Part 34: The first Round Table Conference begins

"Of course not. That would be the breakthrough of the century. Ionocraft... that's what it's called, so I think it has something to do with an electrode and electrified air..."

Kurisu's usual firm, confident tone is gone from her voice, but when we look up information on the ionocraft, we learn various things. Various sites have detailed instructions on how to make Lifters, but there are several theories on how they float, so we don't know which one is true.

"SERN had their eye on that Lifter, and they include it as a necessary device for time travel. If they can manipulate a micro singular point's mass and gravitational field, then these things really are anti-gravity devices!"

"Well, if you apply such restrictive conditions, then I guess it might not be wrong."

What's that supposed to mean? My curiosity's growing more and more.

"But it looks like SERN's having trouble adjusting this Lifter, huh. They can't fully adjust the micro singular point's gravity, so they can't make completely naked singularities."

"So we should consider that the reason why the subjects turned into jellymen."

Kurisu nods at my words.

"If they can't make naked singularities, then basically, at the same time the subject is tossed into the black hole, they're crushed by tremendous mass. As a result, all of their substance turns into a fractal structure... Let's look at that as a hypothesis."
"In actuality, I don't know at all. It might take months just to examine it."

Kurisu shrugs her shoulders as if giving up.

"Is this lifter still incomplete?"

If we believe in Titor's words, then the time machine won't be complete for another 24 years.



"The scale is completely different. Besides, not even SERN has completed it, so what makes you think you can? This isn't something that can be solved so easily. In the first place, SERN hasn't solved the problems of time displacement or adjustment, nor destination setting after the fact.
You should understand by how scattered the discovery times and locations of the jellymen are. For example, there might be jellymen under the earth or in the void of space. There could be jellymen aside from the ones they found. Actually, I'm almost 100% sure of it. If you come out in space tens of thousands of kilometers away from Earth, there's no point in time travel. It's not practical at all."

"Titor said there's something like a variable gravity lock system. He can use that to capture the Earth's gravity and ensure he arrives somewhere on Earth."

"Titor's explanation on that point is vague. He said that such a machine existed, but he didn't explain how it worked."

"But if you're only moving through time, won't you just arrive in the same location?"

"No, you won't."

"Why?"

"Because the Earth is constantly moving."

"Correct. Rotation and revolution. Earth's rotational velocity is about 1650 km/h. Its orbital velocity is about 114,000 km/h. One hour ago, we were that far away from where we are now."

"Mhoh, thinking about it like that, we're Earth-shatteringly fast!"








"The Earth's solar system belongs to the Milky Way. The Milky Way is rotating like a coiling whirlpool. There are various theories, but the Earth moves about 50 million km a day."

How can she roll all those numbers so smoothly out of her mouth? She may be a genius girl, but she didn't have a single opportunity to look those numbers up.

"We've kinda gone to a ridiculous scale."

"Incidentally, the Milky Way is grouped together with several other galaxies in a cluster, and these clusters are grouped into superclusters. And these galaxy clusters and superclusters might be moving, too. If that's the case, we might be moving even further. In any case, if you jump even just one second, location setting requires a huge calculation. Doing it by hand is impossible, and it might take a supercomputer years to come up with a solution just to get you to the same location."

"Hmph, then there's no other way. Should we go seek out Titor and borrow his variable gravity system?"



"I wonder how SERN is dealing with this problem..."

Without even considering my idea, Kurisu goes back to searching SERN's documents. Daru and I aren't good with English, so we can't blame Kurisu for hogging the monitor to herself...





We stayed up all night again. To clear away drowsiness, I fill my mug with another cup of instant coffee. I lost count already.

"Okabe."

Kurisu hands out the guest mug to me without looking away from the PC monitor. Looks like she wants some more.



That said, Kurisu's the one reading SERN's documents right now. Daru and I can somehow manage if we use translation software, but it's not very efficient. It's a little off from our original goal, but I think it's best to borrow Kurisu's knowledge for this. That's why it's not a good idea to displease her now.

I silently take the mug from Kurisu, dump in the powdered coffee, and pour in hot water from the pot. Two packets of sugar. No milk. She's already requested it the same way five times today. I got accustomed to it too, so I prepare it without being told.

