Ch.115New Position! (5)

#115

Himena approached the Libertron and gazed at the components inside its body, which were functioning properly as always, and said:

“How have you been?”

[……Affirmative… it is.]

The same consistent voice output as always.

But to Himena, it sounded a bit different.

‘The voice seems to be dragging a bit.’

As the person who had conversed with the Libertron the most within OSA, she could easily sense the awkwardness.

“Are you malfunctioning? Somehow your voice output doesn’t sound right.”

Himena looked at the Libertron with a worried expression.

[Agent Libero.]

But instead of answering, the Libertron reversed the situation by asking Himena a question.

“Yes?”

[What will, happen, to me?]

This was the first time Himena had experienced the Libertron asking about its own fate.

“What did you say?”

[What will, happen, to me, regarding my disposition?]

“Disposition?”

Himena had only been in charge of the initial investigation; the management of the Libertron had been transferred to the Science and Technology Department.

Naturally, Himena, who didn’t know what would happen to the Libertron afterward, twirled her hair with her finger and said:

“Well… since you haven’t talked about the space cargo ship crash, the Science and Technology Department is thinking of using ‘physical means’ to extract data from you.”

[You mean, they will, extract my data, through physical means?]

“You wouldn’t talk, right?”

Himena had her points to make.

“Whenever something comes up, you say it’s not on the list or whatever, so of course OSA’s position is that they want to know the data even if they have to physically take you apart. I’m not particularly happy about the idea of dismantling a perfectly functioning robot for investigation either.”

[Not happy, about it?]

“Yeah. I don’t like it either.”

Himena said, pouting her lips.

“Even if you’re a robot and not a human, how can they just take you apart? Of course, I don’t see robots and humans as equals. I think of you more like a cute animal, like a dog or a cat.”

It’s human nature not to easily discard or destroy even inanimate objects if one has affection for them.

Naturally, the Libertron couldn’t understand Himena’s way of thinking.

[A robot is, a robot. Not a, living being.]

“I know that, okay? It’s just how I feel.”

Himena responded with an irritated voice to the Libertron’s seemingly contradictory behavior.

“And when I say that’s how I feel, why do you keep arguing? Do you have a problem with me?”

Although the Libertron was a robot, it could sufficiently recognize human emotional states and respond accordingly.

The Libertron was scanning Himena’s face while checking her heart rate and blood pressure.

[No. That was not, my intention.]

“Anyway, I’m very uncomfortable about what’s going to happen to you. Couldn’t you have told me earlier?”

‘As if a robot would understand what I’m saying… I should just call Jesse and get back to work.’

Shaking her head, Himena was about to leave the Libertron’s side with a wave of her hand when the Libertron turned toward her and output:

[If I, tell Agent Libero, the whole story….]

“Huh?”

As Himena approached closer, the Libertron continued:

[Can I, be protected?]

“Protected? What do you mean?”

Himena frowned and asked, not understanding the Libertron’s words, and the Libertron output once more:

[If I tell, everything I know, can I, survive?]

‘There’s something here.’

Himena, who had been briefly considering whether she should make promises about the Libertron’s survival, nodded.

“I think that might be possible.”

[We should, change, locations.]

The Libertron, judging it difficult to talk through the glass wall, requested a change of venue.

* * *

-Thud, Boom!

When loud noises started coming from near the house in the scorching midday heat, Jesse, wondering what the sound was, looked outside and was shocked by what she saw.

Construction materials were piling up in the empty lot next to the house, casually dressed construction workers were moving about, and Dexter, wearing sunglasses, was giving directions with hand gestures.

Startled, Jesse hurriedly went outside and approached Dexter.

“W-what is all this?”

“I thought you’d be studying mechanics?”

“How can I study with all this noise? Anyway, what’s going on here? Are you building a house?”

Confused, Jesse pointed at metal rods longer than Dexter’s height and sandwich panels.

Dexter, who had forgotten the most important explanation, grinned and said:

“Ah, right. Las Vegas is a desert so it doesn’t rain much, but the dust is terrible.”

“…Yes?”

“I bought you a car, and I don’t want it rolling around in dust.”

Looking at what appeared to be a building under construction and thinking about the car and dust Dexter mentioned, Jesse pointed at the materials and said:

“Don’t tell me this is a prefab garage?”

“Yeah. Nice, right?”

“Boss, should we move this over here?”

One of the workers asked Dexter.

“No, make it face this way…”

After giving appropriate instructions to the worker, Dexter put his arm around Jesse and said:

“The car is too beautiful to cover with some cheap cloth.”

Dexter’s finger was pointing at the Stingray covered with a white cloth.

“True, it does seem wrong to just cover it with cloth.”

“Exactly, so we need a garage.”

The workers watching the two chatting couldn’t help but give envious glances.

‘This young guy already…’

‘Couldn’t they do this somewhere else?’

If Dexter had just looked like a nouveau riche with money, it might have been different, but it was his appearance that left the workers speechless.

