Ch.203Polygamy (8)

“Cartesiaaa——!”

“I told you to be quiet——!!”

“Look at me!”

“You must have a death wish today, brat!!”

A massive tentacle flew toward me. Cartesia, deeply irritated at having her research disturbed, had lashed out.

If I were hit by something like that in the real world, my neck would snap and I’d die instantly. Of course, being in imaginary space doesn’t mean I’m safe. Sensing danger, I calmly used the “Star Egg.”

Clink.

A golden bundle slid into my hand. Quite hefty.

I shook the wad of money and lowered my voice.

“Cartesia, let’s make a deal.”

“A deal? How ridiculous…”

“You wanted this, didn’t you?”

Whoosh!

I scattered the bundle of coins into the air. Literally, coins began to rain down from the sky.

Cartesia’s hand hesitated. She slowly raised her head. Like a slot machine hitting the jackpot, a rain of currency was pouring down.

“This is…”

“Coins!”

“Master, they’re coins! Coins!”

The thoroughly personality-modified outer gods rolled around like dogs in heat. They gathered armfuls of the coins pouring down like a downpour and ran to their master.

“Look! It’s over 500,000!”

“600,000, 700,000!”

“725,000 coins, Master!”

Cartesia staggered.

“S-seven hundred thousand?”

I couldn’t see her expression, but I could tell she was considerably flustered. Just as I expected.

“Why so suddenly?”

“I told you. Let’s make a ‘deal.'”

“That’s too much as payment.”

“That’s what makes it fair.”

Cartesia withdrew all her tentacles. She wanted to gather every single coin without missing any. Thanks to that, all the tentacles restraining my body fell away. Freedom at last.

The pile of coins looked like a small hill. Cartesia leaned against it carefully, as if handling a lover. Then she swam through it, flailing about.

As expected, outer gods are obsessed with coins.

When I first obtained the “Star Egg,” Cartesia had demanded 5,000 coins. It was good that I didn’t give them to her then. There’s a completely different feeling between giving 5,000 won as pocket money every day versus saving it up to 1 million won before handing it over.

“…Indeed. You’ve employed quite a clever strategy. So, you want to do research with me?”

“I want to see an outer god’s research.”

“Not because you want to get out of here quickly?”

“That too, of course.”

Assuming time flows at a 1:1 ratio between this place and the real world, five days must have passed already. I’ll probably wake up in a hospital. I need to get out quickly before everyone starts worrying.

“…Alright, I’ll show you something interesting.”

Cartesia, having organized the coins, pulled down a blackboard. I could see text written in the language of outer gods.

“A brat like you wouldn’t be able to read this… Wait. I’ll kindly teach you the characters.”

Cartesia approached me and tapped my forehead.

That’s when it started. I began to understand the outer god’s writing.

“Wow.”

It was amazing. I could read and understand characters I’d never seen before. This sensation is something you can’t understand unless you experience it yourself. Cartesia asked:

“Well, can you understand what it says?”

“…A functionalist approach to neural structures?”

“Hmm, you’re not a complete idiot.”

To summarize, it was research aimed at revealing and integrating neural principles across all intelligent beings, including humans, machines, constellations, and outer gods. It was a topic that extended from the constellation neural network research I had been doing.

“There was something your android said desperately before. That if the principles of thinking are the same, humans and robots are the same.”

“Not living beings, but intelligent beings…”

“Well, that’s not wrong.”

Cartesia, sitting in a chair, continued.

“In mathematical terms, it’s ‘isomorphic.’ Whether sapiens, machines, or us. If you understand one, you can understand the others. Only fools think they’re different just because the components differ.”

Now I was starting to understand.

Cartesia was experimenting on me to understand humans. She wanted to compare and contrast human neural networks with the outer god neural networks she knew well.

But humans are very fragile from an outer god’s perspective. It’s like dissecting a tardigrade with bare hands—press a little too hard, and it gets crushed.

Yet I couldn’t be crushed no matter what, so she was bound to like me.

Cartesia flicked her hand. Two tentacles slowly approached and lifted me up. Thus, guided by the tentacles, I was seated beside Cartesia.

“Human.”

She asked.

“Our kind can parasitize your cerebral cortex, but not the neural structure of machines, as far as we know. Because there’s no precedent. Have you ever thought about why that is?”

“Well, robots are different from humans…”

Wait.

That doesn’t seem like a fundamental answer.

“I’ll tell you the correct answer.”

Cartesia whispered in my ear.

“Actually, I can.”

I was a bit surprised.

This wasn’t in the original. That damn original story. Nothing about outer gods possessing robots appeared in Ireh’s biography that I had read.

So this was new information from my perspective. However, from the nuance of her words, it seemed like currently only Cartesia could do this.

“It’s not easy though. Androids calculate quickly. Even if I try to take control of the body, they recover quickly. Plus, it’s troublesome that thought stops when there’s no electricity. But…”

What followed was unexpected.

