Chapter 379 – Aftercare (6)
“We are the only two who returned safely. They found Charlie’s body, but her memory was completely destroyed. Recovery is impossible.”
[I understand.]
Alpha’s answer was quick and concise.
In fact, it would have been surprising if an emotional tone had emerged.
“Is there anything else you want to know?”
[No.]
The specialness that seemed briefly disappeared, and he returned to being just a stalker who silently accompanied me during the Tanis expedition.
“I extracted all records of the Tanis expedition from Alpha.”
Meanwhile, Artemis looked very unhappy. She even held her forehead because her head was pounding.
There is no way that her supercomputer would be sick from overworking her brain, and her emotions would have affected her body.
“It was quite a spectacular journey, wasn’t it?”
“Spectacle?!”
Artemis was amazed to see me smiling.
Her seductive lips twitched in anger and they both came running and kicked my ass.
“Even if you went crazy, you were really crazy, you human!”
A kick from a scientist woman doesn’t hurt me. It just feels like an expression of affection, so even the shock feels good.
“I thought it would have been dangerous enough with the information I verified indirectly, but this…”
The screen was divided into 12 screens.
And each of them began to broadcast the major events of the difficult journey.
A super-powerful storm that welcomed you from the beginning, a grassy forest where Alpha was injured in a surprise siege by mutants, an unidentified large predator lurking beneath the desert, a life-and-death struggle with a giant shell spider, a ruined research lab, and a battle with the last super-giant colony.
Each one of them was an incredibly dangerous event.
This may be especially true for Artemis, as she tends to exaggerate her level of risk.
“It’s definitely not a journey I want to go through twice.”
“Isn’t this a journey I want to take twice?”
“Then it was mutually agreed upon.”
“…”
She readily agrees, so it seems like she has nothing to say.
In the situation so far, I had to be stubborn and take action for one reason or another, but there is no need to do that anymore.
All external operations, such as the battle against the Chinese army and the subjugation of Exile, were conducted through remote robots.
“Are you going to distribute these videos too?”
“Of course! “Because we must punish those arrogant people who dare to lie about your achievements.”
“Those who won’t believe it anyway will say that the video itself is fabricated.”
No one could deny the vaccine that neutralizes infectious agents because everyone has seen its effects.
However, there are people who are skeptical about the acquisition process.
To be honest, if I said, ‘I went to an alien planet and fought a huge battle to retrieve it,’ it would be impossible not to have doubts.
They claimed that the vaccine itself was developed by Shelter and that the Tanis expedition was a lie to strengthen their authority.
Even the existence of a spacecraft that landed on the Korean Peninsula did not dispel the suspicion.
The moon landing was also denied, which is not strange.
“Doesn’t care. Whether you believe it or not, it is a magnificent record that continues from the beginning of the journey to the end. This is evidence, but it is also entertainment that will entertain the public.”
I heard something unexpected.
Isn’t the enjoyment of the public a topic of no interest to Artemis?
“People who live their daily lives enjoy creating heroes. This video record is heartbreaking to me, but how do you think it will look from the perspective of a third party who has nothing to do with it?”
“Wouldn’t it be like a Hollywood movie?”
“Okay. Even if we just edited out the marching and sleeping times during the entire journey and gathered only the main scenes, it would have taken several hours.”
Since it is a planet that was terraformed to be used as a prison, there is a lot to see.
A desert roiled by a powerful storm that can tear apart a car, or a bizarre forest where giant shell spiders are encamped.
The non-combat scenes are a wonderful documentary, and the combat scenes are a blockbuster action movie.
“Jinsu, there are more people who defend your achievements than those who doubt them. The older the age, the greater this tendency. In this situation, if video evidence comes out, only those who doubt until the end will be miserable.”
“‘Those guys are shit no matter what I bring them.’ Do you mean something like that?”
“Okay. From being a conspiracy theorist, you are now downgraded to a complaining conspiracy theorist.”
I forgot about it for a while, but over the past three years, Artemis has transformed into a politician rather than just a scientist.
It’s just that he’s not interested in the public’s enjoyment, but it’s not that he doesn’t know how to deal with them.
No matter where I looked at the 12 screens, the memories of that time came alive.
One of them particularly attracts attention.
After leaving the cave where we had escaped the storm, we entered the long bushes.
Falling bushes as if to suggest that something is surrounding us and approaching us.
Old Man Solaver, who blows away the bushes and the mutants hidden within them at once with an alien weapon called the Thunder Cannon.
“Kids will like it.”
The words that a life story can be called a tragedy when viewed up close, or a comedy when seen from afar, fit very well.
Of course, I don’t believe this story will end in tragedy.
