Warrant Officer Zhu Jiawen's duty on the bridge was as a member of the radar department.
Because T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1 had blundered into the interstellar interference zone laid by the interstellar hive-race,
T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1 had been 'halted' outright.
And several T5 Starfield Venom-Blast Bugs had been set off besides.
Fortunately it was a T6-grade interstellar warship, and only one ship!
Had it been a T5 interstellar warship, it would most likely have been destroyed on the spot.
Or rather, had it been a whole fleet, it would not have been a few T5 Starfield Venom-Blast Bugs set off, but a whole field of them.
And the force produced would have been far greater.
Not even a T6 interstellar warship could have come through it unscathed.
And after that, naturally, came their radar department's critical work.
They worked with the navigation department, reporting without pause on the T5 Starfield Venom-Blast Bugs that radar detected along their course.
Without touching a single one of them, they had to sail out of there at the greatest possible speed.
At that stage the whole radar department was at the very top of its game.
Besides the heavy workload, more important still, they knew this very well.
His Majesty the Emperor was with them!
Nearly every one of them understood one thing.
If they died, it did not matter.
Even if they could not be revived, it did not matter.
But His Majesty the Emperor must not die!
No one dared gamble with His Majesty the Emperor's life.
If any harm came to His Majesty, they would all be criminals!
Carrying that feeling,
they were at the very top of their game.
And happily they brought their interstellar warship out of the region.
Then began building to warp speed, trying to go on with the withdrawal.
At that point Warrant Officer Zhu Jiawen and the others had felt some relief.
What came next was no longer theirs to do.
But the gloom in their hearts did not lift in the least.
For they knew very well that in that earlier stretch, too much time had been lost.
And in the end, the threat of the spatial collapse caught up with this starship after all.
And its speed was very great!
Greater even than their starship's warp speed.
And the speed kept rising.
They had known then that there was no escaping.
After that the bridge began passing word.
Telling them this starship could not reach a safe area, and would be destroyed.
And because what they faced was the peculiar case of three-dimensional space collapsing into two.
No one could say how they would die under such conditions.
Or whether they could be revived.
So His Majesty the Emperor gave the order himself that they take the drug they carried and end their lives.
"Did His Majesty take it?" Charlotte at once asked Warrant Officer Zhu Jiawen, who was telling it.
Warrant Officer Zhu Jiawen shook her head. "From where I worked, I couldn't see where His Majesty was."
"Then did you all take it?" Lilith pressed the somewhat agitated Charlotte's shoulder down and looked at Warrant Officer Zhu Jiawen.
Warrant Officer Zhu Jiawen hesitated, then shook her head.
"Why?" Lilith asked, puzzled.
Warrant Officer Zhu Jiawen said with guilt, "About T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1's disaster. I think we bear the responsibility. It was we who failed to foresee it in time; it was we who put His Majesty in danger. So… at the time… I had it in mind to die by way of atonement. So I didn't take the drug. But I never thought I'd be revived all the same."
"Which is to say, you saw with your own eyes the moment T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1 was destroyed?" Lilith asked then, out of curiosity.
Namely: what a three-dimensional space collapsing into a two-dimensional one was really like.
Warrant Officer Zhu Jiawen thought back and said, "I vaguely remember a fragment, but I'm not sure whether it was a dream. I suddenly looked toward the part of the bridge nearer the stern. It felt as though sky and ground had begun to stick together, from far off coming nearer, and everything close to that line began to twist. Not only things, people too. It was… it was as though a person had been flattened… like… like those paper-thin people in a comic. The whole thing happened very fast. The next second that line covered where I was. And then… what was before my eyes… became… became very strange, wholly unlike anything I… had ever seen; I… I… I can't seem to recall it anymore…"
Warrant Officer Zhu Jiawen, who had been speaking steadily, now looked somewhat pained, and put a hand to her head.
"I… why can't I remember…"
Lilith noticed abnormal readings on the life-monitoring equipment beside her.
She at once soothed her: "If you can't remember, then don't try. It isn't important!"
After some soothing, Warrant Officer Zhu Jiawen at last grew wholly calm.
Warrant Officer Zhu Jiawen looked at Charlotte and Lilith, all guilt. "Grand Marshal, Lady Secretary. For His Majesty the Emperor's peril this time, we bear responsibility we cannot escape. I am guilty! I request a court-martial…"
Lilith cut Warrant Officer Zhu Jiawen short and said earnestly, "No one foresaw a thing like this. You did nothing wrong; you did all you could do. Next, rest and recover here. But because of how you died, you and your former shipmates may for a time need to be cut off from communicating with the outside."
Warrant Officer Zhu Jiawen nodded in understanding.
"Then rest well. We'll take our leave." Charlotte and Lilith made ready to go.
They were just about to reach the door.
Warrant Officer Zhu Jiawen could not help asking, "Um… I'd like to ask… has His Majesty… been revived?"
Charlotte's and Lilith's bodies both went stiff.
Lilith looked back and said softly, "That is a top-secret matter. Rest well, and don't put yourself under too much strain."
With that, the two pushed open the door and walked out of the room.
After a few words with the head outside, they left.
Warrant Officer Zhu Jiawen sat on her hospital bed, recalling the scenes before her death.
The first half was clear enough, but from the spatial collapse on, her memory began to blur.
But in her mind, His Majesty the Emperor's rich voice over the starship's broadcast had settled their hearts.
"Everyone, take the drug in good time. Don't carry any burden over it. We will meet again very soon. You are all heroes of this great campaign. See you at home."
See you at home.
Warrant Officer Zhu Jiawen clenched her fists.
Your Majesty, you promised us that.
You must not break your promise!