Something resembling a white shimmer appeared in pitch black space. Gradually, the shape of an object became clearer. It was unstable, like a reflection on the surface of surging water, and then it became fixed in a clear and definite shape. It was Yamato, transcending dimensional barriers and free-warping.

Yamato drifted into unknown space. The first bridge was silent enough to hear a pin drop. Only the occasional panel lamp flashed here and there. On the floor, Susumu Kodai and the rest of the crew were lying unconscious. Even Daisuke Shima, who had clung tenaciously to the control sticks until the very end, was lying near his station. A single thread of blood trickled from the right side of his mouth.

Susumu was lying on his back on the floor beside the captain’s seat. Soon, his closed eyelids twitched and he slowly opened both eyes. The ceiling above him became dimly visible and gradually came into focus. He sat up and groaned. His left shoulder ached badly.

Apparently, he had hit the floor or something when he was being tossed around by the shock wave. However, it was not unbearable. In addition to the pain in his left shoulder, he had a terrible feeling of vomiting. He’d always felt faintly like that after warping, but this warp was so sudden that his body did not have time to prepare itself. That was probably why he was so uncomfortable upon awakening.

Susumu slowly looked around the silent bridge. It was a terrible sight. None of the crew members were in their proper positions. They were all thrown to the floor and knocked out. No wonder, he thought.

Clutching his left shoulder with his right hand, he stood up, his body heavy as a sandbag. He walked toward the navigator’s station where Shima was lying. Susumu bent down and shook his shoulder.

“Hey, Shima, are you all right? Hey.”

Susumu shook Shima’s body, which was lying on its right side. Shima grunted and opened his eyes. He looked up at Susumu.

“Kodai!”

“Are you okay? You’re bleeding from the corner of your mouth…”

“Yeah.”

He wiped the edge of his mouth with the back of his right hand and looked at the blood on it.

“It’s okay. Seems I just cut the inside of my mouth a little. I think I hit something…”

Shima sat up on the floor and shook his head strongly in an attempt to clear his mind.

“But even so… This is terrible.”

Shima must have felt nauseated as well, but he quickly stood up and noticed Susumu was holding his left shoulder.

“Kodai, your shoulder…”

“I hit the floor, too, apparently. It’s nothing serious.”

“I see.”

The two men looked around the bridge again. Finally, the other crew members awoke. Analyzer, who had been lying on the floor, suddenly switched on, his lamps flashing.

“Are you all right, everyone? Are you okay?”

Aihara, Sanada, and the others stood up one after another, but remained stunned for a moment.

“It seems we survived…”

Shima looked at Susumu.

“Yeah, the free warp was a success.”

“I lost. You were right. I’m glad I forced myself to warp.”

Susumu smiled. “It was because Yamato did her best.”

“Exactly. But you made the right call.”

“But still, I wonder where we are…”

“I’ll find out.”

Shima and the other crew members returned to their stations and began checking their instruments. Shima spoke into his mic.

“Decelerate port and starboard, and confirm our current position.”

Yamato‘s bridge came back to life. Sanada walked up to Susumu and pointed out the front window.

“Kodai, that looks like a planet.”

Outside, a soccer ball-sized planet was visible in space, completely surrounded by dense gray clouds. It was the planet Dengil, but of course Susumu and the others had no way of knowing this.

Sanada said, “Let’s launch an exploration satellite.”

“Yes, agreed.”

“Launch the satellite!” Sanada commanded.

An automated planet-survey satellite sprang from Yamato‘s hull and moved rapidly through space toward the unknown planet as Yamato approached behind it. Ota, the chief of the navigation team’s radar department, shouted to Susumu from the starboard auxiliary seat.

“We’ve found our current position! Azimuth XYL from the earth. Distance 35,000 light-years!”

Susumu wondered if they had free-warped 35,000 light-years.

Ota continued, “I’ll enlarge and project the survey results.”

Susumu turned his head to the left. On the second video panel, a route map was projected. It showed the location of Earth, the solar system, and the unknown planet, as well as its own system. It had nine planets, and the unknown planet outside the window was the fourth.

“The distance between the planets is quite short,” Shima muttered.

Susumu stared silently at the system map projected on the panel.

