34. The Whale That Emits the Deepest Silence in the World
The three of us stood dazed in the middle of the ivory lawn, waiting through what felt like a third of eternity.
After all the water we drank at the diner had spilled out as tears, a sound like ultrasonic waves suddenly echoed from above. It was sharp yet faint, like a bullet grazing past, fired by an Olympic sharpshooter.
Kana and I looked up simultaneously. There, a vast galaxy flowed, dazzling our eyes.
As if played in reverse, the surface of the galaxy parted, and a whale emerged.
The whale was colored like shaved ice, a blend of Mercury's surface mixed with thirty percent deep-sea blue.
It was so massive it couldn't fit within our field of vision.
Leaping through the galaxy like a breaching whale, it splashed down onto the ivory runway, sending up waves of light.
As it approached, the ear-piercing ultrasonic roar gradually shifted into a high-pitched ringing, like a fireball breaking through Earth's thermosphere, incinerating all surrounding sounds with its momentum.
And then, it began emitting the deepest silence in the world.
"Unbelievable…"
My small murmur echoed with a shock that felt like it could rupture my eardrum sensors.
That's how intense the silence was.
Overwhelmed by the crushing weight of that silence, Kana and I covered our ears with both hands, unable to stand upright, and bowed our heads.
I wanted to scream, "Stop!" but I was too afraid to make a sound, consumed by the absolute silence.
When the whale landed before us, the silence finally broke.
"Haa… haa…"
I realized I was breathing heavily.
To endure those four seconds of silence, my battery, which had been near 100%, had dropped to 17%. That meant I'd consumed 83% of my energy in just four seconds. If that silence had lasted even 0.001 seconds longer, I might have discharged completely and lost consciousness forever.
"Neo-kun!"
Kana grabbed my arm, her touch steadying me.
"Are you okay?"
Regaining my composure, I looked at her and saw water streaming from her blue eyes.
It was a heart-wrenching sight.
I quickly forced a smile to reassure her.
"I'm fine. Totally okay."
"Neo-kun… thank goodness."
But her distraught expression didn't immediately return to normal.
Suddenly, Kana hugged me tightly.
With all her strength.
Caught in her embrace, I gently placed both hands on her back, returning the hug.
"Sorry for worrying you."
"Yeah… I was so worried…"
Her voice was hoarse, trembling, on the verge of breaking.
That voice, which moments ago felt like it could shatter my eardrum sensors, now gently caressed and soothed them, like a tropical fish planting a soft kiss.
It wasn't just my eardrums that were healed.
Throughout the long journey to the starport, Kana had charged me with her warmth and voltage while riding on my back. Now, through this hug, she was supplying electric energy to my severely depleted battery.
"Stop it. I'm really okay," I said, concerned she was worrying too much, and tried to gently pull away from the hug. But she refused to let go, holding me so tightly it almost felt violent, rendering me unable to move.
And so, I was gradually recharged.
"It's okay," Kana whispered. "Don't worry about me. I'm sturdy. I have enough energy to charge you forever, Neo-kun."
"You planning to hug me forever?"
"Can I?"
"No way."
I resolved not to spoil her and steeled myself.
"As long as the law of entropy exists, we'll have to part eventually. We can't stay like this forever."
"I know that," Kana said, sounding dissatisfied. "But until entropy reaches its limit and the world ends, we can keep hugging like this, right?"
"Don't be selfish."
Like a parent soothing a child, I put as much kindness as I could—perhaps more than my programming allowed—into gently loosening her trembling arms.
Her arms, as if glued with industrial adhesive, I carefully, tenderly pried apart.
Then, I shifted my gaze to the whale towering before us, so massive it inspired awe and fear.
"The whale's waiting. Let's go before we miss our ride."
"Whale."
That word purified Kana's ears, which had been steeped in sentimentality, and her sorrowful eyes instantly regained their clear, refreshing blue glow.
"Yeah," she replied softly.
The master, who had been watching us, pointed to the whale as if unveiling a new creation.
"Go on, get on."
And so, we boarded the whale that emitted the deepest silence in the world.
As we approached, the whale fixed us with deep, obsidian eyes, as if it had been contemplating a single thought for billions of years.
Its gaze held an even darker abyss than the earlier silence, as if solemnly evaluating whether we were worthy of boarding.
Tension coursed through me.
As if approving our passage, the whale slowly opened its mouth. From it, countless sparkling elementary particles, like plankton, flowed in, washing over our bare feet like gentle waves on a sandy shore.
We stepped inside the whale's mouth.
Before it closed, I glanced back outside. The master, lightly stomping her bare feet as if crushing grapes in a barrel, waved with a charming smile.
Kana and I waved back, and the whale's mouth closed.
Thus, we boarded the cargo ship bound for Earth.