Chapter 3
[Parasites in Space]
At an altitude of 6.400 kilometers above the Earth's surface, the inhabitants of the Orbital Residence, Kudou Minoru and Sakurai Minami found themselves wrestling and agonizing over an issue together for the past two days.
In essence, what to do with the magic retrieved from the relic of Shambhala given to Minami by Tatsuya that turns Parasites back into humans.
Compared to Minami, who's barely self-conscious of the changes, Minoru very clearly recognizes the shift in his character when he went from human to Parasite., and he is not necessarily aware of the more deadly changes that occurred when he went from Parasite to human. The inverse process, from Parasite to human, may not necessarily engender particularly detrimental, less even lethal, changes in that aspect.
The real concern is the physical repercussions when back in a human body. In the same way that Minoru overcame his physical ailments by relinquishing his humanity, Minami was able to become healthy once again after becoming a Parasite ─if "healthy" is a considerable state with a Parasite body─, and not suffer from overheating of the Magic Calculation Area.
If all they get from becoming humans again is a shorter lifespan, then they have no reason to go back. Both are satisfied with their current lives. They are happy with just having each other for now, even if they are alone in space away from civilization. Becoming human again may mean they could return to the surface, but then living in the fear of a death that could come at any time would simply not be worth the cost. So far, they have reached this mutual conclusion.
"I still think we should try it, after all. We will never know if it actually works otherwise."
The words seemed to fight to escape Minoru's leaps. In what could be made out of the muttered tone, he reached a tentative conclusion that they ought to test the human transformation magic in a Parasite now that it is in their hands.
"But, Minoru-sama. Will there be any Parasite who would like to do so? Also, if they are willing to be one thing, but I'm not sure if I'm ok with using them as experiments, even if they are Parasites."
Minami was quite averse to the prospect of a live-experimentation.
"Well… Sorry, I didn't mean that, I am not going to force an experiment like that, even as a clinical study." Minoru, by contrast, was willing to treat parasites in a somewhat inhumane manner, without qualms. But seeing Minami's reaction, he quickly masked off his honest feelings, and played along.
"So, do you think there are any parasites still around that would be willing to go along with the experiment?"
The Parasites incurred at USNA were collectively expelled from Earth three years ago in the late fall in a Mars Research vessel. Although there is no guarantee that some may have evaded capture at that time, so far there has been no confirmed cases of Parasite activity on the surface.
The parasites that have been invited into this world from the micro-black hole experiment five years ago originate from the same root cluster. They were, so to speak, a root from where they branched out into individual informational life forms. Probably because they were originally one entity, they shared a common mind.
The same could be said for the parasites that arose from the experiment conducted three years ago at the USNA aimed at confirming the causal relationship between the micro black hole experiment and the emergence of parasites, they also shared a common mind.
Whereas Minoru succeeded in dominating over the Parasite, and in doing so, maintained his mental independence, while still retaining the capability of communicating telepathically with other Parasites.
The Parasite which Minoru incorporated is based on one that came to this world five years ago, who was propagated by the Kudou family for use in the Parasite Dolls. And while his and the Parasites from three years ago that temporarily took over STARS have a different origin root, they are still able to establish a telepathic link. As proved by the time they tried to assimilate Minoru.
Surging the implication that Parasites have an inherent disposition to integrate regardless of their source, or perhaps, in further speculation, since all Parasites may be not individuals, but constituents of a single, greater entity in their previous world.
Which would explain, if they were part of a single unified mind originally, why Minoru was able to communicate with the newly emerged parasite, even if the timing and route of entry into this world were different.
All that aside, there is a strange limitation to the Parasite's telepathy. That communication becomes impossible once they cross a border.
Much a peculiar phenomenon for the ability of a Parasite, a being from another dimension or world, somehow being bound by the borders arbitrarily drawn by human beings. Could this be a conceptual limitation of the consequence of the abstract notion of "borders" derived from their communion with their host?
Similarly, this limitation also applies with space, despite having even less defined arbitrary boundaries.
It is possible that there is a basic notion of borders that equally applies to nation borders in the ground, that is also hindering the telepathy between parasites in the surface and space. So, there might be still Parasites on Earth and Minoru is just unable to sense their presence from satellite orbit.
Just as it is also possible that, even in regards to that, there are no remaining parasites on Earth. Either way, they have no Parasites in immediate contact on Earth that Minoru could use as a test subject for this human transformation magic.
"Yes, probably there isn't one around, as you said it, Minami-san. At least on Earth, that is. So, I'll try to contact a Parasite out there in space."
