-1: 50
After committing to the bit for a solid fifteen minutes and having fun bantering with Laplace and Drake, with Maxwell as our begrudging captive audience, it was time to get down to business.
"Alright." I nodded and said, "As you know, you've been transferred to be under my command in the Brave Squad. Of course, since you three already have familiarity working as a team, I'm thinking of keeping you together as a sub-squad."
Laplace nodded. "That makes sense! We're like the secondary protagonist party!"
Drake covered her face, laughing. "Of course! The villain never gets the spotlight until the final moment! And then BAM!"
"..." Maxwell ignored her teammates and said, "I understand. So I take it we'll be moving in parallel with the Brave Squad then?"
"Pretty much. Though, since you need to get used to how I operate, you'll be going on missions with me for a bit."
Laplace's eyes widened and she said, "Wow! We get to see the Valiant in action! Live?!"
Drake's eyes sparkled and she said, "Good. If you're calling yourself the protagonist, then you should beware of the villain in your midst planning your fall to darkness. Mwahahaha!"
Maxwell's eye twitched.
Huh.
Considering they'd worked together for a while, if this was getting on her nerve, Laplace and Drake must be worse than usual...
Oh well.
Laplace smiled at me and said, "So! What's the mission- No, Quest?!"
"Before then... What are your specialties?" I pulled out a pen and paper. "I got your info sheet, but I'd like to hear it from you guys personally."
Maxwell hummed and said, "Well... I'm equipped with the latest of Missilis technology, just like Laplace and Drake. But if anything, I'm more specialized as a researcher. Specifically regarding weapons."
I paused. "Weapons? And researcher, you say...?"
Laplace chimed in and said, "Maxwell is one of the best researchers at Missilis! And she's like a blacksmith too!"
Drake nodded. "Yeah. She's a pro at making our weapons and fixing our equipment."
Maxwell laughed. "I'm not that amazing..."
"Nuh-uh!" Laplace interjected and said, "You designed all the equipment we're using right now, Maxwell! That's proof that you're amazing!"
Hearing that, I burst out laughing.
Drake paused and then laughed with me.
Laplace looked confused, but then she laughed as well.
Maxwell, however, just gave me a deadpan look. "...Commander. Really?"
"Sorry. Just..." I grinned. "The stars are really lining up in my favor, aren't they? Tell me, Maxwell." I leaned forward. "...Hypothetically. If I provided you the rough concept of a weapon, the general materials it used, and a description of the end product, could you fill in the gaps?"
Maxwell's eyes sparkled with interest and she said, "...Go on."
"Alright." I laced my fingers together. "Nanomachines clearly exist already. Making those, however, are impractical. However... what about microbots? Think of like... small servos and joints joined together by electromagnetic impulses to allow modular shapes and configurations. Although I'm thinking mostly defense utility, it could potentially allow for offensive utility as well. Perhaps a diamond with a ball bearing center, relying on intermeshing to provide the overall material structure of the final form."
I was thinking about nanomachines from a certain Senator at first, but considering how I would DEFINITELY get on the immediate Ark watchlist if I achieved that... and the danger of the Raptures getting that tech, I decided not to dig into it.
But then I remembered Big Hero 6 when I was thinking about robotics. And I remembered Hiro's innovation.
...Hey, it wasn't like we had the tech to do it back on Earth. But there was DEFINITELY tech to do it here in this world.
Now, you might say that the Raptures could hijack the technology and use it for their own.
And I say 'good' because I knew all its weaknesses. Not to mention that the real strength of the Microbots came from human innovation and inventiveness, not actual strength.
Maxwell froze.
I blinked. "Uh... Maxwell?"
Drake waved her hand in front of Maxwell's face. "Hello? Earth to Maxwell...?" She paused and then looked over at me. "...How villainous, Commander! To stun even our chief researcher-"
Maxwell slammed her hands on the table, jumping out of her chair. "TELL ME MORE!"
"Uh..."
"The materials you're envisioning! The data structure to allow the modularity! The method of control... There must be one, right? You said electromagnetism, so were you thinking thoughts? Is this a Nikke weapon? It could definitely be linked with a NIMPH... No, is this for me? Because if I had something like this..."
...I... may have made a mistake...
===
After telling Maxwell to discuss it with Neon and Endless, as well as informing her about the recycling center and Sophia...
Well, I guess after telling her about the surplus of intact Rapture scraps, really.
After that, Maxwell ran off, leaving Drake and Laplace behind.
Since it was just us, I looked at them and said, "So, Hero and Villain. What are your specialties then?"
Drake puffed her chest out and said, "Me? This villain can control lightning and detect even the faintest of malice!"
"She means radio waves, Commander." Laplace corrected Drake and said, "As for me, my body is unbreakable! ...Kind of! I also can control lightning, and transform into Hero Mode!"
I blinked. "Hero mode?"
"Here! TRANS...FORM!" Laplace struck a pose. And then...
"OH MY GURREN LAGANN! KAMINA!"
Laplace screamed and said, "YOU KNOW ABOUT THE HERO MANUAL?!"
I pointed at her and said, "BELIEVE IN THE ME THAT BELIEVES IN YOU!"
"YEEEEEESSSSS!"
