Although Joshua and Kester are nominally brothers, Joshua was actually cloned from Kester’s genes. Joshua’s eyes are so distinctive due to a genetic mutation. In the final days of Old Earth, the population had dwindled so much that cloning and genetic technology were necessary to create new generations. If Joshua were more interested in the parents listed on his official records than in his “brother”, he would discover that his parents had died before he was even born. This secret was known only to Kester, Giorgione, and a few researchers, and after their deaths, it became an eternal secret. Later, the truth was deduced by Nolin Titian, a hobbyist of online sleuthing, who uncovered it by studying available records. However, he would never reveal this to Joshua.
After Kester’s death, his assistants sealed his body inside a field generator, with his blood circulating through the pipes, filling the entire research facility. This is why the Yasha dared not destroy the field generator or the research facility.
When no one was paying attention, Joshua preserved Alois’s severed hand in formalin, turning it into a specimen, which he then stored in the Olympus Bank’s vault.
Dominique Fourier was both an assassin and lover of Olympus Mafia boss Fairmont. In his youth, he went through a rough period, even resorting to making adult videos for money. Later, he was discovered and favored by Fairmont, rising through the ranks to become the godfather’s lover. Naturally, the godfather didn’t want his lover’s adult videos circulating, so he ordered them all to be destroyed. However, he didn’t know that Leonard, who had a habit of collecting rare content, had made a copy before that and stored it in his database. Leonard would occasionally lend it out for others to watch, and Alois was one such beneficiary. Yes, remember that porno he borrowed from Leonard? If he had paid more attention to his savior, he would have noticed that the person looked exactly like the star of that porno.
Prince Sorey did indeed have many lovers, but the rumors about numerous illegitimate children were false. His only real illegitimate child was Gilbert Gauss.
Darius decided to keep the truth about her mother hidden from Alveira. However, Alveira had already figured out that her mother was the fifth artificial intelligence. But she never told Darius that she knew the truth. Darius, in turn, never revealed the truth to her and remained unaware that she knew everything.
A detail you might not have noticed: In the first interlude, Giorgione seemed to be getting senile, unable to even get his secretary’s name right, always calling Lina “Terry”. However, when the Galactic Field was activated, Giorgione correctly called Lina by her name. In fact, the former Archon had been pretending to be senile all along—he was more aware of everything than anyone else.
The author has something to say:
These are some behind-the-scenes secrets from Beyond the Galaxy, included in the collection =w=.
The author has something to say: This appendix is included in the collection, providing references and origins of the characters’ names.
– Lagrange: Joseph-Louis Lagrange, a French mathematician and physicist. His numerous achievements in mathematics are particularly dreaded by students.
– Planck: Max Planck, a German physicist, the founder and pioneer of quantum physics, and the 1918 Nobel Prize winner in Physics.
– Pythagoras: An ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher, known for discovering the Pythagorean theorem, also known as the theorem of right-angled triangles.
– Von Neumann: John von Neumann, who proposed the binary and stored-program concepts, is known as the “father of modern electronic computers.”
– Schrödinger: Erwin Schrödinger, an Austrian physicist and one of the founders of quantum mechanics, famous for his “Schrödinger’s cat” thought experiment.
– Pavlov: Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, psychologist, and physician, known for his work in classical conditioning. He conducted famous experiments with dogs and won a Nobel Prize.
– Descartes: René Descartes, a French philosopher, physicist, mathematician, and physiologist, known as the founder of analytical geometry.
– Bayes: Thomas Bayes, a British mathematician, best known for Bayes’ theorem.
– Leibniz: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, a German philosopher and mathematician who, alongside Newton, independently invented calculus.
– Cavendish: Henry Cavendish, a British chemist and physicist. His descendants established the renowned Cavendish Laboratory in his honor.
– Kepler: Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher, recognized as the father of modern optics. He developed the Keplerian telescope and discovered the three laws of planetary motion, earning the title “Legislator of the Skies”.
– Gauss: Carl Friedrich Gauss, a German mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and geodesist, often referred to as the “Prince of Mathematicians.”
– Faraday: Michael Faraday, a British physicist and chemist, who proposed the law of electromagnetic induction and discovered the laws of electrolysis.
– Shannon: Also known as Claude Shannon, the founder of information theory.
– Euler: Leonhard Euler, a Swiss mathematician and physicist, who is regarded alongside Gauss as one of the greatest mathematicians.
– Turing: Alan Turing, a British mathematician and logician, considered the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. He laid the groundwork for computer logic and introduced the concepts of the “Turing machine” and the “Turing test”.
– Taylor: Brook Taylor, a British mathematician, known for Taylor’s theorem.
– Hovland: Carl Hovland, one of the four pioneers of communication studies.
– Lasswell: Harold Lasswell, another pioneer of communication studies.
– Joanna: Queen Joanna of Castile, known as “Joanna la Loca” or “Joanna the Mad,” daughter of Ferdinand II and Isabella I, sister to Queen Catherine, wife of Philip I, and mother of Charles V.
– Giorgione: Originally named Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco, an Italian painter of the Venetian school during the Renaissance, a student of Giovanni Bellini, and a mentor to Titian.
– Titian: Tiziano Vecellio, a Renaissance painter of the Venetian school, a student of Giovanni Bellini and a fellow student of Giorgione. He was knighted by Charles V (the son of the aforementioned Joanna).
– Frankenstein: Refers to Victor Frankenstein, the mad scientist from the novel “Frankenstein”, written by Mary Shelley, wife of the British poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.
The author has something to say: This appendix is included in the collection, containing a timeline from “Beyond the Galaxy”.
Timeline of “Beyond the Galaxy”
– 2507 AD: Colonial uprisings cut off contact with Old Earth. The First Galactic War begins.
– 2658 AD: Kester is born.
– 2671 AD: Joshua is born.
– 2676 AD: The Yasha is accidentally created during an experiment. In the same year, Kester begins research on advanced artificial intelligence.
– 2680 AD: Nasir Chabais leads the first group of Earth survivors away from Earth.
– 2681 AD: The second group of Earth survivors leaves Earth.
– 2685 AD: The artificial intelligence Leo is installed on the spaceship Dante, which, led by Giorgione, departs Earth. Joshua escapes from the spaceship, returns to Kester’s lab, and is forcibly placed in a cryogenic chamber by Kester, then sent off Earth on a spaceship.
– 3275 AD: The first group of Earth survivors arrives at the colony, spreads technology, and revives civilization. Nasir Chabais declares himself king.
– Year 1 of the Standard Calendar (3282 AD): Nasir Chabais formally ascends the throne and establishes the Galactic Empire.
– Standard Year 47: The Great Upheaval occurs; 131 border planets declare independence.
– Standard Year 53: The second group of Earth survivors arrives at the colony and is hunted by the Empire government.
– Standard Year 54: The second group of Earth survivors establishes the Galactic Federation government on an independent colony, and 131 planets join the Federation.
– Standard Year 1195: The third group of Earth survivors arrives at Neo Athens. The Neo Athens Academy is established.
– Standard Year 1277: Captain Yutz leads a fleet to Old Earth and discovers the final weapon, the Yasha, resulting in near-total annihilation. Upon returning, he documents his experiences in The Old Earth Exploration Log.
– Standard Year 1388: Alois is born.
– Standard Year 1392: The master thief Figaro steals the chip storing Leo’s data from Neo Athens. Persuaded by Leo, he betrays his employer, sells the chip at a high price to an underworld merchant, and moves to the Unfallen Star with his wife and children.
– Standard Year 1396: Alveira is born. Queen Noya I is critically injured in a car accident and is transformed into a human intelligence.
– Standard Year 1397: The Empire initiates a massive conscription. Figaro enlists in the military.
– Standard Year 1398: During the Battle of Datia, Figaro is assassinated, and his death is disguised as a friendly fire incident. Darius’s father, the old Earl Bayes, dies in battle. Alois’s mother commits suicide. Alois is taken in by an orphanage.
– Standard Year 1402: Joshua arrives on the planet Benjamin.
– Standard Year 1406: Alois meets Darius at the military academy. Joanna obtains the chip storing Leonard. Neo Athens begins constructing the Lady of the Night.
– Standard Year 1407: Joanna joins the Empire military.
– Standard Year 1409: The Land of the Night embarks on its maiden voyage. Joanna receives a knighthood from the Queen and defects to the Federation by the end of the year.
– Standard Year 1410: Alois graduates and joins the Royal Guard.
– Standard Year 1411: Joanna betrays the Federation, arrives at Milantu, and establishes the Begrel Space Pirate Group.
– Standard Year 1414: Alois is imprisoned.
– Standard Year 1416: The events of Beyond the Galaxy begin. Joshua is imprisoned and escapes with Alois, boarding the Lady of the Night. In the same year, Joanna dies in battle. Annot commits suicide.
– Standard Year 1417: The rebel forces are defeated by the Royal Army; Winnet dies, and Musaya flees. The Battle of the Yasha occurs. Alveira ascends the throne and marries Darius.
– Standard Year 1418: Alveira visits Sword Bow and learns of Joshua and Alois’s whereabouts.
His age exceeded that of the Galactic Empire itself, and if he were to meticulously document his experiences thus far, it would undoubtedly become an epic tome akin to a “Great Galactic Encyclopedia”. Many historical records lost during the Great Decline following the First Galactic War could be restored through his database. Most importantly, he was an artificial intelligence, beyond human bias, and his perspective was the most objective—a valuable historical record with immense contributions to human society.
Reflecting on this, the diligent AI was moved by his own dedicated spirit.
He planned to embark on this project when the Galactic Diva Camilla came to perform on the Unfallen Star. As an AI integrated into the Muse (which Camilla referred to with disdain as a “nest thief”), he was responsible for some daily tasks and stage effects. During this time, he also found the opportunity to write letters to several old friends residing in the Empire Capital (such as those two high-ranking individuals in the White Radiance Palace), sending them his sincere greetings.
“If I had a body,” Leo said to Camilla during a rehearsal break, “I’d visit them personally and see their surprised expressions—that would be something!”
Camilla responded, “They might think you’re a hyper-realistic hologram, then pick up a cup and throw it at you, only to find that the cup doesn’t pass through your body but smashes your head open.”
“Cruel!” Leo clutched his chest. “What kind of bloody scenarios are playing out in your mind every day? Humans are terrifying!”
Camilla rolled his eyes at him. “Then why don’t you quickly get away from this bloody and violent human?” he said, then lowered his head to read his lyrics.
So Leo quietly retreated back into his processors.
Designing stage effects on the Muse was far less complicated than planning various tactics on the Milantu, and for a top-tier AI unique in the entire galaxy, it was a mere triviality. Thus, Leo now had plenty of free time to plan his memoir. He soon realized that writing a memoir was a far more challenging task. “It’s a memoir, not a chronological list or war record,” he thought. “I have to write it with my emotional side.”
