Chapter 31 The Major General's Play
“Well, that's a pretty good picture, isn't it? I think you can expect to make some sales, can't you?”
The command office at the lunar base was quite simple, with only a desk for Rear Admiral Zenon, two ornamental plants, a reception table, and a chair.
On the other side of the reinforced glass, there was a domed lunar city with many ships coming and going. Most of them are transports, sightseeing vessels, or high-speed small boats for sports, and in some sections, spacewalking is possible.
With the light source of the city at his back, Zeno was looking at several photographs.
There was Lillian, dressed in her uniform and posing like a captain.
Playing games.”
Lillian, who was not hiding her obvious displeasure, remained in a standing posture.
Currently, only Lillian and Zenon were in the room. Even the secretary had left the room.
Ares is also in good profile. I'm looking forward to receiving the finished version of the commercial.
Zenon laughed for a moment, then put the photo on the desk and, with a smile on his face, folded his hands with both elbows on the desk and rested his chin on them.
The first thing to do is to get the picture of the man who was to be the first to be born. Tiberius, I've done a lot of research on my end.”
A moment later, the air in the room seemed to drop several degrees.
Zeno's scowling smile remained on his face, and his tone of voice had not changed. He is a soft and gentle man from all angles, and has the air of an aristocratic lad who does not look like a military man, but when you meet him in this way, you can see it.
But when you meet him like this, you realize that he is a good schemer.
If you think of him as a decorated lunar base commander, he seems to have subordinates he can move around freely in his own way.
Whether it is because he is related to the emperor's bloodline, even though he is a branch of the family, or whether it is his own power, is something that even Lillian does not know.
Lillian does not know much about him either.
There is nothing suspicious about the construction process. There is no evidence that the warp engine has been modified in any way, except for the repairs you have made to it.
In the previous world, he had no contact with Zeno, but in this era, he had contact with him.
When Zeno talked to Pignard upon his assignment after Tiberius' return and convinced him that he would not have to go to the front lines if he was at the moon base, he was overjoyed and left his daughter in Zeno's care.
Pignard was delighted and left his daughter in Zenon's care.
Besides, the lunar city was also an economic city, making it an ideal place to treat the daughter as an idol.
Naturally, Zeno had Lillian idolize him, but he was also prepared to pay her in return.
He also had a quid pro quo in mind: an investigation into the Tiberius affair.
And it was Zeno himself who brought it up.
Of course, I can't rule out the possibility that he was ...... covering his tracks in the course of repairs. Well, as far as I'm concerned, I don't think so. Obviously, other people would find out.
He sounded as if he was trying to be pretentious.
I guess that was not the main point he was trying to make.
By the way, you are a ship of our glorious Imperial Space Fleet. By the way, do you know when the foundation of our glorious Imperial Space Fleet began?
It is a sudden question, but it is a simple one. It's something you learn in class.
If I were to give you a template answer, it would be ......, the first year of the Earth's history.
That's right. But in the meantime, there has been a decline of civilization and so on. But the Earth's history has continued for 4,000 years. Don't you think there are at least one or two technologies that have been lost?
“That's true, isn't it?”
To tell the truth, even Lillian had no idea about this.
The actuality is, you can find a lot of people who are not aware of the fact that they are not able to get the same kind of information.
But now that I think about it again, it may be so. If converted from the Western calendar, more than 6,000 years have passed since the beginning of human society.
The imperial system began about a thousand years ago. The war for the unification of the solar system broke out, led and won by the current emperor's family.
The current Earth is a very peaceful place. There are still space pirates and other rebels, though, right?
“Only on that point I can shake my head.
In fact, if you ask me if it is peaceful or not, you are right.
Corruption or no corruption, the reign of the empire is stable. The most important thing to remember is that the people who are in charge of the business are the ones who are in charge of the business.
It is possible to cover it up with more power. ......
So, let me ask you again: How much better is the performance of our spacecraft than the original? Do you think the performance of our spaceships has remained the same since the first year?
...... No, my lord.
I hadn't thought about it.
But I know what you mean. Lillian is not that stupid.
That's why I can answer that way.
I heard that it was around the time when the Earth's history was a thousand years old. I heard that the technology of space development at that time was tremendous. It was the golden age of space. Certainly, the foundation of the space battleships we are dealing with was laid in the first year of the Earth's history. But that is technology within the scope of what we can understand now.
“Your Excellency, please state your conclusion.
The technology we are dealing with has been restored, and of that we can only understand. It has allowed us to enter the space age once more in this way, but it is not up to the level of its heyday. This is a fact that, even as a major general, would not be revealed to a mere soldier.”
This is a rumor whispered within the Imperial Army.
Once you become a major general, you will be told the truth. But there seems to be a further step.
“Your Excellency,” he said, ”I mean the history known to the imperial family. You mean the history of the emperor's family?
