Chapter 162

"Lord have mercy. Look at that caboose. Calling it 'huge' is a massive understatement—we’re talking planetary-scale mass here."

They were in a corner of the office provided by NASA. In a spacious room partitioned off for privacy, Teiro and Alan were huddled together so tightly they practically shared a single soul, their eyes glued to a monitor. Tucked away in a blind spot from the entrance, Phantom sat cleaning his firearms, watching the two idiots with a look of quiet amusement.

"Do you have a thing for the more… robust silhouette?" Alan asked. "Looking at Marl, I suppose that tracks."

"Hey, hey, why are you bringing Marl into this? It’s not like I—"

"General, please. No need for the performance. Look, we’re approaching the grand unveiling. Now, scoot over, you’re hogging the best pixels."

The monitor displayed a legendary gravure idol from the Alpha Region Space. She writhed on screen, her voluptuous limbs glistening with oil. She reached for the string of her bikini top, clearly intent on reducing her already microscopic amount of coverage even further.

"Hmm. Emergency Level 1," Phantom whispered.

The two men reacted with the synchronized speed of elite special forces.

"Personally, I believe we need to aggressively expand the Intelligence Department’s budget," Teiro said, his voice suddenly grave. "A fleet is useless if we're flying blind without enemy coordinates."

"I hear you, I really do," Alan countered, nodding sagely. "But budgets are a zero-sum game. We need to maintain enough raw Land Combat power to actually hit the enemy once we find them."

"Excuse me, President? I’ve brought the data regarding the ladder you requested."

A female employee stepped into the room. Teiro gave a dignified, magnanimous nod as he accepted the documents, flashing her a professional smile.

"Ah, yes. Excellent work. Thank you."

The moment she closed the door, the professional facade crumbled.

"Alright, back to the show! Rewind it! Rewind it!"

"Hey, what gives, General? Just hit play! I want to see what’s behind the curtain!"

"No! Absolutely not! You don't understand the nuance, Alan! It’s the journey, not the destination! That fleeting moment when she discards that armor—which, in a way, is stronger than steel—that is the peak of the art form!"

"You two," Phantom’s voice crackled with genuine tension. "If you don't lower your volume… oh no. Emergency Level 4."

"Level 4!?" the duo shrieked in unison. They slammed their backs against their chairs, spines straightening into perfect vertical lines.

"Hey Teiro, it looks like the Tank's shield replacement is finished. You want to go check it out?"

Marl poked her head through the doorway. The two men didn't even turn to look at her, staring at the monitor with the grim intensity of generals planning a world war.

"So the ruins are located here," Teiro muttered, pointing at a random spot on the screen. "That means we’ll have to take this Route. As a former Land Combat specialist, what’s your take?"

"Mmm, a tactical quagmire," Alan grunted. "If we take this Route and they pinch the rear, we’re isolated. Better to take the detour… Oh! Hey there, little lady. Didn't see you there. What’s up?"

Dragging their eyes away from the map of the Underground City currently masking the gravure video, the two turned to Marl with smiles so forced they looked physically painful. Marl narrowed her eyes, her suspicion palpable.

"I just told you—the Tank is ready. Also, why are you two holding a staff meeting in a dark corner?"

"Well, you know. Studying. Right, Alan?"

"A-Ah, yeah. Extensive research. Or, uh, pre-deployment visualization? Phantom and… wait, that traitorous bastard vanished!"

"Hmm… whatever," Marl said, waving a hand dismissively. "I’m heading to the hangar. Don't be late."

She turned and sauntered off.

"…Phew. That was way too close. Of all the people to walk in, it had to be her. Still, Alan, 'visualization' was a stroke of genius. That’s exactly what this is: Video Learning for the upcoming main event."

"Heh, you can count on me, General. Not to brag, but if I’d spent the time I’ve put into this 'Video Learning' on actual books, I’m confident I could’ve walked into the Imperial University on a scholarship."

"That is genuinely nothing to be proud of," Teiro deadpanned. "Anyway, let’s get back to it. I need to confirm the exact color of God's Summit or I’ll never—DWAUGH! M-Marl! Did you forget something!?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Marl peeking back in. His finger, hovering over the play button, trembled violently.

"Nothing really," Marl said, tilting her head. "Is 'God's Summit' what you call that passage on the map?"

"The passage! Yes! Exactly! This sharp, acute-angled bit right here! The majestic peak leading to the ruins of mystery! God's Summit!"

"If you say so. Anyway, see you in a bit."

With another flippant wave, she finally disappeared. Teiro sat frozen for a long minute. Eventually, he craned his neck around the partition like a cautious herbivore to ensure the coast was truly clear. He let out a breath that sounded like a tire deflating.

"My heart can't take this… Hey Alan, let's just watch this in our rooms. Doing this at the office is too high-risk."

Teiro clutched his chest, trying to calm his palpitations. Alan shook his head.

"Every screen in the General’s room has a [MENTAL TEST RESTRICTION] lock on it. It won’t play 'sensitive' content. My gear is still packed on the Plum, and I can't exactly go raiding the employees' dorms. I have some pride left… Wait, Phantom! Lend us your room!"

Alan looked up, gesturing toward the ceiling. Teiro followed his gaze and spotted Phantom clinging to a tiny protrusion on the ceiling like a gargoyle.

"Are you actually a ninja, Phantom-san…?"

Phantom ignored them, staring intensely into the distance as if observing a different dimension. Teiro called his name a few more times, but the man remained a statue.

"Whatever. Back to the show!"

