My Children Swarm the Cosmos

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟗: 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐭 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐞 (4)

March 2602.

Darwin was having a cup of coffee in the Apoptology garden, waiting for someone.

And as always, a small-sized Humanoid was standing beside him.

“Chief. A ship from the New Ark Corporation has arrived.”

“How many came?”

“One.”

“Without any bodyguards or secretaries?”

“Yes.”

The Darwin Foundation, which has reached the pinnacle of biotechnology, is recognized worldwide. Although it is under the control of the UNF because it develops and operates high-risk weapons, such control is meaningless to the person he will soon face.

‘𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘈𝘳𝘬. . . 𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴. . .’

“Is the person coming here now a human?”

“It is a life form with the genetic characteristics of a human being. Therefore, it is either a human or an artificial human.”

“. . . Artificial human, I see.”

A moment later, a man with an expressionless face entered the garden.

“It’s nice to meet you, Darwin.”

“Oh, haha. It’s really nice to meet you. I’m Francis Darwin, the director of the Darwin Foundation.”

“. . .”

The man was wearing a gray suit with a name tag shaped like a ring. He seemed to be searching the garden, moving only his eyes in an unnatural way.

Darwin scratched his head awkwardly.

“Haha. I’ve heard that the highest-ranking person from New Ark is coming, but I didn’t get a name.”

The New Ark Corporation is a neutral mega-corporation that manages dimensional passageways around the world. As such, New Ark has no military organization, and the organization and information of its members are not disclosed to the world.

The highest-ranking being from such a secretive New Ark came to visit in person.

“Could you please tell me your name? Or any other name. . .”

“Ark.”

“Ark, is it! Oh, please have a seat.”

The man who introduced himself as Ark sat down across from Darwin.

The small-sized Humanoid offered Ark coffee, but he didn’t touch it.

“I’m a fusion of cyberbrain technology-operating artificial intelligence and artificial humans.”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean, you shouldn’t categorize me as either a human, an artificial human, or an artificial intelligence. When I was getting off the ship earlier, I heard the private soldiers making a fuss about something. They were having a meaningless argument about what I am.”

Perhaps it was his way of speaking, but it felt unnatural that he was saying such things with an expressionless face.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Lately, there have been so many new recruits. . . I’ll make sure to pay more attention to that.”

And Ark went straight to the point. He took out an electronic notepad from his suit pocket and handed it to Darwin.

[Human Race-Affiliated Bioweapon Speciation Project]

It was an outline and plan of a certain project.

“I have received an order.”

“By ‘order,’ do you mean, Ark. . . ?”

“As the deployment of more efficient ring arrays becomes standardized, alien races from other galaxies are beginning to make contact with humanity one by one and initiating diplomacy. Humanity is about to enter a new era of expanded space.”

Darwin skimmed the electronic notepad with his eyes while listening to Ark’s words.

‘𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴. . .’

[1. Central Control Lifeform . . . view]

[1-1. Bioweapon Commander Concept . . . view]

[1-2. Collective Consciousness System . . . view]

[2. Rapid Evolution of Asexual Generations . . . view]

[2-1. Selective & Autonomous Enhancement . . . view]

[2-2. Full Application of Enhancement . . . view]

‘𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴. . . ?’

“Humanity will gain a lot from contact with alien races, but it may also lose a lot. Our near-future prediction program has come up with various variables, and among them, it presented the clash with alien races as the most dangerous future variable.”

“So, are you saying that we need to create more powerful weapons that humanity can control through this project?”

“To be precise, it is to create a powerful ‘race’ that humanity can control.”

“I’m sorry, Ark. It’s very difficult to control bioweapons. There is a methodology called waves, but if humans can’t use it, in the end, it’s the same as saying that we can’t control them properly.”

Darwin continued to scroll down the pages of the electronic notepad.

“Yes. There is no absolute device that can control the race of that project. However, it is possible to eliminate as many control variables as possible and focus on one point. For that purpose, it is an elaborate system that follows the principle of central control and collective consciousness.”

“You can control them with just the existence of a mother test subject and the learning of a ruler individual?”

“The mother test subject symbolizes the race, and the ruler individual will be born in human form, compete with its own kind for survival, and then live among humans. In that way, the ruler individual and the bioweapons of that collective consciousness will become mercenaries of the Darwin Foundation, become a group, and eventually become a bioweapon group and a weapon of the race controlled by the UNF.”

“. . . It’s very unstable. It’s dangerous if there is no absolute device that humans can use to control this race, like the waves that will sweep between these bioweapons

“New Ark will continuously calculate that risk. And we will immediately intervene by mobilizing all available means based on the calculation results. That’s how we control the risk.”

“Even so. . .”

Darwin was troubled.

Did he really have to take on such a task?

Should humans really create such a thing?

He looked at the electronic notepad, overwhelmed with the anxiety that he might cross the line that should not be crossed.

“Then let me tell you one thing, Darwin-nim.”

Ark, who had been expressionless all along, showed an expression for the first time.

It was a very subtle change, but Darwin felt it.

It was a warning.

“Someday, humanity will once again face an alien force that cannot be handled by humanity’s power alone.”

It was a warning about the future.

“This project involves enormous risks, but according to the calculation, the risks are not greater than the threat that will come in the future.”

“So, even if humanity is put in danger by the risk of this project, it means that it is acceptable enough compared to the future threat, even if it may be an extreme example.”

“I calculate that this is similar to when humans on Earth developed nuclear weapons in the past.”