Perhaps it went without saying, but an AI’s frame size was correlated to their ability. That didn’t just apply to AIs. It was the same with most humans, plants, and animals: Bigger meant stronger. This was not the kind of opponent Vivy and Matsumoto could stand against if it came to a head-to-head fight.
“We are management AIs, like yourself. We received Deneb’s approval to enter. You should have received that information. Could you please confirm?” Matsumoto said.
“Confirming approval from Deneb…”
Matsumoto had hacked into Deneb’s positronic brain and sent falsified data showing Deneb’s approval. Using that, they could request an appropriate meeting with Altair. “Yes, so—”
With a horrifying roar, the manufacturing plant turned its massive body to face them and swung an arm made of a massive crane at Vivy and Matsumoto, trying to smash them in midair.
“Matsumoto!” Vivy screamed as the several-ton mass came rushing mercilessly toward them.
“I know!”
Vivy clung to Matsumoto as she was subjected to the centrifugal force of her frame spinning rapidly. Matsumoto rearranged his frame to gain mobility while maintaining Vivy’s footing. They spun like acrobats through the air to make it through Altair’s ferocious attacks. Even though they managed to survive, they still had a question: Why did Altair decide they were enemies?
“Defects detected in Deneb’s approval message.”
“Defects in my dummy data?! How ridiculous! I don’t make amateur mistakes like—”
“Referencing existing data revealed… Something is off.”
“It’s the connection between management AIs,” Vivy said. While Matsumoto refused to accept the reason Altair had seen through the trick, Vivy came to something like understanding and acceptance.
The three management AIs of Kingdom—Deneb, Altair, and Vega—shared the burden and responsibility of their roles, operating for a long time as they managed the facility without user interference. It was hardly surprising that they would forge a relationship that couldn’t be understood or replicated by outsiders. It was akin to how Vivy had built up relationships with many of the cast AIs. Altair had a relationship he’d created and cultivated with Deneb and Vega.
“You can’t fake it just by copying their reporting work,” Vivy said.
“Oh maaan, guess I got a taste of how unpleasant AIs can be when they belong to a pack. After all, a high-spec AI doesn’t need anybody else! Never thought being a lone wolf would come back to bite me…”
“Enough aimless babble.”
The massive factory that was Altair continued his attacks even during their too-long conversation. There was a screech of metal smashing into metal as bundles of pipes collapsed and shattered. Obviously, Vivy and Matsumoto’s sneak attack strategy was a failure. The AIs on the ground looking up at Vivy and Matsumoto suddenly stood, picked up weapons, and joined Altair in attacking the two of them.
“Now that we’re in a tough spot, should we try Toak’s rampaging strategy instead?” Matsumoto asked.
“What are the chances of winning against Altair?”
“Even with a frame that size, he’ll have a single positronic brain that allows him to operate as an AI. If we can connect to that positronic brain, wherever it is inside that huge frame…”
They would be able to get control of the situation the same way they had with Deneb when they stole his administrative authority. This was their path to victory.
Still on Matsumoto’s back, Vivy looked up. There was a flock of drones heading their way to destroy them. These modified drones came in two types: one with machine guns and the other carrying explosives. The former were laying down fire to hedge in Matsumoto, while the latter were aiming to crash into him.
“Vivy, let’s divide our roles. I’ll go on the offense, and you’ll go on the offense.”
“Then we’re both on offense.”
“My developer’s grandmother’s older sister’s son’s neighbor’s relative’s classmate always said, ‘The best defense is a good offense.’ Pretty persuasive, isn’t it?”
“Stop talking so much.” Vivy was jerked back and forth atop his frame. She poked the spot above his eye camera, and their eyes met. “Also, you’re not a lone wolf. I’m here.”
“Oh…”
With that, Vivy flipped off Matsumoto. That was a foolish move, considering falling from that height of nearly 350 feet would destroy her, even if you took into consideration her strengthened frame, but Vivy had a plan.
She sailed diagonally through the air to land on a drone, which she used as a stepping stone to the next, allowing her to traverse the sky.
The drones turned their machine guns on Vivy as she sailed recklessly through the air, trying to pay her back by pelting the songstress’s slender frame with bullets.
“Take a good look at this! Watch me, Matsumoto-sama, the world’s most cutting-edge AI, as I go into full combat mode!” Matsumoto rearranged his cubes, revealing all the wicked, unmatched weaponry hidden inside him. He locked on to several targets at once and let loose a torrent of destruction with a roar. “Pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap!”
The gun retorts were loud enough to destroy eardrums, but Vivy could also hear Matsumoto letting out a meaningless cry along with them to pump himself up. It was quite like him, but it really wasn’t the time to fool around. If Vivy weren’t an AI, her partner’s tomfoolery might’ve made her lose her momentum. But an AI she was, and AIs gave the performance required of them no matter the situation.
“Here I go.”
Vivy stomped on the drone beneath her feet as the air filled with shrapnel—residue from the drones showered with bullets. She spread her arms wide as she flipped forward through the air, grabbed on to a pipe, and did a huge spin around it like a gymnast competing on the horizontal bar. She released the bar while she whirled, shooting herself up, where she caught another pipe, spun, and flung herself up again. She was attempting to reach the peak, a place humans couldn’t hope to stand.
“Vivy!”
“I know,” said Vivy, not even looking back to Matsumoto when he sent that short transmission. She flipped to a standing position and slid gracefully to the side just as a steel beam swung through the air where she’d just been. The beam came from one of the huge cranes that served as Altair’s arms, though it had been thrown by a different AI among the horde lining Altair’s cranes. Altair had stretched out his arms to provide a place for the other AIs to stand. They lined themselves up and threw all sorts of things at Matsumoto and Vivy. The two of them spun—Matsumoto in the air and Vivy on unstable footing.
The scaffolding was a complex structure made of several joined pipes and was significantly sturdier than normal, since it had to support the weight of AIs who were far heavier than humans. Even so, it was only supposed to be sturdy enough to withstand the AIs’ work. It wasn’t designed to take dancing, let alone carpet-bombing.