I mix it well and bring it over to Kurisu. She doesn’t immediately realize I'm standing behind her, so I bring the cup out in front of her face. Kurisu takes the mug without looking my way.

"Thanks."

She gives her gratitude, but she's engrossed with SERN, even though she was adamant about how "they're traitors to researchers everywhere". How self-interested... but I understand the feeling, because I'm also itching to know.

Daru's fast asleep on the sofa. His snoring is quite noisy. It seems like he has sleep apnea. Kurisu's enduring the sound pretty well. Is she just that concentrated?

I decide to go channel surfing and see the usual topic on the news programs: the Radio Kaikan satellite crash.



"Also, in an interview earlier today, Michael Byrne, spokesman from NASA, America's aeronautics and space administration, suggested that a satellite had in fact not crashed in Japan, and that the crashed object was something else. the fallen satellite is currently under police investigation. No estimated removal time has been set."

Is it really under investigation? This could also be a plot by The Organiza--


"Tutturu♪ Good morning! Oh wait, should I say good afternoon?"








She has a convenience store bag in her hand. There are various foods inside, but the probability that they're for us is low.

"Wahh... you know, it kinda seems like the air in here is sooo thick."

The three of us who stayed up all night probably look pretty pale, but now that we know about SERN, it would be weirder if we were lively.

"I'll go refresh the air, okay?"

Mayuri opens the window wide. The sky is so blue, it hurts my eyes. Large clouds listlessly flow in the wind. The sky is so blue it hurts my eyes. Large clouds flow listlessly in the wind. It's a truly fresh sight.



Kurisu also finally moves away from the computer, sipping her hot coffee. She rubs her eyes as if they're tired. I glance at the room's clock, and step forward to the center of the room.

"Since all lab mems are present and accounted for, this is the perfect opportunity to finally hold another Round Table Conference."

"Roundabout confluence?"

"What's that?"

"The lab mem debriefing. A meeting."

"Have we ever done that before?"

"Where's this round table in the first place?"

"There's no real one. However, it lies in the hearts of us lab mems. Correct?"

"No, it's not correct. Don't go putting weird things into people's hearts."

"Is there one in Mayushii too?"

"Yeah, there is."

"That's good! But what's a roundable?"

"Why a round table? Are you King Arthur?"

"I'm only a provisional lab mem."

Geez every last one of you has to whine about every little thing!



I talk to Mayuri about everything we established from last night to dawn this morning. About how SERN is making a time machine. About jellymen. About how we might be attacked by black suits for knowing this outrageous confidential information.

"I even told you that bad things aren't good."

"Hmph, bad, you say? How absurd. If you must say that, then SERN is even worse. Those guys have lost interest in controlling just the world, and now plan to even get their hands on time-space."

"I agree."

For some reason, Kurisu backs me up.

"What SERN is doing is unforgiveable to society, unforgiveable to humanity, and unforgiveable as researchers."

"That's true, but..."

Unsatisfied, Mayuri keeps eating her onigiri. I didn't want to involve Mayuri, but she's surprisingly perceptive. She'd find out even if we kept it a secret, so it's better to just tell her at the start.

"Anyway, with this, our lab can no longer escape Ragnarok with SERN."

I say that halfway as a bluff. In any case, we can no longer return. Now that we know, we can no longer erase our memory.

"Rag in a rock?"

"Norse mythology again?"

"Cristina! I ordered you to investigate SERN, right?! Did you learn anything new?"

"I don't remember being ordered, but whatever. SERN faces two problems with time travel. First is the adjustment of the Lifter, the electron injection device. Unless it functions properly, they can't make the Kerr black hole singularities naked. If you try to send the test subject through the singularities in this state, they'll be compressed at the micro level via super gravity. Naturally, there's no safety for them.
The second problem is that they can't designate the destination for time travel. They can't choose where they go after coming out of the singular point. That's why we should actually consider the 14 found jellymen the lucky ones. Over a hundred human experiments were performed starting in 2001. Basically, the remaining 80 or so people jumped somewhere they can't locate.



"Mayushii, did you know this? The world is constantly moving. Its rotational speed is 1500 km/s, and its orbital speed is 114,000..."

Daru's triumphantly explaining to Mayuri, but he's just relaying what Kurisu told him last night.

