Leviathan

MR. SENDA. Wh-what if the rescue ship doesn’t get here by then?!
ROBOT. Once oxygen runs out… all the passengers will die. Except for me, of course.
MR. SENDA. This is how you handle emergencies around here?!
ROBOT. We are a budget spaceline.

MR. SENDA. Sometimes it’s best not to tell the truth! A leader’s responsibility is to try and solve problems while keeping quiet about them. After all, you’re just kids! It would be dangerous to divulge information that could cause widespread panic. And if, by some horrible twist of fate, help doesn’t reach us before we run out of time… your classmates would surely be better off not knowing, don’t you think?

MISS MOMOSE. Listen… You’re shaken… That’s perfectly understandable. People often come up with crazy theories when they feel powerless.

FUTABA. If this has anything to do with the conversation we overheard between Mr. Senda and the Robot when we went looking for the first aid kit… well, I couldn’t hear a word they were saying… They were too far away! Besides, we were only there for a few seconds!

ITSU. This stupid field trip was mainly a way to prove our loyalty to the dictatorship that controls Earth and the colonies. […] My Dad says that discrimination against people from exoplanets is getting worse all the time. Apparently, earthlings don’t even see us as human! To them, we’re just slaves and our only purpose is to send them our natural resources. Our lives are worth less than theirs.

JIRO. We all know that we only have 36 hours of oxygen left… That help is not on the way… That the only way to survive is to use a cryopod… And that there’s only one pod on the entire ship!

FUTABA. It was the lesser of two evils. If they hadn’t found out, they wouldn’t have had to suffer until the very end. They would have died peacefully, without hatred or violence! Now, instead, we all become one another’s enemies. Can you imagine the chaos that awaits? This is exactly what I was hoping to avoid by keeping the truth a secret. But you ruined everything.

1. Leviathan: Chapter 1. The Journal. Shiro Kuroi. 2024.
2. Leviathan: Chapter 2. Paranoia. Shiro Kuroi. 2024.
3. Leviathan: Chapter 3. Deadly Traps. Shiro Kuroi. 2024.
4. Leviathan: Chapter 5. The Gates of Hell. Shiro Kuroi. 2024.