We headed back to Aslaville in the saucer.
Looking down at the destroyed highway below us gave a preview of Aslaville’s fate.
From inside the cockpit, Yuri began to speak.
“Once we get back to Lovely Angel, we better let the chief know what happened.”
It wasn’t much different than turning ourselves in for a heinous crime.
“There are three things we need to tell him,” said Yuri.
“What things?”
I didn’t really want to hear the answer, but I asked anyway.
“Number one is that the case is solved.”
Yuri stuck one finger in the air.
That was a good place to start.
“Number two is that we permanently severed ties with life from another dimension.”
That one probably wouldn’t go over so well.
“And number three is that there was a huge earthquake and that Chakra was completely devastated.”
Yup, the really bad news.
I felt a heaviness in my chest.
I looked down on Aslaville from above.
From the outskirts to the city center, every building had collapsed. Downtown was a sea of flames.
We gave up landing in the city. Even if we wanted to, there was no more heliport.
We decided to go straight to Lovely Angel.
The saucer arrived at the space port.
There we heard some even worse news.
The space port was out of commission.
Every landing strip was damaged. Not a single one wasn’t torn up by the quake. Fires had broken out here and there as well.
Lovely Angel wasn’t anywhere near the burning flames, but was damaged in a landing pad cave-in, and leaned to one side.
We were told it would take about two months before she would be in the air again. It was because this was a remote mining planet. They had neither the parts nor any experts in disaster recovery. In addition to that, the mayor and the owner were dead (well, it was the same person…), so there was no one to make any decisions.
We checked the communications system on the lurching Lovely Angel.
I wasn’t sure if I should be happy or disappointed to discover that it was operational.
We then contacted headquarters.
Department Chief Soranaka’s face appeared on the com screen.
He wore his usual stern expression.
“It appears to be communications on the Chakra case. Am I right?”
The chief spoke without a smile.
“Uh, yes… We did solve the case.”
I stuttered through the three points we had discussed. At number two his face began to change color and at number three his hair began to stand on end.
“Reports on the Great Chakra Earthquake have already been coming in,” said the chief. “Casualty estimates are at 11,000 dead. Two-thirds of the entire population. Damage estimates are at 45 trillion credits. The planet is in such a state of destruction that reconstruction is impossible…”
“Oh, really?”
He did say 45 trillion. My brain couldn’t wrap itself around the magnitude of a number that big.
“Umm…,” said Yuri from my side.
“Yes? Is there another disaster you’d like to confess to?”
How cold a response could the chief give?
“No. I needed to tell you that Lovely Angel can’t get off the ground,” said Yuri. “I was wondering if you could send a ship to pick us up, or else we are going to be stuck here for two months.”
“Confined there? For two months?!”
I might have been reading too much into it, but did he look happy at the idea?
“Got it. Just leave everything to me,” he replied in an almost giddy voice. “You two must have a bunch of vacation days saved up. Here’s a perfect opportunity for an extra-special vacation package, courtesy of your department chief.”
I had never heard the chief sounding so invigorated.
“Vacation? Chief, there is nothing to do here. All there is here are toppled mountains and mortuaries!” Yuri prattled desperately.
“Look how nice I am! Giving you a vacation this long is unheard of.”
The chief nodded at himself enthusiastically.
“Chief!” Yuri and I screamed in unison, grabbing on to the com screen. This would be a vacation worse than death itself.
“Well then, see you in two months—”
The chief raised his hand, and then the screen went blank.
“CHIEF!!”
The screen was black.
Yuri and I looked at each other as we sunk into our seats.
“Mgyao,” Mugi meowed.
The three of us spent the next two months in the ruins of planet Chakra.