Aurora Over a Dead World

"Commander Nadir, thank goodness nothing happened to you," Cecilia says as she tends to the small cuts and wounds I ended up with, mostly from the shockwave.

"Yes, Alice stayed closest to the monster and took most of the damage. Besides, that monster, despite being from a very old generation, didn’t know how to fight well. It probably never had to face many battles its entire life."

"...Has another team gone out yet?" I ask her as she hands me a simple shirt.

"Yes, now that the threat’s been eliminated and the drones didn’t find anything else nearby, they sent people to collect more machine parts. That area has a lot of useful stuff, and you literally fought for it. We need to take advantage before Aurora Island drifts away from this area," she explains in great detail.

"Sounds complicated, and it sounds equally terrible for the island to leave without us getting anything after putting in all that effort," I say with a certain seriousness. Fortunately, the work was done quickly.

"...But Cecilia, let’s get to what matters. What did they think of the performance?" I’m extremely tense. The results of this could determine whether I’m succeeding or if they’ll try to bring Zenith back.

"Good. You handled a problem alone that would have required three to four Kairas using the help of just one. And even though Alice is strong, she’s considered a pretty weak Kaira since all her power is based on pure explosive physical force."

"It earned you solid points with the superiors who approved the reports..." Cecilia seems angry, and I understand why — because they completely ignored the fact that Alice almost died.

"Cecilia, do you want to come to a restaurant with me?" When I say this, Cecilia looks surprised and blushes.

"I-I..."

"I need to take Alice out to eat something good. It was a promise." When I add that, Cecilia’s expression turns a little cold.

"Sounds great, Commander... but I don’t think I’ll be able to go." She walks away while I realize it maybe came out wrong starting with the part about inviting her to a restaurant. It would’ve sounded like I was asking her out.

"...Haa...women." I get up from the bed, grabbing my phone. Unfortunately, I don’t have the day off yet. I have things to take care of.

"Oh, Commander Nadir!! You’re here? Want to go out for a drink?" A soldier passing by sees the door Cecilia left open and speaks when he spots me.

"...Sorry, I’m busy right now. You know how it is, right? Reports. Besides, I’m not much of a drinker, but maybe next time," I tell him. He waves and walks off whistling. I turn my focus back to my problem.

"Let’s see...my routine really has gotten tight...normally Zenith would handle this paperwork...monster hunting...urgh...I hate hunting monsters." I look over the monster-hunting assignments. Normally, Zenith always took care of that too. She loves the sensation of destroying monsters, even though it’s risky for her brain.

"I think I need new weapons. Standard vector weapons won’t be adequate anymore... Nexus, what kind of weapon do you think would suit my physique? By the way, I don’t like rustic-style weapons like Alice’s." Even though Alice’s sword is extremely high-tech and durable.

It’s still a sword. I’d rather not have weapons like spears, swords, special knives, axes, or anything of the sort. Even with all the current modernity, many Kairas have weapons like that because they’re more compatible with their powers.

Zenith even tried using a katana once, but she was terrible at it. And after she got her prosthetics, she always crushed the hilt when she got irritated and squeezed too hard, so in the end, Zenith’s tail became her weapon.

"[I believe there isn’t a specific option for you. You’d probably have to speak with someone from the development division and ask for their help. Perhaps a weapon that stores heat and can fire it in a more concentrated form to match your powers,]" Nexus offers a good idea.

"...The development team...could be. They’re pretty nice people too." Thank goodness it’s not the research team. Those people are unpleasant, arrogant, and mess with some bizarre things.

"[Commander Nadir, I have a question. Why do you grant the Ex-Commander Zenith access to your authority? I’m noting here that there are several accesses made by her using your authority.]"

"[To me, it sounds like a risk. If Zenith does something wrong using your authority, you’ll be penalized. After all, you’ve already been informed she’s using it and you allowed it.]"

"I don’t care. Zenith can do whatever she wants. I’m honestly fine even with her doing wrong things, and I doubt she’d do anything to cause me trouble. She’s cautious...very cautious."

"[You humans are a curious thing. The life of most of you in military posts boils down to work. Some of you have twenty-hour workdays. Naturally, the chips or cores have increased your physical capabilities, but it still sounds dangerous for long-term health.]"

