Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 180: A Virus Apocalypse?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After putting on his lab coat, Saburo left the hospital in a hurry. Under Yao Yuan’s orders, he was escorted by 2 guards, but Saburo paid them no attention. He had been out for 2 whole days. That combined with the experiment he was conducting alone that lasted for 12 hours meant that the flash frozen troopers only had 12 hours left!

"We must save them! Every single life is important. The government can’t abandon these people simply because it might harm the safety of the majority!"

Saburo reached the biology lab in a matter of minutes. Along the way, he tried to get information out of his escorts. He learned that the research on the ultimate vaccine had been taken over by Professor Ivan and his team. Of course, they didn’t know much about the details of the experiment since they had been assigned to look after Saburo and not the experiment.

When Saburo entered the lab, he saw about 100 exhausted scientists. They had bloodshot eyes from 48 hours of nonstop lab work. They only allowed themselves short naps that lasted at most for 30 minutes before forcing themselves awake by splashing their faces with cold water. It was a war!

And it was not only Saburo’s war, but the Hope’s war!

When the scientists noticed Saburo, they asked after his health worriedly. Even though Saburo was heavily agitated, he answered them politely. Finally, he arrived at Ivan’s side, who was by then flushed a sickly red from overexerting his superhuman power.

"Professor Ivan, thank you for your help, but I’ll gladly take over if you need some rest," Saburo said seriously.

Ivan shook his head. He put down the data he was reading and leveled a straight stare at Saburo, adding, "Professor Saburo, forgive me, but I can’t do that. I won’t give you the opportunity to use these vaccines to conduct human experiments. I’m certain that’s what you’re planning, right?"

Without waiting for Saburo’s reply, Ivan smiled knowingly as if he already knew the answer, adding, "Based on the data and the vaccine prototype you’ve left behind, we’ve conducted multiple experiments and improvements. What we have now is the third generation vaccine. We’ve used this new set to experiment on about 100 ZH mice. What do you think was the result?"

"..." Saburo was silent before responding. "If it’s the vaccine prototype, it’ll have a high probability in causing genetic mutation, but since you’re using an improved formula, I suspect the mice’s immune system was destroyed, or there was a serious infection due to cellular collapse and possibly death..."

"More than 30 percent of the mice were infected to become alien monsters. 20 percent become afraid of light, violent, and dazed. Another 20 percent’s immune system got shut down and they died from air-borne bacterial infection in a mere 10 minutes! The rest showed signs of being poisoned!" Ivan stared at Saburo as he listed the results one by one.

Saburo wasn’t fazed. He stared back at Ivan, adding, "However, does this not show that the vaccine is improving? Every scientific breakthrough happens like this! How high could the first plane fly? How many died in the process to create a usable airplane? And look at us now, we’re in space! Can you honestly say all the sacrifices along the way were wasted?! It is the same with this ultimate vaccine. I agree, it looks like a bio-weapons now, but how the end product will be depends completely on us! It is us scientists who decide what trajectory this product shall eventually take. A vaccine that could defend against all kind of viruses, bacteria, and microbes; isn’t that a service for mankind?"

Ivan shook his head weakly. He started to slump from his standing position before saying, "I believe I’m almost at my limit, so I have to hand the experiment over to you. However, I have to ask, Professor Saburo, what is your next course of action? Do you still plan to conduct human experiments?"

Saburo replied firmly, "I’m not a mad scientist. The vaccine prototype does contain splices of the alien cells, but that is because I wish to investigate the theory behind the cell’s ability to mutate across generations to eventually create immunity. Then we’ll hopefully be able to replicate this theory in a manmade chemical or biological system. After that we’ll use that system as a basis to create stem cells for injections. I’m unfamiliar with the experiment’s progress, so I’ll need about 1 to 2 hours to familiarize myself before I can decide in detail what we’ll be doing next."

Ivan sighed in relief. He relaxed his thumb that secretly hovered over a button. With the press of the button, the experiments’ data would be wiped clean. He continued, "Professor Saburo, please promise me you won’t carry any experiments on living human beings. They are innocent, so please don’t involve the innocents, promise me..."

"...I promise you," Saburo said through gritted teeth.

As Saburo said that, Ivan fainted. The medical crew who stood nearby quickly went into action. They carried him to the hospital and then the lab was effectively taken over by Saburo.

"The vaccine is at its third generation? Wonderful, this means that we can allow it contact with human cells at this stage. We’ll be able to find out more from this interaction..."

Saburo was clear about the experiment’s purpose. It was to create a vaccine that could defend against every type of bacteria, microbe, and virus.

From a scientific standpoint, that aim was impossible. There was no vaccine that could realistically defend against every type of disease. The so-called heal-all elixir was stuff of fantasy and sci-fi. Different environmental conditions bred different microorganisms and viruses. The new home planet might look similar to Earth, but the microorganisms it hosted had a wildly different mutation history than the ones found on Earth. One deep breath of the planet’s air would introduce about 1,000 to 10,000 different types of viruses, microbes, and bacteria into the body. The numbers might vary depending on forest coverage and overall plant growth, but the variation wouldn’t be big. To be fair, some of the viruses might be harmless to the human body; they might even be beneficial for mankind... but as reality had proven, they also contained strands that were perhaps more vicious than Ebola and AIDS. They were not objectively more vicious; it was because mankind’s immunity was as vulnerable as a newborn’s when put into such an environment.

If the virus was harmful to the human body, they would not hold back in destroying it!

Even if they abandoned the 20 plus troopers that were infected, mankind still needed to populate the new planet. They couldn’t just spend their lives cooped up in the Hope. Therefore, the question of how would they assimilate to the planet’s environment arose.

The answer, Saburo believed, lied in the ultimate vaccine. It was the only way mankind could survive on the new planet and any other planets after it!

"The ultimate vaccine’s trial prototype is ready. It is created from a replication of the alien cell’s immunization system. It is fully manmade and doesn’t utilize actual alien cell splices. It can only provide immunity to this planet’s viruses, but that should temporarily be enough. We shall work on a more finished product after this crisis is over. The day when mankind no longer has to worry about contracting diseases is deliciously close!"

9 hours after Saburo woke up from his coma, he entered central command with a shot of vaccine. Central command acted as the information and surveillance center for the alien carcasses immolation mission. It also acted as a liaise agent for both the space and ground team working to clear away the monster carcasses. It was the third day into the mission.

When Saburo approached Yao Yuan, 2 pairs of tired eyes stared at each other. Yao Yuan collected himself and asked hurriedly, "Is the vaccine ready?"

Saburo nodded after a short hesitation, adding, "We have tested the newest vaccine on ZH mice and 70 percent were cured. The next phase would be human experimentation..."

"70 percent?" Yao Yuan sighed. "What about the remaining 30 percent? They’ve mutated? So it’s still an alien cell poison. Plus, didn’t I hear thar you promised Ivan to not conduct experiments on innocent humans?"

Saburo was shivering with anger when he replied, "This is a vaccine, not an alien cell poison! It is a medicine created using safe scientific methods! Captain, I won’t stand quiet if you’re to insult my morality and honor like this! I... I volunteer to be the first human test subject! That way, we won’t be harming any innocents!"