Chapter 190: Her Voice
In the original history, Plague was an incomprehensible cosmic monster.
It devoured countless planets, spawned endless hordes, and finally brought humanity to extinction.
There was no proper communication in the process.
It only attacked Earth and humanity unilaterally.
But Plague was not unintelligent.
From a certain level, it had a self-awareness, and at the highest level of entities, such as Titans and Queens, it was not an exaggeration to say that it had intelligence beyond humans.
It just didn’t matter to humans because they couldn’t recognize it.
Not only ordinary psychics, but even Yu Ji-ha couldn’t hear anything but the Plague Queen’s howl.
In that respect, it was very unusual for this Plague Queen to initiate a conversation with all psychics.
—We are the children of the prophet.
Not only Yujin, but also the other pilots, including Lieutenant Rogers, were surprised and jumped up.
“What is this? Who is talking to me?”
“It sounds like a woman’s voice…”
Yujin knew who the owner of this voice was.
She was the head of the artifact analysis agency Arc and his lover, Lucia Rosano.
Why did the Plague Queen communicate with all psychics using her voice?
‘She’s dead…’
To be precise, Yujin didn’t see her die.
She had suffered a fatal injury and wandered around the battlefield for three years.
When she recovered and went to Earth, she found it destroyed.
The earth’s crust was broken, so it wasn’t strange to conclude that humanity was extinct.
The only possibility was abduction.
‘Did they take humans away?’
Judging by the fact that she used Lucia’s voice to communicate, they might have taken her away to use her as a channel of communication.
In that case, the survival of humans, including Lucia, would be difficult to hope for.
‘It would be better to think that she died. But there are still questions…’
It was strange that the Plague Queen of this time met Lucia.
She was not born yet at this point.
‘Did she travel back in time with me? Or is she a different entity that shares memories?’
The word we that she used could mean different things depending on what she meant.
However, the Plague Queen and the nest that appeared in Pluto’s orbit were not absolute beings.
‘Is it because they appeared earlier than before? The psy-field is weak and the nest is nothing special.’
The size of the nest sent by Pluto’s reconnaissance satellite was much smaller than before.
‘That’s doable.’
The problem was what the Plague Queen meant.
It was definitely not a good intention.
The pilots in the waiting room sat down as Yujin remained silent.
“Did you hear this voice too, Lieutenant?”
“Yes, I can hear it.”
“I thought I was crazy. I thought it was my ex-girlfriend’s voice.”
“Didn’t you get confused about whose voice it was? Anyway, it seems like it’s heard by Earth’s psychics too, so let’s listen quietly.”
Sonia’s snipe made Lieutenant Rogers shut his mouth and Nasir closed his eyes as if concentrating.
And the Plague Queen’s intention was conveyed.
-We know that you have been preparing in fear of us.
-But there is no need to be afraid. We are the children of the prophet and your managers.
-If you promise us two things, we will not bother you. We promise you that.
Those two things were likely to be something hard to accept.
As the pilots looked at each other’s faces, her voice rang again.
-In the name of the prophet, we will reclaim all ether from you. What you call cores and use are originally ours. Therefore, it is fair for us to reclaim them.
The psychics were shocked by her words of reclaiming ether.
Without it, most of the technology of the United Human Federation would be disabled.
From black metal to basic technology, there were more than one or two things that depended on ether from Plague cores.
That was what allowed humans to easily enter space.
But they wanted to take it away?
—That’s ridiculous. That means they want to confine us to Earth.
—They manage us? Who agreed to that?
The psychics’ reactions were negative.
Strangely enough, Yujin and the pilots could feel their overall opinions indirectly.
It was noisy as if they had come to a traditional market and heard psychics’ voices.
And the Plague Queen’s second condition was presented.
-This is not all. Send me the most powerful psychic among you. Then I will guarantee your safety.
Everyone thought of Yu Ji-ha as the most powerful psychic.
He was the most powerful psychic in human history and still is.
Although psychics were not well known yet, everyone predicted that no one would match him.
His overwhelming ether sensitivity and ability to spread psy-fields were incomparable to other psychics.
Why did they want to take him away?
The psychics started to buzz in the virtual space.
—It must be President Yu Ji-ha, right?
—Why do they want him? Is it because he brought ether?
—Is this smuggling? From the perspective of Plague, which can be called the origin of ether, it must be annoying.
—But why don’t they just take him away? They could just attack like usual.
—They must have tried to attack and found it not easy.
—Then we don’t have to comply, right? We’ve been preparing for this day for over a decade.
—You’re still talking after seeing that army? The Mars Fleet was no match for them in terms of scale.
—The president will make a decision.
He had been a president who maintained the situation, even though he had done some strange things lately.
The decision of the United Human Federation came from his mouth, so the opinion was to wait for his determination.
But he was silent.
The Plague Queen gave them a month’s end.