Alan shrugged and sat back down. Teiro, after one last glance at the ceiling-ninja, joined him.

"Alright, hitting play. No rewinding this time—we can savor the details later… Huh? You joining us, Phantom?"

Phantom had silently dropped from the ceiling. He placed a finger to his lips, cutting Alan off.

"In the distance," Phantom whispered. "Something is coming. A lot of somethings."

Teiro and Alan exchanged a look. Teiro stared at the wall in the direction Phantom was pointing, but unsurprisingly, he didn't have x-ray vision.

"Wait, General! Look! The Gates of Heaven are finally opening!"

Alan slapped Teiro’s shoulder. Teiro whirled back to the monitor. On the screen, the bikini strings were being untied at last.

"Ohhh, East of Ed—HEY! WHAT THE HELL!?"

A fraction of a second before the bikini hit the floor, the monitor went black. The office lights followed suit. Before Teiro could finish his scream of despair, the orange emergency lights bathed the room in a sickly glow, and the air grew heavy with sudden tension.

[ALERT: LEVEL 3] [ALERT: ENEMY INTRUSION DETECTED IN BLOCK 44]

BISHOP’s voice echoed directly into Teiro’s mind. He felt the gravity of the situation instantly. He had ordered a mountain of equipment for NASA, but none of it had arrived yet. That meant NASA was burning its own precious, limited-use BISHOP processing cycles. This wasn't a drill.

"Let's move, Alan. The 'treasure' will have to wait."

"Damn it! I worked so hard to find that file! I am definitely coming back alive just to finish that video!"

The two of them snatched up their mobile terminals and bolted out of the office, sprinting to catch up with the already disappearing Phantom.

---

"The enemy is breaching from these two points. As expected, they’re pushing straight down the Major Passage. They’ve already advanced this far."

By the time Teiro and his team reached the hangar, the NASA officers were already mid-briefing. Teiro gave a sharp wave to the NASA commander and vaulted into the Chi-Ha, their mobile command tank.

"Koume, Marl, status?"

"Ready and waiting, Mr. Teiro," Koume replied. "Tactical data has been uploaded to your terminal."

"We’re gold," Marl added from the side. "Since I was already here, I’ve got all systems in the green. We can roll whenever you’re ready."

"Copy that. Hold on… alright, Nesting complete. Comms are live."

Teiro acted as the bridge, just as he did on their ship. While the Chi-Ha’s built-in BISHOP link was mediocre, the processing power back on the Plum was a different beast.

"A bit of a delay, but it’ll work. No harm in a little improvisation."

He routed the signal through the underground facility’s landlines, up the elevator shaft, and into the Plum. It was a jury-rigged mess, but it worked. The only downside was that the Plum had to remain hard-docked to the Ladder, but the tactical advantage was worth it.

"Linking all vehicles now, Mr. Teiro. Connecting to the Tactical Screen."

The screen flickered to life, displaying a 3D map of the surrounding area and the status of every unit in their platoon. Everything from ammo counts to the crew's heart rates was laid bare.

[THIS IS NASA 1. SEALING BULKHEADS IN MAJOR PASSAGE 4 PER DEFENSE PROTOCOL. CAN THE ARMORED UNIT HANDLE THE DEFENSE OF MAJOR PASSAGE 3? WE COULD HANDLE THIS OURSELVES, BUT YOU DID REQUEST REAL-WORLD COMBAT EXPERIENCE, CORRECT?]

"This is Chi-Ha. You bet. We’re coming in to help. What’s the bug count?"

[SONAR INDICATES A MODEST FORCE. 300 MEDIUM-TYPES, 4 LARGE-TYPES.]

"Geez, on the surface that would be a nightmare… Alright. Let’s go do some pest control."

Teiro clicked off the comms and gave a sharp nod to Koume in the driver's seat. Without a word, she gripped the controls, her movements fluid and precise. Though BISHOP could drive the tank, she was handling it manually to save the Communication Band for the combat link.

"Going into a live fire exercise earlier than I wanted," Teiro grumbled as the tank lurched forward. his seatbelt bit into his shoulder. "I had a list of upgrades a mile long for these things."

"The enemy doesn't check your calendar, Teiro. Focus up—we’re entering the Major Passage."

Minutes after leaving the hangar, they rolled into a colossal, tube-like structure—formerly an ultra-large High-speed Moving Lane. At nearly 300 meters wide, the scale was dizzying; it was a highway built for giants.

"Even the lanes at Delta Station weren't this massive," Teiro noted, staring at the screen. "This thing really circles the whole planet?"

"It did, Mr. Teiro," Koume clarified. "Past tense. Many sectors are unmaintained or have been collapsed by centuries of fighting."

"Right… Marl, you okay?"

Marl was fidgeting in the passenger seat, her eyes darting around the interior of the tank with visible anxiety. She jumped slightly at Teiro’s voice, then gave a series of quick, stiff nods.

"It’s just… I’ve never been physically surrounded by 'earth' like this. I know the ceiling is stable, but…"

She tugged irritably at the collar of her bodysuit, clearly feeling the phantom weight of the miles of rock above them.

"Going from the infinite void of space to a 150-meter radius is a hell of a jump," Teiro admitted. "Honestly, it’s giving me the creeps too."

He checked the external cameras. Right now, the path was well-lit and maintained as a service road. But he knew that just a few miles ahead, it turned into a dark, haunted ruin of rusted iron.

I really need to be careful down here.

The thought of being buried alive under a billion tons of dirt made Teiro let out a very long, very shaky sigh.