Chūya watched as another pillar boat chased down and caught a besshu below him. The boat promptly decomped two large, spindle-shaped air sacs, which stabilized it as it pitched into level flight.
The sole purpose of fishing on this outing was to compare nishikigoi fishing skill, so there was no need to try for another. Once they caught a head, they left it at that and went on high-altitude standby to watch the others.
Just like the four other crews who caught nishikigoi before them had.
“Luu from the Xīnxīng clan did rather well, eh? Though I’m quite certain the Xīnxīng haven’t orbited the poles in the last 10 years.”
“Well, he’s been at this for a while. Either he learned it elsewhere or he’s a quick study of the demonstrations today.”
“Fishing like that had to be him copying what he saw, no?”
“It’s a complex setup, but nothing dangerous. It’s way simpler than, say, stealth fishing from inside a deep inversion layer or trawling above a wandering ejector.”
“Exactly. Once you’ve taken the necessary steps to deal with the environment, you only need to fly straight.”
“I suppose, but you won’t be able to do a thing unless you already know what those measures are...”
The fishers who had already made their catch behaved like distant spectators. They were all veterans who had been fishing for over 20 years, which gave them their own experience fishing for nishikigoi. Their skills were undeniably the real deal, and two men finished their catch even before Chūya. The remaining two on stand-by, along with the man who had just finished, were older than Chūya as well.
One of the twisters who finished after Chūya spoke up. “Hey, Gendō fisher, how long are you gonna keep this sporting event running?”
It was the Keelung fisher Chūya provoked earlier. The fisher, who claimed origins from an old, warm-water island named Formosa, had followed through with his declaration to skillfully catch a nishikigoi. His tone was softer after Chūya beat him to the catch. That said, it wasn’t matter of acumen, but luck—their catches were no more than two minutes apart.
“As far as I can reckon, the young’uns don’t look like they’ll get any results. I think we’re at a good spot to wrap this up.”
“I would prefer to give them plenty of time, if possible,” Chūya responded. He wasn’t cruising with air sacs like the other pillar boats; his boat relied on thrust and aerodynamics alone.
“Heh, well aren’t you a nice one?” The Keeling fisher responded, finding the situation strange. “I thought you were here to filter out the untalented.”
“We did not intend to reduce the number of fishers. Instead, the most favorable outcome is fishers mastering the nishikigoi catch here and now.”
“Hmm...? Well, I hope they can at least finish up without wasting propellant."
The Keelung fisher, perhaps feeling slightly inferior from his loss to Chūya, ended their conversation on a light note.
Propellant is the least of our worries—Chūya thought. There were rescue boats on standby in the upper atmosphere this time, ready to act in case one of the crews ran out of propellant or suffered an accident. But it wasn’t just that; they had another duty.
Chūya was tasked with bringing back as many outstanding decompers as possible with him, at any cost. Experience or the ability to carry out difficult fishing was only part of what made them outstanding. If those qualities were all it took, then the four pairs present—five with the one that had just arrived—would have sufficed.
However, all five pairs had left scissor contrails, flying alongside the besshu belly-to-belly and catching it head-first. While there were small differences in technique, they were all fundamentally variations on the Gendō method, which was developed in the Circs’ early days and refined thereafter.
Even if it was a practical display of fishing skill, it couldn’t be called a display of outstanding decomping skill. An outstanding decomper wasn’t someone who masterfully copied another clan’s decompers, nor was their strong suit flying or catching. What really made a decomper stand out was...
“Oh, he caught it,” One of the men who had finished said.
That caught the attention of the others, who began asking which fisher it had been.
“That pair, the one over there,” he responded as they placed a shared marker on a revolving point of light.
“...That’s Salinzone from the Jack-of-All-Trades. Is anyone here acquainted with him, though? What’s he like?”
“Ah, I’ve had a number of drinks with him. Quite the interesting lad. Never gets hammered, only gets more prim—the more he drinks, the straighter his back gets. As a fisher? He’s annoyingly serious... why do you ask?”
