“Don’t dawdle or delay. And don’t hesitate to use your life for our goal!” Kakitani cried.
“Yes, ma’am!” the rest of Toak shouted, and Vivy moved to Matsumoto’s side. His parts clattered as he changed shape into the flight form he had used at Metal Float.
“Well then, shall we begin our fight?” he said.
. : 5 : .
“LAST TIME we fought together was at Metal Float…”
“Was it really? Now that you mention it, I suppose you’re right.” Matsumoto agreed as they flew below the leaden sky. Riding flight-mode Matsumoto, a rare form for him, triggered Vivy’s recollection of the fight at Metal Float. She saw the records of them flying through an enemy-filled sky in their desperate attempt to stop Grace.
Matsumoto had been incomplete when they were on Sunrise, and they had operated separately during the Zodiac Signs Festival, meaning the two had surprisingly little experience fighting alongside each other.
“But we’ve always fought together,” Vivy said.
“Hmm, I personally find the phrase ‘fought together’ just a little bit savage and hard to swallow. Obviously, we did work together in pursuit of a shared goal. And seeing as we boldly took on the incredibly important mission of saving humanity, I think there must be a more suitable phrasing for our relationship, don’t you?”
“Like…?”
“We became besties?” he suggested. “Ow, ow!”
While Vivy was trying to have a serious conversation, Matsumoto had taken it with his usual frivolity. But, as sick of it as Vivy was, this was the Matsumoto she had interacted with over their entire hundred-year mission. For that reason, she was so used to punching his cube parts as a warning. Even in their worst predicament, there was never an issue with his performance. That was one of the strengths of AIs.
“Professor Matsumoto and Kakitani are incredible,” she said eventually.
“Humanity should learn from them. Refusing to give up even in this situation, searching for the best solution, entirely unfazed by the destruction they see looming right before their eyes… If all humans were like that, no AI would have the advantage, and they’d all give up on this revolt.”
“Probably.”
It wasn’t like the AIs had started the revolt simply because they thought they could win, but AIs weren’t reckless enough to pick a fight without some chance of success. It was their calculative ability that they had used to start this fight with the intention of winning, since humans couldn’t hold a candle to it. Put simply, they wouldn’t have started the revolt if there was zero chance of success. If humanity were always so capable and united that AIs had no chance, or if people had believed Toak’s warnings, if they’d sincerely tackled the threat of AIs…
“You’ll never stop if you start listing what-ifs and if-onlys. Pretty sure that’s a saying,” said Matsumoto.
“I don’t know about that, but I still understand it fine.”
“Well then, go ditch your hypotheticals and focus on what’s in front of us for the sake of the future. And right now…”
“There’s a huge building in front of us.”
“Exactly.”
The two of them focused their attention on what lay ahead while they finished each other’s sentences.
After splitting off from Toak, they’d headed to the eastern area of Kingdom, where the management AI Altair was supposed to be. Luckily, they knew their target’s location from Deneb’s data. Since the other two management AIs were working on the revolt, they must have also decided to turn against humanity. Thus, Vivy and Matsumoto wouldn’t be asking to negotiate. Humanity didn’t have that kind of time.
Upon reaching their destination, they could see a dome-shaped factory surrounded by neatly arranged manufacturing cranes and scaffolding, as well as several AIs engaged in some sort of work. This area was for putting together all the AI parts made in Kingdom to complete the AI frames. Once each frame was complete, it was loaded with a positronic brain installed with the most basic of data, then rolled out. In this case, they were creating puppets with no individuality to simply follow orders.
These puppets were still a good enough threat if turned against humanity as a fighting force.
“We have to stop those AIs from being put together…” Vivy said.
“We’ll be in trouble if we keep taking on tasks. Don’t get your priorities mixed up.”
“Of course not. So, where’s Altair?”
“He should be in view right about now…”
Vivy and Matsumoto searched for any sign of Altair while the production line below them carried on. Based on the data, he should already be within view of their eye cameras…
“He’s not—”
“Unidentified AIs detected. State your affiliation.”
Just as Vivy was starting to worry Altair wasn’t where they’d expected, a voice boomed out across the entire area, so loud it seemed like the sky itself was shouting.
Vivy’s eyes widened, and Matsumoto’s eye camera clattered open and closed. They could see that the newly built AIs and basic worker AIs below were now focused on them. The reaction didn’t give any conclusive evidence of Altair’s location, but it wasn’t a good sign either.
“Matsumoto, that voice…”
“Seems to be Altair’s. Our assumption was totally off base. We thought Altair would be somewhere inside the production area…”
“He’s not?”
“No. Well, at least, it wasn’t the most precise phrasing.” Unnecessary explanations were one of Matsumoto’s bad habits, one he didn’t seem to have shaken.
Vivy replicated an impatient emotional pattern in response to Matsumoto’s roundabout way of talking, then smacked him. “Explain, Matsumoto. Altair is—”
“The production area. All of it.”
“…”
Vivy’s consciousness went blank for just a moment at that unexpected answer from Matsumoto. This wasn’t an instance of Matsumoto’s unfunny humor, though, as illustrated by what Altair said next.
“Unidentified AIs, I ask you again: What is your affiliation?”
The thunderous voice demanded an answer, making the entire area tremble. As if to chase down Vivy and Matsumoto, who were lost for an answer, the entire area stood up.
“…”
The manufacturing plant moved, countless metal pipes and cranes screeching as they were torn to pieces. The frame was massive—over a hundred meters in size—and Vivy understood when she saw that exceptional being what it truly meant for Kingdom to be Metal Float’s successor. Metal Float had been completely controlled by AIs, with Grace as the core, on an artificially created island. Altair had been created in Metal Float’s image.
“An AI production factory, entirely automated and controlled by AIs…” Vivy said.
“That’s the real body of this so-called management AI! This is OGC’s super-top-secret thing they kept anyone outside from knowing! Well, of course they would! I can’t believe they just went and made a new Metal Float like it was no big deal!”
If this news had broken, it wouldn’t have been just a blip of a scandal. Regardless of the potential fallout, a fully AI-controlled facility was just too enticing for OGC. It had continued to operate this whole time without a problem, up until AIs revolted.
“Answer.” Altair once again ordered Vivy and Matsumoto to identify themselves.