Chapter 2: The Land that Has Come to a Halt -From Cradle to Cradle-

A single car travelled under an overcast, cloudy wasteland. 

The whole surface of the sky was dyed a dark gray. Since no wind blew, the clouds didn’t move at all.

It was as if the sky had been completely blocked out by a roof. although one could only roughly approximate the time based on the sun’s position, it was still around morning.

There were no flat hard rocks on the ground, nor anything else that resembled a road. Quite on the contrary, it was a place that seemed to lead to nowhere at all.

The one thing travelling in such a remote, desolate place was a very small, yellow, worn-out car. Even now, it seemed that it would break down at any moment, but it continued to move forward. 

Riding in the car were two humans. 

The one sitting in the driver’s seat on the right was a young, handsome man, who was a bit short in stature. He was holding onto the steering wheel with one hand.  

Sitting in the passenger’s seat on the left was a delicately aged woman with long black hair.

She gazed at the horizon ahead with an expression that was neither intense nor kind, but rather one which seemed like she was thinking about nothing at all. 

A pile of luggage was piled up in the backseat. Packages of water, fuel, and things like that were lined up. Countless Persuaders (Note: a gun) were visible. 

Since there were no obstructions of any kind ahead, the man continued to drive carelessly without a single shred of tenseness as he spoke. “Mm. This is probably a bad time to say this after we’ve travelled for so long, but is there really a country ahead, Shishou?” He gave the person next to him a quick glance.

Thereupon, the woman called Shishou turned to face the man, and confidently answered, “Probably.”

“‘Probably’…?” the man asked, a little exasperated.

“Although the last reports of the country are from a hundred years ago, itcouldn’t have easily moved to another location.”

“Well, that may be true but… At the very worst, even if there’s nothing but ruins left, we’ll have something to look at. What did those reports from a hundred years ago say?”

“‘A country with unparalleled advances in medicine. Since everyone can spend their days much easier due to that, it seems that everyone there lives happily.'”

“Is that all?”

“That is all.”

“I see…” he mumbled. He asked another question.

“Then, let’s suppose that the country still exists. What kind of country do you think they’ve become now? If there’s not even disease, people must be living long and happy lives, and no one fights with each other…?”

“That’s a common idea, isn’t it?”

“Pardon my ignorance. What does Shishou think?”

“Well. If we go, we’ll know, won’t we?”

“This is it…”

He lifted both hands from the steering wheel, and shrugged his shoulders. “Oh dear.” A small point became visible in the distance. 

The point grew bigger and bigger, until eventually, it gradually rose into the shape of castle walls.

The rumored country most certainly existed. 

The walls were the same dark gray color as the sky. There was a massive door, which was naturally closed.

The two travellers stopped their car a short distance away from the door, leaving behind the long rifle-type Persuader in the car.

Although neither carried weapons in their hands, strapped tightly to their waist were lethal tools. 

On the left side of the man’s waist was a slender automatic Hand Persuader. Strapped on the women’s right thigh was a large caliber revolver.

There were no guard stations near the entrance. There wasn’t even an indication that a guard existed.

Since there was no other way in, the two slowly started walking towards the gate. 

“It’s likely that we’re the first visitors they’ve had in ten- no- a hundred years, you know. Can’t they at least give us a proper welcoming?”

“Well, they might be planning on shooting us without warning to keep us quiet.”

“Ah. Actually, on second thought, would it be possible for me to go home first? The truth is, I was in the middle of a very important knitting project that I must get back to. And I really must water this plant I have back at home. I would also like to replace the lightbulb at the entrance.”

“Of course, go on ahead. No need to worry about the car either. I can take care of it.”

“Thank you very much, kind Shishou.”

While continuing the heart-warming conversation, they found themselves standing in front of the large door. 

As far as they could see, the door was not damaged in any way. It seemed to be built quite sturdily. 

“Well, the country still hasn’t gone to ruins, huh.”

The woman nodded silently, acknowledging the man’s words. 

“Hello hello! We’re travellers, and if it’s possible, we’d like to come into your country for sightseeing!” the man exclaimed cheerfully. 

“Greetings travellers. We humbly welcome the two of you into our country. We will now proceed to open the gates, so please wait just a minute.” A calm, male voice, like that of an old butler, sounded out. 

Slowly, the massive castle door began to rise, barely making a sound. From inside the walls, a wind blew outwards, enveloping the travellers from head to toe. Still, there was not a single person in sight.

