Ch.197Prequel Episode 2. Ah, My Eyes

“KYAAAAAAAH!!!”

A commotion broke out.

Since the Ranger ran away screaming like a little girl, it became my job to examine the poor baby wolf’s corpse in detail.

Fighting back the nausea at the sight that could make anyone vomit, I approached with my flashlight.

“Ugh… what is this?”

I hadn’t seen wrong.

There was truly nothing inside the split head.

Only broken skull fragments and a few droplets of blood floating around, but no brain—something even the most mentally deficient creatures are born with, if only for decoration.

“Captain? Are you seeing this?”

-Yes. I’m watching, Jin.

Thankfully, the helmet cam was working properly.

The captain must have been shocked too, as he had remained silent for quite a while.

“What do you think?”

-Well, it doesn’t look like it was cut from the outside, but rather burst from within. Or tore its way out.

“Could the pot-bellied guy be right? About it being a parasite…”

-I don’t know. Come back for now. I had to look away briefly to adjust our course, but you didn’t take your helmet off in the meantime, did you?

“No, of course not?”

-No, sir! Captain!

The Ranger, who had been quiet all this time as if he’d been sobbing, answered simultaneously with me in a choked voice.

The Ranger and I had both removed our helmets.

It was only for a brief moment, and we had kept each other in sight, so we could provide alibis that neither of us had been infected by the parasite.

Whatever had burst out of the baby wolf’s head, getting infected by it would clearly lead to nothing good.

I just had that feeling.

.

.

.

“Ah, goddamn it.”

Thud.

My beautiful face pressed against the glass window was becoming horribly distorted.

These real bastards.

As soon as we returned to the cargo ship, they immediately put me in isolation.

When I threw a fit asking why they were locking me up, I got tasered and woke up here…

Judging by the humming sound of the ventilation fan from the next room, I wasn’t the only one in isolation.

Of course.

If my alibi wasn’t accepted, the same would apply to Ranger.

“Hey! Ranger! Why are you over there?!”

“Eek?!”

Just then, a fucking asshole who looked exactly like Ranger entered my field of vision.

What’s that bastard doing outside?

Why is he free while I’m locked up?

“Captain! What is this! Tell me! Why am I the only one in isolation while Ranger is free?”

“Haah…”

The captain scratched his head vigorously while holding a cigarette for a long time.

I wondered if someone already balding should be doing that.

First Officer Allen, demolition team members Ash and Gustav, and Ranger were all sitting around him, looking at me with pitying eyes.

Wait a minute.

Come to think of it, they’re all outside.

So the person isolated in the next room must naturally be…

“Aack! You crazy people! Is Pot-belly in the next room? So I’m basically the only one locked up! Why?! Answer me, damn it! Want me to throw a fit? Huh? I could vomit into this ventilation duct!”

“Jin. Listen. Only you and Ranger entered the infected spaceship, right?”

“…”

Just as I was about to tear off the ventilation grate and open my mouth, the captain urgently spoke up.

I decided to listen to what he had to say first.

I remained with my mouth open toward the ventilation duct, ready to vomit at any moment.

“Knight is an android. Right?”

“…Yes.”

Now that I looked, Knight was sitting in the back corner with a cloth wrapped around his eyes.

Apparently, there had been complaints about how grotesque his torn-out eyes looked.

I thought it looked cool, like the Terminator.

Anyway, judging by his complete stillness, they must have turned him off.

“Allen and I stayed in the cockpit. The demolition team only operated in outer space, so they had zero chance of contact with the infection source.”

“Ranger and I wore our helmets the whole time, you know?”

“I’m sorry, but we received a report. An anonymous informant said you had briefly removed your helmet.”

What nonsense about an anonymous informant.

Who else could have snitched besides Ranger?

When I glared at Ranger, he flinched and trembled with a frightened expression.

Hmm. That reaction is kind of cute.

“Ranger and I both took them off together! I didn’t see Ranger contact any infection source or alien life form while his helmet was off! Ranger! You know too! Nothing happened while my helmet was off!”

“Uh… sorry.”

Ranger apologized while avoiding my gaze.

What does he mean? Sorry?

Did he testify that he didn’t see what I was doing while my helmet was off?

Is this how he repays me for providing him an alibi?

“Hey! You bastard! Damn it, just let that Ranger in here! I’ll kill him! No! I’ll just cut off his dick! Please let him in!”

“Haah…”

That disloyal girly bastard.

He probably won’t ever need his dick anyway, so cutting it off shouldn’t be a problem.

As I banged on the glass window and shouted loudly, everyone sighed while covering their faces.

“S-s-sorry! It was a choice for everyone’s safety!”

“Oh-oh-oh really? Is that so? Bullshit. Come in here on your own, you fucking Ranger. Before I get out and snap your neck.”

“Hey! Stop with the harsh words between teammates! Ranger is right! We may be mercenaries on the verge of chaos, but we need to maintain basic principles. This is space, where unknown threats could be lurking. Quarantine must always be thorough. That’s the rule. You’re the only one with potential exposure to the infection source, Jin.”