They couldn’t say anything, but kept staring, and Jesse, who couldn’t ignore their gazes, escaped from Dexter’s embrace and darted back into the house.

“Not that way, this way. This way.”

Realizing that Jesse had fled because of the workers’ stares, Dexter frowned and continued giving work instructions.

By the time the prefab garage was half-built, Jesse, who had been inside the house, approached Dexter struggling with a large bucket.

“What’s that?”

“Drinks. It’s hot working outside in this weather.”

When Dexter looked inside the bucket, he saw it was filled with water, cans of drinks, and large ice packs floating around.

Jesse handed the bucket to Dexter and said:

“You distribute them.”

“Why?”

“I’m just feeling shy, okay?”

“Fine, whatever.”

Though he couldn’t understand what she was shy about, Dexter took the bucket and distributed the drink cans to the workers.

“Please have these while you work.”

“Oh, thank you very much.”

After Dexter had distributed drinks to most of the workers and turned around, he could see Jesse peeking from the window.

‘She’s acting like a shy kid.’

While Dexter and Jesse were spending a peaceful day on Earth…

Rascal, heading toward the glass wall in the corner of the Science and Technology Department office to carry out the orders he received from the man, had his eyes wide open in shock.

“Where the hell did this tin can go?”

The Libertron that should have been inside the glass wall had completely disappeared.

As Rascal was panicking, a Science and Technology Department employee passing by looked at him and said:

“Agent Rascal, what brings you here?”

“The tin—I mean, the Libertron that was here. Where did it go?”

Seeing Rascal’s urgency, the employee looked at him somewhat suspiciously and said:

“Agent Libero took it earlier, saying the robot was finally ready to talk, and borrowed an interrogation room. Why?”

‘Damn it!’

Rascal, trying hard to hide his panic, told the employee he was just curious and left his post, heading toward the emergency stairs.

After confirming no one was in the stairwell, Rascal took out his phone and immediately made a call.

-…Didn’t you say we should communicate via text messages during work hours because it’s dangerous?

When the man’s voice came through, Rascal answered in a hushed voice:

“Who cares about that when we’re about to be screwed! This tin can is trying to tell an OSA agent everything!”

-I have no idea what you’re talking about. Why don’t you calm down a bit?

“Hah… Until just now, the Libertron was trapped behind reinforced glass so I couldn’t destroy it, but suddenly it’s telling another agent about this incident.”

-Why couldn’t you destroy it in the first place?

“I told you! I couldn’t approach it because of the reinforced glass wall.”

-Couldn’t you have simply said you’d take charge of the investigation and asked for the robot to be brought out?

Not understanding the man’s words, Rascal complained:

“The agent in charge of that tin can is Himena Libero. Whatever I do, she’s bound to be suspicious, so how could I approach freely? God, this is frustrating.”

‘What an extremely rude fellow.’

The man, though Rascal was his hired spy, felt irritated by his disrespectful attitude.

-Watch your language.

“Ah, yes. Anyway, you need to give me some solution. Otherwise, this tin can is going to put my life in danger too.”

-Normally, we would have destroyed the Libertron with a remote control device, but as you know, the OSA headquarters is underground and due to signal interference, I told you to detonate it manually.

“So what am I supposed to do? You say it can only be detonated manually, but I can’t even approach it!”

‘This guy really, with every word…’

The man, suppressing his anger once more, replied:

-…I’ll send an application to your phone for erasing the Libertron’s data.

“And then?”

-Obviously, you activate the application to erase the data.

“Is that all?”

-However, for security reasons, you’ll need to physically destroy your phone afterward.

“Will you buy me a new phone then?”

Not noticing the anger in the man’s voice, Rascal complained, and the man’s voice became notably heavier:

-…Watch your words. I hired you, not the other way around.

Hearing the man’s cold voice, Rascal cleared his throat and answered in a subdued tone:

“I’ll be careful.”

-…I’m hanging up now.

After ending the call, Rascal clicked his tongue once.

“As if I don’t want to blow it up? He’s really getting on my nerves. He should have equipped a robot that could be remotely detonated from the beginning.”

Rascal was resentful of the man who hadn’t told him about the simpler method of data erasure when he had said the Libertron could only be detonated manually.

While continuously complaining, Rascal soon received an application link and instructions from the man.

[It’s disguised as a calculator app. Enter the following formula in the calculator.]

Below the message was a formula at the level of basic arithmetic.

‘If he had prepared this, he should have told me earlier. I’ve already drawn suspicion by going back and forth near the Libertron.’

With an annoyed face, Rascal headed toward the interrogation room near the Residency Management Department.

He remembered that Himena usually used the interrogation room near the Residency Management Department when questioning suspects or witnesses.

‘I can’t believe I have to take this risk because of that tin can.’

Biting his lip and lamenting his situation, Rascal hurried to the interrogation room before the Libertron could reveal his information.