Yes. Yes, that's right. Well, it's no big deal. The engineers would know that much, and the historians know that much, but no one ever points it out. But no one points it out. Why? Because they are not in trouble. Even with today's technology, mankind is enjoying itself. Peace has been maintained for a thousand years. What more do we want? ......
That is certainly one answer.
There have been a few skirmishes and pirate attacks, but there has never been a civilization-destroying conflict in the thousand years that the emperor's family has ruled. Whether this was by chance or by the political skill of the emperor's family, the fact is that peace prevailed.
I will tell you one truth. The warp technology we use. This technology is limited to 10 to 20 light years for safety reasons. Normally, we can jump more than 100 light-years.”
I was not surprised.
If there is talk of lost technology, I can guess that something like that is possible.
“Sir, are you saying that with the technology of the past, we can warp farther than we originally thought?
“Yes. Yes, it would be easy to warp 300 light-years. The warp engine we use now is a reproduction. It still works well, and in fact, 10 light-years is a tremendous distance. But what it can't do is provide the energy output. Once this stabilizes, the warp distance will increase exponentially. In other words. Tiberius wants people to know that it is possible to warp 300 light-years if you push yourself hard enough.
Whether by accident or on purpose, the fact is that warp itself toward the Horsehead Nebula is possible.
That may indeed be the first step toward the truth.
But that alone does not solve the mystery at all. Rather, it remains vague.
We know the truth about the warp engine, Your Excellency. We know the truth about the warp engine and the greatness of past technology. But is that all? With all due respect, that's about the extent of the answer I'll get someday. You said it was an answer that only a lover of urban legends or an engineer could get to.
That's right. That's right, Lillian. I thought it was a funny joke when you told me that the accident could have been caused intentionally, that it could have been a spy, but I found it hilarious when I looked into it.
Zenon seemed to be in the habit of pouting.
He smirked again, this time with a wry grin.
As for Lillian, she wanted to know the answer as soon as possible.
There are traces of a manual ultra-long distance warp that unlocked Tiberius, but we don't know who did it. But we don't know who did it. I'll continue my investigation, but I don't think I can count on much. It means I don't have that many moves I can make. They seem to be on guard.
“If you put it that way, do you know anything about the empire, or rather the imperial family?”
“Of course I do. I am a branch of the family, so I don't know much about it, but they are hiding something. I don't know much about it because I am an offshoot, but they are hiding something. I don't know much about it because I am an offshoot, but they are hiding something. If I try too hard, they'll probably dismiss me from the moon base and from command.
Zenon looked serious and troubled at that moment.
'I don't even know who did it. Maybe the upper echelons of the empire really don't know for sure either. But I have a guess. I think the enemy may be the descendants of human beings who escaped from the Earth's sphere ...... thousands of years ago and set their sights on a new world. It's too big a leap to say that it's ...... come for revenge.”
Zeno seems to think this is just one of the possibilities. He himself did not seem to be convinced by the theory he had put forward.
In the first place, how do you send in a spy? No, it is possible because there are spies in the first place. That would mean that their technology is several orders of magnitude better than ours, enough to be able to fly 300 light-years.
Yes. But the enemy ship we encountered is .......
The enemy ships we have encountered are not much different from ours in terms of simple differences in performance,......, although it is too early to conclude this. This only deepens my many questions. Just when you think you have one answer, a new question pops up.”
Zeno is right. Lillian was in the same situation.
But Lillian's questions were deeper.
(Descendants of humans who once left the earth...... wait. That doesn't make sense. Because we will know in the future. The Horsehead Nebula people were completely alien, with purple skin and green blood ...... and a different ecology than the human race.)
We saw an enemy prisoner of war only once in the past. Humanoid, but definitely not human.
So, humans who fled the Earth for thousands of years to the Horsehead Nebula evolved independently and turned purple?
If so, it seems logical that we on Earth must have evolved in some way as well. If we are adapting to an environment that is different from Earth's, then the people on the colonized planets must have undergone some kind of ecological change as well.
However, while there are certainly differences in height, chest circumference, and whether or not they are tanned, there are no significant changes in their ecology as human beings.
Even if the Horsehead Nebula people were descendants of humans, if they were to turn purple, they would have to be genetically engineered, and I wonder if they could really be called humans if they had changed that much. And would they have feelings of revenge against the earth?
If so, it would be more understandable if they came as invaders.
(What in the world is going on? What is our enemy?)
Mutants created by past humans have rebelled?
Or are we still being attacked by uniquely evolved humans?
(I don't know all these things ...... but I wonder if she knew...)
Lillian's mind was filled with images of Stella in the future (she became a general).
(She became a marshal. (She became a marshal, so I wonder if she knew everything. What was she thinking when she was fighting?)
Hatred for me? The despair of losing her lover? Or...
At least, I don't think it was a good feeling.
Whatever it was, whoever or whatever the enemy was, if they were going to attack me, I had no choice but to fight back.
The most important thing is to survive and avoid such an uninteresting future.