“Seems like he’s doing some extra crazy fishing—you’re telling me that’s a serious guy at work?”
“Crazy fishing...?”
Their interest caught by the veteran’s remark, the others keenly watched the distant boat. Chūya looked right, following suit. He wasn’t acquainted with the man named Salinzone, but as he was a fisher from the Trades—which of late had done nothing but fight with the Gendō—Chūya remained alert.
Then, the fishers heard this: “Everyone in the skies, especially those who haven’t made a catch yet, listen to me please! This is Salinzone from the Ende—erm, from the Jack-of-All-Trades speaking!”
A feminine-sounding voice introduced itself with a man’s name. Only Chūya’s breath caught; the fishing crowd assumed it was his wife Açai speaking.
—This is Açai’s voice? I remember hearing it somewhere, even though I’ve never talked to this woman before...
The words that followed quickly removed all doubt.
“We’ve come up with a new way to fish for nishikigoi! And I believe even those who struggle with the Gendō method can use it! Please watch, we’re starting now!”
“What?”
Even Chūya, who normally remained quiet in surprising situations, couldn’t help a bewildered question. Fishing methods were never revealed so casually to others. Naturally, the shared channel was filled with shouting fishers and their wives.
“You’re showing us?!” “A new method? You really mean it?!” “It’s not that big of a de–” “Nice! How did you suddenly accelerate like that just now?” “Where? What are your coordinates?!” “Wait wait, don’t just suddenly start showing us like this!”
Paying no mind to the shouts—a mix of surprise, chiding, encouragement, and amazement—the pillar boat with the pinned Trades’ marker stalked its next target. It descended into a chasm between the clouds and then, as if something had caught its attention, it abruptly ascended to begin the long, long climb to unite with the dazzling besshu that threw itself into the sky with all its might. Up until that point, the sight had been no different from the other pursuits.
However, as the pillar flew above the cloudtops on the tropopause and entered the stratosphere, it suddenly rotated towards the dorsal side of the fish—then smoothly shot upwards.
“Ohhh?!”
Everyone made odd noises. They couldn’t believe their eyes—at first, they thought the VUI video processing was lagging.
The motion was that strange. The pillar boat lunged upwards a little too fast given that it wasn’t burning propellant; it was like mischievously squirting biofluid gel out of a deck dress pocket after disembarking.
The besshu suddenly snapped at them.
“Woah!” Chūya still couldn’t contain his surprise.
This time, the besshu moved in a familiar way, making the dash it made when fishers were about to cover the nishikigoi’s head with the net. It wasn’t trying to escape a net, though—it remained glued to the pillar boat as if trying to catch up.
With the besshu still in tow, both somehow managed to accelerate again.
“Ah, whaaa...?”
There were no more shouted questions or exclamations of surprise. The channel was filled with the confused and astonished muttering of people witnessing something incomprehensible for the first time. Why does it keep going forward? Why is it following them? How did they speed up? How are they shielding themselves from the plasma? What is this? Is it real, or an illusion?
The pillar boat and besshu rose higher and higher as one, leaving everyone and everything behind at 50,000 m altitude. When they reached 100,000 m in altitude and crossed the 100 km boundary between sky and space, the others realized they might reach the 1000 km altitude that nishikigoi attained in legend. Then, suddenly, they switched off. Even though the pillar boat and besshu had acted like they linked as a single entity, their connection terminated.
The colossal creature fell still. All light emission, from infrared to microwave—anything stronger than radio—practically ceased. The besshu rolled like it was about to fall away.
No... it’s still got inertia carrying it upwards, so it’s not going to fall, it just won’t be able to keep up with the pillar boat. It’ll finish crawling to the top of the parabolic arc first.
As Chūya thought about what was happening, the pillar boat turned 180 degrees to face the unresponsive creature that was falling behind and snuggled up to it with a gentle burst of the RCS jets.
