Earth — Tokyo Advanced Research Facility Headquarters, Medical Wing
Kurogawa remained beside the observation screen with his phone still in his hand. Astra lay motionless inside the medical room while the doctors continued studying the impossible results on the monitors.
He had just spoken to Lyla.
"Lyla, we need help from your sister," he said. "Annabelle."
There was a short pause on the line.
"Annie isn't with me right now," Lyla replied. "She's at school, but I'll send you her number."
She paused again.
"I know Annie is intelligent, but what makes you think she can do what you need?"
Kurogawa looked through the glass at Astra.
"I have a feeling she can."
"A feeling?" Lyla asked. He could hear the smile in her voice. "Well, alright. I'm currently training in the military zone, so I'll call you later. If you need Annie to come physically, tell me and we'll travel to Japan."
"That won't be necessary," Kurogawa replied. "I'll wait for the number."
"Okay."
The call ended.
Kurogawa lowered the phone and turned toward the doctors.
"Everyone, move into the examination room. We're going to study that being again."
Sakura looked at him in confusion.
"We already examined her."
"I know," Kurogawa replied. "But I'm going to call someone who may be able to interpret the results. I'll display the scans on the main screen so she can examine them with us."
Sakura gave a quiet scoff.
"If we couldn't explain them, how do you expect a beginner to understand them?"
"It doesn't matter," Kurogawa said. "Let's see whether she can."
He picked up his phone again, and the doctors followed him into the room where Astra lay. Kurogawa entered first, and Sakura followed behind him.
"Move our subject away from the screen," Kurogawa instructed. "I don't want Annabelle to know what we're dealing with before she studies the results."
He paused and looked at everyone in the room.
"And no one is to discuss this with the residents or the public. I'll hold a press conference and tell them that what they saw was simply part of an experiment we were conducting."
Sakura moved closer to him and watched as the staff prepared the room.
"Bring the CT scanner," she ordered. "Place the results on the screen so our guest can see what she's examining."
The junior doctors moved Astra away from the central display while others went to retrieve the scanner. They brought the equipment into position and ran the process again. The results appeared on a large screen near the front of the room, where Sakura and Kurogawa stood close to the entrance.
The senior doctors gathered behind Sakura, while the junior doctors stood behind them. After several minutes, everything was ready.
Sakura looked toward Kurogawa.
"We're done."
Kurogawa nodded. He connected his phone to the display, entered the number Lyla had sent him, and started a video call.
Everyone watched the screen while they waited.
After several rings, the call connected.
A young girl appeared on the display. She had dark hair, a slim face, and round glasses that reflected the light from the screen. She was dressed simply and appeared to have joined the call from her hostel. She looked around at the doctors, the equipment, and Kurogawa.
"Huh?" she said. "What's this?"
"Annabelle," Kurogawa said, "I spoke with your sister, Lyla. We need your help brainstorming something."
"Ohhhkay." Annabelle glanced around her room. "Lyla didn't tell me anything, but no problem. I love brainstorming. I'm in my hostel, so I have a little time to spare."
Kurogawa stepped aside and gestured toward Sakura.
"The floor is yours."
Sakura moved closer to the screen. She pointed toward the large display showing Astra's internal structure.
"Annabelle, this is the internal anatomy of a being we found. We can't explain what we're seeing. Every logical explanation we have used has failed."
Annabelle stared at the image for several seconds.
"If you're expecting a logical explanation for something like this," she said slowly, "then you may already be looking at it the wrong way."
Sakura's expression tightened.
What was that supposed to mean? Does she think she's smarter than us?
Annabelle did not seem to notice her reaction. She picked up a notebook and a pen. After clicking the pen open, she began studying the circular structure shown in the middle of the scan.
"Let's focus on the circular structure first," she said. "For now, let's call it the core."
Sakura folded her arms.
"Don't you want to hear the results of the tests we already performed?"
"No," Annabelle replied immediately. "The results won't help if you're trying to force an ordinary explanation onto an extraordinary structure. If you expect a logical answer, you first need to stop assuming that her existence follows human logic."
She smiled faintly at her own wording:
That sounded like a tongue twister.
Her smile faded as she returned to the screen.
"The core is probably the main structure sustaining her existence," she said. "I'm not sure whether calling it an organ is accurate. I can see two distinct energy concentrations inside it—one white and one yellow."
Annabelle began sketching the structure in her notebook.
The room fell silent.
Five minutes passed.
Sakura finally shifted impatiently.
"We're waiting."
Kurogawa watched Annabelle with interest:
She really is brilliant.
Annabelle looked up.
"Oh, sorry."
She leaned closer to the image of the core.
"Everyone, look at it carefully. I know this may sound strange, but I think the core is mainly used to store a gaseous form of energy. There appear to be two types: a yellow energy and a white energy."
She pointed toward the screen.
"Zoom in on the core, please."
