“it’s, huge……”
Stepping into her room at the apartment being leased to new Actors, Chihaya is surprised by how much more spacious it is than she’d imagined.
Rent is eighty thousand yen a month. She’d heard it was cheap because of government subsidies, but the room really is enormous.
The kitchen alone has three burners. A refrigerator already installed — the perks just keep coming. The living room is roomy, and there’s a separate bedroom.
But what really stands out is the basement. A basement as large as the kitchen and living room combined, soundproofed — it’s been set up as a fully equipped Actor Room. Beyond internet access via underground cable, it’s a dedicated space from which she can also operate Actanoids in the New Frontier.
Since operating an Actanoid requires physical movement, the room has proper climate control. There’s also a sofa bed, so she can take a nap between missions while her Actanoid is docked in the New Frontier.
There’s a mini-fridge too, and when she opens it she finds plastic bottles of water, tea, and sports drinks inside. A note is attached: Please be mindful of heatstroke and dehydration. These are complimentary.
It’s all so accommodating it’s starting to make her anxious.
Chihaya moves through the apartment like a hamster experiencing a cage for the first time, inspecting every feature, and eventually plops down on the sofa bed in the basement.
“phew……. could probably do solo karaoke in here”
She mutters an unambitious observation at the spacious basement, then looks down at her phone screen.
She opens an app called Actors’ Quest.
Actors’ Quest is a job board where the government, companies, and private individuals post requests, and Actors like Chihaya take them.
Chihaya opens her account and checks her profile page. Her name, age, gender — everything is set to private by default.
Her account name appears to be ActorU114 straight out of the box. She’d assumed the numbers were her Actor registration number, but it seems the alphanumeric string is just randomly assigned.
There’s already a direct request waiting in her account.
“For new applicants, government request……?”
She’d been told at the orientation that the government posts requests to help new Actors build up a track record.
The job is cargo transport. She’ll be accompanying a four-person team of senior Actors and hauling supplies to the Takakura Temporary Garage in the New Frontier.
“Garage……. r-right, they have facilities to dock Actanoids there? So, one-way?”
One-way, about half a day. The cargo will be carried by armored vehicle, and she’ll be able to operate a government-loaned Allrounder.
The government will inform the team that Chihaya is a new Actor, so there’s no need to feel too much pressure.
Chihaya takes a deep breath and accepts the request.
“eep, I, I actually accepted it……”
And already it’s a team assignment.
“oh right. I need to get a voice changer set up”
Text chat works for communication, but in emergencies, voice is standard. It would defeat the purpose of hiding her gender on her account if her voice gave it away.
She boots up her computer and starts installing software — voice changer and other programs.
“let’s see, a list of handy apps……”
A quick search online turns up various apps distributed for Actors.
The notable ones include an encyclopedia-type app that can identify New Frontier flora and fauna from video or images, and a resource exploration app developed and distributed for free by the government.
There are also things like Routin, a repeat-motion app that makes an Actanoid loop specified movements — but the Allrounder’s processing power is too low to run apps like that.
Still, Chihaya installs the encyclopedia app and resource exploration app on her computer. These ones can run on her home computer just fine, as long as she ignores the lag.
“sh-shooting fire control app? ……for pest control? oh right, that’s a thing”
Generally speaking, New Frontier animals tend to be large.
Chihaya uses the encyclopedia app she just installed to study up on New Frontier creatures and gets ready for the day the request starts.
— Three days later, Chihaya connects to the loaner Allrounder ten minutes before the start time to participate in her first job.
She’d spent those three days connecting to the training Allrounder in the New Frontier and drilling repeatedly. Movement training, obviously, but also basic firearms handling and shooting practice.
Since the Allrounder handles a certain degree of posture correction on its end, the recoil from the gun wasn’t much of an issue.
“hey”
“You’re the newbie, right? Don’t go doing anything reckless.”
“Even if your Actanoid gets wrecked, the New Frontier Resource Agency covers it with a subsidy for new Actors, so don’t worry too much.”
“Alright, let’s head out.”
The four-Actor team welcomes Chihaya with a loose, easygoing vibe — probably trying to keep her from getting too nervous.
Chihaya nods repeatedly through her Actanoid and starts walking behind the armored vehicles.
The armored vehicles are apparently being driven by Otsuka, a New Frontier Resource Agency employee, also via Actanoid — two vehicles moving out in a line.
The road is unpaved, and not even cleared properly — there are stumps just left sitting there. The armored vehicles rattle along it noisily. Probably hitting around forty kilometers per hour.
“……I can, actually keep up easily”
Just by stepping down on the pressure-sensitive mat and shifting her weight, the monitor shakes slightly and the Allrounder breaks into a run. The Allrounder’s top speed is supposedly eighty to a hundred kilometers per hour, so this pace is well within its range.