"But… will there be…" Minami was visibly confused.
Minoru could tell that she misunderstood what he meant.
"No, I'm not sending out messages to aliens or anything like that."
"O-oh, right, I'm sorry." Minami blushed and averted her eyes.
Whether aliens, beings from another planet, exist or not is an entirely different topic. And even arguendo, there is little in that discovery that would contribute to the clinical trial of a magic to turn Parasites back into humans. She felt so embarrassed that she even considered such an outlandish idea for a moment.
Not knowing how to respond to Minami's embarrassment, Minoru averted his eyes as well with an uncomfortable expression on his face.
And continued, trying to ignore the last exchange, and without making eye contact with Minami, "I meant to say that I was planning to talk to Raymond and his company about it,"
"Raymond…-sama… Do you mean Raymond Clark-sama?"
"Yes, him."
"Wasn't he banished to Mars?" Minami tilted her head again in puzzlement. Her doubt this time is perfectly reasonable.
Raymond Clark and the remaining Parasites were sent into effective exile on a Mars exploration vessel in the late fall of 2097, not long after Minoru and Minami retired into their slumber underground at Miyakishima.
They only learned about the mission and the Parasites aboard it from second-hand information from when they woke up in the spring of this year. And neither of them had a reason to doubt Tatsuya's words when he brought them the news.
"To be honest, I have no idea where exactly they are right now. They may be somewhere on the surface of Mars, the orbit, or have passed right by it and are travelling further and further away from Earth. But I suppose if I try to reach him with a telepathic link, it'll be like he's right next to us. And if I can't reach him, then no harm done, right?" Both of them are aware of how physical distance plays no part in the mental fatigue that accompanies telepathy, the strain is the same whether you are far or close.
"So it won't hurt to try, right?"
"Yes, that's what I mean. I don't think it's a bad idea, at least," Minoru said, jokingly, then right after "We'll, why not start right away and see what happens?" and move right into it, there and now.
There was no need to change places or anything, telepathic communication is natural to Parasites, even more so than oral communication.
The Parasite-Parasite mental link is slightly different from what's expected of a normal telepathic conversation. It is individual and whole, whole and individual. Parasites sharing a common consciousness "talk" with each other as if they are talking with a different self that arises in their consciousness.
As an independent entity, Minoru does not share a consciousness with other Parasites, so it's not as intuitive. He first needs to establish a pathway. Thankfully, they have a link from the time they became comrades in arms when Minoru fled and eventually sneaked back to Japan.
A telepathic channel had been established between Minoru and Raymond after many heart-to-heart conversations. Even now, after a three-year break, there is no sense of disconnection.
Using this channel, Minoru called out to Raymond in the living room of the Orbital Residence Takachiho, while being stared at by Minami.
There was no immediate response, but after about five minutes of continuous reaching out, he got a reply.
[…Who is this? And from the outside, even.] The response was raspy, as if he had just woken up from a sleep. "Hello, Raymond. It's me, Minoru"
His impression was quite different from what Minoru remembered, but he could tell these thought waves were still Raymond's.
[Minoru? How long has it been since we last saw each other?]
As the raspiness fades and his tone gradually becomes clearer, Raymond's personality becomes more defined and the sense of discomfort fades away. As if his persona; his individuality had been dissolved in the solution that was the Parasite, and then crystallized when called upon.
[I heard you went to sleep with the girl, but, by the looks of it, you're up and about now.]
"Yes. I'm awake in my body as well as in mind. Thanks to Tatsuya-san."
[I see. It was Tatsuya…] Raymond's thought wave expressed more a sense of comprehension than surprise. [Does this mean that you are now under Tatsuya's protection?]
"In a way, yes. I'm living in the Orbital Residence that Tatsuya-san arranged for me and Minami."
A puzzled thought bubbles forth, [Orbital Residence?] but the questioning nuance was gone the next instant.
Parasite's telepathy is primarily a transmission of ideas and concepts rather than language per se. As soon as he thought of the term "Oriental Residence" its essence was conveyed to him.
[A submarine-turned-satellite!? Tatsuya is more of a romanticist than I imagined, isn't he?]
"Romanticist, you say, heh." A wry smile escaped Minoru's lips whilst he thought to himself, "That's Tatsuya for you." At the same time, he felt relieved and happy to find that Raymond's personality had not completely melted away.
"And how about you? How've you been doing, Raymond?"
[Bored. There is nothing to do,] Raymond responded with a somewhat bitter tone. "You'd think I'm free here in space, but all we do is drift aimlessly in the void. It's simply a prison. If I knew it was going to be like this, I would have crashed on Mars even if I knew I was going to be the end of me."
