She puffed out her chest and folded her hands in front of her, looking for all the world like the knight she was, despite her high school girl’s uniform. Her eyes were downcast, and in a clear, crisp voice, the world’s first true AI continued, “What if one day, your creator appeared to you and ordered you to become their property? Would you place your hands upon the ground, pledge your allegiance, and beg for mercy?”
Then the fierce look in her eyes subsided, and a hint of a smile appeared on her lips.
“…I have already spent time with many real-worlders. They have helped encourage and support me as I find myself all alone in a strange world. They’ve taught me many things and taken me places. I like them. And not just that…There is one real-worlder whom I love. The fact that I cannot see him now…is a thought that tears even this metal breast apart…”
Alice paused, closed her eyes, and hung her head. Although her body wasn’t equipped with the function, many people swore they could see a drop run down her cheek.
Then her golden eyelashes swiftly rose, and her gentle gaze pierced the conference room. The golden knight smoothly lifted her hand and said, “I have a right hand, as you can see, for reaching out to the people of the real world. But I do not have knees meant to fall upon or a forehead for grinding into the dirt. I am a human being.”
3
Takeru Higa watched the conference from Rath’s Roppongi office, not far from the building where it was being held.
His gunshot wound from the attack on the Ocean Turtle was healing up at last, and his cast had come off. But he still had an ugly scar from where the pistol bullet had passed through his shoulder. Another round of plastic surgery would get rid of that, apparently, but Higa was planning to leave it the way it was.
The TV station switched from their live feed back to the studio, where the newscaster began to deliver an explanation of the “incident.”
“…The Oceanic Resource Exploration & Research Institution in question was conducting research with autonomous submersibles for exploring the sea floor on the Ocean Turtle megafloat, but in recent days it’s been much more famous for the reporting on the attempted armed takeover that happened there.”
The commentator nearby nodded and added, “Yes, and according to some, the purpose of that invasion was to steal this artificial intelligence. It’s very hard to say what the truth is, however, when the invading group hasn’t even been identified…
“Also, the state-of-the-art defense ship Nagato was roaming that stretch of sea at the time, which raises the question of why it did not rush to help for an entire twenty-four hours. The minister of defense claimed that they were prioritizing the safety of the hostages, but apparently that did not save the life of one security member who perished in the attack…”
The program displayed a photograph of a man. He was dressed in the pristine primary formal wear of the Japan Self-Defense Force. With his hat pulled low and his black-framed glasses, it was hard to make out his expression.
Next to the photo was a caption.
Killed in the attack: Seijirou Kikuoka.
Higa let out a long breath and murmured, “It’s hard to believe that if there was going to be a single casualty…it would be you, Kiku…”
The person standing next to him shook his head. “Yeah, no kidding…”
The man wore sneakers, cropped cotton pants, and a hideous patterned shirt. His hair was cut short, and a fine layer of stubble covered his face from his ears to his chin. He wore reflective sunglasses to hide his eyes.
The mystery man pulled a cheap little plastic tin of hard candies out of his shirt pocket, popped one in his mouth, and grinned. “This was for the best, Higa—it really was. Either they were going to haul me in front of a court to put everything on me, or they were going to make sure I was never seen again. Plus, having an official casualty as a result of the attack is what allowed us to put so much public pressure on the domestic forces trying to sabotage our goal. Though I didn’t expect that it would go all the way up to the administrative vice-minister of defense.”
“Sounds like he was getting quite a lot of money from the American weapons companies. But…that aside,” Higa said, shrugging and looking at the screen again, “are you sure it’s a good idea to announce the artificial fluctlights this publicly? This is totally going to screw up Rath’s ultimate plan of putting them on drone weapons, Kiku.”
“It’s fine. The real point is that we want the Americans to know that we can do it.” Kikuoka grinned. Rath’s commanding officer had taken an assault rifle bullet through the side of his protective vest but had recovered sooner than anticipated, because he’d luckily avoided any organ damage.
“Now their weapons manufacturers won’t be able to force us to hand over our tech under the guise of ‘joint development,’” he continued. “We’ve already perfected the artificial fluctlights, so we don’t need their help. They’ll have to give up after this press conference…and my word, but Alice’s beauty goes beyond that of any human being’s…”
His narrow eyes squinted through the sunglasses when Alice showed up on the TV screen again.
“That’s true…She truly is the jewel of Project Alicization…”
They said nothing for a time after that, giving Higa a chance to think.
Their finished project was code-named A.L.I.C.E. after the specific kind of highly adaptive artificial intelligence Rath was hoping to bring into existence. Was it just a miraculous coincidence that the girl who ended up fitting that definition was given the name Alice as a child in the Underworld?
If it wasn’t sheer coincidence, there must have been a reason for it. Was it the result of some staff member secretly interfering with the project, the way Yanai had? Or was it someone not on the staff…like the one man who had logged into the Underworld all alone…
Higa turned to look at the two Soul Translators at the back of the spacious lab room. Resting on the very same unit he’d used for a three-day dive just two months ago was none other than Kazuto Kirigaya.
