I didn't have a clear reason in my head why I was trying to do something like this, but I wanted to wake up the man called Marcin Grom. Sitting down and exchanging ideas about this with Goma, Velsil, and the others felt like whining to others once again. Besides, as long as my brother Lucius Varden was here, it wouldn't be very possible to arrange a meeting to exchange ideas about waking up a mysterious figure from 400 years ago.
I glanced one last time into the bag holding my weapon parts and ammunition before slinging it over my back. The plush rabbit Velsil had given me was still inside. I decided to leave it, hoping it would bring luck. I threw the bag onto my back and put on my climbing gear.
While I was coming from Platoria to my own planet, the spaceships departing from our planet were already landing on Platoria. This meant my brother hadn't noticed the missing ships, or Ilya had properly concocted a lie. In either case, if I woke up the man named Marcin Grom, the Platoria colonies would have spaceships they could escape with. Ah… What would happen if I woke up Marcin Grom? If that man caused trouble, the only person he could cause trouble for would be me. Why? Ilya and the others would be innocent because they were with Lucius Varden when Marcin Grom woke up.
Don't worry. I also recorded an audio message stating that I would kill my team if they shared the information that we found Marcin Grom with anyone else. So, even if Marcin Grom caused trouble, all the blame would fall on me. Isn't that great?
It had taken almost a full day for Goma and me to climb to that shrine Alora had built. But considering my current speed, it seemed like I would get there before nightfall. Perhaps I had struggled with the climb so much because my Enhanced body hadn't moved for a very long time. Now, however, my body, accustomed to movement, was ascending the hill without any trouble.
Until I reached the shrine, I neither rested for food supplementation nor sat down to catch my breath. I wanted to wake up the man named Marcin Grom as quickly as possible and learn what he knew. Or, more accurately, who he was…
What would waking up Marcin Grom mean? I had no idea. The reason I wanted to wake him up so badly was the contradiction between Old Jack's story and Damon Weisshafen's story. According to the narrative, Damon Weisshafen was the pilot, if not the captain, of the first Hyperion. According to the Old Man, however, that name was Marcin Grom. If Old Jack was telling the truth, and Marcin Grom was important enough to be the man who piloted the first Hyperion, then he definitely knows the mystery or the secret behind the name Damon Weisshafen. I want to learn those secrets… those secrets.
Although Damon Weisshafen is accepted as a god by most planets, I reject that. All those tragedies my family experienced, which everyone else ignored, were not acceptable to me. I had many brothers who died. I had many stepmothers who were murdered. I suffered endless tortures. The woman I loved died because of those vile nobles and their spoiled rules… Isolde was my dearest, rarest flower in the springtime of my life. The ones who killed her were the Weisshafens, the Dragnos, and the Jolkien.
Since death lost its connection with time, and science silenced death until further notice, I haven't seen time solve anything. Damon Weisshafen will never lose, no matter what. Only we will be crushed under his arrogant gaze.
But I have no intention of regretting forever. I won't lie to you. I tried… I tried to take a figurative blanket of dead soil over me and withdraw from life. While giving myself over to alcohol and all other vices, I tried to sleep soundly in the laps of women and repeat that forever. But the only thing I learned from this attempt was this… The thing I had foregone was my freedom when I restricted myself like this just to soothe some of my pain and silence my mind.
I had no honor left because I lost it while working for a criminal like Belladona. I lost my will during the times I was tortured. Things like compassion or mercy had been ripped away by Damon Weisshafen. I lost my self-respect because of a mistake I made as a young lover in my past, and I lost hope for the future because of the things I saw in that same mistake. While all this was being taken from me by Jolkien's nobles, who left us nothing but fear and endless obedience, I thought I could reclaim my freedom by distancing myself from them.
I was wrong. How could I be free when the memories of the past and the nightmares I saw when I went to bed didn't leave me? How could I be independent when I needed alcohol, drugs, and so many other things just to live life?
That's why I wanted to wake that man up, even if there was only a chance to change things. If I could gain power in any way, I would take back all the power those Jolkien nobles had taken from me.
So, what was I expecting? As I said before… I had no idea. Maybe a secret, maybe a code… Perhaps when he wakes up, I can convince him to take the Hyperion ship from Damon Weisshafen's hands. Even a small conversation with him could be useful. But all these thoughts could also come to a very quick end.
As I headed towards the clearing where the shrine was located, I began walking through that small, drawing-covered cave. "These drawings, huh?" I thought to myself. Alora had drawn the stories I told about the Old World all over the walls, perhaps as decoration or as an element of mystery. People fighting mammoths, apes drawing on cave walls, and many other things… While running my hand over the drawing of thrown spears, I noticed something. These drawings looked as if they had been carved with a knife.