Analyzer suddenly said, “We have received information from the satellite heading toward the fourth planet.”

“Good, put it on the main panel.”

The large video panel screen showed the surface of the unknown planet covered by dense clouds.

“This is…”

Susumu was at a loss for words. The scene on the main video panel looked just like something out of a disaster movie. The ground under the dense clouds looked terrible, flooded by a torrential rain that slammed down like a tremendous waterfall.

An alien city was about to be submerged. Many people were swallowed by the waves, swept away and drowned as they called for help. Hundreds swirled around a strange tower, pulled into the water and tossed about by a whirlpool. There were men, women, children, and elderly. It was truly a hellish scene.

Noah’s Flood may have been like this. But there was no Noah’s ark on this planet to avoid the flood. People were being swallowed one after another.

Aihara shook his head in disbelief. “It’s a flood on a massive scale! Unthinkable on Earth.”

Shima nodded. “It must be some kind of freak weather event.”

Susumu looked at the panel.

“Shima! Descend to the fourth planet ahead!”

“What?”

Shima glanced over at him. “To that flooded planet?”

“Yes, that’s right. We’re going to rescue as many drowning people as we can.”

Sanada, who was at Susumu’s right side, looked at him with a furrowed brow.

“It’s dangerous to land in that torrential downpour.”

Susumu didn’t answer him, but walked over to the combat command seat and looked at the video panel. Everyone turned their attention to him. He glanced at them for a moment, gritted his teeth, and ordered, “Full speed ahead!”

Yamato spread its wings from its hull and accelerated toward the planet, immediately disappearing into the dense gray clouds. The ship descended, not being able to see a single inch ahead

“This is terrible,” Sanada muttered to himself. Outside the window, he could see with his own eyes the scene of a massive flood.

Yamato continued its descent. The clouds were so thick they looked as if they might fall straight out of the sky, and the rain came down in torrents, like a waterfall. The falling water turned to the left and right in strong winds.

Beneath the downpour, it was even worse. Literally a deluge. There was a city, but most of it was underwater. It was hard to tell what kind of city it was. The tops of tall structures were barely visible above the water. Things resembling long, narrow, brown towers emerged, water swirling around them.

Yamato struggled against the strong winds as it descended at a decelerating speed. The hull began to shake.

“Descend further,” Susumu said.

Shima looked at him. “We can’t go any lower!”

“We have to!”

“All right…” Shima tightens his grip on the controls.

Yamato continued to descend through the heavy rain and strong winds, finally coasting to a stop near the surface.

“Keep her steady!” Susumu ordered.

“Activating automatic hold system!” Shima replied.

Attitude control rockets fired from the front, back, and sides of Yamato‘s hull. The automatic system stopped the rocking for a few moments, but then pitching and rolling began again. Despite this, everyone managed to stay in their seats, and were not knocked to the floor.

Yamato was suspended about 100 meters above the swirling floodwaters. Waves rose and fell from the surface below.

Susumu ran to the window and looked down. The hundreds of people who had been floating on the surface of the water were almost gone. They must have all gone underwater.

“There are still people over there,” Shima shouted, pointing ahead.

Susumu narrowed his eyes and looked in that direction. There, barely above the water, were a dozen or so people clinging to the top of a brown structure like insects. The structure seemed to be part of a temple.

A two-meter wave surged toward them from all directions. The people were submerged in the water, and reappeared when the waves receded, but their number had decreased. The wave rushed in again, and when it receded, some people waved their hands toward Yamato. They were calling for rescue.

They were struck again by a wave like a giant hand, pulling them under for the last time. Gradually, parts of the temple that were barely visible began to submerge. The water was rising. There was nothing they could do. There was nowhere for them to go.

“We have to help them.”

Susumu clenched his fists.

“Prepare to launch the Cosmo Hound! Crew, assemble at the launch ramp immediately!”

After giving that order, Susumu himself ran to the elevator.

He got off the elevator with other crew members and ran to the waiting Cosmo Hound, a large and thick cigar-shaped craft with triangular wings on both sides. It was originally built for planetary exploration and observation. Inside, it carried a single-seat helicopter, a single-seater rover, and a snowmobile. Incidentally, it was also equipped with a rotating gun turret above its cockpit. Susumu and his team practically leapt inside.

