Author: 唇亡齿寒 / Lips Gone, Teeth Cold
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 157
Alois sent a docking request to the temporary spaceport control tower at Sword Bow, and soon received a response. “In a time like this, someone daring to embark on interstellar travel—you’re truly a fearless hero, North Star.”
The ship was slowly guided into its berth by the spaceport. Alois saw that the temporarily constructed dock was packed with ships. Military warships and civilian vessels were crammed together, large and small, of all shapes and sizes, making it seem as if the entire galaxy’s fleet had gathered here, filling the already narrow spaceport to the brim. Fortunately, the North Star was small enough to find a suitable spot in a corner, nestled between a Type II warship and a multi-engine medium-sized civilian freighter.
“This place looks like a theme park on a holiday,” Alois remarked, observing the scene before him. “Has Sword Bow become a tourist destination? Or did the energy company’s employees go on strike, leaving everyone without enough energy to even take off?”
He heard a gasp from the control tower staff over the loudspeaker. “Heavens, are you from an extragalactic system? Or did you sleep too long in a cryo-chamber and don’t even know who the Queen is anymore?”
“Isn’t it still Noya I?”
“It’s Alveira I now,” the staff member said with pity.
Alois was so shocked that his eyes nearly popped out. He glanced at Joshua, whose expression had grown serious.
“My God, this is… unexpected. We just got back from the Orion Arm, and to save time, we’ve been constantly jumping, so we haven’t had any contact with the outside world. What on earth happened?”
“It’s all gone to hell, brother,” the staff member replied. “You picked the worst time and place to be, practically playing with your life. There’s a monster called the ‘Yasha’ loose in the universe. They say it came from Old Earth. Didn’t you encounter it while you were in the Orion Arm?” (Alois shook his head, his face pale.) “…Oh, you’re lucky. That monster is unstoppable. The royal army is like a child’s toy in front of it. It attacks jump drives, so now all ships have their engines off and are traveling at low speeds. Sword Bow is an agricultural planet, so it’s better off than some places. But some planets that rely on external supplies are already facing shortages…”
“What about the Queen?” Alois interrupted anxiously.
“What else? She’s dead. Rumor has it she was murdered. Now Princess Alveira is the new Queen. But even she can’t do anything about the Yasha. Right now, Neo Athens is in control of the situation. They’ve sent out a bunch of ships that supposedly can limit the Yasha’s range of activity… but damn it, they’ve limited that ‘range’ to right near our planet!” The staff member was clearly frustrated.
Joshua spoke up. “Are there any Neo Athens ships docked at Sword Bow?”
“You can bet your life on it. It’s sitting pretty right over there.”
Alois silently closed the communication with the control tower.
“This is really bad,” he said, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “The Yasha is really out in the universe now… Should we go to the Empire Capital?”
“That’s too dangerous. Didn’t you hear? The Yasha destroys jump drives,” Joshua said thoughtfully as he examined the temporary spaceport map on the screen.
“But we made it here just fine…”
“Because we were jumping most of the time, and the Yasha was busy wreaking havoc over here. Now everyone’s learned to avoid risk. Going to the capital now would be like dancing in a clown suit at the Queen’s funeral—just begging for trouble.”
“So what should we do? Just stay here and wait?”
Joshua snorted. “There’s a Neo Athens ship docked at Sword Bow. We’ll find them and contact Nolin Titian. He’ll have a plan.”
The spaceport was steeped in gloom, with hardly a soul in sight. The few workers or crew members they passed wore grave expressions, as if the end of the world was imminent. It was too quiet here—more like an empty graveyard than a bustling spaceport, with only the ghosts of the dead lingering. The whole universe was too quiet now, eerily so, like the pre-spaceflight era when interstellar travel relied on slow ships and space stations, with no busy trade routes or passing ships, reminiscent of the dark, lightless Middle Ages.
Alois and Joshua easily found the Neo Athens ship. Amidst the bleak atmosphere, it was the only lively spot, its silver hull gleaming like moonlight cutting through the night’s gloom. The ship’s name was painted in black on the bow: Prometheus.
