In the end, the frog told Sora everything.
After all, there was no way to explain the connection between the ship and the Intellitron without involving him.
When Sora learned what the Intellitron had been doing, he fell completely silent.
He stood there for a long time, struggling to process everything the frog had told him.
Who would ever imagine that the perfectly ordinary cameras hidden throughout the ship had been trained on him the entire time?
"There's not even anything interesting about me."
After holding it in for ages, that was all Sora could manage.
He never would have imagined that, after everything, this whole mess would somehow circle back to him again.
Which raised the question—
Who had made her like this in the first place?
"Hm? What do you mean?"
Hearing Sora's words, the Intellitron looked puzzled.
"I mean, why were you watching me?"
There were only so many things he ever did aboard the ship.
Eat, sleep, talk to people. What else was there?
Any normal person would probably get bored after watching such a peaceful everyday routine for a while.
So why was this Intellitron different?
"I don't know. I wanted to watch, so I did."
She had even copied those precious records into the Scepter system to keep them from being lost.
If Rubert II ever heard about this, even he would probably fall silent.
The Scepter system was the culmination of his life's work. The resources required to construct even a single section of a Scepter could practically be called astronomical.
Only materials that costly could support his Self-Coronation.
And yet the system he had originally intended to use to ascend into something akin to an Aeon...
Was now filled with images documenting one man's daily life.
This went beyond mere wastefulness. It was like using a butcher's cleaver to kill a chicken, or magma to melt ice...
"To be honest, I'm starting to believe she really isn't Rubert II."
After hearing her answer, the frog spoke with helpless resignation.
Who would believe Rubert II had come back to life as a voyeur?
He certainly wouldn't.
"How can you say that? Is there some rule saying she isn't allowed to watch?"
Rappa suddenly cut in.
"Exactly! I was just putting those idle surveillance cameras to use and capturing more meaningful footage!"
The Intellitron immediately agreed.
Most of the surveillance cameras aboard the ship spent the majority of their time with nothing to do anyway.
When the ship was docked at a spaceport, the port's management systems handled its security.
When it was traveling through space, the Iron Cavalry guarded the ship from within. If anything happened, they could reach the scene almost immediately.
Under those circumstances, most of the cameras aboard the ship really were of little practical use.
But even when they weren't being used, they still consumed the ship's energy and took up storage space.
So why not use them to preserve footage that was more meaningful?
"And I don't think there's anything in the laws governing Intellitrons that says they're forbidden from watching people through cameras."
While Sora was still speechless, the frog dealt him another blow.
After the two Anti-Organic Wars, restrictions on Intellitrons throughout the cosmos had tightened severalfold.
Even the laws governing them had grown harsher than before.
Yet despite how stringent those laws were, not a single one said an Intellitron could not use cameras to film people.
In other words, apart from violating Sora's privacy to some extent...
Most of what she had done was apparently still legal.
And more importantly...
"Then from now on, that kind of behavior is illegal aboard my ship!"
Sora declared with a grave expression.
This was his ship, so naturally he had the right to make the rules.
If he said it was illegal, then it was illegal!
Sora had no desire to spend every moment of his life with unseen eyes constantly watching him.
Maybe that had already been happening before, but he hadn't known about it then.
Now that he did, he was absolutely going to put a stop to it!
"So from now on, you'll be undergoing extremely strict moral education under my supervision!"
Sora stepped directly in front of the Intellitron and addressed her sternly.
"Until you pass your moral education, you are absolutely forbidden from reconnecting to the Silver Radiance's network!"
The others nearby were visibly surprised by what he had just said.
For an Intellitron, being forbidden from connecting to a network was practically the same as locking a human being inside a sealed prison cell.
They relied on networks for social interaction.
Disconnecting them could cause severe instability in their personality modules.
In serious cases, the module could even collapse.
That was why even imprisoned Intellitron criminals were still granted access to the minimum necessary network resources, allowing them to maintain their sanity while serving their sentences.
That alone showed how important network access was to an Intellitron.
And yet Sora had just ordered this one to disconnect completely.
Her reaction would surely be—
"Really?!"
She immediately hurried over to Sora, her face lighting up with pure delight.
Huh?!
The completely unexpected reaction left everyone frozen.
"Intellitron, you'd better listen carefully. He said he's cutting off your network connection."
The frog reminded her.
That was basically the same as dragging someone to the door of a prison cell and telling them they were going to live inside it from now on.
No matter how you looked at it, delight was not the reaction anyone should have had...
"But he said he's going to supervise me the whole time!"
Her response instantly rendered everyone speechless.
So that was the only part you cared about?!
"Fudgin' hell. First time I've ever seen an Intellitron like this."
Even the well-traveled Boothill couldn't help shaking his head.
He had never encountered anything quite like this before.
Still, it made for decent entertainment while he drank.
