“Who is holding that controller?”
“The captain has it.”
The one called the captain, Valvo, is apparently the commander of the mobile reconnaissance squad.
“Right, let’s go to the training room.”
Sario led me to the training room in the zero-gravity section. I thought there would be training machines lined up since it was called a training room, but it was just a long corridor. There were obstacles like poles and rings in this corridor.
“What a strange corridor.”
“The training involves going back and forth through the corridor while avoiding the obstacles.”
It didn’t seem too difficult.
“Just so you know, the corridor will be in zero gravity. It will be tough until you get used to it.”
As soon as I took a step, my body began floating – just like in the warehouse. That reminded me of what astronauts say – that in zero gravity, bodily functions like blood circulation are affected, making your face swell up and your nose get stuffed. But I didn’t feel any such sensations. When I asked Sario about it, he said the “internal adjustment nanomachines” injected automatically adjust for that. As we were talking, my head bumped against the ceiling.
“Alright, training begins now.”
I pressed my hands against the ceiling to push my body forward. I started moving that way, but not quite as intended – wriggling my way back and forth through the corridor until I was utterly exhausted. Being 55 years old, my body quickly reached its limits and became unbearably sore.
“Huff puff…this is no good.”
“That’s because you’re not thinking as you move. Act based on there being no gravity.”
Easier said than done. I was made to go back and forth through that corridor about 50 times. By the end I was utterly drained, but I think I got the hang of moving in zero gravity. The training continued for several more days until I could move freely in zero-g. During that time, I noticed my physical body seemed to be getting younger. I asked Sario if something had been done to my body.
“Three types of nanomachines were injected into you – [antibody immunity nanomachines], [language component nanomachines], and [internal adjustment nanomachines].”
Sario explained that the antibody immunity and internal adjustment nanomachines were activating, revitalizing my body slightly. It wasn’t an anti-aging treatment per se, so I wasn’t actually getting younger. Apparently, the antibody immunity nanomachines enhance immune function to protect the body from standard bacteria and viruses. And the internal adjustment nanomachines support health in non-standard living environments like zero gravity.
After zero-g training ended, I began martial arts training against robots. These robots were around 2 meters long and shaped like pig-humanoid Orcs. They moved agilely both with and without gravity, attacking with thick arms and legs. Their hands and feet had glove and legguard-like coverings so I wouldn’t die from their strikes.
But those strikes were still painful enough to make me tear up and leave bruises. When I protested that I’d had enough, the commanding officer Valvo supervising us came over. About 140cm tall, he had green skin, an ugly face, and long ears – just like a goblin from a fantasy anime. Except he was wearing a futuristic spacesuit, which made for an incredibly dissonant sight.
“Sario, what are you doing? Can’t even properly train a rookie?”
That grating voice and accent seemed familiar.
“My apologies.”
Sario bowed in apology with a cowed look. Seeing that, I felt anger rise up towards this little alien. I glared defiantly at the goblin.
“What’s with that look? Seems you’ll need to learn your place the hard way.”
Baring his teeth, the goblin moved to operate something in his hand.
“Please wait!”
Sario tried to stop him, but the goblin pressed some button. In an instant, searing pain shot through every nerve in my body, as if trying to burn me from the inside out. I tried to cry out “stop!” but the agony prevented me from making a sound. My heart started pounding erratically, and I realized this could actually kill me.
“Banatsu still doesn’t understand anything. Please show some mercy just this once.”
Sario desperately pleaded. The goblin scowled in displeasure, then pressed the button again. The excruciating pain subsided, but my heart continued pounding furiously like it might burst.
“Make sure you train him properly.”
With that, the goblin left. At that point, I had collapsed onto the floor. Once my heart calmed down, I managed to sit up halfway. Sario looked relieved.
“You understand now, don’t you? That’s what happens when the disciplinary terminal activates. You may very well have died.”
Sario told me there have been cases of lower-class people dying of heart attacks when the terminal activated.
