Logbook Entry 214: Stone World's Earth Defense Force

Yo and Gen are both caught in the Medusa blast, and we learn about the Medusa blast's range as well: 20 meters. Senku and Ryusui are the two who come to this conclusion. With Senku, we’ve seen him calculate the speed of the beam before, in Treasure Island and in South America- Though the second time he admitted a larger range meant the speed of the beam was faster. This time, the speed was slower, so the range was smaller. With Ryusui, well... he holds the record for the most petrifications in the story. When added to his instincts and captain skills, him calculating the speed of the beam in his own way isn't too farfetched.

Even adding 2 meters "just in case", they seem awfully close to it, no? They might also know at what depth the beam actually takes effect.

Gen and Yo are revived with no side effects, except an awful haircut. But with the two back in action, they start to wonder what happened. Yo is super defensive, probably because of when he was found guilty of crimes in the modern world. A few theories come about. Perhaps someone -- maybe even Whyman -- activated the Medusa ahead of time. Senku wonders about the vacuum tube breaking, but sadly there isn’t enough data to support the hypothesis that the vacuum triggered it. So he wants to experiment. We've seen the beam go through other solid and liquid objects before without breaking or bothering them, such as a wine glass (and the wine inside), or even a human body (Oarashi in Treasure Island, when he swallowed the activated medusa).

This doesn't put any brakes on the moon mission, as they bring up the issue of finding Whyman's location on the moon before sending anyone there. It’s not as simple as landing on the moon’s surface with no idea where to look. Senku mentions that the moon’s diameter is over a quarter of Earth's. Earth’s diameter is 12,742 km. The moon’s diameter is 3,478 km.

12742 / 3478= Earth is 3.66x the size of the moon.

Gen brings up the possibility of a traitor, citing that Senku might have also considered it. This is the second time these two have combined for an investigation on a somewhat unclear issue. On Treasure Island, they used forensics to narrow down Amaryllis’s location and profile. They also frequently put their brains together during the Lillian strategy in Stone Wars. But here, they don’t have any information on a possible backstabber. At least…. yet.

As the situation around the medusa becomes more complicated, they decide to set up countermeasures against whoever was responsible or to prevent anyone to access it again. This involves beefing up the security around the Medusa and keeping it under surveillance. The crew takes a trip to Kagoshima, a seaside city on Japan’s southernmost main island, Kyushu. The mines there contain Selenium which is also mined in other countries such as Canada, United States and Belgium.

Selenium (Se), is a mineral found in soil, water and some foods.

Aside from Selenium, they have other materials at hand: arsenic and tellurium.

You might have heard of arsenic before, from other forms of media. Containing the atomic number 33 and chemical symbol As, it is a metalloid. Normally it is used as a doping agent in semiconductors. It is also used in bronzing, pyrotechnics and for hardening shot.

Tellurium, on the other hand, contains the atomic number 52, and the chemical symbol Te. Tellurium has been used to vulcanise rubber, to tint glass and ceramics, in solar cells, in rewritable CDs and DVDs and as a catalyst in oil refining. It can be doped with silver, gold, copper, or tin in semiconductor applications.

The latest chapter that we saw them mining a variety of elements was in 199, so its good having a chapter like this again. Using these poisons, they coat a photoelectric surface. We’ve seen photography in the story before, but back then they used sodium hydroxide, silver, and ammonia in the process. This time, they are using arsenic, tellurium, and selenium.

Photography is quite different from what they're doing here, actually. They both use a lens to capture an image. However, photography uses silver to record an image, there's no electricity involved. When light hits the silver, it's changed permanently.

In the TV cameras, the lens is coated with a substance that will turn the image into an electrical signal. The patterns of light are detected by the selenium, but the selenium isn't changed permanently. The chemical has some cool properties that make it 10 billion percent useful for TV cameras. Not only is it conductive to electricity, but the conductivity is increased or decreased depending on the amount of light that is hitting it.

Senku tells Ryusui that they didn’t make the TV for his amusement, a rare moment of Senku shooting down Ryusui's desires. No, the real task is something more impressive. Maybe even more so than the rocket. Yep, they are going to launch a satellite. They cannot locate Why Man using a telescope (Even one powered by fluorite, along with Kohaku’s broken vision), and a satellite offers more perspective. Considering it is going to orbit the moon.

The story had also mentioned the lack of satellites before, so it’s good to see that this is an issue they are going to tackle.

Are they going to set up an entire fully functional space station as well? If they can get a satellite in orbit, they can put any object in orbit. The ISS was the one place on Earth that avoided Whyman’s initial attack, on account of them being in space. If they set up a space base, it could be a safe spot from the Medusa since Senku and Xeno concluded that gravity pulled the petrifying beam to Earth.

Additionally, with a satellite there are other advantages that come along with it, however they would need to put a satellite in orbit around Earth instead of the moon to utilize it in such ways. Communication satellites help us communicate with people all over the world. That could possibly mean that they no longer need to use Morse Code to communicate globally. Weather satellites help us observe the Earth from space to help predict weather patterns. Radio and television satellites beam our favourite songs, movies, and television shows to Earth for us to enjoy. Ryusui’s dream of controlling the world’s media becomes a reality with the presence of satellites. NASA makes a boatload of money renting its satellites to broadcasters.

Something we want to shed a bit more light on in the chapter:

Senku points about that the motive would be a bit unclear. The two who were petrified, Yo and Gen, both revived without any complications or whatever. The only setback was that the vacuum chamber broke. Was the possible traitor hoping for a different effect maybe? Or did things play out how they wanted it to?

There is a chance that Gen already knows who the traitor is, as well. He is no stranger to people doing things behind his back -- Think Xeno at Ground Zero, and in the stealth ship with the communications equipment on the ship. Knowing our mentalist, he would always be keeping track of people's motives.

He could simply be waiting for them to reveal who they are, to save face. Or maybe he agrees with their actions? And wants to see what motive they have in mind.

Regardless, this should be another interesting subplot to watch unfold. Will they make any more moves? Aside from the Medusa, they could go ahead and sabotage other equipment that the Kingdom of Science has at hand already. Like the computer. They could steal the Medusa as well, and place it in the hands of someone else, who might misuse the device. A lot could be done with this plotline. Very excited to watch this unfold.

Trivia:

-The Perseus brand in this chapter, Perseus D. Monkey, is a One-Piece reference. Boichi is a huge One-Piece fan, as some readers might have noticed already.

-The T.V station they set up, called Dragon TV, has a similar name with the largest company in another of Inagaki’s manga- Trillion Game. In Trillion, the company is called Dragon Bank.

-Selenium is a mineral that is also essential in our bodies. Its role seems to be that of a cleanser or protector; it shields against cancers and other diseases by scavenging for free radical oxidants and some heavy metals. Its percentage in the body is 0.00002%.

- Jasper, Turquoise and Yo are the ones left in charge of the Medusa this chapter.

- Sadly, for Yo, the petrification gave him a brand new haircut. Sucks when Yuzuriha is not around to put statues back meticulously. Good thing his head didn't crack open, or he might have been revived with some brain damage (would you be able to tell..? Ok, just kidding).