04x13 - Watching the Same Moon

[bunniefuu]

It's time.

Capacitor's charged.

I should replace the accelerator with low resistance copper alloy.

Wind speed? About 2.8 knots. 41 degrees Fahrenheit. All conditions are optimal.

Commence the experiment.

Negative. Seems I'm not getting enough precision from the aluminum.

Next I'll try custom projectiles to help offset the center of mass.

Lower your firing angle by 1.27 degrees.

It's not your g*n's fault you missed your target.

It's a matter of skill, not of equipment.

So you believe you can hit the mark?

No question.

Well done. That was true elegance in motion.

You calculated the trajectory with pure intuition.

This is no ordinary firearm. Who made this thing? Was it you?

Which thing are you referring to?

The particle accelerator or ring launcher?

The one you just demonstrated is called a rail g*n.

It utilizes the Lorentz force to fire projectiles with magnetism rather than gunpowder.

Are you trying to start a revolution or something?

An exciting proposition, to be honest.

But for now, I simply wish to experiment and assess the rules and principles that govern all things.

Science exists to reveal the inner workings of the world and pave the way for new discoveries.

Aerospace engineering resulted in a space probe that captured the awe-inspiring scenery of Mars..



Meanwhile, quantum mechanics is unraveling the mysteries of the universe

on a scale smaller than one quintillionth of a meter.

The joy of science stems from the infinite possibilities. There's always more to discover.

That's why science is inarguably elegant.

You're one strange kid.

I'm Stanley.

A handshake. You heard of them?

I'm well aware of the custom on a conceptual level. It's just...

This is my first practical experience.

Yeah, same here.

My name is Xeno. Now, Stanley, allow me to show you the beauty and the light of science.

Our latest recruit is finally awake.

Hope you slept well. Good morning, Dr. X.

We'll need to clarify our strategy moving forward.

To that end, let's start by assessing our current situation.

That sounds like an antastic fate plan to me.

We can start by onboarding our new pals, give them the rundown on our intentions.

Simply put, our goal is to revive every last one of the billions of petrified humans out there.

That's why we traveled to North America in search of corn.

But we ran into a little snag when we wound up in a science battle with that genius Xeno guy.

We managed to capture our ship along with most of our men.

As for our side...

We kidnapped their leader. Dr. Xeno is ours!

With key hostages on both sides, we agreed to make Corn City a neutral zone, at least for the time being.

Which brings us to the present, fleeing for our lives on this teeny-tiny boat.

All while sn*per extraordinaire Stanley Snyder and his fully armed special forces

are in hot pursuit and exceptionally grumpy with us.

They're coming after us in our own carrier to take Zeno back! It's all a bit overwhelming.

Wait, is this even possible for us to win?

Solid points. Our odds don't sound so great when you stop and think about it.

We'd be dead meat. So we're gonna have to keep dodging Stanley if we want to pull this off.

It'd be a shame to croak before our next stop.

South America.

Not a moment to lose!

We're going straight to the source of that twisted petrification beam!

What if we find some big bad petrification device or something?

Woohoo! No telling what kind of amazing things we'll see!

I can't wait to find out!

I don't understand why you're getting so excited. You know we're on the run.

Tell me something, Dr. Senku.

Assuming we do find the source that's been awaiting discovery for thousands of years, have you considered…

It may have been placed here by the man on the moon.

Ah! So it has occurred to you.

Well, yeah. It's impossible to miss. There's a stupid amount of radio waves coming at us from the moon's direction.

We were bound to pick up on it.

The top scientific minds of the New World have congregated at last.

Imagine if we combined our intellect, we could monopolize that tech to create a fearsome new weapon.

Super weapons don't move me one millimeter.

We must work in tandem to solve the mystery of the petrification beam and how it correlates to the moon.

As your former student, how can I disagree? I say we start by sharing everything we know.

Very well. Let us demonstrate that science is elegant.

Be ready to head out as soon as we're loaded up on fuel. Gotta hurry and get Zeno back.

Hostages, move to the fortress!

Watch where you're pointing that thing! Are you forgetting this is a ceasefire zone?

We have exactly the same rights here as any of you people!

I don't see Ginnro anywhere. Where is he?

Matsukase!

Master Ginnro is hiding. I must save him.

Stop lazing around and get moving.

But he's badly hurt! There's no way he can walk like this.

It's true. Keep this up and he'll surely die.

