Crossing the World
XX - Earth (Mary)
A bespectacled teenage girl entrusted with leading a group of researchers researching a foreign device now faces the defense minister in person. He waited until the secret meeting was closed and the representative members present left the meeting room.
As the youngest member, he actually did not receive much attention during the meeting. Therefore, he who was aware of the attitude shown by the other members, decided to report his findings personally.
"Mother Mary, is there anything left to say?"
Seeing himself not getting out of the chair he was sitting in, Arman as the defense minister asked him. Now there were only two of them in the room. So, when he found the young girl in glasses not getting out of her seat, Arman assumed that something would be conveyed by him personally.
In addition to the internal problems in the meeting, there are actually several other reasons why Maria would not convey it openly. He felt that the information he was about to convey should not be heard by too many ears. He was worried that it would cause a commotion and ended up with them taking the wrong choice in addressing this.
"Sorry, Mr. Minister. Can I have a minute?"
Maria spoke politely, then handed over a photo showing various strange patterns to Arman.
"This is a pattern engraved on the wall of Palapa Inc's robotic laboratory number 8. This engraving is caused by one of the experimental mecha units adjacent to the test subject. The right hand of the mecha carved it using a steel knife. The staff responsible for controlling the experimental mecha lost control and declared that the pattern was not created by it."
The brief explanation from Maria made Arman a little interested. He looked at the intricate pattern for a few minutes, then said something just to confirm his assessment.
"It's a writing, isn't it?"
In response to the question, Maria nodded while explaining other important information.
"I confirm that the symbols are a piece of writing after comparing them to the operating system code of the test subjects we examined. The results are identical."
Arman slightly smiled when he heard Maria's explanation. According to him, this finding is a very important clue to uncover the identity of the owners of the tools they found.
Arman asked impatiently.
"In that case, is it possible to break this writing?"
"This is amazing. Under my direction, we formed a special team to create a text conversion program based on the symbols in the database of these foreign devices. As a result, there were no problems in solving the symbol. The language used is not foreign. It's as if whoever sent the device and the engraver led us to break it."
Hearing the good news, Arman became very enthusiastic. He asked back.
"What is the message in these words?"
The glasses girl turned her eyes away from Arman. He opened his bag and explained what he had found.
"The message is incomplete. I don't know the reason behind why the message was cut into pieces. This is how it is in its entirety."
Mary took out a piece of paper containing a translation of the message she got. Then, he gave the paper to Arman.
"Oh, yeah. From the future." Arman muttered as he continued to look at the message. "I think this has something to do with the sighting on the Island of the Two West as well."
Maria thought that Arman would laugh at the content of the message and consider it a joke. However, time travel is just a dream. There is no real evidence that something like that can be realized. However, Arman's response was the opposite. It seemed that the man could instantly accept it without questioning anything.
"Apparitions?"
Mary, who had not heard anything about the apparition, became interested in Arman's words. In the end Arman began to explain something about a strange phenomenon that occurred on the Island of the Two West.
About a month ago, when the investigating staff, some soldiers, and the police were conducting a sweep on West Island Two, suddenly a little girl appeared out of nowhere.
The island itself is forbidden to be entered by residents. Also, all the police and soldiers who patrol believe that no boat is approaching the island. Amazingly again, the mysterious girl simply vanished a few seconds after her appearance.
"Cannot be. Are you sure that's not a hallucination?"
Now it was Mary's turn to be surprised by Arman's explanation. As someone who always thinks logically, he cannot take for granted the absurd phenomena he hears.
"There were 18 eyewitnesses there and they were all convinced of their own vision."
"If that is true, is he the one who claims to be from that future? A time traveler?"
In response to the question, Arman sighed for a moment.
"I'm still not sure. Therefore, this information is still kept secret from other members. However, with the message you gave, now the accuracy is higher."
"That's it, huh?"
The girl was silent in her seat.
"Now the problem is, what exactly is the purpose of this time traveler. Was it purely to warn about a third world war that would happen in the future? If that's true, why did he come to us instead of first world and second world countries?"
Maria and Arman were silent. They were unable to determine whether the clues left behind by this mysterious person could be trusted or not. Both cannot ignore the possibility of other intentions behind these actions.
While the higher-ups were puzzled by a series of strange occurrences that befell the city of Jakarta, a brown-haired little girl who had sparked a ruckus was now busy buying various kinds of fertilizer. He also bought the types of graft trees sold on the side of the road.
This short girl carelessly showed her face to the public as if the events on the Island of the Two West had never been experienced by her. Sooner or later, with 18 eyewitnesses, he will be found.
"Yes! Next up is the strongest insect in the world. I'll take that date-like insect to the shelter!"
Her little legs stepped towards her black car, then went inside through the back door.
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Published in Mangatoon on Saturday 04 July 2020 at 12:00 PM.
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