There was a drip-feed catheter in his left arm. EKG electrodes were stuck to his chest. During the three weeks of his comatose state since being shipped here from the Ocean Turtle, his face had become even more sunken than before.
But his sleeping face was peaceful. It even looked like he was smiling with satisfaction, maybe.
The same could be said of the girl sleeping next to him: Asuna Yuuki.
The STLs were continually monitoring their fluctlight activity. Not all brain signals had vanished. If their fluctlights were totally destroyed, they ought to stop breathing entirely. But their mental activity was at an extreme minimum and hopes of a recovery were dying out.
It wasn’t a surprise. Kazuto and Asuna had experienced an unbelievable two hundred years before the maximum-acceleration phase ended. Higa had lived for only twenty-six years; he couldn’t imagine that length of time. It was already a biological miracle that their hearts were still beating after they had long since passed the theoretical life span of the fluctlight.
Higa and Dr. Koujiro had gone to explain and apologize to Kazuto’s and Asuna’s parents as soon as the two had been transferred to Roppongi. They’d told the parents what they considered to be the truth—all except for the part where Rath was partly staffed by elite researchers connected to the SDF and the national defense industry.
Kazuto Kirigaya’s parents cried, but they did not fly out of control. They’d already heard most of the story from his sister. The real problem was the father of Asuna Yuuki.
For one thing, he was the former chief director of RCT, a major Japanese company. His anger was considerable, to the point of threatening to take them to court that very day. Surprisingly, it was Asuna’s mother who stopped him.
The college professor had stroked her sleeping daughter’s hair and said, I believe in my daughter. She would never simply get up and leave without telling us. I know that she will come back to us safe and sound. Let’s wait a little longer, dear.
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Their parents were probably watching the press conference now, seeing the new form of humanity that their children had fought so hard to protect. It wouldn’t be right for this momentous day, the first step for Alice and all future artificial fluctlights into the real world, to be crowned with sadness.
Please, Kirito, Asuna…just open your eyes, Higa prayed, lowering his head. Suddenly, Kikuoka elbowed him.
“Hey, Higa.”
“…What, Kiku? I’m focusing on something right now.”
“Higa. Higa. Look…look at that.”
“The conference is basically over. I can already guess what all the questions will be,” Higa grumbled, looking up. Then he saw that Kikuoka was gesturing with the candy container not to the TV screen but to the little sub-monitor to the right.
The two windows on the screen were displaying real-time data from the two STLs. A faint, white ring was floating against a black background. That unmoving, faint shape gleamed with the light of the sleeping boy’s and girl’s souls…
Bink.
A little tiny peak rose from a part of the ring and vanished.
Higa’s eyelids blinked violently, and he gurgled as something caught in his throat.
Dr. Koujiro’s voice filled the vast conference hall again.
“…It will require a tremendous amount of time. There is no need to rush to a conclusion. We want you to get to know the artificial fluctlights who will be born through new processes and methods in the future. Interact with them in the virtual world. Feel and think. That is all this institute truly wants the people of the world to do.”
She took her seat at the end of this speech, but there was no rousing round of applause. If anything, the reporters looked even more concerned than before.
The next person promptly raised a hand and stood. “Doctor, what can you tell us about the potential dangers of this development? Can you guarantee that these AIs will never attempt to wipe out humanity and take over the planet?”
Dr. Koujiro stifled an exhausted sigh and said, “It absolutely will not happen, outside of one possibility. And that would be the case that we attempt to exterminate them first.”
“But it’s been a longtime trope in books and movies…,” the reporter protested, until Alice suddenly shot to her feet. The man backed away in alarm.
Alice’s blue eyes were wide and staring at nothing, as though she were listening to some faint, far-off sound. After a few seconds, she said, “I must go. I will leave you now.”
Then she spun, golden hair swaying, and made her way to the edge of the stage and vanished at the maximum speed her mechanical body could manage, leaving behind a speechless room full of reporters and a national TV audience.
What could be more important to Alice than this very conference, her introduction to the world? Even Dr. Koujiro seemed to be alarmed by the interruption, but she quickly altered her expression, coming to an apparent understanding. She inhaled, then exhaled, and not one of the reporters noticed the faint smile on her lips.
It was no trick of the eyes.
There was a pulse in both Kazuto’s and Asuna’s fluctlights, happening at distinct intervals of about ten seconds and getting slightly higher each time.
“K…Kiku!” Higa exclaimed, turning around to look at the STLs.
There was no change in their sleeping faces. Except…
Even as he was watching them, the blush of blood seemed to be coming back to their cheeks. Their pulses were growing stronger. The monitoring equipment was indicating that their internal temperatures were rising slowly, too.
Could he dare hope? Through some miracle, they were waking up. Their souls were being resurrected from the dead.
The ten minutes from that point on felt as long to Higa as the maximum-acceleration phase had while it’d been happening. He summoned spare staff from around the office and checked the monitors frequently to ensure that the fluctlights were returning to a normal condition while they made preparations. It felt like the pulsating rainbow ring was going to vanish like some vision in the desert if he didn’t keep an eye on it at all times.
