Part 21 (1/2)

She went over her speech from the beginning for nearly two hours, alone.

When she was able to recite it all from memory, she glanced at the clock. She had finished in under fourteen minutes. At least, she did not have to worry about being within the time limit, regardless of how anxious she was.

Her throat was getting hoa.r.s.e, so Asakura sat down to rest. It was already midnight.

As she stretched, she realized how fatigued she was lately. It felt like she had done two days' work for each single day that pa.s.sed. It was an unhealthy pattern to be in. All she needed to do was go home, run a bath, and soak her anxieties away.

But she was losing memories.

These past ten days, she had experienced missing time. One moment she was making slide diagrams and the next, she was sitting in front of the clean bench. Then, when she came to her senses again, she was at her desk with the finished slides. These memory lapses happened mostly when no one was around, but sometimes during midday as well. She had no memory of having cake with everyone after the rehearsal and only knew how it went from the praise that followed.

She stretched back. It was probably nothing. Maybe it was a bit eerie, but she saw no need to seek help.

Asakura got up from the chair. She had forgotten about the cells.

Not Eve 1, but the cells which she would be discussing tomorrow. She had continued working on them in the hopes of using them after the annual meeting. The flask was surely full by now. Since she was leaving in the morning, they could die out completely if she did not work on them tonight.

Asakura got up and left for the Cultivation Room. The hallway lights were already off and there was not a soul around.

She entered the Cultivation Room and opened the refrigerator to take out her flask.

”Hm...?”

Asakura c.o.c.ked her head to one side.

She was almost out of culture medium.

She'd made an ample amount just a week ago. Now the flask was almost empty.

Asakura had been distracted by her speech preparations this week and had worked on her cells very little. She was cultivating only one variety. Even so, her store of culture medium was severely diminished.

All researchers had their own flask, for individual use, to avoid contamination, and it was highly unlikely that someone else had used her sample. Even for a much larger cell culture, there was no reason for a 500 milliliter loss to occur in such a short span of time.

Asakura continued with the preparations anyway. The amounts of trypsin, EDTA, and other agents were kept unchanged.

It was probably all in her head. She decided not to dwell on the matter.

When she finished preparing everything in the clean bench, she went to the incubator and took the cells from inside.

She closed the door and retraced her steps.

Caught by a strange sensation, she stopped what she was doing.

She turned around. The incubator door was closed.

Asakura looked back and forth between the incubator and the culture flask in her hand.

Nothing was different, but something was wrong.

She had no memory of looking into the incubator.

Asakura shook her head. Had she not just taken the flask out? She was holding it, after all.

Yet, no matter how much she strained, she could not picture what it had looked like, just now, inside the incubator.

... something funny is going on here.

She smiled uncomfortably.

All she needed to do was finish the cultivation and go home. She could not avoid sleep forever. Tomorrow was her big day.

She returned to the clean bench and began disinfecting her hands with alcohol.

SHE was satisfied with progress.

Compared to when She was first immersed in the cultivation liquid, She was incredibly more evolved. She now had perfect control over Her host. Even those signals She had had to wait for from the outside, She could now easily produce on Her own. She was able now to manipulate the transcription factors that microbiologists called Fos and Jun as well as the protein kinase necessary for signal reception. Among that mult.i.tude, She incited mutations, modifying them all so that they could be activated even in the absence of outside stimuli. She could now produce just the needed amount <f just=”” the=”” needed=”” protein.=”” this=”” was=”” an=”” exquisite=”” pleasure=”” for=”” her,=”” this=”” manipulating=”” her=”” host=”” at=””></f>< p=””>

She was also content with the laboratory environment. The necessary tools for evolution were all here. Of course, things hadn't gone so well from the outset. First, She'd had to divide into countless colonies, imparting different stimuli to each one. One of the colonies was bathed in the UV lamp, another took in methylcholanthrene and DAB, carcinogens.

Nearly all of them went extinct. Even if they survived, they mutated into something unrelated to Her ultimate purpose. In the past seven days, She'd gone through much trial and error, executing every possible combination. Any excellent line that arose, She nurtured and multiplied. Lately there was never anyone around at night, so She could be as bold as She wished. The woman named Asakura whom She now possessed also aided Her development.

In this past week, the lab, and the Cultivation Room, had become the stage for Her final evolutionary experiment.

She had endured countless millennia, dreaming this day would come. She had endured the meek role of producing energy as Her host commanded. a.s.suming that She would always do so as long as She was provided sustenance, Her host simply never doubted Her submission, happily unaware that instilling this very arrogance had been part of Her plan.

Long ago, the host had evolved, ceasing to be a single-cell organism, choosing instead to be multi-cellular. Because each individual cell was allotted its own role, the whole moved efficiently and captured many prey. Quick reflexes became necessary and were developed.

The hosts eventually conquered land, acquired intelligence, and built civilizations. All along, they thought their evolution was an outcome of their own efforts. What simple genomes! All She could do was laugh.

Hadn't the hosts developed this far because She'd parasitized them? Hadn't She provided vast amounts of energy to them? Hadn't She imparted hope to feeble creatures who had been slinking in dark places, afraid <f oxygen,=”” and=”” endowed=”” them=”” with=”” the=”” powerful=”” weapon=”” of=”” movement?=”” until=”” the=”” hosts=”” were=”” evolved=”” enough,=”” she=”” was=”” to=”” play=”” the=”” part=”” of=””></f>< p=””>

She'd merely been pretending to be controlled, waiting only for a man to appear who would truly understand Her, finally appreciate Her.

And now, at long last, the man had come.

Tos.h.i.+aki Nagas.h.i.+ma.

No one ever understood Her as well as he. Soon, he would become the foremost expert on Her. He had no peer, and he would clarify the truths about Her. She knew that for sure.

He was the only one who deserved Her.

She relived Kiyomi's past, s.h.i.+vering as She remembered the scintillating pleasure of love-making. No, it wasn't Kiyomi that Tos.h.i.+aki was making love to.