I wasn't a very observant person, but I was certain that these drawings had been made on a near-perfectly smooth surface. In fact, the perfection of these drawings had sparked something in my mind, which was why I had wanted to examine them in the first place. Someone… Someone was here.
I bent down. I slowed my steps and tried to make as little sound as possible. Since the bells hung on the trees were chiming in the wind, my footsteps probably wouldn't be heard anyway, right? I stayed away from the gravel path and advanced, using the trees as barriers. Since the darkness of the evening was only just beginning to settle, I was still easily visible. That's why I wanted to see them before they saw me. I moved slightly past a few more trees. Finally, I could see that coffin-like capsule. The two figures next to it were exposed and looked quite relaxed. I was still hidden behind the tree trunk as I opened my bag. I opened my bag and took out a pair of binoculars. I was struck dumb with surprise when I looked at the two men through my binoculars. These were the Custodians named Mealizen and Koldra. I didn't know which one was Mealizen and which was Koldra. But if there was one thing I knew, it was that whatever was going on here was not legal. What business did the Space Archaeology and Heritage Protection Agency have here? Why hadn't they informed us? How did they know this place? Why were they hiding all this from us? I could turn back and leave, but what would I do if they took what they wanted and left before I could gather the team and return? I wish… I wish I had taken one of those damned communication devices with me. I hadn't taken the device so they wouldn't follow me.
I moved a little closer. I wanted to hear what they were talking about more clearly. The big, burly man was sitting on a crate of equipment. He had removed his devil-head-like helmet and placed it on the ground. He had put the tank on his back down at his feet. He was still feeding from that tank through a hose in his mouth. To obscure the nasty look of the hose entering his mouth, he was wearing a black mask. The hose entered his mouth through that black cloth mask.
As I surveyed the man a little more closely, I saw a blue glow emerging from a tiny needle-hole in the man's throat, beneath his skin. I was somewhat familiar with this blue glow. This was a communication device that picked up the vocal cord's vibrations and transmitted them. The man was speaking not through his mouth, but through this communication device in his throat.
His facial skin was like the surface of a volcano, crisscrossed by lava flows. It was covered in cracks. These cracks were especially noticeable on his bald head and on his swollen, hardened, skin-like eyebrows. He was surveying his skinny officer friend next to him with his red eyes.
The large man was sitting on a crate, but next to him was a massive container. It was impossible for that container to have been transported here by air. If that were the case, our radars would have easily noticed it. That gigantic container had probably been carried here by that man. This… This meant immense power, beyond my comprehension. Especially since the officers didn't look very cybernetic when I scrutinized them. It was clear that they were highly developed Enhanced. Their agency probably didn't want them to be cybernetic so that their memories couldn't be easily copied and their secrets wouldn't be revealed.
The gigantic container next to the large man was probably damaged because it was difficult to open. Inside, there were boxes and computers piled on top of each other, while one computer was connected to the capsule with a cable. The other thing connected to the capsule was another computer with hologram keys. Standing at this computer was the other Custodian, who was over two meters tall and skinny. He hadn't removed his clothes or dropped his weapons. His weapons were still on his belt. As his metal fingers moved across the hologram keyboard, he called out to his friend.
"Koldra…" he called out to his large friend. I finally understood that the large one was Koldra. When Koldra was called, he did something they had presumably talked about before, and he pushed and shook the container with his hand.
"Did it work, Meal?" the burly Koldra asked.
"No! No, dammit!" Mealizen shouted, standing up angrily. "Why isn't this damned capsule opening? I tried every type of decryption key. Is there a bad connection?" he said and looked around. "I wish this damned base wasn't so close to us. Then we could connect to the main computer more strongly."
"I don't understand, brother…" the burly Koldra said in a hoarse voice. "Why are we hiding this capsule from the agency?" He coughed and turned a dial on the tank. His voice came out more easily now. "Why did we come here secretly?"
"Because, Koldra…" As if he had forgotten his sentence, he fiddled with his hologram keyboard.
"Because what, brother?" the burly one shouted.
"Because there are some secrets that no one else from the SWR can know."
"But we could have informed the other Custodians. No one knows we're on this mission right now. We were supposed to be here legally."
"I don't trust the other Custodians either."
"Our inspector, Arvo Dailo, doesn't know either. You don't trust him?" Koldra asked, clenching his fist.
Mealizen looked at his burly friend for a while. He didn't react. It was obvious he preferred to swallow things rather than talk about them. Koldra angrily slapped his hands on his knees and said: "You must be joking!"
"Look, Koldra, we've been together for about 130 years, haven't we? We are a real team. What great discoveries we made. What great secrets we covered up. What great mysteries we uncovered. All for the agency… All for the SWR…"
"All for the SWR…" Koldra said proudly, hitting his chest with his hand.
