The Owl Dragon First Star-Port · the topmost ceremonial viewing platform
The Holy Angel Queen looked at the two figures opposite; never in her life, she supposed, had she thought to meet them upon such an occasion as this.
"My lady Angel Queen, well met." Ah-Yin smiled, and made her salute after the manner of the Angel Race.
Every motion of it was thoroughly practiced.
Ah-Jin, for her part, was a good deal colder, and only watched it all in silence.
"This wine is truly good." The War Angel King had long since seated himself in a chair beside them, drinking the fine wine that is the Owl Dragon Star System's own, and praising it without end.
The high leaders of the Angel Race and of the Machine Race, in one place and at one time.
In former days this was a thing none would have dared so much as think of.
And she knew besides.
That in a private room next door there was a company of the Demon Race's chiefs; but since the Demon Race's territory had been carved by the Owl Dragon Commander into region upon region, they counted as chiefs of the Demon Race still, and yet their rank no longer reached to that of such as these.
The Holy Angel Queen looked at her countryman there, and shook her head helplessly.
She herself, for her part, walked up before that chief of the Machine Race.
"How may I call you?" The Holy Angel Queen greeted her of her own accord, which Ah-Yin had not looked for.
Ah-Yin answered with a smile: "Ah-Yin."
"Ah-Yin, have you… have you truly decided?"
"Haven't you seen our mistress already? Our mistress should have told you our position. The mistress's will is the will of the whole Machine Race," Ah-Yin said with a smile.
"But… will you give up everything here, just so?" the Holy Angel Queen asked, past believing it.
After she had spoken with that leader of the Machine Race who came so suddenly, she truly could not quite understand it.
At that time the Machine Race's leader had come alone into the Angel Race's territory, before her Holy Temple Mount.
And came to the point with a single speech.
"We of the Machine Race will leave this world, and all that is the Machine Race's will pass to the Lord of the Owl Dragon. At the same time, a single unified polity will be established within this universe, and there will be one leader only, and that is the Owl Dragon's lord, Zhao Chen. Do you consent?" the tall woman officer asked coldly.
At that the War Angel King asked outright: "What does that mean? That lad means to call himself king?"
The Holy Angel Queen held the War Angel King back, and asked with knitted brows: "What if we consent, and what if we do not?"
"Consent, and you have the right to go on living. Do not consent. And we of the Machine Race will, before we leave this universe, utterly destroy your Angel Race." The tall woman officer raised her hand and pointed at the Holy Angel Queen.
In that moment an unseen pressure bore down upon the two Angel Sovereigns.
Within their hearts not the least doubt could arise.
If they did not consent, the Machine Race would truly open war upon the Angel Race.
How strong the Machine Race was, everyone knew well.
And there was besides this strange creature before them, and that strange interstellar warship.
And the Owl Dragon too was very strong now; if this were the Owl Dragon's meaning.
Then it meant beyond doubt that if the Angel Race did not consent, they would face the Machine Race and the Owl Dragon Legion at once!
To say nothing of the Angel Race now, with its strength so greatly reduced, even the Angel Race at its height would not surely have had a chance of winning.
In the end they chose to consent.
"I hope you will keep your word. Otherwise, to the ends of heaven and the corners of the sea. I will hunt you down and destroy your Angel Race!" So saying, the tall woman officer vanished outright.
And that mysterious interstellar warship flew out from the planet of the Holy Temple Mount, and vanished among the sea of stars.
Recalling this memory.
Recalling that person, and that air about her,
the Holy Angel Queen was deeply uneasy still.
"I have said it. This is the mistress's command, and that is the whole will of our Machine Race," Ah-Yin said flatly.
"That Order, whatever it is… that Black Great-Wall Base, whatever it is… are they all true?" the Holy Angel Queen asked again.
After that tall woman officer had left,
the Lord of the Owl Dragon had contacted her as well, and had sent her a body of material besides.
Within it was an interstellar power from outside this universe, named Order.
And the Machine Race's purpose these ten thousand years.
The Gaia Empire… the Black Great-Wall Base… and the rest of it.
Many astonishing things were written there; yet for not a few of them some trace could actually be found within the Angel Race's own records.
"You know all that you ought to know. If you hold now that all of it is false, then no more that I say will be of any use," Ah-Yin said with a smile.
"Why him?" The Holy Angel Queen threw out another question.
Though she named no name,
Ah-Yin knew who was meant.
Ah-Yin raised her head to the sea of stars beyond the floor-length window: "Had you asked me this a year ago. I might have wondered too. Just as that companion of mine does now."
Ah-Yin pointed to Ah-Jin beside her, cold of expression.
It could be seen that she truly could not quite accept this business; but because it was the mistress's command, she would carry it out whatever came.
"But now I hold. That within this universe, he alone. Is this universe's hope!" Ah-Yin said with a smile.
"Why?" The Holy Angel Queen reckoned that she had asked more questions today than she commonly asked in a year.
"Because he can bring a miracle. In the case as it now stands, only a miracle can save our world," Ah-Yin said in earnest.
The Holy Angel Queen sighed lightly, and asked in a tone as of homely chat: "Order… is it truly so terrible…"
Ah-Yin said, recalling: "Order…"
Enemies once, they talked here now like old friends.
…
The T5 Diamond Eden-class Starship · the viewing area
It was a vast room of several stories.
Upon one side was a transparent floor-length window, through which the scene outside could be seen.
And there was a great deal of food within the room.
Food of every kind.
"Eat this; this one tastes good!"
"And this one; put a little cumin on this, and it is truly fine."
"So you like snail-noodles too![1] Hahahaha, you have taste, the stuff really is good. I eat it often while I am working. It wakes you up wonderfully! But not in your own office; another person's office will do. Myself, I go to Nana's office." Chief Engineer Annie went along with Hive Princess behind her, as though she were inspecting her own dominions.
Hive Princess, for her part, kept stuffing her mouth with delicacies of every kind, yet that little belly of hers showed not the least sign of swelling.
"Fond of eating snail-noodles while you work, are you!"
A grim voice suddenly came from behind Annie.
Annie turned her head and saw Nana with a black face.
Nana cracked her fists one against the other: "I did say it: why my office had a certain smell about it before. It was you, eating snail-noodles in my office!"
"This… this… if I said it was a misunderstanding, would you believe it? I walked into the wrong office at the time!"