Me, Alpha, Charlie.
The return rate is still only 50%, so the story may not be over.
* * *
The video recording of the Tanis expedition was edited into two videos of 2 hours and 20 minutes each and distributed throughout Polis.
One was a mission-oriented record focusing on exploration and combat, and the other was an observational video focusing on the alien planet itself called Tanis.
The reaction was beyond what I imagined.
“Was this that scene?”
A person alternately looks at the back of the 10,000 credits in his hand and the picture of 6 people entering the warp gate with the beginning of the video.
“Kill! “Kill them all!”
“What on earth are you shooting at that causes all the limbs that hit you to explode?”
People who had resentment against the infectious agents to the core were enthusiastic about seeing them explode.
The expedition team was all heavily armed with expensive explosive bombs and autonomous weapons, so there was a refreshing sense of slaughter.
“That’s a weapon used by aliens? It’s unique.”
“The description said it was a riot suppression weapon.”
“… If you get hit by something like that, won’t you become an asshole?”
“I guess the aliens are strong. Just looking at those infectious agents, 2 m is the standard, right?”
There are also people who admire the technological prowess of alien civilization or the existence of various races.
“That storm will be much more powerful than the one hitting Mars. “I want to see the original, unedited material.”
“Where is Tanis exactly? “Is this a place that can be observed from Earth?”
Astronomers whose spirit of exploration, which had been dormant for five years, has been revived.
“God is watching me.”
Soldiers pay their respects as fellow soldiers after seeing the graffiti left by a guard who died while fighting the infectious agent until the end.
“Oh no! “Don’t die!”
“Tangooooo!”
People empathize with Alpha, who is seriously injured in the final battle, and Tango, who is swallowed by a huge colony.
Whether they enjoy it as entertainment or connect it to their own knowledge to fuel their academic passion, people have learned how vaccines came to Earth.
[It’s all good, but it’s a shame that the manager’s face never appears.]
As always, Kids, who had achieved perfect editing, was disappointed.
I wore an enclosed full-body suit and a combat visor throughout the journey, so my face was never exposed.
“There’s nothing you can do, right? “It can’t be like a historical drama or movie where the main character’s helmet is removed to make his face stand out.”
And honestly, I was glad my face wasn’t shown.
“If you become famous unnecessarily, going out alone will only end up giving you a headache.”
Even now, I secretly go out to a bar in Police, and a video of Tanis is being broadcast on TV here.
My status is absolute, but my awareness itself is surprisingly low.
Thanks to this, you can enjoy quietly just by wearing a hood or sunglasses.
“Oh!”
The customers in the tavern went crazy during the battle scene with the giant shell spider named Arachnidra.
“Is that also an infection? “It looks really hideous.”
“No, that’s a native creature. “They said it was a great help in vaccine production.”
“Hearing that, you suddenly look cute.”
There was even cheering at the scene of the infected being preyed upon by Arachnid’s offspring.
The records of the Tanis expedition were not only distributed as videos, but various annotations and explanations were also made available to the public.
I drank beer while appreciating people’s reactions.
“It sucks.”
Since it is moonshine made in poor conditions, it tastes like old-fashioned water.
“Even though you say it every time, it seems like you like it. “You ordered it last time, and you’re here again today, right?”
Seyoung, who followed as a stealth escort as always, spoke from across the room.
She was eating dried fish.
“Just like you said, as I kept drinking it, I realized that even the old water had its own taste.”
“The food is surprisingly cheap considering the location. “You also really like street food.”
“Do we need further explanation among the orphanage comrades?”
Seyoung grinned at my words.
When we were both young, we had to just suck our fingers and look at junk food sold on the street that cost a few hundred won.
Is it a reaction to the obsession I had back then?
Even now, where I can eat and drink the best food in the world, my taste is close to cheap.
“Don’t you hate Artemis?”
“Of course I don’t like it. They say that if you go outside, your stomach will be full of trash full of all kinds of germs.”
Artemis, who wants to feed only good things, takes the crane away.
The release of the Tanis expedition video caused an uproar on the Korean Peninsula for a while.
And it also had an unexpected effect.
-Echo! We need to find Echo!
-Solaber is still alive, right? It will happen! No, you have to!
People who watched the video sympathized with the expedition’s work as if it were their own.
In the past, there were explorers who were looking for expedition members for the compensation we would provide.
To be exact, it was close to keeping up with the personal information of the expedition team while carrying out the usual search duties.
But thanks to those efforts, Charlie and Alpha were able to return to my arms.
However, the movement spread nationwide thanks to the recorded video of this expedition.
“Don’t people like happy endings?”
Artemis said with a smile.
As if they were targeting this part as well.
