F.O.S. Starship
Babylonia
Alright, alright, settle down! Look here! I'm actually taking it now!
Laughing and jostling one another, several students fresh in their F.O.S. College uniforms fell into a line beneath the F.O.S. Monument.
Ready? Look here! Three, two, one—
Their youthful smiles were frozen in the terminal's image, caught and preserved.
Wow... that turned out great! Nia, come on, you have to be in the next one! It's our first college anniversary as actual students. You can't just stay behind the camera the whole time!
Thanks, but I'm good! What I'm actually curious about, though... why does the F.O.S. Monument only have a top half?
Oh yeah... My dad mentioned that once. He said back when it was on the surface, the F.O.S. Monument was carved from a single massive piece of black rock. Here...
Lifting their heads, the students gazed up at the towering black monument.
It had been broken clean through the middle, the dark stone's jagged edges remaining cold and sharp at the fracture, like a gaping wound that refused to heal, yet was forcibly preserved in that very state.
Beyond the monument, several commandants who had graduated from F.O.S. stood together.
Tsk... Why drag me into this anniversary nonsense? The Gray Raven Commandant's the one they should be fawning over.
Haha, we invited the Gray Raven Commandant too, but got word the commandant's still tied up on a surface mission. Already agreed to come, just couldn't make it back in time...
...Hello! You must be the distinguished graduates the college invited!
The curious freshmen crowded around them.
...
Vanessa furrowed her brow and cut Elianna off, her words laced with clear impatience.
What do you want?
Sorry to interrupt! We're new students at F.O.S., and we were wondering... why is only the top half of the monument here on the starship?
...
Listen up. I'll say this once, so pay attention. Anything else, take it up with your instructors. I'm not your history lecturer.
The F.O.S. Monument on Earth was intact. It bore the complete inscriptions: the academy's founding history, its distinguished alumni, and a full chronicle of major events.
Then the Punishing Virus broke out. The area around F.O.S. got swallowed by war, and the monument collapsed during an incident.
The superintendent at the time wanted to make a smaller replica here on the starship. But Dominik overruled him, insisting on relocating only the upper half intact.
...Relocate it intact? But why?! Wouldn't that have taken way more—
...Nobody knows why.
Vanessa tilted her head back slightly as light from Babylonia's artificial dome fell upon the monument standing tall on the starship, its surface gleaming brilliantly.
In the academy records, Dominik left exactly one statement about it. That's it.
"Electronic coordinates can be blocked by space. Only torn vessels will be able to serve as anchors for each other and follow fate's trajectory to return home."
At the time, everyone thought it was just another riddle Dominik left behind—
What the?!
Babylonia is under attack! Several attacks are targeting the F.O.S. starship—
Retreat! Get to the nearest shelter, now!
Conference Room
Babylonia
As the last footage of the F.O.S. starship stored on Babylonia finishes playing once more, Asimov turns off the terminal. Below, you flip through the complete reports on the F.O.S. starship.
Three months had passed since the attack, and Babylonia just barely managed an emergency landing. Before stability could return, the F.O.S. starship ejected and separated without warning.
Babylonia never gave up the search for the F.O.S. starship. At first, the Science Council could barely pick up intermittent signals from it, but twenty days ago, the signal vanished completely.
That
Not exactly. I called you here because of that communicator you brought back from
I didn't expect much from it, honestly. Just wanted to see if it might offer a different angle. But it picked up something... unusual.
▄▃▂■■▇▃█▂▄▃▂■▇■▃█▂...
Harsh static crackles through the audio as Asimov plays it back.
■▃█████All the▇█▂▄best to you█▂▄█▂▄...!
Asimov raises a hand, motioning for you to keep listening.
Through the bursts of white noise, faint cheers and lively chatter drift out, conjuring the image of a joyous celebration unfolding.
█████▂▄lovey-dovey■▇▃██▂▃█■▃happy▃█▃█▂▄▃▂■▇▄▃▂■▇...
Plagued by noise, the audio recording drags on, difficult to discern. Then comes what sounds like a chorus of voices, each taking a turn to offer blessings to the newly engaged couple.
It almost feels as though the communicator has mistakenly caught a broadcast from some proposal happening far below on the surface...
Though it bears no connection to you, the unguarded joy and laughter piercing the distorted static hold an oddly moving quality. They seep through your ears, gently soothing a heart grown restless under the weight of endless tasks.
█████▄▃▂▄▃▂research█▂▄██Sefirah▇▃█▂testing▇▃█▂▂▄█...
Within the garbled transmission, a term all too familiar surfaces without warning.
Yes. Sefirah.
I had Rosa run a full analysis on the audio through multiple methods. There's no possibility of fabrication.
That communicator operates on a fixed frequency anchored to the surface-level F.O.S. coordinates. Designed for two-way communication between F.O.S. and Ezette.
Naturally, the signal it received would originate from surface-level F.O.S.
