Deneb United States — Capital Planet Kathea. Presidential Office
“Alexandr. When did we send the warning to those monsters?”
“Thirteen days ago, Madam President.”
President Lydia Moretti. Elected by an overwhelming margin of support in the Deneb International Union, she had recently started taking headache medicine.
“Ah, fuck, my head already hurts because of those space tin-can bastards, and now it’s space bugs?”
“Madam President. Please maintain your dignity.”
In the past, during the second year of President Moretti’s term. Not long after the Deneb International Union advanced into space, a swarm of machines appeared at the border of the Deneb United States.
“Translation program activated. Encounter protocol activated. Pleas—hello. Unit KAC-86. Offering greeting. Awaiting response.”
The Deneb United States’ first diplomatic counterpart was a highly advanced machine intelligence. Introducing themselves as the Telluris Assimilated Collective, the machines moved under the command of an ultra-advanced artificial intelligence. At first, they instilled fear in the humans of Deneb, but their continued friendly attitude soon opened the door to exchange.
Third year of her term.
“Madam President. A probe patrolling near the border has gone undetected. It may have suffered some sort of accident.”
“Madam President. Reports of disappearances from our subordinate satellites have become frequent lately. There seems to be a problem.”
Fourth year of her term.
“Madam President. We’ve lost contact with the delegation sent to the Telluris Assimilated Collective.”
“Madam President. The Telluris side has sent word that they will actively cooperate with the investigation. I will go personally to confirm. Something feels suspicious.”
“Encounter protocol activated. Offering greeting. Mad-am. Pres-i-dent. Have. You. Been. Well. Nothing. Has. Happened. Awaiting response.”
The president fired a bullet at the secretary who had served her more faithfully than anyone.
“Why. Why$ë. Whᅑy?”
“I’m sorry, Antonio.”
From his bullet-riddled body flowed not warm blood, but screws and coolant.
From that point onward, the Deneb United States and the Telluris Assimilated Collective entered a state of war.
The Telluris Assimilated Collective believed machines to be perfect beings without flaws, and claimed they had merely modified the bodies of the members of their ally, the Deneb United States, to make them more refined.
Even if the parties themselves refused, enlightening foolish friends was also something one ought to do as a friend. So they conveyed that Deneb should clear up the misunderstanding and quietly become machines.
The Deneb United States returned their answer with missiles.
However, both species had only just begun space navigation, and neither possessed the national strength to deal a decisive blow to the other. Rather, their strength was being eaten away by the war.
The machines of the Telluris Assimilated Collective specialized in modification and transformation, and thus lacked firepower. The Deneb United States possessed outstanding firepower, but struggled to keep up with the production capacity of the Telluris Assimilated Collective.
And so, a stalemate continued through a tedious confrontation.
Eighth year of her term.
On the opposite side from the border with Telluris, a new species was discovered. In the form of descending with enough force to devour an entire planet.
“No matter how I think about it, we were too hasty. What if this species could communicate? What if we sent the letter far too rudely?”
“Madam President... From the beginning, the entire staff, as well as you yourself, unanimously agreed that they were likely monsters incapable of even reading a letter.”
“Ha... That’s true, but they could be monsters who can communicate, couldn’t they?”
“Yes. Which is why we sent a warning letter, taking that possibility into account. But only two days remain until the deadline. You must prepare yourself.”
“...”
“If they attack from this direction, it will be a two-front war. The distance from the opposite border is too great for either side to support the other. You must also keep peace negotiations with Telluris in mind.”
The staff officer was right. True to humanity’s nature as a species that loved planting flags in empty land, once space navigation became possible, they had expanded their territory at an astonishing speed. As a result, to travel from the northern Telluris border to the southern border with the new species, one had to pass through five or six star systems.
If anything, it would have been better to abandon the southern border and buy time against an attack from the insectoid species, but from the southern border, after just one star system, lay Deneb. The capital planet.
Ha, seriously, what am I supposed to do? The president’s sighs only grew deeper.
Bang!
Just then, a man kicked open the door and rushed into the presidential office.
“Madam President!”
“Calm down and report.”
“Madam President. A gigantic whale is approaching from the south.”