The pillar boat decomped to wrap around the free-falling besshu and detached the section to set up a hot air balloon, which was left at altitude. As the pillar boat began a powered descent, the decomper announced:
“This is Die—I mean, fishing by getting the rising fish to exhaust itself!”
“There’s not...” ...a better name they could have used...?
Despite still digesting what the fisher meant by that phrase, Chūya was profoundly fascinated. He instantly commanded the pillar boat to analyze the captured footage, and even though it reconstructed the trajectory from approach to exit, it was still an enigma. What it aimed at, why it aimed there, what they were doing, and what had happened—it was totally incomprehensible. The only thing he understood was that the besshu itself had decided to chase them, and keep chasing until it exhausted itself.
No one in the 300 years of Circ history had ever fished like that. It was so nonsensical Chūya couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.
As he did, Salinzone transmitted the binaries of their trajectory to not just Chūya, but the entire fleet. His shoulders shook as his eyes read through them. For a moment, he was speechless. Then, he finally burst out in carefree laughter.
“Charge-exchange acceleration...! I see!”
Below him, more than ten boats started to try out what the other vessel showed them.
“It’s charge-exchange acceleration!”
Their pillar boat was descending after their second successful catch. Now that she’d finally been told the principle behind the method they’d used, Diode turned around and gave Terra a big nod.
“Okay, go on.”
“I guess it’s something you can’t explain with just a term.” Terra replied with a small, forced smile. “We used the plasma shower to gain speed, to put it simply.”
“Aren’t you putting it too simply?!”
“Right, if it was that simple, everyone would be doing it. So, at any rate, since the plasma shower is raining down from above, going up facing into it would normally give you radiation poisoning, not a speed boost.”
“Yes, exactly. So how the hell can they do that?” Diode asked. Then, with a dubious expression, she mumbled, “Is that what the rete mirabile is for? You said there wasn’t any heat to exchange, though.”
“Right, it’s not exchanging heat. The rete mirabile’s membranes are exchanging something else!”
The VUI panel that Terra had been fiddling with incessantly popped up in Diode’s hand.
“Here, look. There are blood vessels concentrated around the nishikigoi’s open mouth. That’s where it initially deals with the plasma shower. If its entire body was circulating blood exposed to a particle beam this intense, it’d cause all sorts of problems, buuut that’s not what’s happening here. That blood passes through the rete mirabile a little deeper in and then goes right back to the mouth. Meanwhile, its other circulatory system is behind the rete mirabile, and that one circulates the blood between its heart and the back half of its body. The only thing exchanged by the rete mirabile is electric charge!”
“Electric charge? And why is it exhanging that?” Diode was trying her best to follow, but she was a twister, not a chemist. “Is it trying to create a sports drink that goes straight to its bloodstream or something?”
“I’m not sure you could call it a sports drink, since I’m pretty sure a human would explode if we tried to drink it.” Terra didn’t feel like getting into the finer details and continued with a troubled expression. “Anyway, it absorbs the energy from the plasma shower, and that creates a propulsive force when it passes through the magnetic field of its body...”
“Propulsive force? Don’t be ridiculous.” Diode said, latching onto the one term she understood. “It didn’t use any kind of jet propulsion just now. So it’s accelerating like that without any rockets? Isn’t that a violation of physics?”
“You can propel things even without jets. We call it the Lorentz force.” Terra protested, then shoved a schematic towards Diode with both hands. “That's famously the mechanism where you generate force on an electric current by passing it through a magnetic field, right? Like in electric motors. You don’t see rockets used in those, do you? Do those go around spraying fire everywhere?!”
“Of course they don’t. Do you think I’m stupid?! ...No, sorry, I’m the one who mentioned rockets in the first place.” Diode tried her best to put the one thing she absolutely couldn’t believe into words. “So not only is it facing the plasma shower head-on, it’s using that to accelerate against it? That’s weird as hell! No way that doesn’t violate conservation of energy!”
