I had no idea whether I was asleep only for a moment or several years.
It was difficult to make any judgments even after waking up since there was no way to tell the time or date.
If I was asleep for several hundred years, then my body should be falling apart due to age already, but in truth, it still remained as young as when I first fell into slumber.
『Subject 35, awakening confirmed. Biological tissue normal. Confirming installation of astral body. Slight error in memory information download…… Executing repair and recovery procedures. Failed. Re-executing. Failed. Re-executing. Failed…… Error unrecoverable. Sequence omitted.』
An artificial-sounding voice kept echoing out.
I’ve been hearing it for a while now. My gradually widening line of sight revealed some sort of curved glass cover in front of me.
『Maintenance procedures for Subject 35 are complete. No other programs running. The Life Preservation System has completed the entire recovery sequence. Displaying program results. Main system, shutting down. Repeat. Main system shutting down–』
The curved glass cover gradually opened up. Though I wasn’t sure if I can consider it fresh or not, at least I was breathing the outside air again.
Using my arms, I grabbed the corners of the capsule I was inside of and got up. I felt no pain, so I suppose I wasn’t put to sleep due to injury or illness.
I rubbed my eyes to try and clear up my blurred vision, and I was gradually able to perceive my surroundings a little more clearly. The room I was inside of was in complete tatters, with exposed wiring hanging down from the walls in several spots.
I got down on the floor and found that the soles of my feet felt cold.
「I’m barefoot…… Or rather, I’m completely naked.」
I wondered how I was supposed to deal with my being stark naked. I looked around and found nothing remotely resembling clothes. There weren’t even any rags to wrap me with.
Just when I was about to try and ask someone what was going on, I was hit by cold reality all at once. I was actually all alone inside this place. I was confused and increasingly agitated.
I thought about the artificial-sounding voice from earlier and tried to call out to elicit a response. Nothing happened.
「I’d like to avoid getting flagged for public indecency, but…… I suppose it can’t be helped.」
I decided to go outside because I couldn’t exactly stay inside the tattered room forever.
Only one door was present, and it was unclear if it led directly outdoors or just to a corridor. In any case, I had no other choice, so I began walking toward it.
However, the door opened on its own before I could even touch the handle. It didn’t appear to be an automatic door though.
「Good morning dude.」
「Huh……?」
When I saw the appearance of the one who opened the door, I couldn’t help but freeze up.
I’d seen folks with pale skin, but the one in front of me wasn’t just that level of pale. He was as pale white as calcium carbonate.
Or rather, the one who greeted me in such a lighthearted tone was unmistakably a talking skeleton.
「You’re in better shape than I thought.」
It was a talking skeleton alright. And it spoke in a dry, gravelly voice. I was thrown into an even more chaotic mire of confusion for a few moments, but since I lived in a society where philosophy and religion coexisted with science and technology, I came to a certain conclusion.
「Am I in the underworld?」
If this was the world after death, then I probably wouldn’t get flagged for public indecency after all. At least, that was the conclusion my overheated brain first came to after witnessing the entrance of the talking skeleton.
Then, the yokai-like existence in front of me burst into peals of laughter and tapped me several times on the shoulder. He seemed like a pretty easygoing grim reaper.
「You’re still concerned about public indecency in this situation!? You’re also a pretty off-the-wall guy, aren’t you? Even if I do look like I’m all bones, I’m still very much alive y’know? Well, being dead with all your flesh intact does sound better than being alive with all of it gone!」
The talking skeleton laughed aloud for a good while more.
I was completely lost about what kind of place this actually was and just what kind of situation I was in. It’s to the extent that I already gave up thinking about the situation.
However, the greatest cause of my confusion seemed to not realize my current state and suddenly threw what appeared to be clothes over to me.
「I’ll explain what I know later, so put on some clothes for now. Even if I’m all bones now, I still don’t swing that way.」
Hey. I was seriously worrying about being labeled as a pervert you know? This skeleton was kind of annoying. I may just be projecting my anger and frustration about the confusing situation I found myself in onto the guy, but I still couldn’t help but glare at the talking skeleton.
However, the skeleton simply shrugged and said nothing. I couldn’t help but inwardly complain about how hard it was to read someone who couldn’t display any expressions.
Since the other party simply ignored my protests, I gave up and started putting on the clothes the skeleton handed to me.
「A combat uniform……」
「That’s right, sir. Those were the only clothes I could find here, so just deal with them for now.」
The uniform consisted of a navy blue-colored top and bottom as well as a black undershirt. It was the standard-issue combat uniform of the Machina corps, so, far from not being accustomed to it, I was already somewhat tired of it.
Since the size was practically perfect for me, it was probably specifically prepared for my use. This made me even more confused.
I had a lot of things I wanted to ask, but I couldn’t sort them out properly or find the right words.
The only words that I managed to come up with in the end were–
「……Who are you?」
That was all.
In response to my question, the skeleton stopped moving for a moment, then placed a hand on his chin, as if mulling things over.
「Who am I, huh……? Well, I was originally just a normal guy, so……」
The skeleton dexterously tapped his lower jawbone with his overly bleached finger bones and nodded once before speaking again.
「The name’s Damar. I’m a skeleton who eats, drinks, sleeps, moves around, and thinks like a regular human. Like you, it seems that I was one of the people who got stored in this place for safekeeping, Captain Kyouichi Amami.」
「You know me?」
I didn’t find the name “Damar” familiar in the slightest, so I most likely didn’t know the guy before I was put to sleep.