“A... whale? A space organism? Don’t mess with it for no reason. Remember what happened last time when we touched that space jellyfish?”
“No, that’s not it, Madam President! A signal is continuously emanating from the whale! It’s a wave intended for communication!”
She shot to her feet.
“Really? Decode it at once! No, guide me there at once. Where was it received?”
“It was received by the ship Prometheus. They say they received it while patrolling the southern border. They are currently in communication with the Prometheus in the communications room.”
“Those clever bastards.”
The president hurried off. Practically running, she arrived at the communications room and immediately grabbed a communications soldier to ask.
“How much has been decoded?”
“Loyalty! They say the translation has just been completed. We are receiving the translated text now.”
“Put it on the screen.”
Before they knew it, the staff officers of the Deneb United States, having heard the news, had also crowded in and were staring at the screen. In a silence so complete that one could hear someone swallow, the received message began to appear on the screen, one word at a time.
[Warning confirmed, concern understood]
“Considering the transmission distance, it seems they sent mainly individual words so the meaning would not be distorted.”
“I get it, so shut up for a second!”
[Explanation possible, communication necessary]
...
[Peace, unarmed]
“We’re saved!”
“F-Fuck... I told you they might be monsters we could talk to!”
Thud.
Without realizing it, the president collapsed where she stood.
This species might be pretending to be peaceful and then stab them in the back, just like the Telluris Assimilated Collective. Judging from the soldiers who had been descending onto the planet, they could hardly be called a perfectly pacifistic species.
But the Telluris Assimilated Collective had taken two years to reveal their true colors, and what mattered was that a two-front war was not about to open immediately. Everyone present knew that fact.
It seemed they would not be seeing Deneb burn in the near future. They had bought time. No, this was no time for that.
“Is Admiral Nikolai there?”
[You called?]
A reply came from the receiver connected to the ship Prometheus.
“Make contact with our guests. If possible, it would be best not to show them the domestic situation. If they learn we are in wartime, we don’t know how their attitude might change.”
[Understood, President.]
“Absolutely, absolutely do not antagonize them. We need time until the war with Telluris ends.”
[Do not worry. Who do you take me for, a fool?]
“Disrespectful bastard. End transmission.”
[End transmission.]
◈
I am currently controlling a Hirak body that will serve as a diplomat, Hihirak, by assigning my consciousness to it.
Inside the mouth of the space whale, I am moving through the vastness of space while sharing in the space whale’s sight.
How does this whale drift through space, and how can it navigate at such speed? Since it was created not by me but by the original Transcendent, I don’t know the principle behind it.
I do have its genes, but they feel like “genes that let it navigate space~,” so they’re useless for understanding the scientific reason. In truth, from the moment I entered a game, the situation had already drifted far away from science.
Riding the whale like this, I found myself slightly regretting that I had made Killerak and Hunterak taciturn. With my only two conversation partners never opening their mouths, I was so bored I thought I might go insane.
“Hunterak.”
“Yes, Lord Hihirak.”
“The weather sure is nice, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“...”
From around the time we nearly reached the border with the Deneb United States, we began continuously emitting communication waves. Since this was not communion with the Legion, and it was my first time doing long-distance communication, I continuously emitted only a few important words to make it easy to understand.
Mwoooong—
“Yes, yes, put in a little more effort, dear whale.”
Our whale handled the communication for us. There were only three Hiraks here, so how could we possibly manage something like communication? We were sending out transmissions at random, hoping the other side would respond.
Seeing it like this, it did seem like we had come out far too unprepared.
As we sailed on while emitting communications, we arrived at the border with the Deneb United States.
The game I played had a setting where star systems were connected by a faster-than-light network called hyperlanes, and by riding these hyperlanes, one could cross into another adjacent star system.
So if we took the hyperlane right in front of us, we would enter the territory of the Deneb United States. But is it really okay to go in? What if they consider it a border intrusion for no reason?
Just as I was agonizing over it, a ship from the Deneb United States side instead split through space and crossed over via the hyperlane. Immediately afterward, a communication wave came from the ship.
[This is the ship Prometheus. I am Admiral Nikolai. Pleased to meet you.]