The Hunt (2)

'Predator Sense?'

I rechecked the traits recorded in the text box.

I knew that Space Survival had a Trait Fusion system. It was a mechanic that combined two or more related traits into a single, strengthened trait.

There were plenty of cases where traits that seemed useless on their own were transformed into something powerful through fusion, so I had made active use of the system myself.

In fact, I'd abused it so heavily that I had memorized every trait in the game and every combination formula for fusing them.

'And yet there's a trait even I don't know?'

No matter how many times I looked, it was one I'd never seen before.

'Detects threats in advance, hm.'

Precognition-type traits did exist in the game, but they were usually implemented as simple evasion buffs.

To put it bluntly, they were all flash and no substance — hardly useful.

'But this is reality. I wonder how it'll perform here?'

Just as I did with Super Sense, I focused my awareness on my auxiliary sensory organs.

The slender, tentacle-like organs dangling from my jaw writhed, reading the information drifting through the air.

Perhaps because they'd been upgraded since last time, the sheer volume and quality of the data they gathered was beyond comparison.

I could now tell what kinds of insects were inside the Cargo Bay, even what shapes the weapons took within the containers.

The future-sight effect I'd been hoping for, however, never activated. Probably because no threat was currently closing in on me.

'So it's a passive type.'

A passive that triggered automatically wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Threats had a way of arriving without warning, so it was fair to call it a net gain.

'Then again, eating mammals does pack in far more energy.'

The vitality coursing through my body was one thing, but the fullness was on another level entirely. The carapace covering my belly and back actually felt slightly stretched taut.

Cradling that pleasant fullness, I made my way back to the nest.

Historians say that Mega Corp traces its origins to a cartel formed by seven corporations — five based on Earth and two on Mars — conspiring to maximize their own profits.

Unable to tolerate mere merchants eyeing the throne of government, the state declared war on the seven great corporations.

Only after oceans of blood had been spilled and countless lives consumed did the seven corporations emerge as the final victors.

Thus dawned an era in which every planet in the Solar System fell under the command of a single vast corporate consortium — Mega Corp.

Afterward, of those seven foundational corporations, the five headquartered on Earth became the five great houses of the Noble Capital, while the two on Mars became the Martian aristocracy known as the Prime Capital.

Among the five Noble Capital houses that ruled the Solar System from Earth, the Yujin family — perhaps surprisingly — had begun as a modest agricultural company.

The Yujin ancestors recognized the potential of genetically modified crops early on and poured enormous capital into genetic engineering.

That family tradition endured even after the space age arrived. Thanks to it, the Yujin family came to possess genetic engineering technology counted among the finest in the galaxy.

That Kisaragi Yujin became such a brilliant geneticist was owed to her family's backing.

She had displayed genius from childhood, and the family had invested heavily in her accordingly.

Because of that upbringing, she had never once in her life felt the sting of want. Whatever she desired, she obtained without fail — and even things beyond her immediate grasp would soon fall into her hands if she simply waited a little.

So perhaps that was why.

She found it unbearable — for the first time in her life — to accept that something she owned had been taken from her.

"When can I see Caesar again?"

"The soldiers are searching for him now, so if you could just wait a little longer—"

"It's already been two whole hours! Caesar never misses a mealtime. Something has clearly happened to him!"

Anyone who knew Kisaragi would have been stunned by the sight of her — she was utterly unlike her usual self.

Her sleek black hair, normally immaculate, hung in disheveled strands, and the ice-mask expression she usually wore was nowhere to be found.

Right now, she was, plain and simple, a madwoman.

Captain Yu Seong Samuel sighed as he watched her — a woman so obviously out of her mind that even a stranger could see it.

"This is a starship. Unless the cat commandeered an escape pod, it has to be somewhere aboard the vessel."

"Which is exactly why I'm telling you to find it now!"

"What I mean is that if you exercise a little patience, we'll have a good outcome."

Yu Seong was a Third Capital from Saturn's moon Titan. Not exactly low-born — but utterly beneath the Noble Capital standing before him. The gulf between them was so vast that if she ordered him to surrender his captaincy, he would have no choice but to hand it over on the spot.

With a woman who held the power of life and death over him standing there half-insane, Yu Seong was being driven half-mad himself.

'It's just a damn cat!'

He barely suppressed the urge to scream — to demand what exactly he had done wrong to deserve this torment.

"Where are the guards? What's become of the guards?"

"They're all in detention. Proper legal procedure will be carried out once we reach our destination—"

"Execute them. Immediately."

"...I beg your pardon?"

Yu Seong was certain he'd misheard.

"A ship's captain holds the right of summary execution, doesn't he? Exercise that authority. Right now."

"If you execute them over something like this, the rest of the crew will waver."

"Something like this?"

Catching the murderous glint in her eyes, Yu Seong cleared his throat and hurriedly corrected himself.

"Ahem — what I meant to say is, would it not be more prudent to discuss their disposition once the search has made some progress? Nothing more than that."

"Have you forgotten that all of this happened because those soldiers failed to do their jobs properly?"

Yu Seong knew the truth: the soldiers aboard this ship held no love whatsoever for that cat.

