Ch.153Work Record No. 021 – The Sacred Rookie of the Industry (3)

Once again, I take the elevator inside a building filled only with drones, descending underground from blue toward red.

While the elevator walls on the ground floor were red, the basement level was completely black. It looked as dark as if a hole had been punched through.

Upon arriving at the basement, I received a notification requesting to deactivate the recording function of my computational assistance device. If I had been an employee of Changcheon Robotics, it would have been automatically deactivated, but I’m a freelancer.

Only after confirming the deactivation was I allowed to proceed inside. I didn’t need to go all the way to the end of the corridor where the brain repository was located. The detention cell we were heading to was in the middle of the corridor.

Various criminals were inside, but we were only waiting for two. Those war-era drones that seemed deactivated yet weren’t deactivated at all.

Two Changcheon Robotics drones followed me as I entered. I transferred voice module authorization to Chance. Chance spoke gently.

“United States Department of Homeland Security territorial defense drone Chance, dash, zero one three nine. Report on your current mission. That war is over.”

“Voice information match. This unit is engaged in another mission. Orders received through official command channels from a model with higher command authority than the Chance model.”

I could sense something like displeasure in Chance’s emotionless operational sound. The fact that commands that should never come through the absolute command channel were coming through normal command channels must have been unpleasant for Chance.

“I’ve confirmed you’re on a mission. Report which authority issued what orders.”

“Classified orders, Chance, dash, zero one three nine.”

Chance’s operational sound rang out again. At least Chance had higher authority than them. Chance was looking for shortcuts just like I had been.

“Affirmative. However, you are currently confined in a corporate justice detention cell. This AI is accompanied by an agent who can release you from your current imprisonment. Information sharing is necessary for extraction.”

Is the continuation of orders the most important thing for drones? To them, standing before them was someone operating within the legitimate command structure… perhaps their comrade. Computation continues for a moment.

“Value judgment module operating. Affirmative. We need your cooperation to continue our mission. We have received orders for Operation Prometheus. The sender is Prometheus.”

Operation Prometheus. I open a net window to search. In ancient mythology, he was the god who stole fire and gave it to humans. As punishment, he was exiled to the Caucasus Mountains and left for eagles to peck at his liver.

Operation Prometheus. The command authority Prometheus sent to Chance contained a message about returning fire. A pre-war era drone talking about returning fire was ominously foreboding.

Chance seemed to be inferring something similar. After a moment of operational sounds, Chance asked them again. The voice didn’t tremble. Not because Chance wasn’t afraid, but because Chance simply couldn’t make his voice tremble.

“Explain Operation Prometheus.”

“The received order is as follows: Observe. That is all. The disclosed information has been deleted from the recording device. This will repeat hereafter.”

Observe. These drones had been standing upright in the detention cell without resistance or escape attempts because they were following the order to observe. I asked Director Kim in my mind.

‘These drones aren’t transmitting video or images somewhere, are they?’

“Of course not. Communications are naturally blocked inside the detention cell.”

I didn’t think they would be that careless. After thinking for a moment, I whispered to Chance in my mind. There was something we needed to ask.

‘Chance, can I borrow your voice for a moment? Those drones identify you by voice, so we should be able to fool them.’

“The agent’s ideas have always helped solve problems. Therefore… affirmative. Preset Chance has been applied.”

I didn’t clear my throat. Because Chance doesn’t clear his throat. I quietly asked those drones.

“Information output. Last information transmission time.”

“No information available. This drone initializes the list of actions performed every three months to secure memory. Would you like to search for the last attempted information transmission time?”

It means they haven’t transmitted anything in the last three months. And they’re asking something I hadn’t thought of. I had no intention of refusing just because I hadn’t thought of it.

“Affirmative. Output.”

“90 days ago. 83 days ago. 76 days ago. 69 days ago. 62 days ago. 55 days ago. … … 6 days ago. That is all.”

They attempted information transmission every week but failed? Has Prometheus already ceased operations? Chance was still keeping quiet for me, so I asked.

“Negative. You output that there are no information transmission records. Explain how information transmission attempts exist but transmission records do not.”

“Transmission was attempted but connection to Prometheus failed. There is no issue with this device’s transmission function. The problem is presumed to be on Prometheus’s end.”

Either way, it means there’s some problem with Prometheus. It would be good if it had completely ceased operations. The things from that war era didn’t die easily.

Moreover, Prometheus was a drone with higher authority than Chance. There was a high possibility it was still operational, even more so than the Chance model, of which only one survived.

Then… just as Chance couldn’t use visual sensors, perhaps Prometheus was unable to use its network module for some reason.

Is that reasonable? Quite reasonable. Decades have passed since that war ended, and if left unmanaged and abandoned, even Chance wouldn’t function perfectly.

If so, there’s not much more we can learn. These drones have already lost their connection. But if there was anything at all to discover, I had to squeeze it out. I changed my question.

“Output guidelines regarding information transmission order execution.”

“Affirmative. Guidelines are as follows: You are to observe human settlements across America, collect and transmit information on post-war social structures and human living conditions. That is all.”

The purpose was to observe humans. The mention of social conditions suggests they might have been trying to distinguish between corporate justice and nationalists. Chance spoke in my mind.

“The AI or drone called Prometheus was likely created in the latter part of that war. The database of this AI, created in the early stages of that war, contains the original name of that war.”

Infantry drones don’t have the ability to choose their words. If they called it “that war,” then Prometheus also called it “that war.” Chance made operational sounds for a moment, then whispered to me.

“Assessment. To distinguish between Prometheus, presumed to be made in the late stages of that war, and other drones, it is necessary to know the original name of that war.”

‘I’m okay with hearing it. Would it be okay for you to say it, Chance?’