The skeleton didn’t hide anything and replied immediately.
「That’s because I read about you from the files I had access to. It’s just the info recorded in this place’s system though.」
「That’s a breach of privacy, isn’t it? And what do you mean by being stored for safekeeping……?」
The talking skeleton’s lower jaw dropped in surprise.
It was a bit surprising to see someone’s jaw drop so far, but the other party was a skeleton, so I suppose it wasn’t so improbable after all. However, Damar seemed quite agitated by my response.
「Oi, oi, oi, oi! Are you saying you came to this facility without even knowing what it was!?」
「Rather than that…… I don’t even know why I found myself asleep here in the first place.」
The skeleton slapped his forehead and stepped back in dramatic fashion.
「……I thought that a guy was finally reconstituted successfully. But it turns out that you’re actually no different from me! Was this what the error warning earlier was about?!」
「Why are you suddenly looking at me like I’m no good?」
「A successful reconstitution requires that a human gets back their physical body, life, and memories perfectly intact!! I ended up losing my flesh body and my most recent memories, but you’re even worse than me in a sense!」
Damar kept shaking his head in disappointment.
It sounded like a matter of life and death for me, but I continued to listen since I still didn’t get what was going on.
Damar, who was screaming stuff about some “damn plan” and “attaining wisdom”, gradually calmed back down after a while and sighed.
「This facility reads the biometric information of the people placed inside the capsules before breaking them down to a molecular level and storing them along with their astral bodies for safekeeping. After a certain period of time, the physical body of a subject is regenerated according to the information recorded in the system, then the subject’s astral body is reinstalled within it…… In other words, it’s a facility that kills people only to revive them later.」
Damar tried his best to explain things in a simple and understandable way.
However, since I was a soldier who didn’t have any detailed knowledge about technical and scientific stuff, I still wasn’t able to fully comprehend what he said. The stuff about biometric information and astral bodies mostly went into one ear and passed through the other, so I only took note of the stuff I was able to understand.
「This facility can revive people who already died?」
「That’s only half-correct. The part you got right is the part that failed when reconstituting you though…… Basically, the facility places the astral body, or the so-called soul, back into a physical body that has been reconstructed based on the genetic information stored within this place’s system. However, there were still a lot of unknowns when it comes to the astral body even at the time of this facility’s activation, so the ones in charge of the program really weren’t sure if they could store them properly, let alone put them back to physical bodies. Even if that was the case, they still decided to go ahead with the program anyway. As a result, the only apparent survivors of the program are me, who turned into a bunch of living bones, and you, who ended up losing most of your memories.」
This time, it was my jaw’s turn to drop.
As for why I was in here and the circumstances before I entered the facility, I had no idea at all because most of my memories were apparently missing.
「Then didn’t this program practically conduct experiments on live humans……!?」
This was no small matter. It was just like jumping off a cliff with no idea if the cushion below was working properly or if you could even land on it in the first place. It was that kind of uncertain bet.
It was absolutely crazy. However, perhaps humanity was placed into such a dire situation that they were forced to go all in on such a bet.
「Well, you were lucky enough to come out with your flesh body and consciousness intact, at least.」
「Lucky!? You call this lucky!? Who the hell authorized this program anyway!? Isn’t this practically illegal!? There’s no way international law would allow something as crazy as this!」
I was a human who was practically dead until earlier, and now the reality of me returning to life hit me all at once, and I lost my cool. My mask of calmness was easily ripped away.
I grabbed Damar’s collar in agitation. I had no idea what kind of expression I was making.
Damar simply stared at me with his empty eye sockets and said nothing. I glared at him for a while, but I came to a sudden realization and quickly let go of him.
Light.
He was way too light. My heated emotions instantly cooled.
The flesh body that should have been under his clothes was nowhere to be found. What remained were cold, hard bones that were overly light. I couldn’t feel any normal indication of life from under Damar’s clothes, and that realization greatly affected me.
「It’s fine, man. Don’t make that face.」
「No…… I’m sorry.」
The living skeleton in front of me was also a victim of this life-preservation program. In fact, he was probably even more of a victim than I was, since I at least still had my physical body intact.
If there’s anyone to blame, it would be the ones who planned and executed this entire program. I wasn’t even sure if they were still alive. However, it indeed didn’t make sense to place the blame on Damar. I ended up feeling ashamed of my earlier actions.
「It’s not like I want your sympathy, man. Both of us are just victims anyway.」
「Yes, but…… why were you inside one of these things in the first place?」
「Beats me. I don’t remember either, but at this point, it doesn’t really matter what the reason was. Rather than stressing over that, we should be worrying about the future more.」
Damar suggested as he stared at me with his empty and dark eye sockets.
***
TL Notes:
Hi guys. SFBaka here. As you know, I am currently dealing with Type-2 diabetes and need some assistance with my monthly meds. You guys can check my current situation in the sticky post, along with some screenshots. I would really appreciate it if you guys can support me through PayPal or Patreon so I can continue delivering even more chapters of your favorite SF-themed WNs without worrying about all the medical expenses. I will make sure to make it worth your while by giving you guys consistent quality content. Thank you and stay healthy.
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Uchuu Kaizoku Translations 