Chapter 85: Malfunction
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
“Can it learn?…” Zhou Pingbo had just asked the question when his rational mind caught up, realizing the fallacy. Even if this metal box had learning capabilities, it had been locked in a safe for a long time. It couldn’t have learned Imperial from a few brief, non-interactive encounters with humans. It was highly likely that it had the capability to access the Abyss Fleet’s internal network.
The lights suddenly flickered, startling Zhou Pingbo, who instinctively ducked, almost hitting the ground. The electronic tablet in Ika’s arms briefly displayed static snow.
As if responding to Zhou Pingbo’s thoughts, Ruth’s voice stuttered out, “Alarm… anomaly… alarm…”
A loud screech came from the speakers, followed by a sudden audio cut-off, and the intelligent control lights flickered out, plunging the room into darkness.
Given the high security level of their location, there were no external windows. When the lights went out, the room was enveloped in total darkness. Heinrich quickly moved toward the door, but the lock was a combination of electronic and mechanical components. At that moment, the electronic screen failed, preventing any password entry.
Lin Xu, following Heinrich closely, sensed the pause in Heinrich’s movements and immediately realized the lock had malfunctioned. He took a few steps back, gained momentum, and kicked the door with all his might.
With a thunderous crash, the lock broke, and the door swung open. The corridor outside was also shrouded in darkness. This area was seldom visited, and the silence was profound, not even the hum of the starship’s engines or the hidden machinery could be heard. Zhou Pingbo’s heart raced, and his nerves tightened. Ika patted his back to calm him, but the sudden touch in the dark startled Zhou Pingbo again. “Ika! What are you doing?” he exclaimed.
Ika, unable to see Zhou Pingbo and feeling sad about his malfunctioning tablet, replied earnestly, “Comforting you. You seemed scared.”
Zhou Pingbo sighed, running a hand through his sparse hair. Ika’s straightforward words lightened the overall tense atmosphere. Lin Xu and Heinrich, undeterred by the internal scene, remained vigilant as they moved outside.
The starship had backup power sources, ensuring that even in the event of a power outage, the room containing the safe would connect to emergency power. If it were forcibly breached, an alarm would sound in the main system.
But now, there have been no piercing alarms. Following his memory, Lin Xu walked a short distance down the corridor and found a porthole on the sidewall. A chill emanated from the wall, indicating that the ship’s temperature control system had stopped functioning, allowing the vacuum of space’s cold to seep into the metal hull.
Through the porthole, Earth’s reflected sunlight illuminated the corridor. On the other side, the starship array of the Abyss Fleet was visible. Their lights and outline markers were also extinguished.
It wasn’t just the Victoria that was hit; an unknown disruptive wave seemed to radiate from the Victoria, infecting all the starships. The dark, unlit starships floated silently in space, creating an eerie, grave-like silence. More shocking was the faint blue force field around each starship, which was now being torn apart and dissipating.
With the power supply cut off, the force fields were unsustainable. Both fleets had reorganized their strategic formations, preparing for all possible attack scenarios. But now, with all communications and smart weapon control systems down, even the most precise plans were futile.
The communication channels were silent, and the entire human fleet was plunged into a vacuum-like silence, with shipboard weapons powerless without power and control systems. Suddenly, a tremor shook from the rear of the Victoria. Lin Xu pressed against the wall to steady himself as the vibration’s sound traveled through the ship, breaking the silence.
“It’s a small celestial body passing through the force field and hitting the starship,” Heinrich quickly deduced from the limited information, holding Lin Xu’s wrist to keep them steady. “Don’t worry, we’ve already cleared any celestial bodies capable of destroying the ship.”
“So, the current situation is…” Lin Xu began, looking at Heinrich in the pale light from Earth. Before he could finish, the artificial lights in the corridor suddenly returned, bright as day, and alarms blared belatedly.
Ruth’s voice remained calm, “The Victoria’s intelligent system has restarted.”
“Force field restoration commencing.”
“Level three automatic defense system activated.”
“Energy system under inspection.”
“Communications system under inspection.”
…
“Enemy reconnaissance ongoing.”
“Warning, high-security room under forced intrusion. Warning, high-security room under forced intrusion.”
…
“I need to go to the bridge to coordinate operations,” Heinrich said, both to Ruth and informing Lin Xu.
“I’ll stay with the recorder,” Lin Xu responded immediately. Heinrich nodded, “Stay in touch.”
He hurried towards the bridge, where Arnold and several generals appeared at the end of the corridor, eager to report each department’s status to Heinrich.
For the first time, the Abyss Fleet faced a situation where even emergency power and communications failed, only to restore naturally without explanation, leaving everyone baffled. Heinrich and Kalt’s prior warnings about potential attacks had led to enhanced defenses, making this incident even more alarming.
