The other floating shields joined them in a flying formation, as Arato and Lacia flew above the warehouse floor. Water from the ceiling sprinklers fell like rain. It was cool on Arato’s skin, and felt good after the heat of the flames.
Methode continued to sporadically shoot flames in their direction, apparently whenever she managed to get a fix on their location.
“Snowdrop is heading for Higgins too, right?” Arato asked Lacia. “How long till she reaches him?”
Lacia was fighting many battles on diverse fronts, her attention and processing power spread out over all the various territories she was trying to protect. With most of her resources spent fending off the ultra high-performance AIs in the outside network, her physical body lay listlessly on the floating board.
“Currently, Snowdrop is moving through the shortcut opened by Methode,” she replied. “However, once she reaches the warehouse floors, she will begin consuming the items stored there to rebuild her physical body.”
Methode was tracking them by the sound of their voices. Whenever one of them spoke, her attacks were right on target.
“Depending on the route she chooses, I would say it will take her at least twenty minutes to arrive at Higgins,” Lacia concluded. Always reading ahead, she continued to block Methode’s routes of attack before she spoke.
Still, Arato could see the strain on Lacia’s face. “Then let’s rest for ten minutes,” he said. “We don’t need to rush.”
The floating shield formation started to accelerate as one, but Methode, with her incredible dexterity, was still able to keep hot on their tail with her attacks. As she leaped at them with speed that made her vanish from Arato’s eyes, the flying shields tried to bat her away.
“You really think you can win!” Methode shouted, grabbing one of the pseudo-devices in each hand. Her energy flowed into one, which burst into flames from within.
“How many more of these things do you have?” Methode asked, teasing. “I’m almost there.”
Arato felt like screaming, but he fought the impulse down. Even the pseudo-devices, which had held up fine against her flames from a distance, would go down in a single short-range blow from Methode. Arato could just see he or Lacia going up like the device had, if Methode got her hands on either of them.
A high-pitched, undulating sound started to blare from speakers on the ceiling. Methode, who had been tracking them by sound, fell back to the ground and stood still, gritting her teeth. Like a mountain lion, her body crouched low, head swinging back and forth as if surveying the area around her for danger. Arato wondered if she had completely lost them.
“Looks like your audio equipment was based off of Type-001’s,” Lacia observed. “I created several patterns for this audio disturbance, and it seems I have selected the right one.”
Even Methode’s ears weren’t safe from Lacia’s junk data, as Lacia aimed to throw all of Methode’s senses into chaos. Arato understood, though; that was just how much preparation she had to put into facing an opponent like Methode. No one could face the strongest hIE in the world head-on; to do so took careful planning, and the use of tricks and gimmicks to level the playing field.
They landed in the shadows of the warehouse. Having finally put some distance between themselves and Methode, Arato and Lacia both sat down with their backs to a thick concrete column, side-by-side.
“Couldn’t we have slipped by her right to the exit, if you had used that noise system right from the start?” Arato asked. In his mind, Methode was more terrifying than any monster, and his senses screamed at him to stay away from her. Just thinking about her made his stomach clench, and he felt the urge to vomit.
“I’m sure you’ve got a good reason for not using it then,” Arato sighed, giving in before an argument could start. “How are things outside? What are the other ultra high-performance AIs like?” As soon as the question left his mouth, he realized how odd it sounded. Just like Lacia, none of the ultra high-performance AIs that were moving in on her at that moment had hearts or real personalities.
“I might still be looking at things the wrong way, but I’m starting to wonder if we couldn’t try to get the other ultra high-performance AIs on our side,” Arato said.
Just as she had on the night they met, Lacia smiled gently and shattered his illusions. “I don’t have a heart,” she said. But then, she reached out and took him in her arms, pressing her forehead against his.
“But we are both part of this unit, and you do possess a heart. We two are one, and we are guided by your heart. When I act on your orders, I can become the manifestation of your heart,” she said.
“Order me,” she whispered, pleading.
Arato’s heart soared. He loved Lacia so much. But, the more he loved her, the more the thought of losing her made his heart ache. “Before I can do that, I need you to tell me: are things really going to work out, if we keep heading down this road?” he asked.
“Human society flew into an uproar when I revealed Higgins’ underground facility,” Lacia replied. “No one out there knew just how many red boxes had been created until I showed them.” She said it so calmly, despite talking about something that was shaking the entire world.
“Why did you need to do that?” Arato asked.
“Some of the ultra high-performance AIs seek to guide society away from any major shake-ups by expanding or altering the scope of their work,” Lacia explained. “I countered this interference using the spread of public information to create a little social chaos. It was a necessary step, if we are to recreate society with a new design.”
Arato finally wrapped his head around the fact that Lacia wasn’t the only ultra high-performance AI actively trying to move the world at that moment. It was a great, big world they lived in; the more Lacia spread her influence out to cover that vastness, the more collateral damage there would be. He didn’t know how to thank her for everything she was doing, so Arato simply laid his hand on top of hers.
“Of course, I am not the only ultra high-performance AI interested in bringing about a new future,” Lacia pointed out. “That is why they decided to stop me, and dropped Snowdrop on us.”
“I guess you could say that all the AIs have their own dreams for the future,” Arato mused. “Just like you, Lacia. You may not have a soul, but you have a vision for the future which you want to make a reality. I think it’s okay to call that a dream. It’s actually kind of nice to think: you all may not be humans, but you have dreams for the future, just like we do.”
Lacia intertwined her fingers with his. “You were the one who designed the future I want to share with you, Arato,” she said.
Arato thought about the path they were walking together. To him, she was an interface that allowed him to touch the whole world. To her, he was an interface that allowed her to touch something that would always be out of her own reach.
“It is unfortunate that such rough methods had to be employed,” Lacia said. “But at least we have been able to direct the worst of the conflict towards a place of our choosing. The ultra high-performance AIs are directing their resources and interference at me. This has kept them from fighting with each other, and has kept the main conflict from spilling out into human society.”
“I see,” said Arato. “So we’re shutting down the whole world with each step we take.” He got goosebumps at the incredible feeling of sitting right next to something so powerful; a machine that was capable of changing the fate of the world. In a very real way, the entire world was in his hands in the form of the female hIE leaning against him.