Tokyo, Japan, the Earth, Thursday, January 5, 2051.
- Sixty-five... Sixty-six... About forty drones left. And we are running out of materials. - I make the probably loudest sigh ever.
The thrilling one-week journey to Australia has ended, but the repercussions are just, you know, painful. A rough check on damage statistics tells me that a hundred per cent of our drones suffer from circuit damage, which is cheap. However, a third of them break down due to falling, which adds salt to the wound of my bank card. And not stopping there, a six-metre tall robot is sitting in the archive, waiting eagerly to be fixed and hurting my income.
This festive season is what I anticipate the most but things just spiral out of control for this unlucky year. Pods linking from my house to my parents' house were suddenly broken down due to snow or something, and no companies were working during this period to fix them, making me stuck in Tokyo. I plan to take some rest by indulging myself in oversleeping, but then some humanoid robot with a will as firm as steel makes me wake up early and forces me through rigorous physical training every single day left in the month of December. I end up celebrating a new year at home, and although I manage to video call my family to send a new year's blessing, the feeling of a family gathering is not there. The same thing happens to my other relatives far away.
Hence, I have been spending most of my free time over the next few weeks, trying to replace the broken electrical components of the drones and reinforcing them with shields to enable protection from both physical and internal damage. Mirai's job is just to verify the quality of new drones, and occasionally, she hovers around my working bench, telling me what to do. Otherwise, she spends her time in her room, doing research with the samples we collected from the battles to develop new battle technologies.
- Sorry for hurting your wallet on this unprecedented splurge of money on fixing stuff. But it is a necessary step for us to win. - Mirai speaks over from her room, which is just next to my room.
- How about you also go find a job? You can easily find one with that superhuman level of brainpower. - I complain.
- Or how about you also actually find a long-term job contract to end this pathetic freelancer life, which is literally just unemployment?
- I still raise enough money to make us survive every month though, and this sudden spike in my monthly expenditure comes from charging your battery, as well as conducting research and development to make new weapons. Is advancement in technology edible? Does it help me survive the harshest seasons of the year?
- Fine, you win. I will find a job.
The first win of the year goes to me. This makes me delighted for no particular reason.
Mirai wears a coat and she goes out. Yes, I want her to find a job to help keep the digits in my bank account from going to one digit, but is she lacking so much common sense that she takes my words at face value and goes out to find a job? Who knows...
A few hours later, she comes back with a happy face.
- So you have already gotten a job?
- Huh, what do you mean? I am just going out for a bit to buy some connecting wires and electronic components because you say that we are running out of them.
Mirai raises her hand in the air and draws an imaginary line. A box full of wires and stuff appears in front of me.
- Very cool, right? I learn this technique from the core chip.
- So after those scanning, you choose to replicate this useless skill?
- Of course other more useful skills are still in the development progress, Yuusha. But this is not the point I want to make.
- So what is it that you want to tell me?
Mirai swirls her right hand in the air, and like a magic show, a pair of tickets appear in her hand.
- What are those tickets for?
- Two tickets for a free cruise to the South Pacific Ocean.
- And where do you get them from?
Mirai bursts into laughter. She sits down and tells me the story.
- So, I just go to the nearby shopping centre to buy some electronic components as you can see. Since I spend more than ten thousand yen on those goods...
- Wait... Ten thousand?
- Yes. Ten thousand. But do not worry, because I have factored in the cost of fixing the robot. You will not need to go out anymore. - Mirai says with an assured tone.
- At least tell me before you do so. I am not so stingy that I would not go on a spending spree to save the Earth, but yes, just tell me before you do so.
- OK, I will do so next time. Anyway, since I spend more than ten thousand yen, I get two lottery tickets, with the highest prize being a one-week cruise in the South Pacific Ocean. Then, the shop assistant leads me to the lottery area. They are currently having a spending event to receive lottery tickets.
- Then?