Drake clicked her tongue. "Tch. What's so great about that anyway? I can transform too!" After that, she struck a pose, causing her mask to snap on and her armor to shift into what was undoubtedly a sentai outfit... only minus most of the armor.
Even still, I recognized it.
"Oh my GOD!" I pointed at her. "You're a sentai hero! And since Maxwell's a Saber face... SYUEN'S AN OTAKU! I KNEW IT!"
===
Back in the Missilis HQ, Syuen's office.
Syuen sneezed and rubbed her nose. "Dammit. Somebody's talking behind my back again."
Was it Hoopa?
For some reason, Syuen felt it was him.
"...Matis should be at the Outpost by now, right?" Syuen murmured and then gazed out of her window.
The fake sky was turning orange. Day was slowly turning into night.
"Tch. Not like I care about those scrap buckets." Syuen murmured, ignoring the sharp pain in her chest.
Instead, she reviewed the notes she had scribbled out while extrapolating on what Hoopa had told her.
"Light photons storing consciousness across a quantum field... it's definitely what the NIMPH does..." Syuen cross-referenced her notes with Laplace's specifications. "...But what makes the difference between a mass-produced Nikke and a unique one then?"
That was what Syuen didn't get.
Hoopa was, begrudgingly, correct about how the NIMPH worked. But it didn't explain why some people lost their memories and sense of self while others didn't-
"Wait." Syuen paused to think about it. "That guy was talking about the science of it. But the NIMPH is a particular application of that science..."
The NIMPH didn't just hold the consciousness. It was loaded with other things too. The inhibitors, weapons know-how, and miscellaneous other things that would make a good Nikke.
Syuen tapped her pen against the notes and murmured, "Is it a capacity problem?"
No one really knew what the NIMPH *actually* were, only that they flooded the human brain, interwove with it, and allowed interfacing with a Nikke frame.
"Hm..."
Syuen had seen countless women with strong wills and goals fail to become anything more than mass-produced Nikke. And she had seen women who wanted to die become unique Nikke.
Altogether, it seemed fairly random.
That was why Syuen was terrified of the process. For all she knew...
'It might just kill me. Flat out.'
That was her fear. That Nikke weren't even human, but just 'things' imitating humans.
...At least, that was what she HAD thought.
But now...
"...Dammit. He's right." Syuen cross-referenced everything and confirmed the fact that, yes, Nikke were still human since the consciousness was stored AS the brain, but IN the brain. And that was how it could be plucked into a NIMPH.
But it was still strange.
"...How come men can't become Nikke then?" Syuen tapped her chin, mulling over that thought.
From the methodology Hoopa described, and her own expansions on it, there should be no reason why it shouldn't be possible to put a male brain in a mechanical frame.
And from his rather stupid and reckless speech, it seemed that Hoopa had even gone through the theory. Like he said, pull out the brain and nervous system, translate the signals, then stick it into a mechanical frame.
Of course, it was a gross simplification...
But considering the true nature of consciousness... plug and play should be possible to some extent.
"...Then that means it's a problem with the NIMPH."
Syuen bit her lip, mulling it over.
...She always had suspicions. It never made sense to her why men couldn't go through a similar process to become something like a Nikke. And she never understood why some women survived the process intact and others lost everything.
But now...
"...Maybe it's not a capacity problem, but a compatibility. Is the NIMPH...?"
The immense power a Nikke frame provided. The mind-body connection. The conversion in general and how it brought forth a woman's ideal form.
Those were said to be the 'intended results.'
But what if it was a byproduct?
What if the NIMPH wasn't something to help humanity, but instead...
Syuen's eyes widened. "...A testing ground."
Her theory- No, Hoopa's theory really...
Anyway, the theory about storing consciousness in a medium and interfacing with a body should be doable without a NIMPH.
In fact, it would be easier without a NIMPH.
Considering that fluctlights shared quantum states, you should theoretically be able to have one mind and multiple bodies. So there would be no need to harvest the brain at all, just scan it.
Then you could build a synthetic body and dive into it via some interface that read brainwaves and synchronized them.
That didn't need to be nanomachines or intrusive like a NIMPH was. It could be a simple VR headset.
Hell, Syuen had a few she personally used to expand her workspace and simulate projects.
But the fact that no one had done this... and the fact that there were definitely people who knew about the NIMPH in detail... enough to understand the process, but STILL chose to use the NIMPH...
Syuen let out a shaky smile, sweat dripping down her brow. "This isn't good..."
Was this what Jien had found?
Was this why they had trapped her in the MMR and D.E.E.P sectors?
...Why they turned her into a Nikke?
"...No. I have to keep researching this."
Not just for Missilis at this point.
No. Forget the company. If what she thought was true, then the entire Ark was actually-
Syuen stopped thinking about it.
Instead, she quietly opened up a new notepad and started sketching.
"...This isn't quite immortality, but it's at least an extra life... Dammit. I really owe that stupid commander..."
If Syuen was right about all of this, then they'd be coming for her neck sooner rather than later.
And considering how Jien's personality had been completely erased...
"...I don't need you to save me, you stupid Commander. But you'd better be able to figure out if they switch me out with a fake and find me..."
Syuen murmured and then focused.
The clock was ticking.
And the reaper was already waiting for her neck. She could feel it.