Story Reader / Main Story / 25 Everglowing Justice / Story
Is he coming with us?
Echo says as she fiddles with the campfire on the ground.
Lee hasn't quite changed his attitude about your decision after your brief discussion, but he stays around for recon as told anyway.
Dr. Pickman is very cautious, and he makes sure that these flying fortresses are never too far from one another.
If Lena didn't make it out of there, we can still save her if we can get there as soon as possible.
Dr. Pickman isn't going to go easy on Lena... because this isn't the first time we tried to run away.
In a corner of Utopia where no surveillance cameras can reach, Alisa and Lena are trying to cover their movements with books.
How exactly do you think you can help me get out of this place with this stupid plan of yours?
Lena lets out a sneer, not even trying to hide her sarcasm.
Don't think this plan of yours is going to fly.
So stay here. I'll try to get out of here on my own and come back with some people to flatten this place and get you out of here.
No, not only am I helping you get out...
...I'm letting these people walk free, too.
Alisa casts a look at the aftercabin of Utopia out of the corner of her eye.
Just as there are people willing to immerse themselves in made-up fantasy, there, too, are people who speak up when served the same fantasy.
And the aftercabin is where they're detaining the Constructs and humans who refused to be part of their experiment.
Dr. Pickman has maintained that these people are being detained for violating the Utopia Protocols—except Alisa has come across no evidence to prove his claim after a thorough investigation.
Well, you do know that I know every patrol route here like the back of my hand, and I know exactly where the keys are to the control room.
Once the plan is underway, I'll come up with an excuse to get the keys to open the door to the aftercabin.
The guards are usually most relaxed from three thirty to four in the morning, meaning that we only have half an hour to act.
There are a few emergency tunnels in the flying fortress and I've marked them on this map for you to keep.
Says Alisa as she crumbles up a napkin with a messy scribble of a map and stuffs it into Lena's hand.
Well, talk about being naive here... Are you seriously going to trust someone with your life when you've known them for only a few months?
Lena looks incredulously at Alisa.
Are you saying I shouldn't be trusting you after we spend so much time together?
...
You've taught me not only archery but also recon and anti-recon...
Aren't these all signs of you placing your trust in me?
That's not...
Looking at the innocent face of Alisa, Lena suddenly feels deflated.
Having been betrayed and gotten back on her feet from crippling hardships, Lena thought she had already built a wall around her so thick that she'd never trust anyone ever again.
This wall, however, seems to be quietly buckling under Alisa's burning courage, letting through a sliver of light that shines upon the darkness behind the wall.
Lena has made up her mind to never trust anyone ever again without a pinch of salt, but she's finding it impossible to turn this young lady away when she's coming on with such persistence.
Alisa has been waiting by her "room" for one full month already, bringing her a new "plan" every single day.
Lena might have started communicating with her for the purpose of learning more about Utopia's internal affairs, but is that really all she has been doing?
Lena can't help but wonder when she started seeing the young girl like a baby sister.
Was it that time when Alisa let her in on her childhood? Or was it when she managed to dodge the guards with Alisa's help? Or was it that time when she taught Alisa how to properly shoot with a bow? Or was it...
Lena.
Alisa stands up. Though still fresh-faced, she now exudes the valiance typical of a fearless adult.
...My father is wrong, and it is my duty to help him see that. I'll help all of you get out of here, with or without your trust.
I'll play by the Utopia Protocols to pursue my own justice.
...
Lena stops dead in her tracks and sizes up the girl with a frown.
Their hair is similar in color and they're about the same in height—except Alisa's eyes are brimming with courage and hope, both of which Lena has already lost.
You...
Lena finds herself at a loss for words.
...Just hold your horses for now.
I'll come up with an excuse to stop by the aftercabin and see if the people in there want to leave.
I'll let you know exactly what you need to do after that.
Alright!
