After making full use of the ninja armor’s power to hit my maximum running speed, I jumped and propelled myself forward with telekinesis. In Riche III’s low-gravity environment, that was enough for me to practically fly.
“Yahoooo!”
Riche III had a thin atmosphere, which meant there was little air resistance. The ninja armor wouldn’t be enough to save me if I crashed into the ground at this velocity, so when I got close to the ground, I used telekinesis to slow down for a soft landing. I think I traveled over a kilometer in that single jump.
“Hup!”
I jumped once more, and small- and medium-sized combat bots carrying marines came into view. I see… They’re using the bots to carry the unconscious marines back. Not a bad plan.
“How does the front look, Colonel?”
“I suppose you could say we’re deadlocked. The subject hasn’t made any further movements.” She paused. “How are you moving like that? Don’t you think you’re a little overpowered?”
“I’ve been working out.”
“That’s not really a valid explanation…”
Ignoring Serena’s complaints, I concentrated on the tetrahedron ahead. I’m looking at it, but it’s also looking at me. I can feel it focusing its attention here. Is that because I’m using psionic abilities?
“In any event, I have no choice but to try communicating with it.”
On my third jump, I reached the forward outpost Serena’s subordinates had set up. The dilapidated structure was ahead of me, mostly buried by drifts of sand, with the proud tetrahedron towering before it. It’s really big. About as big as—no, a little bigger than a titan-class combat bot. Those are at least ten meters tall. Well, whatever. I need to check the outpost first.
“…How reliable.” Unsurprisingly, the outpost was all but empty.
The marines stationed there must all have been knocked out by that initial thought wave of “contact,” then transported to the rear by the combat bots. The outpost was still manned by titan-class bots and other specialized combat bots that weren’t suited to transporting the wounded, but I was the only actual human there. If things escalate, they can mobilize the combat bots here to help me. And if the battle doesn’t seem winnable, I can use them as decoys to escape.
“I’ve arrived.”
“That was fast. Please make contact with the subject.”
“Understood.”
I reached toward the psionic transmitter which had been left in the outpost but then thought better of it. It contained spirit silver; if I touched it, it’d probably break. Since I could use telepathy even without the device, I actually didn’t need it in the first place.
I shouted from within the outpost at the tetrahedron. “Hey, Mr. Tetrahedron! We’re here to talk. Interested in hearing us out?”
In response, a miniature tetrahedron that had separated from the main tetrahedron turned its vertex toward me. For a moment, I thought it was about to attack, but instead it sent a strong thought wave.
‹Affirmative.›
The thought wave was powerful, but not enough to bother me. Yeah, these thought waves aren’t acts of aggression. The soldiers here on the front only passed out because the telepathic output was too strong.
“Good. You’re too loud, though. I can handle it, but the others can’t. Reduce the force of your thought wave output.”
‹Understood.›
That thought wave was much more manageable than those before. This tetrahedron’s pretty flexible. “You can understand what I’m saying, right?”
‹Affirmative. I have learned this from those who appear to be your compatriots.›
“Are you saying you extracted the information needed to communicate with us from the Imperial soldiers who passed out here?”
‹Affirmative.›
“I see. I won’t criticize you, since that was kind of necessary, but humans prefer to keep the depths of their minds private. That might be hard for you to understand, but I recommend you refrain from similar actions in the future.”
‹Will consider.›
Let’s see, now… Fortunately for us, this thing seems somewhat cooperative. I get the sense this might be a difficult negotiation, but at the very least, we’ve opened communications peacefully. Hopefully further negotiations proceed smoothly.