Because it was an unencrypted public-channel broadcast, it was perfectly normal that the machine lifeforms could see it.
And it was no surprise either that the machine lifeforms would react to humanity's attempt to leave the solar system.
So the orbital satellites picked up a massive disturbance on the surface.
It was not a large-scale machine lifeform offensive against resistance-held territory, nor an all-out sweep meant to wipe out the androids.
The disturbance was coming from the sea.
In the Pacific, along the former equatorial line, traces of a gigantic machine-built floating city called Atlantis had first been observed there in the year 11502.
Then, two years later, the city fell silent.
When the timeline reached 11942, which was last year, the sunken floating city Atlantis rose to the surface once again.
And the reason for its resurfacing was likely connected to a member of the YoRHa forces.
That unit had defected there and fused with the machine lifeforms.
In order to kill that fused being, the Punishment Hunters had paid a terrible price.
And if the machine lifeforms codenamed Adam and Eve truly existed, then they had most likely been born because of that individual.
They had evolved into humanoid form only after obtaining that data.
Now, that enormous floating city was active once more, and it was undergoing an unprecedented transformation.
"W-What is that? Is it breaking apart?"
"No. It's not breaking apart. It's transforming!"
The changes observed by the satellites matched those words exactly. The gigantic floating city was indeed reshaping itself.
And it was reshaping in a very strange way, spreading itself outward as if it were flattening into a small continent upon the sea.
Then, all of a sudden, the central region began to open, like closed flower petals unfolding, and a colossal object slowly rose from the center.
And when they finally got a clear look at it -
"W-What the hell is that?!"
Operator 6O's voice shook as she cried out, nearly losing her composure. Her face had gone a little pale, and sweat had already started to bead on her skin.
They had imagined that the machine lifeforms would try one thing or another, maybe even attempt to head for space as well, but what they were seeing now had gone far beyond all expectations.
At this point, it was obvious that the gigantic floating city was itself an immense launch platform, and the thing rising from its center was an enormous rocket, no smaller than the starship the creators had just departed on.
Though calling it a rocket felt wrong.
It looked more like a tower.
"It's too huge. There's no way something that massive can escape Earth's gravity!"
Someone said that over the communication channel, and 6O agreed.
That conclusion was based on the technological level the androids had inferred from years of war against the machine lifeforms. There was no way the enemy could launch something with that much mass directly from Earth's surface.
It should have been divided into many parts, launched separately into space, and assembled out there.
The creators' starship had only been able to take off because it had launched from the moon, where gravity was far weaker than Earth's.
"We've reacquired the targets: four extremely giant machine lifeforms!"
Each one was over 1.5 kilometers in size, and that was only the portion visible above the ocean surface. If they had stood fully on land, they might have been even larger.
The first time such extremely giant machine lifeforms had been observed was in the year 11627, and they had inflicted catastrophic damage on the androids.
Nuclear weapons had even been used against them, yet they had not been destroyed.
In the end, they had vanished into an ocean trench, and no such extremely giant machine lifeforms had been seen again after that.
"There are four of them!!!"
"What are they trying to do?"
Panic spread through the channel, because the four were climbing onto the massive launch platform, Atlantis.
"The laser satellite will move into position over the target area in three minutes!"
"All YoRHa units have already deployed!"
"The aerial forces of the resistance near that sea zone are already en route!"
"The supersonic ballistic missiles are already in-"
Especially after what had happened there some time ago, they were already launching super-heavy ballistic missiles loaded with thermite warheads straight at the massive launch platform, Atlantis.
Even if no one believed such a thing could truly be launched into space, machine lifeforms would never act without purpose.
"The extremely giant machine lifeforms are transforming too. They're forming a-"
"No way!"
"Are they trying to perform electromagnetic launch?"
The four extremely giant machine lifeforms were assembling themselves into something like an electromagnetic acceleration device.
"That's impossible. Even if it is electromagnetic launch, I don't believe a launch rail formed by extremely giant machine lifeforms could withstand that kind of force!"
The firm voice came from a YoRHa Scanner-type android.
"9S, what's your estimate?"
"I don't think that's meant for acceleration. But I can confirm the machine lifeforms are trying to launch that thing. If we could get a horizontal view of the rocket's underside, we could probably figure out what they're doing."
At present, they were observing the target through satellite imagery, a top-down view. If they could get footage from sea level, looking straight at it from the side, they would be able to determine far more precisely what the enemy was planning.
"The high-speed reconnaissance aircraft will arrive near the target in one minute!"
"It's here. Our attack has reached the target!"
The warhead of the super-heavy ballistic missile had already reentered the atmosphere from outer space.
At the instant it pierced the atmosphere, a massive black cloud surged up to meet it.
It was a swarm of flying machine lifeforms.
When the warhead detonated, an enormous blossom of fire erupted, vaporizing more than half that black cloud.
The second warhead followed close behind, plunging toward the target at thirty times the speed of sound.
But at an altitude of five thousand meters, it was struck by dense beams fired from the ground, and another huge burst of flame exploded in the sky.
Even so, because the warhead resembled a fusion of a cluster bomb and a thermite warhead, the blast radius could still reach the giant launch platform, Atlantis.
So everyone stared tensely at the feed before them as white light flooded the screen.
And when that white glare faded, the image that appeared was -
"No effect?"
"It's an electromagnetic barrier."
"The area it covers is too large. It's impossible to make the thermite warhead reverse back into it."
A voice full of grinding frustration rang out over the channel.
"The laser satellite is in position!"
Those words immediately put everyone on edge again.
"Five seconds to fire. Five... four... three... two... one!"
A gigantic beam of laser light instantly punched through the atmosphere.
"Target not hit!"
"The beam was distorted. It refracted off course!"
The laser too had been bent by the electromagnetic shield and deflected into the sea.
"The second laser shot is entering firing prep immediately!"
"The reconnaissance aircraft has arrived near the target. Visual data incoming!"
At last, a side-on horizontal image was transmitted back.
And the instant the transmission finished, the reconnaissance aircraft's signal vanished.
"That is-!!!"
"9S, they can't possibly be planning to do that, can they?"
"They are. These bastards aren't trying to use electromagnetic launch. They're going to smash that thing upward!"
That conclusion came from the data gathered after observing the underside of the tower-like structure and analyzing it.
And now the four extremely giant machine lifeforms were undergoing another stage of transformation, assembling themselves into a supermassive cannon.
Together with Atlantis, they looked as though they had fused into a new super-extremely giant machine lifeform, a colossal mechanical beast opening its maw to unleash a bombardment.
But that was not the worst part.
Because in an instant, the enemy amplified the electromagnetic interference in the entire area to an abnormal intensity and released an incredibly vicious logic virus web.
It could be said that everything within five hundred kilometers of Atlantis had become the enemy's absolute domain.
Anything that entered would be hacked.
Anything that entered would be infected by the virus.
Anything that entered would be seized and brought under their control.
At that point, the possibility of breaking through and destroying it had dropped to nearly zero.
Unless there were some way to completely ignore electronic intrusion and remain unaffected by it.
But how could an android ever fully isolate itself from electronic signals? They were not human.
Then, all at once, 9S realized something and reacted immediately. His face turned deathly grim.
Damn it. There was an eighty percent chance this too was part of the machine lifeforms' scheme.
No.
This was not a hidden scheme at all.
It was an open trap laid out in plain sight.
(End of Chapter)
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