Even though he said jokingly, Minoru understood that Raymond was serious in considering the "crashing" option. Raymond was so frustrated with his current "life" that he would have risked crashing and dying to continue it. Minoru would've been able to tell that even if they were speaking, as opposed to using telepathy.
"So you're past Mars now. Where is your next pass by, Jupiter?" From the regretful tone, Minoru guessed crashing on Mars was no longer an option.
[I wish. Then I at least would have something to look forward to.] This thought wave came off as thoroughly offended.
Just from its underlying tonality, Minoru knew exactly what was going on.
"…Do you mean you're coming back to Earth?"
[This spacecraft ─or prison, whatever you want to call it─, is set on an elliptical course that loops back and forth between Mars and Venus orbits. We passed near Mars a year ago and are now on the way back towards Earth.]
A year ago, in October 2099, was when Earth and Mars closed in on each other at a distance of 60 million kilometers, with the next approach window expected sometime in December of the following year. On the other hand, a purely inertial Mars-Earth trip at the closest approach would take anywhere from 250 to 300 days.
Taking a rough estimate, Raymond and his companions should now be at about the opposite side of the Earth's orbit around the sun.
"How many are there with you on that ship?"
[How many? …Well, there are thirteen of us on board, including me.] He only took so long to answer that question because until Minoru reached out, he had become unaware of the others as different individuals.
"Not bad… I guess we can try."
[Minoru?] Raymond asked quizzically after Minoru's soliloquy reached him.
"Raymond, what do you think about coming back to Earth?"
"…There wouldn't be a place for us there, regardless of what we want." His answer was resignation.
But it was a sign, if anything, that Raymond still had lingering regrets about his life on Earth.
It was then that Minoru dropped a bomb.
"I came into possession of a magic that can turn Parasites back into humans."
[…You what?]
The level of astonishment from Raymond's end was rather subdued in its intensity. If this was a normal vocal conversation, it would've been very much the case of "too shocked to be even able to shout."
"The catch is, I haven't actually used it yet. While I'm fairly positive that it does what it's supposed to do, I'm still not sure of what side effects it can have. We can somewhat expect a magic of this kind to have some effect on the mind or body of the individual, now if it's adverse or not…"
[…So, if I'm understanding you correctly, you came to me looking for lab rats?] This time the response from Raymond came without any delay.
"Lab rats" is a bad way of putting it. Let's say it's a clinical trial."
[If you want to sugarcoat it, sure…] The thought wave came with a distinct nuance of dismay. Notable to mention is the sense of surprise had yet to disappear. [Well, it's not like we're technically alive, or dead, to begin with, so it kind of doesn't matter if we're lab rats, or clinical subjects, whatever you want to call it. But Minoru, let me say one thing,]
Raymond's thought waves took on a serious note.
[As much of a unique case you are, at the end of the day you are a Parasite like us. So, you must know that for a Parasite, their present state of being is what they consider their natural condition, regardless if they were once human or not. Do you seriously think that one of us would voluntarily choose to be turned back into a human?]
"Maybe, if becoming one would allow them to leave that spaceship and live on Earth again."
Raymond pauses in thought. He, more than anyone else, seemed to be shaken by Minoru's point.
[…No, it'd be impossible, anyway. This vessel does not have enough propellant for a big enough change in trajectory. Even if you can reach us with your Human Transformation magic, there would be no point if you can't get back to Earth's orbit and make it to the ground.] Perhaps because the previous news had uplifted his low spirits, but this new thought wave was filled with an even more profound sense of hopelessness than before.
However, Minoru didn't respond with words of sympathy for Raymond, "If there is no propellant why not just use magic?"
His phrasing was molded to a fabricated quote attributed to a certain queen of a European country. Rather than dismissing it as a joke at his expense, however, Raymond gave it serious consideration.
[…You're suggesting I could change the trajectory of the craft with acceleration-based magic?]
"Maybe not. Alone, that is. With the magical power of thirteen parasites, for certain."
[……]
"Parasites, unlike humans, can truly combine their magical powers."
It is very much possible for human magicians to share a magical process, but even using the same activation sequence they cannot collaboratively output a magic with the same intended effect. This is because the end product, that is the magic sequence is reflected by the characteristics of their magic calculation area, and by extent, the individuality of the magician. The same magic can be processed by multiple people in a relay fashion, but the human condition negates any attempt of a concurrent unified effort.