-It must be hard to gather your opinions as an ununified race. I’ll give you a month in your time. Think carefully and judge. The end and peace are entirely up to you.
The citizens of the United Human Federation waited for the president’s decision with great tension.
Time kept passing.
***
“The analysis of the voice waveform showed an 85.21% match with Lucia.”
“It’s a vague number, but I guess she’s the one who took Lucia. The problem is the possibility that she’s alive…”
“Even if she’s alive, it won’t be in the direction you expect, Master.”
“Probably not.”
It depended on what the Plague’s purpose was, but the criteria for being alive could be different.
In the future timeline, they had turned humans into plagues as well.
But not anyone could do that, they had to insert metal parts such as biochips into their bodies to meet the minimum conditions.
That was also why Yujin did not perform biochip surgery on people for control.
Ordinary humans did not turn into plagues, and psychics had resistance.
Lucia leaned over and looked into his face.
“Are you thinking about Lucia?”
“…No, I’ve forgotten everything.”
She was his lover from 25 years ago.
It would be a lie to say he had completely forgotten, but it didn’t matter anymore.
She was no longer on the side of humanity after joining the Plague.
Even if Yujin was captured and Lucia was in a position to make a decision, he would have thought the same.
Anyway, the appearance and proposal of the Plague Queen was quite a surprise for Yujin as well.
“The word ‘administrator’ sounds like it manages all of Ether.”
“Maybe that’s why they’re attacking us. They think we took what was theirs.”
“I can’t argue with that.”
Most of the Ether-based technology of the United Human Federation started from the Plague Core.
Without it, they couldn’t even make black metal, which was the most important thing.
From Settler to now, the hulls of the spaceships built by the United Human Federation resembled Plague Leviathans and such. Maybe that was also annoying to them.
Anyway, they came faster than expected and now they couldn’t avoid a collision.
But coming early wasn’t all negative for Yujin.
The size of the nest was smaller than expected.
“The size of the first nest that appeared in the original timeline was over 2,000km in diameter. And the psychic wave emitted by the Plague Queen was also twice as strong as now.”
“Then the power of that Plague army is half of what it originally was.”
Time was important here.
The Plague Queen and the nest absorbed nearby minerals to increase their power and size.
Since they appeared in Pluto’s orbit, Pluto and its satellite Charon were doomed.
“Red Clouds have been observed around the nest and the main body of Plague. They will soon erode Charon.”
Once reconnaissance satellites were absorbed, observation would be difficult.
Then the Plague Queen sent him a psychic wave.
—Do you think you’re the only one who defied time? Accept my invitation. Little thief.
Lucia whispered in his ear.
“The other psychics are quiet. It seems like she’s only sending psychic waves to you, Master.”
“She wants to settle this one-on-one. Not bad.”
Yujin focused his consciousness on her psychic wave.
In an endless dark and vast space, there was a metallic Lucia standing.
Did she take off her glasses because it was too bothersome to implement?
“…Lucia? Did you kidnap her?”
“It’s for conversation. You don’t have a unified will among yourselves.”
“You want to talk? You seem like a peaceful race. It would have been nice if you were like that from the beginning.”
The Queen ignored his sarcasm and walked up to him.
Their eyes met.
“I won’t say much. Give me the milestone to the land of prophecy.”
The home of prophecy, and what seemed like the key that Yujin had absorbed.
“Is he your prophet too?”
“What a foolish question. What do you think is the reason I absorbed your lover?”
“Let me ask again. Is he your god?”
“I have no reason to answer. All you have to do is one thing: entrust us with your new weapon. I’ll guarantee your safety and that of your race if you just give me the milestone. Of course, we’ll have to take back Ether.”
“You mean we should stick to Earth?”
“Didn’t you live like that before you stole our Ether? You don’t deserve it.”
“Why should a space monster like you judge that?”
“Any more conversation is meaningless. If you don’t answer in a month, we’ll expose your identity.”
“You seem to know me well.”
“You’re not the only one who defied time. Now, choose. Whether to reveal your secret to your kind, or to find peace.”
“That peace is nothing but breeding.”
“Didn’t you breed your own kind? You confined them in a narrow space and took away their freedom. That’s what we’re going to do too.”
“Sorry, but I don’t think any race will accept that.”
“As promised, I’ll give you a month. I hope you make a wise choice.”
The space disappeared and Yujin saw the face of the android Lucia.
He sighed and stretched his body.
“She said she would expose my identity.”
“That’s rather a good thing. If your identity is exposed, the citizens will rise up.”
That was true.
The mischief he committed under the name of Yu Ji-ha was not enough to provoke public outrage.
If the Plague Queen exposed his identity, it would cause an uncontrollable chaos.
If he revealed everything, it might unexpectedly unite them, but if he leaked only some manipulated information, it would easily create discord.
“That’s assuming we wait. But we have no reason to wait.”
The Plague Queen gave him a month’s deadline to accumulate her power.