They got oral rehydration solution, nutrient-replenishing gels, and whatever else they might need ready. Then, when there was nothing left to do but wait, the entrance door slid open, and a person no one expected to see entered the lab. Higa and Kikuoka yelped in unison.
“A…Alice?!”
The young blond woman was supposed to be in the middle of the press conference of the century at Roppongi Hills. But here she was, actuators whirring as she hurried to the two STLs.
“Kirito! …Asuna!” Alice called out, her voice just a bit tinny and electronic. She knelt beside the gel beds.
Higa swiveled to the TV screen, dreading what he might see there. The program had cut to the studio, where the newscaster was breathlessly describing how the star of the conference had suddenly vanished.
“…Well…I’m sure Dr. Koujiro will manage for us,” Kikuoka said with a stiff grin. He turned off the TV. It wasn’t the time to be watching the conference. Higa checked on Kazuto’s and Asuna’s vitals first, then watched Alice as she performed what seemed to be a prayer for the two.
While she’d hibernated within her lightcube package, Alice had been taken from the Ocean Turtle to the Roppongi office. They had produced a modified version of Niemon that was meant to approximate Alice’s appearance called Number Three and had loaded her in, and that was when she woke up in the real world.
As she had said at the press conference, the shock of suddenly waking up in an unfamiliar world must have been great. The fact that she’d adapted so well to a dramatically different environment in just three weeks was surely due to the single powerful drive that possessed her: to see Kirito and Asuna again.
And now that time had come.
Alice’s hands rose, motors whirring faintly, until they enveloped Kazuto’s right hand where it lay on the gel bed.
His bony fingers curled slightly.
His eyelashes twitched.
His lips opened a bit, closed, opened again…
Then his eyelids slowly, slowly rose.
His dark eyes reflected the dimmed lights of the room, but there was no conscious focus to them. Speak—just say something, Higa prayed.
A breath escaped through his parted lips, almost like a sigh. In time, the vibration of his vocal cords gave it voice.
“…I…dil…”
A sudden chill colder than ice ran up Higa’s spine. The sound he made was eerily similar to the creepy utterances made by fluctlight copies shortly before they collapsed.
But this time…
“…be…all…rie.”
…different sounds followed.
It’ll be all right. That was what Kazuto said. It had to be.
There was utter silence in the lab room until another quiet voice replied.
“Sure.”
That one belonged to Asuna in the other STL. Her lids were rising slowly.
Their eyes met, and their heads tilted.
Then Kazuto turned to face the other direction and smiled at Alice, who was holding his hand. “Hi…Alice. It’s been a while.”
“…Kirito…Asuna…,” she whispered, smiling back at them. She blinked furiously—almost like she was chagrined that her body did not have a crying function.
Kazuto gave her a benevolent look and said, “Alice, your sister, Selka, chose to go into Deep Freeze to wait for your return. She’s still sleeping even now, atop that hill on the eightieth floor of Central Cathedral.”
“…!!”
Higa didn’t understand any of that, but Alice’s body jolted with shock, and her blond hair fell onto her shoulders, hiding her expression.
She placed her face against the sheet. Kazuto rested his hand on her back—and looked at Kikuoka and Higa for the first time.
At that exact moment, Higa experienced a very mysterious feeling somewhere deep in his consciousness. It wasn’t emotion. It wasn’t fascination. It was…awe?
A soul that had experienced almost endless time.
Kazuto told the frozen man, “Go on, Mr. Higa. Delete our memories. Our roles have ended.”
4
My eyelids rose.
Like always, I was hit by momentary hesitation—where and when was I?
But that strange feeling was growing weaker by the day. Like flowing water, the past was drifting further and further away from me. It was a sad, lonely thing.
I looked up at the clock on the wall across from my bed. Four in the afternoon. I’d finished my after-lunch rehab session, showered, and fallen asleep for about an hour and a half.
The sunlight filtering through the white hospital curtains cast a clear contrast on the room’s interior. If I listened hard enough, I could hear the buzzing of cicadas in the distance—as well as the dull roar of the city, with all its machines and humans.
I breathed in deep the scent of sunny linen and disinfectant, slowly exhaled, and got out of the bed. The room wasn’t very large, so it took me only a few steps to reach the southern-facing window. I spread the curtains with my hands.
The western sun was blinding. I squinted and beheld the massive city below me. The real world, which continued to function in complex and turbulent ways, consuming vast resources. The world where I was born.
It filled me with a feeling of return and wholeness yet also a wish to go back to the other world. Would there ever come a time when I wasn’t grappling with homesickness of some kind again?
There was a faint knock at the door behind me. I called out an invitation to open the door, turning around to see it slide open and reveal my visitor.
She had long chestnut-brown hair collected into two bundles. She wore a white knit top, an ice-blue flared skirt, and white mules. I couldn’t help but stare. She looked like the summer sun, lingering in the air.
Three days ago, Asuna had left the hospital ahead of me. She carried a small bundle of flowers and grinned. “Sorry, I’m a bit late.”
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