Prologue
THERE WAS SINGING in the air, flowing and reverberating.
“Huff… Huff…”
The man gasped for breath as he dashed through the building, music echoing all around him. Sweat poured down his forehead, and his expression was grim and taut even as he wheezed. Still, he was slow. His posture was poor, and his ineffective running was the result of a sedentary lifestyle—so much so that even an amateur could see his flaws. Even now, the man nearly tripped over his own feet and fell.
But the man was desperate. He fought on as hard as he could. This was the fastest he’d ever run. At least, he was as motivated as anyone could be.
“Agh!”
He came to a corner in the hallway and, in his urgency, failed to turn it—and he crashed into the wall. His shoulder ached from the impact. There was likely at least one fracture in the bone, but it mattered little in the moment. He was grateful; luckily, he hadn’t lost his footing and completely fallen.
From there, he practically flung himself into the room at the end of the hall.
“Shutter down!” he shouted hoarsely, and the shutter fell so violently it nearly bit down on his heel.
Which shouldn’t have happened.
The safety mechanisms were in place, but the man didn’t even glance back. He stood and looked into the room. Gunfire sounded behind him from the other side of the shutter. The safety shutter was thick and sturdy, but it wouldn’t last long under an attack meant to utterly destroy it.
“It doesn’t matter. It won’t take long…”
Preparations were already complete.
✦ ✦ ✦
Though…perhaps not as well as they could have been.
Only the bare minimum had been completed. He was loath to run it in its current state, but it wasn’t easy even getting it this far. Many sacrifices had been made: The world had turned its back on him, stones had been thrown at him, and no one understood him, and yet he continued to move forward on his own merit.
It was the result of a single promise and his sense of duty as a human being…as well as his pride as a father.
“Systems activate. Begin startup sequence… All clear.”
He tapped the terminal in front of him, processing massive amounts of data clearly beyond what a human should be capable of—a task the man wouldn’t have been able to handle on his own. And in fact, he wasn’t alone. He never could have made it this far otherwise. They weren’t here now, but that one person—no, that one thing—had taken an incredible risk to allow the man to get this far.
His companion had taken control of the facility’s systems and supported him so he could make it to this room, despite his leaden legs. They did it, even knowing their journey would be a one-way ticket and that they would likely never see him again.
The man cursed himself, knowing he was a failure of a father.
“Spacetime coordinates locked on. Singularity Project Stage One, complete.”
Despite the hopelessness he felt in his heart, his body went through with the task, bringing it to 90 percent completion.
Every time he pressed on the terminal, the monitor in front of him refreshed, and countless rows of numbers and characters scattered across it. What he was trying to do was the culmination of years of human technological development—and it was a miraculous act of foolishness.
No one had ever conducted a practical experiment to prove the absurd theories behind this. He’d fumbled through darkness to get it this far, and now—with everything coming to a head—he only had one shot.
✦ ✦ ✦
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
The monitor displayed the final command, waiting for that last press of the Enter key.
Everything would be answered once he pressed it. Had he chosen the right path, or had he been wrong this whole time? This decisive moment would provide the answer.
“…No, there’s no point in wondering about that.”
He didn’t want proof of the correctness of his actions or the validity of his beliefs. That much was already clear. He’d been gravely mistaken, and he continued to make mistakes. And so he sought not verification but an answer that went beyond right or wrong.
Humanity had made so many mistakes, and most humans lived their whole lives getting things wrong. And yet, they still fought against their nature. They desperately struggled to transcend it.
Similarly, what this man really wanted was the result. What came after this fight? Was it an end or a new beginning?
He placed his hands on the keyboard, the gateway to judgment.
✦ ✦ ✦
There was a shriek of metal tearing behind him. The shutter gave way under the hail of bullets. The door, lacking bulletproofing, was easily blown inward. Waves of smoke poured in. With horrific metallic noises, several units stepped into the room.
He didn’t turn to look at them. The man, Matsumoto Osamu, simply placed a finger on the Enter key.
“Humanity, the future… They’re in your hands now, Vivy!”
He pressed down on the key.
The rows of letters and numbers on the monitor raced by with blinding speed, activating a program simply titled “Singularity.”
It connected to the global internet, drew on massive quantities of electricity, and opened a hole in spacetime. It wrenched open the hole, drove into it—poured into it—and went back in time. It was a torrent of data, erupting all at once.
That counterattack was like a single arrow made of light. Loosed from Matsumoto’s hands, it flew straight and true, escaping the constraints of the world and surging toward its destination.
“With this…”
Matsumoto’s lips quirked up in satisfaction, and he looked down. The muzzles of the units’ guns were pointed at his back. He didn’t even have time to turn around. There was a series of gunshots, and the smell of gunpowder filled the room.
The die had been cast.