A region of jet-black space suddenly became pale and shiny. There was something there, seemingly reflecting a dim light from somewhere else. The bluish-white light began to shimmer and wave, forming a circle. It was tiny relative to the universe, but it was a huge glowing disk about the diameter of Earth’s moon. In soundless space, the huge disk gradually became three-dimensional. The bluish-white light gradually subsided, and a planet suddenly appeared as if emerging from an invisible ocean.

It was the water world Aquarius, shining beautifully like a giant pearl in space. Aquarius had completed its fifth warp. An ice ring surrounded it.

After a short time, another bluish-white light, this one resembling a small stain, began to glow behind Aquarius. It went through exactly the same process until a dark green glowing mass of rock emerged. It was the city satellite Uruk, also completing its fifth warp.

Aquarius and Uruk were heading in a straight line toward Earth’s solar system.

At the Earth Federation base on the dark and desolate planet Pluto, the only sources of light were a space observatory center and a lighthouse that flickered forlornly. From the outside, it seemed as if the facility was asleep. Inside, however, observations were being carried out in continuous shifts with all observers at their posts.

The automatic door at the entrance to the small control room opened with a sigh, and the rather overweight base commander walked in. Above the panel of instruments, there was a window through which the rocky surface of Pluto could be seen. The commander walked up behind a young observer at his instrument panel.

“Are Yamato‘s whereabouts still unknown?”

The observer turned in his chair.

“Yes. Unfortunately, we still haven’t heard from them.”

“I see…” The commander’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. “Continue observations. We must find them at all costs.”

“Yes, sir.”

The observer turned back to the instruments while the base commander stared out the window into space above the icy, rocky mountains.

“Somewhere in the universe, Yamato is drifting…” he muttered quietly.

Another observer was looking at the radar and instruments. His activity suddenly became frantic.

“I knew it….I’m sure of it!”

He looked up sharply at the base commander, who returned his gaze. The others turned to look at the man as well.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s terrible, commander!”

“Did you find Yamato?” the commander asked, jumping to a hasty conclusion.

“No, sir,” the observer answered. “It’s the water planet Yamato encountered before it went missing! It’s approaching our solar system at an accelerated rate!”

“What? That’s impossible…”

The base commander and the others gathered around the observer. Surrounded by their circle of chairs, he pressed some buttons on the instrument panel and displayed the data on a TV screen. The base commander quickly read the data.

“I–I can’t believe it…”

The others were also surprised. The commander’s face went pale. “Send a message to Earth Defense Command immediately!”

“Yes, sir!”

An urgent message was sent through space from Pluto to Earth.

In the midst of its non-stop vigil for the vanished Yamato, the Earth Defense Forces control room received the emergency contact from the Pluto observation center. The radio operator immediately contacted the command staff upon receiving the emergency call.

A young staff member paced impatiently across the floor, waiting for the arrival of the deputy commander. Finally, he entered the control room and rushed over to find the operator who called him. The officer saluted him, and the deputy commander returned it briskly.

“What happened? You received critical data? Does it have anything to do with Yamato?”

“No, we still don’t know where Yamato is. But please take a look at this.”

The officer switched on a TV screen on a panel lined with instruments. Streams of numbers flowed over it.

“This is…”

“Current data on the water planet Yamato found. It was sent by the Pluto base.”

Staring at the numbers appearing on the screen, the deputy commander groaned involuntarily.

“Is this some kind of mistake?”

“That’s what I thought, so I had the Earth observation center double check it. The following data is from them.”

He pushed a button. The numbers on the screen disappeared, and identical figures took their place. Finally, a map of the galaxy appeared on the screen with a trajectory indicator slashed across its face. The deputy commander’s eyes widened.

“As you can see, the data from both Pluto and Earth are an exact match.”

“That means…”

The officer nodded. “This is an undeniable fact! That water planet is warping about 150 light years every 24 hours. It’s happened five times already.

“Why would a planet warp?” the deputy commander asked loudly.

“We don’t know,” said the officer. “We can only assume that it’s radiating an unknown energy.”

“I thought it wasn’t supposed to approach Earth for another 6,000 years!”

The officer shook his head helplessly. “If it repeats the warp every 24 hours, the water planet will make a close approach to Earth in sixteen days.”

“Sixteen days? Six thousand years have been reduced to only sixteen days?”

“That’s right!”

Everyone around them reacted with shock, and the deputy commander hurried out the room.

The senior staff had gathered in the commander’s office, lined up in rows as the deputy commander informed him of the latest findings. The commander’s face changed when he heard the news. Yuki Mori watched him anxiously.

“So, what will happen to Earth when that water planet approaches?” the commander asked.

“Judging from its mass,” the deputy commander answered shakily, “hundreds of trillions of tons of water would pour down on us. Sea level would rise ten meters with about 1.2 trillion tons of water. The continents, including the Alps and Himalayas, will be completely submerged!

The office fell silent.

“Sixteen days from now…” the commander groaned.

“Yes!” the deputy replied sadly.

The commander meditated for a moment, then opened his eyes and began to give orders.

“We must take immediate action. Contact the federal government.”

“Sir!”

At that moment, there was a knock on the door. Yuki opened it, and an officer rushed in. He pushed the others aside to stand before the commander’s desk.

“Sir! The Defense Force’s radar network is showing what appears to be an unknown space fleet heading toward the solar system!”

“An unknown fleet!” one of the men gasped.

Another staff member said, “Not only a water planet but now an unknown fleet? Could there be a connection?”

The men looked at each other in dismay.

“Wait a minute,” the commander said. “Everyone calm down.”

They all looked at him.

“Gentlemen, we don’t know anything else at this point. For the time being, we must keep this information to ourselves. Is that clear?”

