Fantasy Galaxy: Why Are There Goblins and Orcs in Space?

Chapter 11 : Tenshiryoku Drive

「Do you have something in mind?」

「This shpace port doesn't seem to have a Trans-Space-Time Jump Field Generator, so I thought we'd shearch elshewhere.」

「Specifically, where will we search?」

「The most likely place ish a shpace shtation, but the Goblin Race is there, so……」

After discussing with Sario, we decided to go to the sixth planet. The sixth planet was a rocky planet like Earth, and it seemed the Anubis Race had been mining resources there. That planet had no atmosphere, and its gravity was about eighty percent of Earth's.

Earth's gravity was a figure calculated by examining my body. Apparently if you examined genes and body structure, you could understand the environment someone grew up in to some degree.

Near this sixth planet was a small space colony. However, it had been completely destroyed by the Tenjin Race, to the point where even the Goblin Race judged investigation unnecessary.

That space colony apparently had numerous shipyards for spacecraft, so we thought devices related to spacecraft might remain. However, the space colony had been thoroughly destroyed, so the probability of anything remaining intact was low.

This information was derived from basic data stored in the small spacecraft's control brain and observation of the current situation.

「The problem ish, we don't have much propellant for the plasma engine.」

「You mean we don't have enough propellant to reach that space colony?」

「No, we have that much propellant. But if we keep using it at this rate, it'll run out soon.」

「Then what do we do?」

「Zen, can you use 'Tenshiryoku Drive'?」

Tenshiryoku Drive meant performing the function of an acceleration force field generator - one spacecraft propulsion method - not with machinery but with a mage's ability. At last, the Acceleration Force Field Circuit I'd endured such pain to obtain would prove useful.

That hangar had a passage leading outside the space port, so we took the small spacecraft out of the space port through there.

「Zen, go to the battle room I built on the upper hull and move the ship from there.」

「Understood.」

I moved from the cockpit to the battle room and sat in the seat. Since the battle room was surrounded by dome-shaped transparent high-strength resin, it gave the feeling of drifting in space.

「First I'll set the course from here, then acceleration.」

「Got it.」

Sario piloted and the small spacecraft began moving. As a unit of speed used in the Sector Alliance, there was something called a 'Barch.' 'Barch 1' represented a speed of 0.1 percent of light speed and was the fundamental unit for space travel.

Barch 1 was a speed equivalent to 874 times the speed of sound. The small spacecraft would accelerate to about seven times the speed of sound using propellant, then accelerate from there to Barch 5 with Tenshiryoku Drive.

「Zen, begin acceleration.」

「Understood.」

With the Power Conduit's Control Gate opened only to Release Level T, I poured Tenshiryoku into the Acceleration Force Field Circuit inscribed in my mind. When I set the small spacecraft as the acceleration target, I felt Tenshiryoku envelop the small spacecraft, and then it began accelerating.

However, the Tenshiryoku usable at Release Level T wasn't a significant amount, so I couldn't accelerate much. So I switched to Release Level 1. When I'd practiced 'Particle Strike,' I could only control the Tenshiryoku flowing in at Release Level T. But it seemed that, by borrowing the power of the Acceleration Force Field Circuit, I could dramatically increase my control capacity.

I thought that if 'Particle Strike' could also utilize the Acceleration Force Field Circuit, I could probably take down large monsters in one hit, but since it couldn't be used that way, it couldn't be helped.

I kept at it for about thirty minutes, but could only raise the small spacecraft's speed to near Barch 1. My mental strength ran out there, so I returned to the cockpit.

「Haah, I'm exhausted.」

I slumped into the cockpit seat and groaned.

「Good work. If you perform Tenshiryoku Drive three or four more times, we should reach the planned speed.」

Sario looked at the piloting monitor and told me.

I lay down and rested in the break room behind the cockpit, then repeated the cycle of performing Tenshiryoku Drive once my fatigue lifted.

After that we flew at Barch 5 for about a day, then decelerated again with Tenshiryoku Drive and docked with the destroyed space colony near the sixth planet.

We changed into mobile armor and went out into space. Using thruster packs, we entered through a large hole opened in the space colony, and the wreckage of numerous spacecraft came into view drifting about.

While flying around between those pieces of wreckage, we desperately searched for a Trans-Space-Time Jump Field Generator. And when about twenty days had passed, we discovered wreckage that had been a cruiser spacecraft.

「This cruisher looks promising.」

In what had been the space colony's shipyard, two cruisers were drifting through space torn apart into pieces.

「All I see is junk, though.」

Almost everything visible was destroyed - there didn't seem to be any intact machinery.

「Don't give up. If we shearch persistently, we might find something.」

So we continued searching for days. And finally, we discovered a Trans-Space-Time Jump Field Generator.

「I found it!」

Hearing Sario's voice, I hurried over. In front of Sario was a machine about three meters wide and two meters tall. However, what appeared to be a steel fragment was lodged in the edge of that machine.

「Wait - isn't it broken?」

「If it's just thish much, I think we can repair this. Let'sh bring it back to the shmall shpacecraft.」

We carried the Trans-Space-Time Jump Field Generator to the small spacecraft. After that we discovered the wreckage of several other Trans-Space-Time Jump Field Generators, but the one from the cruiser seemed in the best condition.

However, since parts from the wreckage might be usable, we had the maintenance robots disassemble them and brought back undamaged parts to the small spacecraft.

I ordered the maintenance robots to examine the Trans-Space-Time Jump Field Generator. To determine whether it could be repaired. Three maintenance robots began disassembling and investigating. These military maintenance robots had been manufactured to service Anubis Race military vessels. For that purpose, even the cutting-edge technology used in Trans-Space-Time Jump Field Generators had been crammed into their artificial brains.

However, that knowledge was limited only to technology necessary for maintenance - they couldn't create a Trans-Space-Time Jump Field Generator from scratch. If they could create one, we probably could have obtained enough wealth to live in luxury for the rest of our lives.

While searching for the Trans-Space-Time Jump Field Generator, we'd discovered other devices that seemed usable besides that. It was an intact eight-light-diameter charged particle cannon. Charged particle cannons required enormous energy, and were often installed, it seemed, as a set with a dedicated ultra-compact fusion reactor.

This eight-light-diameter charged particle cannon was about seven meters long and was often mounted as a secondary gun on corvette combat ships about 150 meters in total length. We brought all of those back to the small spacecraft.

Incidentally, since what charged particle cannons fired was plasma, using the term 'light diameter' was strange, but by old custom they used the same 'light diameter' as for laser cannons.

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Around the time Zen and the others were investigating the destroyed space colony, a space battle between the Orc Race and Goblin Race had begun near the fourth planet.

Amid that, the second-class scouting vessel Gyogaru was watching the fierce fighting. As a scouting vessel, Gyogaru wasn't participating in combat as it lacked combat capability. However, utilizing its excellent radar, it was sending search information to the allied fleet.

「Captain Bōburo, the radar has detected a gigantic object.」

「Orc Race reinforcements?」

「It doesn't seem so.」

「Don't tell me it's a giant monster?」

「It's a monster about six jirasu (three kilometers) in total length.」

Captain Bōburo immediately contacted the flagship Garuchura where fleet command was located.