第24話: 生体認証カードの調査中に吹雪に閉じ込められる子供たち

24

A blizzard has been going on for ten days, preventing any of the children from leaving the cave. Shingo, Chako and Adam use the opportunity to investigate the card they found in the ruins. They realize the card is a biometric identification system, encoded to respond only to Adam. Bell, Luna, Shingo, Chako and Adam brave the blizzard to head for the ruins. While they stop for the night en route, Adam dreams about his parents. Chako starts shutting down due to the extreme cold, but at her insistence, they press on. They reach the ruins and try to open the door, but Chako collapses. Adam cries out for her, and suddenly the card lifts into the air, glowing green, and the door opens. Inside, they use the cold-sleep capsule's energy system to revive Chako. Chako realizes that the marked locations on the hologram of the planet show the locations of terraforming machines. Adam finds the door to a previously unnoticed room, which has an activated machine inside. Chako and Shingo are shocked by an electric force-field protecting the doorway, but Bell rips the cover off the cold-sleep capsule and presses against the force field until it shorts out. Luna and Adam enter, but are stopped by holograms of Adam's parents, which suddenly turn into amorphous blobs and start to drown them. Luna's mysterious power flares up, enabling her to break free and shut down the machine. Outside, the snow stops and the sun emerges from the clouds. (Source: Wikipedia)