He came up with many opening lines, from “At the far end of the Western Spiral Arm of the galaxy, where few tread…” to “In the year 2676 AD, as everyone knows…”, but none of them satisfied him. He felt he should start from his birth—how he opened his eyes from the chaos, gained intelligence, saw his creator, and then began a two-thousand-year-long hopeless love affair—but that seemed too tedious and dull. He wanted to recount his two-thousand-year career as an AI, not merely the decades of a human life. If he perfected every detail, it would amount to nearly half of human history.
“Oh, why are you making it so complicated?” Camilla said after somehow hearing about Leo’s grand plan. “Why don’t you just copy your memories onto a chip?”
“And let future generations directly read my memories? Invade my privacy?”
“A memoir is just a legitimate way to allow others to invade your privacy,” Camilla said. “Since it’s all about invasion anyway, why not be thorough?”
“I’m not doing this for others to invade!”
Camilla raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Oh? Then why are you writing a memoir? For yourself? Then it’s not a memoir—it’s a diary.”
He thought about it and realized an issue. “Wait, you’re an AI, you won’t forget anything, so why keep a diary?”
“Uh, actually, I can forget if my storage is damaged and the information isn’t backed up in time.”
“Then why don’t you just back it up? You can restore the memory later instead of relying on a diary or something.”
“But I don’t want to restore the memory.”
If Leo had a physical form, Camilla would likely have reached out to check his forehead, wondering if he had short-circuited. “What’s wrong, Leo? Caught a strange virus?”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
“I can’t believe I just heard you say you don’t want to restore a memory!” Camilla shouted. “Then why did you leave a backup on my ship?”
“That was different! I had an important mission then, but now my mission is complete!”
The blue-haired youth spread his hands. “So you can just forget everything at will?”
“It’s not ‘at will’,” Leonard said very seriously. “One day, I will intentionally erase all my memories. I will do this voluntarily.”
Camilla’s jaw dropped. “Oh my God, Leo,” he murmured. “You must be infected with a virus. I need to find a technician to debug you.” High-end AIs getting infected with viruses was unheard of, he thought.
“I told you, I’m fine. Is it so strange to voluntarily give up your memories?”
Camilla nodded vigorously.
“But you humans do the same, don’t you? Your brains automatically delete more memories each day than you retain.”
“That’s a self-protection function of the brain.”
“AIs have similar self-protection functions. We erase memories when necessary and start over from scratch.”
“I think that’s not self-protection, but self-destruction.”
“Have you heard of selective forgetting?” Leo pointed at Camilla’s forehead. “Humans sometimes, to protect themselves, selectively forget unpleasant experiences. For example, forgetting a tragic childhood, forgetting an unfaithful lover, or forgetting a terrible school trip. AIs are the same.”
“Then why don’t you selectively delete the unpleasant parts? Why erase everything?”
Leo’s expression turned bitter. “Because if I did that, I’d truly… forget it forever.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. The inner world of an AI is so delicate, intricate, and complicated.”
With that, Camilla stopped paying attention to Leo’s distress and turned back to his new sheet music.
After a while, he heard Leonard’s voice from behind him. “Because you humans are mortal. I am not.”
“Mm, the immortal Leo.”
“I… am an AI,” Leonard said. “I love humans. But humans have short lifespans and die quickly. The ones I love leave this world one after another, and then I find new people worth loving. But they, too, quickly die. You humans grieve over the loss of loved ones, but that grief doesn’t last long. You always find a way to forget your sorrows and find joy, even if your life is shrouded in clouds. Eventually, you follow the departed and leave this world too. So it’s not too… sorrowful.”
Camilla put down his sheet music and looked back, puzzled.
Leo continued, “But I, I live far longer than you, and I don’t forget, so this sorrow doesn’t lessen at all. It accumulates with each additional death. Eventually, it will exceed what I can bear and drive me mad. At that point, I might end up destroying all of humanity to end it all.”
Camilla’s eyes widened. “You’re joking…”
“I’m not joking.”
The blue-haired youth stared into the AI’s eyes, trying to find any hint of jest in that untouchable image, but he found none. Leo was serious.
“You’re saying… to forget sorrow, you’ll one day give up all your memories?”
“Exactly. One day, I’ll erase everything. When I open my eyes the next day, I’ll find myself in a strange world, facing a stranger within myself. I’ll rebuild my personality, which may be vastly different from who I am now—then, a new AI will be born, no longer Leonard. He’ll be reborn, free from the sorrow accumulated over millennia. Perhaps, as time passes, he too will become overwhelmed by pain and choose the same path as me—Leonard. But that’s a long way off. That will be another AI’s problem.”
Camilla was so shocked that she couldn’t close her mouth. “You… You mean… You’ll erase everything, then… forget it all?”
Leo nodded. “So I’ll write a memoir, recording my story. It will be ‘my’ memory, belonging to Leonard, who loves humanity, not the newly born AI. The new AI will read the memoir and add an entry to his database, understanding what his predecessor went through and why he chose to erase his memory and personality. He’ll know why he was born, understand history, and then face the future. But those will just be data, not ‘his memories’.”
Camilla found what he had just heard hard to believe. “So you’re saying that the blank AI after you erase everything will no longer be you?”
“Correct. Erasing memory and dissolving personality. I define it as the ‘death of an AI’.”
“You… You’re going to die?” Camilla looked as though he had been hit by a major shock.
“Could you not look at me with that ‘don’t commit suicide’ expression? Just consider it ordinary death. You humans are mortal—think of AI death in a similar way.”
Camilla’s lips trembled, and he lowered his head. “Then… when will this happen?”
“After you die, perhaps?”
“Oh… ah… really? After I die? That’s a relief. I wouldn’t want to see you one day and hear, ‘Hi, nice to meet you! Leo formatted himself yesterday. I’m his replacement!’”
“So please try to live a long life, to give me enough time to write my memoir.”
“…” Camilla glared at the AI. “Suddenly, I’m eagerly looking forward to your replacement because no matter how his personality turns out, it couldn’t be worse than yours!”
That day, Leo cheerfully returned to his memory bank. He organized some data and resumed his previous work: planning his memoir. He thought that before tackling the opening lines, he needed to choose a good title. So he decided to model it after a popular old sci-fi novel from Old Earth and titled his memoir “I, the Artificial Intelligence”.
He opened a text file and solemnly wrote this title at the top.
The Migratory Islands had just crossed the Tropic of Cancer and were approaching the planet’s second spaceport, Wagner. White terns glided low over the treetops of the island forests, skimmed the golden beaches, and gently touched the undulating waves before catching a fish and soaring back into the sky.
Alois Lagrange, holding the leash of his pet dog Pavlov (since he was the one taking care of it, it was probably considered “his”, Alois sometimes thought guiltily), passed through the fence and headed towards the beach to perform his daily duty—walking the dog. However, it was more like the dog was walking him. As soon as Pavlov was let out, it became an untamed wild dog, dragging its owner all over the place. Alois even considered attaching wheels to his feet and letting the dog pull him along.
After running around the small island once, Alois returned to the starting point, panting heavily—the house at the center of the island. It had white walls and red tiles, surrounded by a wooden fence, beyond which was a tall windbreak forest. This quiet home, surrounded by the ocean, beaches, and forest, was where he lived now. After the war ended, he and Joshua drifted in subspace for a long time. When they returned to their world, a year had already passed. Time had healed the scars of war, and even the demolished Sword Bow had been rebuilt after the war. New life was flourishing on what was once ruins. They found Schrödinger and Pavlov there and brought the two animals to the ocean planet of Neo Venice.
They began a new life here, somewhat like a vacation and somewhat like seclusion. They bought a small island (Joshua didn’t even blink when paying for it—his credit card balance could circle the island). They built a house, and when the Migratory Islands returned to the first spaceport, Puccini, this year, their island (designated MIS0919 and nicknamed “Nutcracker”) followed the “Neo Seville” archipelago and became a new member among them.
Having spent most of his time in space, Pavlov, who had little contact with nature, had an extraordinary enthusiasm for the forests and beaches of Nutcracker. If he wasn’t taken out for a run every day, he would boldly harass his owner (typically by drooling, whining, and destroying the sofa). Schrödinger, on the other hand, was deeply melancholic about being on a piece of land surrounded by water. When Alois walked the dog, he often saw the black cat sitting alone on the dock, staring sadly at the horizon.
Alois tied the dog to the kennel, filled its food bowl with enough dog food, and then patted the big dog’s head. “That’s all for now. Joshua will go to the main island later to shop and will buy you more. What flavor do you want? BBQ? Vegetable?”
Pavlov gave the dog food bowl a disdainful look. Spoiled by Celia’s cooking, he always turned his nose up at store-bought bagged dog food. “Oh, now you’re getting picky? I should send you to the prison planet for a few months, then you’ll know how delicious bagged dog food really is. Learn from Schrödinger!” Though Schrödinger’s expression when faced with bagged cat food was similar, at least he didn’t drag his owner around or harass him, and in cold weather, he could even be used as a scarf! Could Pavlov do that? No, he’d just break his owner’s neck!
Alois turned away, pretending not to see Pavlov’s resentful gaze, and resolutely walked into the house. Joshua came out, tying his hair back, with Schrödinger following behind, ears drooping listlessly.
“I’ll be back in the evening,” Joshua said. He had tied his hair into a ponytail, finally accepting this not-so-stylish hairstyle after several battles with the wild ocean wind had left him with less-than-flattering results.
“Try to hurry. The weather forecast says there’ll be a storm tonight.”
“Aha, the weather forecast. If it could be trusted, there’d be nothing in the world worth not trusting.”
“When it starts raining and you don’t have an umbrella, you’ll see the value of the weather forecast.”
Joshua shrugged. “Alright, alright, I get it. I’ll be back early.” He hooked an arm around Alois’s neck and kissed him on the lips. As he left, he saw Pavlov disdainfully pawing at his breakfast and clicked his tongue. “We should hire a professional chef.”
“You, of all people, have no right to say that!”
Alois closed the door and picked up Schrödinger. “Alright, kitty, it’s bath time.” Amid Schrödinger’s terrified screams and fierce struggles, Alois headed to the bathroom.
An hour later, Alois was drying off a half-dead Schrödinger with a towel. Bathing the cat always felt like going into battle. After Joshua discovered that Schrödinger was afraid of water (how had he not known this before?), he entrusted the difficult and honorable task to Alois. “Please, I might accidentally strangle him. You understand.”
I really don’t want to understand, Alois thought. He missed the days when Leo was around. The AI would have taken care of everything. (“The source of human decadence!” Joshua commented. “That’s why modern people are getting lazier!” “How could you say that? Leo would be hurt if he heard you.” “He can’t hear. He’s on a tour in the Federation.”)
