I stared in disbelief at the image of a blue butterfly that had appeared on my terminal screen. Though it didn’t contain anything as important as the top-secret intelligence documents that Elise handled for Miki, my terminal had been specially designed to handle important information, and hijacking it wasn’t an easy task. Despite that, I’d only been able to make four attempts to access the server before my terminal was rendered useless.
I didn’t even understand what had happened to it. It wasn’t generally possible to hack a terminal so quickly, and all of the data stored on the terminal appeared to have been eaten.
I turned to Kouki and asked him, “When you said that things get ‘eaten,’ is this what you meant?”
“That’s right,” he grinned. “But you’re on Butterfly’s list, so the data that was eaten will be returned to you afterwards. Butterfly has shut you down temporarily because you got in its way.”
“I give up,” I said. “Which one of you made this program? Was it you, Kouki? Or Shingo?”
Given the way he was bragging about it, I suspected that Kouki had made the program himself, but I wanted to be sure who was responsible before reporting the program to Miki.
“No, we didn’t make it,” Kouki replied. “Do you remember Chabane?”
“You mean the perfect standalone AI?”
“That’s the one. Butterfly was made by Chabane.”
“But...”
An AI made by an AI? That’s not possible. It doesn’t matter how advanced Chabane was. Inventing something new is far beyond the capabilities of an artificial intelligence.
I was still speechless when Shingo took over Kouki’s explanation.
“Chabane went out into space before he could finish it, so he left it incomplete. But Chabane left behind a record of improvements he’d made to himself. Kouki and I used that record to improve Butterfly. As a result, we completed a new AI named Ageha. You could say that she’s Chabane’s daughter.”
“Kouki! Shingo!” The door to the office was violently thrown open as Miki entered the room. “Are the boys here? Stop hacking into the main terminal!”
It’s no use, Miki, I sighed. There’s no way for them to stop it now.
Miki looked so angry that I was worried about the blood vessels in her temples, but all I could do was quietly shake my head.
Yelling at us must have helped Miki calm down. Butterfly was analyzing data at a rate beyond human capability, and curiosity had overcome her anger.
“What’s happening?” Miki asked emotionlessly.
Before I could respond, we heard a ridiculous chiming sound effect, and a fairy, similar to those we saw in the world of G-88, appeared on the main display.
“Position data acquired. Target is currently located in Moscow, Russia. Would you like me to relay the video feed from a nearby surveillance camera?”
The girl on the screen was wearing a blue dress and had butterfly wings that moved gracefully. She made her announcement with a smile, and looked nothing short of a goddess.
“Thank you, Ageha,” Kouki said. “Now that we know where he is, you can leave the rest to us. Could you give us back control?”
“Very well. Please call on me again when you’re next in need of my assistance.”
After thanking Kouki, she bowed politely and then disappeared. The alert messages displayed on each terminal screen immediately disappeared and Noa was back in control. My own terminal screen was displaying a message that said, “Your data is now in order.” All my data seemed to have reappeared.
“This software looks useful, Kou...” Miki said.
“I don’t mind giving you access rights, but this is a Chabane-type AI, so don’t forget that she has feelings. Don’t be mean to her.”
Any conversation between these two is beyond me, but I wonder if Miki really understands what Kouki just said. More importantly, I wonder why Baldy— why Anton is in Russia.
I held back a sigh while looking at the detailed positioning data. It more or less confirmed that Anton had run from his duties. He appeared to be moving through Moscow, but I couldn’t imagine where he was going.
Hoping that Miki would know what to do, I cleared my throat and looked in her direction. “He still has a Noa terminal with him. How about we turn on the microphone, Clare? We can activate it using our authorization codes.”
I’m sure we’ll have no problem activating his terminal’s microphone with our authorization codes, but then again, do we really want to do that with children present? I wondered. If things get messy for someone in his line of work, that might not be something we want to expose the boys to. We could end up listening in to one of his targets screaming in agony.
“Don’t worry,” Miki told me, as if she’d read my mind. “Even he knows where to draw the line. And these children are somewhat responsible for his actions because they rank above him. I think this could be a good learning experience for them.”
I couldn’t argue with that. Kouki and Shingo had to understand their own responsibilities. Still, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
I thought about Anton’s personal history as I keyed in the authorization code using my terminal. He wasn’t the type of person to act on his own. You might say that he was obedient, or maybe he just lacked initiative. It was strange for that sort of person to disappear without telling Kouki or anyone else.
“Authorization granted,” I told Miki. “We’re now receiving audio.”
I began to feel anxious as we listened to the noisy signal picked up by the microphone. We could hear the hustle and bustle of a city street together with the sound of Anton’s footsteps. He was walking at a constant pace as if he knew exactly where he was headed, but then he appeared to suddenly stop.
The way he’s walking... I thought slowly.
“Is he making sure no one follows him?” Shingo asked me in surprise.
I nodded in agreement and considered asking whether we should stop listening, but then Miki began loudly speaking to all personnel in the media department.
“Everyone, initiate B-class security protocols. I order all media department personnel to remain in their quarters on standby for the next 48 hours. Please act swiftly in accordance with the procedure in your operating manuals.”
B-class?! Does she think some of our people might have turned against us?! I was too shocked to even say anything. There’s no way that Anton would ever turn traitor!
“I don’t doubt his loyalty,” Miki continued. “But Anton knows everything about how these boys are being protected. However small the danger might be, I don’t want to take the risk. Contact Shuuichi and instruct him to dispatch all soldiers on Noa Island to the Hakone base. I’ll give further instructions from the command center on the lowest level of the base. I’ll take Kouki and Shingo there with me.”
“Understood.”
The moment I responded, Miki turned and headed for the exit. I saw Kouki and Shingo hurry after her as I began inputting data into my terminal.
As I began selecting a security team and the types of weapons they’d use, I came to fully understand the meaning of Ageha’s message about my data being “in order.”
My data had been rearranged with such a maddening level of precision that it might actually have been an improvement over how I’d arranged it myself.