The myth of the hero who stole fire from the gods flashed through Joshua’s mind. He took a few steps toward the ship, then realized Alois had fallen behind.
“What’s wrong?”
Alois was staring fixedly at another spot. “Maybe I’m seeing things…” he said hesitantly, “but I think I just saw Schrödinger and Pavlov…”
“You must be mistaken. Probably just some stray cat and dog,” Joshua said. “Schrödinger and Pavlov are on the Lady of the Night, you know.”
“There’s no more Lady of the Night,” a low, magnetic, and authoritative voice said from above them. The hatch of the Prometheus opened, and a young man dressed in the scholar’s robes of Neo Athens stood at the top of the gangway, looking down at them.
Joshua recognized him. “Archon Nolin Titian!” he called out in a slightly irritated tone. “What are you doing here instead of issuing orders from Wisdom Hill?”
“Saving the universe. What else?” Titian replied calmly. His hands were tucked into his sleeves, and with measured, dignified steps, he descended the gangway. (Joshua privately hoped he’d trip on his robe and tumble down.) “How was your trip to Old Earth? You don’t look too happy about it.”
“What do you mean there’s no more Lady of the Night…?” Alois asked.
“Exactly what I said.” The Archon stood before them, chin raised, as if not inclined to greet them with a handshake. “Neo Athens’s masterpiece, the Lady of the Night carrying Leonard, was sunk by the Yasha. It was split in two from bow to stern, then blown to pieces by the exploding engine.”
Alois felt the blood drain from his face. My God, the Lady of the Night sunk… Joanna and Alveira’s flagship, the cruel and bloodthirsty elegant lady, the dark empress who ruled the stars… just gone…
“But don’t worry.” Nolin Titian reassured him. “No one was aboard when it sank, and your pets weren’t on it either. Leo took an empty ship to duel the Yasha… and it didn’t go so well.”
“And… Leo…?” Alois’s throat felt dry, as if a blade were lodged in it.
The Archon shrugged. “He went down with the Lady of the Night. But he’s a high-end AI, not a human who’s dead once they die. He can be revived as long as there’s a backup. Don’t you have his backup chip?”
“The chip was destroyed,” Joshua said quietly. “We didn’t even get the chance to upload Leo into the research facility’s central computer…”
“Looks like we all suffered a great defeat,” Nolin Titian remarked, trying to comfort Joshua, though not very successfully. The assassin seemed even more dejected.
Alois clapped his hands. “I remember Leo has a backup on Milantu! He’s in charge of the Milantu base!”
The Archon shook his head. “Too far. It would take at least a week for the Milantu ‘Leo’ to transfer here. I don’t have that kind of time. I arrived at Sword Bow yesterday and have been planning the operation to eliminate the Yasha ever since.” Alois noticed the dark circles under his eyes. “Originally, I hoped Leo would control the Yasha, and I would activate the singularity generator on the Prometheus to throw it into a black hole… but that’s no longer possible. Although the Galactic Field has confined the Yasha’s movement to the Sword Bow system, it’s hiding, and even our most advanced detectors can’t find it. The only good news is that the Empire Capital reported the Fifth AI has been destroyed. Although we still don’t know its identity, it’s no longer a threat. Now we can focus on dealing with the Yasha.”
“But we don’t even know where it is,” Joshua said, crossing his arms.
“If only Leo were here.” Nolin Titian sighed. “He’d definitely be able to find the Yasha’s location. No, no, if Leo were here, the Yasha would surely come straight for him, saving us the trouble of searching…”
“Alois!”
A shout loud enough to shake the spaceport interrupted the Archon. He frowned, looking around to see who had dared interrupt his speech. He spotted a blue-haired girl darting out from behind a ship, skipping and jumping toward Alois Lagrange, who nearly lost his balance when she tackled him.
“Alois! What are you doing here?” The girl nuzzled against Alois’s chest, completely ignoring the Archon’s angry glare and the jealous fire in Joshua Planck’s eyes.
“This… I should be asking you that, Camilla!”
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