kscans

Chapter 250 - Interlude: Un-Dead

"Mist, did you see the email?"

Damian, wearing a white lab coat, said as he entered Mist's room.

This was the largest medical facility on Earth. And this room was Mist's private room and research lab. Mist had just finished a major task and was resting in his chair with the back reclined, still in his lab coat.

He had been enjoying a doze while listening to his favorite song, but he shot a slightly displeased look at Damian, who had entered without knocking.

He brought the back of the chair upright and turned the swivel chair toward the entrance.

"Damian, I always tell you to knock when you come in, don't I?"

"You don't respond to knocks when you're engrossed in your research, do you? Besides, the door opens with my biometric authentication because you were researching until you collapsed. If you want me to knock, swear you won't research until you collapse."

Once before, Mist had collapsed in this lab after researching without eating or drinking.

The room was secured by a biometric lock that required a palm scan, and since only Mist could open it, his rescue had been difficult.

Since then, Mist's room could also be entered with Damian's biometric authentication.

"I understand. Damian, please feel free to enter without knocking."

"How did you arrive at that conclusion?"

"Because I can't make that promise. Getting absorbed in research is a habit of mine. Anyway, an email? I just got back to my room, so I haven't seen anything."

"Check it. My email mentioned you too, Mist. I don't think it's a prank, but I'm having trouble deciding if I should take it at face value."

Mist, thinking it was unusual for Damian, checked the emails he had received. He displayed a holographic keyboard, operated it, and opened his email.

He then checked the last email he had received.

"Another Frontier Project?"

"That's the one. I got one too. Read the contents."

Mist read through the email.

In short, it was an invitation that said, "Would you like to enjoy another life in a virtual reality indistinguishable from the real world?"

He had heard of the Frontier Project. It was a plan to relocate to planets other than Earth. But he had never heard the name Another Frontier Project before. It was a natural reaction for Mist to find it suspicious.

He then looked at Damian with an exasperated expression.

"You fell for an email like this? It's clearly spam, isn't it? Though I admit it's quite rare for an email like this to get through."

"I thought so too at first. But read it to the end."

Mist continued reading the email with a frown.

It listed a gathering place, time, and a twenty-digit ID.

He read through it, thinking it was a rather elaborate email, but then he came across something he couldn't ignore.

"Why do they have information on me and all the patients you're seeing, Damian...?"

"I was surprised too. And doesn't it say, 'Together with Damian-sama'? My email said, 'Together with Mist-sama.' This kind of information should only be known by a very small number of people within the hospital. I can't imagine the director doing something like this, and hacking is out of the question, right?"

"I can't say it's impossible, but it is eerie. But Damian and I, and everyone else together, you say..."

"Read the rest of it. It's hard to believe, but it seems the spaceship Aphrodite has a high-performance cryosleep device. They're apparently using it to create the virtual reality."

"The spaceship built for planetary migration? I suppose it would have the latest equipment if that's the case."

For several decades, they had been sending unmanned probes into space to search for planets, but they had yet to find a habitable one. In other words, there were none within a few decades' travel.

They could build places where life was possible in space, like the colonies, but it was more accurate to say that they depended on Earth's resources. They couldn't survive on the colonies alone.

Naturally, they couldn't live on a spaceship alone either. For humans to be in space for long periods, cryosleep to minimize their activity was essential.

"What do you think?"

Damian asked Mist.

But Mist wasn't sure what he was asking.

"What about?"

"About this email, and about the fact that there's a state-of-the-art device. If it's real, we could extend everyone's lives, right?"

"...You mean have them sleep until a cure is found."

"Exactly. It's impossible to completely stop their bodies' functions, but we can slow them down. We can slow the progression of the disease to a near standstill. I'm not interested in the virtual reality, but I am interested in that device."

"So it's worth considering... I see. The chances may be slim, but let's go. My research has hit a wall lately, and I'd like a change of pace anyway."

"It's decided then. There's a chance it's just a scam, so we can't get our hopes up, but if we're both tricked, the damage will be less severe, right?"

"So you dragged me into this. You have quite the personality. Not even a master physician like me can cure that."

"I can't cure someone so full of themselves that they call themselves a master physician either."

Mist and Damian paused for a moment, then burst out laughing.

Damian said, "Make sure you get ready," and left the room.

Mist looked at the email again.

He had kept it from Damian, but the latter half of the email contained something even more problematic.

(To think they even know that I'm afflicted with that disease. I've never told anyone, so how does the sender of this email know? Is it hacking after all? My information is only in this lab, and Damian can't see it. That's what I'm more concerned about...)

With that thought, Mist reclined his chair again and closed his eyes.

Mist and Damian exchanged messages with the sender of the email until the day of their boarding.

The email they received had a contact address for inquiries, and they answered questions in advance. It was mainly through email, but they also accepted questions via voice call.

According to them, Mist and Damian were not only test players for the virtual reality, but had also been chosen as medical staff.

The Another Frontier Project was a large-scale project spanning several years, and its contents were top secret.

