Chapter 148

Kait, who had transferred the somewhat dazed Earthling onto the cargo ship, forced open the lattice door and stepped into the outer room.

They were sound asleep. Tying each one up would be too much trouble, so he used psychic power to lift them and carry them as-is. He could have dragged them, but if they woke up from the shock, that would be a hassle.

Along the way, he floated other sleeping crew members in the same manner, heading toward the bridge.

Opening the door to find everyone asleep was a surreal sight, more than it looked. Just then, Emotion, who had been following behind Kait, shifted into a humanoid form.

"Then, I'll neutralize this area now."

"Thanks. Just like we planned—Earthlings go to the cargo, and the crew operating the ship gets transferred here."

"Understood. ...Even so—"

Looking around in a circle, Emotion spoke in exasperation.

"Psychic power really is something incredible."

***

Many intelligent lifeforms exist in the universe. There are countless variations in the number of functional limbs and life systems, and almost no universal weaknesses. When biological modifications are made for environmental adaptation, those weaknesses become even fewer.

However, despite being born on different planets, with different cultures and biology, they all strangely shared one trait: they slept.

Beings originating from planets almost universally live in environments with day and night cycles. Having evolved to match their own life systems, they are inherently conditioned to sleep during either day or night. This trait remains even after biological modification.

No matter how much their bodies are enhanced through modification, sleep remains a necessity. The cycle may change drastically, but the function of sleep itself persists.

"Alright, I'll explain the rest over there."

Earthlings go to the cargo ship, and the crew sleeping on the bridge are sent to the first ship. Psychic power that forces non-Earthlings into a sleep state.

The psychic wave emitted from the ten Di-Kigaia Zarmos ships successfully neutralized the remaining forces of Tsubanda.

After that, it was a simple task of boarding each ship with Queen Bee and transferring the unharmed Earthlings to the cargo. Consolidating the bridge crew in one place was to prevent them from escaping in case they woke up.

"And that's one done."

The operation proceeded smoothly. Even though they were dealing with thirty ships, there was little tension. Forced sleep didn't work on machine intelligence, but the remnants of Tsubanda couldn't operate machine intelligence anyway.

Naturally, machine intelligence made by the Federation had ethical controls to prevent violations of Federation law. Since Tsubanda itself was in violation from the start, they couldn't operate machine intelligence. While they could use machine intelligence from outside the Federation, the performance dropped significantly. Due to incompatible standards, non-Federation machine intelligence couldn't operate Federation ships.

In short, unless someone was a serious enthusiast, no Federation citizen would go around with non-Federation machine intelligence.

That said, neutralizing thirty ships at once was an extraordinary feat. Kait doubted he could do it even with ten of himself. Seeing a glimpse of Terapolapaneshio's power left him both impressed and terrified.

"Emotion, how's it going on your side?"

'Yes. The ship's functions have been reduced to the bare minimum. It's practically a prison now.'

"Quite a luxurious prison, though."

'It's probably not as comfortable as the Captain's old room.'

"Of course not. I had you with me, after all."

Besides, that prison was about to be handed over to the Federation. Unlike Kait, who had already been sentenced and imprisoned, they were about to stand trial.

As he chatted with Emotion, they were halfway through the operation. On the way to the bridge, Kait suddenly stopped walking.

"Ah, of course there would be someone."

"Y-You're awake!?"

A humanoid machine staggered toward the bridge. Since it wasn't machine intelligence, it must have been a Federation citizen who had fully mechanized their body.

The way it turned to look at him was like a drunk person.

"I see? Doesn't look like you're fully mechanized."

"Ugh, Gamahadegg! What's this voice!?"

Oh, that slang—he hadn't heard that in a while. Maybe the guy was hearing things. He was flailing his arms wildly.

Since Terapolapaneshio's forced sleep seemed to be working, Kait guessed that the guy had only partially mechanized his brain. On the other hand, if there were fully mechanized individuals, they might still be awake and wandering the ship.

He couldn't afford to be too relaxed. Kait decided to speed up the work.

"Just for reference, can you tell me what kind of voice you're hearing?"