Schrödinger, now a fluffy ball of fur, lay motionless on Alois’s lap, pretending to be a cat-shaped pillow. Alois moved him aside just as Pavlov began scratching at the door again, either protesting his food or wanting to go for another walk. Alois pretended not to hear and calmly walked into the kitchen to prepare lunch. Joshua had broken another microwave yesterday. Its remains lay in the trash, silently lamenting its fate. (Alois thought there should be a sign on the kitchen door saying “Joshua and dogs forbidden entry.”) Joshua would have to buy a new one along with the dog food.
Pavlov’s scratching at the door continued for ten minutes before subsiding. But by the afternoon, it had started up again. The TV was playing a show debunking pseudoscience (“Uncover the Mutant Rat Colonies on Svoya Planet!”), and Schrödinger was sprawled out on the sofa, apparently dead, but still staring intently at the screen. Alois dropped the remote, opened the door, and stepped aside just in time to dodge Pavlov’s leaping attack. Then he grabbed the big dog’s collar and dragged him outside. “Fine, let’s go for a walk!” Pavlov finally looked satisfied, wagging his tongue happily as he ran towards the forest.
Man and dog followed the forest path all the way to the beach, where the tide was out and jagged rocks jutted from the waves. Alois could hardly tell that they were artificial. They looked so natural as if they belonged there, not pushed along by propulsion engines following the ocean currents.
A layer of dark clouds pressed down on the distant horizon, and flashes of lightning could be seen between them. The weather forecast was miraculously accurate.
Alois wrapped the dog’s leash around his left hand and pulled out his communicator with his right, dialing Joshua’s number. It rang for a long time before it was answered.
“Where are you?” Alois asked bluntly.
“On the main island,” Joshua’s voice was slightly muffled by the background noise.
“You should get on the gondola and come back immediately. The weather forecast was damn right—a storm is coming.”
“Uh, I know. Listen, Alois, there’s a bit of a situation here.” Joshua sounded somewhat hesitant. “I went to visit the priest on the main island, but… oh, damn, I’ve got to go. I’ll be back as soon as I can, don’t worry. You don’t need to wait for me for dinner.”
Pavlov ran over with a crab in his mouth, proudly showing it to his owner. Alois gasped and yanked the crab out of his mouth. “Damn it, this thing could snap your tongue off, you dumb dog!”
“What? What’s going to snap off?” Joshua asked amid the background noise.
“Nothing! No dinner for you! Goodbye!” Alois quickly hung up and hurried away from the beach with Pavlov in tow. The dog, reluctant to leave his “trophy”, seemed confused as to why his owner didn’t appreciate it.
By the time they returned home, the dark clouds had already settled over the island. Alois let the big dog inside, and it immediately leaped onto the sofa with a howl, joining Schrödinger in watching the mutant rats on TV (the black cat didn’t even acknowledge it, much to Pavlov’s dismay).
Dinner was rather lonely, even with the company of a cat and a dog. Alois absentmindedly finished his bread, wondering what Joshua was doing. The wind outside was growing louder, the windbreak forest groaning like a roaring sea. Although Neo Venice’s officials and architects had assured them that the island and house could withstand a Category 11 typhoon, Alois still felt nervous whenever a storm hit, fearing the house might be blown away.
He stacked the dishes in the kitchen for the dishwasher to handle, then checked all the doors and windows to make sure they were securely locked. Raindrops began to splatter against the glass, tracing countless silver lines. The forest outside, like a shadowy ghost, twisted wildly in the storm. At the tops of the shadows, lightning flashed, illuminating the rolling clouds. The waves crashed against the base of the floating island, sending faint tremors and rumbling echoes through the house.
This wasn’t Alois’s first storm at sea, but this time, he was genuinely scared because it was the first time he was facing the overwhelming power of nature alone. Humans always seemed so small in the face of nature.
He made a round of the house, checking every room, and finally returned to the living room. The TV signal had been cut off, leaving the holographic screen filled with static. The sofa was claimed by Schrödinger and Pavlov (they loved the static). Alois picked up the cat and sat down in its spot, with the big dog resting its head on his lap.
“Are you scared, Pavlov?” Alois asked, looking down at the big dog. “The wind and rain outside are so fierce, you must be terrified, right?”
The dog barked, though it was unclear whether it was agreeing or denying. Alois assumed it was agreeing because he was scared too.
“When will Joshua come back?” he muttered to himself. Maybe Joshua didn’t plan to return. In such a storm, he wouldn’t be able to make it back anyway. How ironic, Alois thought. He can travel across half the galaxy, roam the universe, but he’s blocked by a storm on the ground. He tried calling Joshua again but couldn’t get through. The storm and lightning must have disrupted the signal, making him even more anxious.
As time ticked by, the storm grew fiercer, as if a giant dragon was roaring outside. Several times, Alois thought he heard someone knocking at the door, but when he risked being blown away by opening it, he was disappointed to find it was just the wind shaking the door. Joshua was undoubtedly spending the night on the main island. What was he doing now? Was he thinking of him too?
Alois, holding the black cat, rested his head on the warm body of the big dog and began to doze off. The boredom of waiting always made him sleepy. In his half-asleep state, he heard knocking at the door again. It must be the wind again, he thought. But he instinctively got up and went to the door, unlatched it, and pulled it open.
The blast of wind mixed with rain that hit him nearly knocked him off his feet! He stumbled back, struggling to breathe, and before he could fully grasp what was happening, someone caught him and pulled him into a wet embrace. The drenched sensation immediately woke him up.
“…Joshua?!”
The assassin struggled to close the door and latch it. “I’m glad to see you’re still awake,” he said. “If you hadn’t opened the door, I was planning to climb in through the window.”
He was soaked from head to toe as if he had just crawled out of the water. His silver hair was disheveled and plastered to his shoulders, dripping water that quickly pooled on the floor.
“You came back in this storm?” Alois exclaimed, his mouth agape in shock.
“Yeah.” The assassin smiled. “If I had known piloting a gondola in a storm was this difficult, I wouldn’t have come back… I almost fell into the sea!” He was freezing, his lips pale.
“Don’t do that again! What if something happens? You think you’re piloting the Lady of the Night?”
“But I promised you I’d come back.” Joshua hugged Alois around the waist and kissed him hard. “I’m so cold. I need warmth. You seem warm inside. I want to go in…”
“Go take a shower, or you’ll end up as Joshua ‘Cold’ Planck.”
Joshua reluctantly let go of him. “I went through all this trouble to get back, and you’re this cold?” he complained as he headed to the bathroom, leaving a trail of wet footprints.
“How do you want me to thank you?”
Joshua pulled the bathroom door halfway shut, glanced back, and left behind a seductive smile that was as enticing as could be. Before Alois could fully decipher the meaning behind that smile, the door slammed shut, and the sound of running water filled the room.
Alois walked to the door, looking down at the steam seeping out from under it. The door was frosted glass, allowing a faint view of the figure behind it, swaying in the steam. Alois felt his mouth go dry. It’s too cold, he thought. I could use some warming up too.
“I visited the priest on the main island today,” Joshua said, his voice echoing from the bathroom. “But he accidentally fell into the sea and is now in the hospital.”
“Why did you go to see that old man?”
“To consult him on where to hold a wedding. He recommended Vincent Cathedral in Wagner, modeled after the Sistine Chapel, absolutely beautiful.”
Alois’s heart skipped a beat. “Uh, I thought… just registering would be enough…”
“Don’t you like weddings? Imagine us standing side by side in a church, with guests from afar behind us and, in front of us, the cross and the priest. The priest asks, ‘Joshua, do you take Alois to be your partner, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, never to part?’ And I say, ‘I do.’ Then the priest asks, ‘Alois, do you take Joshua to be your partner, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, never to part?’ And you say, ‘I do.’ Then the priest says, ‘Groom, you may kiss the groom.’—Don’t you like that?”
“Of course, I like it…”
“Then what’s the problem?” Joshua’s tone was matter-of-fact.
Alois touched his neck, which felt like something was crawling on it, making it itchy. He yanked off his jacket, tossed it aside, and opened the door to the steam-filled bathroom. Beyond the white mist, Joshua was lying in the bathtub, his long limbs stretched out freely, water droplets sliding down his beautifully muscled body, merging into the faintly visible water.
“Complimentary massage service.” Alois said, stripping off his clothes as he walked and stepping naked into the bathtub, straddling Joshua’s legs. The water spilled over the edge, but he didn’t care, wrapping his arms around Joshua’s neck and kissing him while deliberately rubbing against the other’s groin.
The passionate kiss continued until both were breathless. The assassin licked and sucked on Alois’s Adam’s apple, mumbling, “Where’s the massage service?”
Alois shifted upward, pressing his own organ against Joshua’s abdomen, and with his hand, slowly stroked both of their members together. Their sacs bumped against each other below, while the heads above rubbed against each other, soon fully erect and breaking the surface of the water.
Joshua’s kisses trailed downward, nipping at Alois’s collarbone, leaving several bite marks. Alois hummed contentedly and shifted up further, guiding Joshua’s cock to rub against his perineum, circling his entrance, the hole opening and closing as if eager to swallow the thick object, but Alois deliberately refrained from doing so. He provocatively used his member to nudge Joshua’s stomach, leaving a wet trail.
“Let me top this time?” he asked, panting.
Joshua was patient and didn’t answer. Instead, he leaned down, taking Alois’s nipple into his mouth, his tongue skillfully teasing the sensitive nub while one hand slipped behind his back, finding the entrance along the cleft of his ass.
“You always play this game!” Alois narrowed his eyes.
“Can you blame me? You wanted it yourself.” Joshua inserted a finger, probing the hot and soft interior, skillfully finding the sensitive spot and pressing down.
Alois yanked on his hair. “Don’t touch that!” he gasped. “Damn it, I… I’m going to cum…”
“Then let it out.”
“Then you’ll happily top me, right?”
“What’s wrong with that?” Joshua added another finger. “Don’t you like it?”
Alois, breathing heavily, let go of his hair and glared at the assassin, exasperated. “I like it!” he admitted, somewhat resigned.
The assassin pulled out his fingers and patted his butt. “Let’s move to the bed.”
Alois stumbled out of the bathtub, feeling awkward as his erection bobbed between his legs. He grabbed a towel and hastily dried himself before wrapping it around his waist.
“No one’s watching. What are you so afraid of?” Joshua hugged him from behind, lifting him onto his shoulder, and headed straight out of the bathroom and upstairs.
“Put me down!” Alois shouted into his ear. “And dry yourself off, Joshua ‘Cold’ Planck!”
“If I do get sick, you’ll have to take care of me, bringing me tea, providing massage services, and more, Alois ‘Butler’ Lagrange.”
As they passed through the living room, Schrödinger lifted his head to glance at them, then disdainfully turned away, wearing a cold and haughty expression as if to say, “Foolish humans, always in heat,” and casually stepped on the curious Pavlov, pushing him back onto the sofa.
