Chapter 12 - Huntly Mine (part 1)

- Ok, thanks for contacting me. I will arrange for a one-week accommodation for you in Perth, 11 December to 18 December, 2050. The visit to Huntly Mine will be guided by one of my people in the University of New South Wales from the applied science department. But why do you suddenly want to visit our bauxite mines?

- My company is importing minerals, and I am asked to go around to check the quality of the ores over some places that the bosses ask me to visit. Sorry for bothering you near the end of the year.

- It's fine. It has been quite long since you contacted me. Bye then.

- Bye!

I shut the holographic video call. The person that was on the screen is one of my classmates during university, Issac. He studied with me at Tokyo University, but after graduation, he decided to work as a professor in material science in Australia, where he has access to resources such as mineral ores and synthetic materials. We have been in contact since then.

I pack my stuff in my backpack, just for the appearance purpose. Who would believe me, even a scientist, if I tell him or her that I have a tablet than can store as many items as I like? There are a few sets of clothes, personal hygiene items, a bottle of water, a weather barrier sphere, and my identification card which also serves as a passport and a credit card. In the next room, Mirai is conducting a self-maintenance again, and I see her attaching something on her right arm...

The day comes. After deciding a safe corner where nobody can see us, we activate the teleportation base and go straight to the Tokyo pod station. Airports are replaced with them, which contain lanes of ultrafast tubes. A pod, which can comfortably accommodate a family with their belongings, is accelerated from the station in Japan, travelling in the vacuum-sealed tube under the sea at speeds exceeding two kilometres per second, carries us straight to the pod station in Canberra, the majestic capital of Australia.

Actually, we could have immediately teleported there, but then pod stations are the only place that you can obtain a seal of emigration from a departure country and a seal of immigration from the destination country. In other words, it is the only legal way to travel between countries, like airports and sea ports. Teleportation only works for us in domestic travelling.

It takes an hour for us to finish the immigration customs, thanks to the fact that there are large volumes of people travelling in the festive period. Not only that, it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere, which just worsens the traffic near the pod station. At least, the car that would take us to Issac's place is already waiting.

- Issac, it's been long, man. How's life? - I come to Issac, who is standing next to the car, and shake his hands.

- Hi Yuusha. Pretty good out here. This country is like a paradise for people like us, and I am sure you would be amazed too. By the way, who is the woman next to you?

- Ah, meet Mirai, one of my colleagues from the same department. She is also deployed on this trip with me to collect samples.

- You never told me that there will be two people... But I think that the place will be able to accommodate two people. Now, let's bring you around a bit.

- OK, thanks!

Issac has changed quite a lot since I last saw him in our graduation ceremony. It seems like he looks brighter, and maybe a little bit more muscular. Maybe Australia is just the right environment for him to thrive.

After the renovation in around 2040 to cater to the rising trend of studying abroad worldwide, the University of New South Wales continues to prove its elite standards, offering more than two hundred courses spanning across different sectors. It also expands their collaboration with other government sectors and private firms to give more internment opportunities for students, hence we can access the mine.

I signal to Mirai when the car is touring us around the university campus.

- Mirai, have you redirected the satellites towards the Southwest region, near Perth?

- Yes. We will initiate an overall scan as soon as we get to the hotel. I will conduct the last check for the drones we will be deploying tomorrow.

After the tour, the car finally arrives at our hotel. Not a luxurious one, but with good view and is within our budget. After helping us to clear the check-in, Issac leaves, and Mirai and I go to our room on the highest floor.

After entering our room, which is a comfortable 30-metre-square area with a large bedroom and a bathroom, I lock the door. Mirai claps two times, and the light system is turned on. There is also a balcony, so I set up the signal redirection device there to focus the reception signal from Huntly Mine to the hotel. After receiving the signal from the satellites, I signal Mirai, who sits inside the room, connecting her central processing unit with the satellite's database. The processed data is directly sent to the tablet within a few seconds. Now, on the screen, there is the map of Huntly Mine, along with some graphs, charts and numbers dancing around as if there is a party inside it.

- So, as you can see here, this is a topographical map of the Huntly Mine. Like any other mines, the centre will be the deepest part, used for extraction. It features a complicated system of underground pathways for the miners. Then, around the mine, there are factories lined up to immediately process the ores. The number is so large, that if the Intruders sneakily build a factory here, nobody would notice. - Mirai points at the map.

- Then, what about the graphs and charts?

- When you tap on a specific area, this graph measures the abnormalities around that area. As far as the satellite can scan, the graph shows no abnormal readings. However, we need to actually go there to investigate. This bar chart ranks the abnormality value of different areas, but there is nothing yet.

After the discussion, we leave the setup open to continue recording data. Just in case, before we leave the hotel for a walk, I carefully attach the setup with an EMP device, which automatically triggers when somebody else touch the device, immediately destroying the setup and erasing any evidence from the machine. Simultaneously, it will send an alarm to us if the EMP device is triggered. Every five minutes, the collected data will be sent to the tablet, and the setup would reboot to erase the sent data in its memory. With that, we still have our data, while safeguarding our anonymity.

We lock the door of our hotel room, and go for a stroll. Pedestrian links are not installed in this area, so we just walk on the roads. There is no people outside the roads, even when it is just late afternoon. It is just us wandering in the infinite pool filled with the void. The streets are empty, as if nothingness has enclosed them. If without the presence of the closed shops, houses and buildings along the roads we walk through as the proof of human existence, one would literally be driven nuts from the endless silence and nothing in sight.

Yet, there is an uncommon sense of tranquillity that runs through my body. A sense of tranquillity that one would find it hard to derive from the busyness and noisiness of the daily life in a metropolitan city. Temporarily putting aside the pressure from the work of protecting the world and stepping into the alluring trap of nothingness, one would never feel like walking out of it anymore.

After a roughly one to two kilometres, there is a bar open, unexpectedly. We open the door, and the bell rings. From the corner, a man, maybe in his forties or fifties, stands up. He hands us the menu, which is full of drinks with weird names I have never heard of. The bar looks empty, so I let myself loose a bit.

- One draft beer please. - I ordered. - With ice.

- OK, young man. What do you want, young lady? - The bartender scoops a "cup-ful" of cold beer from the refrigerator for me, while asking Mirai.

- I would like to have any light alcohol, please.

- So that will be a 45 degrees Vodka for the lady here. - The bartender hands me a large cup of fresh, icy cold draft beer, registering Mirai's order at the same time.

The bartender opens up a new bottle of Vodka and pours it into a shaker. He puts something else into it and shake professionally. Then, the colourless mixture is poured into a wine glass, decorated with a lemon slice. He hands the cup elegantly to Mirai, who also receives it elegantly.

Life seems peaceful when you put aside the daily mental pressure...

Mirai looks at the cup. Looks like she is scanning the content of it. After that, she draws out a pistol from her dress and aims at the bartender.

- This drink contains nanobots that kills humanoid robots. Who are you?

The bartender does not look confused. He makes a smile.

- Ah, so you can detect that. Now, go to hell! - The bartender draws a rifle and starts shooting.