Kojo Suzuki - Spiral

As our time approached, I made preparations and went up to the roof in the middle of the night. 1 tied a cord to the metal grate and descended into the shaft. In the process I slipped and wrenched an ankle, but this did not bother the mother-body. I was able to be reborn into this world on schedule. I crawled out of the womb, severed the umbilical cord with my hands and mouth, and cleaned myself off with a wet towel I had readied for the purpose. I was born in the early morning, before sunrise. It was only then when I looked up that I first realized, with a shock, that the exhaust shaft looked quite like the well where I had died.

It was like a rite of passage prepared for me by the gods. I thought of it as a divinely appointed trial; I would not be able to adapt to this world, into which I’d been newly reborn, unless I crawled out of that hole on my own. But it wasn’t hard to do. A cord hung down from the rim. I climbed it and was able to emerge from the hole with no difficulty. The eastern sky was growing light and the city was awakening with it. Let me tell you, I drank the air greedily. I felt, quite literally, revived.

A week later I had grown to the age I had been at my death. Mysteriously, I retained all my memories from my previous life. My birth in Sashikiji on Izu Oshima Island, my transient life with my mother as she was subjected to parapsychological experiments, my aged father’s time in the sanatorium… I remembered it all. Why is that, I wonder. Perhaps memories are not engraved upon the folds of the brain, but stored in the genes.

Deep within my body, however, there was one way in which I could tell I differed from my previous self. Intuition is all I have to go by regarding the changes in my body, but I know beyond a doubt that I am different from what I was before. I seem to have both a womb and testicles. Previously, I had no womb. Reborn, I have both. I am now a complete hermaphrodite. What is more, the man in me can ejaculate. I learned that as a result of what we did together.

At that point, Miyashita raised his eyes from the notebook and glanced at Ando. Thinking Miyashita meant to tease him about sleeping with Sadako, Ando snapped, “Shut up and keep reading.”

But Miyashita was thinking about something else. “‘A complete hermaphrodite.’ Suppose she- it, maybe? — can have a child without procreative sex? Imagine the consequences.”

There are many lower organisms that can reproduce without male-female union. Worms, for example, have male and female parts in one body, and can lay fertilized eggs. Reproduction among single-celled organisms by cellular division also falls under the heading of asexual reproduction. A child born without input from a male and a female would have the same genes as its single parent. In other words, Sadako would give birth to another Sadako. If such a thing were possible.

“If that’s true, then…” Ando’s gaze wandered uneasily off into space. “Then Sadako isn’t human anymore. She’s a new species. New species arise due to mutation. This is evolution happening before our eyes!”

Ando tried to pursue the train of logic. The question was how Sadako meant to establish herself as a new species. When a new species arises as a result of mutation, it can find only unmutated individuals to mate with.

For example, suppose a single black sheep is born into a flock of thousands of white sheep. That black sheep must mate with a white sheep. Assuming the result of this mating to be a white or gray sheep, it’s easy to see how the trait of blackness must become weaker and weaker until it gradually disappears. Unless there are at least two black sheep, one of each sex, the trait will not be passed on down the generations.

But in Sadako’s case, the problem was already solved. If she could reproduce asexually, there was no need for her to choose a breeding partner. If she could reproduce herself, all alone, then all the traits that made her Sadako would be transmitted to the next generation.

However, with one Sadako giving birth to another Sadako, one at a time, the species’ rate of increase would be extremely slow, no faster than the videotape’s propagation, one copy at a time. And while the species dallied, the human race might corner it and annihilate it. Just as the killer videotape itself had been made extinct. In order to thrive, the new species needed to reproduce itself rapidly and en masse. Sadako needed to secure room to survive, perhaps by usurping human habitats, perhaps by flooding in through the cracks. Perhaps she already had a plan…

Ando’s thoughts were interrupted when Miyashita resumed reading from the notebook.

This has become rather a long letter, but I assure you that every word of it is true. I have simply told you honestly what happened to me. Why have I? So that you may understand. And now that you do understand, I would like to ask you to do something for me. Why you? Because I believe you, as an expert, have the expert knowledge that will be required.

Ando braced himself reflexively. Oh God, here it comes. What if it was something he didn’t know how to do? The thought filled him with anxiety.

First things first: I want you not to interfere with the publication of Ring .

Well, that was certainly within the scope of his abilities. All he had to do was do nothing.

I want you not to interfere with anything else I may try to do, either. I want you to cooperate with me.

Please listen to me. It is not my intention to threaten you, but I must tell you that something very bad will happen to you if you interfere. After all, you have already read the manuscript called Ring. Consider it too late, please, to do anything. If you cross me, you will find a change coming over your body. But I realize that you are courageous and may be willing to resist me even at the risk of death. So I think I must offer you a reward for granting my request. Nothing is free, is it? What would you say if I told you that I could offer you the thing you want most, namely…

Miyashita stopped reading and handed the notebook to Ando, evidently wanting him to see for himself what came next.

No sooner did Ando read what was written there than he dropped the notebook. In an instant he’d been robbed of the power to think; all strength had been sapped from his body. He’d never dreamed she would offer such a thing. Miyashita must have guessed how he was feeling, and he made no comment.

Ando’s eyes were shut. Sadako, he felt, was whispering sweetly to him that he should destroy the human race. That he should take the side of the new species, become its ally, and work on its behalf. Sadako understood that without collaborators among humans, her species could never survive. Junichiro Asakawa, through his efforts to publish Ring, was already acting on Sadako’s behalf. He probably didn’t yet realize it himself, but there was no question Sadako was manipulating him.

But the compensation Ando was being offered in exchange for his soul was more than enticing. How many times had he prayed for that dream to come true? Never thinking that it actually could.

Is such a thing possible? he asked himself. He opened his eyes and looked at the bookshelf. There it was, in an envelope sandwiched between two books. Medically, it wasn’t impossible. And with Sadako’s help, it might actually happen. Still…

He raised his voice in a cry of anguish. If Sadako wasn’t stopped now, there was no telling what suffering she’d bring to the human race. As a member of that race, Ando couldn’t betray it. In the end the only way to stop Sadako was to destroy her. But if her body was obliterated, his dream would be, too. The only way to make his dream come true was to keep Sadako safe and healthy.

Ando was openly groaning now from the depths of his torment. As he lay on the bed, belly heaving, he saw a figure behind his closed eyelids, a figure that he could not chase away.