Chapter Text
Like once stated by a certain young scientist:
“The most powerful weapon in humanity’s history is communications technology…”
The ease with which information is transmitted between people… it has an influence that’s often easily underestimated. Maybe even by those within the Kingdom of Science… Communications that seem, at first glance, inane or even entirely unimportant might end up playing a huge role in events to come…
Is it really a surprise that it actually happened? Especially with a conversation between these two key figures… Even though in this particular case absolutely nothing groundbreaking was discussed… or so it seemed…
The Perseus had recently returned from its successful voyage to ‘treasure island’, and upon that return an important goal had finally been fulfilled... While most of the people who had been part of the expedition had remained at what had formerly been the Empire of Might… Ishigami Senku, the de facto leader of the kingdom of science, had decided to spend a couple of days in Ishigami village…
Although there was a fair amount of distance between the two camps, they were still constantly in contact, Senku especially using their cellphone to keep track of things… Today, Asagiri Gen was the one whose voice had answered him from the other side. It soon became clear that nothing urgent had come up. So before long, the mentalist and the scientist ended up descending into their habitual banter. Then… Gen started happily mocking Senku -once again- for his ‘problematic’ penchant for blunt honesty at the most inconvenient of times…
“Don’t you know Senku-chan..?” wheedled the magician, seemingly lighthearted, “Rulers get overthrown by their nations for these things all the time! Their people learn of a couple too many ‘truths’ concerning their actions... And the next thing you know they start revolting, the government gets overthrown and the once-upon-a-time leader gets tragically killed or thrown into an isolated cell, never to be heard from again.“
There was a sly darkness in the Mentalist’s voice which conjured the impression that he actually enjoyed the thought of such a thing happening to Senku. Gen could be frightening when this side of him showed itself. The scientist however, only smirked and let the silence stretch.
Gen laughed playfully and continued with a sunny smile:
“Skip ahead a decade or two and documentaries will start popping up! And all of the world will get to watch them just to agree that those leaders were inhuman and that whatever their terrible fate… it was completely deserved!”
“Don’t be illogical,” Senku’s voice was flat, not sounding impressed with Gen’s dramatics. “-Next you’ll start telling me that people are already getting a head start and eagerly lining up to create such a documentary about our kingdom of science!”
“You never know,” The smile in Gen’s voice was genuine now. “Minami-chan might be interested!”
“Even if there was such a thing, nobody here would watch it,” Senku countered, satisfaction clear in his voice. “Maybe Chrome and Kaseki would be interested. You and everyone else however wouldn’t be able to keep focused during the important parts, which would obviously be the scientific details!” Senku grinned. “If there was a documentary detailing the things I do every day… You’d all fall asleep out of sheer boredom. You’d definitely give up on watching within the first ten minutes!”
“Now don’t be so hasty Senku-chan.”Gen’s sly smile had only grown wider. “After some editing and maybe adding a halfway decent soundtrack… I would probably watch it!”
“Of course,” Senku’s voice was dry as the desert. “And after watching this imaginary documentary with me as the main character that absolutely everyone is going to be interested in…” His sarcasm was definitely getting thicker, “…the Kingdom of Science will tragically self-destruct and I will bitterly regret ever having told the truth about a single thing.”
“Now you’re getting it, Senku-chan!”
“That’s ten billion percent never going to happen! Come up with something else, Mentalist!”
Yes, a completely normal nonsensical conversation. Nothing talked about that day would have had any noticeable impact if it hadn’t been for one minor detail… that this conversation took place over their phone…
Because a looming presence had long since been haunting their communications technology.
They were not the only ones listening…
-
Day one: The countdown
Chrome was in a good mood. Winter had come early this year and the snow was already thick enough to make travel needlessly difficult but there were still plenty of interesting things to do!
Making a space craft capable of travelling to the moon with just the resources available in their corner of the world might have turned out to be impossible. But Still… that didn’t mean their new, crazy long, roadmap didn’t still have steps they could take! Gone were the winters during which Chrome had nothing to do except hiding from the cold; regularly reduced to staring at the walls while waiting for a spring that always seemed to take an eternity to get there. Practicing arithmetic in his head just to have something to distract himself with. Science was so amazing!
Back when they had returned from Treasure Island and Senku had revealed the ‘roadmap to the moon’, the kingdom had been bursting with excitement. A fair bit of incredulity had also been voiced but Chrome hadn’t felt the need to pay those reactions any mind. This always happened after all, when Senku had them undertaking something especially bad. Unfortunately, since the winter was fast approaching; gathering resources from all over the world would have to wait until spring. However it turned out that there were still plenty of steps that they could take while the cold kept them inside. Also, it seemed the modern-timers did not feel like whiling away their time. Hiding from the strenuous work that was science. A large number of them had their eyes on one specific part of the road map. Computers! Chrome hadn’t quite understood the multiple explanations he’d received about ‘the awesomeness of computers’ and what exactly they were… but they still sounded incredibly bad! And apparently they needed reinventing before the kingdom of science could launch their future rocket! Senku however had quickly spoiled the fun of all involved. It turned out that building a computer with the resources at hand also wasn’t going to happen. This in turn meant that the reinvention of something called ‘video games’ would have to wait… to the tearful disappointment of the many who had been shooting the roadmap longing glances. Taiju’s disappointment was especially loud.
