fifty days since the man from Hanbau had arrived causing a great a deal of turmoil with the transparent object. Fortunately, Taebakun had been silent these many days, giving them time to work on the Pan extraction process and put all their efforts into preparing for war. They were nearly ready, and when they were fully ready, they would be able to eliminate the fear of the invisible enemy.
But then in broad daylight Taebakun broke their silence and a dozen fighters appeared in the air over Hoon. Planet Total Defense Force quickly launched their fighters in response while the armed forces readied for combat and the government declared a state of emergency in effect throughout the entire planet.
The leadership kept a close watch on Taebakun’s movements and the armed forces stood ready for the first signs of war, but no enemy fighters appeared again after that first showing. A new fear gripped the leadership amidst ominous predictions. Would Taebakun’s fighters be transparent, as well?