Yuki paused and looked at the medallion in Tai's hands, then continued: “There was a medical bay on the ship and I was able to take a blood test of the patients. Marker D6 was found. I told Prakz about this and he isolated them in the tail section of the ship. They did not live long, they died two days later. The remaining three crew members were healthy, including Prakz.”

“What happened to the creature that attacked the mate?”

“It remained locked in the living quarters.”

“How did you end up on the Gion Express?” Tai asked.

“We stopped in some system, the Gion Express docked with us. Mo Gong boarded our ship. I wanted to escape the ship and hid in an airlock in a space suit container. Prakz did not let Mo Gong on the ship. As I understood, Prakz and Mo Gong were from the same gang of smugglers. Mo Gong demanded to return to him a case that they stole from some high-ranking official. Prakz did not want to give back the stolen case, and demanded that Mo Gong repay the debt. He was indignant, and Prakz said that they now have huge problems due to the murder of the courier by Mo Gong's accomplice. As a result, they quarreled and Mo Gong, taking out a gun, chased after the captain. While I was getting out of the container, there was an explosion. Gateway blocked. While I was trying to open it, Mo Gong returned. He had burns on his face, and blood flowed from his eyes, ears and nose, he could not see well, he carried a case in his hand. I managed to open the airlock and helped Mo Gong get to the Gion Express. When I closed the airlock, there was an explosion. The ship was seriously damaged, there was no gravity. Mo Gong was bleeding, but he was still alive. I have not found the crew members of this ship. There were empty hibernation pods, and I put Mo Gong in one of them. In another I lay down, in the hope that someone would find us. Further you know.”

Tai gave Yuki the locket. She took it out of the package and opened it and began to cry without holding back her tears.

“You look like this woman, is that your mother?”

“Yes. What will happen now”

“Nothing”

Tai stood up from the bench and was about to leave, but Yuki stopped him with a question: “What was that? D6 is described in the handbook as a deadly fungal infection. But it's really something else.”

“This artificial organism is called Orgatox. Synthetically organic creature created over five thousand years ago. The parasite has several stages of development. Getting into the body at the first stage in the form of a fungal infection, it quickly mimics the body's nerve cells and enters into symbiosis with the infected. At the second stage, it is integrated into the structure of the nervous system of the spinal cord. Orgatox needs building material, chemicals, and hormones to grow. The person begins to exhibit inappropriate behavior. If a person resists, such a carrier is not interesting to the orgatox and it ceases to develop, passing into the reproduction stage, exhausting the body for the production of larval spores, ultimately killing the carrier”

“What happens in the third stage?” Yuki asked.

“At the third stage, a foreign body is formed that intercepts the control of the human body. A person ceases to control his actions, the body obeys the mind of the orgatox. At the same time, it supports the brain of the wearer, forcing them to experience euphoria. A person can agree with this and coexist with the parasite for a very long time. But if the human consciousness refuses such coexistence, then the orgatox completely intercepts all the functions of the brain. Consciousness becomes just an observer until death.”

“Something hard to believe, people die a few days after infection, how do you explain this?”

“The fact is that about nine hundred years ago, a cure for this parasite was invented. In the first two stages, the drug only killed the parasite. Those who had the third stage died. Since the orgatox is an artificial organism with advanced intelligence, he tried to find a way to become immune to the poisonous medicine. The parasite began to change human DNA and its own DNA. But the fact is that the pilgrims and the colonists at that time had some differences in the genes. And these differences led to the occurrence of genetic errors when moving orgatox from one person to another. Genetic errors changed the synthetic structure of orgatox, it became not viable in the human body, and people got a DNA anomaly. As a result, when infected, the orgatox dies along with the person. The current situation required the adoption of emergency measures, otherwise all living things were threatened with extinction. Pilgrims using the radiation of dark stars tried to stop the movement of ships throughout the galaxy, they partially succeeded, the era of dark time has come. Thanks to the measures taken, it was possible to stop the spread of orgatox throughout the galaxy.”

“This explains a lot.” Yuki remarked sarcastically. “Who needed to transport this parasite in a container?”

“The sample that was in the container had no changes in the synthetic structure. And so it was very dangerous. We're trying to figure out where this sample came from.”

“But why is this parasite not known to doctors?” Yuki didn't calm down.

Tai sat down on the bench again: “There is a certain group of people who are followers of the theory of transformation, to be more precise followers of Reman - who called for a new evolutionary step, for the acquisition of superpowers and immortality in a different form of life. The followers of this theory believe that the pilgrims deprived humanity of the chance to change, become powerful and immortal. To achieve this goal, the Remanists need to revive the Orgatox. They are convinced that they are right and will do everything to achieve this goal. But at what price this is achieved, they do not say. The fact that they put their lives in danger, for them, is a sacrifice for the sake of the future good. If people find out through what they will have to go through, it can become an obstacle to achieving the goal. Therefore, for them, the enemy is the one who casts a shadow of doubt on the theory of transformation.”

Yuki looked at Tai. She wanted to say something, but she didn't. Tai realized that Yuuki probably knew about this theory, since at times this theory caused a lot of controversy in society. And as a doctor, she knows about D6, which caused high mortality from DNA anomalies in the 60s of the last century.

“What is the role of the pilgrims in this story?” Yuki decided to ask, looking Tayu in the eyes.

“We're trying to save lives”