Parasite Eve (31 page)

    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,
shivering as She remembered the scintillating pleasure of love-making. No, it
wasn’t Kiyomi that Toshiaki was making love to.

    He was making love to ME.

    The ecstasy that rippled
through Her entire being now was nearly enough to make Her swoon.

    She sighed in remembrance of
this deep joy. She let Her voice soar as high as it would go. What began as a
faint vibration inside the indicator solution blossomed into a clear, human
voice. Her mere moans were now an ecstatic voice. How wonderful this is, She
thought. What a beautiful thing indeed, the voice.

    Everything was in order.

    All that remained was making
Her man Hers.

    She gathered all Her
strength. Putting the nuclear genes to full use, She caused the host to
multiply. She was able to fill the flask in no time. Once She’d reached the
top, She unscrewed the lid from the inside, then pushed Her way out. It was
warm and humid inside the incubator. While it wasn’t as comfortable as being
immersed in the cultivation liquid, the conditions were suitable for the host.
So that Her voice may ring louder, She fashioned first a throat and a mouth.
Then two lungs. She took a deep breath of oxygen and activated the electrical
transmitters. Then, She uttered the word She’d most wanted to speak,
enunciating it slowly, one syllable at a time:

    “TO-SHI-A-KI...”

    She was deeply moved. Before,
She’d needed the aid of Her sisters, who flourished in Toshiaki also, to make
Her voice echo in his brain cells. Things were different now. She could speak.
She could make the air vibrate, shake the very heavens calling out his name.

    She multiplied further to
construct Her figure. A figure that would please Toshiaki the most, that of
Kiyomi, once Her host. It was a figure She’d altered to begin with to suit
Toshiaki. Kiyomi had been made into his perfect woman.

    She wanted to feel. She
hastened to create those parts that would receive his love. She made lips.
Toshiaki loved these lips, the same lips he’d kissed time and time again. Now
She wanted a breast, and a soft, perfect dome rose out. She gathered more and
more nerve endings as the mound approached its peak, and let rise a small
erection at the top. In the narrow confines of the incubator, one of these was
all She could make. But She was satisfied with Her work. She imagined the
moment Toshiaki would touch them, and trembled all over. She then formed a dip
within Her: a womb and a vagina. She folded pleats in the latter, again and
again, varying their strength, so that Toshiaki would be happy. And lastly, She
created a long protrusion next to it, a slender finger.

    With the tip of this finger,
She touched Her newly fashioned part, relishing the sensation. And Her nipple
rose, hard, acute with pleasure. Perfect sensitivity. She breathed hard. She
was ready to have Toshiaki.

    The little girl, Her younger
sister, was in good health. Meanwhile, She had no use for the male. He had to
be allowed to die. But the girl was important. It was a pleasant stroke of luck
that one of the recipients was female. Had both been male, She would have had
to consider having them go on a search for suitable women. But that burden had
been eliminated. The fact that the recipient was so young, only fourteen, was
cause for concern, but she was still a female. This was a “woman” and that
mattered above all.

    She picked up Her sister’s
pulse. Her sister had yet to traverse the final process of evolution and couldn’t
quite change the girl’s form, but was able to send signals. From these, She
could tell the exact location if the girl, who couldn’t be allowed to die just
yet. Otherwise, Her plan would not reach complete fruition. There was a reason
She’d made Kiyomi register at a kidney bank.

    Not much longer now. Soon,
She would be queen. As She continued to caress Herself, She grew drunk on the
thought.

    She was Her host’s slave no
longer. She was the mistress, nuclei Her servants. She would be able to create
a daughter of Her own will, a life form even more perfect than She. An Eve for
the new world.

PART THREE

Evolution

1

    The sky was clearing.

    Toshiaki gazed at it from the
large lobby window as its color changed from deep midsummer azure to a more
tranquil, watery hue. Gauze-like clouds drifted faintly in the distance. Though
the weather was still hot, the sunlight was losing its intensity in the
September air, already giving him a feeling of autumn.

    The lobby was overflowing
with countless researchers and entrepreneurs here for the meeting. Everyone was
clad in suits, name cards pinned to their lapels. Toshiaki noted that more and
more women were showing up every year.

    Aside from the annual meeting
of the Japanese Cancer Association, the Japanese Biochemical Society’s conference
was the biggest in the field of biological science. Nearly 3,000 speech topics
were scheduled on the program. The venue changed annually, and this time it was
being held on Toshiaki’s home turf. The campus was open and had many places to
hold such a conference, but, due to the number of presentations, the event hall
was being used.

    It was past 2 pm. It was also
Sunday and there appeared to be a few among the crowd who had already taken it
upon themselves to do some local sightseeing. The lobby was overflowing with
groups getting their plans together. This important gathering was, of course, a
forum designed for the presentation of research, but it was also an opportunity
to keep tabs on what other institutions were working on. One of the more enjoyable
perks was reuniting with colleagues that one normally had no chance to meet up
with. Conversations began immediately upon arrival and led inevitably to
after-hours outings. Toshiaki had already caught up with many old schoolmates
and fellow researchers from other universities. This meeting was the most
important social event of the year for many who were there.

    Toshiaki had already given
his presentation and many of the stunts would be finishing their poster
sessions the same afternoon. He was asked to oversee certain sessions, but was
now finished with that as well. All that remained was for Asakura’s
presentation to go smoothly and he could call it quits for the day.

