Dictator from outer space - Chapter 02

Returning to the past

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After landing 100 kilometres east of Dokdo, the Settler sank deep into the ocean floor.

Seawater rushed into the damaged area, but Arma was busy checking on her master’s safety.

「Breathing stable, vital signs normal」.

To her surprise, her master was sleeping peacefully.

Before we left, it wasn’t clear if he would live or die.

Arma placed one of the medical walkers at her master’s bed and began a system check.

「Major damage to the ether fusion reactor」

「Six auxiliary engines in need of repair」

「Flood zone expanding… 」

She quickly assessed the situation and took action.

Where she had to give up, she gave up, and where she had to protect her master, she mobilized her walkers to stop the flooding.

Gathering information was critical, as it would be difficult to move the Setler right away.

Despite the loss of power, the power cells were able to activate the auxiliary communication system.

「Start collecting radio waves」.

An old radio network collected the surrounding radio waves, and Arma analyzed them.

-NEWS just in. Japanese patrol boats confronting the South Korean Coast Guard in the Dokdo Islands have been swept away by a sudden tsunami. The South Korean Coast Guard immediately came to their rescue.

-China’s Vice Foreign Minister Liu Wei, who is visiting South Korea, has demanded a meeting with the country’s major conglomerates. The business community is not pleased with the abrupt schedule… .

-The birth rate is expected to fall to a record low of 0.53 children in 2025. The government has announced a number of measures, but it’s unclear how effective they will be.

It was an amazing thing.

Arma analyzed the information quickly and realized that Earth was far from normal.

According to the information coming in, it was 2025, not 2180.

The Setler had traveled 155 years back in time.

How is this possible?

Arma searched the databases, but nothing came up.

At best, she could find that Colonel Yu-Jia had been rescued on a mission to retrieve Relics from Mars ten years ago.

The Unified Space Force was reluctant to provide details at the time, so Arma couldn’t know much more.

But one thing was certain.

Her master had been in contact with the Prophet’s Relics in some way.

The alien Relics had manifested in many forms, but had never been reported to affect humans.

If her hypothesis was correct, this would be the first time.

Before she could rejoice, Colonel Yu-Jia coughed violently.

「Master, it’s time for you to wake up」

“Ugh… ”

He sat up, looked at his limbs, and smiled bitterly.

“I guess I’m not dead yet… Are we on Earth?”

「The current coordinates of the Setler’s location are Earth’s oceans; it’s sunk to a depth of 1,500 meters」

“The ocean? The Plague left it there?”

The Plague is a mechanical creature that attacks everything human.

The chances of them watching the Setler enter Earth’s atmosphere are close to zero.

Arma reported the conclusion.

「After analyzing several sources of information, the current time coordinates of the Settler are estimated to be 2025, not 2180」.

For a moment, Colonel Yu-Jia’s face hardened.

He thought the AI was playing a joke on him.

Before his mouth could open, Arma displayed information on the walker’s monitor.

Various messages flashed across his retinas.

 

-Seon-ho, come down immediately, you’re not allowed to do anything up there!

-Control, this is Corianna 311. Is it true that a meteorite just hit this area?

-Corona 311, from traffic control. The meteorite won’t eat you, rest assured.

-Acacia, juniper here, did you detect a light spot on radar.

-Uh..that was going so fast, I judged it to be noise… .

-What the hell do you think you’re doing, not following radio protocol? Get a new officer!

Messages in all sorts of other languages were sent to Yu-Jia.

It was strange, considering that the language of the Humanity Federation was supposed to be officially registered as English in 2180.

It could only mean one thing.

“… I have returned to the past.”

「I suspect it has something to do with the Master’s experience on Mars, though I don’t have enough information to draw any conclusions」.

Colonel Yu-Jia stroked his right chest absentmindedly.

“I was on a mission to secure the Prophet’s relic on Mars, and I found a sphere of golden colour.”

「The Prophet’s relic was absorbed into the Master’s body?」

“After seeing the orb, I woke up in a medical bay at Command, and the higher-ups buried the mission out of fear of what the Council would say.”

「Interesting. For now, we can assume that the relic absorbed by the Master is the key」.

“A key? A key to what?”

On Walker’s monitor, a reconstruction of events on the Setler appeared.

The opening of a blue door in the darkness of space was spectacular, even for Yu-Jia.

「I’m guessing this is the warp gate the Setler went through. Is it similar to the warp gate on Knox?」

Most likely… .

It was clear that the Setler had traveled through time.

But Yu-Jia wanted to see it with his own eyes.

Sometimes emotions were more important than cold reason and logic.