Sending out such a suspicious email made a mockery of the term "top secret," but for the sake of appearances, they wanted to gather as many talented people as possible and keep the number of staff to a minimum.

Furthermore, regarding Mist and Damian's patients, there was, to put it badly, an experimental aspect. They wanted to investigate whether it was possible for people with a disease that gradually rendered them unable to move to still be active in a full-dive virtual reality.

Mist was slightly angered by that reason, but in return, they were offered the use of the cryosleep device as a condition of exchange.

In the end, they accepted after getting permission from the patients themselves.

The hospital where Mist worked was the best medical institution in the world, but it wasn't so well off that it could prepare cryosleep devices for its patients. However, inside the spaceship Aphrodite, not only the devices but also all the medicine would be provided for free.

He was surprised they could do such a thing in an age of resource depletion, but upon closer listening, he learned that this project was part of the planetary project and received support from many countries.

If you're going to deceive someone, tell a plausible lie. No one would believe a fantastical lie.

To Mist, this fact lent it an air of credibility. And from the fact that they knew about his own illness, he headed to the meeting place with considerable hope, despite his suspicions.

Mist and Damian were astonished.

The virtual reality created by the spaceship Aphrodite. It was a space that could be mistaken for reality.

"This is... all I can say is that it's amazing."

"To replicate all five senses to this degree is astonishing. And this image isn't being seen with the eyes, but is being shown directly through the optic nerve, isn't it? What kind of technology could do that?"

"I heard a genius neuroscientist disappeared from the public eye over a decade ago. Maybe he was the one who made this."

"I do recall such news. That scholars from all fields disappeared at once. The possibility seems high..."

"Well, that doesn't matter. What's important is that this place was real. And did you see the pods we entered? They're not just state-of-the-art, they're cryosleep devices that are generations ahead. With these, we can keep everyone asleep for hundreds of years."

"I couldn't tell in that much detail, but if you say so, Damian, it must be true. But hundreds of years? I'd think the spaceship itself wouldn't last that long."

"I think it's some kind of metal, but I don't have that knowledge either. But I've been told that this spaceship can at least withstand nearly a hundred years in space. There's a high probability they can live for at least another hundred years."

"Then shall we entrust the cure to the world of a hundred years from now? In the end, my research couldn't find a cure."

"Don't be discouraged. We're good at surgery, but we're not good at finding cures, are we?"

"It's not that we don't do it because we're not good at it, but you're not wrong. Then it's decided, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is. Let's officially sign the contract and bring everyone here. For some reason, the director is very proactive about this. So much so that I think he might have been given a large sum of money."

"I thought he was a brilliant surgeon, but it's sad to be let go so easily for money."

"Me too. But the director must have had some merit or something greater than us. Well, it's fine. What's more important is everyone else. I think they'll enjoy it since they like games."

"It's true that they can move their bodies to their heart's content here... Let's go back to the hospital right away and get ready."

"Mist! Damian! This place is amazing!"

"Ruth, if you run around too much, you'll fall."

"It doesn't hurt when I fall, so it's okay. And it's been a long time since I could move my body like this. I was always quiet in my hospital room, so this is so refreshing!"

As Ruth said that with a smile, everyone else who was hospitalized with the same illness nodded with smiles of their own.

The progression of the disease varied for each of them, but because they all had the same illness, they all thought of each other as comrades. Ruth and the others had all just met for the first time, but they quickly became friends.

Mist explained various precautions and told them that they would eventually be sleeping in the cryosleep device for a long time, but that it was a sleep to leave hope for the future. He told them that it was not something to be desperate about.

Their genders and ages were different, and there was a difference in their positions as doctor and patient, but Mist said that from now on, they were all comrades or family, and everyone nodded.

"Oh, right. In this game, it seems you can form a team called a clan. Shall we form a clan too?"

"Ah, there was a system like that. Well, I guess it's fine. It makes it feel more like we're a team."

Everyone nodded at Damian's words. Then, Ruth raised his hand.

"What should the clan name be?"

"I've actually decided. The clan name is 'Undead'."

Everyone except the smiling Mist frowned.

"Hey, hey, Mist, are you waiting for a comeback? 'Undead' means zombies or vampires, right? You're a master physician, but you have no naming sense?"

"Being a master physician has nothing to do with it. You're not wrong about the meaning, but that's not it. Please take it to mean 'not dying'. Everyone will not die. It means a clan that lives with the hope that they will one day overcome their illness and be able to live not just in virtual reality, but in the real world as well."

Everyone was stunned, but Mist's feelings must have gotten through. They all laughed and agreed.

"Then let's all master Necromancy! There seems to be a magic that turns you into a vampire, so maybe it's a good idea for everyone to become one!"

"Oh, Ruth, that's a great idea. The vampire clan 'Undead'. It sounds cool, doesn't it? Alright, let's get clothes that look the part too."

Everyone was getting excited about various things.

Mist watched them with a smile.

The smiles on everyone's faces that he couldn't see at the hospital.

He didn't know if this choice was the right one, but just being able to see these smiles made him feel that it wasn't a mistake.