No people, but there are still other things there.
The F.O.S. Monument.
Dominik overruled everyone back then. Insisted on bringing the upper half onto the starship, no matter what it took. And now a signal like this turns up, of all times...
There may be critical elements at the original surface-level F.O.S. site that were never fully investigated.
The military has issued a new mission to investigate anomalies at the old site.
It was going to Cerberus, but I intercepted it.
The reason I gave was that Cerberus lacks a commandant capable of ground deployment, and therefore cannot handle unexpected emergencies on-site.
...
He powers down the main screen and turns his gaze over.
This audio file isn't as straightforward as it appears. The underlying data shows abnormal fluctuations, and its electromagnetic signature doesn't match any recorded frequency band.
It's possible someone deliberately engineered this signal so Babylonia would pick it up... or precisely so we couldn't.
Alternatively, this audio originated from an unconventional source and happened to be caught by Ezette's communicator by pure chance.
Then... a third possibility exists.
He lifts his head, and in his dark red eyes, careful deliberation gleams.
This audio... most likely doesn't belong to our "timeline."
The Hetero Tower.
The two of you arrive at the answer simultaneously.
I can't confirm it yet. That's precisely why I kept the decoded audio restricted. The fewer people who know about this, the better...
And it's also why I want you to take on this mission.
Your background at F.O.S. College, combined with your field experience from the Hetero Tower campaign, makes you the best choice. Whether it's docking with the starship once we reach the coordinates, or investigating whatever secrets the old F.O.S. site still holds on the ground.
And there's the timing. When the F.O.S. starship disappeared, the college was in the middle of its anniversary celebration. Most active commandants were attending the festivities at their respective posts.
Put simply, we don't have anyone better suited for this right now.
A quip rises to your lips, but the words never find their way out.
The F.O.S. starship, the Hetero Tower... The starship carries colleagues and the next generation of cadets. The Hetero Tower threatens all of humanity. No matter how you look at it, there is no room for error on this mission.
You remember the archival photographs you once saw in the F.O.S. library. It was a solemn, dignified campus radiating an air of proud glory.
The F.O.S. starship was built as a near-perfect replica of that original campus, meant to carry humanity on its journey to the stars. But that shining dream never came to pass.
When the Punishing Virus broke out, F.O.S. College lost over half its faculty and students in battle before the evacuation order arrived. The starship launched amid the chaos, leaving the campus behind in a desperate scramble. What secrets remain in the ruins below, no one knows.
As for the rest... I've already said more than enough. Celica will forward you the mission briefing. Watch yourself out there.
Asimov puts away his terminal and turns to leave. You remain seated alone in the dark conference room.
F.O.S. College... Where could it be now?
You close your eyes. The memories hold fast, vivid and untouched by time.
Professor Vermeer brought mechanical dynamics to life—even the dullest structural diagrams turned vivid in his hands. For close-quarters combat, it was Instructor Lester, a cold-weapon specialist, who taught you everything you know.
Elianna and Valen, your upperclassmen who later turned faculty. And Vanessa, who accepted the invitation to visit F.O.S. on its anniversary...
It's a starship built to forge humanity's future leaders, a college bearing the hopes of generations.
Even after graduation, you have returned regularly, invited to lecture, to dissect combat scenarios. Every hallway, every familiar corner. The students, rapt with attention. The professors who once shaped you...
Are they... alright now?
And why, of all days, did it have to be the anniversary celebration...
Thoughts in turmoil, you open the file from Asimov again to watch the last footage of F.O.S. preserved in Babylonia's records.
Tsk... Why drag me into this anniversary nonsense? The Gray Raven Commandant's the one they should be fawning over.
Haha, we invited the Gray Raven Commandant too...
The footage shows the starship alive with laughter and celebration before static snow swallows the screen whole.
Two Days Later
Aboard the transport, Lucia rises to her feet and makes her way to the rear storage compartment for the third time, double-checking the mission supplies.
...Sorry, Commandant.
Back in her seat, Lucia furrows her brow and pulls up her terminal again, checking how much farther you have to go.
It's nothing. I probably just knocked my memory module during routine frame maintenance the other day...
...
A moment of hesitation, and then Lucia speaks, her voice heavy.
These past two days... I keep recalling hazy memories of
An endless white fog swallows her fractured dreams, and everything dissolves into the haze.
But... I shouldn't be having "dreams" like this.
The Hetero Tower never shows itself here, which means the Fog shouldn't exist in this world at all.
I will, Commandant.
The black-haired Construct gives you a smile in return.
As you speak, the transport banks and descends, dust swirling up in its wake. Below, the ruins of F.O.S. College rise into view.
The campus, once magnificent, lies like the skeleton of some great whale, stripped bare by time. Only the shattered prism tower at its center still catches the light, its fading brilliance refracting the blood-red glow of the setting sun.
So this... is F.O.S.