“Doesn’t it smell like grass, Shishou?” the man remarked.

“Mm.”

“And of animals as well.”

“Mm.”

“Then, does that mean that humans are living here?”

“That’s pretty likely.”

“Then, why have they been living like this for a hundred years? They even went this far to cut off interactions with the outside world-“

“For now, we won’t know why they decided to receive us like this.”

“It’s a mystery, huh. I was thinking that when we learn the truth, it’ll be something like ‘the country instituted a policy that states ‘Those who enter the country can stay here or die.’’”

“That seems like the obvious conclusion.”

“Anyhow. What do we do if that’s really the case?”

“I thought you’d say that.”

As they continued their pleasant conversation, the door opened just enough so that a tall person could narrowly fit through. 

The inside of the country came to be visible to the two travellers. 

There, it truly seemed like a separate world compared to the wasteland that they had just come from. The color of green spread as far as the eye could see. On the flat earth, long, narrow rows of grass swayed. 

Moreover, if one strained their eyes, they could see many cows. The cows were dappled with a black and white pattern, and since they had been allowed to roam free, they leisurely ate grass on the meadow. 

“You may now enter our country. The ‘Country Tour’ will now begin. Since the usage of cars is prohibited, we ask that you go by foot.” The polite voice once again spoke, despite the absence of a human figure. What sort of mechanism allowed such a thing, the two travellers could hardly guess. 

“Shishou?”

“It can’t be helped. Let’s go.”

The woman passed through the gates first. The man briefly turned towards the car. “Ah, I guess it really can’t be helped. If you have already eaten the poison, may as well lick the plate…” (T/N: figure of speech meaning something along the lines of, if you’ve already committed, go all in)

Saying that, he chased after the woman. 

Meanwhile, the country door slowly began to close shut.

Inside the country there was nothing but green.

The flat, green plains continued on in all directions, and there were abundant numbers of cows grazing. Anything that resembled a house, however, was nowhere to be seen. 

The place, which almost seemed like a different world, was an ideal picnic spot. If the sky wasn’t overcast as it was now, how perfect a feeling it would have been

The faint outline of the walls on the opposite side of the country could be seen. From that, it was clear that the country was not a big one

“Welcome, travellers. Please be careful of the cows as you proceed.” The smooth butler-like voice spoke again. “From here on, please make your way a little to the left. You will soon arrive at the entrance.” 

Despite the word of caution, the two travellers began crossing the plains without fear. Except for the cow dung scattered all over, which they took great care to avoid. 

Eventually, “The entrance is there. Please enter.”

The two finally reached “the entrance.” Surrounding a flight of stairs that led underground was a low, iron fence. Only the stairs and its surroundings were made of stone, and had been covered in a considerable amount of moss. 

The gate was something that cows would be unable to pass, but humans could. Therefore, the two proceeded to swing open the gate and headed underground.

“Please be careful not to fall. If anything happens, I will be unable to assist you.”

With “Butler-san” warning them, they continued down the dimly lit stone steps carefully. Eventually, they could see a white, shining exit, and they stepped through into a large, open space.

Letting their eyes adjust to the brightness, they began to recognize the things in the space. 

“Ah…” The male traveller was at a loss of words. 

“…” The female traveller had nothing to say, but her face furrowed just a little bit. 

There was a large, open space. 

The specific dimensions were hard to judge, but it was probably as at least as large as a soccer field. 

The mechanism was unclear, but the entire high ceiling shone with light. It was a magnificent space. Furthermore, although they were underground, there was not a single support beam or pillar to be seen in the entire place. 

Nor could a single stain or smudge on the bright, pure white walls be found.

A row of beds was lined up against the wall. 

Beds, but not for adult use. Each was no bigger than a desk, and no taller than knee height. They were, so to speak, “baby beds.”

Each was colored white. The material they were made of wasn’t obvious, but there were no blemishes on the surface. It was as if each bed had been smoothly cut from some large mass. 

The beds were covered by dome shaped hoods, some clear, some translucent, and others completely black. Whether the domes were made from glass or plastic was unclear.

In the long, narrow room, they were arranged in a grid-like manner. Twenty beds were lined up side by side horizontally, and beds were lined up head to toe all the way to the end of the room. It would be impossible to count the total number, but it was probably much greater than a thousand or two thousand. 

“Wha-what is this place…?” The male traveller’s voice spoke.

“This our country’s place, where every citizen spends their time at,” Butler-san replied.

“You may examine the beds.” Butler-san spoke again.