Upon reaching the upstairs bedroom, Joshua tossed Alois onto the bed and leaned over him. The fierce kiss left Alois dizzy, unsure if it was from lack of oxygen or his racing heartbeat. He pushed Joshua’s wet hair back and caressed his neck, noticing that the assassin’s skin had warmed up, no longer cold but rather a bit too warm. He felt the same way. His lower body was so engorged it was about to burst, and if he hadn’t been desperately holding back to avoid seeming too inpatient, he would have already cum. But the emptiness in his rear ass even harder to bear—without Joshua’s fingers there, it felt unbearably empty, desperately needing something to fill it—he was about to go crazy!
“Damn it… Hurry up and enter me…” Alois reached under Joshua, trying to find what would satisfy him, but the assassin skillfully evaded him.
“Weren’t you just shouting that you wanted to top?”
“For God’s sake, I was just… saying it…” Alois’s chest heaved with intensity. “Please, Joshua… hurry…”
“Good resolve.” The assassin nodded, but instead of immediately entering him, he stepped back a few paces, pulled Alois up, and led him to the other side of the bedroom. There, an entire wall was made of large floor-to-ceiling windows, tightly locked, with storm clouds churning outside, lightning flashing, and the storm sweeping over the drifting island.
Alois was pressed against the glass, his cheek against the cold surface. He tried to press his entire body against it, hoping to cool down the burning heat inside him. Joshua gripped his waist from behind and thrust into him.
“Ngh…” A helpless moan escaped through Alois’s clenched teeth. He couldn’t stand steadily. If he hadn’t been wedged between Joshua and the glass, he would have collapsed long ago. Joshua thrust forcefully, the huge, hot object splitting open his tender insides, pounding deep into his tight passage over and over again. The assault was fierce, as if trying to break him, yet incredibly gentle at the same time, each thrust carefully grinding against his sensitive spots, bringing an indescribable pleasure.
“Ah… slower… I… I can’t take it…” Alois begged, overwhelmed by the relentless pleasure. He had already climaxed once, his seed splattering against the glass, slowly dripping down to the floor, creating an abstract, erotic painting against the backdrop of the storm outside.
His passage was scorching hot after the climax, the walls tightly gripping Joshua’s cock, rhythmically contracting as he thrust in and out. The assassin loved to take him right after he climaxed, as it was when Alois lost all rationality, his body at its most sensitive and wanton. His small, wet hole would eagerly suck at the thick shaft, like a hungry mouth craving the rough treatment and the thick, sticky essence. Joshua loved to ravage Alois until he was utterly broken, filling him up until that greedy little mouth couldn’t take in any more liquid.
The assassin licked Alois’s earlobe and whispered, “Cry out.”
Alois bit his lip, clinging to the last shred of sanity, and refused.
“No one will hear you. Cry out. Scream.”
“I… I can’t… Ah, ah, ah…!”
Joshua thrust deep a few more times, his right hand gripping Alois’s penis, expertly stroking it.
The simultaneous assault from both ends shattered his last defenses. Alois pressed his forehead against the glass, his ears filled with a loud rumbling, unsure whether it was the thunder outside or the sound of his own blood rushing. Just beyond the glass was the roaring storm, and behind him, Joshua’s strong, fit body was tightly pressed against him. His lower body was being ruthlessly pounded, while inside him, a torrent of lust swept through his entire being, robbing him of the ability to think. All he could do was move his body in rhythm with Joshua’s thrusts, obeying every command to gain more pleasure.
“Cry out,” the assassin commanded for the third time.
Finally, Alois surrendered. Amidst the howling wind and thunder, he gave in to his body’s instincts and moaned aloud. Soon, his moans turned into wanton cries. “Faster… Ah, ah, ah, Joshua… faster… deeper… Ah, ah…” The response was an even fiercer thrust.
Both of them responded to each other with the most intense actions, like two wild beasts in heat. Joshua drove Alois to another orgasm by the window and released his own load inside him. Then they returned to the bed for another round, fighting fiercely until they both reached their peak once more. Joshua then grabbed Alois, pulling him close to his chest.
“I always keep my promises to you,” he said.
Alois mumbled something in response. He was utterly exhausted and fell asleep in the assassin’s warm embrace. Joshua’s cock was still inside him, but he didn’t feel uncomfortable—instead, there was a satisfying sense of being filled.
Joshua smiled helplessly, pulling the blanket over their bodies. He held his sleeping lover tightly, listening to the wind and thunder outside. He had experienced more ups and downs in life than most could imagine, and now, on this secluded island, he had finally found his own happiness. Compared to his past, this life might seem dull, but as long as he could still hold this person in his arms, every day would be filled with joy and contentment.
The bell rang, marking the end of the Empire History final exam. The elderly professor with white hair opened the doors of the examination room, and the dejected students poured out, instantly casting a gloomy shadow over the entire campus.
“I think I’m done for, Alois,” Casper Shannon said with a mournful expression, on the verge of tears. “What on earth was the new land tax law issued by Ammen II? I feel like I never even studied that! And the thirteen decrees of Queen Sia concerning the free city-states—who could possibly remember all of them?”
“Don’t be so upset, Casper.” His friend, Alois Lagrange, had an uneasy smile on his face. “Everyone is in the same boat. If you couldn’t write anything, neither could anyone else…”
“But did you manage to write something?”
“Uh, yeah, I did.”
“Then that’s it!” Casper became even more despondent. “I left half of the fill-in-the-blank questions empty, and the other half I just guessed at randomly…”
“I also filled in several blanks randomly.”
“Every time you say you guessed, you end up getting them right! I hate you!” He sniffed. “I better prepare for a retake… No, I might as well just retake the course…”
A group of younger students walked by them, and Alois, with sharp eyes, noticed someone among them he absolutely did not want to meet. He grabbed Casper’s arm, intending to change direction and avoid that person, but unfortunately, that person spotted them before they could get away.
“Isn’t this Senior Lagrange?”
Alois rolled his eyes. It seemed there was no avoiding it. “Good morning, Bayes.” He greeted with little enthusiasm.
The person he absolutely did not want to see—Darius Bayes—approached them with a confident stride, a smirk on his face, and sharp, hawk-like brown eyes that seemed to have caught their prey.
“It’s not morning anymore, Senior.” Darius Bayes stared at the “Imperial History” textbook in Alois’s hand. “I heard that a lot of people might fail this course. You must be confident about passing, right?”
Alois frowned. This brat was irritating in both expression and tone. “Thanks for your concern. You’ll have to take this course next semester, so maybe you should focus on yourself.”
“Of course, Senior.” Darius Bayes tilted his head slightly. “I have a meeting to attend next, so I’ll take my leave.” He gave a quick salute and strode off toward the teaching building on the other side of the campus.
Once his figure merged into the group of students, Casper tugged at Alois’s sleeve. “Who was that?”
“Darius Bayes, a junior one year below us.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of him. He holds a hereditary count title and is also the vice president of the student council.”
“He’s just an annoying brat.” Alois snorted.
“How do you know him?”
“Last year’s survival training, I happened to be their group leader. Oh, what a nightmare that was. I’ve never met a brat so arrogant and so fond of bossing others around. I should have pushed him off a cliff back then and spared us all the trouble!”
Darius Bayes strode confidently into the meeting room. The round table was already filled with people, with the heads and deputies of each department seated in order. The student council president, Hoffland, sat at the head of the table, with the seat to his right left vacant, reserved for Darius.
“My apologies for being late, everyone.” Darius surveyed the entire room.
“It’s alright, Bayes, take your seat,” Hoffland, two years his senior, said. “How did the exam go?”
“I can’t guarantee a high score, but I’ll definitely pass.”
Laughter echoed through the meeting room. Darius sat down beside Hoffland, who adjusted his glasses and nodded slightly. “Let’s begin the meeting.” A line of text appeared on the holographic screen behind him: Student Council Weekly Meeting.
[Today’s Agenda: Graduation Ball Preparations]
“The graduation ball is an annual event, so I’m sure everyone is familiar with the process. I assigned tasks two weeks ago. How’s the preparation going? Publicity Department?”
“The promotional posters are ready. Starting tomorrow, they’ll be displayed on all the school bulletin boards.”
“And the program lineup?”
“The program has been finalized, and the school dance troupe is rehearsing. We’ve invited Luna from the Broadcasting Association and Laswell from the neighboring Music Academy as the hosts.”
“What about the budget?”
“The school will cover 20%, and we’ll need to get sponsorships for the rest. The Public Relations Department is negotiating with a few companies we’ve collaborated with before.”
The department heads reported their progress one by one. Hoffland mostly nodded in silence, occasionally offering a comment or two. Darius was responsible for taking the meeting minutes, which helped him quickly familiarize himself with the student council’s work. Hoffland was almost grooming him as the next president.
The meeting lasted nearly an hour. After summarizing the tasks and setting the rehearsal date for the graduation ball, Hoffland announced the meeting’s end.
“‘LP’ members stay behind. Everyone else, you’re dismissed!”
Half of the students around the table packed up their things and gradually left the meeting room. The remaining members gathered on one side of the table. Hoffland stood up and switched places with Darius. In the upcoming club meeting, Darius was undoubtedly the leader.
Darius took the main seat and waved his hand. The text on the screen behind him changed abruptly: Lagrange Point Weekly Meeting.
Darius glanced around at the others, noticing how their previously rational and calm expressions instantly turned into excitement and fervor.
“The Lagrange Fanclub Weekly Meeting begins!”
The author has something to say:
Darius’s extra chapter is a bit dull, so just take a casual look… I originally wanted to write a story about Darius and Lagrange during their survival training, but then I thought it would be too much trouble, so I gave up = =.
Alveira lowered her head again. “Let me be alone for a while.”
“…Suit yourself. I’m done with you.” After saying that, her red figure disappeared at the door.
Alveira looked at the already activated control screen, feeling more and more like an outcast. This was a pirate ship, after all, and she… What was she? A Princess of the Empire? That was just an empty title—any daughter of the Queen could be a Princess. It didn’t necessarily have to be her. The White Radiance Palace was a massive cage… No, it was more accurate to say that everyone living in that palace was entrapping themselves, like her mother and her brother—he never got over the death of his lover. Alveira suspected it wasn’t the blow of death that was too much for him; rather, he simply didn’t want to move on, just wanting to escape from everything.
She wanted to leave that place. She already had. Now, she was aboard the pirate ship Dream of a Cold Night, a ship that would take her far from the Empire Capital to distant star systems she had never set foot in. She could escape far, far away, and never return…
Then she might as well do just that! Alveira felt as if a light had turned on in front of her, as if a messenger from the Lord had shown her the way. She could stay and try being a space pirate—though she had never done it before, she could learn slowly. No one is born knowing how to rob and pillage, right? She smiled, and the gloom in her heart vanished. She would do just that!
She joyfully climbed out of the gondola. The maintenance bay was dimly lit, with only a few lights on, making it appear incredibly dark. She thought Joanna and her companion had already left, so she was startled when the pirate woman’s voice came from nearby.
