Negotiations with the other party, or rather, communicating with 'him' in general proved to be quite troublesome.
[What is the Graccan Empire?]
"The Graccan Empire is the galactic empire that exists closest to this star system, and is an interstellar nation that rules a great number of star systems."
[What is a galactic empire? What is a star system? What is an interstellar nation?]
"Err–..."
It seemed that while the other party was able to extract a certain degree of basic conversational ability from the comatose Imperial soldiers, the information it was able to obtain was still very incomplete. Hence, communicating with 'him' was a slow and arduous process, with me having to explain a lot of terms and concepts.
Fortunately, Mr. Tetrahedral Pyramid-san's brain – if it even had an actual brain in the first place – appeared to be quite excellent, and he was able to remember everything I told him after just one explanation. That was the only silver lining.
"Do I really have to do this on my own? My heart's about to break y'know."
『We have no choice. Anyone apart from you would pass out the moment they get close to the subject.』
"Shouldn't you guys do something about that first?"
If I wasn't present, there was no way to effectively communicate with Mr. Tetrahedral Pyramid, and now I'm worried about what's gonna happen after this. I had absolutely no intention of serving as an exclusive interpreter for Mr. Tetrahedral Pyramid.
And so, while grumbling to Capt. Serena from time to time, I continued to communicate with Mr. Tetrahedral Pyramid while receiving support from the Independent Mobile Anti-pirate Fleet in the form of supplemental knowledge.
With the goal of achieving mutual understanding, I explained our position and asked Mr. Pyramid about his own circumstances.
"In other words, you're saying you don't even know where you came from?"
[Correct. We have no knowledge about exactly how we came to this place.]
"Does that mean there are other beings similar to you in this planet?"
[Incorrect. We are we. In other words, we are a collective composed of what you refer to as『tetrahedral pyramids』and『spheres』]
"In other words, you and those spheres are different parts of the same existence... Uh, just like our arms and legs?"
[Affirmative.]
"I see..."
Uh, many of those spheres have been taken out of this planet, sold, destroyed, or treated as experimental subjects though.
"Even though we didn't know, that's still pretty bad huh."
[We are aware that the collective's number is decreasing. Requesting immediate release.]
"That's what he said, Captain."
『I've confirmed the situation. However, it would be a problem for us if the spheres acted violently while we're releasing them, so it would be helpful if they could stay in their sphere state until we've completed the process.』
"How are you gonna bring them out? Are you gonna have Restalias land on the planet?"
Although the planet's gravity won't cause the fleet to get damaged or break, are they gonna be able to escape the planet's gravitational field later after landing on the planet?
『It's not impossible, but the risks are high. So, we'll have to send them down via drop pod.』
That's why they need all the spheres to be docile while they're loading them onto the drop pod, apparently.
Afterward, the mental wave interference shield deployed around the lab was deactivated, and Mr. Tetrahedral Pyramid took control of the spheres inside the lab of Restalias, calming them down. Marines under the command of Capt. Serena loaded the now-inert spheres onto a drop pod and sent it down to the planet's surface.
"That sure is surreal."
I couldn't help but quip while watching the black spheres rolling out of the drop pod without missing a beat. Or rather, they actually didn't deploy their legs to move about this time around huh. Was this some sort of power saving mode or something?
"Is that all of them?"
[Negative. The remaining collective is only 20% of the peak number.]
"People already brought away so many huh..."
Of course, not all of them should have been brought away, and some might simply have encountered accidents of some kind and became incapacitated as a result, but still, only 20% were left huh?
[Question.]
"Yes, go ahead."
[We would like to ask about the substance we encountered within the laboratory.]
The substance Mr. Pyramid was referring to should be the spirit silver. Or rather, Mr. Pyramid was able to obtain info from the spheres in practically an instant huh.
"It's a special material called spirit silver. It's highly prized on a planet that's located far away from here. What did they call it...? Right, it was called a kind of psionic amplification material. It apparently has the effect of responding to and amplifying psionic power."
[That material is what we are looking for!]
A new mini-pyramid separated from the large pyramid and released mental waves akin to a scream of excitement. Well, look who's all excited.
"Whoah, calm down a bit, please. I'm alright, but the others might pass out again."
[Apologies. But we have been looking for that kind of substance for so long.]
"I see... You weren't able to find something similar on this planet, I suppose."
[After we awakened on this planet, we have spent countless years searching for such material. Acquisition of such a resource is our earnest desire.]
"What are you gonna use it for? Are you guys gonna consume it or something?"
[Partially correct. By taking in such materials, we are able to increase our numbers.]
In other words, breeding — or rather, self-replication huh? So, they need psionic amplification materials in order to do so. But what are they gonna do after they increase their numbers?
[We also possess a self-preservation instinct. Securing such substances is essential for our survival.]
"Is that so? Your parts are eventually gonna get worn out due to various factors, and as long as you don't have the ability to replenish your numbers, it would eventually decline to dangerous levels huh."
[Affirmative.]
"I'm not sure about what conditions they're going to put forward, but I think the empire would be willing to negotiate for a relatively fair deal in exchange for enough benefits. But the problem is that apart from me, there appears to be no one among them that can endure your telepathy. I suppose you have no choice but to train to modulate your telepathic output to a level where they wouldn't faint from it."
[Agreed. However, experimentation and verification are needed for success.]
"Yeah, of course. It looks like we have no choice but to conduct practical tests huh."
And so, it's now the turn of the empire's indomitable marines. Even though many of them ended up fainting, Mr. Tetrahedral Pyramid eventually managed to adjust his telepathic output to an appropriate level, and I was finally relieved of the role of a negotiator.
But man, am I glad that there was no need for my ninja power armor to play an active role. It would be nice if every incident I got involved with ended peacefully like this one.