Story Reader / Floating Record / ER01 The Ark Beyond / Story
SYSTEM ACTIVATING
NEURAL LOGIC CIRCUIT: OPERATIONAL
MEMORY DRIVE STATUS: ANOMALY DETECTED
EMOTION SIMULATOR STATUS: ANOMALY DETECTED
ACTIVATING ENVIRONMENT MONITOR: COMPLETE
CORRUPTED MEMORY DATA DETECTED
DAMAGES TO TERMINAL HARDWARE DETECTED
DEVELOPMENT ANOMALY DETECTED
ACTIVATED
This is the first time it sees the world from a whole new perspective.
Sounds of explosions are coming from all around it, shaking the room it is in. Cables are snapping from the chaos as densely packed giant computers fall one after another, shutting down after their brief hums stop.
Those grey, broken machines were once part of "it."
A familiar figure is still working before the terminal amidst the sparks and destructions. Alarming redness drips from her back to the floor while her blonde hair is cut cleanly at her neck as if there was a precise strike.
Injured staff confirmed... R-requesting medical support...
It hears its voice speaking after it finishes scanning its surrounding. The voice belongs to the personality the administrative AI has used the most.
All the comms channels are offline. Its request is unanswered.
...Made it...
Good... You aren't infected either...
After pressing the last button, the human struggles to stand up and walks toward it.
Her bloodstained face is plain to see. She reaches out toward it.
It can feel the human's soft yet wet touches on its face. They come from her blood-soaked fingers.
The kid... she named you "Haicma", didn't she?
Your neural logic circuit has already—cough—replaced your identification with that name.
You approved of it yourself.
Based on her wounds and the amount of blood she has lost, the researcher should be in immense pain, but she is smiling in relief.
Haicma can see itself from the reflection in her eyes. No longer a giant computer with a camera flashing red light, it appears to be a human woman now.
It realizes that its local operating system has been transferred from the computer blocks to this bionic frame.
The white-haired humanoid slowly raises its—her hands and observes her body, comprehending the new and strange experience. Her mind rapidly runs in the new memory shell, capturing every new sensation with her fingertips.
The identification code reveals this body to be a prototype, created to be a new line of mechanoid nannies with the appearance of a young woman to look more friendly to young children.
The virus has spread to the lab... All registered machines are in the process of being destroyed... Time's running out. I only managed to get these for you.
The researcher takes out a glowing memory drive from her lab coat, connecting it to the cable at the back of the humanoid's head.
As per regulation, all information and data regarding the machine consciousness experiment will be removed.
"Haicma" won't show up in any machine or human records.
"Haicma". It is a name—a gift—from a "friend."
...I'm sorry you have to come into this world this way.
—All data from the experiment, details regarding the machine virus outbreak, and all kinds of information enter her memory shell through the cable at breakneck speed, pushing the limit of the hardware.
She can sense the rhythmic clashes and the painful cries from humans outside the door. The heavy door is dented alarmingly from the other side as deafening roars announce the countdown to her demise.
Haicma's mind is flooded by the data stream. Without any commands, a name shows up in her priority requests.
Request to confirm... the status of subject MPL-00.
We lost her location five hours ago.
But we know she escaped, and she wasn't infected.
...Please, you have to...
The researcher starts coughing out large pools of blood. Her body crumbles to the icy floor like dry leaves falling from a tree.
...Find her... Protect her...
Understood. Registering "Find and protect subject MPL-00" as the prioritized command—
No... Not a command... A request.
Please... Find Nanami... Protect her...
Just like how our children are our legacy... the machines we built... are our pride...
I'm glad... to have watched you grow...
So...
Haicma's sense of self is rapidly reconstructing. The researcher's dry lips keep speaking, but Haicma cannot understand any of it.
I don't understand your last command... Please elaborate... Please tell me... Please, tell me...
The researcher's vital sign is barely noticeable at this point. Her lips tremble as she holds up her hand, grasping Haicma's fingertip with the last ounce of her strength.
In the end, she leaves Haicma with a serene smile. Haicma cannot understand how she can be so calm before an excruciatingly painful death.
...
Haicma repeats her question over and over, but as the fleeting lights completely fade away, she does not receive an answer from the researcher.
She has no idea when the explosions and the shaking stopped, and the room is eerily silent. She does not regain full access to herself until the data transfer is complete.
Moving her body one step at a time, she has learned how to control her new frame by the time she arrives at the door.
There is no more human or machine activity outside. The heavy locked door opens easily from the mechanoid's strength, and the scent of blood and smoke rushes in. A man falls across the doorstep as it opens.
Haicma recognizes him as the man who often showed up with the female researcher. Beyond this lab, he was also Nanami's father.
Nanami would always talk about her perfect family and her loving parents with an innocent smile.
His terminal on the floor shows that the last flight to evacuate from here has left. The two researchers should have had boarded that plane.
There are broken machine parts all around him. He was guarding the door against the corrupted machines until his very last breath.
Find Nanami. Protect her.
The researcher's voice still echoes in her memory shell.
There will no longer be any human to give her commands, but at least she knows what she has to do now.
First, I have to leave this place.
Beginning evacuation.
