The reason the Corporation hadn’t tried communicating with the Space Eel was apparently because the Federation had initially determined it was a creature without intelligence. This shoddy logic he’d heard somewhere before made Kaito a bit depressed, thinking this wasn’t very promising.
Regarding the Space Eel’s thought patterns, he left everything to Gorou, the expert. Since he’d handed over all the Federation’s past data including communication attempts, he expected the expert would find hints better than an amateur like himself.
Meanwhile, Kaito had a meeting with the Corporation’s branch manager about conditions. Since this was between representatives, no polite language.
“So, are there any problems with the conditions?”
[No problem. Are you alright on your end? Depending on circumstances, we might start fighting at close range.]
“In that case, I’ll crush you all with everything I’ve got. While I’m at it, I’ll fillet that Space Eel into three pieces too.”
The basic cooperation content consisted of three things:
Sharing all information necessary for communicating with the Space Eel.
Cooperating in any attempts at communication with the Space Eel, regardless of content. This included some attacks (adjusting this point was the most difficult).
Stalling the Space Eel’s movement as much as possible. The Federation’s desire to prevent it from approaching planets with life and the Corporation’s desire to observe it aligned.
“When the Space Eel approaches planet Namibifu 6’s stopping limit, cooperation ends. I want you to understand that the stopping limit will be this artificial celestial body Radia’s orbital line.”
[Of course. Even if Hoshibami [planet-eater] attacks Radia, we won’t be involved at all – is that acceptable?]
“In that case, it means Radia was also recognized as one of the planets. That would be excellent for research progress.”
Perhaps due to the impression from their first meeting, the branch manager’s attitude was somehow disagreeable. Including the matter with Prosecutor McDonnell, Kaito thought he couldn’t easily trust them as allies.
The planet with life in the Namibifu planetary system would be called Namibifu 6 for convenience. This was only a temporary measure until this situation ended – if the creatures on Namibifu 6 developed intelligence and named their own planet, that would become the official designation.
Either way, that was quite a future concern.
While Kaito was lost in his own thoughts, the branch manager asked him a question. A disagreeable question with no hint of goodwill detectable in either tone or expression.
[Captain-Kaito. What is your favorite food?]
“Donuts. Why?”
[So your understanding is that what you’re trying to do with Hoshibami [planet-eater] is like dust on your donuts trying to tell you “I’m alive” – is that correct?]
“Well, that’s about right. It’s an absurd attempt that can’t be measured by common sense.”
[Ah. The Federation colleagues who have to go along with your hobby must have it tough.]
Sarcasm. He probably wanted to say they were also dragged into this trouble.
But if confirming the Space Eel’s intelligence was troublesome, what exactly did their so-called protection refer to?
Kaito smiled as if showing he felt no displeasure whatsoever and asked back.
“Branch Manager-san. What’s your favorite food?”
[…Ruedimeri’s Karagie. What about it?]
“The protection you’re trying to do is like powder on your Ruedimeri’s Karagie trying to protect you from external enemies. Between my communication and your protection, which do you think is more of a hobby?”
There was no response from the branch manager.
He simply fell silent with an extremely displeased expression.
The branch manager didn’t say another word after that, and the meeting naturally came to an end.
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“Well. That said, what that guy was saying does have a point too.”
After the communication with the Corporation ended, Kaito looked at the monitors with a sigh.
Behind him were staff members showing displeasure at the attitude toward Kaito. This wasn’t the time for that though.
Ignoring them and thinking, Kaito received a simple question from Emotion.
“A point?”
“Yeah. We’re the donut powder and the Space Eel is me.”
“No. In terms of volume ratio, we’d be more like viruses than donut powder.”
“It’s a metaphor.”
“I see.”
It wasn’t good to quote unpleasant metaphors directly. When talking with Gorou and others, he’d change it to water fleas or something.
Anyway, even rephrasing it as water fleas trying to tell humans they’re alive, the difficulty would be endless.
The cry of water fleas… that wouldn’t be audible.
“So, Captain. What do you think the success rate is?”
“Who knows? Even if we manage to communicate, it’s about fifty-fifty.”
“Eh?”
Not just Emotion but the staff were surprised too. Including Terapolapanecio, they all seemed to think communication with the Space Eel was the goal, which was a bit troubling.
“The Space Eel eats planets, right?”
“Yes.”
“It might not avoid eating organic lifeforms, and what if it thinks they’re a rare delicacy or something?”
“That would… leave no room for negotiation.”
“Well, if it thought that way, it probably wouldn’t respond to our calls in the first place.”
In that case, the act of communication itself would undoubtedly be a grand waste of effort.
And the Space Eel would become a complete natural enemy of organic lifeforms.
“What is the Corporation really thinking, wanting to protect that thing…?”
Even if the Space Eel turned out to be a natural enemy, would they continue thinking about protecting it?
The single point of rare biological protection. He realized he understood nothing about their thinking or common sense.
Maybe he’d ask Gorou about it later.
[…Hmm. I can understand that concern too. But…]
“Ah, I don’t want you to answer. I just wanted to confirm you’re concerned enough to make that face.”
Seeing Gorou’s reluctant expression and the way he looked around, Kaito gave up on confirmation.
For now, the Corporation had its own distortions. Understanding just that was sufficient. The current priority was preventing Namibifu 6 from becoming the Space Eel’s feeding ground. The person before him was the most knowledgeable about the Space Eel’s ecology within Kaito’s sphere of contact, and simultaneously the Corporation’s contact person for this matter. He judged that he should pay minimum respect.
“So, Sensei. Did you figure out anything about the Space Eel?”
[Ah. I’ve formed some theories about the planet-eater.]
Putting an oddly strong accent on the word “planet-eater,” Gorou showed him materials.
[No organs corresponding to eyeballs were discovered in the visible range. However, it’s undoubtedly obtaining information corresponding to vision in some form.]
“Information corresponding to vision?”
[Light. Space is close to vacuum. Confirming surroundings through sound would inevitably be limited. Since it expels air to create vibrations, I don’t think it completely lacks organs to detect sound though.]
The Space Eel apparently follows the light from stars when searching for feeding grounds that are planets.
In fact, during combat with the Federation fleet, it was reported to prioritize avoiding attacks with high light intensity. Regardless of vision, there was no doubt it had organs that perceived light.
[We confirmed it stops temporarily at a certain distance from stars. Probably, it confirms star locations by the quality of light emitted from stars at a certain distance.]
Even the Space Eel, being a lifeform, shouldn’t be able to consume stars themselves. Probably.
And food existed around stars. While maintaining distance, it approached and ate the planets in planetary systems.
Vision was priority, followed by hearing. If it had vision, the Federation ships were indeed too small.
Gorou also showed some theories about Terapolapanecio’s psychic abilities.
[Regarding telepathy not working, I think it might be a frequency problem.]
“Frequency?”
[Do you understand radio? That old technology that transmits information by sending radio waves through the air]
“Ah. I have some familiarity with classical things, so I understand somewhat. Radio frequency, I see.”
The emotional waves that burst forth at the moment of death might have been death throes unrelated to frequency.
Kaito could understand that explanation to some degree.
[So then, how should we let them know? That we microbe-like beings exist with intelligence capable of communication]
“What to do indeed. Throughout history, east and west, when it comes to conveying one’s presence, stimulation has always been the established method…”
I wonder if those things even have pain receptors.
Kaito’s deadlocked thoughts were beginning to lean toward a rather short-sighted direction.
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