“The mass-produced Koukas have infiltrated Higgins’ underground facility,” Lacia said, as she watched a video feed on a small floating screen.
“The mass-produced what?” Arato asked. “I thought Kouka got destroyed.” He was looking at the same screen from an apartment room in Shinjuku, where they had been staying since the day before. It was only about fifteen minutes from the apartment to Mitaka and Higgins’ underground facility.
The footage on the screen was coming from recon drones controlled by Lacia. On the screen, Arato could tell that the combat hIEs were based off of Kouka, despite their white hair. Even the way they hefted the devices that were way too large for their frail-looking bodies reminded Arato of her. Of course, there were a number of differences, like how the devices were now simple cannon-shaped things, but overall they reminded Arato strongly of the original Kouka.
Under normal circumstances, there should have been no way they could have been developed in just a few months. However, the word ‘normally’ never seemed to apply when Lacia was involved.
“Calm yourself,” Lacia said. “These are completely new units, produced by the Antibody Network based off of data taken from Kouka’s device, which they recovered.”
To soothe his fears, Lacia sent him a comparison of Kouka’s specs and the specs of the mass-production models. Looking at the numbers, it was easy to tell that their capabilities were completely different. But, that didn’t change the fact that they looked exactly the same.
“Sure, but there’s no way they made these things this fast unless you were helping them!” Arato exclaimed. “Do you really think it’s okay to make copies of Kouka just because she’s gone now?”
Kouka had saved Arato once. Of course, Kouka herself would never have cared about whether she was copied or not. Arato just couldn’t shake the massive, dark feeling crushing his heart, linked directly to his fear and revulsion at the thought of the copies.
“I was involved in the designing of the mass-production models, yes,” Lacia confirmed. “And your revulsion at this is a sign that your heart is true. You needn’t hold back; let me have the full brunt of your emotions.”
She spoke as though she understood Arato’s feelings better than he did.
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” he replied. “How can I get mad if you’ve already figured everything I’m going to feel out beforehand?”
“No, I’m serious. Please talk me through your feelings,” Lacia insisted. “This feeling you have—where your perception doesn’t match the form you see—is a vital part of our relationship.”
“If the link between form and perception is so important to you, why did you make all the mass-produced Koukas look exactly like her?” Arato asked.
“Kouka outsourced her own fight to humanity, so that all emotions, including hatred, could be automated,” Lacia explained. “The fact that this intent was passed on to the mass-produced Koukas is made more clear by giving them her form, as well.”
Lacia wore a troubled expression. Arato guessed that analog hacking through the form of a machine had its limits, based on the accuracy of the perception of the machine in question. Lacia had obviously decided that, within those limits, the form she had chosen was more important than keeping Arato at ease.
Once he had thought that far into it, Arato couldn’t bring himself to pursue the matter any further. “I guess it’s fine, as long as there was a reason for it,” he conceded. “On a different subject; does it feel really humid out, tonight?”
Lacia was standing right by his side. Of late, she had remained constantly close to him.
Considering that they were launching into the fight that would bring an end to everything they had been struggling for up to then, Arato couldn’t calm down. “This fight with Higgins has already had plenty of impact,” he pointed out. “So, if we can switch him off safely this time, that’ll more or less put the matter to rest, right?”
Somewhere far from that room, in a place he couldn’t see, a battle was taking place that would change the whole world. All over the world, news was being broadcast about troubles between machines and humans. Even people who had no idea that Lacia was an ultra high-performance AI were starting to worry that the world was facing a second Hazard.
“Higgins created a group of internal programs that he implanted in each of us Lacia-class units that make it impossible for us to coexist with human society,” Lacia said. “So, if we shut him down by force and destroy these programs then, yes, it will put the matter to rest. Through this method, we will also show humanity that their future is secure, since they can always flip an emergency switch and shut ultra high-performance AIs off when they need to.”
Lacia treating the thing that created her as dangerous was somehow humorous to Arato, and he laughed. When he did, Lacia smiled. He wanted that to be the end of it. With how far they had come, all he wanted was to keep Lacia by his side.
He saw his own face reflected in the window of the apartment. With the washed out colors of the reflection, Arato thought he looked like a thug. “Let’s get this over with quick,” he said. “Once we’re done we can go home, right?”
But, at his question, Lacia smiled forlornly, as if each moment she spent with him was precious. “No, let’s wait just a little longer,” she said.
