Now then, we were supposed to begin our descent to the resort planet
Sierra III after getting rid of the enemies pursuing Chris. However…
"I believe you said that resort planets are guarded by a really strict
security system, right? Is it really okay to punch through the
atmosphere just like this?"
I remember Elma saying something about an AI controlled automated
interception system. It won't be funny if we approached willy and got
shot down by it as a result.
"We'll be fine. We'll just need to access the control AI and enter a
specially generated code so we'll be excluded from the interception
targets of the planet-wide defense system."
"How thorough..."
Mimi sounded impressed after hearing Elma's explanation. I shot a
glance at Chris and found her looking dazed. Perhaps she's just calmed
down after the shock of experiencing her first ever battle out in space.
Was Mimi also like this when she first experienced combat? Or did she
actually cope better…? I can't really remember that well. It depends on
an individual, I guess.
The FTL Drive was deactivated while accompanied by a muffled roar,
and we finally got a good look at the ocean-covered surface of Sierra III.
"How do you access the control AI?"
"It's similar to how we apply for docking permission on a colony. Please
open the comm channel list, Mimi. The contact link to the planetary
control AI should be included in the list."
'Yes. Um… There, I found it! I'll access it right away."
Mimi operated her console and started interfacing with the control AI.
And after doing as Elma instructed, she managed to obtain landing
clearance before long.
"Oh, right. I think we can actually use the auto-docking system for
atmospheric re-entry."
"We can? Shall we use it then?"
After activating the auto-docking system, the ship AI began adjusting
the atmospheric descent angle in order for us to reach our target
destination automatically. Nice and easy.
The ship began its descent to the planet's atmosphere. Krishna was
rocked with turbulence a few moments after it began re-entry
procedures. The grating sound that accompanied the turbulence
gradually intensified. And the scene we were viewing through the
Krishna's cockpit was dyed in crimson.
"O-Oh! So this is how a starship goes about atmospheric re-entry... Is
it just me or is the energy shield actually turning red?"
"Even I'm not familiar with this stuff. Why are you asking me...?"
It's not like Krishna's hull was in contact with the atmosphere directly,
so was the energy shield itself actually heating up due to friction or
something…? I mean, it's an energy shield. If not, then was it some sort
of special reaction that gets triggered during re-entry? I have no idea.
But it certainly was a hard-to-come-by and one-of-a-kind experience
alright.
"I-Is everything going to be alright?"
"I don't think there's anything wrong with Krishna. The shield is being
saturated at a minor rate, but there's no problem with the hull itself."
Elma explained to Mimi in order to calm the latter's nerves. But then...
"...Waaaaaah!?"
"Woah!?"
Chris suddenly cried out in a loud voice. W-What!? When I turned to
her, I found Chris covering her mouth with her hands. Her cheeks were
bright red. It also seems like she was muttering something
suspiciously...
"...! U-Um, it looks like Chris-chan isn't feeling well, so I'll take her to
the medical bay for a bit."
"...? Uh, okay."
Mimi stood up from the operator's seat in a panic for some reason and
proceeded to accompany Chris, whose posture was in a peculiar halfbent position. The both of them left the cockpit right away. It certainly
does look like she wasn't feeling well.
"Are they gonna be alright?"
"Yeah. You don't have to worry."
Elma answered me without making eye contact. What's up? It actually
seems like I'm the only one left out or something.
I kept thinking about it as Krishna continued its descent. The
turbulence has mostly died down though. Hmmm...?
Ah…
"Did she wet herself?"
"...Have some tact, you idiot!"
"Uh, sorry, okay. I won't bring it up again, so don't get angry."
Even if Chris was a noble's daughter, she was still an ordinary girl in
many respects. I guess all the excitement from earlier plus the rough
reentry got to her somehow. I mean, we did get shot at by laser cannons
a lot and all. Her getting scared was quite understandable, really.
Krishna's tough shield and thick hull wouldn't give in to that level of
bombardment, but getting hit by them must've still seemed really
frightening to her. There's no way to avoid every laser projectile flying
at your ship during space battles anyway. I mean, those are projectiles
coming at you at the speed of light after all.
"But, y'know, I'm actually getting quite excited. This is the first time I'm
gonna get to visit a planet since getting stranded in this dimension."