“Cosmo Hound, launch!” Susumu shouted as soon as he entered the cockpit.

The Cosmo Hound launched from a dedicated ramp on the port side of Yamato, which hovered steadily in the torrential downpour. However, strong winds blew the Cosmo Hound to the left, causing it to lurch.

“What the hell are you doing?” Susumu yelled at the crew member who was piloting in the right seat.

The crewman gritted his teeth and pulled back the control stick. The Cosmo Hound managed to regain its position and return to normal. The crew let out a collective sigh of relief.

Susumu, however, was staring out the forward window with a grim expression. The rain was pounding down on them, making it difficult to see what was ahead. The Cosmo Hound headed toward the temple and circled around it to the right. The temple was almost completely submerged, and there were only about seven or eight people left. As he watched, a skinny man was swept away by the waves.

“What are you doing?” Susumu shouted to his men. “Get closer, now!”

“Roger!”

The Cosmo Hound stopped above the people, then began its gradual descent. It came to rest just above the temple, which was now only faintly visible above the water.

Susumu left the cockpit and ran to the boarding hatch. Leaving the pilot behind, the other four crew members followed him. He pulled the lever that opened the hatch. Immediately, a heavy downpour of rain washed in with a strong wind. Susumu and the others involuntarily covered their faces with their arms as their clothes were instantly soaked.

Susumu narrowed his eyes and leaned out of the fully opened hatch. Another member of the team leaned out to his left, and those inside held them from behind.

“Hey! Over here!” Susumu shouted to the people below. But his voice was muffled by the heavy rain and winds.

People gathered under the hatch. There were only seven of them. Susumu grabbed the side of the hatch with his right hand, leaned down, and reached out with his left hand.

He grabbed a woman’s hand. At that moment, a man beside her pushed the woman away and reached out with his hand. Susumu was surprised by the man’s action, but he had no time to waste, so he grabbed the man’s hand and pulled it up with all his strength. The muscles in Susumu’s body stiffened like steel springs.

He pulled the man up, then tried to pull up the woman. But for some reason, another man pushed the woman out of the way and extended his arm.

“Men get to the back!” Susumu shouted, but the man would not listen to him.

“Damn it!”

Susumu had no choice but to pull the man up again first. After that, he finally pulled up the woman. The 0ther member of the team did the same and pulled up the others. However, when he was about to pull up another man, his hand slipped. The man fell and was immediately caught by a wave that dragged him directly into the water.

“Oh, my God!” the crew member cried out, looking down into the surface of the water below.

“Idiot! Don’t dawdle! Pull up the next person now!”

The crew member was startled by Susumu’s voice and quickly reached down. A boy stood directly below Susumu and held out his hands. Susumu struggled to reach down with his left hand, but could not reach him.

“A little more…”

Waves hit the underside of the Cosmo Hound, causing it to tilt. At that moment, Susumu firmly grasped the boy’s right hand and pulled him up. The boy was the last to go. He rolled in through the hatch just before it closed.

Everyone was soaking wet. Only six people made it out. The boy was right beside Susumu, who was breathing heavily and slumped to the floor.

The Cosmo Hound rose and returned to Yamato, heading back to its dedicated launch ramp on the port side. Susumu, who had not returned to his seat, was slumped with others just in front of the boarding hatch. As soon as the Hound set down, the hatch was opened.

Susumu was the first out with the boy on his side. Abruptly, the Cosmo Hound was hit by a strong wind and surging waves rising up from below. Susumu unconsciously rolled into Yamato‘s launch ramp with the boy in his arms. The Cosmo Hound fell and slammed into the water. The rescued people and five of Yamato‘s crew were still inside as it was pulled under by a large wave.

Susumu held the boy by the shoulders and stared dumbfounded at the swirling water below the launch ramp.

Susumu held the boy, who had fainted from exhaustion and shock, in his arms and strode heavily toward the hangar. Four members of the first-aid team came running toward him.

“Captain! Are you all right?”

One of them took the limp boy from Susumu’s arms. Of course, the boy was still breathing, just unconscious. Both he and Susumu were drenched. The water from Susumu’s body was forming a puddle on the floor.

