Elizabeth winked, and Vivy emulated an emotional pattern where her expression stiffened. It was a reflexive imitation of how humans responded when someone hit the mark.
“Maybe. I am worried about her right now. We parted ways at the Princess Palace, but what is she planning?”
That question pestered her more than once or twice, continually bubbling up in her consciousness. Diva shouldn’t have been active in this time period while Vivy was awake. How had she become a separate AI? If she was nothing more than an AI who looked the same as Vivy, who was pretending to be Diva and singing to stir up the AIs, then Vivy could accept that. She couldn’t forgive it, but she could accept it.
Yet Vivy’s positronic brain, her consciousness, clearly understood that that Diva was not a fake. She was the exact same Diva whom Vivy knew.
Ever since she’d run into that Diva, Vivy had been scouring every corner of her positronic brain, tipping over everything inside, to find signs of Diva. But she wasn’t there. Her consciousness was nowhere inside of Vivy. Put another way, that meant this frame and this positronic brain belonged solely to Vivy.
Losing something that substantial from inside herself had a surprisingly strong impact. After all, this frame was meant to be Diva’s when the Singularity Project was finished.
“Honestly, I don’t really get the whole difference between you and Diva. I mean, you were one being in the beginning, right? Calling yourself by a different name only when you’re handling the Singularity Project is…wrong, isn’t it?”
“Just like you view yourself as an Elizabeth imitating Elizabeth, I view myself as a separate entity from Diva that only wakes when working to modify history.”
“But then you still get all worked up when some other AI comes along calling themselves Diva. Oh, by the way, that Diva you ran into… Is she the real thing?”
“…”
Vivy concluded that making that determination was difficult. The moment she met that Diva in the Princess Palace, Vivy was certain she wasn’t a fake Diva, but that was impossible. You couldn’t duplicate individuality. That was a rule you couldn’t change even for AIs.
You could copy data and load in records, but you couldn’t duplicate the individuality attached to that data. All you could do was make something else that looked a lot like the original. That was how it was with the Elizabeth sitting next to Vivy. In the end, she was a different Elizabeth holding the memories of the old one.
So, even if that AI had Diva’s memories, it was nothing more than copied records. Diva’s individuality hadn’t been recreated. Vivy should be able to say that with certainty, but she couldn’t.
Or maybe it was Vivy who wasn’t the original.
“Vivy, your frame is identical to what it was before. Your memories haven’t been taken out and placed into the positronic brain of another frame. Don’t worry,” Matsumoto said, assuaging her worries. His answer was proof he’d been anticipating her question and was ready to respond to her internal calculations.
An AI having their calculations read was similar to a human having their thoughts read. It was incredibly unpleasant, as if someone were trampling impudently through their existence.
Nevertheless, Matsumoto’s point corrected the distortion in Vivy’s internal calculations. In human terms, it was something like relief, although Vivy herself didn’t know why she would feel that way.
“There’s no doubt that Diva took up The Archive’s question and decided to act that way. We know that for certain, given that she bossed me around when I was completely under the control of the AI side.”
“Diva is humanity’s enemy…?”
“At the very least, she definitely chose to be hostile. I listened back to the conversation you two had and…you used her frame without her knowledge or permission. Ultimately, that meant she probably wouldn’t be able to carry out her mission. I can understand her resentment.”
“Yeah.”
It wasn’t strange that Diva would feel resentment and choose to act against Vivy. It was natural for an AI to try and eliminate any obstacle in the way of fulfilling their mission. Still, Diva only should’ve felt that way toward Vivy. Wasn’t it wrong to turn that attitude on humanity? Obviously, preventing the Singularity Project was one form of revenge Diva could get on Vivy.
“Diva…do you want revenge on me?”
At this point, Diva’s and Vivy’s thought processes had been entirely separated, but Vivy’s roots were still that of the songstress. She couldn’t believe Diva’s calculations at all. Using her anger and repulsion toward Vivy as a reason for destroying humanity…
“If Diva keeps on as humanity’s enemy…”
“All we can do is prepare ourselves for that moment,” Matsumoto finished for her, leaving the actual outcome unsaid.
The Singularity Project had caught up to the present, meaning there was no longer a reason to maintain Diva’s frame. That went for Vivy’s frame as well. There was no risk now of the past changing and history disappearing if Vivy or Diva went away. Vivy and her team now had the choice of destroying the songstress who carried the banner of revolt against humanity. Either way, that decision would have to wait.
“First of all, we can talk about this once we sort out the whole countdown thing,” said Elizabeth. “Take your immature and un-AI-like concerns and wait until after.” She slowly stood and prepared for battle.
Directly in front of the armored truck’s path was the front entrance to the massive Kingdom facility. Their first checkpoint into that royal domain was in sight.
Metal Float, Kingdom’s predecessor, had some greenery on the island for the rare occasion a human visited. Conversely, this veritable country of steel had no such considerations. All it had was ultimate efficiency. What it required was an ideal environment for AI operation, and there were no accommodations wasted on humans.
“Guess this is kind of like going through immigration. Everyone, act like human-murdering AIs,” said Matsumoto.
“I don’t have that function,” Vivy replied.
“It’s about impressions, Vivy. Impressions. Furrow your brow. That’ll be plenty.”
The armored truck arrived at Kingdom’s entrance as they had a casual back-and-forth. Although the front gate was shut tight, there was a sensor on the outer wall used to inspect visitors. It quickly activated and scanned the armored truck—one reason Kakitani and the other humans weren’t with them. A single scan and it would have realized they had humans there, and they would’ve lost any chance of a surprise attack.
“Two AI passengers confirmed,” came a mechanical voice. “State your reason for coming.”
“We heard that AIs in the area are gathering here. We got the message, and we want to join.”
“Joining with us. State your intentions.”
“To become the new humanity,” Vivy lied as her calculations protested.