The Suffocation Operation
“Grrroooagh—”
The distorted scream of the mutant on the surveillance cara was weak. Seeing the terrifying creature that once had my life hanging by a thread now floundering like that was imnsely satisfying. With its overwhelming strength and massive size, perhaps due to its large lung capacity, the mutants were the first to suffer in the ‘suffocation operation.’
“Raaagh—”
It tried to roar with its usual fury, but…
“Ghaaack—hheeeck—”
It only made its voice weaker afterward.
Bang!
It lashed out, destroying the surrounding objects in a fit of rage. But it only grew even weaker in return. The mutant bent a tree, though it couldn’t break it, and then collapsed to the ground. Its chest heaved as if it had just exerted itself in a fierce struggle, but there was nothing entering its lungs.
Click— I adjusted the pad to zoom in on its face. Its already hideously ugly face was now twisted in a grotesque manner.
“Yeah, yeah, suffer as much as you want, you damn bastard.” I spoke while eating in the now-familiar lower control room. The food was ergency rations. To prepare for ergencies that might lead to the isolation of the control room, it was stocked with enough ergency food to last a long ti if eaten alone.
“Thank goodness they breathe like us, like Earth creatures.”
The nu was monotonous, as expected of preserved food, but the sight of the mutant writhing in pain was the best side dish I could ask for. The infected creatures smaller than human size aren’t entirely immune to pain, but they are quite insensitive to it.
On the other hand, the mutant, with its advanced motor functions, seed to have a more intricate biological structure, clearly showing reactions to pain and anger. One could almost generously consider it a mber of the ‘ecosystem.’
“But why do they even bother to breathe? Being so kind of alien life form, I imagined they’d be fine if thrown into space or sothing.”
[There could be many hypotheses, but the most reasonable one would be that they use the biological chanisms of the native species they infect. The extre mutations we've seen so far are already beyond explanation. But to completely rebuild a system that maintains tabolism and supplies energy to muscles? Without using the convenient thod of breathing? That would already be more fantasy than science.]
“Are they different from the zombies that appear in zombie movies?”
[In so sense, zombies are even more unscientific than these infected creatures. Muscles functioning without oxygen supply, perpetual motion, hoostasis maintained despite the cessation of vital functions—these things are utterly impossible to explain.]
A quick glance at the screen showed the mutant was now on the verge of death. It was twitching, clutching its throat, with sothing like foam coming out of its mouth.
[Moreover, breathing is an incredibly efficient ans of generating power. The difference between breathing and non-breathing in higher organisms is like that between a generator and a campfire. Even beings born in the far reaches of the universe would likely be unable to resist the allure of that sweet energy during their evolutionary process.]
To be honest, I didn’t realize that breathing was such a biologically significant process. I was just an engineer and a soldier. I didn’t know much about biology.
6 hours, 12 minutes, and 5 seconds.
That was the ti displayed on the situation board when I glanced at it.
6 hours, 12 minutes, and 6 seconds.
6 hours, 12 minutes, and 7 seconds.
6 hours, 12 minutes, and 8 seconds.
It was being updated every second. That was the ti that had elapsed since the start of the suffocation operation. The command to remove all air from the shelter had been executed. Now, six hours later, only a small amount of air remained.
[In the end, there were no survivors. I’m sorry.] Rose spoke as she handed a coffee through a serving robot.
Slurp—
“It’s bitter.”
[It can’t be helped.]
Artemis's rigorous training ant it was sugar-free and cream-free. As Rose said, we broadcast the ssage for two days but found no survivors, so we had to proceed with the operation as planned. Even so, my hands still trembled when it ca ti to press the approval button. I had checked and rechecked everything beforehand.
“The broadcast continued every two minutes, right?”
[Of course.]
“Any communication records within the past 72 hours?”
[None.]
“Any cars that started up?”
[None.]
“Any changes in power usage?”
[Jinsoo, even if a survivor had just opened a refrigerator in a residential area, I would have imdiately tracked their location. Caras and fire detectors are densely installed everywhere except for those places, even in the sewers we walked through.]
I knew that Artemis had probably verified the surveillance data thousands of tis, but I couldn’t help asking again. Still, she didn’t show even the slightest sign of annoyance.
[No matter how massive it may be, if there were soone alive in this enclosed space, they would have definitely left behind so small trace, and that would not escape my notice.]
After that, I asked a few more aningless questions, but she patiently reassured . In the end, I had no choice but to approve the order to activate the ventilation system. That was six hours ago.
[There is absolutely no chance that even a single survivor remains. You don’t need to burden yourself with this task.] Rose tried to console .
The black liquid in the coffee cup I was holding swirled around. If it had been a sweet drink instead, I might have let it slide more easily, lost in its sweetness, but the bitter taste and the stimulating effect only served to make more aware of the heavy responsibility I bore. But there was one thing I gained. Although, rather than calling it a gain, it would be more accurate to say it was a capture.
“Woof! Woof!”
My gaze shifted to where four dogs were standing. They were all shepherds, originally brought in as guard dogs. In a gun-free closed city, guard dogs are an excellent ans of control. So people fear the fangs of a beast more than a baton. Originally, there were over 30 of them, but all except these four had either died or beco infected. In fact, it was an incredible stroke of luck that these ones were rescued.
