No. 247 The Mystery Deepens 深まる謎

コ01

What is this…?

I told you about this before…

We’re inside the buried UFO.

コ02

×Tsukasa Okino

So this was build by humans form the future?

Or extraterrestrials, potentially.

コ03

×Examine

What is this…

Androids. They were protecting this place.

“Androids”?

Mechanized dolls, u guess. They're all broken, anyway.

…

コ04

×Examine

It’s the same here…

Something doesn’t feel right…

コ05

△Saucer→Tsukasa Okino

So this UFO… It’s somewhere deep underground?

Let's see…

First, you’d better take a look at this.

I know that shoreline…

That’s Ashitaba City in the middle…

And 300 meters below the surface, we have…

This.

The saucer…!

Around 30 km in diameter.

That’s gigantic…

コ06

△Deimos→Tsukasa Okino

So this is what the Deimos have been chasing?

Exactly.

The UFO’s also in Sector 5. Which means…

It’s also buried there in 1945.

The people there disappeared when Deimos came into contact with it…

Same as in my time.

But there's only one left still fully functional.

And that’s the one in 1985.

コ07

×Tsukasa Okino

What’s wrong?

1985…

Even assuming it’s a parallel world, something isn't right…

コ08

△1985→Tsukasa Okino

We know there's a pattern to the attacks.

40- year gaps, going chronologically backwards.

Then why has nothing happened in 1985?

Why skip that year, and go straight to my time?

That’s actually pretty sharp, especially for you.

Hey now…

It’s because 1985 is kind of an outlier.

Someone in that time has the D-Code control key…

In other words, that’d be the one sending commands to the Deimos.

That’s why they never mounted a full attack.

They just went straight to Sector 5.

Sector 4 will be the final target on their list.

Which means 1985 will be our last line of defense.

コ09

×Tsukasa Okino

People from the future were preparing for the final battle.

Those compatible with the innerlocitor were being gathered in Sector 4.

コ10

△The Kaiju’s Beacon→Tsukasa Okino

So in the end… we can't stop the commands?

Well, you already know the situation.

We have no idea who’s actually summoning them.

Even then, killing the source would be meaningless.

Someone else would just start broadcasting the signal.

Anyone implanted with the innerlocitor is a candidate.

Any one of them can be the Deimos’s wayfinder.

…So even I might be…?

Yeah. Even you could be the one luring them to us.

コ11

×Tsukasa Okino

One guy had his own plan:

Murder everyone who had an innerlocitor.

No more signal. He thought that might save the world.

If it meant I could save my homeland…

I would gladly give my life.

…

コ12

△Inner-lossiter→Tsukasa Okino

So why do we have it in the first place?

Who modified us with that inner-lossiter?

Is… Is that what they wanted? To destroy the world?

Like I said, there's still a lot we don’t know.

Besides which… it’s this UFO that’s abducting people.

…

We don’t know much about the innerlocitor, but…

It’s general-use information technology from 2188.

It’s got that D-Code sending out commands, but…

That’s comparatively a very minor part of its function.

Wait, minor?

That’s the part I don’t get.

Something else is eating up over 80% of the innerlocitor’s processes…

Some totally unrelated function.

Nothing to do with the D-Code.

I tired to find out what function the system’s prioritizing, but…

I just… I don’t know. None of this makes sense.

コ13

×Tsukasa Okino

The data throughput of the D-Code isn't that much.

It basically just needs to maintain a link to the person “commanding” the Deimos…

…and access three locations as regular intervals.

One of the access points is the mainframe of the UFO:

“Universal Control.”

Might have to do with the reason people disappear…

I’d need more data to know for sure.

The second point of access id Sector 1…

The automated factories in the year 2105.

The factories weren’t destroyed when they attacked.

They’re using them to manufacture more Deimos.

That’s where the Sentinels were created, too.

And the final access point, by my guess…

…would be the thing Tomi Kisaragi saw.

Some king of satellite in orbit.

And from its databanks…

They're pulling blueprint data for the Deimos themselves.

コ14

×Tsukasa Okino

Even knowing all that, though…

Are we any closer to saving the world?

It’s a longshot, but…

If I can figure out this UFO, and the orbital contact point…

It’s possible we can bring back the people who disappeared.

…

But yeah… it feels like…

I'm still overlooking something.

Something a bit more fundamental…

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