Ch.14Work Record #002 – Appropriate Results (4)

“Well, I suppose that’s all for today’s investigation. We’ve already registered with Zaina, so our objective is technically complete…”

Even though I hadn’t wanted to involve Ms. Eve, her cool voice still carried traces of concern.

“Don’t try to do everything alone from start to finish, Arthur. If some high-ranking Belwether official asks you to take on a private request and go somewhere quiet, it’s okay to ask for help.”

I pondered for a moment. Would I be dragging Ms. Eve into danger? As head of security, she could probably summon a special operations team equipped with closed-system combat suits anywhere in Los Angeles within a minute.

In such a situation, having one more witness wouldn’t make things safer. There was only one way to be safe. Erasing information might not be easy, but it was certainly easier than hiding information that didn’t exist.

“Let’s make this an official emergency assignment under Belwether’s name. As it happens, I have a company senior nearby, so Stephanet can be the witness from Belwether’s side, and my senior can be the witness from our company.”

But the Shepherd, unpleasantly clicking his tongue, lowered his voice and whispered more casually. His attitude suggested he didn’t want this to become official business.

“I’m on holiday too, Shepherd Six. Just looking into some cold cases, so let’s not make this bigger than it needs to be. Your senior… well, they can come along. I just have a few questions—why so suspicious?”

“Because I heard similar words right before I almost became a non-person. ‘Don’t worry. It’s just a formality.’ Three hours later, bang! I was no longer Shepherd Six and had never worked at Belwether.”

I still believe in Belwether’s values. The face that Belwether’s AI showed me right before my dishonorable discharge was exactly what I believed Belwether to be. But I no longer trust Belwether’s people.

However, one comment shook that belief slightly. Ms. Eve tugged at my sleeve and whispered from behind me. Her voice remained cool and concise.

“It’s true. He’s the only Belwether person around here.”

The thought crept in that perhaps I was betraying someone else to compensate for being betrayed myself. I wasn’t originally this kind of person. Probably.

Maybe the Shepherd came looking for me with similar thoughts? My thinking was finally becoming more rational. In this high-speed era, trust was synonymous with everything.

The better we know each other, the harder it becomes to trust one another. Once we establish how well we know someone, anyone below that line becomes untrustworthy.

Yet we must still reach out. Otherwise, that line will only rise higher, and we’ll live in a world full of people we can’t trust.

“Alright. Let’s go. I’m sorry for being suspicious.”

The Shepherd shook his head. He said he would have been suspicious if I had trusted too easily.

“No, Shepherd Six. Being suspicious before trusting is a good attitude. Equally important is being willing to trust after the suspicion ends. Do you have that courage?”

“As much courage as you have to openly talk about a past that isn’t even mine anymore. Is that allowed?”

Thinking about it, it was strange. It’s odd that the Shepherd, who was my direct superior, wasn’t at the disciplinary committee. If Posthuman Type IV had been leaked, it would have warranted gathering the entire security team and information processing team, and then some.

And as far as I knew, the Shepherd wasn’t the type to delegate everything to the branch director and look away. There was a reason his call sign was “Shepherd.”

“It’s my protest for not being able to say a word about how my employee was treated. I was told I was contacted after I’d gone home, so I only received the report the next morning.”

We headed to a café slightly outside the downtown area. On our way out of the campaign hall, I was scolded again for covering the speakers, with Zaina members asking why I kept doing that. It didn’t matter much.

Though we were outside the downtown area, it was still just a corner of Los Angeles’s skyline, filled with skyscrapers. The entrance was on the first floor, but the room we rented was on the third.

The Shepherd had a warrior-like presence. His short brown hair looked military, and like me, he wore a Posthuman Type IV. Around one eye, he had a military-grade prosthetic with devices too complex to be streamlined. I didn’t know what mechanical devices filled his neck and spine, nor what components his hands contained—that was classified information to me.

This man now raised several drones and drew blackout curtains to prevent sound from leaking outside this small café room. Even calling me Shepherd Six was a security protocol violation.

Ms. Eve sat by the window. Her interest still seemed more focused on me than the Shepherd. She seemed curious about how I would navigate through unpleasant situations with people I disliked.

Three cups of non-synthetic tea arrived, and after taking a sip, the Shepherd finally spoke.

“You navigated the regulations well. Your actions aren’t technically problematic. Anyone would say you acted like someone from HR, but there’s no evidence. Do you remember the mercenary staffing company registration number of those thugs who tried to attack a mercenary in that alley full of drug addicts?”