"It says 'sleep, sleep'! You—do you know something!?"

He seemed half-drunk and couldn't tell that Kait wasn't part of the crew.

That made handling him easier.

Kait approached as if to support him, offering his shoulder.

"Yeah, I know. We're under attack."

"What!? That's bad—I need to report to Anii!"

So this guy was the ship's muscle. Not too bright, but had enhanced his violence through mechanization. His weight pressed heavily on Kait's shoulder.

Kait gently placed his left hand on the guy's head. He didn't seem to notice.

"Hey, you. Take me to Anii. You... who are you?"

"It hurts that you don't remember me."

Snap. The shock from Kait's left hand cut off the guy's consciousness.

Before the weight could fully bear down on him, Kait let go and confirmed the guy wouldn't be getting back up.

"I'm your target. When you remember, feel free to regret it."

Did he not understand why Earthlings were being kept?

Maybe even if everyone had woken up, Kait could've talked his way through it.

***

"Am I lucky or unlucky...?"

'S-So it really was an attack! Gamahadegg, stay away from me!'

On the last ship, there was a fully mechanized Federation citizen. Unlike the previous one, this one was full of energy—his brain must've been modified too.

If the order had been different, he might've gone unnoticed. Cursing his bad luck, Kait reconsidered—maybe he just hadn't encountered others on the previous ships.

The problem was that the guy in front of him was holding an Earthling. On the thirtieth ship, the hostage was finally being used as intended.

'No one's waking up, and I can't contact the other ships. This is all your doing, isn't it!?'

"Nah? That's mostly Terapolapaneshio's power."

He wasn't lying. The Earthling boy with a locked neck didn't seem to understand the man's words. He looked around, confused.

Still, he seemed to sense the tense atmosphere and kicked his legs nervously.

"Sorry, could you wait just a second? What's your name?"

"I-I'm Ron. Are you from Earth?"

'I-I'm Mahejiret! I'm not scared, you hear me!? I'm not scared of you!'

"Yeah. My name's Kait. I came to rescue you."

Even though no one asked, this Mahejiret guy gave his name too. Did he think the question was directed at him?

Despite being fully mechanized, he seemed pretty dumb. Maybe Tsubanda's mechanized citizens were all idiots?

"Hmm. Mahejiret. If you let go of that hand right now, I promise I won't do anything to you."

'Huh!? Don't mess with me! I don't care if you're Kait or whatever, don't think Mahejiret is some Gamahadegg!'

"Ah, I see."

Why didn't he know who Kait was?

With a sigh, Kait stepped forward. Casually approaching, he shook hands with Ron.

'Hey, what the—'

"I've lived a decent life in the Federation too, you know."

'W-What!? Damn, where'd the Earthling go!?'

He transferred Ron to the cargo ship. Mahejiret's right arm went with him, but it probably wouldn't be a problem. That place was under Terapolapaneshio's watchful eye.

"The meaning of the word 'Gamahadegg' just never really comes through clearly."

'M-My arm!? Damn it, this body was expensive!'

"Well, you didn't seem like you were going to remember it even if I told you."

'I'll kill you!'

As Mahejiret raised his left arm, Kait pointed his right index finger at him.

"Bang."

'Gah!'

The pure white light fired from his fingertip struck Mahejiret directly, sending him flying. It hit him in the face, and he was blown back with a strange noise.

"Huh. That went better than I expected."

It was a blow modeled after a miniature Psionic Launcher. He hadn't intended for it to pierce, so it didn't go through Mahejiret's face. It was smoking, but a repair might be possible.

Anyway, as long as he didn't get back up, that was fine. Kait sent a transmission to Emotion.

"That should be all of them. Any signs from the Earthlings?"

'Yes. No response except from the Captain. Rescue mission complete.'

"That's good to hear. Let's leave the rest to Terapolapaneshio and head back."

'Understood. I'll be waiting for you.'

Kait briefly considered whether to send the bridge crew too, but decided it was too much trouble and left it to the Space jellyfish.

After all, the rest of the crew would be arrested too. Deciding to report to the Space jellyfish while picking up Emotion, Kait returned to Queen Bee.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.