“Hey, Ukita, what does this supercomputer do?”
“It takes care of the batch processing for all the information handled by this lab. It manages everything from test data analysis and calculations to the infrastructure systems, such as electricity, lighting, HVAC, plumbing, and so on. Take a look at these numbers for example.” Ukita points to some numbers on the side of the biggest screen. A time stamp, indicated in military time as 18:16, and 14,581 mSv are listed beside each other. “This number ‘18:16’ refers to the time the lockdown is scheduled to lift at.”
“Roughly eight more hours to go, then. That more or less coincides with the commander’s estimate.”
“Indeed. He said our engineers are currently trying to restore the system from the surface, but…the data here is calculating ‘the time it will take for repairs to be done and for the lockdown to end.’”
“Is there any chance it’ll end before the estimated time?”
“Not easily. The mass majority of the processing necessary to cause a system restore is managed by Brain Cell here, which is what calculated the estimate in the first place. Artificial error may cause it to take longer, but I doubt they can do it any faster.”
“I see…” I sigh and bring up another question. “Okay, then what’s this 14,581 mSv number telling us?”
“Oh, that’s…” Ukita hesitates for a moment before answering me. “…the radiation level in Area N.”
“What?! The contamination in Area N is that high?!” I shudder.
The supercomputer’s basically telling us that close to 15,000 mSv of radiation is swirling around inside Area N. It’s become a death zone we can’t even step into without forfeiting our lives.
“…I guess LABO has its own Elephant’s Foot now,” Moribe quietly notes.
“Elephant’s Foot?”
“That’s what they called the mass of radioactive material expelled from the reactor during the Chernobyl disaster. It reached close to 80,000 mSv at its highest level. The numbers we’re dealing with are way better in comparison, but…we’re still screwed if we set foot in Area N.”
The difference between 15,000 mSv and 80,000 mSv doesn’t mean much when it comes to radiation. Either amount and anything in between is a lethal dose. Both Chernobyl and LABO are crazy worlds where abnormal levels of radiation roam freely.
“In any event, we should be glad that Brain Cell is still intact given our horrible situation,” Ukita mentions over our silence. “The security gates are controlled from here, so our search will be permanently finished if this ever breaks down.”
Latching on to what he said, Tachibana rushes to ask, “It controls the gates? Is it possible to open the bulkheads from here as well, then?”
“…!”
Her proposal gets wide-eyed looks out of the whole group.
“Can that be done, Ukita?”
“I don’t know! But it’s worth trying!” Ukita walks over to the control panel, saying, “I’ll try to figure it out. The rest of you should continue the search. There’s no point in us all wasting time here.”
“Good point! We’ll start with a search of Area 4 while you work on it.”
We leave the system control room and Ukita behind.
Tachibana gives orders once we’re back in the corridor. “All right, let’s break into two teams again.”
“We’re down to five people now. How do you want to split up?” I gesture to our group.
“Taking team balance into consideration, I will join up with Yuuri. Moribe, please take your team to search the outer ring.”
“Roger!”
“You’ve got it!”
“Okay!”
We promptly split into teams and get to work.
✦ ✦ ✦
▼ 10:25 am
Area 4, Between the Inner and Outer Ring
Connecting Passageway
MORIBE, Miss Ena, and I head straight to the outer ring. We pass through the connecting passageway without issue and arrive at the gate. I jump back when I get to it—I can feel heat radiating from the door. It sounds like something is popping and crackling. All signs point to a fire burning on the other side.
“Moribe…will a backdraft occur if we open it?”
“I don’t think so,” Moribe answers, her expression serious. “It’s unlikely the entire outer ring has been completely sealed off… But it’s dangerous nonetheless. Please stand back, you two.”
Moribe has us back away a couple of feet before she carefully opens the security gate. An intensely hot wind slams into us from the other side.
Purgatory lies beyond the opened door. The entire spacious floor has gone up in flames, and the air is filled with plumes of copious black smoke. Fire devours the floor, walls, and ceiling, and sparks are flying everywhere. Oppressive heat pours off it in waves.
“H-Holy crap! Don’t we need to get Tachibana over here for this?” Right after I say that, the Procyon lets off a shrill beeping noise in my pocket. Startled, I look at its display and see a reading of 4,331 mSv—that’s over the first danger standard! “Wh-What the hell?! Has this area been overrun with radiation?!” I shout over the roaring fire.
“Don’t panic, Captain!” Moribe shouts back. “That number shouldn’t be a problem with AD!”
“R-Right. Then we’d better put out this fire—” I turn my eyes toward the rolling flames and sharply inhale.
A blonde girl is standing on the other side of the hungry inferno.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Ah…!” The girl and I both let out a startled gasp. She freezes in place and carefully studies us like a deer caught in the headlights.
“M-Miss Sannomiya?!” Miss Ena cries out in surprise.
I recognize that name. Louise Yui Sannomiya is the name of one of the high school students trapped inside LABO. Her blonde hair cascades to her waist, complementing her almost transparent white skin. She has the beauty of a French doll, but there’s a sharp glint in her blue eyes and an unforgiving expression on her hardened face. I assume the outfit she has on is the uniform from the high school she attends. She’s wearing a short white skirt and dark-blue blazer. Dark-red blood is oozing from her left shoulder.
“Are you hurt?! Can you walk? Come over here if you’re able to!” I shout as loud as I can so that she’ll hear me, but she turns on her heel and runs for it. I doubt my eyes. “Wh-Why is she running away?! Does she speak a different language?!”
“She speaks perfect English and Japanese!” Miss Ena points out.
“Enough chitchat! We need to go after her, Captain!”
“Y-Yeah! Wait here, Miss Ena!”
We have Miss Ena wait on the safe side of the gate, and we pursue the girl. She’s weaving her way through the gaps in the flames to escape. We frantically chase her while enduring the overbearing heat and suffocating levels of smoke.
“Wait, girl! Why are you running away?! We’re rescue workers! We came to save you!”
My shouts do nothing to slow her feet. She flees without looking back.
Our game of chase eventually takes us to the security gate leading into Area 5. The girl pulls out a security card and swipes it through the slot. The gate pops open and she disappears into the passageway beyond it.
She has a Level 5 or higher card?! Where did she get that?!
The gate is closing behind her. I speed up to follow her through when—a voice suddenly reverberates in my head.
<Stop! Don’t follow her!>
What the?!
It’s the same voice I heard before—the one that echoed in my head when I was trying to save Yuuri. And yet it’s trying to stop me from rescuing this girl.
<Don’t pursue her! Stop where you are!>
“Sh-Shut the hell up!” I shake off the voice’s warning and chase after the girl. But crippling pain courses through my head a second later. “GUAH!”
I stagger and slam my hand against the wall to hold myself up. Light flashes in front of my eyes, sinking my vision into darkness.
Wh-What in the world is this pain?!
I’m in tremendous agony as if my very brain is being burned from the inside. Unable to bear it any longer, I collapse to the ground.
“Captain?!”
I hear Moribe’s voice in the distance as my consciousness rapidly plunges into nothingness.