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After we eventually demolished the enemy army and its fighting vehicles, Pascal and I returned to the children’s hiding place. But waiting for us was an unimaginable sight.
What awaited us was the sight of the children on the floor, still as death. They had destroyed their own cores. In other words…mass suicide.
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“How could this happen?”
“I gave these children an education, and taught them about human emotions and knowledge. I thought it would help them in the future.”
“But what does that have to do with suicide?”
“Fear. I taught these children about the emotion of fear. Without fear, they would have lost their lives by doing something reckless.”
It had taken Pascal a long time to return to the children. They probably heard the sounds of battle from outside. There were sounds of explosions and clashes, as well as furious quaking. They were unable to bear the terror. They chose death to escape that fear.
Pascal was slightly wrong. He shouldn’t have taught the children fear, but instead, should have taught them the fear of death.
Humans initially designed androids. Humans were well aware of the fear of death. That’s why our programs included an inherent fear of death. Without that awareness, as Pascal had said, we would be prone to dying recklessly by our own hands.
But Machines did not die to begin with. So Pascal didn’t understand the fear of death. It was tough to teach the kids an emotion that he himself had never experienced. To put it bluntly, it was death. The ignorance of death, and not teaching death, was the cause of this tragedy.
“Ms. A2, I beg you. I am unable to endure this pain. Would you be kind enough to erase my memories? Otherwise, please…kill me.”
I understood the pain of losing comrades. I knew better than anyone else the agony of living on with the memories of those that were dear. So I directed Pod to erase Pascal’s memories.
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After shutting down Pascal’s memory circuit, Pod set a reboot timer. This would allow us to leave while Pascal was still sleeping.
Pascal, with his memories erased, might be confused if he saw me, and I wouldn’t know what kind of face to make either. Pod was probably being considerate in that sense.
“Pod. Why did the Machines ambush Pascal, even though they’re part of the same village?”
“Unknown. But the possibility of a bug is undeniable.”
“Bug? From what?”
But my question was drowned out by an unfamiliar voice.
“Hello! This is the Tower System Service! I have some exciting news for everyone today”
It was a childish voice. It was enunciating poorly, but at the same time seemed to be poking fun at us.
“Activation of massive Machine unit detected to the east.”
“Massive unit? That must be the so-called tower. What in the world is happening?”
“Unknown. Recommendation: Gathering of additional information.”
It didn’t have to tell me. After making Pod determine the location, I decided to take a look at the aforementioned massive unit with my own eyes.
Villagers going on a rampage, and the appearance of the massive unit. The fact that they happened around the same time was probably not a coincidence. And Pod’s hypothesis of there being some kind of bug…
Originally, Machines were made by aliens as weapons of mass destruction. It was hypocritical for those weapons to dislike fighting, and love peace. In the world of Machines, Pascal and his village were the outliers.
The more they deviate from a Machine’s hardwired purpose, the farther they operate from their natural instincts. Could that gap have been the reason for the bug? And the appearance of the massive structure had been a catalyst?
In the end, this was supposition. It was just my hypothesis. That’s why I was going to confirm it.
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The massive unit was in the amusement park ruins. It was an ugly building, as if it was made from random parts of Machines patched together.
Once inside, the interior also looked like it was constructed from Machine parts. The building was definitely made by them.
However, there were Machine remains lying around. It seemed like a battle had taken place, and every floor reeked of a burning stench. The bodies were riddled with bullet holes as well. Touching the remains, I discovered they were still hot. They were recently destroyed.
Every Machine was damaged beyond recognition, nearly chewed to pieces. It was clear that attacks had continued long after the Machine had stopped functioning.
I ran toward the upper floor. It wasn’t too late. I could catch up.
“Please…k1ll me…”
“Operator… It’s okay… It’ll be okay!”
On the top floor, two YoRHa androids were still fighting. One that had been infected by a logic virus and…9S. It seemed like the battle had gone on for quite some time, as both 9S and the infected YoRHa were struggling to stand.
One blow from 9S sent the infected YoRHa to the ground. 9S probably thought that he had defeated her. But he was naive. Those kinds of moments gave way to opportunity. Raptors were most vulnerable when they were pouncing on the enemy.
Just as I expected, the infected YoRHa slashed at 9S. Bu, by the same martial axiom the infected YoRHa was vulnerable as it attacked. I didn’t miss the chance.
I stabbed her in the back with my military sword. I couldn’t let 9S be killed. 2B wouldn’t want that. Of the favors that 2B had passed on to me, 9S was mentioned in the majority of her requests.
Once the infected YoRHa fell to the floor again, I made sure it was inoperable by destroying its black box. 9S glared at me, his malice overflowing, as I speared the body over and over.