It is already midnight, and instead of trying to sleep, I toss and turn in my bed, with the thoughts of the words Mirai said lingering in my mind. What is she implying by 'not a random occurrence', and how, or rather, why, would humanity be going in the wrong way?
I flick my hand and the tablet appears in my hand. As usual, there are only two sections, the arsenal which stores all of our weapons, and the archive, which saves information about the Intruders and their technology. Except for the arsenal, most of the information in the archive is constructed by Mirai's memories, there are no traces of memory about her identity that can be found. After more than half a year, there is still a sense of distance between us. Personally, peeking into somebody's private life is not my thing, but I just feel strange deep inside.
Mirai also says that over time, she will let me know more about her identity. Guess all I can do is wait.
The mysterious vibe that blends with the friendly and spontaneously serious personality makes up the Mirai I know now. That is the best I can say if somebody asks me to describe her.
Yet, it just feels very odd. The way the information is conveyed, there must be something very bad that has happened in the future. Considering how the timeline has changed due to her existence, the tragedy may not have happened, but it does not necessarily mean that it cannot happen. Maybe she is just trying to be considerate and speak what she is certain of.
Anyway, forcing myself into peering into some imaginary problems is just putting more deadweight on my already crushed shoulder, so I try to put it aside and struggle to sleep somehow. There is another journey ahead.
The next morning comes, and after the plaguing thoughts, I do not feel like making myself out of the bed. I can feel the lethargy spreading inside me and making my brain cells temporarily shut down one by one. I use the little resolve left to step out of bed, reach the miniature refrigerator and grab a can of energy drink.
The adrenaline rush kicks in after just five minutes, and my alertness has broken the ceiling. It is unhealthy, but just for this time, hopefully, I feel obliged to wake up 'early'.
After the daily hygiene routine, I dress up properly and head down the streets to grab something to eat for breakfast. I would just let Mirai continue recharging in the bedroom, although I more than know that her battery should be already full a few hours ago.
The shops and restaurants operate twenty-four-seven, but generally, all of the nightlife people would already be dead asleep in their room at this moment, so technically, except for the early bird type like me, we have the whole empty ship until at least the afternoon.
The refractive barrier has been lowered yesterday, and with the nice weather, I can feel the ocean breeze blowing. There is also the salty feeling of the atmosphere that comes from the winds that carry seawater, and sometimes, I feel it on the tip of my tongue. The early sun is making the coldness from the night vanish to some extent, leaving a very comfortable temperature for any activities.
I just walk mindlessly, and whatever shop I encounter, I visit. There is no use thinking about where to go.
My legs randomly bring me from place to place, as if they are programmed to work independently of my central nervous system. I have come into a menswear shop, look at the prize that is worth my three-month average income, and leave autonomously. I have also visited a private bakery, gotten ambushed by the overwhelmingly golden colour of the cupcakes that reflect the bright light across the room, and then walk out again because this food is not covered under the travelling expense.
Finally, my legs lead me to the correct place, a small restaurant operated by the cruise ship. This is the only source of free food Mirai and I would ever get.
I enter the restaurant, pick a table with a nice window view of the ocean, and sit down. I open the menu.
It seems that the crew anticipates the near-zero activity around the ship in the early morning, so the options are quite limited. But it is not that I am complaining though.
I tap on the image of the dish that looks the simplest among the colourful and extravagant choices on the menu, and breakfast appears on my table immediately after the tap.
The breakfast includes a small cup of coffee, although I am pretty sure that the caffeine in my energy drink this morning can more than last me until the afternoon. I raise the cup of coffee near my mouth and take small sips while enjoying the ocean view.
Eek! Bitter...
Normally, I like to drink milk coffee, and when I say milk, I mean lots of condensed milk, until the colour of the liquid inside is plain light brown, not even resembling a coffee cup. The default coffee that is served here is pure black coffee, and you can well understand its impact on my tongue. I grab the menu and order a small pack of coffee sugar to blend in.
Half an hour has passed, and it just feels weird. The ocean breeze is nice. The ocean view from the window is flawless. The temperature is just right. The food and drink are delicious. Yet, it just feels weird. Generally, when rich people have reached a wealth level that can support their retirement for the rest of their lives, they can afford to slow down a bit. But not me, who is still working his sweats out every day, around the clock, to earn every penny to live through the day, not knowing what curveball the future would throw at him. The sudden slowness just feels unfamiliar.