Everyone nodded.

At that moment, Dr. Sakezo Sado waddled in through the office’s open door.

“Dr. Sado,” the deputy commander protested, “outsiders are not allowed in this office!”

Sado lifted his glasses and gaped at everyone’s tense faces. “Well, the commander and I are on good terms, so it’s fine.” He laughed as he walked toward Yuki and the commander. “Yuki, I have some information on that Aquarius planet Yamato reported about.”

Yuki raised an eyebrow. “Aquarius?”

The commander and his staff tensed up as Sado lifted something from behind his back and placed it on the desk.

“Look, it’s about a water planet that flooded some other planet with water…”

“What is this?” the commander asked.

“This is part of a recently excavated Babylonian clay tablet. I remembered it was in the Federal Museum, so I borrowed it. According to this, four billion years ago, a water planet called Aquarius migrated to Earth to flood it with water and the seeds of life. That’s just a legend, though.”

The commander looked doubtful. “Didn’t water come out of the Earth?”

“Well, according to common sense, yes. These records have been in storage in a museum for a long time as cosmic myths.”

“I see…” The commander stroked his chin with his hand as Sado continued.

“But the water planet certainly existed. So it’s possible that the legend engraved on this clay tablet is true. Eternal truth and scientific common sense are two different things, aren’t they?”

“Hmm…even so, that blessed planet is now about to flood the earth,” one of the officers said.

Sado, unaware of the approaching water planet, was taken aback. “Flood!?”

Embarrassed, the officer clamped a hand over his mouth. The commander, who had been listening in silence, looked around at everyone and said, “In any case, we need to evacuate all human beings temporarily to a colony planet or space colony in the solar system. Our only hope is to somehow disperse the water of Aquarius into space, and then return to Earth.”

The officers nodded.

“Assemble all ships belonging to the Defense Force and commandeer all civilian ships immediately. Organize them into an evacuation fleet!”

“Yes, sir!”

Yuki Mori, who had heard everything, quietly left the commander’s office. Sado noticed and followed her.

Yuki walked unsteadily down the corridor to the lobby. With her head down, she bumped into a young staff member who rushed by with a bundle of documents.

“Ah!”

Yuki was knocked over and fell to the floor as he dropped the documents. They scattered.

“I’m sorry,” she said, looking up at him.

“No, I was in a rush. I’m sorry.”

The young man held out his hand and helped Yuki to her feet.

“It’s my fault,” she offered. “I was walking around in a daze. Your papers are all over the place…”

Yuki bent down to gather them up.

“No, it’s okay, it’s okay. I’ll take care of it,” the young man said in a rush. The two of them picked up the papers and Yuki handed hers over.

“Is this all of them?”

“Yes. I’m sorry to trouble you,” he said, smiling widely as he took them back. Yuki was surprised to see his smile. It reminded her of Kodai’s. She stared at the man’s face for a moment, then suddenly turned away.

“What’s wrong?” he asked curiously.

She silently shook her head.

“Well, I’m in a hurry.”

She nodded, and the young man charged off. She stood in the hallway with her head down for a few moments, then started walking again. Sado stood at a distance watching her.

Yuki went out to the empty, spacious lobby. There were chairs and tables here and there, but no one was using them. She looked out through the ceiling-high windows. It was already dawn and completely light outside. The angular buildings of the city could be seen with transparent tubes running between them. The bright sunlight made the city look even more artificial.

The sky above the city was a clear blue. There were almost no clouds. The city may have changed in many ways, but the sky above it must have changed little since ancient times. When the weather was clear, the sun shone and the sky was a deep blue. It had not yet turned into something artificial. Yuki pressed her face against the windowpane and looked up.

“Kodai-kun…where are you? The Earth might be submerged…”

Her long eyelashes twitched as she trembled faintly.

“Why don’t you come back? Please don’t leave me alone forever…” Yuki whispered as if appealing to the sky.

Suddenly, someone’s hand touched her thin left shoulder. Surprised, she turned around to see Dr. Sado.

“Sado-sensei.”

“I’m sorry. Did I startle you?”

“No, no…” Yuki’s eyes blinked. They were red and bloodshot.

“You must be tired, Yuki…”

“No.” Yuki shook her head.

Sado stood with his hands clasped behind his back and looked out the window.

“It’s a beautiful sunny day, isn’t it?”

“Yes…”

Yuki looked out the window again. They remained silent for a while.

“You were thinking of Kodai, weren’t you?”

Yuki nodded her head, looking forward.

“Yes…”

“I see. It’s okay, Yuki. Kodai isn’t the kind of guy who dies easily, and Yamato is not a ship that could be easily beaten. Something happened to him, but I’m sure he’ll come back safely.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. If I were him, I’d never leave such a pretty girl behind! What a waste!”

Yuki looked at Sado and smiled. He is a kind person, she thought. He looked back at her.

“Hey, Yuki, you two should get married as soon as possible.”

“What?”

“Why are you waiting so long? I don’t care if you’re busy or not, just get married. This is making me itchy.”

Yuki looked down.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Did I say something wrong?”

Yuki looked up and laughed.

“No, not at all. Thank you.”

Sado looked out the window again.

“I envy you, Susumu Kodai, having a woman who loves you so much. I wonder if there’s one out there for me, too. She doesn’t have to be as beautiful as Yuki, though. That would be a luxury.”

Yuki chuckled. Sado was relieved. He raised his hands and stretched.

“Well, I’d better get back to work. I’m getting old. My shoulders are stiff, I can’t help it.”

Sado wandered away. Yuki, who was left alone again, looked up at the sky and murmured, “Kodai-kun. Come back soon…”

Continue to Act 6

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