“Unlike humans, I can handle them roughly multiple times. You humans go crazy and die if touched just a little. But robots don’t do that. If they break, you just replace the parts and that’s it.”

“So you’re trying to find a way to possess androids? By comparing our neural structures with those of other species?”

“If you’ve figured that out, then you’re correct. Quite an accurate deduction.”

Why is she doing this research?

Wasn’t graviton bomb research enough? Does Cartesia want something more? Just curiosity? No, the research topic is too significant for that.

“What are you planning this time?”

“That information costs more than what you’ve paid.”

“Coins? How many more do you want?”

“You’d need to give me at least a million.”

Either way, it’s clear she has some scheme.

Damn, if only Ireh had more contact with Cartesia. Unfortunately, this outer god doesn’t move unless interested, so she didn’t feature much in the story.

“So, can you help me?”

“At this point, why not? We’ve been doing this all along.”

I’ve won her over with coins.

From now on, I’ll humor this outer god.

After that, I alternated between being the outer god’s test subject and graduate student. It was a series of arduous tasks, but I somehow managed thanks to “thought acceleration” and “calculation assistance.”

I couldn’t ask why Cartesia was doing this research until the end. She firmly refused to tell me.

Anyway, after several days had passed…

“Hmm, so this is what it feels like.”

Cartesia was kneading my face. She nodded as if she had gained some insight.

“I’ve gathered enough data and established the theory. Now I can apply it.”

“Apply? Mmph!”

The next moment. A black hole-like face attacked mine. Suddenly, my airway felt blocked, and I couldn’t breathe.

A moist sensation swept across my face. I felt goosebumps and chills down my spine. I tried to push it away quickly, but my body wouldn’t respond.

Cartesia, who had been holding my head firmly like pressing a fingerprint into clay, eventually pulled her head back.

And saliva stretched between us.

“W-what…”

As I wiped my sticky face and opened my eyes, something caught my vision.

It was a bright red tongue. Following the tip of that tongue, a viscous liquid formed a catenary curve. That line connected all the way to my mouth.

Ah, wait.

What just happened to me?

I looked up in confusion.

There was Cartesia with a face.

Her jaw was slender, her lips were small and neat, and her nostrils were like pearls. Her eyes were large with double eyelids.

Her irises were ocean-colored, dazzlingly bright. If Rustila was the Arctic Ocean, this was the equatorial sea. Moreover, a soft glow emanated from them like LED lights.

“Brat, how is it? Do you like it?”

“W-what…”

Cartesia ‘frowned.’

“I’m asking if my face is detailed enough for your species to accept as one of your own. If I’m mimicking, it should be accurate, right?”

Then she furrowed her brow and raised the corners of her mouth.

It was such a natural expression of emotion that it was impossible to think she was an outer god.

I nodded, lost in a daze.

Not only did she look human, but she was also breathtakingly beautiful, like a celebrity.

Cartesia flicked her tongue and swallowed her saliva. That finally snapped me back to reality. So, I just… not only got face-hugged by an outer god but also had my lips stolen? Huh?

Suddenly, I was reminded of a famous monster from a certain SF alien series. The monster lays eggs in a person’s mouth, and the eggs hatch and burst through the chest…

“Congratulations on your pregnancy, brat.”

“Ugh…”

“I’m joking. I’m not of the Darwin lineage, so how could your stomach swell from something like this?”

Cartesia patted my back. She was laughing with perfect detail. It’s more infuriating because she’s unnecessarily pretty. By the way, if I kissed an outer god, does that count as infidelity…?

While I was lost in all sorts of thoughts, Cartesia said:

“You’ve helped enough with the research, brat. Staying asleep any longer would just be a waste of time.”

“What?”

“Get out now.”

With those words, my vision went dark.

***

[— Your relationship with the contracted constellation has changed as your bond has reached a certain level.]

[Overall summary: The “God of Wisdom and Curiosity” is your main star.]

***

After sending Eidel’s consciousness back, Cartesia caressed her face. Populus, the outer god who had now completely become her slave, carefully asked:

“Master, that face…”

“How is it? High-end, right? On a completely different level from your flat faces.”

“It’s… it’s magnificent.”

Populus prostrated himself.

Why would she take the face of a lowly inferior species? He dared not ask, as his master was wearing a “very pleased expression.”

Cartesia checked on Eidel lying in the intensive care unit through a “mirror.” His breathing had become more stable. His complexion had whitened considerably, perhaps thanks to getting proper sleep.

Cartesia murmured softly:

“…Two weeks seems to have been enough.”

A fact that often goes unnoticed:

Outer gods of the Descartes lineage, who manipulate the minds of intelligent beings, can also control human sleep time.

Cartesia smiled as she caressed the coins Eidel had left behind.