He stood up from the walker on one leg.

“Can we send out a probe?”

「Yes, we can. Maybe it will help the Master’s mental health」.

“I need to see the ocean for myself.”

A moment later, the probe carrying Colonel Yu-Jia rose to the surface.

The blue sky greeted Yu-Jia as he opened the hatch and stepped outside.

“Ah… ”

The scene was unbelievable.

Red polluted waters were nowhere to be seen. Instead, a dark blue sea filled his vision.

The smell that wafted into his nostrils could only belong to the sea.

He looked down at his one remaining ankle, soaked in the cold water.

Here was a world untouched by the plague.

He lay down in the sea, unknowingly.

Nameless birds flew overhead.

Chirp.

Yu-Jia suddenly felt hungry.

 

***

Arma catches fish for her patient master.

The method was simple: a probe was sent to a nearby island and bombarded with ions.

Dozens of unknown fish were caught and a walker with a cooking module was deployed.

Half an hour later, a golden brown grilled fish was on Yu-Jia’s table.

He stared at it in disbelief.

“People in this age… do they eat this?”

「Sometimes they eat it raw」.

“That’s horrible.”

「It tastes good… maybe」

Yu-Jia had never eaten anything like this, having been born in a megacity and raised in space.

The long war with the Plague had devastated most of the planet’s resources, and the only land available for human use was a small part of Australia.

Of course, the United Nations had made efforts to supply its citizens with a variety of different foods, but there were limits.

He ate the grilled fish and listened to Arma’s report.

「As of autumn 2025, the situation on Earth is as follows」

「The population is roughly 8 billion. There are over 200 nations, and it’s mostly peaceful」.

“It’s certainly peaceful compared to my time, but there must be some conflicts, right?”

「All-out wars are rare due to the strong influence of major powers, but beyond that, there is a lot of economic competition, and smaller conflicts」.

“Who are those powers?”

「United States and China, often referred to as the G2」.

“I’ve heard of the US. Did the English language come from them?”

English is the official language of the United Federation of Humanity.

「Technically, it’s Britain. They’re like America’s brother, and while they’re nowhere near the G2, they have their own influence」.

“I looked at the data and there are countries around here.”

「The peninsula to the west is called South Korea, the peninsula to the north is called North Korea, and the island chain to the east is called Japan, and there are other powers around them, including China and Russia. I’ll show you the exact names on the monitor」

“It’s a complicated place… ”

Actually, this information is not very important.

What we need to focus on right now is the position of Colonel Yu-Jia and the Setler.

This force has come to the 21st century with 22nd century science and technology.

The slightest leak of technology or concept can turn the world upside down.

Colonel Yu-Jia was put in the position of protecting them and seeking his own survival.

He opened his mouth heavily.

“Apparently the Prophet wanted us to go back in time.”

「We don’t know who they are, but one thing is certain: they’re helping us」.

“Maybe even now they’re watching over us from across the universe.”

Given that they opened a warp gate to the ninth planet and guided humanity through it, that might be a possibility.

However, humanity never reached the warp gate because they were too busy fighting the Plague.

At best, they built pioneer ships, including the Setler, but never got close.

But now.

With time to spare, the situation is completely different.

Humanity can defeat the Plague.

Thinking this far, Colonel Yu-Jia fell silent, and Arma waited for instructions.

Some time passed, and then he declared.

“We, the Children of the Prophet.”

When he referred to himself in the plural, it was because he was thinking of the United Nations.

The friends he knew, the screams he heard, and the final end he witnessed.

The United Nations is gone, but the human race survives.

Now, the two are one.

“Having inherited the Prophet’s technology, we are obliged to follow his will. We must defeat the Plague and return to the Prophet’s homeworld.”

The Prophet.

Beings who have appeared indirectly in the solar system since time immemorial.

Humanity had adopted their technology and concepts, but knew nothing of them.

We don’t even know where they are, what they are, whether they are individuals or collectives.

All that was certain was that they possessed a superior civilisation that humanity could not hope to surpass.

Yu-Jia instructed Arma.

“Set a goal. Create a roadmap and a timeline. Analyse all the information to find the best possibilities.”

「I need a power source to start the computation; the old Assault Armor’s engine should do the trick」.

Arma is an AI that specializes in processing and computing large amounts of data.

But in order to perform at her best, she needs the assistance of the Setler.

We’ve lost all power, but we can plug in the old Assault Armor engines and partially compute.

Colonel Yu-Jia smiled bitterly.

“Ambitious, but a long way to go..how long do you think it will take to repair the fusion reactor?”

