Editing HEAVY OBJECT:EX Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 8===

The insect extermination began.

It was officially to ensure the safety of the storage building, but was that really why? As they crushed the nearly defenseless bugs with their boots or with mops, they may really have been releasing their built up frustrations.

They did not feel sorry for the bugs or find the action unpleasant.

Their hearts had entirely numbed over.

“Goddammit! Goddammit goddammit goddammit!!”

As he crushed them underfoot, Quenser’s chest filled with a hopeless lethargy and emptiness.

With an opponent that fought back and would try to eat him if he let his guard down, he would have been able to slaughter them without issue. But these crickets were different. They just stood on the floor, stared up at him with emotionless eyes, and vibrated their wings to create the clear bell-like chirping. It felt like they were placing all the blame on the rampaging humans.

He started feeling silly going along with it, so he moved away from the commotion and leaned against a wall without any bugs on it.

He removed the towel from his mouth and nose.

“What the hell is this…?”

He slid down to a seated position.

Even with the sea of flames outside, the swarm showed no sign of being wiped out. And yet having the Baby Magnum work toward exterminating them would only blow the maintenance base to smithereens. Could they open the door and lure small groups of them in at a time to squish them like they were now? How many days would that take to finish? The Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers still outside would be eaten to the bone by then and Quenser’s group had no food or water. They could not live in this storage building forever.

So what could they do?

How were they supposed to survive this?

“Quenser.”

That was when Eric of the Faith Organization spoke to him. Quenser slowly looked up and then looked puzzled. Eric was not alone. He was gently guiding Pilot Elite Skuld by the hand like an escort at a dinner party.

“Saint Skuld wishes to discuss something with you,” said Eric. “She said she could trust you.”

“Skuld did? What do you want?”

He honestly did not think they had much of a connection. They had spoken a bit in the detention barracks, but they had been enemies during the battle the night before and she would not know he had been listening to her interrogation through the one-way mirror.

But she seemed to see things differently.

“You hold a special position among the Legitimacy Kingdom,” explained Eric. “Being a student instead of a soldier definitely helps. To be honest, I’d prefer to use you as a point of contact than those young women.”

“I see. So what is this about?”

“This.”

Skuld casually held her hand.

One of the bell crickets was clinging to the gentle curve of her palm.

“Wah!!”

“It’s okay. This one won’t bite anymore.”

Skuld remained calm and gave the chirping insect an emotionless look.

“There’s something that bothers me about these bell crickets.”

“Something that bothers you?”

“I’ve seen them before.”

At first, Quenser did not know what she meant. Insects were not exactly rare. The issue here was the ridiculous number of them.

But Skuld had more to say.

“These are not naturally occurring bugs.”

“What?”

“The Faith Organization has a project known as Draupnir. Do you know what that is?”

“?”

Quenser tilted his head, so Eric answered for him with a bitter smile.

“It’s a story from Norse mythology. It’s a gold bracelet owned by the god Odin and it increases in number after a set number of days. Just like the biscuits in that Island Nation nursery rhyme. So no matter how much money Odin spends, he will always have more. It’s a symbol of wealth.”

“Our Draupnir project was meant to secure a large amount of food,” explained Skuld. “The Objects stand out the most, but food is a necessary part of war, right? If we could develop a food source that would never run out, don’t you think we could wage war much more easily?”

“Hold on…”

At first, the bell crickets did not seem to have anything to do with a project to develop a food source, but if he removed all of his presuppositions…

“Hold on!! Are you saying these crickets are your food source!?”

“Apparently so,” said Eric. “I’ve only heard rumors, but bugs are near the bottom of the food chain and they can multiply endlessly in the right environment. Apparently some old guys in a lab were all excited about it being a more efficient source of protein than raising cattle or pigs.”

He made it sound like some theoretical issue, but then Skuld cut in.

“Oh? Aren’t the fries the most popular dish among the infantry berserkers? What do you think they squish up to shape into those?”

“G-gweeehhh!!!???”

Eric faced the other way and spewed some noises that will be omitted here.

Skuld remained calm.

“Draupnir is a genetically modified food insect and I believe that is what these are. For one thing, there are no bell crickets in the Antsiranana District’s Experimental Battlefield Madagascar. They should only be found in the Island Nation and Asia.”

“Frolaytia did say she’s seen them in a pet shop that specialized in the Island Nation.”

It was possible there were nocturnal chirping bugs on this island and an amateur might not be able to tell them apart, but that changed when they were clearly bell crickets.

Unnatural insects had been brought to an unnatural place.

Had it all been intentional?

“So they’ve been genetically modified to breed like crazy and never run out no matter how many you eat?” groaned Quenser. “I did hear crickets chirping all over the place last night. Had they already started multiplying then?”

“Let me make one thing clear. The Faith Organization only sees Draupnir as a project to provide the soldiers with food. I swear to you that they were not developed for use as a biological weapon.”

“I understand that. These are far too difficult to control to use them like that. We just have to pray your higher ups don’t see what happened here as a success.” Quenser wiped the sweat from his brow. “But this has given me some hope.”

“?”

“Skuld, you said these bell crickets have had their genes messed with, right? That’s fine, but do you know how that was done?”

“Only in general. I think a few of their chromosomes were intentionally damaged with chemicals and then they were crossbred for generation after generation. In a way, they had their genes damaged.”

“In other words, the abnormal level of breeding and growth came from damage to their chromosomes?”

“What about it?”

“It’s simple. The simpler a creature’s structure, the more easily their genes change due to outside stimuli. It’s enough for the flu to be different every year. And between humans and bugs, the bugs are much more easily affected.”

Quenser paused for a beat.

“These Draupnir are easily-altered bugs to begin with and their genes will be even more unstable after the intentional damage done to them. That means we just need one last push. If we damage the chromosomes of these killer crickets, we might be able to wipe them all out as their cells break down.”

“But how?”

“There are a few ways to alter genes. As you said, the easiest and most effective method is getting some help from chemicals, but you can also use UV, IR, coal tar, or asbestos. I think the solvent used for printing would work too. Really, just anything that’s been labelled carcinogenic should work.”

“Printing solvent? So what about Object paint?”

“They wouldn’t let our Elite Princess anywhere near something dangerous like that. Plus there’s something else that’s even more common.”

“Like what?”

“Extremely high-power microwaves. If we send out radar waves at max levels, we can exterminate all of the crickets swarming the maintenance base.”