I operated the console in front of the pilot's seat and had it display the
images taken by the optic sensors in various parts of Krishna's hull on
the main screen. Just like what was written in the e-pamphlet, the
planet was mostly covered in oceans.
It looks like both the atmosphere and the water underwent
terraforming in order to be habitable to most carbon-based life forms.
The planet was smaller in size compared to Earth. The images that
were displayed on the cockpit screen mostly consisted of vast stretches
of ocean, as far as the eye can see. If not for the fact that this was my
first planetary reentry experience, I would have found it difficult to get
excited by such scenery. There were some small islands dotting the
surface here and there though.
After a few moments, Mimi came back with Chris in tow. Chris tried to
look calm and composed for the most part, but her cheeks were still
red. I'll just pretend I didn't notice it.
"Are you okay? Did you feel unwell because of the battle earlier."
"I-I'm alright. I just felt a little lightheaded, but I'm fine now after having
some water at the dining room."
"I see. Thanks for looking after Chris, Mimi."
"Yes."
Mimi made a cheerful smile after getting praised. If she had a tail, I bet
it would be swinging left and right energetically.
"It's your first time to land on a planet's surface, right Mimi?"
"Yes! I'm colony born and bred after all. But it sure looks amazing. It's
really wide, or should I say grand...? I'm feeling so touched even if I'm
just looking at the images through the screen."
"Well, in my case, this dimens– Uh, ehem. Um, I actually feel the scenery
inside a colony is more unusual."
"Were you born on a residential planet, Hiro-sama?"
"Uh, well, yeah… I guess. There's a lot of complicated circumstances
y'see."
Chris tilted her head curiously as I answered and tried to let the matter
pass. I nearly slipped up just now. If I let the fact that I'm someone
probably from another dimension to some crazy researcher like Doc
Shouko slip, chances are, I would immediately be treated as an ultrarare specimen and turned to an experimental guinea pig.
"Is that so... But, if you were born on a residential planet, does that
mean you are actually from a noble family?"
"I don't think that's it. And even if that were the case, I've actually long
thrown my past away, y'know."
"I see."
Chris looked somewhat disappointed for some reason. Just what kind of
reaction is that, young lady?
"We should be arriving soon."
"Whoah. It looks like we are. We'll probably be fine, but brace for
impact, just in case."
Krishna's altitude gradually lowered, and within moments, we finally
got an image of a small island that looked bursting with greenery. The
plant life was concentrated mostly on the island's inner areas though.
Since I was looking at it from above, I wasn't able to accurately gauge
the actual size of the island, but it didn't seem all that big compared to
the islands I've been to back on Earth. But it wasn't exactly tiny either.
One section of the island was a nice-looking inlet that was constantly
lapped up by gentle waves of seawater. The seawater looked pretty and
clear, and the sight of the white sand beach was dazzling. Yep. It looked
like your standard high-end beach resort.
There was a building that looked like a tourist lodge near the beach.
Beside it was a big heliport-looking facility. Is that the starship landing
area? I didn't find it to be all that big when I was looking at it earlier, but
there were actually facilities which resembled a golf course, tennis
courts, and other resort staples located in the central areas of the
island.
"It sure looks quite fancy. I wonder if there are other tourists besides
us?"
"No, we've booked the entire island all to ourselves y'know?"
"Seriously?"
"Uhuh."
This great, big island? Booked exclusively? For two weeks? Eh?
"Hm, the cost for booking this place actually seems quite the bargain
huh..."
The total fees for all four of us to stay here for two weeks was 560,000
Enels. The cost per person would be 140,000 Enels. In other words,
that'll be 10,000 Enels per day for each of us. If we convert that to
Japanese Yen, it'll amount to a million or so per day.
We've managed to book this island all to ourselves. And it even has a
golf course and a nice-looking beach. Judging from that, a million Yen
per day actually sounds pretty cheap. I mean, some resorts on Earth
cost even more. And they're not even exclusive. Or maybe there's a
different fee for using the facilities that's separate from the booking fee?
It doesn't look like that's the case though.
"It's actually nicer than what I expected. I thought it would be much
simpler too."
"Is this place similar to the one you went to with your family, Chrischan?"
"Yes, it is. But I think it was actually larger though."
As expected of nobles. So they went and rented out an island more
luxurious than this one huh.
Krishna gradually lowered itself on the landing area through auto-pilot
and landed without a hitch. The ship rocked a bit once it touched the
pavement. Yep. The auto-docking system sure is impressive. It managed
a soft landing even under the influence of gravity.