“Kinetic energy’s not the only thing in the plasma shower—there’s electric energy too! It has way, way more of that!” Terra insisted. She wasn’t just relying on hypotheticals, but observable reality. “If you compare the amounts of electrical energy it absorbs and uses, you’ll find that it all balances out. The nishikigoi scoops up the electrical charge from the particle beam, then circulates it around its body structure. It can only scoop up the radiation when it’s facing into the particle beam, and that’s why it only aims for the sky when there’s an aurora! That’s just the kind of animal it is!”
The two glared at each other, panting. The boat slowly continued its descent.
“...So that’s how the nishikigoi does it?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s put the koi aside for now. How did you do it with the boat, then? Does what you just told me also explain the crazy boost we got earlier?” Diode looked around her own VUI and nudged the virtual lever Terra had installed a short time ago. “Why are we able to get a disgustingly slick acceleration with just a pull of this lever?”
“Because I decomped the boat to do that.” Terra finally broke into a calm smile. “Last time I tried constantly recycling the boat’s outer hull, and that was a failure. So this time I put veins in it.”
“...I’m sorry, but did you say veins?” Diode rubbed her forehead as she tried to imagine it. “You’re telling me you laid out pipes everywhere in our boat—across all 200 meters of it—using just the power of your imagination?”
“No, not all of it. Just the back half, around the engine support structure.”
“Wouldn’t you need as much plumbing as a hotel to do that?!”
“It felt like I was just copying my veins, if anything.”
“People usually aren’t aware of every single blood vessel in their bodies, are they...?”
“You don’t need to think about it that deeply. It’s fine. Plumbing’s the kind of structure that’ll keep the liquid circulating as long as the pump’s active.” Terra smiled, but it was the kind of satisfied smile of a person about to fall over from exhaustion. “It’s waaaaaay easier than constantly rotating the outer hull while it changes shape!”
“Terra-san, no, that’s... okay.” It was too much for Diode to take in, so it still felt unreal. She gave up on whatever she had been about to say next.
Terra had recreated the body of a living creature, even if it was an imitation. The real target of Diode’s complaints were over the absurdity of the fishing itself, or rather, the kinds of life in the harsh polar environment—not her partner arguing with her.
She gave a small shake of her head and tried to voice her last doubt. But the instant she began to speak, she already had a faint glimpse of the answer. She wanted the same thing they did.
“So what is the nishikigoi doing, flying up like that?”
“It’s simple, Die-san.” Terra whispered, her head gently swaying. “They’re Eda’s children, after all.”
“...From the cloud sea?”
“They’re always trying for the day they leave the sea.”
The next thing Diode heard was a loud yawn.
“Uh, Terra-san?”
Diode looked back, then diligently operated the virtual panel throttle to put the boat into level flight. She checked and double-checked the controls to make sure they worked. Their net casting and catching were a success. It was a solid, large catch of 20,000 tonnes. They didn’t need to show off for the time being. Diode merged their control pits and moved next to her partner.
“Good job.”
Terra’s slumped head bobbed as she nodded off. Diode took her shoulder, brushed down the floating blonde hair, and embraced her head.
The other fishers danced wildly in the skies around them, none succeeding at replicating their method. A decomp that was so heavily based on biological structures was fundamentally different from the traditional art, and wasn’t something that could be reproduced at the drop of a hat. It was likely only one or two veterans were even capable of it. Most would doubt that the method was even feasible, but since Terra had shared her entire process with the group it was clear that it was. It only highlighted Terra’s immense skill.
“...Ahaha.”
No, we’re here as the Trades’ fishers. So it would be Salinzone and Açaí who would go down in Circ history as the ones who outwitted the Gendō. Diode wondered if the sudden honor would be a burden, or whether they’d accept it with dignity. Well, not that it matters. We won’t be at this planet anymore by the time anyone learns about this—and if we still are, then the Circs themselves are going to be on the path of becoming something else under the control of a single man.
