Even without weapons — just using mechanical arms and mechanical legs alone — he could obliterate an opponent. That realization stirred a strange thrill in Luka, who had lost everything to the Aegis invasion and had been drowning in helplessness. It was a feeling caught between anticipation and fear.
Could I take revenge on Aegis, then?
At the very least, he hoped to gain enough strength to dare to dream of vengeance against those vicious people who had shattered his world to pieces….
The pale blue eyes that had been imagining a stronger version of himself quickly filled with disappointment. What Kai was describing was, honestly, something difficult to achieve in reality.
To be able to handle a prosthetic body at that level, he would have to become a machine-person. A horrific killing machine with circuits and wires from the mechanics connected all the way into the brain. Luka didn’t want to become the kind of existence that had been swallowed whole by metal.
“Ah, all done! I’ll head over to the maintenance bay later and bump the servo motor output up by another 15%. So that any movement you make can be perfectly replicated!”
Kai hummed a tune and stuck their head back into the pile of machinery. The captain lightly placed a hand on Luka’s forehead to check his temperature. His face was flushed red, but after confirming it wasn’t from illness, the captain smiled with relief.
“Luka, I’m not saying to use the prosthetic as a tool for killing. Just know that every ounce of this ship’s technological capability is being poured into letting you move freely again.”
The door opened the moment the captain finished speaking. Obel stood in the doorway and pushed his glasses up with a fingertip.
“Ten minutes are up.”
Kai raised a pair of pliers and called out in a rush.
“I’m not done yet! Doctor, wait!”
“Ha, honestly….”
Obel answered with irritation but crossed his arms and waited for Kai to finish anyway. Luka didn’t look at Dr. Obel with discomfort. He only ever did the painful procedures, but he was one of the people who looked after the state of Luka’s body with great care and attentiveness. Luka wasn’t dense enough not to recognize that kind of devotion.
I’m not sure about revenge… but people are trying this hard for me, so let me at least make the effort to stand up and walk again.
It was a tiny, tiny hope — one he never could have imagined when he first came aboard this ship. And the person who had planted that hope was none other than the captain, smiling brightly right in front of him.
Luka stared steadily at the captain, who came to visit at the same time every day. Feeling that gaze, the captain tilted his head.
“What is it, Luka? Is there something you want to say?”
The golden hair that had fallen to one side was beautiful. He wasn’t entirely sure, but the captain seemed like he was of noble blood. He was always unhurried and elegant, and he carried himself with refinement. Just from the way he treated people, he seemed like a high-ranking aristocrat with a thorough upbringing.
But it was strange for a noble to be sailing on a ghost ship, evading the eyes of the Aegis Alliance. If he were to use his imagination…
Maybe they’re being chased by Aegis because they’re a faction that started a revolution.
He must have studied far too much history alongside his martial arts training at the academy — this was the only direction his imagination seemed to go.
“Luka?”
He snapped his gaze away, belatedly realizing he’d been staring. Luka shifted the subject so his absurd inner thoughts wouldn’t show.
“Mm….”
“You can take your time.”
“…I want to go outside again. Like last time.”
Meals and treatments on repeat had grown tedious. The treatment room no longer felt like a horrifying prison the way it used to, but it was true that staring at the universe through a palm-sized window had become dull. If it meant getting out of bed, he was perfectly willing to be carried in the captain’s arms — embarrassing as it was.
“This time… I’ve already taken care of all my bodily functions. There won’t be a repeat of last time.”
“I really don’t need you to worry about that.”
“…….”
“Even so, hearing that you want to go outside with me — that’s welcome news. Shall we go?”
Luka let himself be lifted without hesitation into the captain’s arms as they rose gently around him. At some point, the voice inside him that had urged him to be wary and keep his distance had gone silent. A louder question had taken its place — if not this person, then who on earth could I trust?
Once I have the prosthetic… I’ll probably need something like training to adjust to it, right?
As they passed through the corridor, Luka took in the interior of the Nautilus. He thought about his own way of adapting to the prosthetic in this unfamiliar place. He arrived at one conclusion.
“My planet always had sandstorms blowing.”
The captain perked up and listened. The low voice that the captain had always found pleasant to hear continued, calm and steady.
“The fortress where the academy was built was very tall — when you looked out the window during training, endless red sand dunes stretched out as far as you could see. I used to get tired of that scenery back then….”
