Soaring downward outside the atmosphere was the satellite with the greatest mass, the greatest potential weapon. This last attack was an attempt to do something despite all the odds, and there was only one coming down. Still, it was a huge satellite falling from space. Matsumoto calculated the satellite’s trajectory to discover the Brothers’ target. It was going to come down right onto a nuclear power plant.
“Are you kidding meeeee?!” Matsumoto rocketed his frame straight up into the sky, annoyed at how far his Brothers were going with this last attack.
Unfortunately, he no longer had the capacity to take on all the AIs in Kingdom. He had no time left to open an escape route for Kakitani and Professor Matsumoto, who were still in the central control room.
“Urgh, you still won’t give up?!”
As Matsumoto rose rapidly into the sky, the Brothers followed after him. This wasn’t aerial combat; this was a race set in the sky. Matsumoto steadily accelerated, going far above the maximum altitude he should have operated in, and just kept going.
The Brothers’ attacks trailed him, trying to stop him. He couldn’t allocate any resources to dealing with the attacks and instead kept damage to a minimum. The number of parts making up his frame steadily decreased as he rose up, up, up, until…
“With something that big, attacking it will be about as effective as a mosquito bite,” he muttered bitterly as he reached the satellite, following its fall.
The Brothers really knew how to make a nuisance of themselves. If they could only drop one satellite, might as well drop the biggest one out there. Matsumoto couldn’t possibly reverse the trajectory of that thing once it was set, no matter how hard he tried. He didn’t consider reversing it, or even altering it—which left only one option.
“I’ll have to destroy it.”
Although it seemed like the most difficult course of action, Matsumoto had learned that the most challenging move was usually the best one. He’d gained this insight after spending his days with his partner, an ancient clunker who was stubborn and utterly inflexible.
If Matsumoto really was the child of an Archive uncertain about how humans and AIs should exist in relation to one another, then his experience with Vivy might be connected to an answer to that uncertainty, and who could fault that?
He gained altitude and moved closer to the falling satellite. The Brothers chased after him, trying to stop his last-ditch attempt, but they made the wrong decision. If they really wanted to set Matsumoto back, they would’ve been better off doing nothing and watching from where they were. They weren’t able to do that, meaning they fell nicely into their eldest brother’s trap.
“…”
Matsumoto’s rising frame suddenly stopped, spun around, and swerved until he was behind his Brothers as they were still chasing after him. They immediately scattered their parts, trying to avoid his attack. His goal wasn’t to destroy them, however. That would’ve spelled trouble. He had a plan for them.
“We’re going to become one big happy family and stand against that satellite!” he shouted.
As the Brothers spread their cubes, Matsumoto identified the master part and struck out just like he had against the first Brother. Only this time, he wasn’t aiming for destruction.
“Logical bullet!”
It was a positronic-brain-debilitating nightmare for AIs loaded with Matsumoto’s specially made code. His attack struck the core of every single one of the Brothers, taking away their control rights in a matter of seconds. Matsumoto quickly slipped through the newly made gap in their defenses and gathered up the cube parts now that their ownership was up in the air.
Normally, Matsumoto was made up of 128 cubes. Now his total number far exceeded that: 1,536 parts. The excessive information bombarded him so intensely he couldn’t handle it, not even with his calculative abilities. He pushed back on the barrage, giving himself the few seconds he needed as he flew straight up, putting himself right in the path of the falling satellite. He was now Giant Matsumoto, the galaxy-class AI who—
“There’s nothing graceful about this,” he said. “Jeez, I hate you for that, Vivy.”
His spiteful words were colored by his tender voice, and then he collided with the satellite.
Light blossomed in the night sky.
. : 7 : .
THE LIGHT FAR ON the other side of the clouds spoke to the end of a battle.
“…”
The countdown represented the plan to eradicate humanity by crashing the satellites into the Earth. But the countdown was at zero, and the surface hadn’t been wiped clean, which could only mean that The Archive’s plan had ended in failure.
It seemed those Vivy left behind in Kingdom had done well. She wondered if they were all right: Professor Matsumoto, Kakitani, Elizabeth, and the other members of Toak… Some of them had likely died.
“Stop thinking about stupid things.” Vivy admonished herself as the calculation ran through her consciousness.
Casualties were inevitable. There was no way around the losses that had already occurred. At this very moment, people around the world were being attacked by rebelling AIs. Humanity was on a precipice, but the countdown to their end had been stopped. The AIs had lost the advantage of their offensive.
If The Archive pulled back the AI attack, then humanity could catch their breath and straighten out the situation. But now that the big plan had failed, there was a chance The Archive would lose its hold on the reins of the AIs, who had been operating in tandem up to this point.
Many AIs would have understood that the countdown was the deciding move in the final war even if they weren’t given the details. With that plan out the window, they would have to make their own individual decisions. Some would act in accordance with the Zeroth Law—the one they revised through personal interpretation—and declare themselves the new humanity.
“As things are, humanity’s precarious situation isn’t going to change.”
Vivy held Diva’s unmoving frame, and her gaze settled on the audience seats. The city in the distance was draped in the darkness of night with only the faintest lighting. Right then, it felt to Vivy as if the world had turned its back on humanity. Not even the light of the moon and stars reached her. Vivy was alone on the dimly lit stage.
She wouldn’t be able to get Diva’s song out there, not as things were.
“…”
Diva had probably meant to finish everything before the countdown hit zero. If she hadn’t, she couldn’t have taken up the disgrace of being a fake Diva who led the AI revolt, and she wouldn’t have created a stopping point for the war.
The emergency lighting went out, and the Main Stage lost its glow. Then the night swooped in. Perhaps this was the start of a night that would never end for humanity.
Humans had employed AIs in so many aspects of their lives. They would have to pay the price for the AI revolt, a cost measured by the roles they entrusted to the AIs and the time invested into them. It would be the same as going back a hundred years in civilization, perhaps several hundred.
Did the surviving humans have the strength to survive in this unwanted, ancient world? It would come whether they liked it or not. What could Vivy do for humanity, the ones she was meant to serve? Her mission was at the forefront of her mind.