Just as Diode remembered that and began to pull herself together again, a black flower icon began flashing on the VUI.
“Congratuations on your catch, Salinzone-san. If you would not mind, may we discuss a somewhat delicate matter?”
It was Chūya. Suddenly nervous, Diode gently touched her throat and replied.
“Y...yes, Salinzone here. Thank you. What do you wish to discuss?”
“You are Kanna-sama, are you not?”
“Guh.” Diode’s voice caught in her throat. She sighed, turned the voice-altering avatar off, and spoke with her real voice and appearance.
“Yes, it’s me. How did you figure it out?”
“The voice raised my suspicions, but it was the decompression that confirmed those. It is not the kind easily achieved by others.”
“Well, I suppose there wasn’t any way to hide that.”
“No matter. Not only did you survive, this is how you came here.” Diode sized him up for a moment, then he nodded. “It is a surprise to me. The rumor circulating around Fuyō is that you passed away.”
“I am very much alive, as you can see—and what now? Are you going to try capturing me again?” Just after she asked, she realized he wouldn’t have announced himself if that was his plan.
“No, I have a favor to ask of you two. Of course, you are under no obligation to grant my request, but would you mind hearing it first?”
“A favor?” Just as Diode began to frown...
“Does this have to do with the reason Meika didn’t board with you?” Terra woke up and gave Diode a small smile before turning to Chūya. “She isn’t with you, is she?”
Chūya kept a neutral face and replied, “Are you implying something? That is a rather offhand question.”
“It’s not offhanded, I was wondering why we’d gone all this time without her saying anything. Your boat’s shape confirms it.” Terra magnified the image of Chūya’s aircraft in the upper atmosphere. “You’re not flying with any air sacs right now. You can’t perform any large-scale decomping because Meika-san isn’t there with you. You’ve been flying with the default shapes from auto-mode all day.”
“...”
“It’s really impressive that you caught a head of nishikigoi with the boat like that. You’re probably the most talented of anyone here.”
Is he going to agree with her or deny the obvious?—Diode wondered. But contrary to her expectations, he didn’t reply.
“Chūya-san?” Terra asked.
“...You have seen through me. However, you are mistaken about one thing. I understand this is requesting yet another favor from you, but I must ask that you keep this conversation secret.”
Terra looked back to Diode, who responded with a nod.
“Go ahead, Chūya-san.”
“Please, save Meika-sama.” His tone remained calm, but his words were heavy with emotion.
The two froze.
“...What do you mean, ‘rescue’?”
“Meika-sama is trapped within Fuyō’s Axis Chamber alongside other decompers. Nurude Shikiriyōni Keiwaku, our Clan Chief, is using his own daughter as a key to the Tamatebako. If this continues, they invite a total collapse. Please, save her...!”
“Woah, woah, Chūya-san, one thing at a time.” After she calmed him, Terra whispered, “This ‘Tamatebako’ is the Helm, isn’t it?”
“That may be the case. The Tamatebako is a Gendō fairy tale—a trap box filled with a gas which ages one rapidly. The device is likely named after that because it is dangerous and serves an important function. But, more importantly—”
Diode said, then switched places with Terra to talk with Chūya.
“I’ve got just one thing to say—your scheming helped get us here. It’s quite selfish of you to want help now, when you’ve been going along with this the entire time, isn’t it? Have you already forgotten everything you’ve done to us?!”
The young man gave a deep bow and replied, “I cannot apologize for that, and I cannot deny that I held ill will. Indeed, I did capture you on Nurude-sama’s orders. However... That was all for Meika-sama’s sake.”
“You’re saying that to me, when all I think of Meika is stuffing her in a box and firing her into Mother Beach Ball?!”
“I understand your feelings, and it is fair for you to feel that way. When this is all said and done, I will accept full blame—I swear it on my name. But in return, I ask you to grant my request.”
“Is begging the only thing you can do?!”
