Shrouded Seascape

"Governor Charles, we have to go back as soon as possible and inform the others about the Foundation's attitude. We have to tell them that the Foundation is our enemy, not our friends!" a captain said to Charles with a grave face. His airship had been destroyed in the earlier attack.

Had the Foundation ordered the fighter jets in waiting to attack them in retaliation after the negotiations had broken down?

All signs were pointing to that conclusion, but Charles felt that there was something amiss. The Foundation that he knew wasn't a group of impulsive children.

If they really wanted to attack the expedition party, it wouldn't be for such a petty reason. Charles remembered the strange liquid inside those spacesuits and felt that there was truly something amiss with this attack.

Looking at the dark sky that had become silent once again, Charles started pondering over his next move beneath the Narwhale's bright searchlights.

"Get the wounded and everyone else on board. We'll leave after I've taken care of some things," Charles said to the three captains before him.

"Where… are… you… going… Governor… Charles?" the captain wearing a top hat said. He had recovered significantly, but he was still quite slow.

"I need to investigate something. It'd be great if I manage to find something," Charles said, and then he started walking toward the fallen jets.

Soon, Lily's mice were crawling through every piece of debris, searching for any clues. If Charles wanted to know if these jets were really from the Foundation, then he'd have to start with these jets.

He could make an infinite number of guesses, and it wouldn't prove anything. If he wanted to prove anything, then he needed evidence to do so.

"Mr. Charles, there's nothing here. Look, everything has been burned down," Lily translated the mice's findings while pinching a charred tire with her tiny paws.

Charles tossed the metal plate in his hand to the ground. He knew that planes had black boxes, and those black boxes contained a treasure trove of information that would allow them to deduce where the jets had come from and what they had gone through.

Charles walked toward another wreckage.

Just when he thought that they would find nothing again, the mice squealed and dragged what they had discovered to Charles. The mice had dragged several sheets of linen paper that felt familiar to Charles.

He looked down and instantly realized why the linen paper felt familiar to him.

Project ID: 005-3 (?)

The Foundation used this kind of paper specifically to record information, and it wasn't Charles' first time seeing this kind of paper throughout his years of experience at sea.

It seemed that the Foundation found it necessary to record information using this kind of paper. It was a special paper, after all, and it was evidenced by the fact that the papers remained intact despite the jet's destruction.

Charles shuffled the papers, determining the right order before reading them.

Project ID: 005-3 (?)

Project Name: The Lost Part of the Ancient One (Tentative)

Description: 005-3 is a colossal humanoid black fog, estimated to be nearly three kilometers tall. Based on the initial observations of its appearance, they are presumed to be the part that 005 had lost upon coming up.

According to data that had been gathered from the third conversation with 005 on April 21, 1843, 005-3 has been separated from 005's collective consciousness due to 002's influence.

Given 002's unique properties, there's reason to believe that 005-3 has mutated. Dr. T3 suggests that by finding a way to contain 005-3, there's a high probability that we can reverse-engineer it to find a way to contain 005.

Under Dr. T3's lead, we will conduct experiments on 005-3.

Experiment records will be in Addendum 1.

Addendum 1:

Experiment 1: Have clone DOE83 approach within 30 meters of 005-3 to converse with 005-3.

The conversation was as follows:

DOE83: "Hello, Tawil?"

005-3: [Silence]

DOE83: "Visitor from the starry sky, you've told us that this is your name. You are a part of Her, so you should have the same name, right?"

005-3: [Silence]

DOE83: "Uh... do you have a new name? How should we address you?"

005-3: [Silence]

The experiment concluded at 21:35:37 on the same day.

Experiment Conclusion: 005-3 is not willing to converse like 005 and has remained silent throughout the experiment.

Experiment 2: Have clone DOE83 enter 005-3's body.

Experiment Conclusion: Clone DOE83 returned safely and reported that 005-3, like 005, has no physical form. Their appearances are highly similar, like fireflies formed of pure darkness.

Experiment 3: Have clones DOE83, DOE873, and DOE74 perform a ritual to summon 005's will in front of 005-3.

Experiment Conclusion: Ritual failed. 005-3 reacted for the first time, and its hazy figure emitted a white light for exactly one second. Dr. T3 suggests further experiments.

Experiment 4: Sacrifice clone DOE83 using Array 3+.

Experiment Conclusion: 005-3 silent. Clone DOE83 deceased.

Experiment 5: Sacrifice clones DOE734, DOE7644, DOE82, and DOE814 using Array 5.

Experiment Conclusion: 005-3 silent. Sacrifices deceased.

Experiment 6: Sacrifice all members of Mobile Task Force Nine-Tailed Fox using Ritual 8-.

Experiment Conclusion: 005-3 silent. Sacrifices deceased.

Experiment 7: Sacrifice Dr. T3 using Ritual 3+.

Experimental Protocol: When the sharp laser beam cut Dr. T3's skin, he showed severe panic and issued meaningless warnings. Without a mobile task force to restrain him, the dying Dr. T3 fell into the darkness.

Experiment Conclusion: 005-3 silent.

Experiment 8: Sacrifice all members of the airborne aircraft carrier Angel using Ritual 9+.

Experiment Conclusion: 005-3 laughed.

Charles felt a shiver down his spine. The content of the sheets of paper in his hands was extremely disturbing.

Charles knew that the Foundation had a penchant for experimenting on living human beings, but they'd always use test subjects and would never experiment on their own staffers, let alone sacrifice an entire group of people for an experiment.

Charles had no idea what "Ritual 8-" or "Array 3+" meant, but the fact that they were related to the words "ritual" and "sacrifice" meant that they were definitely something vile.

Charles believed that the Foundation members had to be under some kind of mind control for them to do such a vile act. Charles shifted his gaze from the papers in his hands to the wreckage on the ground.

Regardless of what had happened to the Foundation, it was finally clear that this attack wasn't orchestrated by them.

Now that Charles was thinking about it, it didn't make sense for the Foundation to do something so reckless such as antagonizing others amidst a world-ending crisis.

"Captain, what does it say?" Lily asked as she climbed up Charles' shoulder. Her curious gaze swept across the words on the papers in Charles' hand.

Charles tossed the papers to the ground before grabbing Lily from his shoulder and stroking her smooth fur.

"It's about time we leave. It's not safe here."

They still had two airships, which were in decent condition. It would be a bit cramped, but the two airships could accommodate everyone.

Having made up his mind, Charles returned to the Narwhale, and the two remaining airships of the expedition party wobbled as they left the meteorite island to fly into the darkness up above.

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