Frankly, even he — the captain — ate fresh raw meat only once a week and filled his remaining meals with cultured protein.

'Meanwhile that goddamn furball eats beef at every single meal.'

If he despised the cat this much, the ordinary soldiers loathed it all the more. Quite a few of them were probably privately celebrating its misfortune.

But saying that out loud would only turn Kisaragi's fury onto him — that much was self-evident — so Yu Seong held his tongue.

"I am fully aware of your concerns, Team Leader. I will take this incident as an opportunity to whip the soldiers' discipline into proper shape."

"...I'll return in two hours. If you haven't produced results by then, you'd best be prepared to take off that hat of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠yours."

Having delivered her warning, Kisaragi swept out of the Captain's quarters.

'Where on earth is he?'

While the soldiers conducted their search, she was hardly sitting idle.

Using hairs left behind on the cushion, she had built a tracker capable of pinpointing Caesar's location.

The device worked flawlessly — but the output it produced only left her more bewildered.

Because her cat had traveled somewhere that was simply impossible to reach by ordinary means.

Caesar had unscrewed the wire mesh installed in the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ventilation duct, gone into the Cargo Bay, and vanished.

No matter how she looked at it, human hands had been involved. So Kisaragi summoned the Cargo Bay Caretaker.

The man had spent the entire day drinking in the cafeteria with his fellow crew members, so his alibi was airtight. But he had undeniably neglected his duties, and Kisaragi moved to kill him for it.

Had the captain not intervened, the Caretaker would have spent eternity drifting through the lightless void of space.

Having barely stifled her murderous intent, she dragged the trembling man along and searched every last corner of the Cargo Bay.

Caesar's trail ended near one of the containers. And in its ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠place were marks left behind by an unidentified organism. She collected a sample and fed it into her analyzer, but the only thing it returned was a message: [No Data].

'Genetic information that doesn't even exist in the Mega Corp data archive.'

Even for her, building a tracking machine to hunt a target with zero available data was no simple task. She could do it — but it would take longer than usual.

Finishing the device would take a full day at the earliest, and two if she added the extra steps needed to raise its success rate.

Caesar certainly wouldn't starve to death in that span, but an unshakable unease gnawed at Kisaragi.

Something was very, very wrong.

Her instincts were screaming that something terrible had happened in the Cargo Bay.

That was why she had harried the innocent captain so relentlessly — anything to find Caesar faster.

'I don't know who you are, but whoever touches what is mine — when I catch you, I will kill you.'

She ground her fingernails ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠between her teeth without even realizing it. The beads of blood welling from their tips laid her emotions bare for all to see.

'Hm?'

I was sprawled in the nest, digesting at my leisure, when I felt the ship shift around me.

The humans were moving far more frantically than usual. They must have realized the cat was gone.

My upgraded auxiliary organs had grown sharp enough to roughly make out the appearance of every human in motion. Judging by their thick builds and the force in their strides, the humans out searching were all military men.

Soldiers rolling around on an empty stomach, hunting a pet they couldn't stand. Even in the space age, military nonsense hadn't changed one bit.

'Everything exactly as expected.'

Killing the cat would net me two major gains.

The first: clouding Kisaragi Yujin's judgment.

Considering her behavior and the cat's lavish diet, Kisaragi had poured an enormous amount of affection into her pet. To test subjects and researchers she was the devil incarnate — but to the animal she raised, she might as well have been an angel.

People who behave like human beings only toward the things they cherish aren't especially rare. And such people all share one more trait in common.

'Strip away what they're holding in their hands, and their minds go straight off the rails.'

She wasn't grieving out of fear that her pet might die or come to harm. No — she was furious that a total stranger had stolen a possession of hers. She would have reacted much the same if they'd taken the cheapest trinket she owned.

It was irrational possessiveness — obsession, in a word.

And a person consumed by obsession found it very hard to keep a clear head.

The second: driving a wedge between Kisaragi Yujin and the soldiers.

The guards were the greatest obstacle standing between me and an ambush on her. With soldiers trailing her everywhere she went, a surprise attack had been all but impossible.

And even if I somehow managed to eliminate her anyway, if the soldiers caught sight of me, the losses would far outweigh the gains.

So I created a rift — one that would make her and the soldiers wary of each other.

'The guards hated that cat.'

Watching meat they could never bring to their own lips get served up as cat food — any sane person would be furious.

In truth, the cat was merely the pretext; the real rage was aimed at the class system itself. The Noble Capital was inflicting absurd, indefensible privileges on them — but confronting Kisaragi Yujin directly meant gambling with their futures.

'The owner is terrifying. The pet, not so much.'

Simpl y put, her cat had functioned as a kind of lightning rod.

And now the scapegoat was gone.

Worse — they were being forced to suffer through a pointless, exhausting hunt for a creature they despised.

Could the soldiers really devote themselves to protecting her with the same devotion as before?

And it went further than that. Kisaragi Yujin could no longer trust the soldiers either.

After all, the guards' negligence had been the single greatest cause of her losing what she cherished.

'Thank you, cat.'

I rose from my spot.

You sow the seeds, you reap the harvest — that is the way of the world.

The time had come to claim the Genetic Essence of Kisaragi Yujin.