“Die-san, look!” Terra interrupted Diode’s snapping at the VUI and pointed at the image of the sky overhead.
Unbelievably, a single pillar boat was spinning and spraying flames as it lost its form and fell—then suddenly shifted into the shape of an upside-down vase and started slowly climbing again.
“Decomping...?”
“That’s not an automatic shape, that one’s created by a human!”
“—Jigō-san?” Diode’s eyes returned to the VUI before she fully comprehended what Terra just said.
Chūya was slouched and pressing his forehead. She could tell he wasn’t simply bowing to plead—he was putting up with pain.
“Decomp sickness...?”
“Yes—” The young man grunted with pain. He covered his mouth, his voice quaking. “It is due to my casting the nets myself. As you know, however, it is a woman’s role to cast nets in the Gendō, and it is considered disgraceful for a man to perform it. Of course, if Nurude-sama learns of this, I am certain to be used as one of the Tamatebako’s keys.” The loyal zujin suddenly wiped his mouth and looked up. “And it is precisely for that reason Meika-sama sent me here.”
“Pardon my interruption, but it was for my sake too!”
A girl suddenly emerged from behind Chūya. Diode was confused for a moment until she recognized the face.
“If I remember correctly... you said your name was Ranju?”
“Yep, that’s me! Ranju Yomosugara Tachimachi! Er, I am pleased to hear you remember me!”
“You were decomping?”
“Nope! I’m just chilling here! I thought I might be able to handle it, but decomping with the real deal is waaay too hard!!!” The schoolgirl, who wore a kimono that was on the classier side, was using the same bird hairstyle from before even in the control pit. Her face looked fragile, like an animal tossed in the cage of a much larger beast. “Er, Nurude-sama actually extended the official summons to myself, but Meika-sama graciously went in my stead. So I am serving as Chūya-san’s backseat in her place.”
“That is the truth of the matter, Kanna-sama. Meika-sama is currently serving as a substitute for people like her.”
“Wait, wait. If this is going where I think it’s going—” Diode swung her arm to close the VUI in front of her and covered her ears. “—then I don’t want to hear it!”
“Die-san...”
“Up until now, she’s been allowed to do whatever she wants and caused all kinds of trouble chasing after us, and now, if we don’t escape, there’s a chance that she’ll turn us into that key or whatever, right? So even if you tell me a woman like her is nice because she really does care about her pet dogs, all I can say is I don’t care! I. Don’t. Give. A. Shit! I don’t want to see her for at least a trillion years!”
“Die-san.”
Terra took her hand. Diode quickly noticed Terra was reasoning with her like she always did.
“Why don’t we run away, then?” She gave Diode a conceding smile. “Like, there are things you physically can’t stand no matter what, aren’t there? So, let’s run away. Right now we’re still showing up as Salinzone-san, so if we go to another base ship...”
It’ll create a whole new mountain of problems for us, but we’ll deal with it together and make it through somehow—was what Terra’s face was saying.
“Siiiiiigh...!” Diode shrugged violently. “You’re so unfair.”
“Hm?”
“When you hold yourself hostage like that.”
“Me? A hostage?”
“You’re absolutely holding yourself hostage. But Terra-san...” Diode looked up at her. “Are you really going to forgive all that? That offputting bitch and everything she’s done?”
“I’m just putting it aside for now. I have the feeling that having Chūya-san in our debt will make our moves from now on a lot easier, so I just thought this was the best course of action.”
Diode noticed Terra’s expression was a little stiff, and that she must have also been putting a lot of thought into it. The conversation had already changed Diode’s feelings somewhat, so she only needed a little water to help her swallow the proposal. She reopened the channel.
“Jigō-san.”
“Yes?”
“We have a deal. We’ll help you save Meika, but in exchange, promise us you’ll do everything in your power to help us escape.”
“And if you break that promise, none of this will be a secret anymore, got it?” Having said that, Diode felt a little better.
“You have my word.”
Chūya Genissee Jigō bowed his head.