Two-Person Galactic Journey: Earth Was Destroyed While Imprisoned in Space Prison

Chapter 237

Chapter 237

Kait quickly isolated Lufate Gainun using six Worker Bees and held his head in his hands internally.

To think it would succeed on the first try. No, he had thought there was a high probability of a reaction if they artificially created an environment similar to the inside of a space eel.

The silent reaction from the space jellyfish was rather frightening. The Worker Bees showed signs that Lufate Gainun had begun to interfere with them.

"It seems it possesses quite a high-performance mimicry ability."

'Y-Yes, it does. Kait, Third-Rank Citizen (Enec Lagif), how many times do you plan to surprise us?'

"I didn't mean to."

There had been a chance of success. But if possible, he had hoped it would succeed around the tenth time. Even the Corporation that discovered the theory must have conducted heating and pressure experiments as a matter of course.

'Heating and pressure experiments should have been conducted by both the Corporation and the Federation... No, according to Federation records, they never applied enough stress to melt a small asteroid.'

Of course not. Heating and pressurizing a small asteroid until it melts just to draw out a living organism is abnormal in the first place. Kait was only able to do it because he knew that space eels, these extraordinary space creatures, maintained high temperature and pressure inside their bodies.

Heat waves capable of melting Corporation and Federation ships in space. And a body so heat-resistant it could survive consuming a planetary core. Since it parasitized such a creature, Kait and Emotion hypothesized that Lufate Gainun must also be highly heat-resistant, and chose a method to make the Lufate Gainun inside the small asteroid mistakenly believe it had been absorbed into a space eel's body.

"For now, I'll try it with other small asteroids too. Could you deliver this one to Uvols?"

'Of course. But what if we manage to capture others the same way?'

"Naturally, I plan to deliver them to Uvols as well."

'Understood. Contact us if it succeeds. One of us will head over.'

"Thank you."

He entrusted the block containing Lufate Gainun to Terapolapaneshio.

It was a cube held together only by psychic power, but Terapolapaneshio would be able to seal it more securely than Kait.

"It might try to mimic again inside, so if that happens, please apply heat and pressure. Emotion will also send the data to Uvols, aiming to match the internal temperature and pressure of a space eel."

'Understood. This will delight not only the Federation but our fellow beings across the galaxy.'

"Also, I'll send this data to Rengerend, the Corporation's Branch Director. Is that alright?"

'Of course. We recognize Lufate Gainun as an enemy of organic life in the galaxy. Even if it's an opposing organization, we won't hide this information.'

"I'm relieved. Thank you."

As long as the Earth jellyfish wasn't involved, the space jellyfish was an extremely cold and impartial enforcer of Federation law. Lately, even Kait's involvement had made things a bit suspicious, but when it came to publicly released Federation information, it made judgments without personal bias.

And since the space jellyfish shared a collective consciousness, its words were also those of a Federation Congress member. It wouldn't later be criticized by the council for what it said.

To head to their respective destinations, the two ships parted ways. Watching Di-Kigaia Zarmos out of the corner of his eye, Kait waited for Emotion to present the next destination.

***

Now then. Though Kait was unaware (though it was just as he expected), the Federation Congress was in utter chaos.

The first disruption was the issue of Earth's classic movies, sold by Emotion through Adie Ze. Among them was a film featuring a creature strikingly similar to Lufate Gainun, which became a problem.

It was far too similar to be called a coincidence. However, considering the era in which it was made, it was impossible to suggest a connection to Lufate Gainun. The creators had all died long ago, so there was no way to confirm it.

Earth hadn't even advanced much in space development. If Kait hadn't recklessly reached the Jupiter region, the planet would have perished. At the time the movie was released, it had advanced even less.

More importantly, there was no record of Lufate Gainun ever approaching Earth, which had already been under Federation observation back then.

"......Well, I suppose from now on, it's safer to at least check the cultural customs of undeveloped planets."

"Indeed......"

Whether they liked Earth or not, that was the only conclusion the council members could reach.

Just as they were about to conclude what had been a time-consuming but fruitless debate, the second issue burst in.

"Message from the artificial planet Uvols! A continuous similarity has been confirmed between the biological characteristics of Lufate Gainun, space eel, and the parasite that lived inside the space eel! From Yamloson, Fourth-Rank Citizen (Darda Elra), comes a research result stating that the parasite and Lufate Gainun are of the same species!"

"What!?"

The room buzzed.

The species differences between currently known organisms were constantly under study. Since the parasite of the space eel was only recently discovered, it remained an active research subject.

Both were classified as silicon-based organisms, so they must have been compared early on. The council usually received such information relatively quickly.

"Couldn't it be a mistake? There are many similarities, but the report should have said they're not the same species."

"They compared data from the original Lufate Gainun, a secondary parasitic form post-infection, the space eel, and the space eel's parasite. According to the analysis of the data provided by Kait, Third-Rank Citizen, and Emotion, Fifth-Rank Citizen (Alto Romia), clear commonalities were found."

"Again with Kait, Third-Rank Citizen!"

One council member, who didn't think highly of Kait, spat the words, but the others silently reviewed the submitted data.

Something once thought to be a completely unknown lifeform now seemed otherwise, and that alone changed impressions greatly. Lufate Gainun inherited part of the host's biological information. With that in mind, the report from Uvols had enough credibility to warrant a definitive conclusion.

Based on the data, each of Lufate Gainun's incomprehensible actions was being assigned meaning. It was the same on Uvols, and for a while, the council members would be caught between joy at the progress and panic at the knowledge updates brought by further reports from the artificial planet.

Then came the third issue. A few days later, just as the council members were rejoicing at finally grasping an outline of Lufate Gainun's ecology, Terapolapaneshio dropped a verbal bomb with grave weight.

'I believe everyone still remembers that the Corporation once discovered a way to identify small asteroids parasitized by Lufate Gainun.'

"Indeed. At the time, we hoped it would lead to countermeasures against them......"

"But investigations of the asteroid in question failed to find Lufate Gainun. The Corporation said they would review their technology, but there were no further updates."

'Correct. Kait, Third-Rank Citizen, theorized that all of Lufate Gainun's actions were based on its goal of parasitizing space eels, and recently conducted an experiment on a small asteroid near Uvols with the Corporation's technical cooperation.'

"Wait, don't tell me—"

One council member opened their mouth, but Terapolapaneshio silently projected a video.

Worker Bees released from Queen Bee in space. They covered the small asteroid and applied heat and pressure. As the Worker Bees opened, molten lava rapidly cooled and solidified, revealing the form of a small Lufate Gainun secured by one of the Worker Bees.

"They found it... How?"

'They tried to recreate the environment of a space eel consuming a small asteroid. Kait, Third-Rank Citizen, believes that Lufate Gainun is a creature that remains in mimicry and dies unless it is consumed by a space eel.'

"That's absurd!?"

'And yet, here are the results. The video, experimental data, and the living Lufate Gainun specimen are being transported to Uvols by the accompanying team. I consider this a major discovery that necessitates a complete review of all previous countermeasures against Lufate Gainun, and I would like to hear your opinions.'

At the tired tone of council member Terapolapaneshio, the others nodded with equally weary expressions.