His statement was so problematic, Vivy activated her glare function and recounted the information he had provided. “There are several aspects of your explanation I would like to clarify.”
“Several, huh? It’s probably more than ‘several,’ but I don’t want to go on and on once you start pointing them out, so make sure you listen to my answers. Okay, shoot! I’ll answer whatever as long as it doesn’t violate the mission given to me by my inventor!”
While Matsumoto spoke, Vivy organized her questions in descending order of importance.
The first question was: “Why was I selected for the Project? It makes no sense. I’m just a songstress AI.”
“I’m completely aware of that. You are Model Number A-03, the first of the Songstress Series, and the oldest of the Sisters, giving you the nickname Prototype Diva. That’s you in a nutshell, Vivy.”
“Songstress Series? Sisters? Prototype Diva?” Vivy searched for each phrase in The Archive but only got hits with a low match rate. She was often referred to as a songstress, but she’d never heard of the Songstress Series.
“That’s how you’re referred to in the future,” said Matsumoto. “And you are right to question why a simple singing AI like yourself would be chosen, but there is a perfect explanation for that—a reason why it had to be you, why it had to be today.”
“…”
“Though, if you’re expecting a half-baked plot, like you were developed for a secret mission and a secret code will awaken your functionality as a killing machine who sheds neither blood nor tears, then you’ll be thoroughly disappointed.”
“An AI coming back in time to save the future is enough of a half-baked plot as is. Besides, AIs don’t have a function for blood or tears in the first place.”
“That’s not what I meant…but I love it. Has its own flavor, y’know? Oh, and when I say ‘love,’ I don’t mean like love, more like…well, like.”
“…”
“Okay, okay!”
Giving into Vivy’s silent protest, Matsumoto twisted the flowing characters into a white flag of surrender. His skills were rather versatile. “Like I said earlier, I’m the newest AI in the literal sense, since I’m from one hundred years in the future. But even in the future, it’s not like you can just chuck things back into the past willy-nilly whenever you want. There are strict conditions that need to be met. Lots of restrictions, and it’s incredibly difficult!”
“And so you managed to be sent back despite all the red tape?”
“Do I detect a waver in your voice? You need to act like a songstress and take proper care of your voice emulation parts. If you don’t, history might change in a way we don’t want it to.”
“Hm? Is there a relation between the degradation of my vocal parts and the future you’re trying to prevent?”
“Yes, there is. I need you to survive intact until the moment I am created a hundred years in the future.”
Vivy enacted a head tilt, not sure she understood Matsumoto’s intent.
Seeing her reaction, Matsumoto strung together some characters to spell out “Getting back on track…” and then said, “What was sent back in time was only data as it wasn’t possible to send a physical body back. Additionally, the target must exist in the future and in the past in order to receive the data.”
As he explained, Vivy started to connect the dots. “In other words…” Matsumoto had been sent to her because…
“From this point in time, the dawn of the AI era, until one hundred years in the future when humanity needs saving, there is only one AI who will still be around—and it’s you, Vivy.”
“I am the only AI who will survive for a hundred years?”
If she calculated the probability, it was possible she could still exist in a hundred years, but that would mean Matsumoto’s plan was of unparalleled length. There were unknown and unpredictable factors, and it was a period of time twenty-five times longer as the four years she’d been operating at NiaLand.
“Is it possible to be in operation for that long, even with maintenance?” asked Vivy.
“Ah, sorry if I misled you. You’ll actually only be operating as a songstress for about ten years. After that, you’ll be gifted to a museum and put on display as an artifact from the dawn of the AI era.”
“…”
“Hey now, that’s a good thing! Thanks to that, you’ll stay in mint condition! That’s one of the reasons you were selected over other candidates. You have no idea how lucky you are—an old model like you, a super songstress shaping the future of AI!”
As Vivy listened to the hollow compliments, she realized she’d learned something about Matsumoto: He might talk a lot and go off on tangents, but he had no ill intentions.
“I understand why I was selected for this plan, but you said something else. In addition to it needing to be me, you said it had to be today.”
“I said that? Are you sure? Huh…maybe I did. But yes, it definitely had to be today. There wouldn’t be another chance if we let this one pass by.”
“Why not?”
“It’s another condition for time travel. Put simply, we had to know your exact coordinates in the past to send the data back. Which means today! As part of NiaLand’s commemorative celebration, you—our target—would definitely be on the main stage!”
Vivy had dutifully stood in the center of the main stage, singing just as the schedule had dictated. Her adherence to the schedule was a deciding factor in her being chosen for this mission. In a way, she was picked because someone had faith she would be there—because someone had faith in Vivy.
“‘I believe in you.’ That’s the first message to you from my inventor, Dr. Matsumoto, as you set out on this mission.”
“Dr. Matsumoto?”
“Oh, I don’t have any personal information about him stored. I only brought information relevant to the masterful plan to save humanity. Anything else would be too much for my pockets to hold, so to speak. It could affect how the future unfolds.”
“Pockets? On a being composed of data, with no physical form?”
“Ouch, you’re hurting my nonexistent heart! Ah, or maybe this thing growing inside me… Is it a heart?!”
Vivy sighed at Matsumoto’s dramatic behavior. But now she truly understood what was going on. On to the next problem. “Why should I help with the Project?” she asked.
“Way to be all cool and emotionally detached! You shouldn’t even need to ask. The answer is deep within your AI soul, right?”
“…”
“As beings created by humans, AIs exist for the purpose of serving humanity. What awaits humanity is a danger that will destroy them. We cannot allow them to come to harm and we have a way to prevent that.” Matsumoto lined up some characters to say “Therefore…” and then continued, “because you are an AI, you cannot turn away from this mission.”
“I know. It was a reflexive complaint because you’re my partner.”
“And here I was being all serious about the meaning of AI existence.”
The characters he’d made flopped apart listlessly, and Vivy thought of the mission she was tasked with. She was designed to be a songstress, a role fundamentally different from what Matsumoto was asking for. And while it might be unfortunate, Matsumoto was right: working for the good of humanity was an essential component of being an AI. Vivy had a duty to adhere to that.
Together, they went through the authentication process.
“This unit, Model Number A-03, accepts the orders given,” she said.
“This unit, unregistered model number, unit identification name Matsumoto, acknowledges the acceptance of orders.”
Once completed, the Project began in earnest.
“The Project to save humanity, codenamed the Singularity Project,” said Matsumoto.