Part 10: Takeshi - First Day - Part 6

Track—Zweitestock





I went in the far door, which was open.



(Where am I?)

I had been aiming for the elevator, but wound up somewhere else. The sign said 'Qualle'. I had no clue what that meant. Reading the explanation, I learned that this was a gondola in the shape of a jellyfish. I wasn't particularly in the mood for a ride.... I checked to see that there was no damage to the floors or the walls and left.




"Oh..."



She was in front of the closed elevator doors with a stern look on her face.


"So this is where you were..."


"........."

It looked like Tsugumi had noticed me, but she didn't reply. Her eyes stayed fixed on the door.


"This elevator doesn't go to the surface."

I was reading a nearby sign.


"It says that to go to the floating island, Insel null, we should use the elevator in the center of the floor."


"........."


"Hey, Tsugumi. Just standing there isn't going to make the elevator come."


"I know that."

Tsugumi finally answered me.


"I know because I just saw it."


"Saw what?"


"The elevator."

As soon as she said that she placed her hand on the closed elevator doors and started prying them apart.



Tsugumi looked inside.


"See the elevator is stopped on the third floor."

Scared, I peeked in.


"Oh...that's the one we rode down in?"


"It's still there from when we escaped."

A little box in the abyss. The elevator was about 20 yards down. I thought that the floors were fairly far apart, but I didn't realize actually how far.

Bump!


"Whoa!"

Tsugumi suddenly gave a little push on my shoulder from behind.


"Don't push.... Whaddya think would happen if I fell from here?"


"If you fell...I think that you would die. Most definitely."

Tsugumi said it without a trace of emotion.


"Geez...why do you wanna go and try to scare me?"


"You're just a coward."



Just to be sure, I tapped on the elevator button a couple of times. There was no response. The lamp didn't light up.


"It doesn't look like it's getting any power."


"Yes. And the elevator shaft is warped. So, even if it was getting power, it probably couldn't move normally. That's right, this elevator is useless..."

After that, Tsugumi went quiet again. Silence was the rule for a while. Tsugumi rarely talked. She only said the minimum necessary.... I thought that maybe she was trying to be careful of me for some reason. I wondered what it could be.... I wanted to know.


"Hey, why don't you tell me what happened?"


"It's got nothing to do with you."

That might have been true, but still. It's got nothing to do with me... It's got something to do with me...


"Hey, you know something I don't?"


"Something...like what?"


"Like about this accident. Like maybe something... Something to do with the reason you're all quiet?"


"Accident? This wasn't an accident..."


"It was planned."


"What makes you say that?"


"Huh...you're not surprised?"

Tsugumi gave me a strange look.


"So you feel like something isn't right, too."


"Well, maybe I guess. Like everything is just too neat..."


"........."


"We can't communicate with the outside and our escape routes are all closed. But we've got electricity and the air conditioning still works. It's almost like someone trapped us here on purpose..."


"Hmmm...? I guess you're not as dumb as you look."

Tsugumi's expression loosened into a slight smile. It was a provocative smile.


"What do you mean by that?"


"I mean exactly what I said. You don't look that smart."

(Whhhhhhaaaaat!? This chick...! I'd love to tell her what I REALLY think of her...)

That thought ran through my mind. But I thought that could really make me look stupid...so I resisted the urge.


"This is a trap."

Tsugumi's expression returned to normal.


"And you probably aren't going to get out. No, not just you, but everyone else as well, all four of them. You're all the same."


"Huh? Well, what about you then, Tsugumi?"


"I......"


“Yeah. I suppose I could die in a place like this. It wouldn't be bad at all, I guess."

Tsugumi looked upward. The ceiling was covered with artificial materials. It felt oppressive.... She laughed again.











It caught my curiosity and I decided to have a look.



There were loads of boxes made of reinforced plastic all piled up. There was a pushcart and boxes too big to carry and some long and narrow that a person could just hold. There were all kinds of marks, symbols and letters on the boxes and I couldn't make sense of them. There were a bunch of round, carbon capsules and drum-like looking objects. I wondered what was inside them.

I figured I didn't really need to know. There was a hissing noise coming from somewhere. Looking for the sound led me to an air conditioner that was in bad shape, but still working. On the room's ceiling was a crane complete with guide rails. One container was still suspended from above. It looked like it had been abandoned in the middle of work. No one had had any time to clean up. Everyone had fled at once....


"Hey, is there anybody here?"

I called out once, but nobody answered.


"...There's no reason anybody would be here..."

There was no reply.







I arrived in front of the infirmary.

While this was a theme park, it was also deep in the ocean and had other facilities. LeMU's atmosphere was maintained using a mix of gases at an air pressure different from the outside world. It seemed that it could make some people feel ill... I reckoned that was the reason this room was so large.



I thought it could have something to do with LeMU's sponsor being a major pharmaceutical company. The room was so clean and white it was nearly blinding. There were two normal beds and one that looked like it was for surgery. There was also a huge machine attached to one of them. L-MRI was written on it. I didn't know what it was, but it looked like it was some kind of scanner. I saw a shelf in the wall filled with medical tools and medicine. It was probably in case somebody fell ill or got injured here. It wouldn't be possible to move anyone outside, so they would have to be treated here.

