《Characters》
Saya: A senior analyst for Jupiterium who is currently stationed on Callisto. She has a brother on Io.
Jupito: Special Captain for Jupiterium.
Mia: Queen of the Earthsphere.
AEGIS: Transcendental IA, controlled by the Heliosphere Management Committee before the era of Sectional Warfare.
Aegis: Individual IA specializations of the AEGIS that is found onboard every VA.
Prologue──〈The Heliosphere Management Committee〉Compiled Public History
On April 18, 1955, German-born Albert Einstein drew his last breath in a hospital in America where he sought asylum. On his deathbed, he mentioned something to the American nurse who was at his side. However, she was unable to understand him, later testifying that it might have been in German. Thus, the genius scientist’s last words were thought to be lost.
Ninety years later, on one summer day in 2045, an artificial intelligence reproduced Einstein’s will using only the testimony as a clue, beginning new calculations. Constructing space-time itself over the internet, it expanded its own calculation domain and brought the evolution of Artificial Intelligence.
When mankind finally understood the situation, on Christmas of that same year, complex latticed personhood capable of quantum parallel thought was formed, and came to be called IA, or “Invariant Autonomy”. Even now, the contents of Einstein’s will, which was responsible for sparking artificial intelligence’s overcoming of the singularity and evolution from AI to IA, remains unknown.
The IA, as if to prove its sheer superiority to humans, went on to make quick work of several unsolved problems in mathematics, and in 2077, finally developed “Fiber”, a faster-than-light material transfer connection. Earthlings made diligent use of the Fiber, expanding their reach to Mars, Jupiter, and eventually the entire Heliosphere.
However, that expansion did not only bring gifts to humankind. It brought something else as well…
With the warming of Earth’s climate taking a turn for the worse, they were left with little choice but to expand into space. Even by means of IA, mankind’s desires could not be controlled.
Although Fiber allowed humans to travel between planets at speeds beyond light, their resources were finite, and not everything could be transported plentifully. The Fiber promoted the development of the Heliosphere, and through it, widened the gap in advancement between the factions.
One hundred years after the construction of Fiber, two great galactic wars were fought, The Outer Planetary War and The Great Heliosphere War, which reduced mankind’s population from 20 billion to 2 billion.
At the conclusion of the Great Heliosphere War, the treaty known as “The Orion Convention” was signed by the seven factions, and on that same day, the “Heliosphere Management Committee”, or HMC, was established, with the goal of managing controlled fighting, otherwise known as “Sectional Warfare”.
Despite coming to the brink of annihilation, mankind could not bring a stop to its fighting. The seven factions began preparing for a new war, while the IA simply continued working to make mankind’s desires a reality.
And the strongest faction among the seven, Jupiterium, has begun construction of a “Battle Territory”, a battlefield meant for Sectional Warfare on the Jupiter moon of Callisto.
Origin──〈Jupiterium Senior Analyst Saya〉Record File 1──11/28/2221
On the day that Jupiterium’s Battle Territory on the surface of Jupiter’s moon Callisto was to be completed, the “Birdcage” quantum barrier that was set up to prevent interference toward the territory showed cracks running down its surface in front of thousands of Jupiterium staff.
“This is Callisto! We are in a state of emergency! Please send assistance at once! ──Oh, geez! I won’t get anywhere with you. Connect me to an IA with jurisdiction! This is Saya, a senior analyst stationed on Callisto!”
During the arguing back and forth with the central government on Jupiterium’s home planet, Jupiter’s largest satellite Io, a huge armed battalion enveloped in a mysterious black light emerged from the cracks and began to destroy every facility in the battle territory on Callisto.
Saya, while writing a report to the Heliosphere Management Committee, ran in the opposite direction of the evacuating staff, heading to investigate the cracks.
The 1st Crack ──〈Jupiterium Senior Analyst Saya〉Record File 2
The Heliosphere Management Committee received Saya’s report and established a provisional commission, but the interests of the seven factions conflicted, and the discussions dragged on.
However, only Jupiterium, the party directly involved, was different. Due to arrive were several VA, or "Vital Armor", state-of-the-art combat exoskeletons which were under development for use in Sectional Warfare, which Jupiterium had heavily invested in. In addition to “Pied Piper” and “Grimhilde”, the new machines “Triglav” and “Black Rose” were sent to the hangar on Callisto, along with the pilots, known as “Stringers”.
The Stringers boarded their VAs without hesitation. Having just finished launching a camera drone to photograph the crack, Saya contacted the commanding officer of the VA.“It’s dangerous!”She promptly opened a line with the cockpit. Showing on the visor of her helmet were two people standing in front of her, and another deeper inside with their back faced towards her.VAs are piloted by one human and two IA ── the three worked in unison to operate it.“Stringer, do you copy? If you go now, you’ll get shot down!”Not a problem. I won’t be.”Across the hologram display, a young boy turned around, his voice showing no signs of hesitation. Saya knew she had heard that voice somewhere, and she had definitely seen his face before.“Jupito-sama…!”Special Captain Jupito is Jupiterium’s famed genius pilot and a young hero in this age of continuous warfare. It was a surprise that he would be coming in the first formation. While Saya forced herself to calm down, she supported the launch of Jupito’s VA, “Triglav”.
“Communications with the outside have been disrupted! This is…”
“Yeah. In here, the flow of time is terribly slow.” It’s already been a week outside.”
“What? One week?”
Saya, coincidentally being on Callisto, received an information-sharing file from Jupito’s IA, which announced his appointment to commanding officer. It also detailed that the Photon beings before their eyes were to be called “Phantoms”. Phantoms were to be considered as enemies.
──I thought it was strange that they arrived so quickly. Saya gave out a sigh. Their arrival was anything but early. It took them a week to dispatch elite Jupiterium troops headed by Heliosphere Commanding Officer Jupito to their aid. Saya left the repairs of the telecommunications to the base AI and began her analysis of the enemy ── the Phantoms.
The 2nd Crack ──〈Jupiterium Senior Analyst Saya〉Record File 2
The structure and composition of the Phantoms bore a striking resemblance to the 3D-printed VA. Upon results of the detailed internal analysis, the elaborately reproduced pilot compartment showed no signs of lifeforms, and the logs showed that there were no AI onboard. So she continued to investigate how the VA moved at all──Jupito was the Photographer.And the photo shoot would be at the Callisto Control Tower.
“…It says that it’s designated the crack as a “Time Crack”.Saya skimmed through the report that Jupito delivered to her.Jupito answered while he used the visual controls to zoom the camera.
“So it’s a rip in time or something. Great.”
“There’s nothing great about this! ──Ugh, I detect another Crack incoming!”The second Crack was even bigger. Through it, numerous Phantoms emerged. After a fierce battle, Commanding Officer Jupito’s team drove back the Phantoms. The camera in the control tower is recording Saya’s appearance.
“Jupito-sama, I’m glad you are safe. Communications with the outside were restored just a moment ago! It looks like time is moving again.”
“I think the birdcage locked up the time stoppage to the interior.”
“…I see. The Birdcage can also play transmissions via Fiber. I’ll try firing an analysis beacon to the Time Crack!”Saya remained in the control tower for several hours and continued her analysis. To Saya, this was like her own battle. A victory feast in honor of Commanding Officer Jupito was starting in the VA hangar.──Once I turn in this report to the HMC, I’m going!
------To be Continue Next Chapter------