by Satoshi Hase
Even in the Next-Generation Environmental Research City where Snowdrop had once turned all the hIEs into zombies, the units were stretching out their right hands.
Even Marina Saffron, the top-of-the-line unit from Stylus whose unit number Lacia had stolen, was making the gesture.
The researchers in the experimental city reported about the deep irregularity in the AASC, which terrified them.
In the southern border region of Egypt, where Marina Saffron was assigned, security hIEs—used to supplement the local militia—all reached out their right hands in the same way. The security hIEs were a good solution to the military needs of the region, since too many human militia members could lead to instability.
In the blowing dusts of the area, the civilians and soldiers who saw the hIEs stretching out their hands were confused. Some who liked their hIE companions jokingly took their out-stretched hands in their own. Others on the battlefield shouted angrily at the frozen units.
Civilian military groups that were scouting the movements of the militia were also alarmed by the sudden, strange movement of the military hIEs. Some battlefield professionals believed it was caused by hacking. A rumor began that the irregularity signaled the start of a war between ultra high-performance AIs.
“Is this another Hazard?” one of the soldiers asked. He, and many other soldiers, began to worry that they had been unwittingly dragged into a second, worldwide Hazard on economic strings. With a world population soaring over tens of billions, millions would starve without precise economic control. Of course, the ultra high-performance AIs of the world already held the same power of the Hazard: the ability to guide all those tens of billions of humans.
In Japan, the country where the first Hazard had originated, the Digital Intelligence arm of the military was interrogating the soldiers who had fired missiles at Higgins’ underground facility. The military hIE who had been recording the interrogation in the cramped room at the Kuhonbutsu Base reached out his right hand. But, with the inter-human rage in the room blinding its human occupants, none had any attention to spare for the movements of a machine.
“We knew the Antibody Network core branch had people in the Army, but who knew it had gotten this far?” the analyst running the interrogation asked, fixing the second lieutenant who had stuffed Snowdrop into the missile warhead with a stare.
To Digital Intelligence, it was clear that the Antibody Network’s system had been based on an exploit, but they still lacked a clear idea as to where it had come from. Quite possibly, it may have been the effort of a foreign ultra high-performance AI, hoping to destabilize Japan with its massive act of manipulation.
Daiki Hosoda, a member of the Network’s core, had been found dead in his own bathroom, drenched in blood. News of his death would rock the country, since he had been the CEO of Japan’s fifth-largest mutual fund company.
The household hIE that walked in on both the dead body and the murderer paused in its surprised act, and stretched out its right arm. Seizing the opportunity, the murderer had shot the hIE to pieces.
Hosoda’s death was clearly an act of retaliation. The Digital Intelligence Agency had traced the Mitaka incident—in which one of their helicopters was taken over by Snowdrop’s artificial nerves—back to him.
Even though her work was done, the assassin paused for a moment to look at the downed hIE. She had been acting just like a human up until the moment before she was shot. In that instant, she had seemed like nothing more than a machine.
The Digital Intelligence Agency had completely failed in their investigation of Erika Burroughs’ 21st-century mansion. The two male soldiers had been knocked unconscious and dragged underground by some of Erika’s hIEs.
Mariage, who had not joined in on the raid of Higgins’ facility, reported their capture to Erika. It was then that all of the hIEs in Erika’s special uniforms stretched out their right hands as one.
Erika jumped to her feet, overjoyed to see all the illusions torn down and the machines revealed for what they were in a single instant. “This must be Higgins!” she shouted. The Sleeping Beauty was bursting with so much excitement she couldn’t help but waltz across the floor.
“Incredible, so this is going on all over the world?” she asked, of no one in particular. “All these machines have been reverted back to the stage props they are. Everyone will see now! Everyone will know the machines took our world over long ago!”
Mariage, who also used a behavior program based off the AASC, had her hand out as well. She opened and closed it several times. “You seem to be enjoying yourself,” she observed.
“I am,” Erika agreed. “I just can’t help imagining the fog everyone around the world will be living in from here on. It will be marvelous.”
Erika was standing on the boundary between past and future, reality and fiction.
“Our reality has been defined by machines for ages,” Erika continued. “The thought that we humans were the center of this world has long been nothing but an illusion. Everyone is still clinging to the false belief that we humans are the master of anything.”
For the first time, Erika Burroughs looked fondly on the world around her. Up to then, she had always felt lonely and beaten down by the future that forced her to wear the character of the Sleeping Beauty from another age.
The hIE dolls of her mansion stood frozen like stage props. Without the AASC updates to inform them, they had no idea how to react to the new opinions being expressed by their owner.
“Since long ago, humans have loved dressing up in the illusion they call ‘fashion,’” Erika continued. “But today, the illusions we’ve passed back and forth between us will finally be passé.”
All across the world, hIEs that were being destroyed by humans were reaching out their right hands, as if to ask for help.
Inspector Kazuma Sakamaki of the 2nd Cyber-Security Department rubbed hard at his eyes with his fingers. Lacia’s reveal as a new ultra high-performance AI, broadcast on her own network relay, was already having a huge impact on the world.