I quickly finish my meal and leave the restaurant. I think that I would find something else to kill time.
I find my way to the deck. It is just an open area where passengers can do whatever they like there. It is not built specifically for any reason.
I flick my hand and the tablet appears. Then, I take out a manually controlled tracking drone, then tune the signal frequency of the remote app on the tablet to match the receptor frequency of the drone.
After tuning, I let the drone slowly ascend into the air. The drone takes some time to stabilise itself at a hundred metres above sea level, and after that, I can freely drive the drone around.
Besides the scenic view of the ocean, I can barely see any life forms. The ship is currently entering the South Pacific Ocean, towards Point Nemo. I have learnt this numerous times at school, yet to experience this in person, to actually see no presence of any creature among this vast ocean, I still feel half-amazed and half-terrified.
Anyway, if there are no animals here, I can freely do anything I like without affecting the fish or some other animals.
- What are you doing here? - Somebody taps on my shoulder.
- Just playing with my drone. And how do you know that I am here?
I can feel the radiant smile as Mirai proudly points at her eyes.
- Your spectacles are directly linked with my vision, remember? Besides the positioning system that can pinpoint two-way the locations of you and me, I can just access your vision through the spectacles.
Mirai sits down next to me and attentively looks at my tablet.
- Umm... Can you, like, move away for a few centimetres? This feels awkward... - I hesitate.
- OK, anything.
She inches to her right, away from me. Then, on my tablet vision, a blue drone suddenly passes me.
- Oi, what the hell is that, Mirai?
- Just playing with my drone.
Then, she moves closer to me and whispers.
- Hey, do you want to have a little race?
- Deal. - I accept the duel offer without any uncertainty.
Mirai blinks her eye. An imaginary race track pops up in my tablet vision, marked with blinking dots of light. A twenty-kilometre path is set up.
We drive our drones to the starting line. My tablet is switched to countdown mode, which temporarily locks all of my control. A big number appears on the screen.
- Three... Two... One... GO!
The tablet interface returns normally. I switch my thrust engine to maximum power and open up all of the wings to utilise the airflow.
On the track, two drones accelerate at the rate of par with two rockets and blast through the wind. They steer flawlessly along the curvy imaginary tracks, dodging the simulated projectiles launched at them along the way.
- How about we spice things up a bit? - Mirai smiles mischievously.
After that, two real missiles glide past my drone. I barely dodge them, and they explode midair, slightly blowing my drone out of track.
- Hey, what is that?
- The spice.
- Who says you can do that?
- And who says I cannot?
I can feel the hysterical laugh as I struggle to dodge the rain of missiles while keeping my drone aligned with the blinking dots. After one minute, the rain stops. I retaliate.
- Oi, why my screen is black already? - Mirai angrily turns to me who returns the laugh to her.
- Just paint.
Right after the missile attack ends, I press a button. A water cannon filled with a paint cartridge emerges from the top of my drone and starts splatting paint in every direction.
- Haha, let's see if you can...
CLANK!
My drone clashes with some metallic object. The sound reverberates through the air from my tablet and continues echoing for the next few seconds.
- Sike! That is what you get for using such tactics. - Mirai pats my shoulder while laughing uncontrollably.
- Says the person who misses a single target using rain of missiles. But that is not the point. How can there be something there? I cannot even see it through my tablet vision.
The drone free-falls from a height of a hundred metres, before getting slowly subdued into the deep water. The camera is still working, but the vision becomes dimmer and dimmer, as the drone sinks to the depth that light can no longer reach. I cannot keep track of the depth if there is no visible identifier.
Suddenly, the tablet's vision glows intensely, as if a strong light source shines on it. I stick my eye to the tablet.
- Mirai, I think you would want to see this.
- Wait for me. Just five seconds.
Mirai retracts the drone by snapping her fingers and moves next to me.
- Holy... Now that is what I am talking about.
Everything is linked at this point.
The camera shows a colossal, hidden town underneath the deep South Pacific Ocean, right before its interior is invaded by salt water. It turns off forever.