Chapter 2
"Murusame!" Hyuga called. "Come here please. And could you bring IX-9? Where is that little troll?"
"I am NOT a troll, Doctor. I am a 9-series cybernetic analysis unit." A squat white painted robot huffed as it rolled into Hyuga's presence.
"You are a can opener with an attitude problem!" Hyuga informed the robot.
"I am the ultimate evolution in robotic technology. As such I cannot understand your hostility toward me." The robot paused as if considering. "Unless it stems from a sense of inferiority perhaps. In that case, I congratulate you Doctor, Such irrational thinking is well within established norms of human behavior."
Hyuga merely stared at the robot, raising an eyebrow. "You did not just go there." She folded her arms. "How did I end up with a smart alec robot?" Hyuga shrugged. "Anyway, I need you to monitor the output on the fusion plant when we wake up Iona and the others. Murusame?"
"Yes Hyuga?" A lithe and pale mental model with lavender hair answered bowing deeply.
"Would you see to the reactivation of union cores H, I, K, M, T and Y? Also K2 please."
"Yes Hyuga san."
"Good girl." Hyuga replied then looked at Sanada and Hoshina. "Our task is a bit more delicate. No one has ever undergone cryo-suspension for so long. Still, that shouldn't matter. Induction of cryo-stasis went smoothly in all cases. All vitals have been carefully monitored for 140 years. Awakening is an exact process. There should be no cause for worry. Therefore we will be as attentive as an unblinking eye and unerringly careful." She looked at Sanada and Toru. "Let's get to work gentlemen."
Several hours later, Hyuga watched in satisfaction as all six of her patients lay sleeping just below the threshold of consciousness. "Sanada? Murusame should have the other mental models up by now and they'll want to be here.I'm also sure that Makie..." Hyuga fondly glanced over at one of the sleepers… A mere child by Toru's eyes. "will want to see Haruna and Yotaro right away.
"Of course Hyuga sensei." Sanada nodded and headed to maintenance bay.
Toru sat across from Hyuga "Um? Hyuga san?" He began hesitantly.
Hyuga favored the boy with a mild glance. "Yes? What is it?"
"I don't mean to be presumptuous but…" He hesitated.
Hyuga leaned back and regarded him with amusement. "As I taught Sanada long ago, there are no foolish questions. The foolishness is in fearing to ask questions and honestly learn from them."
"Why are these people here?" Toru looked into the child's sleeping face. Makie, Hyuga had called her. "She's only a child. What purpose could it possibly serve for her to be here like this?"
"There are no foolish questions Toru chan. But there are foolish answers." Hyuga replied. "We should have a few minutes before the others get up here so I will tell you a very foolish tale:
"You; of course, know that the Fog originated from somewhere beyond Earth. Exactly where? We still have no idea." Hyuga noted. "But we know it was about the year 1910 CE reckoning that the Fog began observing mankind.
"The early twentieth century was a period rife with conflict. It was during that time that the Admiralty Code began to take shape. It was also at this time that a nation's standing and prestige. All of its might was expressed in the form of great fleets of battleships. When one nation wanted to demonstrate resolve in some part of the world, a battleship would be sent as the physical manifestation of that resolve. That is why the Fog chose the form that it did.
"In the meantime, humanity's conflicts continued. From First World War to the Second, the escalating slaughter continued. It became an imperative in the Admiralty Code that humanity needed to be separated from itself. While trade made many wealthy… often at the expense of their fellows, war seemed to be the only concrete grounds upon which the nations of the world seemed willing to cooperate.
"On May 1, 1945, the Fog began to awaken. Calculations were made. Events were about to come into motion when suddenly we stopped. The Admiralty Code did not explain. It only bade us back into slumber. This lasted until the 2030's, when we awoke again. This time there would be no stopping. With the rise in sea levels and the continued chaos across the world, it seemed manifest. The Fog would drive mankind from the seas. To what end beyond that was an open question that was given no answer. But by 2039, there would be one last 'Great Battle'
"With our technology it should have been as simple as brushing aside fallen leaves. But humanity is a tenacious lot. Though doomed to fail, humans fought us with a determination and with cleverness we could not grasp. The Fog needed to learn lest humanity should somehow find a way to match the raw power that was our advantage. Eventually; in 2054, the first mental models appeared. And it is here that the Fog began to change.
"For the first time there were not just reports and orders. There were opinions. Likes and dislikes. All the gifts of self awareness and with it came goals that often conflicted with some or part of the Admiralty Code or at least with the goals of others. This self awareness was our greatest achievement and it undid the Fog as surely as anything.
"I could tell you of the glorious battles of Blue Steel during this time and how Gunzou Chihaya drew together a fleet of outcasts, but I would not wish to deprive Kyouhei of the pleasure when he awakens. For now it was sufficient to say that in 2056, Blue Steel succeeded in delivering a new weapon; the Vibration Torpedo, to the United States so it could be mass produced. For the first time, mankind had a weapon that made us equals on the battlefield.
"And yet mankind held back. Perhaps they feared how the Fog would react if faced with an actual threat. But for whatever reason, the Americans did not launch the expected counterattack.
It was a restraint the Fog hardly expected. It was possible that the new weapon might not prove any real threat, but it was obvious that human creativity would allow humanity to survive and endure.
We were becoming irrelevent. More than that, we were becoming human. Factions were developing. We were no longer certain who the enemy was. So what could we do? The blockade was rendered meaningless. The voyage of Blue Steel was a symbol. The complete iron grip of The Fog was cracking. Partly by our own evolution, partly to the resilience of humanity, we were beaten. Without purpose... and yet. With our new individuality, we could not merely shut down, we needed to find a way to become part of the nations of Earth.
Hyuga's visage turned dark. "But before that could happen, the appearance of 'pride' within the Fog took hold. We had lost, but total abject surrender was unthinkable. The Fog demanded a sacrifice. Gunzou Chihaya and his crew had openly defeated the Fog in battle. They had been the catalyst for change among the Fog. They would be sacrificed to obtain peace." Hyuga closed her eyes.
"As was a young child. Makie Osakabe: The design child. It was she who had been created for genius and she who had invented the vibration torpedo. She who had turned two of the strongest of the Fog simply through the hand of friendship. These six lives and a few others to be traded for the fate of a world.
"Not ALL among the Fog supported this. Really I would not say even the majority. Only a loud and potentially dangerous minority. Much like the Bolsheviks in Russia. Ignored only at peril. The Fog as a whole had no choice but to make that demand. Humanity as a whole had no choice but to accept.
"Therefore I decreed that I would be responsible for them. By placing them in cryonic suspension, I could fulfill the uncaring demands made and yet I could await a day when faltering memory or changing priorities would allow them to walk free again. And with them went those of the Fog who found they could not leave their human friends behind. Iona would not leave Gunzou, nor would Takao. Likewise, Haruna and Kirishima would not abandon Makie. Maya would follow Haruna.
"Even Kongo… Kongo found that only in the presence of those who had been her enemies, only they could she call friend and she could not be alone.
"Truth is that she was not as alone as she had believed, but that is another story."
"What changed?" Hoshina asked gesturing to the beds.
"This war." Hyuga shook her head. "Our great hope!" she laughed. "A mysterious alien race offers up the prize of salvation and the means to retrieve it and the technology lies just past the fingertips of Earth's most gifted scientists.
"Except for me that is." Hyuga pointed out smugly. "So my skills are needed too much for either the EDF or the Fog to refuse my demands. I will not help them until Blue Steel is whole again.
"And Toru chan?" Hyuga said with satisfaction. "That time is now."