Chapter 33

Chapter 33 is the thirty-third chapter of the Astra Lost in Space manga. It is the seventh chapter of the Icriss arc and, in the compiled volumes, the fifth chapter of the fourth volume.

Synopsis
In a flashback, Kanata recalls his younger self telling his father that he wants to pursue his own dreams instead of following father's dream, which is to go to space. However, the reason he continues to train under his father because he wants to get stronger. However, his father is dismissive, saying that Kanata's dreams don't matter and that he should just keep to keeping his body in peak condition. Kanata soon realizes the implication of what his father meant.

Meanwhile, Zack calls for a crew wide meeting, and tells the crew that he had conducted a DNA test to discover if Quitterie and Funicia were in fact biological sisters. The crew erupts in excitement, wondering if this could be a life changing moment for both Quitterie and Funicia. With the crew waiting in anticipation, Zack announces that the pair's DNA are exactly identical. He explains to the confused crewmembers that although DNA can be very similar, having completely identical DNA is impossible, which means that they are in fact the same person.

Quitterie protests, thinking that Zack is making it up. However, Zack has several theories to what the results mean. One is that the two are identical twins, as identical twins come as a result of a single zygote that is split into two embryos. However, this brings about the question if they are identical twins, how could their ages be so different. He suspects that Funicia was possibly put into cryostasis for seven years, but Funicia replies she never remembers being put into cryostasis.

Kanata then joins the conversation, and mentions that the twins theory seems too absurd, and brings up another theory, which exposes what all of the students have in common: they are in fact all clones. Everyone erupts at this statement, wondering how exactly they are all clones. However, Kanata mentions that it's possible if they are all clones of none other than their originals, their parents.

As the crew ponders this, Zack explains that the simplest theory is that Funi was cloned using Quitterie's cells when Quitterie was six years old, and using a surrogate mother, Funicia was born. Ulgar argues that cloning is serious crime that could bring about a jail sentence, but Zack brings up a hypothesis on how it was done: it was connected to Zack's father's research project. He explains that his father was studying the possibility of memory transfer between two humans, and if one person's memories could be transferred to another person's body, then the second person would retain the first person's personality, However, the main hurdle was that it required identical DNA.

With the possibility of twins being used ruled out due to twins objecting to their own personalities being overridden, the idea seemed dead in the water. But if the subject made a clone of themselves and transferred all their memories and experience gained over the years into their newer and younger body, then they could regain their youth. However, as the research is immoral and illegal, his father chose to keep it secret and instead contact wealthy individuals who were willing to pay a hefty sum to regain their youth. All of the students' parents were somehow involved in the research, from Quitterie's father being the head of the hospital to control the clones to Ulgar's father being the school leader to hide the clones' activity. He does remark that he does not know how Aries fits into this, but suspects that Funicia was the backup for Quitterie.

Luca protests that this is all a theory and has no hard evidence, but Zack pulls out his father's portable ashtray, which he had brought along to see if the cloning hypothesis actually applies to everyone. Yun-Ha also volunteers her mother's toothbrush she accidentally brought, and Zack uses the samples of DNA from the items to run a DNA test. When the results do come back, it is confirmed - Zack and Yun-Ha have identical matches with their parents, proving that they are all indeed clones.