“What are you talking about…”

The captain was saying something ridiculous.

Fine. I can’t help it if that coward Ranger won’t provide my alibi.

I know I’m not infected, but from my teammates’ perspective, they must be anxious.

I understand that.

But there’s one more person besides me.

Why is no one mentioning that person?

“Huh?”

Come to think of it, everyone looked quite unwell.

Did something happen while I was unconscious?

For example, maybe they made some kind of deal with Pot-belly…

No way. Surely not.

“Jin. I believe you too. But this is just a process to trust you more confidently. Once we return to Mars and run tests that confirm there’s nothing wrong, you’ll be released from isolation. How about that?”

“How about what? You’re asking how I feel about being a lady confined in a space surrounded by glass walls?”

“Jin, you’re not exactly what I’d call a lady…”

“What? Why don’t you finish that sentence?”

“…”

Silence fell for a while.

The more I thought about it, the more it sucked.

It felt like they were picking on me because I was the rookie.

But if my discomfort meant everyone else could be safe, wasn’t that for the best?

According to Newton’s utilitarianism, this was indeed the best solution.

“Fine. But I have a condition.”

“What is it?”

“I want special meals every day.”

“Hey… would you rather go into hibernation?”

“You know there are severe side effects if you hibernate again within two weeks. I could die.”

“Haah…”

“Let me eat well too. The meals that only the captain and first officer get to eat. Hehe.”

“Fine. Agreed.”

“Yay!”

The negotiation was successful.

If I could eat special meals every day, I could manage in this crappy glass house.

I could even brag about eating special meals to my teammates through the glass.

Oh my god. I’ll finally get to eat real steak with juices flowing, not that artificial meat from the standard rations.

With wine too.

What should I pair it with? Champagne? Chablis? Or Beaujolais Nouveau?

Hehehe. I can’t wait.

“I object.”

“Huh? Knight?”

“Hey! Tin can! Don’t mess with my luxury isolation life!”

At that moment, Knight, whom I thought was turned off, unfolded his arms and spoke up from behind.

That tin can kept quiet while they were locking me up, but now he’s objecting when I’m about to get special meals?

Does he hate me or something?

“Go ahead, Knight.”

“At the time of boarding the spaceship, I had lost both cameras due to damage to the hatch joint.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Additionally, due to hydraulic system malfunction, the hatch kept trying to close, so I had to hold it open the entire time.”

“So what’s your point?”

“I’m suggesting the possibility that the alien parasite entered our cargo ship. Since my cameras were damaged, I cannot confirm whether it actually entered or not.”

“What is this… Oh…”

Things got considerably more complicated.

Since Knight had been holding the door open the whole time, that alien parasite could have entered the ship.

And Knight, who was holding that door, had gone blind and couldn’t provide alibis for the people inside the ship.

“See! Then I shouldn’t be the only one in isolation! The captain and first officer were in the cockpit without spacesuits! Both should be isolated too!”

“Damn it… I took my eyes off Allen when I went to the bathroom once.”

“So neither of you has an alibi?”

“That’s right. What about the demolition team?”

“Huh?”

“We didn’t close the internal bulkheads. So the parasite could have gone to the cargo hold where the demolition team was, right?”

“How about it, Ash and Gus? Can you vouch for each other?”

“…”

“…”

Ash and Gustav exchanged glances with serious expressions.

At the same time, a smile appeared on my face.

“You split up.”

“Yes, I went to the changing room briefly…”

“Heh.”

Yahoo!

I’ll have isolation buddies!

Just as I was dancing with joy, suddenly the negative pressure door opened with a hiss.

“Huh? What’s going on?”

“If none of us has an alibi, there’s no reason for isolation.”

“Why? We don’t even know how the infection spreads. If possible, everyone should be isolated…”

“Jin, you were unconscious when you arrived, so you didn’t know?”

“Know what?”

“I’m sorry. We weren’t trying to hide it… it just turned out that way.”

I was confused but stepped outside anyway.

When the captain gave a signal, Ash hesitantly took a remote controller and pressed a button.

Then, pop!

As light suddenly came on behind me, I instinctively turned my head.

Negative pressure room number 2, with glass walls.

The room next to mine had lit up.

“We found a research journal on board. It seems that what was inside the young man Peter’s head was a highly intelligent alien parasite. And one of us is infected with that parasite…”

I thought something seemed off about what they were saying.

It was strange how they kept putting only me on the list of parasite infection suspects.

Weren’t they talking as if “one person” had disappeared?

Now I understood why.

“It has started hunting us.”

As the fluorescent lights flickered on, I could see that the walls of that isolation room were stained with blood.

Looking inside with my hand against a clear handprint made of blood on the wall, I discovered Pot-belly collapsed with multiple stab wounds in his stomach.

“Ah. My eyes.”