Chapter 35: I'm Right Here

Meanwhile, aboard the space station—
“You’re back, Renjin.”
“Yes, Nannai, could you give me a hand?”
Nannai took the heavy helmet from the astronaut who had just completed a spacewalk. She patted Renjin’s arm, signaling him to turn around, and helped him unlock the seal at the back of his neck that linked the helmet to the neck guard.
“How was it outside?”
“There are two points on the solar panels with problems, probably due to aging. There’s nothing much we can do about it right now.” Renjin Kujou, a resident researcher and maintenance specialist on the space station, sighed, feeling powerless. He said to his wife, who was also a resident researcher and maintenance specialist, “When the next supply ship comes, let’s have them bring replacement parts.”
“Then we need to put in the request as soon as possible. The next supply ship should arrive in two weeks, and the deadline for cargo preparations is probably in a day. If we miss it, we’ll have to wait for the next one.”
“Understood.”
Helping her husband remove the spacesuit piece by piece, Nannai pressed on the isolation pouch at his waist and abdomen, then abruptly paused.
Something felt off under her hands.
“Isn’t this leaking a bit?”
She pressed down gently, her brow furrowing—yes, it definitely felt different than before.
“It might be. I heard some odd noises inside the suit during the inspection earlier. Maybe one of the seals is wearing out. Many of the suit’s seals are rubber, which ages easily.”
Especially in the complex environment of outer space.
“Then let’s have ground control send up a new suit this time. We’ll have them take this one down for repairs.”
The station didn’t have replacement parts or the necessary equipment to repair spacesuits; everything had to be sent to Earth.
“In that case,” Nannai nodded, “let’s suspend extravehicular activities until the new suit arrives.”
Renjin nodded as well. “It shouldn’t take too long. I just finished an inspection today, and the next one is in a week. We should have time… Oh, also, the seal on the hatch of Node Three has some issues. After I came back, the system pressurized Node Three. It hit one atmosphere for a moment, but then the pressure gradually started to drop. The rate is slow, so it’s not an immediate danger, but just in case, I’ve sealed off the hatch leading there.”
Node Three was the closest access point to Solar Panel One, the panel Renjin had just serviced. The station had six nodes, serving as passageways between modules and as airlock exits for spacewalks.
Nannai’s fingers flew across the screen of her portable pad. “Alright, I’ve added a seal for Node Three’s hatch to the request… Done.”
They tidied up their gear together. Once back in the service module, they went their separate ways to handle their respective tasks.

……

“What… what’s going on here?!”
When a five-member security team forcibly broke into the president’s office, they were stunned by the scene before them: so many of their well-equipped colleagues lay sprawled on the ground, utterly incapacitated. The sight was truly shocking.
“An intruder?”
One of the team looked to their captain. “Is this about the rocket launch? Should we alert the launch base to tighten security?”
Another chimed in, “The launch base has already cut off all communications. We…”
The captain thought for a moment, drew a pad from his belt, and tapped a few times on the screen. The interface dimmed, leaving only “Calling…” at its center. As they waited for the connection, the captain explained, “Communications are blocked, but the administrator left a physical dedicated line. We can use the wireless node here to jump through the bastion host.”
Just then, a voice sounded from the speaker: “Captain Yuichi, what’s happened?”
This was an emergency line, used only in urgent situations. Receiving a call on this line was never good news.
“The research institute’s been attacked. Someone clashed with the security team in the president’s office. All that’s left here are injured guards—we haven’t found the intruder…”
“I’m right here.”
A stranger’s voice suddenly echoed in the pitch-dark room, as if straight out of a horror film. The heavily armed guards jumped at the sudden sound.

In that instant, cries of pain, muffled groans, and the heavy thuds of bodies hitting the ground filled the room.
The team captain turned around, bewildered, pad still in hand. All his teammates were already sprawled on the floor. In the entire space, only he and a strange young man remained standing, facing each other in calm silence.
Then, with a swift motion, the young man snatched the pad from his hand.
“You…!”
Before the captain could shout, the youth vanished from sight.
No, not vanished—
The captain felt the disturbed air in the room and realized the young man must have circled around at incredible speed to stand behind him.
Before he could turn, an arm wrapped around his neck, yanking him backward in a tight chokehold.
…!!
Yuki maintained his grip for several seconds, feeling his captive struggle, then go limp. He finally let go and lowered the now foaming captain to the ground. The pad’s speaker still crackled—“What’s happening there?” “What’s going on?”—with anxious voices.
Hmph… Even the internal network’s been severed layer by layer? What a nuisance.
Yuki reached toward the pad’s screen, identified the network node, and conjured a fantastical magic circle above the display. He plunged his hand into it—
And seized the wrist of the person on the other end, who was just about to end the call.