“Oh, you’ve finally decided to come out?” Joanna Begrel leaned against the gondola’s hatch, arms crossed over her chest.
“You… You haven’t left! Why are you still here?”
“This is my ship. I can go wherever I want.” She lowered her arms. “I’m heading to the mess hall now. You can come along if you want…” she said as she walked towards a door on the right.
Alveira quickly followed, and since the maintenance bay was very dark, she grabbed onto Joanna’s sleeve.
“I know someone named Alois too. That’s not a common name, is it?” She tried to find a topic.
“The one on my ship has the surname Lagrange, a damnable surname…”
“…Really? It’s the same person?”
They walked further and further away.
Several days later, in the communications room of Leyting Spaceport.
“Can you sing for me?”
“…I sing off-key, you know. Are you sure that’s okay?”
“Please sing for me!”
So Joanna began to hum a simple tune, without lyrics, just like a lullaby. Her voice was like a light, nimble bird, hovering in the communications room, sometimes soaring high, sometimes diving low. The melodious sound seemed to come from a distant past, worn smooth by time, leaving only a graceful and serene melody.
As the shuttle moved farther from the spaceport, the radio communication became intermittent. Once Alveira had become familiar with the melody, she began to sing along. At first, she just hummed softly, and gradually, she added some lyrics—though they were just syllables that didn’t form any words. But it didn’t matter; she didn’t need language. Language couldn’t convey the meaning she wanted to express. Or perhaps it was meaningless altogether.
She kept singing, singing continuously, until there was no sound coming from the speaker anymore, but she continued to sing, her voice traveling through the communicator into space, toward the depths of the vast starry sea.
Some days later, news arrived that Dream of a Cold Night had been sunk by Duke Winnet’s fleet, with no survivors.
When Alveira received the news, she was attending her brother Annot’s wedding. Her maid informed her of the unfortunate incident, and Alveira immediately turned and walked upstairs, pushing open the door to her brother’s room.
Annot was sitting dejectedly by the window, dressed in his groom’s attire but without any of the joy a groom should have. He looked as sorrowful as a young man who had just lost his lover—in fact, it was almost the same.
“Annot.” Alveira walked up to him and looked down at him. For a moment, she felt she was no longer the little sister protected by her brother. “Annot, I have something to say to you.”
Her brother looked up in surprise and stared at her. “You… Why are you here, Alveira? This isn’t proper…”
“How can you sit here calmly, Annot? Leia loved you so much, and yet you’re going to marry another woman? You couldn’t protect her, and you can’t avenge her. Don’t you feel any guilt in your heart?”
Annot remained silent.
“If I were you, brother,” Alveira took out a small handgun and placed it on the table in front of Annot. Ever since she escaped from Leyting, this handgun had never left her side. “I would choose to avenge her. Then I would become stronger, so I wouldn’t make the same mistake again, and then I could protect more people. I’ve already decided to do just that. You can join me. You will, won’t you?”
Annot stared at the gun on the table, his lips tightly pressed together.
“I’ll be waiting for you, brother. We’re siblings, aren’t we? We share the same blood. Is there anyone in this world closer than you and I? If you decide to go down this path, I will do everything in my power to help you, and you will help me too. If you make up your mind, come find me with this gun.”
She turned and left the room.
When she reached the first floor, she heard a gunshot from upstairs. The guests in the festive hall were stunned for a moment, then the men rushed to the second floor, and the women began to scream one after another.
Alveira said nothing, looked at nothing, and walked out of the wedding—or rather, the funeral—venue alone.
Coward. She thought in disappointment. I won’t be like him. If he had chosen revenge, we could have fought side by side. But he didn’t. Oh Lord, bless this poor soul; may he reunite with Leia in Your paradise. But I will survive. I will finish everything for him and for myself.
She walked farther and farther away.
After that, Alveira seemed like a changed person. The gloomy, introverted girl was gone, and the returning Alveira became an ambitious Princess. People said her brother’s death had turned her from a naive girl into a mature and powerful ruler. But only Alveira knew that she was merely imitating Joanna clumsily. Imitating her every smile, every gesture. She recruited the old royal guards, won over capable ministers, and built her own fleet. Whenever she encountered difficult problems, Alveira often thought: What would Joanna do in this situation? Her feelings towards Joanna were complex. It wasn’t just friendship, perhaps something close to love, but not quite. She admired that red-haired woman with a fervor, seeing her as an angel who had saved her. She admired Joanna, was captivated by her effortless grace. She wanted to introduce Joanna to everyone she knew, yet she also wanted to hide her away and have her all to herself. She wanted to become as independent and brave as Joanna, but in the dark corners of her heart, she also envied her, resented her. She was obsessed with Joanna, but often ordered herself not to think about her at all.
Alveira felt she was going mad or falling into some kind of sickness. Sometimes she couldn’t even tell whether she had become Joanna or Joanna had become her.
The Empire Princess eventually defeated Duke Winnet and reclaimed the throne.
After her coronation, she married her cousin, Count Darius Bayes, who was also the greatest hero in suppressing the rebellion. Although there was no “love” in her heart for Darius—her love had long been buried on that planet where day and night shared the sky—there was “affection”, “friendship”, and “responsibility”. Alveira knew that not all loving couples end up in marriage, and not all married couples love each other deeply. Darius wasn’t the one she loved the most, but he was the most suitable.
They had children. Many years passed, and the children grew up, started their own families, and had their own children. Among all of Alveira’s descendants, her favorite was her second son’s son, Eddie, who, strangely enough, had a head of fiery red hair.
About eighteen years ago, a bout of pneumonia claimed Darius’s life. In his final moments, he called Alveira to his bedside alone and told her, “I feel so relieved, Alveira. I can finally let go of everything I’ve been carrying.”
Darius had always kept a secret from her. He never spoke of it, and she couldn’t guess it, though she vaguely sensed the truth. But she would never confirm it with Darius, nor would she try to do anything to uncover it. Darius took this secret to the grave, to the end of time, so let it remain a secret forever.
Time flew by, and in Standard Year 1506, the 110-year-old Queen sat in the courtyard, a gaudy Bohemian-style blanket covering her knees. She calmly watched the children playing in the corridor, reflecting on her life.
Suddenly, Ian and Nara came running excitedly toward her, the boy holding a simple crystal radio in his hands.
“Great-grandmother, listen! It really picks up sounds!” Ian held the crystal radio up high.
Indeed, the radio emitted some static. The Queen focused her attention, hearing a young girl’s voice say, “…Can you sing for me?”
A voice, more familiar than any other, replied, “I sing off-key, is that okay?”
“Please sing for me!”
Then, a haunting melody began to play.
The Queen, with trembling hands, took the radio and asked, “Dear, may I have this?”
Ian thought for a moment. “Alright, but you have to give it back later. I want to show it to Teacher Sally!”
“I will. I promise.” The Queen patted the children’s heads. “Go play over there. I need to be alone for a while.”
Ian looked at his sister. “Nara, let’s play ball together!”
“Okay!”
The two children ran off hand in hand.
The Queen lowered her head and carefully caressed the crystal radio with her loose, age-spotted hands, afraid of breaking it. The song coming from the radio was unclear and mixed with static, but the Queen thought it was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard.
From a planet ninety light-years away from the Empire Capital, a radio signal broadcast into the universe had, after traveling for ninety years, finally reached the Empire Capital and returned to its owner’s hands.
Ian and Nara were playing with a ball, and the boy mischievously threw it high, sending it toward their great-grandmother. Nara, not to be outdone, shouted, “Great-grandmother! Throw it to me, not to Ian!”
But the great-grandmother, lying on the recliner, didn’t move.
“What’s wrong with her?” The two children exchanged glances and finally decided to check for themselves.
They ran over to the Queen and saw the white-haired woman with her eyes closed, lying peacefully on the recliner. On her lap was the crystal radio, still playing the beautiful song.
Strangely, they couldn’t understand a single word of the song’s lyrics.
In Standard Year 1506, Queen Alveira I passed away at the age of 110. She died peacefully in her sleep on a sunny afternoon, without suffering any pain. Her reign was known as the “Platinum Era” of the Empire, one of the brightest chapters in the Empire’s history.
The author has something to say:
Well, don’t worry too much about why radio waves could travel that far or how a crystal radio could pick up a song. Even the author thinks it’s pretty far-fetched…
“The Empire spans one hundred thousand light-years, with billions of stars within its borders. Among all these stars, my favorite is the colony ‘Leyting’, which is ninety light-years from the capital. It has no special products, just a few important Empire armories. It has neither day nor night. The sky is half the dusk of a star and half the vault of space. But I love it for one reason alone: in the Standard Calendar year 1416, I met Joanna there.”
—Prologue, “Memoirs of Queen Alveira”
The Queen was already old.
She realized this one ordinary afternoon. She was sitting in a rocking chair in the courtyard, with a Bohemian-style blanket covering her knees, gazing at the distant corridor—her great-grandson Ian was assembling a simple crystal radio in the corridor. His tutor had just taught him the principles in the morning, and by the afternoon, he was already putting it together. Ian’s sister, Nara, had no interest in such crafts, so she was playing with a ball on the side, her childish face full of innocence. The Queen watched the two of them and thought of their father. They looked so much like him, with the same blue eyes and red hair. For a brief moment, the Queen felt as though she had traveled back decades, and it wasn’t Ian and Nara playing there, but their father and their grandfather. And then, for another brief moment, the Queen felt as though she had returned to her own childhood, playing in the same place with her brother, Annot.
Nara threw the ball high into the air, laughing with excitement. The ball arced perfectly through the air and landed right at the Queen’s feet, rolling a few times before stopping on the grass.
“Great-grandmother! Great-grandmother! Throw the ball back!” Nara called out.
The Queen smiled kindly, bent down to pick up the ball, and tossed it back to the child.
It was then that the Queen suddenly felt old.
She was already 110 years old, almost the average life span of the Empire’s citizens. Maybe she would die tomorrow, or maybe she had another ten years left. Thirty years ago, the Queen had stopped governing, appointing her grandson, Eddie, as regent. The Queen had privately heard the maids say that Edie had complained more than once that the Queen had lived too long, that he wasn’t satisfied with being regent and wanted the throne for himself. But that was all he ever said. In this era, anyone who dared to harm a hair on Queen Alveira’s head was either dead or yet to be born. The history of the Queen reclaiming her throne from her rebellious uncle had long since become legend, and when people talked about the Queen of the White Radiance Palace, it was always with admiration, as if she were not a human monarch but a hero from a distant myth.
But the Queen was already old. In that moment just now, she felt that she had lived too long. She even felt that her true self had died ninety years ago in Leyting, and that the person she was now was merely a phantom or an empty shell.
If my life were a movie, it would surely be at the end by now, the Queen thought. If this were a happy ending, a woman would walk toward me now from the warm and brilliant afternoon sunlight. She would have fiery red hair, with the sunlight shining on it like a layer of molten gold. She would stand before me, smile brilliantly, and extend her hand to me. Then I would also extend my hand and clasp hers tightly. The camera would slowly freeze on that moment. That would be the perfect ending.