I threw the guy who's bleeding out in the medbay.

You're sure it's a good idea to take him with us?

It's fine. If he dies, we'll let the ocean have him.

And if not, he'll be our hostage when we find the science brats.

Matsukase, it's up to you.

Where'd everyone go?

Master Ginro!

My humble servant came back for me!

He disappeared and left me all alone after you hit me! I had no idea what I should do!

To think you hid away in the heart of the enemy ship all this time.

I understand your plan, brave Master.

You seek to gather information to ensure we prevail over the enemy.

Right, something like that. You know me way too well.

Should've guessed you'd figure out my heroic plan.

But then again, I made it pretty obvious. Here's the thing though, I'm not sure this is the best use of my skills.

Nope, it's not. I should probably get to safety. Maybe dial down the bravery.

I shall guard you. It's the least I can do.

Matsukase! Ah! You're in bad shape! Please don't die on me!

What am I supposed to do now?

Anchors away on the Dr. Xeno Search and Rescue Tour!

You can feel the music in me!

Time for a little t*rture.

Or you could just tell us where your friends went off to with Zeno.

Do what you will to me. Mere suffering won't entice me to betray my master's allies.

I would rather die than reveal their destination to an enemy.

Remain hidden, Master Ginro. No matter what happens to me, you must stand down.

I'm just doing the right thing here, you know? I mean, it's his job to guard and my job to be guarded.

Hiding like a coward is what any smart person would do.

My mission is to stay safe, no matter how terrifyingly painful this ends up being for him.

It's called South America! No clue where it is, but that's where they're going!

I'm so sorry! Matsukase! Everyone!

I don't know who's listening to this.

It could be hundreds, maybe even thousands of years from now.

Anyway, my name's Ishigami Byakuya. I'm an astronaut.

Understood. Those in space at the time evaded the petrification beam.

A small crew of astronauts

comprised of the Russians, Connie, Lillian, and him. Byakuya.

He was a walking paradox who deftly wielded two incompatible forces, emotion and reason.

Suffice it to say, we never quite saw eye to eye.

But sending information to the future through records and storytelling

I would have expected no less from him.

We've solved the mystery from up here in space.

The origin of the petrification beam is South America.

There's no telling what you'll find there. It's up to you scientists now.

It's your future.

We're gonna throw all our grey matter at crunching this precious information.

Nothing can stop us. We will uncover the whole truth, one measured step at a time.

Indeed, a perfect union will combine efforts to pinpoint the exact longitude and latitude

and discover the origin of the mystery beam that petrified all of humanity thousands of years ago.

I love tea and all, but really, don't we have important things to do?

It would be rude to interrupt them when we can't contribute.

Am I wrong?

Wild that the two top scientists across millennia are collaborating down there.

Chrome, how come you're acting extra restless?

You don't know what you're saying! I'm not restless at all!

That's not very convincing.

Hey, Francois! I'll carry the tea and snacks down for you.

He's desperate for any excuse to listen in while those two talk science.

Bet I know what they're up to.

That's bad! I've never seen bubbles that big before!

Come on guys, this looks hella fun! You gotta let me in on this action!

Wait, no! Why are you just playing around?

We are not playing. It's a model.

It's as simple as throwing a little bit of glycerin on the surfactant we made for shampoo

creating a reaction that produces giant super bubbles.

And is there a reason he's roaming free?

Sure! We're doing important work here. He won't try to run.

Okay! I finished the round spinny thing you asked for!

Perfect! Elegant work, craftsman.

Consider. The petrification device goes off somewhere in Brazil.

A planet-scale beam spreads over a radius of 12,800 kilometers

engulfing the Earth.

The resulting calamity drove humanity to near extinction thousands of years ago.

Whoa! That makes sense!

Don't tell me you needed a playset to explain that.

To arrive at a truly elegant solution, one must start with elegant tools.

I think I get why Zeno built that bad castle.

All Senku seems to care about is function and practicality

but it seems like you're a lot more into how stuff looks, aren't you, Xeno?

Oh crap! I just thought of something!

So yeah, pretty sure what I'm seeing here doesn't add up.

If this model's correct, then from Senku's perspective on the other side of the planet

the petrification beam should have come from the ground, right?

Absolutely. Except that's not how it happened.

It came from beyond the horizon, like an enormous tidal wave.