By contrast, Parasites are connected to each other on a spiritual level. Or rather, possibly a single entity in origin. Therefore, they can perfectly synchronize and share what would be a human equivalent of a magical computing area and combine their power into a single magic. […The ship's computer doesn't have the data on the Earth's orbit… Even if we could move the ship, we wouldn't have a clue where to go.]
Likely a precaution from the USNA officials. Expecting the possibility that Raymond and the other Parasites may be able to steer the spacecraft's course through magic, they did not add any data that could allow them to return to the Earth.
"That's easy. I can just send you an orbital calculation program."
[How, without the coordinates of this ship?
Or do you just plan to blindly blast the data in all directions?]
Raymond's concern was justified. Space is vast. Even within just the confines of the inner planetary orbit of the solar system, the amount of information that can be transmitted by omni-directional radio waves is fairly limited.
Minoru also had this already figured out.
electronic data for these occasions."
[Right, of course. What was I thinking… Tell me, what do you don't have a magic for?]
"Well, a lot of things."
Raymond's sarcasm was met by a reply laced with the distinct nuance of a wry smile.
"Well, I can send it anytime."
[Got it. I'll make sure I got it. Then I'll talk with everyone about our discussion and what to do. I should get back to you within 12 hours.]
"OK, thanks. I'll be waiting for a good answer." Minoru hung up ─or disconnected─ the telepathy. Then went to Takachiho's computer room to prepare the orbital data and associated magic to send it out.
Three hours later, much earlier than the 12h defined time, Raymond reached out telepathically to Minoru. Minoru was not expecting the quick resolution and response.
[Minoru, can you hear me?]
"Yes, no problem. That was fast."
Minoru didn't doubt Raymond was only there after he and the others reached a conclusion. And, by the looks of it, one that sounded like the kind he was hoping to hear.
[Four of us agreed to participate in the clinical trial. They vowed to cooperate with you.]
"I'm surprised to see a split in opinion."
Considering the Parasites nature of "the individual as part of the whole, and the whole as part of the individual," it was hard to imagine differing opinions could rise between them.
[Our conclusion was in favour of at least having an existing option to return to being human. From that, we reasoned an amount of subjects, in consideration that different physical characteristics would be necessary to better understand the effects in bodies with different physical characteristics.]
"And what about you, Raymond, you specifically don't want to come back to Earth?" From the way Raymond referred to the volunteers as "they," Minoru presumed Raymond wasn't included among them. [Personally, even since I was a human, I always dreamed of exploring space. It is nothing like how it is now, but I can't say that I am not happy to live in a spaceship. And life here is much easier as a Parasite. All I could have asked was they had given me a real mission to Mars, rather than this.]
Mars development operation was the objective in paper for shipping out Raymond and the other Parasites from the Earth. Which isn't to say the opportunity wasn't entirely lost for the USNA. As a matter of fact, their spacecraft continuously sends data from non-contact sensors in the vessel to the USNA about the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body.
This was another, if not the primary reason, as to why an expensive Mars mission was used as the means to dispatch these Parasites. As they hold the closest physiognomy to humans than any other animal or creature, they made for perfect observation samples.
"…I could talk with Tatsuya-san about that, if you'd like. I'm sure that, despite his reservations with the Dione project in particular, Tatsuya-san is far from against the idea of space exploration per se. The Takachiho he gave us and that I'm standing in right now is proof enough of that. Otherwise I don't think he would ever come up with something like the Orbital Residence."
Minoru wasn't attempting to even out the scales by offering a favour in compensation for the smooth acquisition of volunteers for the clinical trial of the Human Transformation Magic. It was an offer made out of genuine sympathy for his friend.
[…Don't you think your space station wasn't just built because space was the only place where he could keep you safe?] Raymond says, more in a blanket denial than a proper argument. "Don't drag me into this," Tatsuya's vehement words of rejection against his proposal, and denial of his dream, of space exploration through magic were still etched in his memory.
"You're right, he did because it was necessary."
[So, you still think he would understand the need and then offer help to us?]
"Well, I'd earlier expect it from him than from the USNA, honestly."
[That's… yeah, that's fair.] Raymond wavered between anticipation and skepticism, and it noticeably showed in his thought-waves. […Based on the data you sent, the calculations say that it will take around six months to get back to Earth.]
"So it'll be half a year before we can meet again."
[Yeah. I'll let you know if anything happens.]
"I'll be here hoping everything goes well."
[Me too. People say, 'No news is good news,' right?. Although, I hate being the bearer of bad news.]
Minoru felt a sense of discomfort with the saying Raymond picked, but didn't comment on it.
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