Terraformars volume 16 - Yu Sasuga and Kenchi Tachibana

 After the struggle to read through "Breasts..." (see earlier on this blog) it was time for some good old action reading.

And we do that with Terraformars 16th volume in the series, with the survivors about to be rescued from Mars at last.

 

The ship is protected by it's two crewmen, one being an old acquintance of Akari. They defend the vessel from the roaches, as they lay out the plan to retrieve the other survivors.  But even so, politics are still at play as Germany made a secret request in exchange to provide the engine for the rescue ship.  The ship is operated by Ichi Security, founded by the previous mission survivor and now prime-minister of Japan.

 

In a flashback, we learn the origins of Joseph and how he was the result of selective breeding.  Joseph's youth friends, Jack and Michelle, are lovers, but Jack gets involved in the murder of one of Michelle's teachers.  Refusing to talk, he takes his secret with him to the correcting facility, forcing Joseph and Michelle to move on with their respective lives.

 

But Joseph was behind it all, using his wealth to get close to Michelle himself and having a child with her, but when Jack comes out of jail he reconciles with Michelle and they move to the United States.

 

Back on Mars, Joseph is controlled by the spores from the Chinese commander, facing the captain's group.  They manage to bring him back from his spore controlled insanity, causing the chinese vessel to open fire on them.  But Joseph had planned it all all along, serious about wanting to be killed by the others, and stops the barrage.  Liu, Asimov and Shokichi now not only have to face him, but also the chinese controlled terraformars.

 

 

As Liu and Asimov hold the roaches off, Shokichi engages in a duel with Joseph.  But when Shokichi is accidentally hit on the temple by one of Joseph's electro attacks, he seemingly awakens a divine inspired speed and attacks the perfect being that Joseph is.  Enhanced further by the thought lost metamorphosis drug Liu still carried with him, Shokichi evolves and finally kills Joseph, decapitating him once and for all.

 

As the other survivors take off with only 38 of the projected 2000 samples, Liu and Asimov make their last stand on the surface of Mars.  The survivors weep at the failure of the Annex project, when Ivan, of the Russian team, reveals they found the ruins and confirmes "Theory 2".

 

But what theory 2 might be, that is something for the next volume that I personally can't wait to dive into!