Chapter 3:
Why Me?
IN A VOICE THAT ONLY DR. SHOUKO and Kugi could hear, I whispered, “I thought that’d take longer.”
We were now a short distance from Inagawa Technologies. Though Mr. Dixon had berated me a bit for my womanizing ways, he hadn’t tried to stop Dr. Shouko from leaving.
“My paperwork was in order, and I already handed all my tasks off to others when I transferred to the military,” Dr. Shouko explained. “My background factored in too. Surprisingly enough, the Empire is unexpectedly understanding—or I guess sympathetic—toward me. In any case, they tend to be rather nice. I’m basically guaranteed the freedom to decide where I want to work.”
“That really is quite surprising.”
“Besides, they’d have nothing to gain by forcing me to be somewhere I didn’t want to be. In fact, if they did force me and my personality got twisted as a result, it’d be bad for them. Assuming my brain kept operating as it was intended to, I might escape their clutches and engage in some shady research they’d rather not see.”
“I see…” I said uncertainly. “There are plenty of ways to forcibly bend people to your wishes…”
Since you could physically enhance your body to transcend commonplace human limitations, you could probably also control people through brain implants or something.
“Yeah—but just as there are ways to do that, there are also ways to undo it and evade detection, and people like me are especially good at finding such ways.”
“They’re aiming for loyalty over subjugation, eh?”
“Yes. Still, it’s not like the Empire leaves me entirely to my own devices. For a while they had someone monitoring me, and I have mandatory mental wellness checks.”
“Mental wellness checks?”
“Think of them as mental surveys. They guide me to a room and analyze me mentally. They place a specialized investigation device inside the room that prevents me from consciously experiencing the analysis, and through that analysis, they can basically get an accurate look at what’s going on in my head.”
“Yikes…” What about freedom of thought? And if they found something wrong with you, what would happen? Spooky… “While we’re on the topic,” I said, “you know a lot about the tech and internal secrets at Inagawa Technologies, right? Will that be a problem?”
“All the devices I had that contained any sensitive information, I returned. They can’t do anything about what’s in my head, but that’s what NDAs are for.”
“So memory manipulation is still a bridge too far, at the very least.”
“That’s not impossible to do, but our personalities are closely tied to our memories, so…”
“Stop. I’m getting chills.” So…messing with someone’s brain by, say, erasing their memories would affect their personality? It might make them an entirely different person in some cases…? That’s terrifying.
“I see,” said Kugi. “So that’s how things are.”
“Do things work differently where you’re from, Kugi?”
“Well, I’ve heard that certain methods can be used in my country to seal away one’s memories.”
“Oh? Psionic technology brings about new possibilities, and that would be one of them,” Dr. Shouko responded. “Sealing rather than erasing… Is that something like hypnosis?”
Kugi simply smiled, choosing not to answer the question, which likely meant that Dr. Shouko wasn’t far off the mark. Kugi was a user of the second magic—psionic abilities affecting the mind—so she might have an in-depth understanding of such techniques, or even be capable of using them.
“Whoa—how terrifying! Hiro, you mustn’t ever make Kugi mad, okay?”
“Yeah. That’s old news.” I knew from personal experience just how powerful Kugi’s second magic was. I wasn’t interested in having her expose any more of my embarrassing memories.
“So what should we do now?” Dr. Shouko asked. “Regroup with Mei, as planned?”
“Let’s do that. Your input will likely be invaluable in designing the medical and research—” I froze mid-sentence, carefully examining our surroundings.
I wasn’t sure why, but a chill had just gone down my spine, and the nape of my neck tingled. The sensation was similar to what I felt when a skilled pilot managed to get behind me and lock on to my ship. This was murderous intent. There was no mistaking it—I could clearly feel thought waves that declared someone’s intention to kill me. I also sensed that the person emitting those thought waves was extremely skilled.
“Hiro?”
“It seems that someone especially dangerous is targeting me…”
“Hostility… It’s quite intense as well.” Kugi must’ve detected the same emotions I did. Her ears flicked around as she likewise examined our surroundings.
“Hostility?” Dr. Shouko repeated. “But isn’t making enemies a natural part of mercenary life?”
“Well, I’m quite well behaved, you know? I haven’t really done anything that warrants this level of hostility, unless it’s coming from a space pirate or something.”
It was also possible that the hostile party was a noble. In the capital, I’d been forced to participate in a tournament, and during that event I’d beaten up a few nobles and knights. One of those competitors might still hold a grudge against me. This might also have something to do with the Dalenwald family.
“What should we do?”
“At times like this, it’s best to just run away…but let’s regroup with Mei first. We want Mei around in situations that might result in close combat.”
It would’ve been ideal to take shelter inside a shielded ship, but the Black Lotus was about to undergo upgrades, and we couldn’t fit the entire crew onto the Krishna.
Actually, that might be possible if we crammed everybody in, but we should only do that in the worst-case scenario. “Dr. Shouko, message Mimi and the others. Tell them an unknown enemy may be targeting us, so they need to stop shopping and regroup with Mei immediately.”
“Okey-doke.”
As Dr. Shouko took her terminal out of her pocket to contact Mimi, I heightened my vigilance, prepared to unsheathe the sword or laser gun at my waist at a moment’s notice. I doubted that this individual would strike in the middle of a populated city, but there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t.
✦ ✦ ✦
I clicked my tongue when I saw the man and the young girl with whitish fox ears—likely a citizen of Verthalz—suddenly look around, scanning their surroundings.
“Tch…they’ve sure got good instincts. This’ll be tricky.”
I’d lost control of my murderous intent for a moment, but the way they’d reacted and gone on guard immediately was completely abnormal. Even well-enhanced nobles wouldn’t have noticed my momentary lapse at such a distance.
“Are they psychics? How annoying…”
The universe was big; still, not many people had awakened psionic powers. Certain races like elves possessed such powers naturally, but only a handful of people in the entire universe could detect an enemy at such a distance.
“He’s turned out to be a much bigger deal than I expected…”
I’d searched around assuming that this man was a small fry, but apparently he was actually a big shot. I should just have asked the mercenary guild from the start. He was probably some kind of shut-in, since he was rarely seen in public.
“Having gotten a late start is really beginning to sting…”
I had traveled a bit far, but I’d still never dreamed that so much would change in just a few years. It was true that this place wasn’t exactly safe, but given my circumstances, somewhere closer to the center wouldn’t have been convenient. On top of that, the people involved had been systematically purged, so tracing the threads had taken time.
“Captain, Target Alpha has begun moving.”
“Continue to monitor them. Don’t let them notice you. The bandit may be psychic, so deploy anti-psionic equipment while monitoring.”
“That’s annoying… But I’ll retrieve some from the ship.”
“Do that. But for now, make do with a mental wave disruption helmet.”
It wasn’t clear what abilities he had, but since he could detect hostility from that far away, he was probably a telepath. In that case, mental wave disruption equipment would keep us from being detected, and it should also limit his ability to affect us telepathically.
“You’re not getting away… I make sure to settle my accounts,” I whispered as I observed the vigilant target—Captain Hiro—from afar.
Don’t worry. Gran’s coming to save you.