That discrepancy's a hint, and we're gonna follow it wherever it leads.

Okay, so we've just gotta figure out why the light came from the side

instead of from below like we would have thought.

This is gut talk, but what if the beam takes longer to pass through the ground for some science reason?

Maybe it's cramped underground, and then that slows it down just enough, you know?

Well now, a most fascinating hypothesis.

Yet gut instincts are of no consequence to a true scientist.

All that matters to us is demonstrating that a phenomenon is objectively reproducible.

So we objectively reproduce?

Picture this for me. One of your crewmates is rather adamant that they can see ghosts.

Do you believe a man of science would be interested in a claim like that?

Well no, because ghosts don't exist.

Zero points. Scientists would ten billion percent study the hell out of it.

But only if these alleged ghosts kept causing the same effects to happen over and over again, reliably.

This person's initial hypothesis is that they can see ghosts.

It's supremely irrelevant whether or not it's true, because saying it won't pique anyone's curiosity.

Unless there's some effect that anyone can reproduce.

Something like a slight drop in temperature whenever the so-called ghosts are present.

That temperature difference could generate a crap ton of electricity paired with a Stirling engine.

A ghost generator! I must admit it sounds rather elegant.

Such a discovery could perhaps even solve humanity's energy crisis.

There's a lot more to science than obsessing over practicality.

We're ridiculously off topic.

Says the guy who turned the ghosts into a generator.

Back to my point.

We must now pursue reproducibility of the petrification beam.

It's the only way to reconcile our respective truths.

As for me, I was petrified in the middle of the day at precisely 12:40 and 20 seconds.

It happened at exactly 8:25 in the evening for me.

We were gathered at Pinnacles National Park when the event took place

so if we account for the difference in time zones, it arrived in Tokyo 15 minutes and 20 seconds later.

Meaning it would have taken a few dozen minutes to envelop the entire planet.

That's a little weird, don't you think?

I don't get what's so weird about it.

The space station Byakuya and his team were on.

It's not like it just sat in the same spot that whole time.

While it was up there, it flew around and around the Earth.

In a few dozen minutes, it would have easily completed half of the loop.

So you're saying there's no way it could have avoided the petrification beam?

Correct. We must then conclude that the wave of light covered the planet at a rather low altitude.

In fact, it couldn't have been a light. It would have traveled faster if it were.

It could be a luminous substance, and if the front flowed across the surface held down by gravity

that would match both of our observations.

That hypothesis is just the start, paired with empirical observations gleaned from our vantage points.

Our next mission is to calculate the angle from which the light came.

We'll have to account for the temperature and weather at the time.

Oh, my. This is indeed quite elegant.

I have no doubt that this line of reasoning will lead us to new discoveries.

The joy of science stems from the infinite possibilities. There's always more to discover.

Chrome sure is taking a sweet time, isn't he? He went out spying and never came back.

If we start at the first moment we saw the light on the horizon…

And stop the very instant we were petrified…



The petrification beam… It stays the same. I mean, it doesn't change speed as it's growing.

Well done, Chrome. That discovery is a stupidly useful and reproducible tool in our arsenal.

A constant speed. Now tell me, how high into the air did the petrification beam rise above the surface?

Well, it did petrify anyone who was traveling in a plane at the time.

Then we will estimate that the light reached 20,000 meters in altitude.

Assuming the atmosphere's refractive index is 1.06, the horizon would have shown 500 kilometers away.

If it traveled that distance in 56 seconds, then the beam's speed was…

Ah, I've got it! 32,000 kilometers per hour.

Your location was petrified 15 minutes and 20 seconds ahead of mine.

Therefore, if we simply construct the shortest distance line from the epicenter

and run it along the Earth's ellipsoid,

the point that's exactly 8,181 kilometers away should be the spot we're looking for.

Agreed. That is most definitely correct.

Therefore, what though? What is your there even for-ing?

You two finished your calculations before I knew what was happening, which I still don't.

Just need the angle. A ballpark would work.

I concur. These are all guesses.

But if we keep combining our educated approximations, the solution will emerge on its own.

I recall celestial bodies and the shadows that I observed.

In that case, we'll place the seven Sky Trees to the left.

We never could have arrived at these conclusions individually.

Yet by bringing our minds together...

...we can triumph.

Two lines can only intersect one way at one point.



That's where we'll find the origin of this entire mystery.

This is exhilarating. Get excited!