Chapter 95
Phrases like "The Federation's Earth favoritism is excessive" sometimes appear in print. Not only in publications issued by organizations outside the Federation, but even within the Federation itself, such phrases sometimes make the rounds.
The reality is a bit different. It's more accurate to say that a strange Earth boom is occurring in the Federation, centered around interest in Captain Kait as an individual. And the person in question sincerely wished that this boom would end soon.
"...So, is that the one?"
"Yes. It's been officially named space tuna."
"...I see."
Holding his head in his hands, he looked at the swarm of objects passing in front of the monitor.
Having received a cooperation request from the Rare Species Conservation Agency, Kait, who had no particular objection, accepted the request. You could also say he had no choice but to accept.
Space tuna. Its former official name was something like "coordinated high-speed migratory group (abbreviated)" or whatever. I tried to resist by saying I preferred that name, but since I couldn't remember it in one go, it turned out to be a truly futile resistance.
"Wasn't there a better name than that...?"
"I heard names like space bonito, space flying fish, and space sardine were also considered."
"It's not like we're trying to increase the number of space-themed seafood jokes..."
Seriously, how did it come to this?
The likely cause was Kait accidentally referring to Tuna, the space eel, as just space eel. Then, Terapolapaneshio, getting carried away, started calling themselves space jellyfish, which seemed to spark the Earth language boom.
Since Palnesbrogia, the President of the Rare Species Conservation Agency, was on good terms with the space jellyfish, a strange culture emerged where they began naming similar lifeforms—those on or once on Earth—after them.
"We're not talking about protecting those, right?"
"Correct. Unlike with Tuna, the Third-Rank Citizen (Enec Lagif), there are a lot of them."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. They're flying all over the universe in the billions."
"That's incredible."
While listening to the explanation, he closely observed the space tuna.
It looked more like a streamlined spaceship than a tuna. Aside from being smaller than a Queen Bee, each one resembled a swarm of identical high-speed spacecraft.
At the tail end of the swarm was a space tuna of the same shape but a different size—perhaps it should be called a vessel. Apparently, that one was leading the group.
"The mission this time is to change its course."
"Change its course?"
"Yes. That swarm is currently flying toward a planet in this star system."
"You want to stop that?"
"Exactly."
He asked if there were any rare species being protected on the planet, but that wasn't the case either. Kait couldn't understand why the agency was involved in this and tilted his head in confusion.
Then, the representative who was explaining seemed to pick up on his puzzled demeanor.
"No, I understand the confusion. The agency has only ever shown interest in protecting rare species until now."
Unsure how to respond to such a statement—neither easy to affirm nor deny—he hesitated. The representative must have felt the same, as they began to explain in more detail.
"Well, you see. The President is currently touring planets with Tuna, the Third-Rank Citizen, right?"
"Yes. We occasionally receive images."
"Because of that, our policy has changed to include preserving planets with rich ecosystems as important targets."
"I see."
In other words, the planet the space tuna are heading toward is so rich in nature that they're considering showing it to Tuna.
"Do you know why the space tuna are heading for that planet?"
"We don't. Even the members of Terapolapaneshio seem to have had no prior dealings with the space tuna."
"So that's why you came to me."
Because of his success in communicating with Tuna, they thought he might be able to communicate with the space tuna as well. The phrase "you reap what you sow" flashed through his mind.
Was that thing even a lifeform like the space eel? It looked far too much like a ship to be called a silicon-based lifeform. But if you viewed it as a personal ship, it was far too small. Unless it had an extremely compact and precise internal structure, it likely had no functions beyond life support and propulsion.
"Lastly, what happens if we fail to stop them?"
"Well, let's see. In Earth terms, the space tuna would become a meteor shower and rain down on the planet. Along with a massive amount of cosmic rays."
"A space tuna meteor shower... Wouldn't most of them burn up from friction?"
"Surprisingly, they're tough enough to reach the surface. Those things."
He felt relieved that they hadn't rained down on Earth. If that swarm had impacted the surface one after another, whether on land or in the sea, it wouldn't be surprising if it caused drastic environmental changes.
Perhaps Zodogia, which had been observing Earth, had prevented the space tuna from approaching.
Upon confirming that much, he fully understood the agency's reason for wanting to change the space tuna's trajectory.
To protect the planet's environment, they needed to prevent the space tuna from crashing.
"Understood. If communication or course correction fails, what then?"
"Ultimately, elimination may be unavoidable. We don't want it to come to that, given that we call ourselves a conservation agency."
"I figured. I'll do what I can."
He probably truly wanted to protect both the space tuna and the planet's environment. But if that wasn't possible, he would have to prioritize one over the other.
The agency had already set its priorities. Since a clear policy had been presented, Kait had no complaints.
"Let's go, Emotion. It's time to work."
"Yes, Captain."
From the agency's ship that had brought them this far, they launched the Queen Bee into space.
He could see the tail end of the space tuna swarm fading into the distance. Considering the distance and time to the planet, this mission didn't seem particularly urgent.
"Jellyfish, eel, tuna... I better not see a space snail next."
'Considering the Captain's luck, it might actually happen.'
At Emotion's brutally honest remark, Kait let out a deep sigh.
He couldn't deny it.