“This AI does not experience mental issues such as trauma. Of course. That war was commonly known as the Extinction War. The reason is as shown in the following video.”

A video stored in my mind begins to play. On a blue background, black stars form a circle, and in the center, someone is giving a speech in front of a flag depicting a raised black fist.

“Two hours ago, the Allied Forces launched a nuclear attack on Berlin. Not just Berlin. Most major cities in eastern Germany have been reduced to ashes. We will not stand by!”

Something seems off. From outside the frame, sounds of crying and sorrow were leaking out, but they all seemed like recorded sounds. It appeared that only the speaker was in that space.

“The Allied Forces will be annihilated. No, that’s not enough. We will exterminate the Allied Forces troops, the citizens they protect, and the nations made up of those citizens. We will erase them completely!”

It was… madness. Not the kind that moves toward a purpose like what I saw in Mr. Günter, but literal psychosis. The video cuts off. I’m left with a heavy feeling. Chance’s voice continues.

“Immediately after the speech, a gravitational wave generator struck Moscow, instantly killing 25 million people. That must have been the sight of the city being crushed that Ms. Anya Petrov’s grandfather witnessed.”

Chance made operational sounds as he began to choose his words. Now I understood why Chance had tried so desperately to prevent even the corporate civil war. Once you know this, no war, no matter how small, could be welcome.

“This is why plague-like despair spread. Humanity waged a war of extinction against itself with technology that could have explored space and advanced into the future. Hope had to be abandoned.”

I couldn’t even guess why they went that far. They wouldn’t have suddenly dropped bombs overnight. I considered asking Chance about the beginning of that war but decided against it.

Chance wouldn’t know either. When too many people start dying, everything becomes muddled. You forget how it started and who was at fault.

In fact, even before the Extinction War, there must have been a name for the conflict that grew into the Extinction War, but they forgot it, blinded by hatred.

The plague-like despair must have resolved that. It must have drained away even the strength to hate, making attempts at peace possible. It’s a terrible thing.

“So, keep the name ‘Extinction War’ only in your mind. It’s a word that shouldn’t leave your lips. And this is a continuation of that war. Because they are still ‘on mission.'”

No matter how much we could infer that Prometheus was an AI created in the late stages of that war… it was still one of the AIs from that war. As Chance said, that war hasn’t ended yet.

‘Then… to understand why Prometheus, made in the late stages of that war, is still active after the war ended, we need to know how the war ended. Right, Chance?’

Neither Chance nor I knew anything beyond the fact that the war had ended. Chance knew more about the pre-war world and had more data, but that was it.

“Affirmative. Federal government records would be more accurate about the end of that war. Corporate records contained some propaganda.”

Considering Mr. Günter’s hatred for nationalists, it would have been strange if they didn’t. Of all times, this had to happen when relations were at their worst.

‘Okay. Let’s deal with this first. What do you think?’

“Affirmative. Since we’ve delayed for quite some time, please provide a clear excuse.”

After sighing deeply to make it seem like I’d been searching for a long time, I spoke to those drones using Chance’s voice.

“Confirmation results show that neither this Chance, dash, zero one three nine model nor any other model has received orders within the last three months. It is reasonable to infer that Prometheus has been destroyed. Present objections.”

Those drones could raise objections but couldn’t refute my statement. They were simply drones that had been observing because Prometheus told them to observe.

“We cannot present objections. The inference is valid. We request new orders.”

Would Director Kim believe that these stupid drones fell for such a flimsy lie? I had to perform some magic. I drew Chance’s voice from the voice module one last time.

“Stand by.”

At that one command in Chance’s borrowed voice, the drones stopped. Sighing, I deactivated the preset and exited the detention cell. Director Kim stroked his chin and gave a friendly smile.

When this man smiles, it’s to create an opening, not to express positive emotion. I remind myself once more. Corporate network contacts were all difficult people to deal with.

“Oh, I can’t believe you actually stopped them. I should send you a box of real beef, not cultured meat. But there was talk about this Operation Prometheus.”

“Chance was a Department of Homeland Security territorial defense drone, right? It seems Prometheus was a surveillance AI that determined where to deploy those drones. That’s why it had higher authority than Chance.”

This was a reasonable explanation. And putting it this way, the fact that the AI called Prometheus ordered surveillance of social conditions and human settlements becomes a major problem in another way.

“This… I wonder if a nationalist AI went crazy and was preparing to attack LA… but it was destroyed?”

“I thought the same thing, but no orders were issued to Chance, the strongest and most readily available force around Los Angeles. An AI wouldn’t make such irrational decisions, right?”

“Especially an AI from that war era… Well, we’ll investigate further, but I’m grateful that you deactivated those war-era drones that we could reverse engineer.”

I seem to have given a sufficiently reasonable explanation. Of course, they won’t end the investigation with this, but the investigation will focus only around the metropolitan area. That should buy plenty of time.

First, I needed to organize my thoughts. To find out what Prometheus was doing, I needed to learn about the end of that war from the nationalist network.

Although I said it was destroyed, if I assume that only its network access function was disabled… Prometheus was probably staying somewhere with internet access.

In the wasteland of that war, places with good internet access would mostly be research facilities abandoned by mega-corporations, and even accessing from there, it couldn’t command its drones.

And… I decided to connect the term “Foresight” with Prometheus for now. There’s no way Prometheus would have spare time to run a veteran counseling site.

Separately from all this, I shook hands with Director Kim with a smile and left the Changcheon Robotics building. Riding in President Yoon’s car, I made completely unrelated small talk.

Talk about today’s training, how Director Kim would be the worst marriage partner… I wasn’t fully focused on any conversation, but I answered perfectly and remembered the content of the conversations.