Lin Xu turned back, re-entering the room. The recorder had fallen off the table during the celestial body’s impact on the Victoria and now lay quietly on the floor, smooth and cold to the touch.
No one dared touch it again. Lin Xu asked Zhou Pingbo and Ika, the two more fragile technicians, to step back. He picked up a chair, broke off one of its metal legs, and used it to carefully approach the recorder, confirming it had no reaction before using the metal leg to place it back on the table.
The recorder looked simple and innocent. Lin Xu asked, “Ika, did this recorder emit or receive any signals just now?”
Ika, hugging his precious but malfunctioning tablet, pulled up all pre-interruption monitoring data and replied, “No.”
Lin Xu frowned, staring at the metal box deep in thought. If the signal disruption wasn’t caused by the recorder, it might have come from an external source. This external source knew they were gathered around the recorder, discussing and touching it.
“I think, therefore I am…” Lin Xu muttered to himself.
Lin Xu suspected this external entity was linked to the Spiritual Monarch, who had monitored everything and initiated the self-destruct sequence at the base. Was it also the one observing them now?
This entity was aware of their presence and likely their identities. The phrase was deliberately translated into Imperial, meant specifically for them.
Why leave such a cryptic message?
Lin Xu couldn’t yet grasp the deeper meaning but was certain this entity had the power to destroy the human fleet. Yet it didn’t.
It merely initiated the base’s self-destruct sequence, destroyed the human base ruins with four meteors, and somehow plunged the entire Abyss Fleet into darkness.
“I think, therefore I am…” Of course, it was thinking, contemplating how to execute everything. Therefore, it was here. But did it need to go to the trouble of speaking? They already knew something was orchestrating everything from behind the scenes. Lin Xu folded his arms and propped his chin, frowning deeply.
No, there had to be more to it. The structure and choice of this phrase, matching the exact words of a great philosopher, implied that the new human base had successfully established contact with the Spiritual Monarch civilization. The Spiritual Monarch knew about the human civilization’s past. Choosing this phrase couldn’t merely be for its surface meaning.
“I think, therefore I am” fundamentally rests on…the mind-body dualism. Body… Was it referring to the thousands of corpses buried in the snowy mountains? The bodies might be dead, but the separable minds could still exist and think. Was it telling them the survivors were still alive?
But why go to such lengths to tell them this? It was like a modern human looking down at an ant colony carrying food, suddenly bending over, casting a shadow over them, and saying, “Look, I’m eating chocolate peanut butter on toast today.”
Unless… an outlandish thought crossed Lin Xu’s mind. Unless the survivors and the Spiritual Monarch knew that Lin Xu, an ancient Earth traveler, was deeply saddened by the loss of his former companions who turned into cold corpses. Being incredibly kind and considerate, they might be trying to tell Lin Xu not to worry—they were still alive, though in a somewhat different manner from normal humans. Unlikely… Lin Xu scoffed at himself internally.
—
Kalt immediately contacted Heinrich as soon as communications were restored.
“This is a warning from the Spiritual Monarch!” Kalt’s mental state was clearly overstimulated. Heinrich, upon seeing his expression filled with both trembling and madness, activated the sound and visual filters.
He was currently on the bridge, with the Victoria and the Abyss Fleet’s headquarters behind him, and he couldn’t let Kalt’s hysteria disrupt the morale of the troops.
“Hmm,” Heinrich replied calmly, “You considered the meteorite strike as a warning too. He’s already warned us twice.”
Kalt, unaware of the recorder’s details, naturally perceived this attack as an unprovoked ambush. “We can’t just sit here and wait to die. We should start counterattacking!”
“Against whom? General Kalt, look carefully. Do you see any enemy presence in the view of any of our interstellar main cannons?”
No. Both fleets had activated their highest levels of defense and reconnaissance systems, but in the vast expanse of the Solar System, they had not detected a single non-human entity.
Attack? Not to mention whether they could even fight back, they didn’t even have a target to strike at. Kalt’s tense and agitated body slumped back into his chair. Heinrich waited for him to catch his breath and calm down somewhat before continuing, “The statistical report I’ve received indicates that this blackout incident hasn’t caused any casualties. The surface exploration team’s ship was unaffected, and they will continue their work as normal.
“Both fleets will follow the emergency procedures for power and communication failures, and onboard technicians will investigate the cause of the incident. I will report the findings to the Imperial and await feedback.”
Heinrich did not intend to mention the Spiritual Monarch, as this was still a secret known only to Kalt and himself for now. However, the Imperial family was already aware of the existence of the Spiritual Monarch. Kalt’s words alone were insufficient; Heinrich wanted to hear the Imperial’s stance on the Spiritual Monarch.
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