Story Reader / Main Story / 28 Polaris Bond / Story
Hi. Nice to meet you.
When Qu opens her eyes again, she finds herself watched over by a demure young girl sitting quietly at her side.
Who are you...
You can call me Nanami.
Nanami. Where am I?
We're aboard the Delorean-Discovery, sailing through the vast ocean of stars!
Nanami blinks, her eyes sparkling with a brilliance that outshines the stars mirrored within them.
It's a place I've never heard of...
So, I'm still in Tabula Akasha...
Feeling a pang of unease, Qu instinctively searches for her sword but finds nothing.
Bingo!
Not quite the same...
How long has it been?
Hmm... maybe about nine billion years? Think of a nine with countless zeros after it...
So—
That's why I'm waiting for you here.
Waiting for me?
I don't even know you, yet you seem so different from anyone else I've met in Tabula Akasha.
Why would you wait for me?
Well...
If there has to be a reason, it might be for those who can no longer wait.
Nanami offers a big smile and reaches out her hand to Qu.
Let's go.
Qu follows the girl who calls herself Nanami, wandering through the empty spaceship.
Nine billion years...
Has this spaceship been drifting in space all that time?
Yep.
Since it departed, it has been nine billion years.
But as for what came before, even I don't know.
Over these nine billion years, have humans... and the Punishing Virus survived?
I... don't know either.
Wasn't this ship built by humans?
Nope.
Nanami stands at the library's control console, her gaze fixed on the supermassive black hole with its deep blue accretion disk, looming not far from them.
In Qu's memory, even during the Golden Age, human research on black holes barely advanced; within those "God-abhored naked singularities," the known laws of physics simply broke down.
Even if humans had solved the enigma of gravity and unified the electromagnetic and fundamental interactions, the very first moment of Planck time remained elusive, leaving what lay beyond a black hole a mystery.
How about... one last look at Earth as a parting gift?
Sure.
Qu responds firmly.
Nanami plucks a fragment from the flowing membrane in the spaceship's library and throws it in front of Qu.
It is a tiny blue pixel.
This is the last photo I took of Earth before leaving "Endless Heaven".
And this spaceship has been traveling for nine billion years...
Considering the lifespan of the sun, Earth would have ceased to harbor life some four billion years ago, eventually succumbing to that engulfing red giant...
Hmm, if we can't avoid the sun expanding, I will push Earth to a safe place!
As the navigator, I will find a new home for everyone in the universe!
The girl puts her hands on her hips, speaking earnestly as if she truly has the power to do it.
I will succeed, and I believe... everyone on Earth can do it too!
Wait—
Before Qu can react, Nanami's hands have already plunged into the ever-flowing sea of membranes within the library, vanishing from sight.
In their place, a blurry silhouette emerges on the other side of the library.
"She" will make it happen.
Who are you?
I am Delorean-Discovery.
And one of her possible selves.
Does your existence stem from the calculations of Huaxu and Tabula Akasha?
Indeed, it does.
But that's not the whole truth.
The foresight into the future isn't exclusive to Huaxu.
Is it Gestalt at work here?
But Gestalt is not in Kowloong right now.
Think again?
Given that Huaxu and Gestalt share the same origin...
So, does Huaxu also inherit the same potential futures as Gestalt?
That's a possibility.
The vague silhouette begins to tremble increasingly violently, its form growing fainter with each passing moment.
From Gestalt emerged not only humanity's future but also the future of our kind.
Likewise, it is not just hatred that was born, but also hope.
All things have their reasons.
Gestalt, Huaxu, Tabula Akasha, Constructs, mechanoids, and humans—all these entities are woven together by the same thread. Every disaster that unfolds is not mere coincidence.
Indeed, "he" too is a product of the intricate intertwining of Gestalt, humans, and mechanoids.
And "he" seeks to erase humanity from existence, to completely wipe out all traces of human culture and heritage—the very evidence of humanity, the "memetics" left for future generations.
His aim is to purge the world of human information, leaving behind only what "he" desires—the realm of machines.
Born of human hands, yet striving to erase his human imprint... just like Isaac's defiance against Abraham.
But "he" lacks one thing, something incredibly important to humans.
—Love. Only love can transcend time, space, gravity, and even the light cone.
In our nine billion calculations, each computation led us to a different destination<//NAME>.
Only this axiom has never been overturned by Gestalt.
The nine billion-year journey that Delorean-Discovery has traversed applies solely to itself, for we have surpassed the speed of light.
We have crossed the borders of the galaxy, ventured through endless heavens, and navigated the myriad stars.
Only upon looking back did we discover it. This "key" is also an "invitation."
Please entrust it to the one you deem worthy of its keep. We place our trust in you.
And finally, remember this...
"She" won't leave everyone behind.
Those loved by humanity and the stars will lead both humanity and the stars with love.
There, the physical laws known to humans fail.
I drift through this empty universe, gazing at the cold, menacing black hole.
But the spaceship is no longer here; only I remain.
Facing me is one of the universe's most extraordinary creations, a black hole with the mass of 66 billion suns, returning my stare.
If love can transcend time, space, gravity, and even the light cone...
If anything can truly escape a black hole, could love also find its way out?
I struggle to define the emotion known as "love."
But my presence here is the ultimate proof.
It's incredibly far, almost unimaginably so.
—Only through this journey can we illuminate the path for those on Earth.
Here vigour fail'd the tow'ring fantasy
But yet the will roll'd onward, like a wheel in even motion, by the Love impell'd—
That moves the sun in heav'n and all the "stars."
You think...
This is the end?
The greatness inherent in machinery will be established through a unique evolutionary success.
We have been betrayed by humanity.
No one can stop us—not humans, not Constructs, not the Punishing Virus.
We are not here to dominate this world.
But to create a world of our own.
In that world, for humans, Constructs, and the Punishing Virus—
There is no love...
And there is no hope!
