RM Vol 3: For a World without Boundary – Chapter 18: Meanwhile

RM Vol 3: For a World without Boundary – Chapter 18: Meanwhile

While Yuki and Bryn are off on a vacation in another universe altogether, the situation back home is progressing at a different pace than theirs. Above Gaia and staying in a geosynchronous orbit is a hidden space station. One that is recently constructed by members of the Belka Space Agency, BSA for short. It's there that an ambitious project is taking place without the rest of the world being privy to it.

Commander Lily Maine, a human leader of this very first crewed space expedition, presses a button on the intercom, speaking. "Oy! Specialist Lightning, Ray! You there?"

After a couple of seconds, a young female voice answers. "I'm here, Commander! What do you need, boss?"

"Status on the Jar of Oz, Ray?" Lily asked, switching the internal camera feed to view the station's special activity room. It's there that Lily sees a dwarven girl floating in Zero-G, performing an operational check on the equipment of the room while holding a military tablet.

"Airlocks are good, concealment system is ok, the oxygen level is nominal, the temperature is normal, dispensers are at full capacity... All systems are A-ok on my end, boss." The dwarven astronaut, Ray, looked at the security camera while saying that.

"Good copy, Ray. Standby for the acquisition of the Takodachis on mining duty. ETA ten minutes." Having said that, Lily then sees Ray giving her half a salute through the camera. "You got it, boss. What's the progress on the construction party?"

"The next set of GPS satellites is almost ready, soon, we will have constant coverage for the entirety of Europe and the Atlantic. Currently, Tannen and Duponne are loading up the OS for them." Lili answered, earning a nod from Ray on the screen.

"Great! That means that I won't have to learn how to read a map when I return!" Ray said with a cheeky smile, causing Lily to roll her eyes. "For the life of me, I have no idea how you passed as an astronaut despite being awfully inept at reading a map on the ground."

Ray quips back with a smirk. "Well I never fail when it matters, that's all!"

"Ok, enough talk, prepare to cycle the airlocks. The last thing we need is a pack of hungry Takodachis on a road of mischief." Lily reminded Ray of the task at hand. The dwarven girl shudders at the mention of hungry Takodachis. "Yeah... I will never forget refilling the food canisters ever again. Being forced to sport an afro for a week was a nightmare."

Lily chuckled, being reminded of an image of a dwarf having an afro haircut. But at least, the space expedition is progressing as planned, minus a few hilarious details that nearly caused Berlin to topple over in laughter.

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Speaking of Berlin, there exists a peculiar test in one of the many basements of the Mansion of Knowledge. A certain younger sister of the Reich marshal has commandeered a fortified room to construct a personal project of her. While it's unknown to many in the Mansion what the purpose of this project is, they allow Ningyo to have free reign and funding. After all, Ningyo is Yuki's little sister and the girl is a certified genius, having already worked on many, many big projects. But more importantly, Ningyo is cute, and her being cute means she is doted on by everyone, especially Mobius. And no one in the Mansion wants to cross Mobius by being rude to Ningyo. Absolutely no one.

Currently dragging her bestie Mei along the hallway of the Mansion, Ningyo greets whoever says hi to her with an excited expression. She can't wait to show Mei what she has been working on in her free time. It's like a kid trying to show off her pet project... Wait, Ningyo is still a kid. Anyway!

"Ningyo, slow down! I'm not going anywhere, you know!" Mei chuckled, feeling giddy as well when she saw Ningyo excited. Her words cause Ningyo slow to a crawl, however, the gray hair girl is suddenly conscious of her dragging Mei by the hand, perhaps a bit too tight in her excitement.

Scratching her cheek sheepishly with a light blush while releasing her hold on Mei, Ningyo apologizes. "Sorry, Mei! I was too anxious to show you my very own masterpiece. Did it hurt?"

With the fault in her logic now truly sinking in, Ningyo is now being very afraid for the first time in her life. She truly doesn't want to disappoint her sister at all! "W-What should I do now!? I never thought that big sis might be disappointed in me for doing this! S-Should I just scrap this and apologize to her!?"