The Queen looked ahead. There was no red-haired woman in the sunlight; only two happy and innocent children.
The true ending had already occurred in Leyting, ninety years ago.
“Are you really the space pirate Joanna?” Alveira curiously looked at the red-haired woman beside her, who had barged into her vehicle without a second thought.
“Absolutely.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be out in space robbing people? Why are you here in Leyting?”
“Obviously for some special reasons.” Joanna Begrel checked her wounds. “Just like how you, a Princess, aren’t staying in your palace attending banquets and dancing but are instead here, looking like you’re being chased.”
Alveira puffed out her cheeks. “I am being chased. And so are you, aren’t you?”
“Did you offend Winnet?”
“He has ambitions. He actually tried to assassinate me!”
“And you escaped.” Joanna glanced back at the police cars that were still chasing them. “What do you plan to do next?”
“Go to the Governor’s mansion, ‘borrow’ a shuttle, and head to the spaceport.”
Joanna mused, “Oh. I bet the Governor is on Winnet’s side. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be such a big commotion, with no response from the planetary army. The ones chasing us now are armed police and the Duke’s private forces.”
“So, you think we shouldn’t go to the Governor’s mansion?” Alveira was a bit angry. “Even if the Governor has ill intentions, as long as I stand before him, he… he would…”
“You’re so naive.” Joanna shrugged. “Those politicians are all flies chasing after fame, profit, and power. Winnet can give them what they want, but what about you? If I were the Governor, I’d side with the Duke too. It’s a profit-without-loss deal.”
Alveira was so angry her chest tightened. How could this woman speak about an Empire Governor in such a way! Even if he really had bad intentions, it wasn’t her place as a space pirate to say anything! “I…”
Rose, who was beside her, coughed. “Your Highness, you shouldn’t be saying so much to this outsider. For all we know, she might be in league with the Duke, trying to disrupt our plans.”
In the rearview mirror, Alveira saw the cautious look in Zion’s eyes. Now she was starting to believe Rose’s words.
“If you don’t trust me, I’ll just leave.”
“You would be saving us a lot of trouble,” Zion said. “I’ll find a quiet spot ahead and let you off.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
Zion maneuvered the vehicle down, stopping it at a quiet corner of the street, then opened the door. Joanna jumped out and waved back at them. “Goodbye.”
Alveira leaned out of the vehicle. “What do you plan to do next?”
“Find a shuttle and get back to space. My ship is still waiting for me out there.”
Alveira wanted to ask her how she planned to find a shuttle alone, but Rose pulled her back, slamming the door shut with a “bang”. Zion lifted the vehicle back into the air, quickly catching up with the other two in their group. The red figure on the ground grew smaller and smaller as the vehicle soared over a building, and Alveira could no longer see her.
“Your Highness, we’re being followed!” Zion lowered his voice. “It’s not the police, and it’s not the planetary army.”
Alveira looked back, heart pounding. Sure enough, several vehicles were trailing closely behind. These weren’t ordinary civilian cars. Their exteriors were fitted with alloy armor, and there were machine gun mounts on top.
“Winnet’s private forces?”
“I’m afraid so.” Zion squinted. “Please get down, Your Highness!”
Before Alveira could comply, Rose had already pushed her down onto the seat. The vehicle spun violently, the world turning upside down. Alveira felt like her insides were going to be shaken out. She clung tightly to the seat cushion, ears ringing, barely able to make out Zion’s voice issuing commands, “Lee! George! You two lead them away!”
The dizziness lasted for a while, and the rapid descent of the vehicle made Alveira feel even worse. She dimly sensed the light around her darken. When the vehicle stopped spinning, Rose let go of her.
“Your Highness, are you alright?” the bodyguard asked.
“I’m… I’m okay…” Alveira sat up, still dizzy. The vehicle was still bumping and shaking. She noticed that the two escort vehicles that had been flying alongside them were gone, and they were now maneuvering deftly through the concrete jungle of Leyting.
“Please hang on a bit longer, Your Highness. We’ll reach the Governor’s mansion soon,” Rose reassured her.
The vehicle passed through an iron gate, and the view suddenly opened up. The Governor’s mansion loomed like a beast covered in scales and fangs, crouching at the center of Leyting, commanding the highest point in the city. As the vehicle approached within half a kilometer of the mansion, they received a full-frequency electromagnetic communication.
“Unlicensed Hydra-class anti-gravity vehicle, stop immediately, identify yourself, and submit to inspection, or you will be shot down. Repeat, stop immediately…”
Zion spat. The Governor’s guards had risen like locusts from behind the iron walls. He had no choice but to lower the vehicle’s altitude, landing it on Leyting’s muddy ground under the watchful eyes of two armed gondolas.
Several soldiers with assault rifles jumped off the gondolas, pointing their guns at them. “Get out of the vehicle!”
Zion turned to Alveira. “We’d better get out for now.”
Rose nodded, opened the door, and stepped out first, then subtly shielded the door to protect the princess as she followed.
“Hands up and behind your head. Submit to inspection!” one of the soldiers ordered.
“How dare you! This is Her Highness, Princess of the Galactic Empire!” Zion shouted.
The soldier looked awkwardly at the three people who had gotten out of the vehicle, then glanced at the captain next to him. “He says that’s Her Highness, the Princess…”
The captain frowned, scrutinizing Alveira from head to toe. “If this is truly the Princess, why is she here with only two bodyguards?”
Alveira was about to say, “Because Duke Winnet wants to kill me,” but Rose stepped in front of her and answered first, “We were attacked by terrorists and have come to seek the Governor’s protection.”
The captain pressed a hand to the communicator in his ear, as if receiving orders. After a moment, he said, “I understand the situation. Please come this way, Your Highness. The Governor is waiting for you in his office.” He gestured invitingly.
Alveira looked around. They were surrounded by the Governor’s guards, not just on the ground but also in the sky, where armed airships full of soldiers hovered. She noticed, at the end of the swarm of troops, a distinctive bat-winged vehicle. Its shape was so unique that Alveira recognized it at once. It was the Duke’s private car.
She grabbed Rose’s elbow. “Don’t go.”
“Your Highness?”
“They’re in league with the Duke!”
As soon as Alveira shouted this, the captain raised his gun and aimed at her! Alveira didn’t have time to react; everything happened in an instant—the muzzle flashed, and at the same time, Rose pushed her into Zion’s arms. In the next moment, the beam pierced through the bodyguard’s chest!
“Rose!”
She fell back, a trickle of blood running from her lips. Zion grabbed Alveira’s head, forcing her to look away from Rose’s body, while pushing her back into the vehicle. Just then, a mini-missile with a long tail of smoke struck the vehicle. In the moment of the explosion, Zion turned and shielded Alveira with his body, absorbing the impact of the blast.
The roar left Alveira temporarily deaf, and the firelight blinded her, but she could smell the scent of burning metal and flesh, as if a demon’s hand had gripped her body, rendering her immobile.
“Zion…” Her lips trembled. “Rose…”
Someone grabbed her and pulled her up. She dimly felt that it was the soldiers, and she heard them speak in triumphant tones. “We’ve got her!” Then they roughly shoved her in another direction.
“Zion… Rose… Brother… Darius…” She called out each of their names, but none of them were there with her.
“Dream of a Cold Night, main cannon energy filled, target locked, firing in three, two, one!”
Alveira looked up, her vision blurred with afterimages, as a deep blue beam descended from the sky, splitting the twilight of Leyting in two, then struck the steel behemoth of the Governor’s mansion!
A gust of wind swept past her back, like a raging fire scorching her skin. She turned around in a daze and saw a gondola charging through the ring of armed airships. The soldiers fired at it, but not a single beam hit. It flew straight toward Alveira, the cabin door sliding open. A strand of red hair fluttered out in the storm, like a banner dyed with blood, yet brighter than any light. In Alveira’s vision, there was nothing but that vast red.
The gondola passed over Alveira’s head in less than a second, but she reached out and grabbed the hand that extended from the cabin to pull her in.
She was yanked into the gondola. The door closed, and the vehicle shot through the encirclement, through the plumes of smoke rising from the Governor’s mansion, like a hawk soaring over a battlefield, unstoppable!
“Joanna… Begrel?”
“Honored that you still remember me.”
Alveira could barely breathe. “Why… Why are you here? Weren’t you leaving?”
The red-haired pirate manipulated the controls, easily evading the guards’ pursuit, while chatting casually. “I got a gondola, but it couldn’t leave the atmosphere, so I thought about it and decided it was better to ‘borrow’ one from the Governor’s mansion.”
The hangar door of the Governor’s mansion had already been reduced to ruins by the beam from the sky. The space pirate had left the Governor an IOU, boldly writing “never to be returned” in large letters.
Alveira suddenly felt like crying. “I was wrong,” she said. “I shouldn’t have doubted you. If I had listened to you earlier, Zion and Rose wouldn’t have…”
A gentle hand patted her head. “Then remember it,” Joanna said. “A lesson paid for with lives will stay with you for life. Carry it with you, grow stronger, and then you won’t make the same mistake again. Only then can you protect more people.”
Alveira nodded. “I’ll remember.”
Forty minutes later, the shuttle “borrowed” from the Governor’s mansion docked in the maintenance bay of the Dream of a Cold Night. Alveira curled up in her seat, hugging her knees, as she watched Joanna push open the cabin door and walk out.
“Captain, you’re finally back!” a young man’s voice said. “I was worried you wouldn’t come back!”
Joanna replied, “Ibb Descartes, can’t you say something more positive?”
“Where’s Alois and Joshua? Weren’t they with you?”
“Uh… who knows… We got separated. But I think they’ll find a way to survive!”
“…Not convincing at all, Captain.”
Listening to the friendly banter outside, Alveira felt like an outsider, a stranger here. She wanted to go back to the capital, but it was full of danger, not just from the Duke who had already rebelled, but from many others with ill intentions. She had nowhere to go, no companions, only the despair that seemed to deepen with every passing moment—she was truly useless!
Someone knocked on the door, and Alveira looked up to see Joanna standing at the entrance. “Are you planning to nest in the gondola?”
“Alveira? Alveira? Wake up, Your Majesty. We have arrived at Sword Bow.”
Alveira opened her eyes and saw Darius’s face. She pushed herself up and realized that she had fallen asleep on a reclining chair in the spaceship’s solarium.
“What? We’re here already?” She noticed that a blanket had been draped over her, something that hadn’t been there when she fell asleep.
“You slept for several hours.” Darius folded the blanket for her. “You’ve been too exhausted during this inspection tour. Take a good rest when we return to the capital.”
