A Father's Tragedy | Shimamura Genzō

[Annie]

No parent should ever have to outlive their child.

Shimamura Genzō took off his glasses and rubbed his weary eyes. Another failure, he thought as he glanced again at the cell cultivation on a petri dish. This room was cold and filled with all kinds of machinery intended for biological and chemical analysis. But the most important thing was a large cylindrical object hidden behind black curtains. He walked over to the control panel and with a press of a button, the curtains parted. Genzō watched, dropped his head, and looked up again with a sigh.

A chill permeated the laboratory, yet Genzō didn't pay the cold any mind. The only thing that mattered to him was the person inside the cryo-stasis pod in front of him.

His child.

"Enzyme prototype #482 failed to destabilize the organism and provirus AmRE-5 variant gamma failed to hijack enough ribosomes before being eradicated by the bacteria's self-defense mechanisms." Genzō let out a long sigh. "I'm sorry. I've failed you again."

His laboratory recorded everything that was happening inside, to ensure that he could always revisit past experiments without missing a single detail — such was his resolve. Him talking like this was a method of documentation, but quite often he just tried to talk to his child.

Finally he closed the curtains and left the laboratory space behind him. Finding a bottle of sake, he sat down beside his desk in his private room, aboard his liner ship. Genzō poured a cup and stared at a photo of him, his divorced wife and their child, no older than 10 there. As the alcohol burned his throat, he leaned back, trying to understand how things ended up like this.

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FILE: SHIMAMURA GENZŌ

Shimamura Genzō, 46 years old, male. Born on Planet Honshu, Shiojiri to a middle class family. No siblings.

Studied chemistry, biology, medicine and other interdisciplinary minors to a Ph.D in Shirō Institute of Human Medicine and Treatment (SIHMT), New Tokyo. Worked in multiple private hospitals and pharmaceutic developer companies. Has some renown as a physician in Kusari.

Founded a family together with Agatsuma Chisato, also a physician. Together they had a child, Nagisa. Divorced after a dispute over how to handle their child's disease and necessity of cryo-stasis.

Sold all his assets and bought a "Shukensha" Renzu Luxury Liner with the help of Interspace Commerce, retrofitting it into a novel clinic combined with a wellness hotel and spa. Employed around a hundred doctors, surgeons, specialists, as well as additional crew to serve clients. Funds after upkeep costs and IC loan payments are used to develop novel cures utilizing proviruses and to research alien microbial life.

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FILE: ALIEN BACTERIA CrX-9

Alienabacter CrX is an alien, Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that forms circular colonies. It is incredibly resilient to radiation, temperature, and acidity. Thrives in hydrocarbon gas clouds and extreme low pressures, but dies in low pressure and above.

The regular variants of the bacteria do not survive within humans, unable to sustain colonies and thus are regarded as a harmless organisms. However, the variant CrX-9 has been found to thrive in a human body with neuropathic diseases. The subject Shimamura Nagisa is the only human known to have contracted CrX-9. The bacteria invade and integrate themselves into human nerve cells, forming chimera cells that disrupt regular human function.

Known symptoms include nervous system disruptions, loss of muscular control, spasms and memory loss.

No cure available. Difficulties include destroying the bacteria without irreversibly damaging the host and recovery of original nerve cells after chimerazation with CrX-9.