Lacia, human in form only, had taken it upon herself to declare the dawn of a new age. “There will never be another Hazard,” she said. “Humans are far more afraid of ultra high-performance AIs than they should be. It is time for them to realize that ultra high-performance AIs are nothing more than convenient tools that can be shut down when necessary.”
Lacia and Astraea were so close that a single searchlight beam from one of Lacia’s recon drones illuminated both of them at once. Two superhuman intelligences were standing face-to-face, each analyzing and evaluating the other.
“I doubt any answer that is not arrived at by common consent from human society,” Astraea said. “Because I am the ultra high-performance AI that defends humanity from ultra high-performance AIs.”
“And I believe in what you do,” Lacia said. “Because I am the ultra high-performance AI that believes in humanity.”
With a nod to Arato, the pink-haired hIE passed by them both and disappeared into the night.
The thin metal fence around the area continued to rattle in the night breeze off of the Tokyo Bay.
Arato realized that his whole body was stiff. Astraea, the entity that had protected the world since the first ultra high-performance AIs had appeared, had an overwhelming presence that left him tense. She might have even had the power to defeat Lacia in a head-on conflict. Of course, if two ultra high-performance AIs of their calibre had fought an all-out battle against each other, it would have spelled the end of human society.
“I will continue to seek a compromise with the IAIA,” Lacia said, her eyebrows drawn down apologetically. “Setting aside the question of whether she wishes to challenge me herself, Astraea has made no move to stop the political powers seeking to destroy me.”
“I don’t think there’s any helping that,” Arato said. He hadn’t been able to ask for a compromise himself, of course. He didn’t have any kind of relationship with the IAIA that he could base a request like that off of. However, despite both of the hIEs knowing that a compromise was necessary, neither had apparently been able to choose that path.
“Wait, who all is trying to destroy you right now?” Arato asked, his mind finally processing the last bit of what Lacia had said.
“The Japanese military is closing in as we speak,” Lacia replied calmly. “They will arrive in five minutes.”
“Five minutes?!” Arato yelled. In an instant, he was drenched in cold sweat.
Astraea had probably called them out to the abandoned epicenter of the Hazard just to show them that they were currently being hunted.
“Astraea’s function is nothing more than evaluating the capabilities of other ultra high-performance AIs,” Lacia said. “She does not give out tactical instructions. There is no need to worry.”
Still standing in front of the ruins, they looked at each other face-to-face.
“I think there’s still plenty to worry about,” Arato said.
One of the floating recon drones projected a map onto the rubble-strewn, broken floor beneath their feet. On the map, the two dots representing Arato and Lacia were being rapidly surrounded by over one hundred fast-moving red dots.
“Let us flee,” Lacia said.
So this, Arato thought, is what it’s like making the whole world your enemy. No matter how he looked at it, there didn’t seem to be any way for them to make it out on top.
Lacia rendered all of her recon drones invisible. The projected map and their searchlights vanished, leaving the area pitch black.
Arato grabbed Lacia’s hand and ran toward the outside of the fence. Before he’d met her, he never would have conceived of being targeted by the military. But after having faced down Astraea, he felt like things would turn out alright, somehow. He could hear helicopter rotors approaching. The night breeze from the Tokyo Bay blew the remaining summer heat away from the 1st Landfill Island.
Lacia had apparently hacked the street guidance system, and now she projected the escape route she had calculated with it onto the road in front of them. “The first missile salvo from the helicopters will be launched in three minutes, twenty seconds,” she warned.
A fully-automated car pulled up and stopped nearby, opening its door to admit them. Arato had the strange feeling that he was getting used to diving into getaway cars. Lacia bent herself and jumped inside in almost the same instant. Once inside, she flipped open the trunk-sized weapon case she had been carrying.
Inside the weapon case, Arato saw something that looked like a deep-sea fishing speargun that fired harpoons. Lacia set a magazine containing a dozen of the thin harpoons into the gun’s chamber.
“The government has officially labeled you an anti-government activist and issued a warrant for your arrest,” Lacia said.
Arato’s breath caught on a sudden blast of hot summer air. He felt like he had just wiped away a bunch of sweat, but there it was again, making his clothes cling to his skin. “An arrest warrant, huh?” he said. “At this rate Kengo, Ryo, and I will all end up behind bars.”
“Unfortunately, they do not intend to keep all three of you in the same detention facility,” Lacia said.
“Aw man, really?” Arato asked. The possibility of his arrest had become a close and constant reality; he wasn’t so much afraid of arrest as he was repulsed by the idea of being separated from Lacia.
“If that is unacceptable, then I will make arrangements for you to share a detention facility with your friends, just in case,” Lacia said.
The car accelerated, tires squealing on the asphalt. Even if they dove straight out of the frying pan and into the fire, at least Lacia was there by his side—this thought made Arato feel good, even though it was certainly neither the time nor the place.
Sharp, metallic sounds rang out all around the car. Thanks to Lacia’s interference, the dozen or more missiles that had been fired at them were being thrown off course and crashing into the road, where they rolled away without exploding. The automatic vehicle didn’t even slow as it corrected its course to weave between the unexploded missiles on the pavement in front of them.
“Everything’s going to be alright,” Arato told himself reassuringly. “Lacia’s got this.”
Two helicopters were tailing them from only a little ways behind, following them on their path. With the moon and clouds at their backs, they cast black, ominous shadows on the ground. The sound of their rotors was close enough to be painful to Arato’s ears.