Sakura gave the order, and the image enlarged. The junior doctors moved closer to the display so Annabelle could see their reactions through the camera.
Annabelle studied the enlarged scan.
"The core is divided into three sections. The first section, at the top, is empty. The second contains the white gaseous energy, and the third contains the yellow energy."
She paused.
"This is where it becomes difficult to explain."
Annabelle flipped to a fresh page in her notebook.
"Look at the being's eyes. Are they white?"
Sakura glanced at Kurogawa and the senior doctors. They exchanged uncertain looks.
Kurogawa answered.
"Yes. They're white."
"And what about the structures behind her?"
Sakura looked through the glass at Astra's wings.
"They're white as well."
Annabelle smiled.
"Then my theory may be correct."
She pointed at the many thin channels running through the scan.
"These lines resemble veins, but there are far more of them than we would find in a human body. They appear to be transporting the gaseous energy stored inside the core."
She traced one group of lines with her finger on the screen.
"Several of them connect the white section of the core to the eyes and the structures behind her. If I'm right, the white energy remains gaseous inside the core but becomes physical when it reaches the outer part of her form."
Sakura's eyes narrowed as she studied the image.
"You think the wings and eyes are created from that energy?"
"I think they can be manifested from it," Annabelle replied. "They may be able to withdraw into the body and emerge again whenever she wants. The core seems to contain a process that converts the energy from one state into another when it reaches the outside."
She tapped the screen.
"The eyes and wings may look similar because they are created by the same energy, but I don't know whether they serve the same purpose. There could be another mechanism inside the core that controls the conversion. If Astra can control that process, she may also be able to shape the manifested energy into weapons."
Kurogawa smiled in amazement.
"Wow. That's incredible."
The doctors remained silent, staring at the screen. They had spent hours examining Astra and had not reached half the conclusions Annabelle had formed from a single scan.
Annabelle noticed their expressions.
"Don't be shocked yet," she said. "There's more."
She returned her attention to the second group of channels.
"Now, the yellow energy is different. The channels connected to this section appear to extend through the manifested body itself."
She paused, searching for the right explanation.
"I think the yellow energy creates and maintains her physical form. If part of that form is damaged, the channels could rebuild it by drawing more yellow energy from the core. It would be an extreme form of regeneration."
Sakura leaned closer to the display.
"You mean if her arm were severed, the energy could create another one?"
"Possibly," Annabelle replied. "The body would not be healing like a human body. It would be reconstructed through the energy channels. The physical form would be rebuilt from the yellow energy itself."
She then looked toward the empty section of the core.
"But the first section is the strangest part."
She followed several thin channels toward Astra's face.
"It appears to connect to an intake structure near the nose. That may be why the scans made it look as though she was breathing."
Sakura frowned.
"But she isn't using oxygen."
"Exactly," Annabelle said. "It is not taking in air the way a human body does. It may be drawing in another substance or form of energy entirely. The substance does not appear to remain in its original state. My guess is that the empty section receives it, converts it, and then distributes the result into either the yellow or white section of the core."
The room became completely quiet.
Annabelle looked back at Astra's fading readings.
"If that theory is correct, then her core is not only storing energy. It is processing energy, converting it, and sending it through the channels to create the form we can see."
She hesitated.
"But there is one problem."
Kurogawa's expression changed.
"What problem?"
Annabelle studied the energy levels again.
"She may have a limited amount of time left."
Sakura stared at her.
"Why?"
"If the intake system is no longer functioning, then she may be surviving only on the energy already stored inside the core. Once that reserve is exhausted, her manifestation may collapse completely."
Annabelle looked toward Astra.
"She may already know this. It looks as though she has shut down or restricted certain functions inside herself to preserve energy."
Sakura's eyes widened.
*She discovered more in minutes than we found after all those tests.*
Kurogawa remained focused on the screen.
"Alright. But we have another problem."
Annabelle looked up.
"What is it?"
"We need to teach her English."
Annabelle blinked.
"Oh. Right."
She looked back at the scans.
"I didn't see a brain either."
Sakura and the other doctors exchanged uneasy looks.
"If she has no normal brain structure," Annabelle continued, "then the energy that performs those functions may also be concentrated in her head. The energy is not flowing randomly through her form. The yellow and white channels converge there."
She leaned closer to the display.
"So if we want to teach her English, we may not teach her the way we teach a human. We may need to train the energy itself, as though we were programming a computer through its hardware."
Kurogawa stared at her.
"Programming the energy?"
"Giving it patterns," Annabelle explained. "Sounds, symbols, meanings, and repeated associations. We would have to create a language pattern inside the energy that controls her understanding."
Her expression became serious.
"But we would need access to the energy in her head, and we would have to be extremely careful. We don't know whether she can feel pain through that system, and we don't know what could happen if we disturb it."
Kurogawa looked around at Sakura and the other doctors.
Then he smiled.
"I told you we would find answers."
To be continued…