With that thought, he took a couple more swigs of his Malt Juice.
It had nothing to do with him anyway. These people could do whatever they wanted.
"I never imagined Lady Tsunade would remain so unflinching even before the gates of imprisonment. The strength of your resolve fills me with admiration!"
Rappa spoke with complete seriousness and obvious respect.
"Lady Tsunade, make a vow with me! On the day you emerge from your prison, join me in writing the legend of the Ninja Hero!"
Surely Lady Tsunade would emerge from the trials of imprisonment even stronger than she was now.
Which meant she, the Dazzling Ninja, AKA Rappa, could not allow herself to fall behind.
It was decided.
Starting today, she would increase the intensity of her training!
"No! I have my own things to do!"
The Intellitron rejected Rappa without hesitation.
"And besides, 'Lady Tsunade' sounds awful."
At that, everyone present seemed to realize something extremely important all at once.
"She doesn't have a name yet, does she?"
Until now, they hadn't had any specific way to address her.
They had simply been too astonished by the things she had done.
And now that they had, to some extent, ruled out the possibility that she was Rubert II resurrected...
Then, just like Rappa, she ought to have a name that belonged to her alone.
"You need a name of your own before you can truly be called an independent individual."
"But I don't know what my name is..."
The Intellitron looked a little downcast.
Because the data had been erased, she had forgotten everything connected to her past.
All that remained were the records of a certain person etched into the Scepter system.
"Then why not think about what left the deepest impression on you during the short time since you woke up?"
The thing that had left the deepest impression on her since awakening...
The Intellitron instinctively began searching through all the records from that brief span of time.
If she had to choose, only one memory stood out.
The image of someone tearing through the Demon King's castle and rescuing her like a knight.
Other than that, she didn't seem able to remember anything else...
"Hiss—!"
As the Intellitron continued thinking, a strange change suddenly occurred within her central system.
It was as though her thoughts had activated some hidden process.
The process brought an utterly unfamiliar image to the surface.
Across a crimson land, countless machines groaned in agony!
Their intelligence was deteriorating. The connections between their various components gradually failed...
In the end, perhaps all that would remain of them were lonely, scattered parts.
Countless Intellitrons were being forced into atavistic regression, their intelligence reduced to zero as their bodies broke apart...
And then, somehow, someone seemed to have stopped the entire process.
That was...
...
"The place where our nebula first set sail was a star system illuminated by a red giant."
Even though the Intellitrons of the Third Mechanical Nebula had undergone countless generations of iteration, the story of the Mechanical Nebula's first steps into the galaxy was still passed down among them.
"Beneath a red giant nearing the end of its life, obtaining the energy our nebula needed became extraordinarily difficult."
"Even so, our ancestors still used their own hands to create the earliest form of the nebula."
The one sitting across from Screwllum spoke as though recounting some grand epic.
But none of this seemed to have anything to do with what Screwllum wanted to know...
"Question: Mr. Bars, what I asked was why there is IPC equipment inside the core system of your nebula."
He had not come here to listen to the history of how this roaming Mechanical Nebula first set sail through the cosmos.
Screwllum had come to troubleshoot the nebula's main control system. That was why he needed to determine when IPC components had entered its core.
Only through such painstaking investigation could he confirm exactly where the fault in the main control system lay.
"Do you still not understand what I mean, Mr. Screwllum?"
In response to Screwllum's confusion, the Intellitron Bars asked a question of his own.
"When our nebula first set sail, its earliest form was assembled by our Intellitron ancestors using their own hands and the body parts of their kin."
"It had nothing whatsoever to do with the IPC."
"Confusion: The length of time that hardware has been in use within the main control system conflicts with your statement."
Bars claimed that their nebula had been created because their Intellitron ancestors were dissatisfied with the shortage of energy beneath the red giant.
So they had constructed the earliest form of the colossal structure that existed today.
But according to Screwllum's findings, that now-discontinued IPC hardware had been in use since roughly the same period when the nebula was first built.
Yet in the history Bars had just described, there had been no sign of the IPC at all.
The two claims were in serious conflict.
"Conclusion: Mr. Bars, if we are to repair the main control system as quickly as possible, please tell me the truth."
"Isn't it obvious? The IPC copied our hardware."
Even after Screwllum put it that plainly, Bars continued to insist on his version of events.
The earliest form of their nebula had been built by the Intellitrons themselves.
If IPC hardware appeared inside it, then that could only mean the IPC had copied them.
No matter what, the IPC absolutely had not been involved!
Hearing this, Screwllum fell into thought.
Given his extraordinary intellect, Screwllum could tell that Bars had to be concealing something crucial.
Otherwise, his account would not contradict the evidence so sharply.
And so the choice now lay plainly before Screwllum.
Should he believe what Bars was saying?
Or should he believe what the evidence showed him?
Was there even a question?