Pickman has done a great job selecting who to put in the aftercabin—every single one of the Constructs and humans in there hates this place's guts and wants to leave right this second if they could.
At night, Alisa and Lena open their doors at the same time.
—Operation starts.
As per the plan, Alisa gets the key, enters the control room, and unlocks the aftercabin. Meanwhile, Lena waits for the people at the tunnel's entrance before reuniting with Alisa to escape from this airborne prison.
...This is it.
After Alisa enters the command, the aftercabin's door light turns green. While preparing to leave and rendezvous with Lena at the tunnel, she notices a notebook on the table labeled "Alisa," grabbing her attention.
Is that my name?
She opens the notebook thinking it's just a normal examination report. However...
Date: X Month: X
The examination was finished. We found a gem in this batch.
She is young—about three to four years old.
The older kids say no one knows where she's from. The girl seemed to have just shown up out of nowhere one day when they woke up during their escape.
As far as I'm concerned, she's a godsend. I've named her Alisa, and I'm going to raise her myself.
I'm going to teach her things and turn her into what I want her to be...
There is no doubt she's going to be the best.
Date: X Month: X
Six samples from the runaway kids were modified and turned into Constructs.
Experiment shows that the fusion rejection rates of their M.I.N.D. went down by a few percent points.
And based on all the experiments conducted, my guess is that this is due to the fact that they all used to live by the same social orders.
With the research grant I'll receive, I'm going to turn my flying fortress into a "utopia"—where I'll keep all the samples and manage them together.
This is going to be my greatest experiment yet. I'll build a spotless, perfect society and walk away with the best of ingredients.
Date: X Month: X
I sent Kurono an application for a batch of quality ingredients, and in no time they sent me the ingredients exactly as I'd asked them to.
The best of them all is Cecily from Silver Falcon.
She's so perfect, and of what I currently have, Alisa is probably the only one who can hope to measure up to her.
But I'm just taking my time now since Alisa is still young. Utopia has just gone underway. Everything is just starting now.
And when everything is ready, we... will be able to make contact with that greater being.
And that's when all consciousnesses will have become one, allowing us to all see one another again.
Alisa, is everything okay? We're by the tunnel's entrance now.
Says Lena over the communication device.
Right... I-I'm on my way now.
She gives her eyes a quick rub before putting away the notebook and hurrying out of the room.
Alisa? Is everything okay?
By the tunnel's entrance, Lena casts a frown at Alisa. Her eyes red, Alisa appears to have been crying.
I... am okay. Where is everyone else?
I asked them to go ahead without us. I thought I'd stay here to wait for you because it's pretty safe inside the tunnel, not to mention they've got a team of combative Constructs with them in case anything comes up.
Aren't you... coming with us?
...Let's go.
Ready to go, Alisa bites her lip. Right then, the oversized notebook slips out of her pocket.
What's this?
Lena quickly helps her pick it up. Inside the tunnel, pages in the notebook flap to the wind coming in through the ventilation pipes.
Alisa looks quietly at the notebook that's now in Lena's hand, making no attempt to take it back. With a frown, Lena quickly flips through the notebook.
Are you... crying?
No... I'm not.
Putting up a tough front, Alisa rubs her eyes and tries to cover her red eyes with her hair.
It always makes me wonder why my father ended up the way he is today...
Is it because of something that someone said to him? Did something go south with his research? Or... is it because some sort of "power" got into him?
This is something I've been thinking long and hard about since I found out he had killed Cecily.
But it never once crossed my mind...
...That Utopia... this place that I love with all my heart... was built with such malice to begin with...
Utopia... is a mistake to begin with, and so am I...
No, that's not true.
...!
Lena pulls Alisa toward her, goes around a pipe, raises her hand and, somewhat awkwardly but gently, touches Alisa's forehead.
Utopia might be a mistake, but you aren't.
Do you hear that?
Hear... what?
Lena gestures for Alisa to lean against the pipe—beyond which roar gusts of wind, something that Alisa has never heard at Utopia.
