After we stayed up all night, the cold wave retreated as abruptly as it had arrived.
Amid the piled snow, the life force of the earth sprouting anew stood out all the more.
"Hyah!"
Lumi’s muffalo, which had been tethered outside, ambled slowly toward us.
Seventy thousand silver. The awkward sensation of having that phrase attached to my body lingered in my mouth.
"Goodbye."
Green Shark waved cheerfully, apparently relieved to see an annoyance gone.
"Thank you, Pola. This quarter’s numbers should be no problem, thanks to you."
Lumi said her farewells as she tugged the muffalo’s reins.
After glancing around furtively, she leaned close to whisper in my ear.
"You think that little rat and that Neanderthal are protecting you? No. They’re just raising a ‘goose that lays golden eggs.’"
The sensation of her lips near my ear sent a chill down my spine.
"Once they get tired of you, they might turn that pretty skin of yours into a sofa."
Riiip—
Goosebumps raced down my back. I looked at Lumi with an expression that was nearly tearful.
She held out her hand, and I shook it without much thought. Then an unfamiliar object brushed against my palm.
This was... a chip?
"Judging by the components you bought, you’re building a communications device, right? This is a secret frequency. Contact me if those women try to eat you."
"..."
"The Rabbies Special Forces will sweep through this entire area... but they have eyes, too, so they’ll take you away politely."
At least they would not see you as meat.
Leaving those words behind, Lumi departed the settlement and vanished into the distance.
The muffalo, dragged along with all the devices I had repaired hanging from it, somehow looked like it was in the same predicament as me.
.
.
RimWorld.
Its official name was the Frontier World, but no one called it that properly.
What exactly went on in this place, more commonly called the “RimWorld” or the “Devil’s Den”?
They said specialized camps were run to harvest fresh organs.
The husks left after harvesting were butchered, their meat used as feed and their hides made into clothes or furniture.
Even now, it terrified me to think that an empty theater with nothing but sofas left inside was named the Human Theater.
"Pola."
"Eek!"
Green Shark was chewing up an entire squirrel she had hunted nearby.
Normally, I had thought she simply had a healthy appetite.
But now it looked as though she would someday rip off my arms and legs and chew on them.
[Severe Mental Break Warning]
No, that could not be true.
Not as long as I was still “needed”....
"Huaah..."
I had barely slept at all these past few days.
Even after assigning us separate beds, neither of them had any intention of using them, so I had built one large bed instead.
Every night, the two of them would crawl over and make a sandwich out of me.
"At first, I thought my popularity had finally exploded, but..."
A round, adorable Marmotte buried her face against my chest,
while broad but voluptuous Green Shark embraced me from behind. If you asked whether I disliked the feeling, that was not it.
"Surely not... No, it can’t be."
Whatever sexual desire had been rising in me had abruptly died after Lumi’s visit.
It might be a RimWorld prejudice, but was the fact that they had not raped me yet at least gentlemanly?
One month later, the settlement had developed spectacularly compared to before.
It was still a case of cramming everything into one building, but we now had a decent storage room, and the kitchen had acquired a proper stove.
Above all, the biggest change was the installation of eco-friendly solar power, meaning we no longer had to hunt boomalopes to keep the generator running.
"What does this do?"
"It’s a comms console. We’ve also got a long-range satellite antenna now, so we should be able to prepare for sudden cold waves like last time."
Green Shark showed interest in the dish mounted on top of the building, but lost interest as soon as she realized it was not food.
Marmotte welcomed the prospect of finally being able to conduct research at an advanced research bench with both arms raised.
The Ratkin species was ill-suited for shooting, but Green Shark would handle all the melee fighting anyway.
"Pola should at least be able to protect himself, too."
Marmotte thumped her chest.
You two are the most dangerous ones here.
I forcibly swallowed down the words that had risen to my throat.
.
Late at night, I quietly got up.
Marmotte had long since fallen asleep with soft little snores, and Green Shark was asleep too, sniffling through her nose.
I carefully slipped free of the arms wrapped around me and climbed out of bed.
"....."
After looking back at the two sleeping soundly, I made my way to the comms console without making a sound.
Click.
Perhaps it was because I had already spent a month living like a primitive, but the console’s blue light felt strangely unfamiliar.
My fingers trembled.
Beep, beep, beep. Beep.
Kshhhhh—
When I entered the emergency rescue channel operated by the Union, static-filled noise came through.
"This is Polaris, an engineer with the Union assigned to Planet M1308. I am currently stranded on a planet at the edge of the Icarus Star System. Can you confirm my coordinates?"
Kshh—
I did not use the chip Lumi had given me.
I might be able to save my life, but she was a merchant. She understood my “value” far too well, which made it dangerous.
Going to the Rabbies would be like fleeing from a thief only to seek out a bandit.
"I repeat. I am currently stranded on a planet at the edge of the Icarus Star System. Please respond."
But only silence answered. It was the same no matter how many times I tried.
I did not know exactly where the Icarus Star System was in the galaxy, but could it really be so far away that radio waves could not reach it?
That was impossible. The resort planet that had been my original destination was not even that far away.
"Please, someone answer me. I’m being held captive!"
Amid the crackling static, unpleasant laughter mixed in.
—...Oh?
It was neither the clear guidance voice of an automated response system nor the stern voice of a Union officer.
—Did you hear that? That was a man’s voice just now, wasn’t it?
—Such “soft” Middle Realm standard speech, too. Was there a male left anywhere around here?
—And an individual intelligent enough to send a proper distress signal.
Laughter burst forth as though they had been idly changing channels with blank expressions and happened upon a hilarious comedy program.
"W-who are you? Are you Union forces?"
—Union forces? Ahahaha! We’re much kinder people than those lot.
—You said you were being held captive, right? Don’t worry. We’ll be coming to hunt soon.
Strangely, the countless voices all belonged to women.
Click.
The transmission cut off. A red warning message, [Signal Hijacking Detected], flashed across the screen that had been glowing blue.
Thud.
Strength drained from my legs.
My distress signal had never reached the star system in the first place.
It had merely echoed emptily across this vast planet, announcing the existence of a treasure worth seventy thousand silver.
Rustle.
In the darkness, Green Shark was sitting up.
"What are you doing up?"
The console’s red warning light reflected in her eyes.
It gleamed like the eyes of a starving beast.
Yet now, she alone was my last hope of salvation from the raiders who would come charging at me like mad.
-----
Today’s RimWorld average.
The tribal start is difficult because Microelectronics costs 4,500 research.
What matters is the smile.
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