"[Although I understand the monster problem, I deduce that some current decisions of humanity aren’t good. Why train students without teaching them the dangers they’ll face? That causes a great number of new recruits to die, with about ninety percent of all new soldiers dying in their first battles.]"

"...Nexus, the reason for that is something you, as a machine, wouldn’t understand. It’s fear. Fear has always existed within humanity, and currently, fear is our greatest enemy."

"The government, in their view, needs to keep civilians dumb, naive, and innocent regarding the danger. Of course, everyone knows monsters exist, because they appear up here on Aurora Island, but it’s at a minimal level."

"If at the Academy students were truly taught about the hell that being a soldier is, many might give up. And worse, you’d have ordinary people knowing what really happens."

"In other words, in the past they decided it was better to throw all new soldiers into battle and let them find out through their own experience, while the strongest survive and climb the hierarchy."

"Everything is driven by fear—"

"[Are you afraid of something?]" Nexus interrupts me, but I don’t complain about it.

"...I’m afraid of losing Zenith. Just that." I fear nothing else besides that. Not even death is something I’m afraid of. I’ve grown accustomed to the idea of dying after so many battles.

"[But fear creates monsters. Why not get rid of fear?]"

"Hahaha...that’s funny. You can’t just get rid of humanity’s fear. First, because it’s an instinct we’ve had since birth. Second, because it’s necessary for our survival. And third, because it’s impossible to alter all humans so that no one feels fear anymore." I open the infirmary door, leaving and heading toward my room to grab a set of proper clothes.

"[If fear disappeared, everything would fix itself, in my view.]"

"If fear disappeared, humanity as a whole would die. We’re too destructive, and many things that hold humanity back are fear. Let’s suppose fear vanished. Monsters stop being born, and in a positive scenario, we kill all the monsters that already exist."

"Humanity would repopulate the land below Aurora Island, then it would expand, and then wars would begin. But now with dangerous technology, super-powerful soldiers, and without the existence of fear to prevent a complete annihilation of humanity."

"Even though it might sound great for fear to disappear, it ends up being a brake that holds us back and keeps us away from danger and the stupidity of certain bad decisions." I stop in the hallway, seeing a poster for a new sport. I take the poster and keep walking while looking at it.

"Now, enough talk about that. I want your help with the reports Zenith used to handle. I’m going to need help if I want to have any rest time..."

"[I foresee an eighteen-hour workday. Is that fine with you?]"

"...Sure." I wish I had more free time, but eighteen hours is far better than being on missions that last weeks where the work is twenty-four hours a day for several days.

"Before anything else, I just want to buy myself some dark chocolate. In the meantime, could you tell me if that sports thing actually got made? A few years ago, I heard the government was funding some new type of sport to cheer up the population and raise happiness indexes, and look, I just found a poster about it."

"[Yes, such a sport was created. Currently, there’s only one court and four teams training to compete, since they can’t spend many resources on it. However, the sport is a mix of old soccer, handball, and volleyball.]"

"[It’s played on a large court with a net in the middle and portable floaters, a new technology being tested. It works on the soles of the shoes and allows floating up to five meters above the ground and lifting up to one hundred and forty kilos.]"

"[The game functions simply. Both teams have their own side and must cross to the opposite side with the ball in hand and hit the enemy goal. But you can only enter the enemy area if you have the ball, with a limit of three of your partners on the enemy side.]"

"[And you need to cross through the opposite side of the ball. Like, if you throw the ball under the net, you need to simultaneously pass over it. Legs and hands are allowed, and the net is three meters above the ground,]" he explains the game. It sounds interesting.

"[By the way, the teams are made up of eight people, so the game is quite strategic, and they have to decide well who stays in their area and who goes to the enemy area,]" he adds and stops talking.

’So it’s eight people, and the right way to play is probably putting three on each side in the enemy field and making passes over and under the net while trying to throw the ball into the goal...’ I think for a bit. It seems interesting, but sports aren’t my thing.

"Do you think Zenith would like to watch a game?" I need to take Zenith on a date. I promised, and she’d be furious if I didn’t follow through.

"[Ex-Commander Zenith seems like someone who’d prefer to be taken to a battlefield on a date, but a sport might be a smart play, even though there are a lot of people. For a veteran like her, crowded public places would be exhausting and dangerous.]"

"You’re right...I think I’d better think of something else." I arrive at a vending machine and buy my chocolate, heading to my office to deal with reports.

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