“Then, please excuse our interruption.”

“…”

They began to walk slowly towards the beds. When they arrived at the nearest bed, they peered into the hood, which had a slightly darker color.

“Ah, it really is a baby.”

“…”

Inside the dome was a single human baby.

It was dressed in a tender, pink getup, and slept peacefully atop white sheets.

Scarcely had they reached the first bed when they saw the neighboring one.

This one had a transparent dome covering. 

Like the previous one, this too contained a baby, however, this one wasn’t sleeping. It held a baby bottle in its mouth, drinking what appeared to be milk. A mechanical arm with fingers extended out of the interior side of the bed, holding up the bottle.

In the bed next to that one, three arms were dexterously changing a diaper. 

And in the next one, a baby was cheerfully making noise.

However, the two travellers, due to some sort of soundproofing, were unable to hear even the slightest noise from that baby. The arm, by shaking a toy, seemed be playing with the baby.

And in the bed next to that, the covering was completely blackened, so that they were unable to see inside.

“In other words… these are all fully automated beds that take care of a baby’s upbringing…?” The man raised his head.

“Indeed. It is just as you say,” Butler-san responded. “They are all able to be raised by a fully automated system, without any need for human interference.”

“Then, every baby in living in this country is raised here huh.”

“Indeed. That is correct.”

“Then, where are they raised in their next stage of development?”

“Here.”

“Huh?”

“These babies will are all going to die soon.”

“Huuh?” The man craned his neck continuously, trying to understand what he had heard.

Next to him, the woman spoke up. “Then, shall we hear the story?”

“Indeed. It is a little long, but please listen carefully.”

“For a long time, this country was making huge advances in the medical field.

It had all but eliminated disease, so everyone would live over a hundred years old and die only of old age, and all could enjoy a long life. Our country tightly controlled this technology so as to not leak it to the outside world. 

After we had eradicated disease, the next target was ‘eternal youth, eternal life.’

In the end, ‘eternal youth’ was achieved.

A certain medicine was developed. If you drank that medicine, and furthermore, had a firm conviction that ‘I want to remain like as I am,’ all aging related processes would stop, and your figure would not change. 

However, ‘eternal life’ could not be achieved.

This ‘eternal youth’ medicine, as it was called, forced the aging process to halt. However, once you got to a certain age, your body would no longer be able to withstand it. 

If you lived to a hundred years, your body would suddenly cease to function, and you’d die as if you had fallen asleep. A way to stop that process couldn’t be found. Although you’d never grow old, death by old age was impossible to avoid. How ironic. 

Even still, people enjoyed their lives of never growing old.

All our citizens received that benefit. Most of them chose to live lives where they would continue to be young, strong, and handsome. They chose an age between twenty and thirty, and stopped growing older, rejoicing at their young life. 

There were also those who thought ‘I want to live as a child.’ They wanted to stay in the body of a child while enjoying the life of an adult. 

On the other hand, some held the thought ‘I wish to carry a dignified presence.’ Those people chose to take the medicine at the prime age of their life. 

However, once you reached a certain age, you couldn’t become younger, so that decision was one that would last  your entire life.  

Like this, the people of this country enjoyed living without ever growing old.

Then, a terrible thing happened.”

When they had heard up to there, the male traveller’s face paled. “Eh? What? Eh?”

While the woman remained expressionless, the man gazed over at the beds containing the sleeping babies. “It… can’t be…”

“That’s correct. Although it is quite unexpected, it unfortunately occurred. Even though they are mere infants, they refuse to grow old,” Butler-san explained.

“If you didn’t take the medicine, you should have experienced no effects. Furthermore, if you did drink it, in order for the medicine to take effect, you had to have a very strong conviction in order to stop aging- or so it was thought. Of course, the medicine was never administered to infants, and there were security measures to prevent that from ever happening. 

“If that’s the case… what happened?” The man asked.

“The children of those who drank the medicine were also affected by the medicine. The idea that the effects of the medicine would remain strongly in their children was something far beyond expectations. However, that alone should not have caused anything drastic. After all, in order for the medicine to display its effects, the person would have to strongly hold the conviction that ‘I wish to remain as I am.’”

“But…”

“Not a single human has recollections or memories of their infancy period. However, with this incident, it has been proven that ‘infants have the ability to think and have their own will.’ The children raised here mostly likely thought something along the lines of ‘it’s wonderful that I’m able to sleep and drink milk as I please. If I could live like this forever, that would be amazing.’”