Music—Stop

[??]: "Yeah. I don't think there's anyway out now."

(!?)

Track—Traum In Der Dunkelheit

I was getting used to surprises, but the voice startled me. I didn't know who was talking. But somebody sure was.

[??]: "Everybody? Help?...Did you come to help?"

It sounded like Coco.... But I didn't know who she was talking to. I couldn't tell where they were.


"But...it's probably impossible... There is...no way out anymore..."

What was she saying...?

I wondered if something had happened to Coco... I carefully inched toward the rear of the room. I noticed a squarish hole cut out of the floor. I peered down inside. Inside there was a small elevator stopped. It appeared that there was another room directly below the infirmary. The voice was coming from there. I pushed the button. When the lift came, I jumped in.



I arrived below. I noticed that the hatch there was slightly ajar.


"Liar... Because...because..."

I eased closer and opened the hatch.

Music—Stop





She was sitting on the bed. Nothing looked out of the ordinary....

Track—Weißer Hund




"Takepyon?"


"Yup. You're Takepyon!"


"Huh?"


"Pyon, pyon - Takepyon"


"...Safe place, pokopon"


"Yeah, you got it..."


"I know the Ninneko Song 17. But it's not 'pyon, pyon'. It's 'pokopon', right?"
Note: Not an actual song. It’s another way to plug the arc number.


"Yes, yes! But..."


"....Huh?"


"Coco."

Coco pointed to herself as she said her name.


"Takepyon."

Then she pointed at me.


"And Pipi is three years old."

[Pipi]: "Woof!"

A puppy face peeked out from under the bed.


"Nice to meet you"


"Oh, nice to meet you, too! ...But haven't we already introduced ourselves...?"
Are we sure the Kid’s the one with amnesia?




"So you're calling me Takepyon. Is that it?"


"Yup."

[Pipi] "Woof."


"Alright. I got it. So who were you talking with, Coco?"


"What?"


"Wasn't someone just in that room?"


"No. Nobody was there."


"I was just playing around with Pipi. Pyon, pyon, Takepyon"

Whatever... I didn't think Coco would lie to me. There wasn't anyone else around.





I took my PDA from my pocket and looked at the time.


"Oh, no!"

We were only two minutes late, but still, we were late. I jogged toward the Security Office. Coco and Pipi were close behind me. We went in through the sliding door.

Track—Insel Null



You was standing like a guard in the narrow entranceway. The kid was next to her.


"Yeah. I got here a little before you..."


"Sorry. My bad. I was late."


"You know that in a group and in our situation we have to be punctual, right?"


"Don't get so mad. It's only two minutes give or take."


"But two minutes could make all the difference in the world."


"I was late too!"


"Oh, Coco. You didn't get lost or have any problems? You're alright?"


"Yup. I'm fine. I came straight here."


"Oh, that's good"


"...You're sure treating her a lot different than me..."


"Well, everyone made it here in one piece, so that should be sufficient."

Sora looked up from the LeMMIH terminal and smiled. She walked toward us.


"So everybody's here... What about Tsugumi?"



Tsugumi was leaning against the lockers on the far side of the room.


"If you've found out anything new, I'd like to hear about it. Did you?"


"Oh, yes. I will tell you. First there are a few things I want to review..."

Track—Hologramm


Wait, isn’t this the third explanation she’s giving on LeMU’s structure?




"Erste boden, Zweite stock, Dritte stock... There are nearly 56 feet (17 meters) between each floor. If you go down a floor, then you go almost 56 feet(17 meters) deeper. Thus, the third floor, Dritte stock, is located at around a depth of 167 feet. Outside of Dritte is a total of 6 atmospheres of pressure, 5 atmospheres water pressure and 1 atmosphere air pressure. Even if hypothetically, you were to suddenly go out into the ocean from Dritte... Your lungs would be crushed to about one-sixth of their size, and approximately five-sixth of your lung s would be flooded. You would likely die in a matter of minutes."


"Uh, I've gotta question."


"Go ahead..."


"I've heard that skin divers can dive to depths of about 30 meters. Couldn't somebody just tough out the water pressure on the way up?"


"The current world record for free diving is around 492 feet. With an aqualung and pauses along the way, probably just about anyone could dive around 115 feet. However, the air sent to your lungs would be highly pressurized gas. But with skin diving, they don't stop to breathe along the way. Amateurs can't make it past 65 feet."


"Wow. Is that right?"


"And there is one other important thing. Even if you could withstand 5 atmospheres of water pressure... Would you really swim the over 167 feet to the surface?"


"You making fun of me? Hey, I may not look like it, but in high school I swam a mile."


"But aren't you talking about swimming on the surface? Swimming 51 meters across something is nothing like swimming 51 meters up something. I am talking about 51 meters in height. It would be the equivalent of swimming a 15-story building."


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