The captain readjusted his hold on Luka and leaned in a little closer to listen. Luka looked at the scenery passing by beyond the captain’s shoulder and murmured quietly.
“I trained alone there every day. At first, I learned how to keep my balance on sand. Because the ground shifted, you’d fall in no time if you didn’t put strength into the tips of your feet — you had to focus your entire mind on it. My professor always emphasized that it was the first step in mastering the mind.”
He’d talked about the academy when he was with Kai, and now it seemed those lessons and memories were surfacing fresh in his mind. It was a positive change. He was no longer agonizing over the happiness he’d lost when the past came to mind, no longer trying to flee while declaring that the metal interior of the ship was unbearable, and he had stopped saying things like kill me or I give up.
I should let him do everything he wants to do.
Especially now that Luka had brought up training himself, the captain was entirely willing to help him take on whatever challenges he could, even with his current body.
“That’s a fascinating thing to talk about. Learning how to find your center on shifting ground…. With that kind of sense, you’d adapt quickly to the irregular vibrations of a ship, too.”
The captain replied softly and headed deeper into the ship. Before long, they had left the medical deck and arrived at a section blocked off by a heavy metal door.
“This is the fitness room the crew uses. Kai and Obel come here to loosen up every now and then. Luka, before you attach the prosthetic, what do you think about starting here with some simple breathing exercises or upper-body balance training? The others would probably get a little inspired seeing you train.”
At the captain’s suggestion, Luka’s expression froze cold in an instant. His left hand, wrapped around the captain’s neck, tightened.
“…No. Absolutely not.”
“Luka?”
“Like this… I don’t want to show people me struggling in front of them. What kind of training could I possibly do with no arms and no legs…. They’ll obviously all laugh at me.”
Training, of all things — it would just be a pathetic sight of a lump of flesh gasping and flailing. Even imagining it was a humiliation Luka found worse than death. The captain felt his trembling and immediately turned to walk away.
“You’re right. I wasn’t thinking. You don’t need to show anyone anything against your will.”
The captain walked down the corridor for a moment as if in thought, then leaned down and whispered quietly near Luka’s ear.
“Then what about my room? The captain’s quarters — no one can enter except for me. There, you could move as freely as you liked without caring about anyone else’s eyes.”
Luka hesitated. The captain’s personal space. Surely security would be strict in a place like that — would someone like him really be allowed to visit?
“Did Obel give permission?”
“The captain’s quarters are mine, so the only permission needed is mine.”
“Mm….”
“Does my space feel uncomfortable to you, too?”
Going to someone’s private space all of a sudden — was that not rude? He still hadn’t learned anything about life aboard a ship, and he didn’t know the customs, rules, or regulations of these people, so Luka could only read the air carefully.
“…Is it all right?”
“What do you mean?”
“Me coming over….”
“Having you use my room would be an honor.”
“…Really, no one will come?”
“I swear on my honor. In the captain’s quarters, it’s just the stars outside the window and me.”
Luka fidgeted with the uniform buttons, turning it over in his mind, then gave the tiniest nod.
“…Then, just for today. I’ve been wanting to practice my breathing exercises after so long… and you have to be there to hold me up, so it can’t be helped.”
The captain let out a pleased laugh and held Luka closer and more securely. They had barely started walking toward the captain’s quarters — the deepest place on the ship — when a familiar voice rang out.
— Welcome, Captain Luka. Identity confirmed.
With the voice of the artificial intelligence, the door to the captain’s quarters opened with a soft hydraulic sound, then closed.
An unfamiliar space, seen for the first time. And the very first thing that caught his eye without question was the full-face window.
“Wow….”
A universe beautiful enough to draw a gasp from Luka’s lips spread across the entire wall. He stared blankly at the mysterious Milky Way for a moment before coming back to his senses and looking around the room.
It was a clean space, carrying a comfortable warmth that felt pleasant and cozy. The interior was full of wooden furniture and the scent of cedarwood, as though it reflected the captain’s tastes.
The wood smell — it was from here.
The only moments in the treatment room where he had been able to truly let his guard down had been when he caught the scent of that cedarwood. That deep, grounding fragrance was laid softly throughout the entire captain’s quarters. Luka felt himself relax, more than he had at any other moment, the tension leaving his body completely.
“Luka, I’ll set you down.”