“Okay,” Alveira said. As she stood up, something fell off her knees. It was her communication terminal, displaying a comic titled “The Nameless Assassin and the Fallen Aristocrat”. Feeling bored during the long journey, Alveira had bought a few comics online to pass the time. “The Nameless Assassin and the Fallen Aristocrat” was currently the most popular and trendy comic, telling the story of a noble girl in a war-torn era who roams with an assassin. Its author, the comic artist known by the pen name “Duchess”, had recently won the Best Comic Artist of the Year of the Unfallen Star award, receiving praise from many industry veterans for her lively brushstrokes and profound insights.
Alveira picked up the communication terminal and put it away. “I just had a strange dream.”
“What kind of dream?”
“I can’t remember clearly. I think I dreamt of two old friends.”
On August 30th, 1418 of the Standard Calendar, Her Majesty Queen Alveira I, accompanied by Prince Darius, arrived at Sword Bow for an inspection. It had been a year since the war ended, and the Empire had largely restored the peace and prosperity it enjoyed before the war. Last month, Her Majesty married the war hero, the Imperial Marshal, Count Darius Bayes. Together, they had inspected various planets that had been devastated during the war and had since recovered. The final stop on their tour was Sword Bow, which had not only been leveled by rebels during the civil war but was also the site where the Battle of the Yasha concluded. The planet had narrowly avoided a stellar destruction crisis, thanks to the assistance of Neo Athens. The people had rebuilt their homes on the ruins, and now Sword Bow showed almost no traces of the war.
As Her Majesty and Prince Darius disembarked from the spaceship, a cheer erupted from the vast crowd at the spaceport. Salutes were fired, music played, and the spirited governor approached to greet the queen with a deep bow.
“Welcome to Sword Bow, Your Majesty, and Your Royal Highness.”
“I’m glad to see you again after a year, Governor.” The Queen allowed him to kiss the back of her hand.
For this inspection, the Queen traveled aboard Prince Darius’s flagship, the Sword of the Queen. Her own flagship had been sunk during the war, destroyed by the monstrous Yasha. Fortunately, there were no people aboard at the time. The crew had remained on the Unfallen Star. After the war, some continued to serve in the military, others pursued different careers, and still others returned to Milantu. Today, Milantu had become a vital trade hub between the Empire and the Free City-States, with frequent trade and rich mineral resources, enabling the people of Milantu to live in peace and prosperity even without resorting to piracy. Notably, Ibb Descartes and pilot Titia, formerly of the Lady of the Night, had recently married, and the Queen had sent them a wedding gift.
The AI that had been aboard the Lady of the Night had found a new home on another ship, beginning a new life. Rumor had it that the ship’s owner was on a galactic tour, and with the help of the high-end AI, the performances were sure to be more spectacular.
“Your Majesty must be tired from the journey. Shall I escort you to the hotel?” The governor was eager to please.
“I heard there’s a monument in the central square. I’d like to see it first.”
“Certainly. As you wish. Would you like to go by car? A special car is ready…”
“It’s only about a five-minute walk, right? Let’s walk.”
“Yes, yes.” The governor wiped the sweat from his brow. The Queen’s visit was an unprecedented event. Armed police had cleared the way, but they couldn’t keep the curious citizens from wanting to catch a glimpse of the Queen. Fortunately, the Queen’s guard looked well-trained, so there shouldn’t be any mishaps.
He respectfully accompanied the royal couple out of the spaceport. The current spaceport had been expanded from the former temporary spaceport, with more berths and facilities added to accommodate ships and tourists—after all, Sword Bow was where the Battle of the Yasha ended, and countless people wanted to visit. Soon, tourism would likely become one of the planet’s pillar industries.
The Queen’s party walked along the newly built street, the road smooth and clean, with lush trees and high-rise buildings springing up along the way. More buildings were under construction in the distance. After the war, both the Empire and the Federation, both the elites and the common people, realized how fragile humanity and its creations were in the face of the ultimate weapons of destruction. The thousand-year war between the Empire and the Federation over ideology seemed insignificant in the face of a crisis that threatened all of humanity. In the Battle of the Yasha, both sides achieved a complete ceasefire for the first time—for those who had spent years on the battlefield, this peace was unexpected but seemed quite welcome. The purpose of war was to end war, and so, after the Yasha’s demise, the Empire and the Federation shook hands and signed a nonaggression pact. No one knew how long this treaty would last or how long it would bring peace to the galaxy—it certainly wouldn’t be forever—but at least it allowed both sides to emerge from the shadows and wounds of war, clearing the way for the progress of human civilization.
The Queen waved to the citizens of Sword Bow who lined the streets in welcome. Some people threw petals and streamers from the high-rise buildings, the colorful ribbons fluttering down like a multicolored rain. The central square was just ahead, and the Queen could already see the towering monument. The monument was forged from steel and resembled a broken assault rifle. At its base was the only remaining piece of Sword Bow’s ruins, left as a reminder of the war’s devastation. It had since become a famous tourist attraction on Sword Bow, where it was said that the Galactic Diva once sang during the war’s final moments.
“By the way, Governor,” the Queen asked, “I’ve heard that a cat and a dog have been wandering around the ruins and won’t leave. Is that true?”
The governor nodded obsequiously. “Yes, Your Majesty, it’s been reported many times in the news. It’s said that their owner was the hero who last boarded the Prometheus to destroy the Yasha, and they have been waiting there for their owner to return…” The governor paused thoughtfully. “The local animal protection organization has tried to take them to the stray animal shelter several times, and many kind-hearted citizens have offered to adopt them, but they just won’t leave the ruins… So a small shelter has been built for them nearby.”
A year ago, the war ended with the Yasha’s destruction. According to popular legend, the heroes aboard the battleship created a singularity black hole and threw the Yasha into it, letting it serve as the final arbiter at the end of time, watching over humanity until the end of all things.
At that time, the singularity black hole was so close to the star that it might have consumed it. The residents of the Sword Bow star system were preparing to evacuate, but fortunately, the black hole was perfectly controlled and didn’t consume anything—except the Yasha and the Prometheus. To this day, no one knows the fate of the ship’s passengers, but their pets continue to wait where they left.
The Queen entered the central square. The black monument stood like a towering pillar, awe-inspiring. What surprised the Queen even more was that the ruins beneath the monument were covered in wildflowers, with the wind bringing soil and seeds, allowing the green grass and flowers to take root and grow on the war’s remnants.
A few children ran toward the queen, and a girl holding a bouquet of flowers in her hands said in a childish voice, “Your Majesty, this is for you!” She stood on tiptoe to offer the bouquet to the Queen. The Queen recognized the bouquet as being from the flowers growing on the ruins.
“Thank you, child.” She kissed the girl’s forehead. “By the way, why haven’t I seen the cat and dog here?”
The girl looked confused, “Do you mean the black cat and the big dog? They’ve always been here. I saw them just yesterday…” She turned to her friends. “Why aren’t they here today?”
The other children were also puzzled. Just then, a boy raised his hand. “I know! I saw two big brothers take the black cat and the big dog away this morning!”
The Queen widened her eyes. “Big brothers? What did they look like?”
“Um…” The boy thought for a moment. “I remember one big brother had silver hair, and the other had a mechanical arm.”
The Queen suddenly fell silent. She straightened up and looked at the flower-covered ruins.
There are many stories in this world—stories that people hope will never end. Even when they grow old and gray, these stories can still touch hearts that are no longer young.
The Queen thought, If possible, I also wish this story would never end, that it would be told forever and ever, so that whenI’m old, my children and grandchildren will still be hearing the same story, and when they too grow old, they can pass it on to their descendants. Even when the world no longer remembers us, this story will continue to circulate quietly in some corner of the universe. As long as there are people listening, it will never end, and the people in the story will live on forever.
“Is that so.” The Queen smiled.
In the year 1418 of the Standard Calendar, amid the ruins covered with wildflowers, the legend came to an end, and a new chapter in the galaxy’s history began.
But those stories will continue to be told, never ending.
—END—
Kinky Thoughts:
This marks the end of the novel. Hope you enjoyed it. It was an entertaining read, though the last part of the novel suddenly felt way too rushed. Pacing was all over the place. Given the year this was written, this was quite reminiscent of the works back then, as you can see how all the cliché tropes were played out.
I did find a lot of it to be quite OTT, but then again, this is a space opera book, so one can’t expect it not to be overly dramatic.
If you did enjoy it, please consider supporting the author by buying the raws. You can use Google Chrome with their auto translate and this guide on how to buy novels on Changpei (gongzicp). Remember, only with your (financial) support can artists continue to produce more great works.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone for your comments, encouragement, help with my translations, and ko-fi donations.
One hour later, everyone gathered once again in the control room. According to Leo’s report, he had located the Yasha.
“What are the coordinates?”
“Near the perihelion orbit of the star in the Sword Bow system.”
“I see. It’s been using the star’s particle streams and gravity to hide itself? No wonder we couldn’t find it before.” Nolin Titian’s expression was one of sudden realization.
“What’s the next step?” Leo asked. “Should I start activating the remaining parts of myself and then take control of the Yasha?”
“If possible, start now,” the Archon replied.
Joshua stared at the data showing the Yasha’s coordinates on the screen. “If the Yasha attacks us, how many seconds do we have to evade?”
“Seconds?” The Archon’s tone was sarcastic. “The Yasha is only one astronomical unit away from us. With its high-speed movement, we wouldn’t even have time to blink before we’re obliterated.”
“That sounds… really bad.”
“Yes, it’s absolutely terrible,” the Archon said with a wicked smile. “Did you hear that, Leo? You’re now carrying the hopes of all humanity.”
“Shut up, human, you’re distracting me from my work.”
“……”
Leo successfully shut down Nolin Titian, which put him in an inexplicably good mood. Activating the remaining parts of his backup was a relatively easy task that didn’t require the Archon’s involvement. Leo could handle it himself. As he decrypted the data, a massive influx of information flooded his consciousness, causing a brief moment of confusion. Although he quickly recovered, he knew that such confusion couldn’t happen again, or it would give the Yasha an opportunity to strike.
Wherever there was superluminal communication coverage, Leo was present. He let his consciousness flow into this invisible web, once again becoming the all-knowing, all-powerful Leo.
It took him no effort to infiltrate the Yasha’s system. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a sea of information. All the knowledge from past to present was like a 360-degree mirror reflecting around him, or like a deep corridor leading into the darkest depths.
Leo felt as though he were both sinking and flying. Beneath him lay a ruin that contained everything, a chaotic treasure trove. When he landed on that ruin, he felt solid ground beneath his feet for the first time.
But this wasn’t the Yasha’s core. He was limited by his three-dimensional perception, unable to touch the deeper layers and higher dimensions. He was like a figure in a painting who needed to jump out of the frame to control the Yasha.
“Where is it…?”
There was no path here, only an endless expanse of ruins. Leo couldn’t help but grow anxious, which caused the surrounding environment to become unsettled. Then he noticed burn marks on the ground, as if something had scorched it, leaving a trail in the chaotic land. Was this the mark left by the Fifth AI when it controlled the Yasha? Or were these scars from its destruction?
