Two-Person Galactic Journey: Earth Was Destroyed While Imprisoned in Space Prison-Chapter 220

Chapter 220
The immigrant ship Kait had called in ed that it had completed the retrieval of the Smallfolk scattered across various parts of Ramadite, not long after the repairs on the giant beast Bassalem had begun.
Borno-kki and the others helped with persuading the Smallfolk in each region. It was worth having saved them first.
They would begin their citizen lives as Federation citizens, starting from the status of Third-Rank Citizen, but apparently, Third-Rank Citizens can receive education about Federation society. Did Earthlings also have such educational opportunities? If they didn't, then Kait's initial consideration might have backfired. Thinking about that made him feel like he'd done something wrong.
In any case, it seemed that about three thousand Smallfolk had gathered on the immigrant ship. Since Rutimi De and the surface Smallfolk were accepted into the Federation, no one knew how many times expulsions had occurred, but it certainly wasn't many. That alone showed how harsh the environment of the planet Ramadite was for the survival and prosperity of the Smallfolk.
"If there weren't any environments where they could live underground, the Smallfolk might have gone extinct."
"Yes. The equipment left in the space that the underground Smallfolk call the sacred ground—"
"Ah, you looked into it, didn't you? How was it?"
"We couldn't find any data matching Federation standards among the equipment. In other words, it means a completely unknown civilization once existed here."
"Really?"
Emotion's words carried enough romance to spark Kait's curiosity. Ramadite wasn't exactly located in the Federation's frontier space. Yet, whoever had once possessed fairly advanced technology had vanished without ever joining the Federation.
Whether their species had met its end on this planet or not—no one knew.
"Those people—did they have technology capable of space travel?"
"Presumably, though that comes with a caveat. The Smallfolk of the time probably tinkered with it without understanding. Most of the equipment was ruined."
"Oh dear."
Some were broken from being handled roughly due to ignorance, others were disassembled and abandoned because they couldn't be put back together. In any case, the relics of that mysterious civilization had mostly turned into incomprehensible junk.
However, Emotion seemed to have a different reason for concluding that civilization had spacefaring capabilities.
"The wall surfaces were fixed in place, but perhaps the Smallfolk couldn't cut through them, or saw no reason to. The wall murals remained intact—"
"Murals, huh. Were there any writings too?"
"Yes, writings and a star map of a star system. The writings haven't been deciphered yet, but the map included several systems that weren't part of the Ramadite system. One of them closely resembled the Traltan system."
"The Traltan system? That's quite far."
The Traltan system wasn't within the Federation's sphere of influence, but it was a special star system managed by the Federation. It was clearly far from Ramadite. Maybe it was just a coincidence,
but no one knew the circumstances under which the star map was drawn. Why it depicted distant star systems instead of nearby ones, or even why it was drawn in the sacred ground in the first place.
Kait instinctively looked up. It wasn't night yet, so no starlight could be seen in the sky. Still, observing stars orbiting a star from this planet wasn't impossible.
Whoever had once built such a facility on Ramadite had traveled the sea of stars and left behind records of the star systems they saw. Believing in such a possibility somehow felt romantic.
"I wonder where that someone who was on this planet went."
"Yes. If they're still traveling, maybe we'll meet them someday."
***
"Whoaah, it's night! It's really night!?"
"Amazing, it's pitch black everywhere! Wait, did we really come from over there!?"
"H-Hey. If we're this high up, wouldn't it be really bad if we fell!?"
The Smallfolk squealed and chattered as they looked out the windows.
Rutimi De, who had chosen to return to the Federation as their escort, felt a nostalgic warmth watching them.
Because it reminded her of the same excitement she had felt when they left Ramadite.
Adie Ze looked exasperated, probably because he was born in the Federation. For those raised in the Federation, the sight of space was nothing new. So he couldn't understand the awe and excitement of the surface Smallfolk.
"You really are Federation-born, huh."
"What is it, Elder? You sound like you're empathizing with them."
"I am empathizing. We were like that at first too."
"...Is that so?"
Their current conversation was about what would happen if they fell, or angrily insisting that nothing could be done. In today's Federation, the Smallfolk would absolutely not be accepted. Even if they had flown out into space from the Guardian Tree, it wouldn't matter.
She was glad the Federation's rules hadn't become stricter back then, and she found it strange that the reason the current Smallfolk were accepted by the Federation lay with them. If anything had been slightly different, the past and present would never have intersected like this.
As Rutimi De watched the Smallfolk with deep emotion, someone spoke to her from the side. It was the mechanical intelligence responsible for operating the ship.
"Rutimi De, Fourth-Rank Citizen Darda Elra. I have a matter to discuss."
"What is it, Ratim, Sixth-Rank Citizen Ab Rag?"
"Yes. We must perform body modification on them, but I'm unsure how to explain it."
"Ah... right."
The surface Smallfolk likely wouldn't understand what body modification meant. Back when it was Rutimi De's turn, they were modified without explanation or consent. It was simply known that without it, they would die. The Federation at that time was unkind but efficient toward new citizens.
That kind of approach is no longer viable. Rather, unless a species has the intellectual maturity to understand the reasons for body modification, it has no right to join the Federation.
Rutimi De hesitated slightly, but quickly came to a decision.
"Let's just do it after they fall asleep. Using the micro-machine implant type for everyone should be fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. It's unfortunate, but explaining the meaning and value of body modification to them and getting them to understand would be impossible. I think it'll be easier to avoid opposition if we educate them and help them understand after arriving in the Federation."
Ratim seemed to ponder those calm words for a while. But unable to think of a more effective alternative to Rutimi De's plan, he simply said he'd take it into consideration and left.
Adie Ze watched Ratim leave with a still exasperated expression.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes. Back then, we didn't get a say either. And you too—you were modified right after birth, weren't you? Sure, it's true we can't live without the modification, but it's not something we chose ourselves, right?"
"Now that you mention it... Ah, so that's why one free reconstruction is allowed."
"Exactly."
Not just Adie Ze—any Federation citizen born in the Federation underwent body modification right after birth. Then, as a right, they were granted a single chance to freely redo their body modification after being deemed capable of making sound decisions.
And then—Rutimi De spoke with a serious expression.
"If they say they want the same modification plan as Kait, Third-Rank Citizen Enec Lagif, that would be a huge problem."
"Yeah, definitely. That kind of unstable modification seems to be getting more popular lately. I think it's all risk and no reward though."
Any normal-minded Federation citizen would never choose a modification that grants psychic power. But those who had any interaction with Kait tended to want that kind of modification plan. It was a problem the Federation couldn't openly address.