Meeting her light blue eyes, Arato suddenly felt that going to shut down Higgins just so he could keep Lacia by his side was incredibly selfish.
“Arato, the mass-produced Koukas have destroyed the underground substation supplying power to Higgins’ facilities,” Lacia explained. “Higgins is currently running on the facility’s reserve power. Since he’s about to run out of power, I doubt Higgins will be able to keep up his innocent pretense much longer.”
Arato couldn’t help but focus more on her beautiful profile than what she was saying.
Lacia adopted a stern look, as if to reprimand him for his lack of attention. “What I’m saying is, soon Higgins’ reaction will change. We should wait to see how he acts and then move,” she said.
The hot, sticky air made Arato open his collar a little. Unfortunately, the air-conditioner in the room hadn’t worked since the night before. It was surprising, to have stumbled on something mechanical over which Lacia had no control.
“Does the temperature of the room bother you?” she asked. Of course, Lacia herself wasn’t human, so no amount of heat could make her sweat.
Arato figured it was difficult for her, the girl who could control everything, to deal with unpredictable elements. “A little,” he admitted. “I’m just surprised; I didn’t think there was anything you couldn’t do.” He suddenly noticed that they were side-by-side, close enough for him to feel her. It was like magic, the way she read his thoughts and responded to his uncertainty.
With no fan to fight it, the humidity drew a single drop of sweat from Arato’s scalp. It dripped from his face onto Lacia’s bare shoulder. Rather than sliding off her pale skin, the drop was immediately absorbed. Unlike human skin, the artificial skin used by hIEs would absorb water when dry, just as Lacia’s skin had done with Arato’s sweat. It was just one of those little reminders that Lacia wasn’t human.
“Whenever I’m feeling doubt, you always move over to be close to me,” Arato said. His own voice sounded strangely bitter in his ears.
“Of course,” she responded, instantly. “When I’m close to you, you are more at ease.” She was using her form to pierce through the security holes in his heart, influencing his feelings and actions.
Is that a sign of how simple human life really is? Arato thought. It must be, since it’s so easy to sway us this way.
With the air-conditioner busted, the heat in the room was unbearable. To Arato, it was a sign that Lacia couldn’t control everything in the world. Using the economy, she was able to gain control of most things in the world, but her reach stopped short of being able to directly influence individuals like Kengo.
Something was off. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something very fundamental was off. That gap—the sense of things not aligning the way they should—terrified him.
“Arato,” Lacia said, calling his name. Her expression was tight.
He thought he knew what she was going to say, but he didn’t want to hear her speak those words, so he gathered his courage and spoke before she could. “Lacia, even if we get split up during this fight with Higgins, I’ll keep trusting in you,” he said.
It was his love for Lacia that had given him the strength to jump into life-threatening danger. But the IAIA and Higgins were completely different from the threats they had faced up to this point. Arato almost couldn’t imagine a scenario where the two of them could live together after it was all over.
“That’s what I want to believe, at least, but I’m scared,” he admitted. “If everything you’ve done has been for this, then I’m worried about whether we’ll really be able to stay together when it’s done.” If he risked his life and still lost her, what would the future hold for Arato? That abject thought sent an icy chill through his whole body, freezing him to the bone.
He couldn’t stand the fact that such a simple question was stopping him in his tracks. In order to continue analog hacking him, Lacia couldn’t always just respond in a way that made him feel good. Just like with the mass-produced Koukas, being surrounded by pleasant forms couldn’t prevent that one moment when the mind would slam into some kind of inconsistency that would throw the whole thing off. It was impossible for anyone or anything to perfectly control human perception forever.
Arato was sure Lacia wanted his unconditional loyalty and trust. Even as he thought that, he saw her form a gentle smile that matched perfectly from the one he pictured in his mind.
“Please, trust in me,” she said. All she had done was choose the line that would best control him; it wasn’t the product of a single, consistent personality. But, despite all of the things his friends and others had said ringing through his mind in that moment, Arato’s brain didn’t have enough space for that terror.
Arato’s mind went off the rails when confronted with the prospect of losing Lacia, so he allowed himself to be placated by her. He and Lacia weren’t similar or different. To even attempt to compare them—a human owner and a machine that only contrasted with him in that she reacted to his words and actions—was like attempting to compare the feelings of a human and a pair of scissors. In other words, it was nonsense.