“…Completed. YoRHa android 9S, operational.”
It was bright. Was the lighting broken? He would have to go report the issue to the maintenance department. Either way, resources in the Bunker were very limited. Launching resources from Earth was becoming a challenge. It was all because of the enemy’s air defense system…huh? Hadn’t he already succeeded in nullifying the defense system?
“Good morning, 9S.”
Pod 153 floated into his field of vision. Beyond it 9S could see sky. The view of the sky, from Earth. No wonder it was bright.
“I…”
Why was he sleeping in such a place?
“Fighting inside the enemy unit led to the collapse of the structure. YoRHa android 9S sustained damage from the fall, and was put into a state of emergency suspended animation. The landing location was deemed dangerous, and 9S was transported to the current location.”
Fall? Ah, that’s right, 9S thought, as he pulled himself up. A significant enemy had suddenly appeared, and destroyed part of the wall and floor. Right where 9S had been standing. He lost his footing, and there was nothing he could do. Even though his target was standing right in front of him.
This was the second time he had missed out on killing A2. Last time the abrupt appearance of the tower had collapsed the bridge. He was frustrated that twice, Machines had interrupted, taken his footing away, and ended their encounter.
What aggravated him even more was what A2 had said to him.
“2B said she warned you to be a kind person.”
He thought it despicable that she would use 2B’s words in an attempt to deceive him. It was already bad enough that she wore an identical face. But she had used those identical lips to quote 2B. Unforgivable.
No, the person impossible to forgive was himself. His careless self, who allowed A2 to save him. He had failed to finish off 21O, or 21B, and instead was almost killed. Right before 21B dealt the decisive blow, A2 swept in from behind and stabbed 21B in the back…
“Operator…”
“The model 21O you encountered has died. Black-box signal is no longer active.”
9S’s tone was indifferent, bluntly acknowledging the statement with an “I see.” He already knew that 21O had died.
“Update me on the current situation.”
“The required number of access keys has been acquired.”
Even though he had fallen from the roof, he was still able to collect the necessary items. It would have been a disaster if, on top of that, A2 had stolen the access keys. Well, if that had happened he would have just taken them back.
“Accessing the subunits and investigating the tower is now possible.”
“Roger that.”
The end was near.
✦ ✦ ✦
The mumbling voice rang throughout the crater zone. Perhaps he had just heard it so many times and gotten used to it, but this time he didn’t feel as irritated. All he wanted to do was hurry up and destroy it.
“Hello! This is the Tower System Service.”
The echoing made the words sound even more broken. The locks on all three subunits had been released. Finally he could enter his original target, the tower.
“Congratulations! You’ve unlocked all the subunits. The last prize is stored in the tower.”
Prize? Wasn’t it just going to be another foolish Machine, enshrined as though it were some God?
“We look forward to your visit!”
Right as the announcement ended, Machines started to fly down from the sky. Attacking even though they had just said they would be “looking forward” to his visit. What a Machine-like thing to do. Even if Machines couldn’t talk in the first place.
“Get out of the way!”
The more enemies he destroyed, the more appeared. The tower’s door had an ostentatious hacking point. While he was hacking the door, his chassis would be vulnerable to attack. If there were only a couple of enemies, he could tell Pod to cover him, but it was infeasible against a large force of Machines.
He was reminded of the times 2B covered for him while he hacked. He felt the glaring absence of 2B now more than ever. If this was what the enemy was aiming for, he had to admit it was effective…
“Shit! There’s no end!”
If only he could destroy the enemies as quickly as a Type B, he would be able to hack the door while the enemy reinforcements were on the way. But with the battle capabilities of a Type S it took too long to defeat an opponent. As soon as he destroyed one, another would appear in front of him. At this rate he would never vanquish enough of the opposing force to let Pod do mop-up. Once he was out of energy, that was it.
9S panicked, thinking of a way around the situation.
“Report: Signals of allied troops.”
“Allied?”
Did it mean enemy troops? The YoRHa squadron had fallen. The only troops left were infected and had gone berserk.
“We knew you’d come.”
9S heard his name and turned around to see Devola and Popola standing behind him. They were both holding swords.
“You’re…”
The two started sprinting at the same time. They slid past the speechless 9S toward the Machines. Their swords flashed. Machine heads fell to the ground.
“We’ll take it from here.”
“You go on and open the door of the tower!”
What was happening? He didn’t understand. Why were these two helping him out? The sisters were specialized in medicine and maintenance, but certainly not in combat.
“Hurry! Hack it now!”
Popola yelled as she held back the enemies.
“We’ll tell you the details once we’re in the tower!” Devola’s words motivated 9S to take action. It was more efficient to enter the building than to stand and face countless enemies. Tactical theory suggested fighting in an enclosed area was advantageous for smaller groups.
But the hacking process was an unexpected bottleneck. He knew that the security would be focused on defense, but the firewall was unusually robust. And the more he attacked, the more the defenses adapted to become thicker and stronger.
“What…what kind of firewall is this?”
“Report: Lockdown defense system.”
Lockdown? It sounded familiar… He vaguely recalled struggling against one in the past. But that was just a feeling. He didn’t have any specific memory. Nor did he have a memory of ever breaking one successfully. That meant that, even if he had faced one before, he had probably failed to hack it. He had failed, his personal data had been destroyed, and he had been reloaded with the backup…
“How do I break it?”
“Prediction: Allow personal data to go rampant. The explosive energy generated from self-destruction will temporarily stun the defenses.”
Self-destruction? Temporarily stun? Without a backup, self-destruction meant death. And if that were only enough to temporarily “stun” the enemy defenses…
“Then it’s pretty much impenetrable!”
Right as he shouted he was thrown out of the virtual circuit dimension. It was a forced timeout. 9S was blasted away from the door and flung onto the ground.
“What happened?”
Devola ran over. He grabbed her extended hand and pulled himself up.
“This firewall is…”
Just as he was about to say impenetrable, Popola cut down a nearby enemy and tackled the door. Her scream filled the air.
“No! That door is protected by a self-lockdown algorithm so breaking in is—”
“Shut up!”
The reprimand was fierce enough to bring 9S to a standstill as he was running over to help.
“We shall atone for the sins we committed!”
Smoke was rising from Popola’s hands. Embers of electrical discharge scattered around her. The door probably inflicted physical damage as well. But what was even more dangerous was the damage to her brain circuitry.
“It’s no use! If you do that your circuits will…”
9S’s voice was drowned out by the sound of Popola’s wails, as if she refused to hear what he had to say.
“Devola! Help me!”
9S was grabbed by the arm. It was Devola. Unaware of what she was going to do, she pulled him close.
“Now!”
He was chucked into the air at Popola’s cue—and through the door. He saw Popola collapse to the ground, seemingly exhausted. Devola looked over her shoulder and quietly smiled.
“Don’t leave any regrets.”
Devola’s face disappeared. 9S stared at the door in shock. He felt erratic vibrations through his legs, and the feeling of being lifted. An elevator, he thought in the back of his mind, still dazed.
“Why…”
He didn’t understand. The only thing he knew for a fact was that the sisters had sacrificed themselves to help him.
“Report: Discovered residual data of Devola and Popola.”
“Residual data? You found some?”
Perhaps Popola’s personal data firewall had cut off when her circuits shut down. Or maybe they had created a will, and sent it over to Pod before their death.
“Open the data.”
“Affirmative.”