After securing control, Artemis conducted a thorough review of all surveillance records and found faint traces of them here and there—truly elusive. At so point, they were no longer seen, so it was assud they had died. However, the broadcast we conducted for two days drew these dogs out. Perhaps, in a shelter filled with nothing but the howls of infected and silence, they thought the sound of a human voice, heard after so long, ant soone was coming for them?
The dogs that appeared on cara looked haggard and emaciated, even struggling to breathe due to the reduced air density. It was an exhausting effort to lure them into a trap with food carried by a cargo drone and bring them here. The only fortunate thing was that the dogs were so weak they couldn’t resist being confined to the drone. Though, I wonder if saying that sounds cruel?
“Woof! Woof!”
By now, they had regained so strength and were no longer terrified. I could see a hint of happiness slowly returning to their black eyes. The leader of the four seed to be the one wearing a collar with the na ‘Rex’ on it. Their survival was likely thanks to Rex's excellent leadership and judgnt. Our four new family mbers were currently in the corner of the control room, receiving instructions from Artemis.
[Sit.]
“Pant pant pant.”
[Sit.]
“Pant pant pant.”
“Whine?”
The dogs didn’t budge. Then, a hologram appeared in front of them.
“Woof! Woof!”
Startled by the sudden appearance of the hologram, the dogs barked, but they soon realized it wasn’t a threat and cald down. The hologram was in the form of a standing dog.
[Sit.]
The hologram changed to show a sitting dog.
“Woof! Woof!”
Upon seeing this, Rex sat down, but the other three remained standing. A serving robot brought jerky and gave it only to Rex.
“Pant pant pant.”
The dog that ate the jerky sat quietly, waiting, while the other three looked on enviously.
[Heh, don’t you all want so too?]
“Woof! Woof!”
The hologram changed back to the standing dog.
[Sit.]
The hologram switched to the sitting dog, and simultaneously, the other three dogs quickly sat down. Their reward was jerky.
[That’s it, you silly mammals.]
The hologram reverted to Artemis’s face, looking satisfied.
“Pant pant pant.”
The dogs happily chewed on the jerky while sticking their tongues out at her.
[I have 3,714 pages of data on dog training. Hmm, this looks useful, and this seems good… I’ll skip this… Perfect! I’ll create a program to train these fools. Taming and controlling living beings is more fun than I thought.]
Did I just imagine the glint in Artemis’s eyes?
She designated a section next to the bathroom as the dogs’ area. Having already been trained to live with humans, including being housebroken, they rarely did anything to upset her. Of course, her excellent training thods and commanding style played a big part. She used holograms of dogs to demonstrate actions while educating them, which the dogs quickly picked up on.
[They seem to be enjoying themselves.] Rose, who was observing beside , comnted.
“She didn’t seem like the type who would like dogs.”
[Order is a good thing. Her training and control are excellent. A closed system must be managed under strict order and discipline.]
The serving robot brought over a pair of plastic gloves.
“What’s this?”
[Would you please put on those gloves?]
I followed her request and put on the gloves.
[Those dogs are guard dogs. By nature, they obey the person who raises and feeds them.]
“Because they’re animals that live in a group with a hierarchy.”
[But you are the manager of this place. You won’t always be able to take care of them.]
“There’s no one else living here but , and Artemis handles the shelter’s operations, so I’m not particularly busy.”
[It’s a matter of formality.]
As I bit into the whole grain biscuit, a savory flavor filled my mouth. I considered throwing one to the dogs but decided against it. Artemis would probably dislike interrupting her precisely crafted training program.
[Even though you cannot take care of them yourself, you are the manager here. You must not be perceived as a stranger to them. That would disrupt the operational order.]
“So what should I do? No matter how much I tell the dogs, ‘I’m the highest-ranking person here,’ they’ll still wag their tails at the one who feeds them.”
[Dogs are loyal and intelligent but, at the sa ti, they are easily fooled. They are gullible. The plastic gloves you are wearing will absorb your sweat, scent, and oils.]
“Oh.”
Her words piqued my interest.
[Once the shelter is stabilized, we will rear them using guard robots. We will spray the essence cultivated from those gloves onto the robots. That way, the dogs will perceive you similarly to the person who feeds and raises them regularly. They may not see you as exactly the sa, but they will at least not be hostile towards you.]
“Is that really possible? I’ve seen experint videos where a stranger wears the owner’s coat and approaches, and the dogs still recognize and bark at them.”
[The experints were too poorly conducted. A single scent of the owner wouldn’t be enough because the experinter’s own scent would also be present, and dogs can detect a wide range of slls. It wasn’t a fully controlled experint.]
“Well, that’s true.”
[You may remove the gloves now.]
Following her instructions, the serving robot collected the plastic gloves.
“I’m looking forward to returning with these dogs.”
There’s a spacious park in the upper VIP residential area. Surely, they’ll like it there.
As I turned my gaze to the monitor, I noticed a fallen mutant. It was no longer moving. It had died rather anticlimactically.
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