Era 2137, USA, New York, Solar System Federation Secret Police Headquarters
"Is Edward crazy?"
"Looks like it. Hasn't he locked himself in his room for nearly a week?"
"..."
Whispers drifted in from outside the door. Fortunately, the room's soundproofing was effective enough; otherwise, Edward's research likely would have been interrupted before it had even gone on for very long. Given his temperament, he probably would have rushed out and beaten that group of people up. They were annoying him to death.
Edward had shut himself in the laboratory, staring blankly at the recorder. He had never seen a recorder of this model before. Naturally, he didn't think this was some new gadget cooked up by The Seventh Base, as the production of such items was supposed to be automatically logged into the Solar System Federation Committee's databases, regardless of whether their leaders were rebelling or not.
But clearly, he had never seen the structure or design blueprints for this recorder in the Federation's archives. He didn't even know the answer to the simplest question: how to turn it on.
Was his intelligence declining?
What the hell? Impossible.
If he researched it, he would surely be able to open it.
Just then, Joseph pushed the door open. Edward was startled; he thought it was some idler and was about to kick them out. However, when he turned his head and saw it was Joseph, he immediately deflated, turning back wordlessly to continue his study.
"What the hell is this thing that has kept you studying it for a week?"
"Sigh, don't talk about it. I don't even know how to boot this recorder up. You were incredible back then; how did you open it instantly?"
"I don't know. I just touched it randomly, and it turned on."
"Ah? Did you touch it all over? Does it have pressure sensors or temperature sensors somewhere?" However, Edward quickly dismissed this idea. After all, how could so many components fit inside such a small recorder?
"That's really spooky then. And how does this recorder automatically shut down? generally speaking, all recorders registered in the Solar System Federation Committee's database require a manual shutdown."
But that was exactly where the problem lay.
The problem was that it had no registration record whatsoever.
This was a major issue. The problem wasn't just its content, but that it couldn't be opened at all; they couldn't even see the interface to access the data. This was truly the most bizarre object they had encountered since the operation began—or to be more precise, the most bizarre object they had ever handled.
Fine, looks like I have to let it sit for a while and see when this damned recorder decides to turn on automatically, Edward thought. Since the device could shut down on its own, there was a probability it could turn on by itself too. He would just have to wait and see.
He went to make a cup of coffee.
While brewing the coffee, Joseph told him about the contents he had seen on the recorder earlier. Edward was quite shocked because the information recorded was already "beyond his scope of knowledge." The things recorded were too insane. In his impression, that group of militants was just a bunch of scum hindering the Solar System Federation Secret Police from performing their official duties. However, listening to Joseph's words completely changed his view of the militants. At the same time, he began to harbor significant doubts about their identities. The information itself was massive; generally, when someone with a deeply ingrained stereotype is suddenly fed information that subverts their cognition, they are left completely bewildered.
Edward was in just such a state.
Although he was somewhat dazed, he couldn't stop the work at hand. However, to his surprise, when he returned to the laboratory, he found that the recorder had turned on. After he and Joseph entered the room, it played a message.
The message was spoken by a soft female voice, but the tone seemed extremely cold, devoid of any emotion. Yet, it didn't sound robotic. The content wasn't anything special; it simply asked which units and records they wanted to access.
Edward walked to the computer and opened a file at random. However, this folder didn't seem to contain any valuable or usable information, just a pile of garbled code. Edward then exited that record, but when he saw the massive size of the information folder, he nearly fainted.
At this very moment, the Solar System Federation Committee sent them a secret telegram. It clearly stated: Between the Gem and the enemy, prioritize defeating the enemy or probing for enemy intelligence. Destroying the enemy is the primary objective.
It looked like there was going to be another war.