NSE: Net Sphere Engineer (ネットスフィアエンジニア Netto Sufia Enjinia) is an unfinished sequel to Blame!, following the events of Killys successful mission.
It was published in Bessatsu Morning #4, 2005, and collected in Blame Gakuen! and So On, 2008.
Synopsis[]
Somewhere in the City, a feudal society of humans survives, restricted to their stratum of the megastructure.
Villagers observe active Exterminators in their area, and contact their royalty. A troop of warriors similar to Electrofishers is dispatched to find the source of the Exterminators. They discover a matter conversion tower moderating the Exterminators, and provoke it into action, hoping to capture one as evidence. They are immediately overwhelmed, and only one warrior survives. The survivor returns to the village, and recovers from her wounds.
An Authority engineer appears in the village. He has traversed many strata of the megastructure, and his job is to dismantle artifacts of Netsphere control, like the conversion tower. The villagers are skeptical, knowing only their own stratum. The warrior forbids the engineer to act without the permission of her government.
The engineer approaches the tower. He wears a medallion that makes the Exterminators ignore him. Using a hand tool, he disables the existing exterminators. At the tower, he opens a concealed hatch and works a control to open the tower’s outer manifold
The warrior has followed him, and tries to arrest him. He restricts her armor with an electromagnetic bolt, while the tower reacts to her presence by creating a new squad of Exterminators. The engineer puts the medallion on the warrior to protect her, and engages the Exterminators with a sidearm.
The conversion tower escalates its resistance, creating a giant Exterminator creature. The engineer evades the giant, and forces the tip of the tower open. He accesses another panel there, and the tower begins to shut down, as well as the giant.
The warrior, dazed, removes the medallion, and the dying giant recovers to attack her. The engineer is able to finish off the giant with repeated shots to its head.
The village lives on, free of the Exterminator threat. Years later, they discover an elevator hatch into the megastructure, but they cannot access it.
Trivia[]
- The story is generally believed to take place long after the events of Blame!. It is implied that Killy succeeds in his quest, and Cibo’s child uses its net terminal gene to command the City. While the Netsphere is gradually shutting down, and humans are reclaiming control, the engineer assists this process by disabling Safeguard installations.
- Since the Exterminators recognize the bearer of the medallion as a non-threat, it could possibly contain a net terminal gene, or somehow replicate the signature of the gene’s presence, probably based on genetic samples from Cibo’s child.