[Minamoto]
It began with a small anomaly.
Myidia City, located on Shume, the second moon of the seventh planet in the Miita star system, had been built after humanity ventured into space and had grown into a multicultural city inhabited by countless species.
Among the many species that gathered there from across the universe were those that disliked conflict and violence. The Totalrians were one such species. By storing antigravity within their bodies, they were able to float through the air in translucent, jellyfish-like forms consisting of little more than their heads, living quietly in the corners of the city.
Their homeworld was seven hundred light-years away from Myidia City.
And it was a Totalrian who had come from that distant homeland who caused the incident.
It was the first time that a member of this species had ever appeared in the records of the municipal police. Moreover, the Totalrian had been arrested in the act of committing murder.
The shock of the incident aroused the interest of numerous police officials and journalists, and it also attracted the attention of scientists.
The Totalrians had always been considered a species completely unrelated to crime. The very idea that one of them could commit murder and be confined within a prison surrounded by electromagnetic shielding seemed impossible.
A gentle human might conceivably commit a crime.
But for a species that was biologically incapable of committing murder to suddenly commit one was an event worthy of scientific investigation.
The first thing that attracted the scientists' attention was the extreme aggression displayed by the Totalrian responsible for the incident.
When his language was translated, he was found to be shouting insults equivalent to human profanity and behaving with extreme violence.
Even when investigators questioned members of the Totalrian community about the suspect's behavior before the incident, they reported that nothing unusual had been noticed.
Pengo, a Gienro scientist, investigated the Totalrian's condition with an intellectual and scientific approach despite his somewhat fishlike appearance. His research revealed that the genes of the Totalrian responsible for the incident had undergone a slight genetic alteration.
Compared with humans, Totalrians possessed approximately five times as much genetic information, and merely analyzing their genome required an enormous amount of time. Nevertheless, after an extended period of analysis, Pengo concluded that this tiny genetic alteration was the cause that had transformed the normally gentle Totalrian.
However, the fundamental cause of the alteration remained unknown.
A trial for the murder was scheduled to be conducted under local law. The day finally came when the Totalrian was transported to court inside an electromagnetic-shielded sphere.
But on that day, the Totalrian never appeared in court.
The Totalrian had been burned to death by the Gienro scientist, Pengo.
An alien who had committed murder being killed by an alien scientist—the unprecedented incident became known throughout the universe as one of the countless extraordinary crimes in galactic history.
But the incident did not end there.
An examination of Dr. Pengo's blue blood revealed that he had undergone the same subtle genetic alteration as the Totalrian. Moreover, just like the Totalrian, he had begun displaying extreme aggression and hurling abuse at police officers.
Just as the police were preparing to begin an investigation into this unprecedented series of events, a mass riot suddenly erupted in Myidia City.
No—the term "mass riot" did not adequately describe it. It was better described as indiscriminate destruction carried out by the population.
People of every race, gender, and occupation became involved in acts of violence and murder, creating a situation unlike anything ever witnessed before.
In response, Myidia City was placed under lockdown.
But instead of being contained, the situation began to spread.
The wave of violence extended throughout the cities of Shume. Then it crossed the boundaries of the moon itself, spreading through the Miita star system, across galaxies, galaxy clusters, superclusters, and eventually throughout the entire universe like an infectious disease.
It truly may have been an infectious disease.
However, later scientists would never have the opportunity to prove it.
The disease, apparently transmitted through the air, spread across the universe at a speed approaching that of light, destroying civilizations throughout the cosmos by driving their inhabitants into madness.
Those who escaped infection desperately hid themselves, doing everything they could to survive while avoiding attacks from those who had become violent.
No one knew why this genetic abnormality had occurred or where it had originated.
There was only one fact that remained certain.
It had all begun with a single Totalrian becoming violent.
[Minamoto] End