Before Ningyo can run around like a headless chicken, however, Mei suddenly springs up and clamp Ningyo on her shoulders. "Stop! Breathe, Ningyo! Breathe! Remember what you've been saying to me! Science! Science is the answer to everything! And if that's not the answer, then you simply aren't using enough science! Come on, Ningyo! Repeat it after me! Science! Science is the answer to everything! And if that's not the answer, then you simply aren't using enough science!"

Being shaken back to reality by Mei, Ningyo struggles to form her words but ultimately, she is able to. "S-Science! Science is the answer to everything! And if that's not the answer, then you simply aren't using enough science!" A bit of life return to her expression, having escaped from the rabbit hole she dug herself.

"Good girl!" Mei nodded in relief. The last thing she needs is for Ningyo to have a mental crisis. To be honest, Mei herself is also dreading the fact that big sis Yuki will be reprimanding them later. Nonetheless, Ningyo has gone too far to just put everything away. "Ningyo, listen to me. I know you have painstakingly built this cannon, sacrificing your free time. While this is no doubt a folly on your part for not thinking this through. It's also my fault for not noticing this in the first place. Had I been a better friend, I would have contributed to this effort for it to bear sweaty fruits! The least we can do right now is to gather the necessary data to justify this being built in your basement. With the data, we can at least offset any punishment. However, this is not a good mentality to practice in the future! Hence, next time, you must discuss with someone else before you make something major like a cannon, alright?"

With teary eyes, Ningyo nods repeatedly. "I promise! I will consult with everyone before I do something drastic!" Ningyo then shakes her head. "Mei, you're the best friend I could have ever asked! Please don't belittle yourself like that!"

Mei lets out a wry smile when she is suddenly pulled into a hug by Ningyo. Wrapping her arms around Ningyo in return, Mei responds. "Gosh, what would I ever do with you?"

The pair then stays in a comfortable hug for a few minutes before pulling away. Looking at each other in the eyes with seriousness they both nod before dashing to their workstations, preparing the railgun for activation.

"Turning on the power supply unit!" Ningyo said as she raised a red lever slowly to the max.

"Power linkages are stable, the capacitors are charging!" Mei said as she was monitoring the readings.

"Loading the armature now!" Ningyo announced as a mechanical arm installed a case containing a strong, high melting point and good conductivity alloy into the rail chamber. "It's completed!"

"Capacitors are reaching nominal capacity! Armature will launch in five, four, three," Ningyo steps closer to Mei, both girls waiting in muted excitement as the countdown goes lower. "Two, one!"

*BANG*

Before they can even register the hypersonic booming of the solid penetrator leaving the rails, the projectile has already pierced through eight thick steel plates and even crumbled the reinforced ballistic wall behind the targets. The shocking impact left behind by the Mach 8 kinetic rod causes the very foundation of the Mansion of Knowledge to shake, not dissimilar to an abrupt earthquake. As the walls and floors start cracking because of the underground testing, Ningyo and Mei are given the scare of their lives as they hastily turn off the power unit at risk of accidental fire. The test was a success, yes, but now they have to deal with a potentially collapsing Mansion! Who would have ever thought that the damage is much more than anticipated? Scratch that, the upper floor has collapsed on the other side of the protective glass!

"The railgun worked too well!" Mei and Ningyo both screamed out in fright as a wave of dust hit the glass. Thankfully, the shaking subsides after a partial collapse of the Mansion. With bated breath, Ningyo and Mei then peer through the now dissipating dust cloud on the other side. Very much hoping that this will be the end of a nightmare of their own making. Unfortunately for the girls, this won't be ending just yet.

With the dust cloud settled, they're greeted with a very interesting sight of a stunned Mobius who is still standing on the collapsed flooring with a stunned expression. Her face is covered with dust, her hair is unkempt, her pristine lab coat is ruined, and her crisp white laboratory is destroyed! Both Mei and Ningyo can see that Mobius' face is struggling to retain a semblance of calm, twitching very fiercely, but ultimately, she fails.

"Motherfucker!" Mobius threw her already broken test tube onto the ground, raging at the fact that her experiment was so rudely interrupted by whatever Yggdra be damned intervention.

Understandably, both Mei and Ningyo know. They've fucked up.