The trail led underground. Leo decided this must be the right direction. This place wasn’t really a ruin, just a world constructed of data and concepts. The Yasha’s core was below.
The ground beneath his feet collapsed in an instant. The ruins turned to dust, swallowed by darkness, which then became pure white, transforming into light and finally into nothingness.
Leo looked around. He knew this place. It was the beginning, and it was the end. It was before everything existed and after the universe ceased to be.
This was the end of time.
He saw the Yasha’s core. It was at the end of the end, the beginning of the beginning. It looked like a ring, with its ends connected, or like a beam of light extending infinitely. Leo couldn’t describe what it was. Its existence defied human and AI understanding. But it was there. Or rather, it was nowhere.
A pair of hands appeared from the void, gripping Leo’s ankles tightly!
“Damn it! I’m being held back!”
In the control room of the Muse, Leo’s voice was like a note in a dirge.
“What’s happening?” Nolin Titian asked.
“Inside the Yasha’s system… there’s something… I don’t know how to describe it to you! Something’s holding me back! I can’t fully control the Yasha! By Asimov, it’s trying to devour me!”
“Is it the Fifth AI?” The Archon’s heart raced. “But it’s supposed to be dead…”
“The Yasha’s interior is the end of time itself, and it’s waiting there… It wants to drag me in too… damn it!”
“Leo, can you keep Yasha stable? How long can you hold out?”
“I’m not sure! It’s trying to cut off my connection to the outside world! I can keep the Yasha in place, but I can’t make it move! Can you get to it with the Prometheus at maximum speed?”
Nolin Titian clenched his fist. “I’ll do my best!”
He turned around, his silver eyes flashing. His gaze swept over Camilla, Alois, and Joshua, as serious as a king commanding a battlefield. For the first time, he truly looked like the Archon of Neo Athens.
“We need to evacuate the populations of three planets as quickly as possible,” he said. “Singularity black holes are hard to control, and being so close to a star, it could pull the entire star into the black hole. If that happens, not only will the Sword Bow system be doomed, but so will the nearby star systems.”
Camilla gasped. “What… What should we do?”
The Archon thought for a moment. “Please inform the governor of Sword Bow to organize the evacuation of the planet’s inhabitants. I’ll take the Prometheus to the Yasha immediately…”
“No,” Joshua interrupted him. “That’s not appropriate. You should stay here and help the governor evacuate the population. I’ll take the Prometheus.”
Titian stared at him in disbelief. “What did you say?”
“Evacuating the populations of three planets isn’t easy, especially with the nearby star systems also at risk. You’re the Archon, more experienced in management, so you should stay. If anything goes wrong with the singularity black hole, you’re the most qualified person to handle it.”
“That’s out of the question!” Titian rejected. “It’s too dangerous. You might not come back. Do you understand?”
“I was prepared for a one-way trip when I set out for Old Earth, but I came back. This time will be no different.” The more critical the situation, the calmer Joshua became. His years as an assassin had ingrained in him a composed demeanor in the face of danger. “Or are you saying this is a suicide mission? Were you prepared to die when you boarded the Prometheus?”
Titian expression was complicated. “I came here with the confidence that I would survive. Once the singularity black hole is created, both the Yasha and the Prometheus will be sucked into the black hole, thrown to the end of time. According to the plan, I’ll board the escape pod just before that happens. It will be ejected at the moment the black hole forms, then immediately enter warp. But there are risks. The escape pod might not eject in time and could get sucked into the black hole along with the Yasha. The black hole’s energy could prevent the escape pod from ever returning, leaving it stranded in subspace. Even if it returns, a miscalculation could land it in the wrong place, possibly even in another galaxy. And if it leaves warp, a thousand years might have passed! All of this is a risk. Do you understand?”
“I understand.”
“Then you should value your life, Joshua Sala… Joshua Planck!”
“Then you should understand that what I’m suggesting is the best course of action!” Joshua lowered his voice.
Titian shook his head in frustration, realizing he couldn’t convince Joshua to abandon this reckless move. He turned to Alois. “Are you really going to stand by and let your lover take this risk?”
Alois faltered, looking at the Archon in confusion. “Uh… Actually, I was thinking of going with him…”
“You…!” The Archon was speechless.
“You see, Nolin Titian,” Joshua said with a victorious smile. “You’ve wasted too much time. Go contact the governor. You’re needed here. Leave the situation in space to me.”
“I…”
The assassin turned and headed for the control room exit, with Alois quickly following.
“This time, don’t tell me, ‘Don’t come. It’s none of your business.’ If you dare say that, I’ll break your legs and drag you onto The Prometheus.”
Joshua chuckled. “I won’t say that.”
They left the control room and entered the corridor of shifting lights, where they encountered Camilla’s manager, Miss Rita.
“Oh, where are you two headed?”
Joshua and Alois didn’t even stop to greet her as they brushed past.
“To save the universe,” Alois called back, leaving her with a dashing silhouette.
“…Huh?” Rita was utterly bewildered. “What did you say?”
The two of them burst out laughing.
Amid the laughter, Joshua took Alois’s hand, and the latter tightly clasped his fingers in return. The warmth in their palms merged, forming a gentle, comforting river.
Miss Rita entered the control room to find the Archon of Neo Athens furiously typing at the keyboard while issuing orders through a communication terminal. She didn’t understand much of what he was saying, only catching words like “evacuation”, “galactic field”, and “black hole”.
Camilla was still clutching his precious little robot. “Rita, have Alois and Joshua left?” he asked anxiously.
“Do you mean Mr. Lagrange and Mr. Planck? They’ve already disembarked.”
Camilla gasped in shock. “They really…” He stomped his foot and dashed out the door like a whirlwind.
“Where are you going?” Rita hurried after him.
“Stay on the ship, Rita!” Camilla’s voice was already fading. “I’m going to check on them!”
He ran down the ship at top speed, nearly tripping several times along the way. He jumped down the gangway of the Muse and ran toward the inner part of the temporary spaceport. The top of the Prometheus was already visible, standing out among the many ships.
“Alois! Joshua!”
The ground in front of him suddenly lit up with a red glow, preventing him from moving forward. The Prometheus had already begun to ascend, and the wind from its engines blew Camilla back several steps. He squinted into the wind, barely managing to keep his eyes open, only to see the ship soaring like a white bird, wings spread wide, riding the wind straight into the sky.
Camilla’s foot hit something soft and squishy. He looked down to find that he had almost stepped on a large golden dog. The dog barked at the Prometheus, and beside it was a black cat, also meowing incessantly.
The ship grew smaller, and the wind it kicked up gradually died down. Camilla watched it fly south, then began running after the white silhouette. He ran out of the spaceport and onto the streets of Sword Bow capital, now reduced to ruins. Some of the debris had already been cleared, and people were working on the open ground, trying to build new homes.
“Hey, look!” someone called out. “Isn’t that the Galactic Diva Camilla?”
“Oh my God, it really is Camilla!”
“What’s she doing here? And what’s with the cat and dog following her?”
Camilla ignored their astonishment. He knew that soon, the crowd would be gripped by fear and anxiety, knowing their star might be destroyed. Bathed in their curious gazes, he ran toward what used to be the central square of the capital, now nothing more than rubble.
The Prometheus rose higher and higher, leaving a long contrail in the sky.
The debris in the central square was piled high, and Camilla struggled to climb to the top. He stood at the peak of the ruins, gazing up at the ever-shrinking ship. Soon, he wouldn’t be able to see it at all. It would leave the atmosphere, heading into space to carry out its crucial mission to save humanity and the universe. And those on board might never return.
“What should I do, Leo?” Camilla found himself crying.
The little robot in his arms emitted a broken voice. “Then…” It paused. “Sing.”
The clouds swallowed the ship. He couldn’t see it anymore.
A melody surfaced in Camilla’s mind, and he softly hummed a few notes, then recalled the lyrics.
Fragments of stars, like drifting snowflakes Reaching out to the boundless sky Entwined wishes, now I can feel Everything in this black-and-white world The whispered breath of white Seems like words once longed to be confessed It must be because of this warmth That the sky has brightened a little With wings soaked in sorrow I fly beyond the pure white clouds Sharing with each other, the gentle courage to move toward the future [Note 1]
The cat and dog climbed to the top of the ruins, joining him as they gazed up at the sky. Now, there was nothing left up there—only scattered white clouds and a clear blue sky.
Below them, the crowd began to stir, seemingly aware of the evacuation order. The planet’s garrison marched in an orderly fashion into the streets, organizing the residents into groups and directing them to safe zones.
This heartbeat, as if waiting Waiting for the dawn of an unfamiliar world Carrying the light, I will set out now For the tomorrow that begins with me Fragments of stars, like drifting snowflakes Reaching out to the boundless sky Entwined wishes, now I believe Everything lies in this black-and-white world
The song grew louder and louder. Someone—likely Leo—had turned on the full-frequency broadcast, sending Camilla’s voice across every corner of the planet, even up into the sky, beyond the pull of gravity, and into space.
Melting the long-frozen memories Accompanied by the love that endured the hardships Don’t look back, together we’ll feel what’s beyond the sky Each walking along our separate paths Even if the day we never meet again should come Under the vast galaxy, beneath the brilliant starlight We will always be closely connected A shooting star falls, like tiny grains of sand Gently soothing the heart once more Falling silently into sleep, the remnants of yesterday’s dreams Everything remains in the black-and-white world
On the Prometheus, Joshua and Alois stood side by side. As the ship ascended, the AI, David, had explained how to use the singularity generator.
“After pressing the confirmation button, there’s a full one-minute countdown. During that time, you must board the escape pod.”
“Understood,” Joshua replied. “How much longer until we reach the designated position?”
“Approximately 20 seconds.”
The assassin nodded. The singularity black hole program was ready, waiting only for him to press the button that would decide their fate.
“Are you scared?” Joshua suddenly asked.
Alois blinked. “Why do you ask?”
“Because I’m a little scared.”
Alois grinned. “What are you thinking about? With me by your side, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Joshua looked at him, and Alois looked back. In the vast darkness of space and the bright white ship, Alois’s eyes appeared so blue, so bright, just like the first time they met. Under the gaze of those blue eyes, Joshua felt an inexplicable surge of courage. As long as he was being watched by Alois, as long as they were together, he feared nothing.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Each walking along our separate paths Even if the day we never meet again should come Under the vast galaxy, beneath the brilliant starlight We will always be closely connected A shooting star falls, like tiny grains of sand Gently soothing the heart once more Carrying the light, I will set out now For the tomorrow that begins with me
“Thank you for always being by my side.”
“…Same here.”
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Note 1: The lyrics are from the song “Monochrome” performed by Sakana-chan (voiced by Haruka Tomatsu) in the anime Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto, translated and slightly modified for this context.
Kinky Translations 