Chapter 58: Commemorating the War Dead
...
A few days later.
In a factory in New Cato, Grote sat on the floor and looked at the logistics machinery that was delivered.
It had been crushed while collecting metal and was being repaired by another support machine.
As a maintenance engineer, Grot just watched until the damaged logistics machinery was repaired and flew out of the factory.
At this moment, Grote thought that there was actually nothing to do in the job of a so-called logistics mechanical maintenance engineer. It might just be an excuse, an excuse to give people food.
Most of the maintenance technicians in the factory were just watching from the sidelines.
"Personnel No. 488181, Personnel Category: Worker." The logistics machine that was responsible for the maintenance just now floated to Grote's side, and the black spherical body was facing another worker. "You have been working for a month in a row. You can go to the church to relieve your mental stress."
The worker immediately got up and left.
Then the logistics machine floated to Grote's side and told him in the same cold voice: "Guard No. 4, it is detected that you have not relieved the stress since the last war, and the results of the last psychological test show that you have suffered multiple mental shocks recently. You are allowed to go to the church to relieve mental stress."
"I'm no longer a guard. Isn't it time to update your database?" Grote patted the sleek shell of the logistics machinery and walked out of the factory.
It is working hours now, but relieving mental stress does not conflict with working hours.
Grote walked towards the church with people who had come out of other factories. They were all people who were allowed to relieve their mental stress and worked in various fields.
A sentinel drone flashing red and blue light flew in front of Groot and the others. The heavy bolter weapon on board made a safety unlocking sound, and a beam of light shot out, scanning the people present.
"Thank you for accepting the inspection." After the scan results were correct, the Sentinel Drone thanked in a cold voice and flew to the next area.
Grote and the others continued walking until they entered the church in the city center.
The church is a gigantic building that extends one hundred stories underground. Its auditorium on the ground does have the function of praying to the Emperor, but its real purpose is not to do this.
Groot took the elevator to the underground part and saw a straight steel corridor and countless rooms on both sides of the corridor. He randomly found an empty room and walked in.
After detecting someone coming in, the door automatically closed and locked. The lights in the originally dark metal room lit up, and then a beautiful environment was revealed, and two bottles of wine popped out on the ground.
A sandy beach, the ocean in the distance, and a blue sky above.
In this beautiful environment, a holographic interface pops up: Do you want to continue "Loyalists vs. Rebel Aliens"?
"Go on." Grote nodded.
Then a rifle appeared in his hand, and he participated in the previous all-out counterattack against the rebels from the perspective of an ordinary soldier.
After re-fighting the war from a normal perspective, Gray walked out of the room and took the elevator back to the ground.
The moment the elevator door opened, Groot saw a familiar figure.
Gray.
As Gray, wearing his Guardian Power Armor, leaned against the wall and waited, everyone who passed by saluted him.
"What? Guard Captain Gray is here to play the battle against the alien rebels, too?" Groot walked up to him with a smile and hugged Gray.
"I don't like that game. I prefer a movie called Super Gray Kills Rebel Scum." Gray joked, then suddenly became serious. "Maya has been found."
When Grote heard the news, he was stunned at first, then trembled, and then ecstatic, with tears and snot flowing out.
Gray patted his brother's shoulder and continued, "Her residence is assigned to be next to yours. You can see her when you go back after get off work, and then you must teach her some rules of life in New Catori."
"For example, you cannot engage in any recreational activities without permission, and you should not resist scanning when facing a sentinel drone..."
"The Legion Commander has specially made a genetic matching device to help you find Maya."
"Fortunately, the person found through the comparison search using your genes is really your sister, and not a so-called woman covered in muscles."
"Also, your brother..."
When it came to Groot's brother, Gray hesitated.
"He's dead, isn't he?" Grote asked.
"Hmm. Hmm? Yes, but..." Gray wanted to tell Grote what he and Qin Mo had discussed that day, but Grote did not give him a chance to speak.
Grote's expression was very calm: "My brother never yelled at me. He was good at using violence but he didn't rely on it. He was a role model... It was very wrong at that time. It was as if his body was taken away. Do you know how I felt at that time? When I looked into his eyes, they were like a glass, and he was knocking on the glass to ask me for help..."
"..." Gray was silent. Although everyone thought that Groot was a violent maniac when facing people who were not his own, he always knew that this good brother was actually a wise man.
"Contact me if you have any trouble." Gray patted Grote's shoulder. "I have to go and recruit soldiers. I'll come and have a drink with you tomorrow night."
"Okay." Grote nodded in agreement.
...
After a moment.
the other side.
"He is quite insightful." Qin Mo communicated with Gray with surprised expressions.
"Of course. So... um... can Groot put on his Praetorian Power Armor again?"
Gray wanted to plead for Groot. He nervously waited for Qin Mo's reply, but then he heard a knock on the door from the communicator.
"Let's talk later." Qin Mo hung up the phone, turned his head and looked at the door, "Come in."
The door was pushed open, and the 87th Regiment Commander Duncan walked in, saluted, and asked, "You're looking for me."
"Yes." Qin Mo nodded, and after recalling for a moment, he said, "I heard that you have your friend's ashes in your hands?"
Duncan immediately thought of Albert's ashes.
My friend's last wish was to be able to see the sky after his death, but even if he went to the Lower Nest, this wish could not be fulfilled because it would take 30,000 throne coins to place the ashes on the surface of the planet.
Unless one day everyone can station troops in the Upper Nest, then Albert's ashes can be sent directly out of the window of the building to fulfill his last wish.
"You know, almost all soldiers who died in battle only have two last wishes before they die." Qin Mo stood up and walked to the table and sat down, then picked up the report he got from a census of the main control intelligence organization and read out the content: "One is to entrust their family to their comrades, and the other is to see the sky after death."
"Yes, Commander." Duncan nodded.
Qin Mo also nodded, and then suddenly asked something irrelevant: "Did you know that we are building a track dock?"
"I know, Commander." Duncan said with some doubt.
"There is a space reserved on the orbital dock. This space is in the interlayer between the dock's outer shell and internal structure. It cannot accommodate instruments and equipment that are too large, but it can be used to store small items, such as the ashes of the dead in battle."
When Qin Mo said this, Duncan was so excited that he was about to lose his composure. He could already anticipate what the legion commander would say next.
That is, the ashes can be placed into the orbital dock together with the ashes of other soldiers who died in the war, and then they will be transmitted to low-Earth orbit together.
"In the last war, the chance of our soldiers dying in the counterattack was less than 5 percent, but in the previous defensive battles, the death rate was 70 percent. These dead deserve to be commemorated."
"Now they can not only see the sky, but they can look down at us from orbit."
Qin Mo said.
"Yes... yes, Commander." Duncan nodded vigorously.
"After you leave, put the ashes in any logistics robot you can find, and they will deliver the ashes to the dock." Qin Mo reminded.
"Yes. Thank you, Commander." Duncan saluted and thanked him, then turned and left.
Qin Mo thought for a moment as he watched Duncan leave.
Placing the ashes of those who died in the previous war in the mezzanine of the orbital dock is of course to commemorate them, but it actually has another use.
The power of the mind in this universe is so outrageous that when something is worshipped or commemorated by many people it can even give rise to miraculous powers.
Perhaps these pieces of ashes in the dock's mezzanine can serve as a shield against psyker attacks.