Chapter Three: The Time Machine

When Shinjou stepped off the White Dragon, his legs were trembling and his face was deathly pale. He kept glancing at Tetsuya, as if wanting to say something but holding back, and this state persisted all the way back to the command room.

Seeing him in such a condition, Noris's spirits seemed to sink as well. With a teasing smile, he patted Shinjou’s shoulder and asked, “What’s wrong? Why do you look so down?”

Lina turned around, smiling. “You must have been stunned by Captain Gale’s piloting skills. Honestly, I always thought I was a daring pilot, but after meeting Captain Gale, I’m nothing in comparison.”

As they spoke, the assistant began adjusting the equipment, preparing to cut the stone placed in the center.

Tetsuya, with his hands behind his back, strolled leisurely into the Victory Squad command room. At that moment, a poised, mature woman with neatly tied hair glided gracefully to the cutting table, carefully checking the dustless gloves on her hands. She was a learned researcher, known respectfully by all as Dr. Kenmura.

“Tetsuya, you’re here!” Captain Megumi rose to greet him as soon as she saw him enter.

He nodded, his gaze shifting to Shinjou with a hint of mockery. “Shinjou, you don’t look so good…”

Shinjou opened his mouth as if to speak, but only managed to give Tetsuya a deep look, unable to utter a word.

Dr. Kenmura examined the meteorite and said, “At last, the meteorite you brought back isn’t just some useless space junk. There are things inside that are truly astonishing!”

Her remark drew everyone’s attention. Naturally, Tetsuya already knew what lay inside, but he couldn’t afford to feign disinterest, so he put on a look of keen curiosity and fixed his gaze on it as well.

Dr. Kenmura eyed the surface of the meteorite with grave attention. The miniature laser cutter in her hand emitted a green beam, slowly tracing a circle around the meteorite.

“This isn’t a natural meteorite. It’s been manufactured.”

“What?” Kuji exclaimed in surprise, immediately rising to approach the cutting table. Shinjou followed, and the two of them circled the meteorite, inspecting it closely.

“Give me a hand!” said Kuji, bracing one side of the meteorite with both hands. Shinjou did the same on the other side. With a bit of effort, they split the meteorite down the middle, revealing a metallic surface beneath that gleamed under the lights.

It was a silvery-white conical device, its surface polished to a mirror sheen, pleasing to the eye.

As everyone gathered around it, Dr. Kenmura gently tapped the device. Suddenly, the lights in the command room dimmed eerily—a phenomenon unseen since the base was built. The unexpected darkness left everyone bewildered and uneasy, their eyes raised in confusion.

A low hum sounded.

At that moment, the silvery device emitted a blue glow, startling Shinjou, who instinctively shrank back. Then, a small window opened on the device’s perfectly smooth surface, and a red light blinked inside.

In front of the red light, a 3D projection about twenty centimeters tall appeared. She was clad in silvery-white attire, her hair the same color, and her gaze swept coolly over them all, seeming to pause briefly on Daigo before moving on.

Kuji stared, astonished, at the projection. The 3D figure’s mouth moved continuously, but all they could hear was a stream of unintelligible sounds.

“She seems to be saying something,” Kuji said, quickly bending down to rummage through a drawer. “Maybe we can use the audio translator.” He produced the device and, together with Noris, approached the central computer to connect and adjust the frequency.

Noris’s fingers flew across the keyboard. Under his control, the waveform analyzer synced with Kuji’s audio translator, gradually tuning the figure’s speech into audible frequencies. At first, there was only static, but then, amid the adjustments, the figure’s words finally became clear to the group.

“Everyone, I am Yuren, commander of the Earth Defense Corps. When this time machine arrives on Earth, it signals the beginning of great upheavals. The first signs will be the resurrection of Golzan, the monster who shakes the earth, and Melba, the beast who splits the sky…”

“Golzan?” Daigo exclaimed, turning to the others. “The monster that appeared in Mongolia—it was Golzan!”

The others said nothing, only pondering in silence.

“To protect Earth from these calamities, only the giant within the pyramid can help. He was once the guardian deity of Earth. He hid his body, built for battle, inside the great pyramid and returned to his homeland in the form of pure light,” Yuren continued, her tone serene as she recounted these fantastic revelations.

“My descendants, your task now is to awaken the giant and defeat Golzan and Melba. There is only one way to revive the giant, and that is…” Yuren’s words faltered as if the projection had malfunctioned. Her image grew hazy, flickered, and then gradually faded from view.

Daigo, thoughtful, bowed his head. He couldn’t shake the sense that, in her final moments, the 3D projection of Yuren, self-proclaimed commander of the Earth Defense Corps, had cast a subtle glance at him.

With Yuren’s disappearance, the lights in the command room brightened again. The team looked around, bewildered by this turn of events, uncertain how to proceed.

Captain Megumi broke the silence, addressing Dr. Kenmura. “What do you think, Doctor?”

Dr. Kenmura removed her gloves calmly. “This time machine is modeled after a comet from the solar system.”

She then added, with a touch of awe, “It seems almost too incredible.”

Daigo stepped forward from the group, standing before the central computer, and looked at Dr. Kenmura. “It’s real! She predicted Golzan would appear, and wasn’t she right?”

Deputy Captain Munakata responded cautiously, “That doesn’t necessarily mean it was Golzan.”

“Melba will appear too!” Daigo’s conviction was unshaken by Munakata’s skepticism.

“Daigo, if you believe this time machine, you must also accept the existence of a scientific civilization superior to our own.” Dr. Kenmura’s tone was mild, but her gaze was cold and unwavering.

Daigo faltered under her stare, his confidence wavering, and he lowered his head.

“The Earth has existed for billions of years, but humanity has been here only for a few million—a mere fraction of Earth’s history.” All eyes turned as Tetsuya, who had been leaning against the wall, spoke at last.

His gaze swept the room, finally coming to rest on Dr. Kenmura. “So I believe it’s not impossible that civilizations more advanced than ours once existed here.”

At these words, Dr. Kenmura’s expression darkened, her voice chilling. “That’s just speculation! In fact, we can’t even be certain this time machine comes from Earth. We can’t define everything by the mere mention of ‘Earth’ in the translation device, nor rashly conclude that a higher civilization ever existed here!”

Tetsuya regarded her steadily. He knew all too well that, with the arrival of peace and the rapid advance of science, the scientific community had split into factions. Some believed that civilizations greater than humanity’s had once flourished on Earth, and that human progress was merely the rediscovery of their legacy. Others held that humanity was the pinnacle of intelligence and civilization on Earth, and that all prior history was simply the planet’s ongoing evolution—an attitude arising from human arrogance.

It was clear that Dr. Kenmura belonged firmly to the latter camp.

“You’ll gradually come to understand and discover the relics of prehistoric civilizations,” Tetsuya said, enunciating each word. “In the long history of Earth’s evolution, humanity is no more than a fleeting tenant.”

“Humanity’s arrogant ignorance will, in time, be swept clean by the truth.”