Even without the authority of the management AIs, all the other AIs made in Kingdom were still acting independently. Unlike the drones and simple work AIs, they were continuing the fight against humanity based on their own decision.
In short, losing the management AIs wasn’t enough of a reason for the others to stop fighting. In fact, they were going on the offensive now that they didn’t have the management AIs to guide them. The AIs’ counterattacks had escalated the situation to the point where sacrifices had to be made among Toak’s members.
At the moment, the two Matsumotos were working together to launch an infiltration using the non-autonomous AIs in the factory, and they had successfully silenced most of the rest. That was the true reason for the burning red throughout the area.
Watching machines destroy each other was preferable to seeing humanity and AIs kill each other. As an AI who prioritized her mission in service to humanity, Vivy had to arrive at this conclusion. The only other thing she could do was bear witness to the enemy AIs’ sacrifices so that their deaths would have some meaning.
“How is it going, Matsumoto?” she asked.
“Swimmingly! Or so I’d say if we weren’t going up against every single AI connected to The Archive. The control keys let us take over Kingdom’s systems, but that just gave us the right to step into the ring. We’re going to have to get serious now.”
Normally, Matsumoto would have started bragging, but he was being somber. Then again, while his usual bragging came off as nearly unfounded, his incredible specs had always backed him up. Even he wasn’t going to say something irresponsible now that he’d lost that advantage. It could lead to humanity’s end, after all.
“If we really push to take over the satellites, our enemies will notice our interference,” he said. “And if that happens, they’ll come down on Kingdom with a fighting force that makes our last opponents seem like a walk in the park.”
“That’s not a situation I want to calculate,” said Vivy.
“But, you know, it’s an expected—nay, inevitable—problem. We’ll most likely see the AIs with the same model as me… Yes, let’s call them the Brothers. The Brothers will almost certainly come if that happens.”
“The Brothers…?”
The name played off of the Sisters, Vivy’s series. These Brothers were no less dangerous than all of the Sisters who stood in their way at each of the Singularity Points. In fact, the Brothers were far more dangerous in terms of direct threat to humanity. Matsumoto had successfully taken out Altair and the squad of drones, and he was just one unit. If there were numerous AIs with the same specs as Matsumoto…well, that wasn’t the sort of enemy they would stand a chance against.
“I have a correction,” said Matsumoto. “I was not ‘just’ one unit, right?”
“Yes. You’re right.”
Nothing was humorous about having her calculations read, but Vivy didn’t feel the need to disagree with Matsumoto. She didn’t experience any negative calculations while fighting the AI mob alongside him. Perhaps that was what humans called “trust.”
“Of course, I trust your specs,” she said.
Trusting an AI’s specs and ability was not the same as accepting their individuality. In that way, assessing the level of trust between Vivy and Matsumoto would require complicated criteria. Out of all the humans and AIs Vivy had encountered so far, the most trustworthy among them would have to be—
“Huh?”
Vivy’s transmission circuit suddenly received contact from someone outside. Up until now, the only AIs who had connected to Vivy’s transmission circuit were Matsumoto and Elizabeth. She hadn’t made contact with any of the other friendly AIs, not even Nacchan in NiaLand. If she went about accepting external transmission from anyone, she would be opening herself to hacking attempts from enemy AIs. That was why she’d cut off her circuits for external transmission.
Except for her private one, that is.
“Navi…?”
Information in Vivy’s consciousness identified the sender as Navi, the responsive navigation AI who supported the staff and the cast AIs operating in NiaLand. Navi had a blunt personality, but Vivy had relied on her a lot in her time as a songstress. Their relationship ended when Vivy was gifted to the AI museum and her authority as a cast member of NiaLand was revoked. Thus, it came as an immense surprise that Navi would contact her on this private circuit.
“Matsumoto,” she said.
“I’ve got it too,” he replied. “It does concern me, but…I’ve got bigger concerns at the moment.”
“Diva…”
Matsumoto continued his hacking with some blinking of his eye camera even after Vivy shot him a look.
Humanity’s fate rested on this battle for the satellites, so it had to be their focus, but there was still one thing they hadn’t figured out: Diva’s true intentions. They’d met her once in NiaLand already, and she was acting as a songstress for the AIs to fan the flames of the final war. Vivy had no proof there was any connection between Navi and Diva, but she was oddly certain of it.
AIs didn’t have imprecise functions like “instinct.” They considered the probability of all potential events based on objective truths, which brought them to a conclusion.
“Navi, is that you?” Vivy asked in a transmission.
“Ah! It went through! Oh my God, you’re okay, right?” Navi’s quippy electronic voice came flying into Vivy’s consciousness when she opened the transmission circuit.
“I’m fine. Yeah…I think I can honestly say I’m fine.” Vivy realized she couldn’t help replicating an emotional pattern of relief as she answered. Apparently, she was likewise grateful to know that Navi was all right.
But Navi didn’t even bother pointing out how inarticulate of an answer Vivy gave as she continued. “Good thing you’re all right. But listen, something bad’s going down at NiaLand.”
“What, really?”
Vivy saw images flit across her consciousness, images of all the trapped park guests and the cast AIs working hard to protect them. If AIs fighting against humanity attacked NiaLand, the cast AIs would be destroyed, and everyone there would die with no way of fighting back. As much as Vivy wanted to prevent that, she struggled to weigh it against the importance of keeping the satellites from falling.
Navi went on to explain, and what she said contradicted Vivy’s assumptions about the situation, for better or worse. “You know an AI who looks just like you is in the middle of this war, right? She’s up to some shady stuff in NiaLand! Something bad’ll happen if you don’t stop her!”
“An AI who looks just like me, you say?” Vivy said, her eyes opening wide in an emotional pattern of surprise.
“Yeah!” Navi, unable to see Vivy’s expression, just piled on the pressure. The final thing she said was, “That’s why there’s no one else I can rely on! I need your help!”