Our stay at Oasis had come to an end, and it was finally time for the Sperm Whale to depart.
Supplies were fully stocked, and all that remained was to wait for clearance.
"...Hey, Lucia. Do you feel like someone’s watching us?"
I was performing a final check on the dock's boarding ramp when I felt a strange chill run down my spine. I turned around to see three figures standing there.
The first was our very own Professor Stein.
Beside him was his assistant, Emulgand, who was clutching the hem of her lab coat and practically trying to vanish behind the Professor's back.
The third person was a mountain of a man, nearly double the Professor's size.
He wore a grime-stained work coat, but what lay beneath it wasn't exactly living flesh. Rugged industrial components were grafted into his body like a patchwork quilt, extending from his right arm across his chest and up to his neck.
His right arm, in particular, looked less like a human limb and more like a piece of heavy construction machinery that had been forcibly transplanted—a solid, rust-red hunk of iron. The junction where metal met skin was discolored to a dark, bruised reddish-black, emanating a raw, grisly intensity where organic and inorganic matter had been violently fused together.
"...Good ship. But it’s a bit 'noisy'."
The giant made a face as if he’d bitten into something bitter and tapped his temple—the right side of his head, where metal was embedded—with a thick fingertip.
"Noisy? The engine is still just idling."
"Not sound. 'Waves.' ...Your ship has several layers of scan-jamming systems installed. It’s quite the intricate setup. But while you can fool a scanner, you can’t fool me."
Tension spiked between Lucia and me.
The Sperm Whale’s concealment systems were supposed to be flawless.
"Caution recommended. Master, I detect an unregistered, illicit device signature in the target's right eye. ...That cyborg body is a cluster of antennas."
Lucia whispered her warning at a nearly imperceptible volume.
The giant let out a low chuckle from deep in his throat and tossed an archive chip toward me.
"Relax. I’m here on a recommendation from that curry maniac. ...Name’s Zaid. I’m registered with the Administrative Council under the moniker 'Scrap Metal.' Consider that a gift."
I scrambled to catch the chip.
"Your ship’s jamming waveform is too crude; it’s grating on my nerves. That’s an optimization patch I analyzed myself. ...Install it if you’re bored during the trip."
He had a sharp tongue, but he seemed like the artisan type. I tucked the chip into my pocket.
Zaid guided us to the deepest reaches of the dock, a restricted waste sector where the general public was forbidden. There, inside the darkness of a massive warehouse, a giant slept.
"...It’s too huge."
I was speechless.
Lying before us was a piece of super-massive heavy machinery, stretching a staggering 150 meters in length. It looked like it would only just barely fit into the Sperm Whale’s cargo hold.
It wasn't just its scale that was impressive. Six articulated limbs, designed to gouge out a planet's crust, were folded up like the legs of a gargantuan insect. Their tips were equipped with worn-out, super-hard excavation drills and massive crushing claws built to shatter bedrock.
On its back, it carried a cluster of massive tanks that appeared to be a soil improvement plant. The ultra-thick composite armor covering its entire frame was caked in red rust and oil stains, the marks of being exposed to harsh environments for many long years.
"The '3rd Generation Autonomous Terraforming Heavy Machinery.' Commonly known as the 'Gardener.' ...The contents of this thing's power reactor are completely 'black' under current treaties. If I were stupid enough to be honest and try to declare the contents to scrap it, I’d die of old age before the paperwork cleared."
Zaid struck the machine's massive foot with his iron prosthetic hand, the impact making a heavy thud.
"So, on paper, it passes as 'just scrap metal' with the internals removed. The official story is that it’s a scrap transport heading to the Techne Prime final disposal site. It’s common knowledge that they have the facilities to process objects this large."
"An official story? Which means...?"
"I’m satisfied as long as this thing vanishes from Oasis. Whether it gets turned into scrap once you arrive, or if someone picks it up and puts it to good use... that’s none of a transporter's business, right?"
Zaid gave a knowing smirk.
I see. In short, he wanted us to be accomplices in the illegal dumping—or more accurately, the black-market diversion—of industrial waste.
"...Incredible."
In contrast to the trembling Emulgand, a shadow slipped past my side. It was Mina. Her large rat ears were twitching in short, rapid bursts.
"This drive system layout... it doesn't follow any current standards. Does each joint have an independent power reactor? And the pipe arrangement... it’s as complex and efficient as a living creature's vascular system."
As if pulled by a magnet, Mina approached the giant frame and lovingly stroked the massive caterpillar treads—a single link of which was the size of a small car.
"The armor seams aren't welded either... they're milled. To carve this out from such a massive ingot... it’s something that would never happen under normal cost calculations. ...What a lavish, violent design."
She gazed up at the rusted mass of iron with an entranced expression. She didn't offer specific model numbers or theories, but her heated gaze held the "madness" peculiar to a technician witnessing an unknown OOPArt.
"...The 'Gardener.' I never expected to encounter it again."
Professor Stein, who had been silent until then, murmured as he looked up at the rusted giant. His eyes didn't hold their usual eccentric glint; instead, they were gentle, filled with a deep, quiet melancholy.
"Do you know this thing, Professor?"
"Yes. ...It's a memory from long ago, back when I was a younger man. There was a plan to utilize this machine's systems. I worked on it with Varna."
"With Varna-san?" I asked. He meant the "Witch of Mechanics" in the basement of Techne Prime.
"Indeed. Don't misunderstand me, now. I had no interest in the destruction of environments, which was this machine's original purpose. What we wanted was the singular 'Environmental Adaptation Algorithm' installed to control this giant frame, and various devices that fall outside current standards—above all, the data from the 'Bio-fusion Reactor'."
The Professor touched the machine's armor as if it were something precious.
"If we could have extracted the necessary elements from this, both my bio-engineering and her mechanical engineering could have advanced two or three steps further. ...At the time, we judged that on-site analysis was impossible. However, we had no means to transport something this massive, so we had no choice but to give up."
The Professor's eyes gleamed with a suspicious light. It was the gaze of a mad scientist, but also that of a child who had just found a lost dream.
"Akito-kun, accept the job. For us researchers, this is a mission to transport a mountain of treasure."
"My reward is 10 million credits. I've prepared it in unmarked credit chips so it won't be traced. ...It’s a lot to carry physically, but you've no complaints, right?"
10 million.
As a transport fee, it was beyond exceptional. If we were caught at a checkpoint carrying a mass of illegal material like this, we would be labeled as wanted criminals instantly. But with our ship's concealment capabilities, we should be able to manage. And if the worst came to the worst, we could always force our way through.
"...Understood. It’s a deal."
The contract was finalized.
Loading the machine onto the Sperm Whale was a feat that combined puzzle-like precision with raw brute force. We used tractor beams to float the 150-meter mass of metal and slowly eased it into the cargo hold.
The gap was only a few centimeters. With a clearance so tight it felt like the hull would scrape at any moment, the giant was finally settled into the ship's belly.
"Loading complete. Compensating for center of gravity shift due to mass increase... compensation finished."
Lucia reported with a calm expression, but I could have sworn I heard the ship's floorboards groan.
"Th-The ship is screaming...!"
Emulgand turned pale, trembling as she stared up at the creaking ceiling.
"Alright, let's move out! We're heading back to Techne Prime. ...But before that, let's get a bite to eat."
I ignited the thrusters and pushed the massive weight out into space. The heavy hull set off into the sea of stars with a slow but steady thrust.
Note: Please imagine the ship having separate external containers, similar to the freighters in "No Man's Sky." In other words, we can still handle even more cargo!