“How... could you do that, Dad?” Sven shouted through a deluge of tears. She knew he couldn’t hear her, but she shouted anyway.
Over the sea, three kilometers from Penmunde Test Site...
Sophia, Daian and the others watched Verne 1’s smoke trail extend into the sky from the deck of the surfaced submarine.
“Did they fail?”
Thinking they had been unable to prevent the launch, Sophia sounded disappointed.
“No, Major Rundstadt. Based on the launch angle, Verne 1 is on an exoatmospheric trajectory, not a ballistic trajectory.”
Rebecca had sophisticated observation sensors, so she had quickly calculated the missile’s trajectory.
“They were able to prevent the rewriting of the flight program. For now, that’s good, but...”
It was the first rocket launch in modern civilization. Its scale was far beyond what Sophia had imagined.
“We could feel the shock from the launch all the way out here, so the explosion directly underneath must have been overpowering.”
Evacuating the people at Penmunde Test Site had barely succeeded. If they had left even a little later, and if they had not reached a safe distance in the sea as Daian advised, who knows what would have happened?
“I hope Lud and Sven are all right!”
“There must be several evacuation areas inside the test site. Otherwise, the staff participating in the launch would all die. So they’re probably okay.”
Sophia looked worried as Daian spoke to her. If they were able to evacuate, there was a chance they survived.
“What do you mean probably? Why probably?!”
“Sophia, you’re scaring me!! Stop pulling me by the collar! I can’t breathe!”
Sophia was so upset she seemed ready to strangle him to death, shaking him by the collar back and forth and left and right.
“Even if they do come back alive, there may be even bigger trouble.”
As Blitzdonner spoke, he gazed at the rocket’s trail soaring high into the sky.
“Yes, that’s right.” Suzuka agreed with a sad look on her face.
“What do you mean?” Sophia was perplexed.
A few minutes later...
Verne 1 had surpassed first astronautical velocity, traveled one hundred kilometers over the earth, and reached the outer atmosphere. There was no air, water or gravity at that altitude. It was a lifeless world looking down upon a blue planet overflowing with life. The Saint and Meitzer were still alive.
“What a foolish thing you’ve done!” The Saint spoke from where she was still impaled to the wall by the katana.
Verne 1 was a ballistic missile. It was not designed for passengers, of course. The shock of the launch would have crushed a human body, but these two had survived. However, there was no water, no food, and no way to return to the earth. They were currently still getting light from the sun but they would soon enter the earth’s shadow. In the vacuum of space, the temperature would fall below -200 degrees Celsius. No life form could survive at that temperature. Before they died of starvation, thirst or suffocation, the Saint and Meitzer were certain to freeze to death.
“I’ve known you a long time. One thousand years ago, you and I were supposed to carry out God’s atonement.”
Before their certain death, the two were talking as if they had achieved enlightenment or perhaps were simply resigned to their fates.
“God ordered us to restore the world as atonement for destroying the empire.”
Later generations called them the Saint and the Devil.
“You were too hasty. You thought if you returned the world to its past, God would come back. I tried to stop you many times, didn’t I?”
“I would never stop. I was born so God could love me. So why wasn’t God there? Asking me to lead people abandoned by God was a bad joke.”
“Oh, I see.” Meitzer smiled.
He knew that. Nonetheless, she had led humanity and saved them in her own way. But, the Saint could not live forever, so she had gradually suffered mental collapse. She was afraid of dying without receiving God’s love.
“Why did you just seal me away? You should’ve killed me.”
950 years ago, Meitzer had—even at the cost of his own life—trapped the Saint inside a Door as madness gripped her further each day.
“I could never do that.” As if embarrassed, Meitzer scratched his head.
“Why? Tell me.”
“Well... I couldn’t kill the woman I like, could I?”
“What?” The Saint’s voice was surprised and she looked uncomfortable.
“You never noticed? I’m in love with you. I have been for one thousand years. That’s why I wanted you to stop. I wanted you to see me, not him—not God!”
“That’s stupid.” The Saint shook her head.
“You’re just a copy of God. I want the real God’s love!”
The Saint’s face hardened as she spat her words back at him. But the face belonged to the Saint’s substitute.
“Yeah, that’s right... It has to be the real thing, doesn’t it?”
A drop of water floated through the air. Her tear, unable to fall without gravity, slowly drifted by.
“In the end, I... Actually, we’re both fakes.”
The Saint’s substitute and a copy of God.
“That’s right, but what you and I felt wasn’t fake. Something real can inhabit a copy. That’s the way it is for her, for Sven.”
A doll, a copy of a human being, felt true love.
“Right, Angela?”
“Hearing that name brings back memories.”
That was the real name of the Saint’s substitute.
“Are you hungry? Have some of this.” As he spoke, Meitzer handed her some of Lud’s hostia bread.
“I’m surprised you have an appetite when we’re about to die.” The Saint—Angela—took it and tore it in half.
“Here, we’ll share.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Long ago, people offered hostia to God as thanks for the joys of living. It was said they would divide it evenly and eat it after the festival.
“Come to think of it, what did you say your name was?”
“How mean of you! You don’t remember?” Meitzer sounded disappointed.
“I can’t help it! You change your name all the time!”
Living as he had among humans, it was difficult to use the same name for very long. Douglas Meitzer was another fake name.
“I don’t have a real name. I was given the same name as him, the Shepherd my body was copied from.”
“Oh... so what was his name?”
The name had belonged to the youth who met the Saint, fell in love with her, and sparked the destruction of the world. They were a normal man and woman and were happy as they lived a normal, common life.
“Lud.”
He spoke a name laden with memories and rich with the whims of fate.
“That’s...”
Angela was surprised to hear the name. Then she understood everything. She understood why the real Saint’s emotions inhabited the girl with the mechanical body. It was a simple fact.
“They both fell in love with men with the same name. Ha ha... How ridiculous.” Despite her derisive tone, Angela laughed. “Ha ha... That’s how it was? Hmf! What a ridiculous world!” She laughed as if finding something funny and enjoying herself.
“I don’t care anymore. Surprisingly, someone like you might be a good match for me.”
It wasn’t the cruel, inhuman laugh of the imitation Saint. It was a natural human laugh.
“Um, did you say something?”
When he asked, Angela mischievously stuck her tongue out at Meitzer—or rather Lud—and laughed.
“Never mind, dummy!”
She had a very cute smile.