City One, on the surface of Dawn Star.
The familiar street layout and familiar roadside trees left Hope feeling dazed.
If not for the Exoskeleton Armor he wore and the slight heavy, bloated feeling in his abdomen, he might have thought he was still living on Ross 154.
Following his memories, he found his own house.
Standing at the front door, he took a deep breath and reached for the handle.
A Holographic Image quickly unfolded.
"Biometric authentication in progress..."
"Palm print confirmed."
"Iris confirmed."
"Facial recognition confirmed."
"Welcome home, Mr. Hope."
The familiar, gentle synthesized female voice made Hope's heart tremble slightly.
It was his Home Intelligent Butler.
Like One, it was a weak artificial intelligence under Zero's control.
"W-was this built by Zero?" he asked, his voice trembling slightly.
As soon as he spoke, he came to his senses.
What am I saying?
Who else could have built this city besides Zero?
He quickly corrected himself. "What I mean is... the layout of Dawn Star City One looks almost the same as City One on Ross 154?"
"Yes, Mr. Hope," the Home Intelligent Butler promptly replied.
"For convenience, and more importantly, to give people a stronger sense of belonging, this city was built directly from the blueprints used on Ross 154."
"Only the Academy of Sciences and certain important facilities were redesigned."
Realization dawned on Hope.
Got it.
Mostly, it was just to save trouble.
That made sense. Having just arrived at their new home and facing an immense construction workload, Zero's computing resources were bound to be stretched thin.
"Hey! Hope!"
As Hope stood at the front door, lost in his wandering thoughts, a familiar voice interrupted him.
He spun around and looked toward the voice.
A blond, blue-eyed man stood a short distance away, smiling and