The man named Kain was the true inheritor of Aldnoah's power.
Even if Earth chose to support Her Highness, Kain could revoke everyone else's authority whenever he wished. Attacking the princess he had acknowledged would therefore be an incredibly foolish decision.
Of course, that was merely the information released to the public.
Koichiro Marito and the others present had been fortunate enough to earn their trust, so they knew more. Kain's true origins lay with an even more extraordinary organization known as the Parallel World Human Salvation Agency.
That fleet had come from the Earth of another parallel universe.
Their ability to cross dimensions made it clear that their technology was even more advanced than the Aldnoah civilization's.
Anyone who wanted to make an enemy of people like that might as well throw their brain away.
"Huh? What's going on?"
"Nina? Did you activate it?"
"I-I think so."
Nina stared uncertainly at what appeared to be some kind of car.
While listening to Kain explain the deeper secrets of Aldnoah, she had curiously examined the devices around her. She touched one of the car-like machines and wondered whether she might be able to activate it too.
Then it actually turned on.
Somehow, she could feel a faint connection between herself and the machine.
With that thought in mind, she willed it to shut down.
It really did.
She tried activating it again, and once more, it responded.
W-What was going on?
She turned toward Princess Asseylum. Had the princess secretly granted her authorization?
"I didn't give you any authorization, Nina."
"Then how can I activate it?"
"That's an excellent question. You should ask Kain."
Asseylum smiled and passed the question to him. She seemed to have already guessed the reason, because the look she gave him contained both resignation and a trace of resentment.
"Kain? How am I able to activate this? Did you authorize me?"
"Yes."
Kain answered with perfect composure.
However, this was not the kind of authorization an administrator might grant a visitor to use a computer.
Normally, if the administrator left, meaning that Kain departed from this world, Nina would lose that authorization and be unable to use the machines.
But Nina would still be able to activate them even after he left. Her genetic code itself now contained the administrator password.
Based on the information he had uncovered, it had probably been transmitted during their intimate encounter.
The records within this city of Atlantis mentioned that activation authority could be "transmitted" to another person through that sort of intimacy.
The probability was extremely low, however, which was why he had never mentioned it.
Apparently, he had hit the jackpot on his very first try.
That concluded the explanation of the Aldnoah civilization.
If they wanted to learn its deeper secrets, they could investigate those themselves.
Kain was more interested in its technology, particularly anything that could be put to practical use quickly.
In the blink of an eye, three days had passed since Atlantis was activated.
Kain had already exceeded the hundred hours originally allotted for this visit, forcing him to extend his stay for a second time.
Atlantis had since accepted a small number of people from Mars. Several carefully selected people from Earth had also been allowed to enter the city.
The Martian civilians would probably need time to adjust. After all, years of indoctrination had instilled them with an intense sense of superiority toward Earth.
That was why every civilian brought here had undergone screening.
Psychological questionnaires were used to exclude anyone with particularly strong hostility toward Earth.
The Earthlings underwent the same process.
In the future, this city would become a vital trading port between the two sides.
Mars would export Aldnoah products and technology in exchange for Earth's food and other natural resources.
The city's Hypergate was relatively small, so large Aldnoah Drives could not be transported through it intact. They would have to be manufactured in multiple sections, sent through separately, and assembled on the other side.
The gate's limited size also meant there was little danger of an explosion inflicting a catastrophic blow on Earth.
Once Hypergate technology had been fully mastered, a larger gate capable of handling bulk cargo would be constructed at a safe distance from the planet.
"Dark energy?"
Kain murmured to himself.
A2 had contacted him through the Super-Dimensional Channel and revealed the source of the energy that powered Aldnoah Drives.
It came from dark energy.
The Sky City's records offered no concrete description of the energy's origin. Put simply, its original inhabitants had accidentally discovered how to harness the phenomenon without ever determining its true nature.
Most of the city's data had already been transmitted to A2. An Aldnoah Drive had also been sent to her for testing, and her experiments confirmed that it utilized dark energy.
Dark energy was one resource the universe would never lack.
However, possessing an Aldnoah Drive did not mean they could directly harness an unlimited supply of dark energy.
The Drive did not truly consume dark energy itself. Instead, it harvested the tidal forces produced by dark energy's movement.
It was comparable to the ocean currents found on Earth. Humans could use those currents to generate electricity without consuming the ocean itself.
An Aldnoah Drive operated on roughly the same principle. It did not directly extract or expend dark energy.
As long as the universe continued moving and expanding, an Aldnoah Drive was effectively a perpetual-motion machine. The only real limitation on its operating life was the durability of the materials used to construct it.
Even so, the technology had another limitation: there was a ceiling to its maximum output.
For instance, if an Aldnoah Drive alone were used to power a Wave-Motion Gun, its charging speed would be extremely slow.
They could store the required energy in advance, but that would require additional equipment.
That was the primary limitation of the Aldnoah Drive.
It provided more than enough power for operations within a star system. However, further development would be required before it could efficiently support interstellar colonization and the large-scale development of other star systems.
Kain brought his attention back to reality and examined the machine he was currently piloting.
It was a Martian Kataphrakt equipped with quantum duplication technology.
He had taken it from a Mars Knight who had refused to surrender. The machine had suffered considerable damage during its capture, but Martian technicians had since repaired it.
It was time to test it.
The instant he activated the system, Kain felt an indescribable change sweep through him. The closest comparison was the sensation of suddenly growing an additional part of his body.
Even his vision changed.
Once the transformation was complete, another field of vision appeared within his mind.
He had divided into two, yet both bodies were still the same person.
After moving the Kataphrakts around, he began to understand how their previous pilot had controlled multiple machines so effortlessly.
The explanation was simple.
Once the pilot issued a command, the computers handled most of the Kataphrakts' movements through intelligent assistance. The pilot did not need to consciously control every individual action of both machines simultaneously.
That convenience also created a limitation. The two bodies could not coordinate with the precision and flexibility of something controlled entirely by a single mind.
Kain attempted to duplicate himself again.
No, "divide" was probably the more accurate term.
This time, however, the system failed. It could not construct another quantum duplicate.
Was the machine still not fully repaired?
After examining its data, Kain soon understood the problem.
The total volume of information required to reconstruct his existence was simply too immense. This Kataphrakt could support the creation of only one additional body.
The ability also appeared to have a time limit. Once that limit was exceeded, the equipment would overload and automatically shut down.
The exact duration depended on how intensely Kain operated the Martian Kataphrakts.
If he pushed the machines to their limits, the available time would decrease even further.
In that case, he would have to continue testing and determine exactly how far this ability could go.
(End of Chapter)
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