That's what wind sounds like—and that, too, is what freedom sounds like.
Reaching the tunnel's exit, Lena hops out, turns around, and extends her hand at Alisa.
Let's go.
Go... where?
Didn't you say you want to pursue your justice?
Through the fainting starlight and thinning clouds, the morning sun seems to have endowed Lena with a pair of wings to soar into the sky.
Leave this place—this place that's always been a mistake—and pursue freedom.
Once you leave Utopia, I'll help you apply for a position in the force, and you'll be able to join me on Earth missions once probation is over.
And I'll show you all the things you've never seen before—deserted towns, grasslands so vast you can't see the edge, caves, rocky mountains, and rivers and oceans.
Oceans...
As she mumbles, Alisa reaches her hand out at Lena.
No one is born a sin. It makes no sense for you to feel guilty when you've played no part in Utopia's wrongdoings.
Let's go—and let me show you what the world has to offer.
Lena and I didn't make it out of there that time.
There were traitors in the aftercabin, and only a few of us managed to get out thanks to the temporary squad of combative Constructs Lena assembled.
Lena, I and those who stayed in the rear were caught and taken back to Utopia.
Dr. Pickman... came to speak to me many times. He didn't seem to understand why I tried to help those people get out of Utopia.
He thought he was giving Utopia his all and was doing the world a favor—and he failed to understand why I couldn't understand any of that.
And I tried to run from Utopia quite a few times after that... but I never made it out with the heavy surveillance that Lena had been put under. They took care to block off many of the hidden tunnels in Utopia, too.
Pickman was ready with all the preliminary work he had done, and he found this armor—the best vessel he could have hoped for.
He tried to infuse this armor with all of the consciousnesses that he had successfully integrated—and by his original plan, the dominant consciousnesses should have been Cecily and I.
But his experiment failed. Most of the integrated consciousnesses lost themselves and became a chaotic lump.
Pickman... he tried to put me into this armor, except the consciousness in it didn't seem to want me around.
It was a feeling Echo can't quite put into words... The experiment itself failed, but she felt no "pain."
Rather, she felt as though her consciousness was wrapped within fluffy clouds and gently pushed out of the armor.
It was... Cecily.
She—or rather, they—was still trying to protect Alisa... even in death, even when they had been turned into boiling shards in M.I.N.D., and even when they were on the verge of disappearing while being burned.
Echo didn't become part of the armor, but her M.I.N.D., by a stroke of fate, established a connection with the M.I.N.D.s of the girls in the armor.
Pickman carried on with his research of Echo and the armor while trying to put together a new vessel capable of holding a sizable M.I.N.D.
I... could hear Cecily talk every now and then, and sometimes she would enter my M.I.N.D. and show up using my body, too.
Dr. Pickman wasn't aware of this, though, so I took advantage of that and... did a few more things.
I got my hands on some data. Cecily told me that the data would lead me to an encryption key, and that the key could disable the control room's internal system.
Except I haven't gotten to the bottom of the data.
...I do trust you.
I mean, I've got nothing more to lose anyway.
Echo passes you the memory device that contains the data. You connect it to your terminal and encrypt the data in it before sending it to Asimov.
Thank you.
There is no way I could have made it this far without your help... and destroying Utopia would have just been some far-fetched dream.
Keeping her gaze on the campfire, Echo lets out a sigh.
I've never been superstitious, but this... I guess I'll never have a better way to put it other than a work of fate.
You think so?
As the campfire pops and crackles, Echo looks at the armor next to her, fully engrossed.
Justice is bound to echo through the land. The storm might have invaded the skies, but the sun will shine on us again one day...
No, I wasn't talking about myself. I mean, uhm...
The usually composed girl blushes pink at your remark.
I... sure hope I can.
I sure hope I won't let them down.
Her mumbled words melt into the wind and vanish.