"It seems like SERN's looking for solutions to these two problems, but it doesn't seem like it's going well for them."

So even SERN is having a hard time?



"A hint, huh..."

Kurisu looks upward in thought.

"To start with, you could call the LHC the world's largest microwave oven."

"I see! So basically, that means the Microwave Ophone (Temp) is a miniature LHC, right?!"

"That might not necessarily be wrong."

I was sure she'd deny it. In fact, I thought she'd yell at me. But instead, she agreed with me. What an ironic anticlimax.

"However, there are too many things we don't know about the Microwave Ophone. Why do the same phenomena as SERN's time machine occur in that tiny little microwave? Unlike the LHC, this thing wasn't made for time travel."

"It was made to warm Mayushii's karaage!"

"...Well, yeah. At the very least, the jellyman phenomenon occurs with the Microwave Ophone (Temp), so we should think that Mayuri's bananas reach the Kerr black hole's ring singularity."

"It makes a black hole? Here? It won't suck us in, will it?"

If it sucked us in, we'd become jellymen, too.

"But we haven't been able to clarify the structure of outbreak conditions for the discharge phenomenon."

"During our experiments earlier, we were only able to send mail into the past during the discharge phenomenon."

"We haven't succeeded a second time yet, but that discharge phenomenon could very well signify the injection of electrons. And only when it occurs does the path to the singularity open."

"We don't know the cause of the discharge phenomenon."

"That's what we're going to examine now."

"In the first place, the mails were sending into the past are digital data, not physical objects. That’s a definite difference from SERN's time machine."

"No, what they do is the same. Who's to say that digital data can't go through a singular point? I'd think it would be easier than something human-sized going through."

"Well... that’s true..."

"You know, I think it's confusing how you say 'mail'. It makes me think of folding a letter into a paper airplane and making it go zooooom, you know?"

"It's actually a light beam, like optical digital data."



"Going to add parentheses again?"

"Don't say again! You looking down on Hououin Kyouma?"

"You just want to give it a strange name, don't you?"

"Hmph, strange? How rude. Then allow me to announce it. I shall name the phenomenon of mail sent into the past as follows. The name shall be Nostalgia Drive!"

"Confusing. Rejected."

"Why, you! You think you have the authority to reject when you're just an assistant?!"

"Then why don't we take a vote? All in favor of Nostalgia Drive."



Nobody else follows the same motion.

"Have you forsaken me, Daru?! Mayuri?!"

"Mayushii can't remember such a long name."

"Too much pretentious bullshit, durr."

Tch, everyone's a critic...

"In that case, have you guys thought of any names?! Don't tell me you just rejected my idea with no plan...?!"



"What do you mean by 'retro'?"

Mayuri tilts her head while spooning out strawberry jelly. How can you just eat that after hearing about jellymen?

"Mayuri's reaction should be enough of an answer, Cristina. You said it should be an easy to understand name, but it wasn't easy to understand at all, was it?!"

"W-Well that's because Mayuri is... ah, no, it's nothing..."

"Were you about to say it's because Mayuri's dumb?"

"N-No, I wasn't!"

"Eh, Cris, do you think Mayushii is dumb...?"

"I don't! I don't think that in the slightest, so don't misunderstand. Okay?"

SHe can soothe Mayuri while giving me a sidelong glare. What a skillful woman.



(Reference.)

"That's a little stiff. It's hard to say."

"Okarin's 'Nostalagistiexpialidocious' was long, too! And this references a movie title--"

"It must have romance. Romance!"

"You're rejecting it for that?"

"Ah, tutturu! Mayushii got an idea!"







"Mayushii, I already did the movie title joke."

"Besides, I think you got the meaning slightly wrong."

It would literally mean 'returning to mail'. Certainly cryptic.

"The meaning doesn't matter! I took a movie title, and stuck mail to it..."

"Either way, it's too long!"



"That doesn't even say what kind of mail it is anymore!"

"Hey, this isn't the time to be wasting on such trivial things. Hurry things up and just abbreviate it to 'D-mail'."

"No, but that's way too insipid..."

"I don't care if it's insipid or if you don't like it."

Rejection. Before I noticed it, Kurisu's influence among the lab mem ranks seems to have grown substantially.



(The correlations are becoming a little less direct, but anime episode 5 is probably fair game now.)