- The first try, I am just playing around and placing my hope on the god of random number generator. I put my hand inside the box and take out a piece of paper. It says I win the tenth prize: a set of photon kitchen utensils. They say that the precise power concentration of the newest technology allows ultra-sharp slicing, with multiple modes to cut different types of both raw and cooked food, while not accidentally heating the food from the immense heat...
- So, how did it lead to the cruise tickets?
- That guy who facilitates the lottery looks a bit pissed off because the sponsoring party intentionally make it such that to even get a prize is theoretically possible, but then by chance, I get the tenth prize, the first one any person ever gets in a whole month. I mean, I understand, but the fact that he does not even attempt to hide that and tries to tell me to go away makes me a bit angry with his attitude.
- OK...
- So I take out my second ticket and hand him. He cannot fend me off anyway because I am still a legal customer, and the lottery does not mention that one person can only receive one prize. He has to let me draw another paper. This time, when I put my hand into the box, I activate the small lighting modules built inside my fingers. Because the letters have different colours from the background of the paper, I can detect where light is absorbed and where light is reflected, and I do that for each paper. Then, my central processing unit will attempt to formulate what is written in the paper.
- Is that just explicit cheating? How do you not get caught?
- Almost. Since I put my hands inside too long, the facilitator starts to suspect that I am cheating, so he grabs my wrist and pulls it out of the box. Luckily, my lighting modules have just finished deciphering the lighting pattern, so I grab the exact paper when he pulls my hand out. And as expected, this is what we have. - Mirai laughs exultantly while still swinging the tickets in her right hand like a booty she just acquired.
You know what, I know that I have said this numerous times, and it is getting old-fashioned, but sometimes, the technology from the future, packed into this robot, is just so advanced, eerily advanced. If she wants, I could have lived in eternal luxury. But nope, instead, I am dragged into this adventure, a lifetime one, in fact.
I take the tickets, look at the details and verify them online. All of the information written on the cruise tickets are valid.
Mirai continues her story.
- You must see how furious his face looks when I wave the paper piece emboldened with the line: First prize, two one-week luxurious cruise tickets in the South Pacific Ocean area. He knows that I am cheating, but he cannot find any evidence. I casually walk away with the bounty, after he has no choice but to explain to me the procedures and give me the contact number of the travel agency. I still have the footage saved in my storage unit. Do you want to see it? I can project the footage onto the screen in the living room...
- No, thanks. I will pass.
Anyway, starting the Gregorian year with a free cruise, I can ask for nothing more. And it is a perfect headstart for the year. But of course, there are things to expect when I will be abandoning another week's worth of work. The catching-up is just too painful to forget. Anyway...
- So, when would the trip be? - I ask.
- This Sunday. So make sure that you finish fixing all of the drones and the mech before then.
- Hey!
I stand up and flip the working bench. Of course, after the action fuelled with impulse, I pick up everything and continue my job.
- Now that is a good boy. - Mirai smirks.
__________
The Counter-Extraterrestrial Association has been having a busy month with tons of evidence suddenly flowing in like waterfalls, literally inundating most of their office branches around the world with information. Lieutenant Colonel is currently busy flying to Russia to examine the evidence on the spot.
Armed with a full-fledged expedition suit equipped with thermo-resistant layers, barriers to block interference signals and built-in devices specialised in the investigation, he steps out of the plane, carrying a suitcase. The view of the ruin appears in front of his eyesight. Countless years working to detect alien threats sure supplies him with insurmountable experience in identifying and distinguishing between manmade and supernatural structures, but this time, what he sees completely revolutionises his perceived deep understanding of aliens.
What lies in front of him is, without a doubt, a base camp, albeit not as developed. There are distinctive features, such as the collapsed command towers, as well as both underground and ground-level, intricate route systems to enable strategic movements. As he walks around, the mysterious ruins just fascinate him the more he continues. He takes out a tablet from the suitcase and takes photos of what he deems significant.
Then, he steps on something metallic. He picks it up.
The remnant bullet shot of a railgun.
He again confirms his opinions. There is a third party, strong enough to rival these alien creatures.