“He was the only one I saved. I’m counting on you.”

“Roger!”

After receiving the boy, the first-aid team members rushed to the elevator. One stayed behind and tried to hold Susumu up, but Susumu brushed him away.

“I’m okay…”

The first-aid team members looked at Susumu. Then Yamato shook again.

“Damn!”

Susumu pushed them aside and ran toward the elevator, his body heavy with fatigue. His legs felt like lumps of lead.

From the elevator, Susumu ran onto the bridge. Shima rushed to him.

“Kodai, are you okay?”

Without answering, Susumu yelled at Shima.

“Shima, what are you waiting for? The Cosmo Hound crashed, why aren’t you deploying life support?”

Susumu grabbed Shima by the chest and brought his face close. Susumu’s eyes were bloodshot with excitement.

“Deploy them now!”

Shima looked Susumu in the eye and said calmly, “No, Kodai. Let’s launch Yamato out of here.”

“What? Without rescuing the victims?”

Susumu’s hand was clutching Shima’s chest, but he shook it off. At that moment, the bridge shook from side to side. Susumu and the others stumbled. Shima shook his head helplessly.

“There’s nothing we can do. We’re at the limit of our ability to control the ship. If we stay here any longer, Yamato will be in danger.”

“What?”

Susumu clenched his hands into fists, his body trembling. Shima looked at him calmly. The other crew members stared anxiously at each other. Aihara and Sanada stood close by. Susumu took his eyes off Shima and gazed at the floor.

Then, as if muttering, he said quietly, “Please, let Yamato hold on a little longer. I need to get the crew in somehow…”

Shima shook his head.

“I’d like to recover the bodies of my crew, too…but right now I think it’s more important to protect the lives of the other crew members who are still alive.”

“Are you saying the crew of the Cosmo Hound is already dead?”

“Oh…the entire Cosmo Hound is already underwater. It’s impossible to find them.”

Susumu remained silent.

“Kodai, give the order to launch.”

Susumu turned his back to Shima and went to the captain’s seat. He sat down, looking tired. After holding his head in his hands for five seconds, he looked up and said, “Yamato, launch for Earth.”

Shima nodded as if in approval and returned to his station.

Yamato kicked off through the surging waves, pushing forward through torrential rain and strong winds. The floodwaters intensified, and the tower-like structures that had been visible earlier were all submerged. Nothing was visible except for the high waves and the swirling surface of the water. No one would ever know there was a city underneath.

Yamato rose rapidly through the dense clouds, retracted its wings, and left the planet’s gravitational field.

Then, Yamato was in space, where it was utterly quiet. The terrible situation that had just occurred seemed unreal. Susumu stood up and left to change his wet clothes.

Susumu Kodai returned to the first bridge in a dry uniform and stared out the window into space. One by one, the faces of the Cosmo Hound’s crew members floated in the dark and disappeared. They had worked hard to pull victims up to the Cosmo Hound, but they themselves were now submerged underwater. Only one boy could be rescued.

The cost was too great. Susumu wondered if he had made the wrong decision. Another part of him disagreed, saying that it was the right thing to do at the time. No one in their right mind would have left those people to drown. But Susumu was the captain of the Space Battleship Yamato. He also had to consider the safety of his crew. He must always make the right decision on the best course of action. Was the rescue operation with the Cosmo Hound the best course?

They had lost five Yamato crew members in exchange for saving one person. It was a simple matter of subtraction. Five minus one is four. One life and four lives. In addition, they lost the Cosmo Hound.

Susumu thought, “It’s a simple calculation that even an elementary school student could do.”

Shima turned to him and asked, “What’s wrong, Kodai? You managed to get off that flooded planet, didn’t you?”

“Yeah…” Susumu replied emptily.

Shima stood up and walked over to Susumu, who was staring out the window.

“You’re thinking about the dead crew members? There’s nothing you can do for them now.”

“I know.”

Shima puts his hand on Susumu’s left shoulder.

“I don’t think you made the wrong decision.”

Susumu looked at him. Shima nodded.

“The result was that we lost five Yamato crew members and the Cosmo Hound. But if the Cosmo Hound hadn’t been blown away by the strong winds, everything would’ve been fine. Not just the boy would have been saved, but the others as well. It was just bad luck.”

