The Little Prince in the Ossuary

00059

#trap (4), Camp Roberts

The Trickster was quiet. Its hands and feet were stretched out, all as stiff as those of a corpse. The only proof that it was still alive was the slow rise and fall of its chest.

No matter how badly damaged it was, there had to be some energy left within its body. The lack of movement made it all the more suspicious. Upon seeing it, Gyeo-ul’s doubts grew more and more. It was as if it were pretending to be weak and helpless.

Tricksters usually gave off a powerful jamming wave before they collapsed. That had happened with the one Gyeo-ul had met at Atascadero. When it died, there had been a lot of static over the radio airwaves.

What if the radio interference was some kind of communication between these creatures?

‘And if so, then what’s the limit of that communication?’

Speech and radio communication were qualitatively different. The ability to communicate information among these new special mutants might be at a level that encompassed even vision and hearing.

That made their cunning understandable. Every time one of them met a new object, they would get their whole species’ experience of it. Information released by Atascadero’s Trickster might still be floating around. Memories left even after death. Gyeo-ul couldn’t help but see it as a joke.

‘Yes, you smiled at me because you knew my face…’

They might already have known that the U.S. was eager to secure living samples. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have considered getting caught on purpose, given the risk of death.

Assuming this conjecture was correct, Tricksters would have to be considered the most dangerous species of special mutant.

Gyeo-ul’s nerves eventually cooled down. It was a long time since he’d felt this way, since before he had been through twenty-six endings. Overall, it wasn’t all that bad.

Having calmed down, Gyeo-ul aimed his rifle at the Trickster. Should he shoot it? Whatever its plan was, wouldn’t it be messed up if he were to shoot it now?

“What are you doing, Lieutenant?”

Sergeant Lieberman grabbed Gyeo-ul’s rifle. “Are you going to kill it now that you’ve caught it?”

Gyeo-ul turned his head slightly and saw soldiers hesitantly watching the mutant from a few steps away. It seemed that Sergeant Lieberman had been called because of Gyeo-ul’s strange appearance. He guessed that it was because of the “threat” that would have been active otherwise.

Gyeo-ul answered, letting the gun drop down at his side.

“I’m a little nervous.”

“Why? It was too easy to catch, is that it?”

The sergeant held the same suspicion, though not as strongly as Gyeo-ul.

As expected, they tried to relax him with insignificant platitudes. “It’s a little bit weird, but… it’ll be all over soon. The helicopter will be here in a few minutes, and we can go back and drink a bottle of beer and stretch out.”

After this, the sergeant gestured to the outside. “I think you’re tired. Go out and take a break. There are no clouds, so you’ll get a nice look at the night sky. Leave this place to the kids.”

Gyeo-ul responded with a light smile. “It’s still pretty suspicious all in all.”

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Sergeant Lieberman nodded. “That’s true,” he said, and the soldiers looked sulky in response. After a moment, though, everyone could be seen smiling.

Gyeo-ul accepted the offer. It would be difficult to persuade them unless there was a confirmation. They would sympathize, sure, but the execution itself was a separate matter. What could a special mutant that was caught and tied up in a tight spot have done?

In addition, Jeffrey would have already reported the capture. If he were to deal with it by himself, he would eventually be penalized.

He decided to forget and focus on something else for a moment. As Sergeant Lieberman had said, it was a cloudless, starry sky. And so, Gyro-ul sat on the Humvee and looked up. There was no moon, but it wasn’t all that dark, and on such a cold night, the scattered starlight was very refreshing.

In the darkened world “after the End,” if anything was brighter than before, it was undoubtedly the night sky. He could see the Milky Way here, at an angle he had never seen before. It was like a strangely shiny cloud. The stars themselves were very clear.

Gyeo-ul felt movement nearby. It turned out to be Jeffrey, who was struggling with a walkie-talkie. He wrestled with it for a moment, threw a few bad words around, and then came straight over to Gyeo-ul. However, he didn’t speak up right away.

After spending a little time sitting side by side with Gyeo-ul on the hood, Jeffrey finally opened his mouth.

“Do you like it?”

“Yes. It’s like a scene from where I used to live; it’s a shame I’ve never seen it here before.”

“Where did you live? Oh, in Korea?”

“Yes, in a sense.”

“What do you mean? What sense?”

The young platoon leader responded that he did not know English well and did not attempt to explain further. Instead, he asked something else.

“What’s the matter? Did the communications fail? I don’t think there’s been any disturbance to the system.”

The receiver stuck in his ear was still quiet. It was proof that the Trickster was staying calm.

“It’s not like that… They said they couldn’t send a helicopter.”

“Why?”

“Our camp isn’t the only one going through this. I heard they caught a few somewhere else. So there were a lot of requests for helicopter assistance, but eight of those they sent disappeared.”

At this, Gyeo-ul asked once more in a calm tone, “What kind of attack did they receive?”

“I don’t know. I’m not even sure if it was an attack or not. I just lost all contact with them. One of the units that were asked for support heard an explosion. I think it crashed, but they said they couldn’t get to the scene yet. In short, none of us know the cause at this moment.”

“It had to be an attack. One or two breaking down at once might be possible, but eight isn’t. Even without contact.”

“I suppose so. Anyway, it’s difficult to provide additional help until the cause is identified or we have sunlight.”

“Then what should we do about that?” Gyeo-ul pointed in the direction of the mutant.

The soldiers were carrying it, four of them holding it carefully, with a muzzle firmly on its mouth. A few others were a little farther away, with firearms aimed at it. Jeffrey spoke up once more.

“There’s been an order to transport it to the base. They said they would do it.”

“There’s a lockup plan?”