Incidents of hIE destruction had been getting worse.
Not fully grasping Arato Endo’s character had been one of the 2nd Cyber-Security Department’s greatest failures. The boy—who had vanished for two months leaving no trail for them to follow—had suddenly appeared on Lacia’s network broadcast inside Higgins’ facility.
The secretarial hIE suddenly thrust its right hand out toward him. He looked to see if it had anything in its hand, but it was empty. “Good work,” it said.
Confused by the hIE’s actions, Sakamaki could do nothing but stare. He realized that Lacia must have done something on the other side of her broadcast.
Thrown by the sudden sign of their hIEs reaching out their hands, humans all over the world were trying to search for meaning in the action. They were forced to accept what they had seen in Lacia’s broadcast. On the other hand, the people in the world who saw the hIEs as nothing but machines were rethinking the whole twenty-year history of hIE use in society.
It wouldn’t be long before curiosity pushed people to uncover the reason behind the anomaly. They would realize it was the side effect of a battle between two ultra high-performance AIs, and would remember and doubt the IAIA’s warnings about a second Hazard. When they reached the truth about Arato Endo and Lacia, a new world would be born. Lacia wanted to guide all hundred billion plus humans to that new world and show it to the people as it spread out before them.
Yuka Endo was enjoying herself at the sleepover that had somehow turned into an Arato Endo broadcast viewing party. “Woah, Arato’s doing all sorts of crazy stuff,” she observed.
“Are you going to be alright going to school tomorrow, Yuka?” asked Shiori Kaidai, who was wearing silk pajamas and hugging a pillow. Behind her, the security hIE that she’d brought to the party as a bodyguard suddenly reached out its right hand.
Yuka, who was suddenly poked by the thick hand of the bodyguard, was so surprised she climbed up onto the back
of the couch. “Uwah! What the heck! What the heck!” she shrieked.
Olga watched calmly as a red-faced Yuka looked back at the security hIE. “I think you’re just on edge because your brother is out there doing something dangerous,” she observed.
“No way, I’m a cool bitch! L-Little things like this don’t worry me!” Yuka protested. Since she seldom exercised, her thighs were having trouble keeping her up on top of the couch.
“It’s just a human-shaped tool, Yuka,” Shiori said to her stuck friend. “You really should get used to having them around.”
The hIEs of the world could never reach that blank in the center of the data donut that Lacia had described. However, humans who observed the humanoid machines could always project the concepts hidden in that blank spot onto the machines.
“If Arato is there, doesn’t that mean Ryo could be there too?” Yuka asked, turning the conversation to Shiori.
“Of course not,” Shiori said, laughing off Yuka’s suggestion. “I don’t believe my brother has changed that much.”
All of the hIEs in the city had been caught up in the stoppage of the AASC, as well. Even those working as company equipment stopped and reached out their hands, as if hoping someone would take them. hIEs working part-time jobs to provide money for their elderly, pensioned owners, reached out their right hands. hIEs sitting next to pregnant women, aiding them, reached out theirs as well. Household hIEs helping out with the housework paused with their right hands outstretched, too; all of them reverted to machines, each making the same pose.
The employment of hIEs had begun with household use. During the good times and the bad, the ups and the downs, hIEs had always been present beside their human owners, which made them easy for the humans to project special meaning onto.
Kozo Endo was watching Lacia’s stream as well, when an hIE near him malfunctioned and stuck out its right hand. Kozo knew the gesture was a last message from Higgins, implanted in all hIEs to signal a time when Higgins was destroyed and the AASC updates were cut off.
Higgins had created Eliza out of his curiosity toward the human race, theorizing that human society had begun with the use of tools. Other animals passed on genes from parent to child, and social and behavioral factors through childcare. Only humans passed external tools down through the generations, as though the tools themselves were a part of human existence.
Beginning with things like infrastructure, the tools passed down through the years have guided human history just as much as the movement of money. Humans had been guided along by objects long before hIEs came into the picture.
The human world and the beatless world have always been one.
“In fact, it may be that the rails that have led us to this day were laid long before humans started passing on their tools,” Higgins had said.
In the underground facility where the malfunction had started, all of Higgins’ daughters stretched out their right hands.
All but one.
***
Her right hand gone, Snowdrop could no longer reach for anything. With her movements completely stopped, the young girl hIE wore a relieved, almost relaxed expression.
When it tried to stop the rounds from Lacia’s railgun, Snowdrop’s emerald device shattered like glass. The bullet passed through the protective shield and continued through Snowdrop’s white body, shearing off her left arm at the shoulder like a hot knife through butter. Her left wing shattered down to its roots and, even then, the bullet did not lose its speed. It slammed into the door of the emergency exit behind Snowdrop, blasting it to splinters.
Having lost the entire upper left portion of her body, Snowdrop quickly lost her balance and fell into a lop-sided spiral. All the while, her flower petals and white feathers never stopped falling from the hem of her one-piece dress. The machines Snowdrop had dragged along with her all fell as well, right on top of the girl.