「Diagnostics showed that it would take up to three years to repair the hull, but without the ether crystal, we can’t start it」

“As I recall, that was discovered before the Prophet’s artefact or the Plague… ”

「A quick search of the reports reveals that the first ether crystal was found around here in 2030, though it’s possible that it actually arrived on Earth before that timeframe」

“It’s going to be hard to find now, because they’ll think it’s some kind of gem. We’ll have to send a separate probe to look through it.”

「What about the Master’s limbs? We can’t activate the biobag, so I recommend a cybernetics procedure」.

The biobag is a healing capsule that can heal all wounds and illnesses as long as you don’t die.

But the ether fusion reactor is a prerequisite to activate it.

“I can live with the inconvenience. But at least I should be able to walk around… Prepare for the procedure.”

「I will prepare for the procedure, Master, but there are ships currently moving around above us」.

“Who do they belong to?”

「Korean and Japanese security forces, I’m guessing they don’t get along too well」

“They seem to be competing for the middle waters. Is there any danger of this ship being discovered?”

「With the technology of this era, there’s no way to detect this ship at 1,500 meters below the surface… submarines have arrived」

“Submarine?”

An elongated underwater platform appeared in the hologram.

“That’s a weird shape. Did they design it that way because of the water’s resistance?”

「I can’t use my etheric force field. These submarines are all different, by the way.」

“Looks like this is a hot zone, so there’s no need to make a fuss… ”

As he was saying this, Yu-Jia suddenly grabbed his right chest and collapsed.

Walker hastily helped him up.

「Master, Master」

There was no answer.

 

***

 

Arma faithfully carried out her master’s orders.

She gathered information extensively and sent out probes to find the ether crystal.

She also began to repair the Setler in earnest.

However, the cybernetics procedure had to be postponed.

Her fallen master’s condition had deteriorated rapidly.

One moment he was fully conscious; the next he was in a coma, and his breathing became irregular.

Arma treated him, but his condition worsened, to the point where he was unable to breathe without a medical walker.

「Emergency Measures Required」.

Arma carefully searched for information and found one possibility.

The Soul Exchanger.

A relic of the Prophet, a device that can store and transfer brain data.

As is often the case with Relics, this device was beyond the reach of the Humanity Federation’s technology to even begin to understand how it worked.

The United Federation never used the device for any reason.

Would transferring the data in your brain to another body make you ‘You’?

If the data is lost in the process and your memories are altered, is it you or not?

Of course, they trusted the Prophet’s technology, but they couldn’t help but consider the side effects.

So the Soul Exchanger was sealed shut and placed aboard the Setler.

Now, the time had come to use it.

But it could not be used without her master’s permission.

Arma devoted herself to her master’s care and waited for him to awaken.

It wasn’t long before he opened his eyes with a groan.

“… I’m going to die… ”

「Master, your condition is extremely poor. I can’t guarantee your survival at this rate」.

“I know… I can’t even use the biobag, so I’ll really die this time… ”

「In accordance with Article 2 of the A.I. Codex, Master’s survival takes precedence over all other matters. Therefore, I propose the use of the Soul Exchanger」

He shook his head helplessly.

“Against all odds… do we have a suitable candidate?”

「A 32-year-old man of Korean nationality, currently in stage 7 coma. There is virtually no hope of his recovery and he will be declared dead within a few months. His name is… Yu-Jia」

Yu-Jia coughed violently as he spoke.

“My, kulkulkulk, it’s the same as my name?”

「「Laughs」 So I did a lot of research. It just so happens to be right in line with our future plans. If Master instructs me to do so, I’ll go straight into the procedure」

Yu-Jia exhaled in agony.

There was no way I wanted to die like this.

How could I have come this far and let it end my life with no reward?

On his shoulders were the hopes of mankind.

“… make preparation.”

「I will prepare it」.

The Setler’s hatch opened and a probe loaded with equipment was ejected.

The probe finished its transformation in seconds and activated its ion thrusters.

It turned the air defense control station on Wollongdo upside down.

“What the hell was that!”

“Uh..it’s just rising, out of detection, speed Mach 10!”

The expressions on the faces of the radar room staff hardened, and the control officer muttered in disbelief.

“North Korea, these bastards have nukes..no… ”

Just then, the phone rang loudly.

Tiri-ri-ri-ri-ri-ri-ri-ri.

“Ha, it’s the Joint Chiefs.”

” Fuck.”

The control officer swore and picked up the receiver.

“..WHAT? is it already Seoul? Yes. We’ve lost detection range just five seconds ago… ”

Tiri-ri-ri-ri-ri-ri-.

The telephone continued to ring.