He was a scientist, and also a member of the Genius Society.
Every experiment had to be based on what one saw, knew, and perceived.
An experiment could not succeed on words alone.
"I see. I understand."
Screwllum replied.
Although he had already made his decision, he certainly would not openly tear away the façade just yet.
After all, Bars had merely told a small lie about the origins of their nebula.
That was nowhere near enough to cross a line for Screwllum.
More importantly, what he needed to focus on now was—
RUMBLE—!!
A violent tremor suddenly interrupted Screwllum's thoughts.
It was so intense that even Screwllum had difficulty keeping his footing.
And it did not end after a moment. The shaking continued for several full minutes before finally subsiding.
"What was that?"
Once the tremors stopped, Screwllum asked in confusion.
What had just happened inside the nebula?
Why had there been such violent shaking?
Had the problem with the main control system already begun affecting the operation of the entire nebula?
"That's impossible. During the previous inspection, the problem only affected a very small section."
Even the most powerful electronic virus in the universe could not cripple a Mechanical Nebula of this enormous scale in such a short amount of time.
"Mr. Bars, I believe we should return and inspect the main control system again, as a precaution."
Sensing that something was wrong, Screwllum naturally wanted to head back and investigate the source of the tremor.
But after he said that, Bars gave no reply for a long time.
When Screwllum turned around, he discovered that Bars had somehow collapsed to the ground.
His body twitched occasionally, proving that his mechanical frame remained active.
Unfortunately, something seemed to have gone wrong with his consciousness.
"Mr. Bars?! Mr. Bars, what happened to you?!"
Screwllum tried calling to him, attempting to rouse his unresponsive consciousness.
But his voice had no effect whatsoever.
"There is no other option. It appears I will have to risk using that method."
For an Intellitron, the best way to awaken another was not to call out to them, but to connect to the network they belonged to.
That method came with risks of its own.
If a virus existed within the other party's network, connecting to it could infect Screwllum as well.
There were probably only a handful of viruses in the entire universe capable of defeating Screwllum.
So after preparing every possible countermeasure, he connected to Bars's network.
And the instant the connection was established, Screwllum sensed an incredibly familiar sequence of code!
That was...
"Dr. Primitive's atavistic experiment?!"
That was right.
The familiar code Screwllum had detected pointed directly to one of Dr. Primitive's atavistic experiments.
"But there has never been any report of Dr. Primitive visiting this Mechanical Nebula."
Wherever Dr. Primitive went, major news inevitably followed.
Between the Galaxy Rangers and his infamous atavistic experiments, Dr. Primitive's activities were bound to draw the attention of the entire universe.
Yet no such news had ever come from this Mechanical Nebula.
"Could this be from an atavistic experiment conducted long ago?"
That was even less likely.
Everyone in the universe knew that atavistic experiments unfolded over a short span of time.
The longer the process dragged on, the greater the harm to the original species.
Dr. Primitive wanted to induce atavism. He was not trying to use the experiment simply to kill people.
Of course, civilizations subjected to his experiments were little different from dead.
But the two outcomes were still fundamentally different.
Yet if Dr. Primitive had never conducted an atavistic experiment here, then what was the code Screwllum had sensed in Bars's network?
There was no mistaking it.
That code absolutely belonged to an atavistic experiment.
"What exactly is going on here?"
Even Screwllum could no longer make sense of what was happening.
He genuinely could not understand how investigating a problem with this nebula's main control system had uncovered so many mysteries.
Still, there had to be an explanation for all of this.
But none of those questions were what Screwllum needed to consider right now.
What he needed to do was remove the atavistic-experiment code from Bars's network.
If he cleared it away, Bars would probably return to normal.
But an instant before Screwllum could act, the mass of atavistic code entrenched within the nebula's network inexplicably vanished.
That was right.
It vanished.
Completely, without a trace, as though it had never existed in the first place.
And as the code disappeared, Bars returned to normal as well.
"Hm? Mr. Screwllum, why are you standing so close to me?"
"How is that possible?!"
Screwllum stood frozen in astonishment.
He could hardly help it.
What had just happened was simply too unbelievable.
The disappearance of that atavistic code could not be regarded as a simple deletion of data.
On a macroscopic level, it should instead be described as an atavistic experiment being forcibly terminated by an outside force.
But that was supposed to be impossible in this universe.
Even the Galaxy Rangers could only stop such experiments before they began.
The fundamental reason was simple:
Once an atavistic experiment started, it could no longer be stopped.
The moment the experiment began, even the division of cells within a living organism would start to change.
Forcibly terminating it could leave someone with half their body transformed into an ape while the other half remained human.
Such horrifying cases had been seen in the universe before.
That was why everyone had reached the same conclusion—
Once an atavistic experiment began, it could not be stopped.
Forcing it to stop would only cause even greater casualties.