“We’ve decided to chain it up and put it in a cage.”

“A cage?”

“I don’t know, like putting cooking foil on the walls and ceilings? I heard that we could stop its broadcasting that way. That’s what we need to do to keep it on the base.”

Oh, a Faraday’s cage. Gyeo-ul had heard of those, but would it be enough?

Jeffrey had said that a helicopter would come once the sun had risen. One way or another, nothing was going to happen during the night.

‘Should we talk to the captain?’

In fact, the boy officer’s immediate superior was a battalion commander. They could talk to him, or they could talk to the chief of operations. However, both were unlikely to help. The battalion commander was a drunk, bent on escaping reality through alcohol, and he would not want to be interrupted during his break. And Gyeo-ul didn’t know if the chief of operations would agree to strengthen the watch based only on speculation without evidence.

However, it was something to do.

Jeffrey tapped Gyeo-ul’s shoulder. “Hey, get in. Let’s go back.”

The motorcade then departed, with the Trickster tied to the back of the turret of Vehicle 3. Perhaps it was because the center of gravity had increased, but the body looked very unstable. The heavy machine gunner in the car behind fixed his gun in the direction of the mutant. He said he would shoot the second it moved.

When they arrived at the base, an augmented guard was waiting for Jeffrey’s platoon. Even though the mutant was bound tightly, they remained vigilant from beginning to end.

In the meantime, the noise from the radio had increased a few times.

If the mutant’s purpose was reconnaissance, it had already achieved its goal to some extent when it had entered the base and rumors began spreading. Gyeo-ul even confirmed that a special mutant had finally been trapped in a cage before heading to the camp control room. Perhaps because it was a serious issue, the chief of operations was on duty.

After Gyeo-ul saluted, the chief asked why he was there. “What’s the matter? You’ve done a great job with the plan, now you can go and rest.”

“I have a suggestion for this mission.”

“A suggestion?

“Yes, I thought we could try to keep the camp as vigilant as possible until dawn…”

The chief of operations was in favor of having Gyeo-ul among the battalion staff. Not for any personal reason, but out of respect for his ability.

The unlucky company soldiers who were on duty on Christmas Eve watched Gyeo-ul and the chief of operations. The chief scratched his chin and fixed his posture toward the boy officer.

“Let’s hear your reasons.”

“I think the Trickster intentionally infiltrated us.”

“Hooo.”

After that, the chief of operations listened to Gyeo-ul’s speculation with rapt interest.

“That’s a little bit better than your previous report. It means that interference and communication may not be distinct from each other. In fact, the top ranks have that possibility in mind, too. I think they’re going to use ECM to see how they react in turn.”

“Are you saying they’re trying to jam the radio in reverse?”

“Yes. If it’s really some kind of communication, the mutants will react when it’s interrupted. There’s a high possibility that you’ll get the mission. No one has achieved more than you in the western part of the blockade.”

“I see.”

“And the 390th Squadron frequently flies reconnaissance planes. They’re trying to analyze the patterns of the radio waves they emit. At any rate, I can’t say that your concern is groundless. And it’s suspicious that other camps went through similar attacks simultaneously tonight. Yeah, I think you’re on to something.”

“Then you’ll let me?”

“No.”

The chief shook his head with a smile.

“It makes sense, but it’s too much. What can a caged creature do? Even if it had a plan to infiltrate, would it have predicted a detention facility blocking radio waves? We don’t know them, but they don’t know us, either. No matter how clever they are, they can’t surpass human wisdom.”

Then, laughing, the chief added a joke. “It may be dangerous if they start building libraries and schools.”

“But…”

“That’s enough. You’re too sensitive. I’m ordering you to get some rest. It’s Christmas.”

The chief beckoned for him to get out. Looking at his expression, Gyeo-ul thought it would be useless to argue any further. So, he saluted and got out.

‘What should I do now?’

There was still a sense of danger, and he couldn’t just ignore it.

The only way left was to ignore the command and move the soldiers directly. If he asked earnestly, there had to be some who would respond.

However, it would be burdensome and would count as disobedience. If he took responsibility as a central figure, Gyeo-ul’s position would be at risk.

It wouldn’t collapse in an instant, though.

The more people you attracted, the more likely there would be a problem. Someone could always report to the command.

Above all, it was an uncertain possibility. It was doubtful whether it was worth such a risk. Given the likely aftermath, it might even do more harm than good. Investment in the “sense of survival” also had to be considered. This warned of all possibilities leading to death. However, because the range was so wide, it was often ambiguous without interlocking.

He had not used resources since Atascadero, but he had the capacity. When the “sense of survival” reached the realm of genius, the “view” provided would be more specific and accurate than ever.

Gyro-ul made up his mind and reached for his experience. The warning of Grade 11 “Sense of Survival” was indeed coming up.

However, that was all. Its premonition of system calibrations could sometimes be wrong. In any case, it was not at the level that Gyeo-ul had expected. “Crisis detection” might have been better.

After much consideration, Gyeo-ul went to Captain Capston.

After listening to his explanation, the captain nodded his head.

“That’s a reasonable judgment. I’ve compared Atascadero and other combat materials, and the intelligence of the Trickster is incredible. As you said, it was too easy to catch. It was strangely sloppy for it to appear alone, and it bothers me that it laughed. There’s no harm in being careful. But it will still be very difficult…”

“I’ve thought about it, but all I need is not get caught.”

At that, the captain questioned, “Is that possible?”

“Think about it. Even with a major force, it’s just an emergency. You don’t have to move in earnest unless an incident breaks out. If the event actually happens…”

“We would be busy worrying about bigger things than this minor disadvantage.”

At this, Captain Capston smiled lightly.