Unparalleled Path ~ Reincarnated as the AI for a space battleship ~ Chapter 7

Translator’s Notes:

The title does genuinely say battleship, as in senkan, not battlecruiser as expected.

Now on to the main topic you’ve all been waiting for! An amateur Japanese machine translator explaining the MC’s name!

So the MC’s name is Makato written as Truth (真). Truth is said as Shin, that’s why I was translating it as Shin, but not as Makato. I’ll be using Makato from now on and replace the older chapters later.

Chapter 7 – The dead battleship

Sakurako spoke in a low voice.
「Hey Makato-kun, do you know the answer?」

Yamazaki-sensei has written a complicated mathematical formula on the board. Sugishita who sits in front of Sakurako drops his shoulders in defeat in his seat.

It’s early summer, smoke is rising from the chimney of the trash incineration plant. The sound of brown cicada’s rings in the air, as wind lightly blows Sakurako’s short hair.

「Well, I do know」
I respond to her.

「Really!? Ne, tell me secretly」 she said.

「Ok」
She didn’t seem to be focusing on the question at all. The question is quite difficult though. Even Nasukawa who’s ranked 7th in the entire grade has stopped his hands.

Sakurako spoke up.
「So what do you do first?」

First of all. I concentrate my consciousness.

I received the answer immediately. Just looking at the blackboard causes the answer to appear in my head, it’s a mysterious feeling. All the formula’s created by mankind had been engraved on me. Even ones not discovered in this era.

「Asagaya Makato」

「How much longer do we have to endure? The injured people don’t have much time left」

Apparently she lost consciousness for about 2 seconds. To be precise, it was 1.85 seconds. Anyway, I abandoned almost all control of the ship. Dropping my memory usage to 1%. I can’t help feeling free in my spare time.

「23 minutes, 11 seconds until contact with enemy ship」

To my answer, the crew gave a groan of despair. The whole crew of the ship had gathered on the bridge. They were wearing thick clothes to mitigate the cold.

Right now the temperature of the bridge is minus 52 degress, far less than a human can ordinarily endure. As Sohaira breathed out, her breath froze. The red light from the emergency light gave everything an eerie glow. A cord of spare wire is wrapped around her waist, the same wire is wrapped around the rest of the crew. Not only the life support system, but the ship’s anti-gravity system has also been turned off. So the wire is to prevent them floating away. Because of the weightlessness, Sohaira’s breath rises towards the ceiling.

「Please put on the heater for just a little while」 she said.

It’s a difficult request, she knows this. It takes a considerable amount of energy to adjust the temperature. To do so, I would have to raise the ships power output from 0.3% to 5%. If I do that, the enemy will pick up on the fact that we’re still functioning.

But it’s true the injured cannot last much longer. The injuries of Madiro in particular were a lot worse than I thought.

Is there a way to heat the bridge without using the power core? What other heat sources are available? Just like the last 200 times, the search results return nothing.

However, my sensor has caught heat sources other than the bridge. There was an intense thermal reaction between the upper and lower ammunition storehouses. In addition, there are several objects with a calorific value above a human bodies natural temperature around the ship.

They are shells that have pierced the ship up to now. The mass bullets contain high quantities of heavy metals. Part of them emits heat due to radioactive decay. Because of the risk from radioactive contamination, they must be kept away from people as much as possible. According to the AI model, these heat sources cannot be used.

I operate a ventilation duct and release part of the closed bulkhead. The heat from the upper ammunition storehouse flows into the bridge. Although just by a few degrees, the temperature increased.

「Thank you」 Sohaira said.

「Don’t mention it」

Although the probability of survival for the injured people increased. The risk to the other staff also increased. (TLN: They all could get detected, but if they didn’t do it the injured people might die)

I didn’t want to tell them. Even if I did, their decision wouldn’t change.

I cut the camera’s night vision function. The image becomes dark.

23 minutes quickly passed.

Five enemy battlecruisers approached from a few kilometers away. A number of tractor beams were fired, halting my rotation.

Their bellies opened and numerous assault ships filed out.

All to capture a precious battlecruiser.

I imagine their faces after being captured by an enemy AI.

After receiving several direct hits, the hull is tattered. Rather, it’s a close miracle it managed to survive the bombardment. The reactor is silent and the number of enemies detected is zero. All of the mass munition turrets are not operational. The inside of the hull is cold. A slight temperature response shows there are several survivors. With that in mind, the armored soldiers advance.

The 5 enemy ships are completely intact.

It seems that all the short range laser guns are facing me. The main gun is also facing me, but it’s meaningless. If they released a mass bullet at this distance, they will also be destroyed. It would cause a massive explosion in the fusion reactor. Both the AI and the officers of the enemy ship should know that.

Of course, my side is also the same. We would surely die if the enemy’s fusion reactor explodes. At such a short range, even just aiming at the bow or stern can cause a large amount of energy to reach the fusion reactor.

I immediately raised the power output of my fusion reactor and activated all gun batteries.

Each turret is facing a random direction, none is aiming at an enemy ship.

Regardless, I launched 10 mass bullets as is.

- -

Chapter end