“I appreciate you saying that, Shima. But it’s not about being lucky or unlucky. The captain of the ship must always be objective and have an overall grasp of the situation, not get all worked up and act on his emotions.”

Shima fell silent.

“If you were the captain,” Susumu asked plainly, “you would never have launched the Cosmo Hound, would you?”

Shima thought for a moment and then, surprisingly, shook his head.

“If I had been the captain, I would have done the same thing as you…”

“What?”

“However, as a pilot, I’m against taking reckless actions.”

“I don’t understand…”

“I’m a pilot. Of course, I have the great responsibility of flying Yamato. But Kodai, I’m in a more irresponsible position than the captain, who makes all the final decisions. So I can irresponsibly tell him to abandon the drowning people and keep the ship safe. It doesn’t hurt me much as a human being. I can say to myself, ‘I can let the drowning people die,’ but Captain Kodai makes the final decision. Simply put, it’s a better way for Yamato.”

Kodai listened quietly as Shima continued.

“But if I was the captain, I wouldn’t be able to abandon the drowning people to ensure Yamato‘s safety. I wouldn’t be able to make a decision like an emotionless computer. Because if I abandoned the drowning people, I could see myself regretting and suffering later. The responsibility falls on the captain to make the final decision.”

“But…”

“That’s the difference between the position of a responsible person and that of a somewhat less responsible person. Even if you were against launching the Cosmo Hound, I would have wished in my heart that you’d order me to. As it turned out, you did the right thing from a humanitarian standpoint. That’s all right.”

Susumu opened his mouth, hesitated for a moment, and then said, “If the captain of Yamato only does what’s right from a humanitarian point of view, without thinking about Yamato as a whole, it would be a mess.”

“That’s true. So you have to balance that and work with it. Sometimes you have to act in a way that is inhumane and ruthless. You can’t suppress your heart…”

“I’m still young,” Susumu said. “I’m just a kid myself.”

Shima chuckled.

“I still have a long way to go to become a great captain like Juzo Okita.”

“I’m sure you will.”

He patted Susumu on the shoulder and returned to his station. Susumu looked out the window once more into space and closed his eyes.

“This is the all-sky radar room,” a voice said from a speaker. Susumu looked up. The voice continued, “The bow radar is catching what appears to be a drifting planet.”

“A drifting planet?” Susumu asked.

“Yes. It’s proceeding on a trajectory almost parallel to ours. It appears to have grazed the system of the planet that was just flooded.”

“The planet…”

Susumu suddenly had a bad premonition. “I want a data analysis immediately.”

“Roger that.”

The communication from the all-sky radar room cut off.

A drifting planet had grazed the flooded planet…could that be the reason for the deluge? But why would such a huge flood occur just because of that? Susumu wondered.

In the computer room, computers were running at a dizzying pace. Tape reels were spinning and numerous lamps on the panels were blinking. A number of crew members in charge of the computers were pacing anxiously. Data sent from the instruments were input into the computers one after another.

Soon, the measurement results came out and were immediately sent to the first bridge. Shima read them from a small screen.

“Judging from the measured masses and other data, the drifting planet appears to be a giant water planet.”

Susumu raised his eyebrows. “What? A water planet?”

He walked over to Shima.

“Wait a minute, let’s take a look at some more data…”

Numbers sped across the screen.

“That’s right. More than two-thirds of its mass is water.”

Susumu groaned involuntarily. “I see.”

The drifting planet approached the planet we saw earlier. The gravitational pull drew in the water, causing torrential rains and floods. And then it submerged the cities…”

The crew on the bridge fell silent.

“So that’s what happened,” Aihara, the head of the communications team, muttered to himself. “That’s one scary planet…”

The second video panel switched on and the trajectory of the water planet was projected. Everyone looked at it and gasped. The path extended into Earth’s solar system!

“Shima,” Susumu asked for clarity, “this planet is heading toward our solar system, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is.” Shima confirmed. “The water planet is currently moving toward the solar system. Based on the planet’s speed, it will probably approach Earth in about 6,000 years…”

“Six thousand years? In any case, send a message to the Defense Forces Headquarters immediately!” Susumu ordered to Aihara.

