Past, Earth, Somewhere in Germany
Albert’s “mother” was known to be a highly capable engineer. She specialized in artificial intelligence—specifically, the technologies surrounding the so-called “control AIs.”
Her technological genius had once led a criminal organization to kidnap her, intending to use her knowledge to develop new weapons, but she and Albert had both been rescued by someone described as “a female agent with a first name containing a number and a last name referencing a type of bird.” Ever since then, they had led an ordinary life in Germany.
Albert’s “mother” put long hours into her research but still made time to play games with him.
But as they were living this peaceful life, a particular game rose to prominence.
Infinite Dendrogram—a true dive-based VRMMO claiming to offer unmatched realism.
Albert had taken notice of it himself, but his “mother” was even more interested in it than he was.
“There’s clearly something bizarre about the technology they’re using,” she said. “But when I asked the higher-ups if we should look into it, they said they didn’t have the funds. Maybe Germany’s involved in this too?”
As Albert listened to her in silence, he couldn’t help but wonder if their country really was part of some conspiracy, or if her bosses had just refused because investigating a video game wasn’t part of her job description.
“There’s been some strange rumors about it too. You know the US-based company Technorock? The massive game developer? They actually tried investigating Infinite Dendrogram at one point, but they never dug up enough concrete info to even analyze. They couldn’t even find any servers.”
Albert found that very curious. What MMORPG had servers that couldn’t even be located?
“Apparently, even their communication system itself is unconventional technology... It’s not the usual electronic stuff. That’s why even Technorock couldn’t analyze or track it.”
This surprised Albert even more. How could this company have access to technology like that, but sell it so cheaply that even children could buy it?
“The team from Technorock could log in just fine, but they couldn’t bring in their analysis equipment. That’s why they decided to do something a bit forceful.”
Still, Albert listened intently.
“No one’s sure who exactly developed Dendro, but there are multiple companies scattered across the world that handle its sales and hardware production. In the US, it’s a pretty small company called simply ‘ID Supplier,’ so Technorock set their sights on them.”
The phrasing “set their sights on” made Albert expect they’d done something drastic...
“They hacked the company using Overture—their company data control AI.”
...and it turned out he was correct. A large company had hacked a rival firm.
Control AIs were supercomputers with processing power so immense they could manage all the data necessary to run a country or megacorporation. Hacking a smaller company that didn’t have one would be child’s play for them.
However, no matter how easy it was, it was definitely a crime.
“Was it the blueprints? The server location? I don’t really know what they were after...” Albert’s “mother” continued.
It was an under-the-table, underhanded, unfair approach.
But hearing all this brought a question to Albert’s mind. This was most definitely a peek at the dark side of Technorock—something that they simply couldn’t allow to come to light.
How did his “mother” know all this, then?
“And this is what happened next,” she said as she lightly waved her hand to turn on the TV, which happened to be showing the news.
“Technorock, a massive US-based game developer, is currently in a state of collapse.” Albert watched in shock as the news announcer revealed the details.
Recently, there had been trouble in their network which resulted in a leak of classified files stored on their servers. These files had contained not just the details of their latest hardware, but also evidence of the many cybercrimes they’d committed against rival companies.
This had resulted in the management being arrested and had flung the company into chaos from top to bottom. Their stock prices had plummeted, and today the business had finally fallen apart.
“And while the heart of the trouble was Technorock’s control AI, Overture, the classified file leak was followed by an explosion of uncertain origin that—” That was where Albert’s “mother” turned off the TV.
“So there you have it.” Based on what she’d said thus far, Albert assumed that this must have been the result of a counterattack by ID Supplier—or more specifically, by Infinite Dendrogram.
But how could they have done something like this?
“Well, all this means is that the people behind Infinite Dendrogram have a control AI that can counter-hack and even break current gen corporate control AIs. Maybe it can even take on the cutting-edge stuff used by government agencies... Did the higher-ups not give me permission because they knew that? Or perhaps... Perhaps Infinite Dendrogram has something fundamentally different from the control AIs that we know?”
Her voice dropped to a whisper, and Albert couldn’t hear that last part.
However, he had some thoughts about her idea that even the most cutting-edge control AI couldn’t measure up. It made him wonder whether there existed something beyond that... Or something of a different kind altogether.
“Oh. I’m not letting you hack them, okay?”
It was as though she read his mind.
Albert had suspected she would say something like that. However, he couldn’t have anticipated what she followed it up with.
“I just want you to play the game normally.”
“...Huh?”