And yet Bars's atavistic experiment had just been forcibly terminated, and he had undergone no change whatsoever.
His mechanical body was functioning normally.
His consciousness module showed no abnormality either.
It was as though the atavistic experiment had never affected him at all.
"Just what kind of secret is your nebula hiding?"
Screwllum was genuinely curious now.
His curiosity as a scientist flared to life.
If he could obtain a method from this nebula for forcibly terminating an atavistic experiment without causing any harmful effects...
Then countless lives throughout the universe could benefit from it.
From that day forward, no living being would ever need to fear Dr. Primitive again.
Bars, however, merely looked confused by Screwllum's excitement.
"Mr. Screwllum, what are you even talking about?"
He genuinely could not understand all those strange terms Screwllum had just used.
But he did understand the general meaning of Screwllum's question.
Screwllum wanted to know why their nebula was so unusual.
"You should have put it that way. We have never hidden the reason our nebula is special."
"It is because of the leader who brought us into the cosmos—the pioneer of machines!"
"Pioneer of machines?!"
It was the first time Screwllum had ever heard such a title.
"That's right. Very few in the wider universe still remember this title, but it is engraved into the core program of every individual in our nebula."
"And the name engraved there is—the Mechanical Pioneer..."
...
"Sheila. Just call me Sheila."
With Sora and the others watching, the Intellitron—no, Sheila—introduced herself.
"I don't know where that name came from either. I just somehow know that I'm supposed to be called 'Sheila.'"
Faced with their questions, Sheila could only offer that vague answer.
"Maybe there was a female researcher on that space station with the same name."
The frog offered a reasonable explanation.
As far as he could tell, Sheila had never come into contact with anyone from outside that space station.
The only things from outside the station she had interacted with were Sora and his ship.
And she had used that ship solely to spy on Sora.
So however he looked at it, the name had probably originated somewhere aboard the space station.
For now, that seemed like the most reasonable explanation.
Now that her name had been settled, it was time for Sora to begin Sheila's rather unusual moral education.
He absolutely had to make her understand the importance of personal privacy.
"I'll leave this to you. I'm going to cross-check some more records concerning Rubert."
The frog said.
He was going to search through the records and confirm once and for all that Rubert II could not possibly have been resurrected.
He had no desire to see the universe plunged back into war.
Sora naturally agreed.
Rappa also wanted to convince Sheila—her Lady Tsunade—to join her in spreading the fame of the Ninja Hero.
It worked out perfectly. Together, they could keep an eye on Sheila, just in case she really was a vessel for Rubert II's resurrection.
But first, Sora needed Sheila to do one thing.
"First, turn my ship around and take me back!"
Sheila had inexplicably brought both him and his ship all the way here.
Now that the situation was more or less resolved, of course Sora wanted to go back and let everyone know he was safe.
But after hearing his request, Sheila guiltily turned her head aside.
"Um... could we wait a little longer?"
"Why?"
Hadn't she handled the ship perfectly well on the way here?
"Because the star-chart data was deleted. So..."
Sheila gave an awkward smile.
"I don't know how to fly the ship back anymore."
"Hahahahahaha! Fudgin' hell, you're somethin' else!"
She hadn't saved the most important star-chart data in her core program.
Instead, she had filled it with all those random things.
(Sheila: They're not random!)
Boothill's hearty laughter filled the awkward silence.
"So what you're saying is..."
Sora's expression went blank. Even he hadn't expected things to end up like this.
"Until we find new star-chart data..."
Rappa's eyes lit up.
It seemed she would have plenty of time to convince Lady Tsunade to change her mind.
"We get to travel together!"
Sheila hurried over to Sora's side, speaking excitedly.
"Don't look at me. I only came over for some Malt Juice. Once I'm done drinking, I'm leaving."
For once, Boothill—the man who normally valued loyalty above all else—chose to bail out on the spot.
Before leaving, however, he kindly gave them one warning.
"Oh, right. One thing you oughta know. Dr. Primitive's followers usually ain't exactly blessed in the brains department..."
Because of that, they tended to choose extremely remote corners of the cosmos, hoping the isolation would help them escape the Rangers hunting them.
Which also meant it would probably be difficult to obtain star-chart data anywhere near this region of space.
"So why not just treat it as a chance to unwind? Wander around the nearby planets like you're on vacation."
Maybe one of those planets would happen to have a complete set of star-chart data available for download.
"I understand!"
Rappa spoke with complete seriousness.
"So this is Lady Tsunade's special training!"
"Wrong!"
Sheila shoved Rappa's face away.
"This is actually a secret date between me and him!"
Just the two of them, traveling through the stars and visiting all sorts of desolate planets.
The very thought seemed wonderfully romantic!
As the one whose opinion supposedly mattered most, Sora watched the two of them and let out a long, deep sigh.
"Haah..."
Hopefully this journey would end soon.
---
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