"And we're here folks. Man. I'm more tired out than I expected."
We somehow managed to avoid getting Krishna's hull damaged directly
in the battle earlier, but both the equipment and skills of the enemies
were higher in quality compared to your average pirates, and they were
numerous to boot. It was actually quite nerve-wracking. I think I had an
easier time dealing with the Federation fleet that we took by surprise,
actually.
"Good work. Well, that's just normal when you go up against enemies of
that caliber."
"Good work, Hiro-sama. For now, let's just enjoy this place and relax."
"Thank you very much for protecting me, Hiro-sama."
Elma, Mimi, and Chris consoled me one after the other. Hahaha! Man,
does it feel good to be praised by such lovely ladies after a difficult
battle. I feel like all my exhaustion was just blown away. Though I bet all
our moods were influenced by the beautiful scenery as well.
"Don't praise me too much. I might get carried away. Anyway, shall we
get off the ship? Do you have some things you wanna bring down?"
"Let's see... We'll probably be fine, but should we bring some weapons
and the power armor, just in case?"
"Aren't those too dangerous to be treated as hand luggage, Elmasan...?"
Mimi seemed taken aback after hearing Elma's answer that was slightly
off. But Elma does have a point, doesn't she...? I guess we should
consider doing that after inspecting the security measures of this
island.
Well, I think the enemies would actually prefer hitting this place with
an orbital bombardment using asteroids or something rather than
physically assaulting the island personally. They can even do so via
laser cannon. But the atmosphere would get in the way of the trajectory
due to attenuation... But, well, I won't be surprised if they do manage
it due to this world's crazy advanced tech. Unlike on Earth, they're
sporting laser guns that can fire beams that are powerful enough to kill
people in one shot after all.
"What are you saying, Hiro-sama...?"
"Uh, I meant it as a joke..."
"A joke, is it? I actually thought you were serious..."
"If they fire something like a reactive torpedo directly at the island,
Krishna might survive the explosion, but we certainly won't. That'll be
the case even if we're all wearing power armor."
"So we'll be completely vaporized huh."
"It's not something you'd want to imagine..."
Mimi's expression was twitching a bit. I'm probably making the same
face though. Chris was also blue in the face.
Anyway, since we weren't exactly sure about what things we should
bring with us, we ended up getting off the ship with our usual gear. I
brought my portable terminal and my laser gun. Elma brought the
same, and Mimi brought her tablet terminal as well as her shoulder bag.
Chris didn't bring anything with her though. Should I let her borrow my
extra tablet terminal so she can at least exchange messages with us?
Krishna's airlock opened up, and we finally descended to the tarmac.
"Mm, the wind sure feels good. It smells of the sea."
"There's really a sense of freedom once you're on the surface of a
planet, huh."
"Waaa..."
Mimi looked up toward the sky with her eyes sparkling in wonder and
excitement. Well, for the colony-born Mimi, I'm sure seeing a wide open
sky without any traces of artificial walls was an utterly novel
experience. Chris closed her eyes as the wind caressed her face. She
might be reminiscing about the time she went on vacation with her
family.
While each of us were caught up in our own thoughts, something went
out of the tourist lodge and flew our way. What is that? A robot? It was
an alloy construct the size of a volleyball.
The mysterious object stopped in front of our group and glowed
intermittently several times. Was it scanning us or something?
"Thank you for coming, everyone, and welcome. I am Sierra IIIs control
and management AI, Miro. I shall be assisting you all during your stay at
the island. Please relax and enjoy yourself while you're here."
The mysterious object suddenly spoke. It sounded both like a male and
female at the same time. How peculiar. So this guy is like a physical
terminal used by the control AI to interact with guests huh?
"Glad to be here, Miro. I'm Elma."
"Um, I'm Mimi."
"I'm called Christina."
"The name's Hiro. I'm the captain of the ship back there."
"Yes. Elma-sama, Mimi-sama, Christina-sama, and Captain Hiro,
correct? Pleased to make your acquaintance everyone."
Miro bobbed up and down, as if making a bow. It sure had perfect
manners.
"I shall hear you out if you have any questions. If you do not, then I shall
guide you to the lodge. How about it, everyone?"
Miro's spherical body twinkled in multicolored lights once again.