Memorizing an eight-digit code wasn’t difficult for security personnel, especially those in the security division who often needed various passwords. The first four letters meant it was a mercenary staffing company.

“It was MHRC-11283769. They said they were attacking that mercenary because an emergency assignment had come in that morning, which seemed plausible when I thought about it.”

“You have the number. It is plausible, except that designating emergency assignments isn’t at the discretion of the mercenary management department. That’s the direct authority of the HR team above personnel management. And there must have been something unusual.”

Something unusual… Yes, there was one thing. They were all armed with Belwether equipment. From rifles to helmets, regardless of being gullible enough to believe a few words from me, they were thoroughly equipped.

“All their equipment was Belwether’s. Now that I think about it, I wonder how such people were so well-armed… Oh, right. When I went out with company colleagues looking for guns for mercenary work, the gun dealer mentioned that the black market was flooded with Belwether equipment.”

The Shepherd listened quietly to my words. When he tapped the table lightly with his finger, it produced a substantial resonance. Enhanced body indeed.

“And where did you meet that mercenary? You can tell me since I already know all the classified information. If it’s something this woman can hear too. If not, I can create a sound-proof space.”

I shook my head. It wasn’t something I particularly wanted to keep secret. Rather, not being able to tell anyone had been frustrating, and Ms. Eve had willingly stepped into my personal affairs.

“I’m only keeping quiet because Belwether issued a gag order. And I met that mercenary in the laboratory where this Posthuman Type IV I’m wearing was cultivated. What happened to that place?”

I told what I knew, what I had heard, and listened to what I didn’t know. I hadn’t wanted to get involved in company politics, but since it was no longer my company, I continued speaking willingly.

“It’s obvious. They wanted to make a copy using your brain, extract just the brain, and use it. The next room was an operating room. Doesn’t it all connect? Flooding the market with weapons, diverting one Posthuman Type IV using a dying employee’s brain… They used mercenary personnel to deal with those involved. My prediction is already set… but let me hear yours first. So your thoughts don’t get fixed.”

Is there someone who believes they can take on the security team with weapons and a Posthuman Type IV? That’s a ridiculous thought.

The reason Posthuman Type IV is Belwether’s greatest weapon isn’t because the person wearing it can tear dozens of closed combat suits to pieces. It’s just a body. Just a base.

But few outside the security team knew this. People focused on the glamour of the name “Posthuman Type IV” without checking the actual specifications.

I thought for a moment. First, the team most deeply involved was the HR team. And the only thing missing from everything diverted so far was manpower. The HR team manages that manpower.

“The HR director raising a private army… that sounds implausible.”

The Shepherd stroked his face with his cybernetics-filled hand and nodded.

“If it sounded plausible, I would have requested support from the legal assassination team and information processing team, and would be heading to the HR team with special operations units. Because it sounds implausible, I’m investigating personally. What kind of idiot would think starting a corporate civil war in a defense company is a good idea?”

“They haven’t been caught so far, and as you said, if they’re idiots, they might believe, ‘I can do it.'”

The Shepherd raised his hand that had been tapping the table and clenched his fist, but put it down quietly with a sigh. He too knew that breaking this café table wouldn’t help anything.

“It’s terrifying that it might actually be possible. Anyway, thanks for your cooperation. I needed someone I could trust who wasn’t involved in company politics. The branch director is an efficiency fanatic who would do anything to maintain efficiency no matter what happens behind the scenes. What did he tell you?”

“He said that from the company’s perspective, not setting a precedent was more important than saving one employee. Oh, do you know who Walter is? The copy-maker who cultivated me said he wouldn’t be pressured by Walter.”

The Shepherd shook his head too. Names were the most classified information. Once you could identify someone by name, it became much easier to discover more about them. The higher-ups should only be known by their rank and call sign.

“Probably the HR director’s name. It’s mutually confidential, so I don’t know other directors’ names, and they don’t know mine. The branch director would know, but if evidence emerges, things will simplify.”

After finishing his words, the Shepherd emptied his teacup. The heat of the tea would barely be noticeable to a Posthuman. He exhaled a frustrated breath and said:

“Since I’ve received something, I should give something in return. Is there anything you want to know? I’m sure there’s a lot.”