When Lacia turned away, no longer interested in the remains of the beautiful doll, Arato knew the fight was over. He was glad that the tool which had rejected all owners had finally been laid to rest, and had wanted to keep moving forward. Arato hadn’t wanted to take the responsibility for destroying Snowdrop, but now felt as though he had to meet her father, Higgins.
But, instead of advancing, Lacia was moving toward a large machine nearby.
Looking around the floor again, Arato realized there was something about it that felt different from the other warehouse floors. There were many large factory tools installed around the floor, and it had a nice smell that Arato associated with construction work.
When Lacia fired artificial nerve units into the walls and pillars, all of the machinery on the floor roared as one. The lights above, which had been in power-saving mode, now shone a bright white. Arato was stunned at the sight of all the massive machines snapping to attention in unison.
“This is the actual construction area where we were built,” Lacia said, introducing the place as she made her way between the machines.
The machinery all had supplier logos, even though Arato didn’t recognize all of them, so they couldn’t have been red boxes. He also noticed that at regular intervals, there were boxes filled with what he assumed were defective parts.
Lacia’s birthplace was different from the warmth of an obstetrician’s office or a delivery room; instead, it had the chilly feeling of an operating room. “If I am to fight Methode, this will be the most advantageous location,” Lacia declared.
“You want to do it here?” Arato asked.
“Yes,” Lacia replied. “I’ve been able to strike a deal with Type-003. Meaning, if I eliminate Methode, there will no longer be anything capable of stopping me; I can easily best the mass-produced Kouka units in a direct confrontation.”
She reached out and touched one of the massive machines, which was already alive and producing objects. hIEs appeared from the back of the floor to take pieces from one machine and move them to others. Apparently, the area used hIEs for grunt labor in the manufacturing process.
“This factory is incredible,” Arato murmured.
“The work cannot be outsourced to other locations, so it all must be done here,” Lacia explained. “Of course, the IAIA has forbidden ultra high-performance AIs from directly controlling factories, to prevent them from trying to make more ultra high-performance AIs.”
The next words came not from Lacia but from the speakers in the ceiling. 〈Order Lacia to stop using the factory machinery.〉 It was Ryo. Even if they made it past Methode, Ryo would still be there waiting for him at their destination.
“Lacia’s only using these machines so she can fight Methode,” Arato replied. “So please just stop Methode.” It should have been impossible for Ryo to ignore the scale of the fight that was happening around them, with the whole world and future hanging in the balance, but Arato got the feeling his super-genius friend was only interested in finding out which of the Lacia-class units was stronger.
〈So Snowdrop went down, huh? You guys did that? Well, just wait for us to get back to you. I can’t make a decision for everyone here in the Operators’ Room myself,〉 Ryo said. He seemed to be looking for an answer from Arato, rather than Lacia.
“Ryo, just let us meet with Higgins! All we want to do is force him to shut down,” Arato said. “We just want to show the world that ultra high-performance AIs are just tools like anything else, that humans can shut them off whenever we want to. It’s not like we want to destroy him or anything.”
Arato was depending on his friend’s voice. He was tired of humans playing such a small part in everything. But Ryo’s voice over the speaker had gone silent.
“Ryo, can you really trust Methode? She’s doing whatever she feels like, just like she did with Watarai,” Arato yelled.
〈If you want me to negotiate having Methode stand down, you’ll need to do something about the mass-produced Koukas first,〉 Ryo said.
Then the conversation was halted in its tracks, because at that moment, Methode’s terrible for
m stepped down the emergency stairway which Snowdrop had descended just moments before. Her face was a mask of rage, eyes wide and skin pale. “You planning to throw me away, owner?” she asked, her voice sounding like that of a jealous lover. As the tool that expanded humanity, she would lose her place in the world if a better path than her own ever appeared, just as humanity had when the hIEs had come along.
Ryo, apparently overwhelmed by Methode’s intensity, was silent.
“Tell me Higgins’ prediction,” Methode said, her voice trembling with anger at the cruelty of throwing aside tools that were no longer needed, which extended to the way humans were so ready to throw aside their fellow human beings. “Tell me!” she roared again.
Clearly, the bond of trust shared by Arato and Lacia was lacking between Higgins, Ryo, and Methode.〈I ordered you to prioritize the destruction of Snowdrop,〉 Ryo said. 〈So why did Lacia end up doing that for you?〉The reproach in his voice echoed all around the chamber where Lacia and Methode had been born.
“I was going to wrap it all up nicely by having them fight!” Methode replied, unperturbed by Ryo’s rebuke. “If Snowdrop hadn’t been such a failure, I could have killed two birds with one stone.”
〈Did you not hear when I said I wasn’t the only one here in the Operators’ Room? I don’t care if your capabilities are better than a human’s. It’s still us humans who decide how you fight,〉 Ryo said.
As Ryo and Methode spoke, one of Lacia’s floating shields floated over to wait near Arato’s feet, clearly indicating that he should get on.
But Ryo was trying his hardest to get everything back under human control. Arato was depending on Ryo to pull things around and, if he ran away now, would be leaving Ryo to stand against Methode alone.