Being humanoid, the view in the monitor bobs up and down — but neck extension mechanisms adjust the height as needed, so she doesn’t get motion sick. Chihaya thinks of chickens and pigeons bobbing their heads, shakes the silly image out of her mind, and looks at the map instead.
Due to the road conditions they’ll be taking a winding route to the destination, Takakura Temporary Garage, but the signal appears to be stable.
It’s an easy job since it’s for beginners, probably — Chihaya had been feeling vaguely optimistic about it, right up until she’s plunged into despair just before reaching the destination.
“it’s been wiped out”
The prefab building surrounded by a fence — presumably where the Takakura Temporary Garage was — has collapsed. The fencing is knocked over in multiple spots, and Actanoids missing arms and legs are scattered on the ground.
While Otsuka, driving the armored vehicles, contacts the Actors who had been defending the location, the four-person team raises their assault rifles Breakthrough toward the surrounding forest and goes on alert.
Chihaya frantically maneuvers her Allrounder to put the armored vehicle at her back too, and points her muzzle toward the rear.
“Watch your surroundings.”
“What’s the status on enemy detection?”
“Nothing in visual range.”
“Ugh, and I still have payments left on mine……”
Just as one of the four grumbles, the staff member raises his voice.
“I’ve made contact with the Actors. Apparently they were attacked by a pack of Yenbar. Conventional firearms have little effect. Be caref——”
A dull thud bleeds out through the monitor and Chihaya’s body flinches.
She looks toward the sound — a massive tiger-striped predator with bizarrely long whisker-like sensory organs. A Yenbar. It has flipped an armored vehicle onto its side.
“……huh?”
A Yenbar had burst from the forest, and — the lag leaving one Actanoid unable to respond in time — it had body-slammed that unit out of the way before tipping the armored vehicle. She understood that much, but Chihaya’s mind couldn’t catch up to what was actually happening.
Still, the fact that she reflexively had her muzzle pointed at it was pretty good.
“——Fire!”
The four-person team shouts.
Chihaya snaps back to herself and pulls the trigger. The Allrounder’s assault rifle sprays bullets, and at close range they tear into the Yenbar from neck to chest.
No matter how hard its scales are, at this distance gunfire is too much to withstand.
The Yenbar still advances a few steps toward Chihaya’s Allrounder, then collapses against the side of the armored vehicle, spurting red blood.
She barely has a moment of relief before Otsuka and one of the Actors shout at the same time.
“There are three Yenbar!”
“Oh no, my payments——!”
One Actor’s very domestic dying scream, and simultaneously an Actanoid goes flying through the air.
Apparently knocked airborne by another Yenbar. The remaining Yenbar bites down on the Actanoid’s arm mid-air and tears it off. Then it helpfully stomps down on the Actanoid where it’s fallen to the ground.
It’s clearly not feeding behavior. The aggression and movements look more like eliminating intruders who’ve entered its territory.
The two Yenbar glance briefly at their bloodied, fallen companion, then let out a grating howl like nails scraping a blackboard.
Chihaya, anticipating the lag will slow her reactions and putting distance between herself and the Yenbar accordingly, receives a voice chat from the four-person team — now down to two units.
“Yenbar have a habit of preferentially chasing prey that runs from them. We need you to run in the opposite direction from the destination and draw them away.”
Chihaya’s eyes go wide. She can’t believe what she’s hearing. Her mouth falls half-open.
But apparently she’s the only one who’s stunned by someone matter-of-factly telling the new girl to be the decoy.
“Makes sense. The government subsidy covers it, and position-wise you’re right where we need you.”
Even Otsuka, the New Frontier Resource Agency staff member, is on board with the decoy plan.
It’s rational, she can’t deny that — but this is Chihaya’s first job. Failing would be awful. It would affect her account rating too.
Even thinking all that through, Chihaya couldn’t say no.
If she had the backbone to say no at a moment like this, she wouldn’t have failed her job hunt in the first place.
“Draw them as far as you can. If the Yenbar come back before we’ve reinforced the garage defenses, the whole thing’s pointless.”
“The job description is cargo transport. Whether your Actanoid sustains damage is not in the evaluation criteria, so please don’t worry. We’ll also put in a note on our end.”
“okay……”
Chihaya accepts the decoy role, pulls the trigger of her assault rifle to get the Yenbar’s attention, and starts running back the way she came.
She checks in the rear camera to confirm both Yenbar are following in accordance with their instincts, then switches off her voice chat.
“why am I the decoy……”
Half in tears, and then — through the full surround sound of Yenbar growls and footsteps, an immersive chase sequence playing out in real time — Chihaya spots a container lying on the ground, and herself along with it detonates into nothing.