This was a gesture of goodwill. He was offering me a sweetener because I had willingly trusted and cooperated with him. I needed to take advantage. There was only one thing I wanted to ask.

“That… the bioengineering monstrosity who was once a test volunteer. Do you know where it is?”

“Planning revenge?”

“Call it closure. I want to get away from that damned incident as soon as possible. Do you know?”

The Shepherd shook his head again, indicating he didn’t know. Even as the Shepherd, he was just one cog in the company machine. An important cog connected to many others, but not extraordinary.

“We lost it. It moved intelligently. It’s probably hiding somewhere in the wastelands around Los Angeles, but we don’t know exactly. Do you know how many people died that day?”

“I heard I was the only one who died because of the monstrosity. Since I’m alive… no one died at the scene.”

The Shepherd clicked his tongue bitterly. Perhaps the security division was the only place that avoided tragedy.

“We had evacuated all employees to the staff wing and were engaging in combat with the security doors closed, when for some reason, one security door opened. The corrosive gas bombs that the Zaina members detonated leaked inside. In an emergency, security doors shouldn’t open on anyone’s command except by my direct authority… One hundred and sixty-nine died. I remember each name.”

As he spoke, mechanical sounds emanated from his body. The sounds of Belwether’s combat machinery activating, then subsiding.

Belwether was a company that established order, and the security team protected that order… but the driving force behind the Shepherd seemed to be something other than order. After a moment of silence, the Shepherd continued.

“Because of that, Los Angeles almost erupted into a corporate war between Belwether’s branch and other major corporations’ branches, so other companies… including major corporations, handed over all employees who were Zaina members and had no alibi that day. This probably wasn’t in any press release or data that Stephanet could access. It wasn’t the kind of thing that could be posted there.”

Now one thing made sense. Belwether didn’t believe the “just a few heretics” explanation. More precisely, they didn’t fully believe it. They only believed it after killing everyone who might possibly be part of those few heretics.

Zaina had shed enough blood. Innocent blood was surely mixed in… but that had appeased Belwether’s anger. A corporate war was the worst of all possible outcomes.

I couldn’t tell if it was a just result. I hadn’t witnessed the process directly and had only heard about it, so I couldn’t even know how many real terrorists were among them.

The way to prevent war is to use every method less horrific than war itself. I was actually relieved that a sound-proof space had appeared around Ms. Eve at some point. I slowly exhaled.

It seemed I no longer needed to pursue Zaina. I thought I would be going in circles, but now I felt like I’d found an exit. I had thought I was surrounded by enemies, but in reality, I was surrounded by graves.

So my target is just that bioengineering monstrosity. If I kill it, perhaps the past scenes overlapping with today dozens of times will end, as will remembering things I don’t want to remember. A new path will appear.

Which side is right? No, more precisely… what’s right and what’s wrong? I knew Belwether was on one side, but I couldn’t even guess what was on the other side of the scale.

I thought knowing the answer would bring relief, but all that remains is greater confusion. They say the sky is blue because of refraction. Perhaps Los Angeles’s sky is gray because it reflects the city.

“It’s the first time I’ve felt more confused after finding an answer. Still, I feel a bit better. It seems not everything I experienced today was useless.”

“I probably have no idea how you feel, Shepherd Six. No one will. But don’t let even yourself fail to understand you. Rest well. You seem to have found a good company, so work hard there, and don’t fixate on revenge. Well… I should go find that Jack fellow in the brain prison. Anything else to say?”

“No, nothing at all.”

My response came out quite businesslike. The tea had gone cold. After the Shepherd left, the sound-proof space disappeared too. Ms. Eve, who hadn’t taken even a sip of her tea, quietly spoke up.

Her voice tried to be cool but couldn’t manage it. That made it sound more sincere.

“I’m sorry. I pushed you into this. I… I thought you were someone who could make any story turn out well. I dreamed of us conducting this trivial investigation today and returning with some minor clue.”

I wasn’t angry with her. It would be stupid to target the person in front of me just because I didn’t know who to be angry with.

“No, it’s not like that. We did get a clue that wasn’t minor, so it wasn’t just a dream. And now you’ve seen it. I’m just an ordinary person too. I just try to make things work out somehow. Quite different from your first impression, right?”

I took a sip of the cold tea. My insides felt a little less burned, but the situation hadn’t changed much. Watching me from the side, Ms. Eve quietly shook her head. She seemed to be smiling a little.

“No, you’re still exactly as my first impression.”