“Tessa, um, er...”
“Hmm? Ah...” She realized she was pressing her chest against him again, and gave him space.
To divert himself from the awkwardness, Ronnie went back to his questions. “What kind of person was he?”
“He was superior,” she told him. “Truly superior.” She thought, Bani Morauta... In a way, he was an even greater genius than my brother. My brother built the Belial, and Bani the Arbalest. That battle between them ended with the Belial’s overwhelming victory, but the Arbalest’s most important component—Al—survived.
Al was reborn with a new body, the Laevatein, and faced down the Belial once more. This time, the Laevatein beat it. Rather... Sousuke and Al’s teamwork beat it. I suppose the Laevatein itself never really beat the Belial. Even so, I don’t think you can say that Bani really lost to my brother.
When she’d heard from Al how the battle had gone, Tessa had felt strangely proud.
In the end, their victory would not have been possible without the exceptional AI named Al. Sousuke wouldn’t have survived that nuclear explosion without Al, either. If the Belial had been in the same situation, would its AI have tried to save my brother? It’s hard to imagine.
Al was more than a simple combat unit. He’d been created to be something greater. Something more than a merely strategic or tactical mind—something that could alter humanity’s very destiny.
Perhaps Bani had fundamentally different ideas about what a machine should do, she reflected.
The idea that objects could develop souls, and that the passage of years could afford them a hint of the divine—it was an idea that was relatively unfamiliar to Westerners like her and her brother.
Bani was working on more than a powerful lambda driver-mounted AS, she thought next. Al was deeply involved in the creation of the Laevatein and all of the black technology it incorporated. He activated the lambda driver, which should only be accessible to humans, on his own. Al is a machine capable of accessing the omnisphere.
In a way, didn’t that make him an artificial Whispered?
I sometimes wonder, was Bani trying to create a god out of the machine—a “deus ex machina”? Was Al his solution to the inescapable time hazard? Was he trying to save us the same way my brother was, just in a different way?
Of course, it’s not as if everything had turned out the way Bani had planned.
But Bani, the genius, also had the humility to accept the uncertainties inherent to his plans. He knew he couldn’t control destiny, that he couldn’t predict exactly how things would turn out. He accepted the possibility that Al might be destroyed, or that he might turn his free will to wicked ends.
But, Tessa recalled, the one to pilot the Arbalest and awaken Al had been Sousuke.
Al mapped onto Sousuke’s neural patterns, and those became the root of Al’s personality. That fundamental core—the part we could think of as “good”—might be something that Al picked up from Sousuke. Sousuke is kind, straightforward to a fault, and loyal. No matter how many times he’s been hurt, he’s never come to hate the world.
And nothing had to be said about the brilliant teamwork that resulted.
Had Bani planned that? No, that seems hard to believe. Nor did he plan the various events that came after, nor Al’s transfer to the Laevatein. Things had worked out because Bani had accepted uncertainty. He’d had the courage to entrust the “art” into which he’d poured his heart and soul to chance.
Yes, she decided, Bani won. No one could ever hold a candle to him.
“Superior...” Ronnie murmured while Tessa was lost in thought. “Superior how? Athletically?”
“No, he wasn’t particularly athletic,” she told him. “Though he wasn’t bad in that regard, I don’t think he really cared for it.”
“I see.”
“Bani was an engineer,” she went on. “He was very smart and very strong.”
“Hmm... Were you dating?” Ronnie sounded probing.
Tessa became flustered. “N-No, certainly not. It wasn’t that kind of relationship at all...”
“Really? You sounded pretty intense about him. Kind of like you were bragging.”
Impressive that he can pick up on that over all the engine noise, the wind, and the vibrations... “Perhaps...” she mused, and then decided that it wasn’t right to continue talking like this to someone she’d just met. She hadn’t even told the closest people in her life, after all. But by the same token, maybe it was easier to tell Ronnie, this boy she’d just met today in this foreign land.
She leaned in toward his ear and whispered so that he could hear. “Don’t tell anyone, will you?”
“S-Sure.”
“I did care for him deeply,” she admitted. “I think of him as my first love.”
She felt Ronnie’s body stiffen up. He probably hadn’t heard much of this kind of talk. She hadn’t either, of course, but she had the benefit of age.
“But it was one-sided,” she added.
“Really?”
“Yes. I was very arrogant at the time, and competitive, and I’m sure he saw me as something of a diva.”
“You think?” Ronnie questioned. “You seem kind of helpless and flustered to me.”
“Hmph,” said Tessa. Children really were merciless. Even if it was true, he didn’t have to phrase it that way. “Well, I... I won’t deny it. But Ronnie, a person has many faces. For instance, despite how I look, I can be a great leader when I want to.” It wasn’t a lie. She’d led a veteran crew and experienced soldiers to victory through many difficult battles. Her statement was no exaggeration.
“I find that hard to believe, but I won’t argue with you.”
“It’s true,” she insisted.
“Okay, fine. Keep going.”
“Keep going... with what? It was one-sided, so nothing really happened.”
“No kissing or holding hands?” he pressed.
“Well, no...”
“That’s boring,” Ronnie spat, openly disappointed.
“Y-You’re the one who asked!” Tessa protested. “And I told you straight, even though I didn’t want to. You can’t talk to me that way!”
“Fine, fine. Sorry. I should’ve been more considerate. You missed a dead guy who didn’t like you back, so you decided to barge your way to his homeland,” Ronnie said acridly. “I should’ve realized it was a sensitive situation and picked my words better.”
It was an outrageous way for anyone to talk to her, let alone a child! Every single word seemed chosen to have cut her to the quick. What kind of upbringing do you have to give a child for them to talk like that?! Tessa wondered.
“What, are you mad?”
“Not really,” she told him.
“Nah, I can see you pouting,” Ronnie observed. “You’re mad.”
“I am not!”