"But didn't you realize anything from all these secrets you learned?"
"What kind of thing, brother?"
"None of these secrets were truly important. We were always dealing with different versions of the same secrets. It's as if our goal wasn't to uncover brand new secrets, but to cover up certain evidence."
"What do you mean, brother? Be clear!"
"We are hitmen sent to hide the sins of the SWR!"
"Ah… Brother… Now you're starting to talk like one of those Maxerth Vilian lunatics. If necessary for the Republic, I would even be a hitman and spend years under arms."
"Yes… I wish the thing we were protecting was the Republic itself, and not some big shots in the Republic. I… I told you I was after something for years, didn't I? I told you there was a reason I couldn't retire, a reason I kept exploring the galaxy." He pointed to the capsule. "This is it…"
"The man sleeping inside this capsule? What kind of search were you on, brother? You said this man has been sleeping here for 400 years, right?"
Mealizen ran his hand over the capsule for a while. "Do you trust me, Koldra?"
"What kind of question is that?"
"Do you trust me or not?"
"I trust you, brother."
"Then allow me to uncover this secret. If you want to judge me after the secret is revealed, you can."
What business could a Custodian have with a former Weapon Security official? From Mealizen's words, it was obvious that this man was hiding something. How could Koldra still trust his words? Although we couldn't tell exactly because of Mealizen's goggles, I could swear his eyes were staring hungrily at the capsule.
I tried to see Meal's computer screen more closely with my binoculars. Had I made a mistake by coming here with just a few hack robots? Because Mael seemed to be struggling to crack the password.
I could not tolerate the Custodians landing illegally on my planet and looting a secret shrine on my planet. What should I do? I was legally in the right at that moment. They had entered a field under my management without my permission. Even if I killed them, the law was on my side. But what would I tell the court officials who would ask how I found this place? If they found out I was hiding this shrine from the Republic, I would be finished. I would think about them later.
I put my bag on the ground and opened it. It was a good thing that Alora had decorated the trees with bells to make this shrine sacred. The sound of me fiddling with my bag was barely audible over the sound of the bells. I ran my hand through the boxes. One of the boxes contained tranquilizer bullets. Despite the enemies being Enhanced, these needle-tipped bullets carried a virus that could adapt to genetics. If the target was human and their brain was made of flesh, not mechanics, they would definitely be put to sleep the moment they were hit with this bullet. But first, I needed to ascertain that their brains were normal human brains, not chipped like cybernetics. I immediately took out my X-ray binoculars. It was an extremely radioactive pair of binoculars. If used too much, it could start burning everything around it. Its production had been stopped for more than 200 years, but I had managed to find one on the black market.
What I saw through the binoculars was a brain inside a skull. When I surveyed the brain for a while, I could see that there were no implants. The brain worked with hormones and other factors, which was my bullet's favorite target. I loaded my rifle with the tranquilizer bullets. I attached a suppressor to the barrel of my gun. I was lucky because of the bells and the sound of the wind, as the sound of a rifle, even with a suppressor, could easily be heard from this distance.
As my hair blew in the wind, I aimed my weapon at the burly one. Taking a deep breath, I lay prone on the ground. Then, 'Thwack,' I fired. The large man fell sideways to the ground. Mael, seeing his friend fall, was looking around in a panic. He reached behind him, and the color of his goggles changed. He probably had heat-seeking goggles too and was searching for me with his eyes. As he scanned the forest, he finally spotted me. But my weapon was already ready to fire.
'Thwack.' I pulled the trigger, and the needle tip of the bullet lodged in Mael's neck. The neck was one of the most effective areas for tranquilizers. So, Mael fell backward, flat on his back, his mouth open.
I threw the gun over my shoulder and started walking. "You were easy prey!" I shouted. First, I nudged the burly one with my foot. The man fell down from the crate he was sitting on when I nudged him. The damned man fell so much on his face that I was afraid he wouldn't be able to breathe, so I put my gun aside and tried to straighten him up. He was very, very heavy. Then I started walking toward Mael. I barely restrained myself from spitting in his open mouth.
"You son of a b*tch! You come to my planet without my permission, huh! That's how you get the bullet! Did you think anything could escape my notice, huh?"
Just then, something impossible happened. The eyes of the man lying on the ground, Mael, suddenly flew open wide. Although I instinctively reached for my rifle in fear, I wasn't fast enough. Mael kicked my knee, knocking me to the ground, and then pressed his metal legs into my stomach as he stood up. As I was being crushed under those metal feet, I shouted:
"How… How is this possible? No human can take that bullet and stand up!"
Mael's weapons were a few steps away. He pointed his hand in that direction. The gun was pulled to his glove with a magnetic force. He was taking out the bullet lodged in his neck as he pointed the pistol at me. "Damn it… Now I'll have to kill you!"