After Chrome had been made to witness some very awkward begging though, Senku had seemingly decided that they might as well start building a television instead. The broadcasting capabilities and screen would be useful later and they had the time so it was definitely logical to start building one now. Or so Senku claimed to the celebrating revived after he announced the news. The project instantly gained no end of enthusiastic volunteers. Though if Chrome knew Senku; most of them would have ended up ‘volunteering’ anyway.
Now New Year’s was close and the finished television had its own dedicated room next to the photography studio. There were seats for viewing but the television also occupied a large portion of the room. All of that machinery needed to make it function… Chrome had delighted in working on it! It now could receive broadcasts, had a recording function and its screen was fairly large and could even show things in color! They would be able to watch something called a ‘movie’ on the television! Or they would once Minami and some of those others from Tsukasa’s former empire got around to creating one with their new film camera. They were already making plans and Gen had happily talked about recording a magic show. It all sounded so amazing! So bad!
Senku had claimed that the whole thing was too bulky and that the image quality didn’t even come close to the HD flat screens they had in the modern age but nobody had cared and Chrome had seen Senku smiling that small satisfied smile when he thought nobody was paying him attention. They had all celebrated the night it had been finished even though they had nothing to use the thing for yet. Senku had gone to Ishigami village the next day. Chrome hoped they’d have something to show him once he came back. It was always great when they managed to surprise the usually unflappable scientist.
Today though; Chrome planned to see if he could improve the sound quality of the device. They had definitely upgraded their speakers since they built that first cell phone but he’d had this awesome idea earlier-
Chrome stepped into the TV room and immediately noticed something was wrong.
There weren’t supposed to be numbers on the screen…
289… 288… 287… 286…
Ukyo silently watched the numbers ticking away as Chrome checked the wires one final time to make absolutely sure. The recording equipment they had made, but not yet had the chance to really test, needed to work. A huge signal had once again hijacked their equipment and started a countdown on their television. Chrome had discovered it almost 2 hours ago and they’d all known the source even before Ukyo had confirmed its point of origin. Whatever Why-man was counting down to, it was unlikely to be good so they needed all the information they could get. Senku wasn’t here and wouldn’t be able to make it back in time for whatever the transmission was going to show them. Ukyo hoped he’d make it here tomorrow, but until then they would record whatever would be broadcast once this countdown was at an end. That didn’t mean they were going to ignore this until then.
Apart from Senku, all of the ‘wise generals’ had gathered in the tv room. Only months ago the mysterious entity they called Why-man had removed any and all doubts they might have harbored about its intentions using that chilling method.... That direct attempt to decimate everything they had built using Senku’s voice... Not a single one of them would take any signal from that source lightly. Ukyo glanced sideways to the others assembled in the room from beneath his cap. Most of them had already sat down behind their ‘conference’ table. It had been dragged here from its regular location in the ‘Strategy room’ where they usually discussed tactics. Chrome had finished with the recorder and walked around the table to take the seat next to Ukyo… then there was Ryusui… Gen… and finally Tsukasa…
58… 57… 56… 55…
Ukyo wasn’t entirely certain how much Tsukasa knew about Why-man as he hadn’t seen much of the man since his fairly recent revival. This may have been deliberate on his part… Or it could have been because Ukyo had been spending more time in Senku’s vicinity, who had been working separate from most warriors, quietly keeping an eye on the scientist. Ukyo knew that this was likely completely unnecessary but… it put his mind somewhat at ease. The stone wars may have ended almost two years ago but… some experiences he couldn’t let go of just yet... So as Shishio Tsukasa had joined the kingdom of science, Ukyo started dedicating more of his time to unobtrusively watching their unofficial leader’s back.
He suspected that he wasn’t alone in doing so either…
15… 14… 13… 12…
The countdown was almost at its end. Each of the others had their eyes on the screen. They would get to the moon and before that they would not allow Why-man to eradicate them. The kingdom of science would stand strong. Ukyo narrowed his eyes and joined them in their focus. Next to him he knew Chrome looked like he was ready for a challenge, Ryusui was wearing his predatory grin, Gen’s sharp-eyed smirk was covering any nervousness he might have felt and Tsukasa’s face was dangerously blank. They’d completed whatever preparations they could in the limited time the countdown had granted them... And now… whatever it was that would, within seconds, appear on the screen… it was time to see if they were ready for it…
3… 2… 1…
The screen turned black...
And then… white letters materialized…
[DOCUMENTARY]