She pretended to respect the human’s will to unite, but it was not true at all, judging by the observation of the Red Cloud in the main star of Pluto.
“All we need is the Legion Strike Fleet. We just have to attack and finish them off.”
The fleet had all the features to evade the Plague’s detection methods, including the Ether Blocker.
All he had to do was assign the pilots he had trained so far and the preparation was done.
The pilots were not very skilled, but the other side was weaker.
However, he was not completely worry-free.
Lucia reported what she observed.
“The Plague Queen that appeared now may not be the original one.”
“Why?”
“If she was the original, she would have destroyed the reconnaissance satellites as soon as she arrived in the main star of Pluto.”
“Are they still there?”
“Yes, they are sending gravitational data from nearby asteroids. It’s confusing.”
Just as humans had knowledge about the Plague, so did the Plague.
They were not fools and they used all kinds of means to blind and deafen the humans.
Leaving the reconnaissance satellites meant that the current Plague Queen was not the original one.
“Didn’t you say that the voice wave only matched 85%? The memory sharing must have been inaccurate.”
“We came to the past through the door opened by the Prophet, but their means might be limited.”
Everything was a possibility.
He wanted to find out the truth, but his first priority was to annihilate the Plague Queen and her nest.
Yujin made a decision.
“Nothing has changed. Their annihilation is the only way for humanity to survive. Use all means to finish preparing the Legion Strike Fleet.”
“Yes, sir.”
Meanwhile, in the megacity, conspiracy theories about this incident were rising.
***
After her voice was heard by the psychers, the United Human Federation society fell into chaos.
There were too many people who heard it, so it was impossible to silence them.
The appearance of the Plague Queen was revealed and her proposal was exposed.
An hour later, hundreds of millions of people knew the truth about this incident.
It would be strange if there was no commotion.
―She said she would guarantee our safety if we hand over Ether and Yu Ji-ha?
―How can you trust the words of a space monster? Aren’t they the ones who attacked us all this time?
―But is it true that Ether originally belonged to them?
―It’s not a lie. Ether core and Plague core are the same thing.
―Then did we steal it?
―Not us, but that person…
Among them, there were also those who claimed that Yu Ji-ha was the culprit of all this.
―What did I say? It’s all his fault. If he hadn’t brought that technology, we wouldn’t have to face this situation.
―Are you saying that while living well in the megacity he built?
―He would be sad if he heard you.
The backlash continued, but he did not stop his argument.
―Why did we make the United Human Federation and the megacity? To fight against the Plague, right? But if he hadn’t brought that technology, there would be no reason to make them.
―Am I wrong? If Yu Ji-ha disappears, there will be no more attacks and our safety will be guaranteed.
―That’s stupid to believe that.
―Do you want to see us perish? The answer is to get rid of Yu Ji-ha while we have a chance. How can we stop a legion of Night-class or higher?
One of them was Congressman Baek Seong-min.
He met many people and communicated with them while avoiding the eyes of the surveillance system.
There was a lot of controversy over him changing his mind even though he was Yu Ji-ha’s closest aide.
―How disappointed he must have been… Tsk tsk.
―He did a lot of things that I couldn’t understand lately.
―Not things that I couldn’t understand, but crazy things. Does he think he’s an emperor or something?
―The only sure thing is that we will perish if we don’t surrender. We have to go back to the old days by giving him up.
The citizens were afraid of the size of the Plague legion that was exaggerated by the psychers.
They thought there was no chance of winning because Yujin did not reveal the Legion Strike Fleet.
While Congressman Baek Seong-min was busy persuading people, Yujin had already entered the Legion Strike Fleet with countless pilots.
He had blocked the communication network in advance, so there was no way for this news to reach the megacity.
They all gaped at the huge fleet hidden among the asteroids.
“They hid such a fleet…”
“This is no joke.”
The Legion Strike Fleet was the ultimate force of the United Human Federation and its only goal was to destroy the Plague Queen and her nest that appeared in the solar system.
Now that fleet was preparing to launch.
「Main engine ignition. Ether reverse field deployment.」
More than two hundred combat ships became one and shot out into space.
Baek Seong-min looked up at the ceiling while meeting with politicians.
He wished he was on the other side.
He had no special skills, but he could do some errands.
But Yu Ji-ha gave him a disgusting role.
He didn’t want to do it, but he couldn’t refuse because he thought it was what he wanted.
‘The president is fighting to protect humanity and I’m doing nothing but collusion.’
The politicians in front of him were his accomplices in collusion.
They tried to gain some power by winning over the people’s hearts and using all kinds of means after becoming congressmen.
They were the symbols of the old generation’s vested interests and they were trying to oust Yu Ji-ha and devour the United Human Federation.
But it wouldn’t go as they wished.
‘You will die before the president leaves.’
That was the last gift Yu Ji-ha left for humanity.
Humanity would find out much later, or maybe never.
But he wouldn’t care.
He lived for today.
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