“…”

“This country’s people, when they realized that the babies being born would forever remain as children without ever growing- everything, from our economy and business to our citizens, began to slow down and become sluggish. Ideas like stimulating the infant’s growth were impossible. Nor was there anyone in our country who hadn’t drunk the medicine. Every infant who was born stopped developing… you mostly likely can predict how things went from there.”

The female traveller, while looking at the sleeping baby in the bed next to her, spoke. “Then, these children are approaching a hundred years of age right?”

“Ehh?” exclaimed the male traveller, realizing it for the first time, with a bitter look on his face.

“That is correct. The country did not give up on taking care of these ‘adults.’ These beds were developed so that these infants could be raised happily.”

“I see. It does seem comfortable.”

“However, at some point, there were be no humans left who were able to give birth to new children. The adults who had given birth had given birth to children who would forever remained as our cute babies. The country had mixed feelings about this. Eventually, those adults who were enjoying their ‘eternal youth’ grew old, and one by one, died. The infants whose parents had died were moved here. In the end, the adults who remained destroyed all the houses and replaced the entire country with a grassland. Within one year, through selective breeding, they had achieved taller, more abundant grass. Then, they began raising a large amount of cows until they managed to obtain a stable production of baby formula with their milk.”

“Who takes care of the cows and children now?”

“Automatic machines that we created. Soon however, we will end their use. You may not have realized it, but in the beds with the opaque black hoods-“

The female traveller faintly knitted her brows. Then, she spoke again. “Those infants are already dead huh?”

“Ehh?” The man, who had just realized this for the first time, could only make a strangled noise. 

“That is correct. Soon, ‘Our Country’s People’ will die off one after another. When the last person passes away, this country will end. Above that, everything about this country will end. I thank you very much for listening to this story.”

In response, the man began to talk. “Hold on, what are you saying? Why are you telling us this story? …Has no other person come here in a hundred years?”

Butler-san answered the questions one after another. “Up to now, twenty groups of travellers have visited us. However, since many of our country’s people were still alive back then, we declined their visit. Allowing you two to enter was truly a special case. Since you two are probably the last who will ever visit this country, I wished to tell you our story.”

“I see.”

  The woman traveller spoke to the voice whose position was unknown. “Then, I have just one last question.”

“What might that be?”

“What are you?”

A few moments of silence passed. Then,

“‘I’ am-” Butler-san spoke in response to the woman’s question. “Just a machine. Created in order to raise the infants and cows.”

“Eh? Even though you speak like a human… I have no idea how it works, but it’s a remarkable feat of science, isn’t it…” The man said, thoroughly impressed.

“Even from the beginning?” the woman quickly asked.

“Huh?” the man let out a voice, as if he couldn’t understand what was being asked.

“No.” The machine’s voice spoke over the man. 

“Eh?” the man was bewildered by the exchange occurring between the machine and the stone-faced woman. 

The machine continued to talk. “Originally, I did not have the function to think like a human, as I can now. Originally, I only had the ability to watch and learn the habits of each baby in order to nurture them more efficiently. Later on, I gained the ability to absorb information from the outside world, and use it in order to more efficiently raise cows. Through that, my ability to observe the world and learn from it was enhanced.”

“A-and then?” the man asked.

“From there, I learned every conceivable thing I could, until one day, I began to recognize myself as ‘myself.’ As for when that occurred, I do not remember.”

“Ahaha!” the man exclaimed joyfully. 

There was no doubt that the machine smiled as well.

“I see. Thank for telling this to us,” the woman replied dispassionately after hearing it. 

“Not at all. This concludes the tour. Please leave through the entrance.”

The two turned slowly turned towards that direction. 

From behind them, the voice called out. “Have a nice trip. I wish you two well.”

The man turned back. “Thank you. You too! I hope you remain well forever!”

“Thank you for that, but… when the life of the last person here ends, my ‘life’ will end.”

“Oya? That’s wonderful, isn’t it?” the man said while smiling joyfully. “Well, if that’s what you wish for, then that’s wonderful, but… well, ‘why not choose a different life?’ is what I’m thinking.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes! When your duty is completed, please try thinking about it. Anyhow, there’s still plenty of time left, isn’t there? All it takes is probably just a ‘strong desire’ you know.” 

“…”

The machine seemed to be at a loss for words, and spent several seconds in silence. 

The last thing that the travelers heard were the words “I will try… to consider that. What kind of life I will become, I do not know but…”

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