    He opened the program, making
sure of the time. The schedules and topic summaries were mailed out beforehand.
He had read through them all, marking in red those that were relevant to his
work, or simply looked intriguing. While there was no shortage of lectures
along his lines of interest, such as on mitochondrial 1 structure and formation
or on the inner workings of protein induction, it was also his duty to gauge
the progress of other fields.

    There was nothing of interest
to Toshiaki until four o’clock. He decided to take advantage of the two-hour
block of free time that awaited him by checking out the exhibition being held
in another building. Various booths were lined up in rows, displaying the
latest in scientific equipment and chemical agents, and were drawing quite a
crowd.

    Toshiaki preferred this spot
to the conference hall, where he was continuously obliged to be social. Here,
he could examine the latest innovations at his own pace and fantasize about
having this or j that device in his lab. He walked around and browsed. When a
chemical agent caught his attention, he talked with the tradesperson at the
booth, asking for detailed explanations, and negotiated delivery of a few
samples.

    When he had seen half of the
exhibits, a familiar voice came from behind.

    “Nagashima.”

    He turned around to see Kunio
Shinohara standing there with a I smile. He had with him some bag he’d received
at one of the booths.

    “Oh, hi. And your speech
is...?”

    “Tomorrow. I was so swamped
at the hospital that I couldn’t come to yours. Sorry about that.”

    “Don’t worry about it.”

    “Your
Nature
article’s
out, I hear. You must’ve drawn quite a crowd.”

    “Heh, well...”

    Toshiaki invited him over to
the drink service area.

    After getting some coffee,
they took a seat.

    Ever since Shinohara
collected Kiyomi’s liver cells for him, Toshiaki had been completely out of
touch with the doctor. Toshiaki sensed some suspicion in Shinohara’s looks. He
continued with small talk for a while, hoping as he did so that Shinohara would
not bring up Eve 1.

    But when the coffee was gone,
Shinohara touched upon the topic as feared. He lowered his voice and moved in
closer.

    “By the way, Nagashima, how
are the ‘cells’ doing?”

    “What cells...?”Toshiaki
tried clumsily to feign ignorance.

    “Don’t play dumb with me.
Kiyomi’s cells.” Shinohara’s tone became stern. “What the hell did you use them
for?”

    “......”

    “You cultivated them, didn’t
you?”

    “...they’re still alive,
yes,” Toshiaki confessed reluctantly.

    “I don’t know what you’re
planning, Nagashima, but you should really stop before it gets out of hand.”

    “Why?”

    “You’re screwing around with
your wife’s cells, dammit. It’s just not normal. I’m starting to think I
shouldn’t have helped you.”

    “So you’re saying I should
have quietly watched her die just like that?” Toshiaki’s voice was getting
rough too, and Shinohara flinched a little. “I wanted nothing more than to have
her in my hands. Sure, the average guy just watches his loved one die, but I
could prolong Kiyomi’s life. What was to stop me making use of my art? And
actually, her cells are producing incredible data. I’ll even show you.
Wonderful results. This is going to blow the doors wide open in the research
community. When I release my findings, my actions will be justified.”

    “Still...”

    “I know it was wrong of me
not to call you to say thanks. But I’ll include your name when the article is
published...”

    “That’s not my point,” said
Shinohara, holding back his discomfort.

    Shinohara leaned forward even
closer and glared at Toshiaki.

    “Okay, Nagashima. I’ll be
straight with you. I’m worried about what’s in your head. I’ve always respected
you, but you really crossed the line. You have an emotional attachment to those
cells. And yes, I know they came from Kiyomi. But that’s all they are. Just cells.
They can never be a replacement for her. You’re tampering with her memory. Just
open your eyes, man. Once you get that through your head, feel free to do
whatever the hell you want with them. But right now I can’t condone what you’re
doing. Stop holding onto something that isn’t there.”

    “......”

    “That’s all I wanted to say.”

    Shinohara took a breath,
softened his expression, and stood up.

    Waving his empty coffee cup,
he said, “Your disciple’s presentation is at 5:20, right? I’ll be there. Let’s
grab a drink afterwards, okay?”

2

    Toshiaki arrived at the hall
around 4:50. The room was dark and a student was still in the midst of his
presentation. Most of the auditorium’s 100 seats were filled.

    Many of this year’s lectures were
scheduled for the same time slots. These smaller auditoriums had been prepared
for each respective subfield and were arranged in such a way that one could
pick a favorite among them and hear all similarly themed talks in the same
place. Symposiums, presentations held by more eminent researchers, and other
such events that drew the larger crowds were held at the main event hall.

    Toshiaki looked around the
room until he saw Asakura’s familiar profile in the middle aisle. With his head
bent down low so as not to block anyone’s view, he made his way over and sat
next to her.

    “Doctor,” whispered Asakura
by way of greeting.

    “All ready I take it?”

    “I’m a little tense.”

    “You’ll be fine.”

    The room lit up as the
presentation ended. Toshiaki looked up at the stage.

    The chairman sitting on the
right turned to the crowd and said, “Thank you very much. If anyone has any
questions at this point, the floor is open...”

    Someone in the back raised a
hand. The chairman pointed and told the questioner to go ahead.