“Yes, sir!”

Aihara opened the channel.

Susumu Kodai sent the following information to Earth Defense Force Headquarters:

“A water planet is currently moving toward the solar system. When this planet approaches Earth, our planet may suffer from severe flooding, like the planet we have just reported on. However, based on the current velocity of the water planet, this will be 6,000 years in the future. At that time, Earth’s civilization will be much more advanced than it is today. I’m sure there will some kind of solution, so perhaps there is nothing to worry about…”

At the same time, information on the positions of Yamato, the flooded planet, and the water planet were also sent. A reply was received:

“Thank you for your exploration mission. Return home immediately.”

Susumu was relieved, even feeling like he had lost weight. Yuki Mori’s face appeared in his mind. She must have been relieved to hear of his return. Susumu also wanted to see her as soon as possible. They were engaged, but still could not get married. He remembered the sweet smell of her supple hair. He also remembered the feel of her thin but surprisingly firm muscles when he held her in his arms.

Before he was aware of it, Sanada had approached.

“Kodai.”

Susumu looked at Sanada in surprise.

“I’d like to go see the boy you saved,” he said.

“I forgot all about him. How is he?”

“We had him sedated and put him to sleep.”

“I see.”

Susumu looked at Sanada.

“Is there something on your mind, Sanada-san?” Susumu asked.

Without answering, Sanada nudged him forward.

“Anyway, let’s get to the infirmary.”

Susumu followed Sanada to the elevator.

Susumu and Sanada entered the infirmary. There was no one in sight except for the boy asleep on a bed. He was the only survivor, covered in a white sheet up to his neck, sleeping with a peaceful expression on his face.

The boy’s family, or rather everyone on his planet, had drowned, but the boy’s sleeping face was remarkably peaceful. At a glance, his face looks like a girl’s. At first he looked the same as Susumu and the others, but under the bright lights, his skin color was clearly different; a strange color not seen on Earth, a light greenish gray.

Susumu bent down to look into the face of the boy who was quietly sleeping.

“You have a strange skin color…”

How innocent he looked, Susumu thought. His eyelashes were long, and his face was truly adorable.

“I didn’t have time to look at the boy’s face when I rescued him from the temple, or when we rolled out of Cosmo Hound onto the launch ramp.”

His hair was chestnut-colored and looked soft. Susumu remembered Yuki’s hair. Susumu raised his bent body and said to Sanada, “He is quite a beautiful boy.”

“Yes,” Sanada replied.

“If he were an Earth child, he would be eight or nine years old.”

Sanada was not so sure. Susumu looked at Sanada.

“Sanada-san, do you have something you want to say?”

Sanada nodded. “I have something strange to tell you.”

“Something strange?”

“Yes. As you can see, their skin color is different from ours. However, as a result of my investigation, I found out that his body composition is exactly the same as ours on Earth.

“What? Earthlings?”

“Yes.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” Sanada said, looking down at the boy’s sleeping face, “but the probability of an alien having the exact same body composition as an Earthling is almost zero.”

Susumu looked at the boy in surprise. What did this boy and the people on the flooded planet have to do with the people of Earth? Or was it just a coincidence?

The boy mumbled something in his sleep and turned his head to the side, causing the sheet to partly pull away. Susumu reached out with his right hand and put it back on.

“Let’s go back, Kodai.”

“Yes…”

Susumu and Sanada left the infirmary. The boy from the flooded planet of Dengil was sleeping peacefully.

Just as they returned to the bridge, a call came in from the all-sky radar room. The speaker’s crackling voice echoed through the bridge.

“This is the all-sky radar room. The planet that was flooded just exploded for unknown reasons!”

“What?”

Susumu and Sanada glanced at each other.

“Put it on the main panel,” Susumu said.

On the large video panel in the center of the ceiling, an image appeared of a planet exploding with a tremendous glow. Susumu and the others squinted at the intense light. After a heartbeat, Susumu couldn’t bear to watch it any longer.

“Switch off the main panel,” he ordered.

The exploding planet disappeared.

“Now that boy really is all alone. He has no home to go back to…” Susumu muttered.

Continue to Act 3

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