It wasn’t a lie – I could feel the reality of never defying that goblin. From then on, I went through the training without complaint. But at 55 years old, my body quickly reached its limits, leaving me crippled by intense muscle pain for days at a time.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
After some weeks, I finally got the hang of the training regimen. But there was one thing I just couldn’t stomach – the food here. It was utterly flavorless, just faintly smelling of soap.
“Sario, is there nothing else to eat besides this stuff?”
Sario, being of the Kushi race native to the fourth planet of the Corado system, had the misfortune of being captured by space pirates and sold here. Still only 18 years old, though our ages differed greatly, we were able to become friends of a sort.
By the way, the standard timekeeping was nearly identical to Earth’s, with 24-hour days and 360-day years. So there wasn’t much difference in that regard, though without clocks or phones, it was just a general sense rather than precise timekeeping.
“No, all lower-class people eat these rations.”
These preserved food tubes are called “space complete foods.” There are apparently different varieties, but they all contain the full range of nutrients and calories needed for most species’ survival.
“I thought the Kushi had their own spaceships?”
“We do, but what about it?”
“If you all were abducted, wouldn’t a search party from your people be looking for you?”
“They probably did search at first, but once they realized we were captured by goblin space pirates, they must have given up.”
“Why would they give up just because their people were taken by pirates?!”
“The goblins rule the Gonuva Empire spanning three star systems. If we defied them, our homeworld could be invaded and annexed into their empire.”
The Kushi are apparently considered a minor spacefaring race. Still, the idea of goblins building an interstellar empire is just unbelievable.
“By the way, why exactly am I being trained?”
Sario let out a deep sigh.
“Asking that now, are you? Well, the destination for this supply vessel is the Gorgona star system which was recently unlocked. We will end up fighting the Orc tribes over control of that system.”
Apparently, both the goblin and orc tribes noticed the Gorgona system’s lockdown ending around the same time, and are now battling to claim its territory as their own. The ones who locked it down in the first place were apparently a faction of the so-called “Celestials.” What are the Celestials?
“But the Orcs aren’t our only enemy. There are also monsters in that star system.”
“Monsters?”
The mention of monsters pushed that “Celestials” keyword to the back of my mind. Sario explained that monsters are beings that dwell on planets or in space – “Star Scourge Dragons” or simply monsters, which are bioweapons that escaped into the wild after being created as living weapons.
“Living weapons? Who on earth made such things?”
“The Aurevas Celestials. They’re one of the three most powerful and highly advanced civilizations in this domain.”
The Celestials consist of three races: the Aurevas who took bioengineering to its limits, the Mol who did the same for machine civilization, and the Rikagel who did so for psychic civilization. Compared to them, the Goblin Empire is mere “snot.” It’s disheartening to think that if the spacefaring Kushi see goblins as such a threat, how must they view the less-advanced humans of Earth?
To clarify, the goblin intellect itself isn’t superior to humans. Goblins are an ancient race who first made contact with advanced spacefaring civilizations long ago, from whom they learned knowledge to advance into space themselves. But they have no record of inventing anything new – they merely co-opt and use the inventions of other advanced civilizations in their own society.
“There are even professions specialized in hunting those monsters.”
Apparently they’re called “Dragon Hunters,” like the adventurers from fantasy novels – defeating monsters and retrieving their valuable materials. Except instead of just land monsters, they deal with the ones in space too.
“So what exactly are these ‘monsters’ like?”
“The weakest ones in space are called Space Crions, and they range from 1 to over 10 meters long.”
Hearing that, I felt the blood drain from my face.
“Fighting against such a monster is impossible,”
Sario laughed upon hearing this.
“We don’t fight bare-handed. We use powered suits called ‘mobile armors’ to battle,” he explained.
However, the mobile armors manufactured by the Goblin clan seemed to be of the lowest rank.
“Will it be easy to operate those mobile armors?”
“No, it requires rigorous training. The training we’re about to start is for that purpose.”
Sario brought out an actual mobile armor. Its outward appearance resembled the white armored soldiers seen in space war movies on TV. A person wearing this mobile armor could supposedly exert three times their normal strength. For example, even a 55-year-old like me could jump over 120 centimeters straight up. Of course, that’s in the same environment as Earth.
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