Ch.191Work Record #029 – Can’t Look Away (1)

Unlike what I had told Ruiner, I couldn’t lounge around with Ms. Eve until morning. If everything was prepared, moving quickly was the best strategy.

When a goal is set, everything else becomes tolerable. After receiving word from Arthur-2 that the night watch duties were complete, I informed Ms. Eve that my work had also finished successfully and immediately contacted Kay.

“Calling right after work… Can’t you wait until next week’s day off, Arthur? I thought the Transparent Eye was still docile enough that calling me later wouldn’t be too late!”

“The Transparent Eye’s followers have started causing trouble. They even hired technomancers and have been killing and reviving Belwether employees to find the Transparent Eye.”

Kay let out a deep sigh. A point on a map immediately appeared in my field of vision. It must be the research facility where the Transparent Eye was located.

“I thought one idiot like me would be enough, but don’t you think the world is filling up with more and more stupid people, Arthur? If only there were more rare specimens like you!”

“Do I really need to remind you twice that Belwether has a whole bunch of people like me? You must have seen them at the party.”

Before Arthur-2 returns, I grab a grenade rifle and head out again. I go down to the parking lot and get on my bike. Today is a day for overtime work.

“I didn’t see them at all. There was a truckload of kids like you… and you know that feeling where you’d be caught if you made eye contact? I’ll tell you how I feel after the job, but there was something strange.”

She sends a second map. While the first was aerial reconnaissance using long-range drones, the second was a more detailed reconnaissance using smaller drones with shorter range.

Near the building housing the incomplete copy of the Transparent Eye, there were clear signs of human activity. Tire tracks from vehicles with wasteland chains and periodically appearing garbage were evident.

“These look like signs of someone living there, don’t they? Does it make sense that someone would be living in a facility where the Transparent Eye is active, Arthur? It’s strange! Do you know anything about this?”

Androids wouldn’t produce that much garbage, and even opponents of the Eye wouldn’t have reason to detain the Transparent Eye. So, humans? What would humans be doing living in the wasteland?

There weren’t many better places to hide from megacorporations than the wasteland. Coco’s father was also in the wasteland… He had said he was hiding in a Belwether-owned facility.

The place Kay’s reconnaissance showed had a faint Belwether logo engraved on it. He had claimed he could fully control the base’s systems. That was impossible.

Even Kay, who had directly breached Belwether’s security systems, could only escape by hoping the Transparent Eye would be released when she was detected.

Was Coco’s father a better hacker than Kay? It was possible, but there was no evidence to support it. He hadn’t used extraordinary hacking skills to steal personal information.

Combining all assumptions, someone was granting authority to Coco’s father. The possibility that it was the Transparent Eye… wasn’t that low. It clearly had control over the base.

If it didn’t, it couldn’t have received the distress signal and ordered androids to find the original Transparent Eye. The pieces were starting to fit together.

The Transparent Eye had been hiding, relying on the prejudice that only one person would be living in a house. More worryingly, it might be planning to transfer itself to the net through Coco.

“I do know someone who lives in the wasteland, specifically in a base formerly used by Belwether… and who claims to have hacked that base. Just a moment.”

I immediately access Coco’s store game. After answering Coco’s nonsensical questions according to the rules, I connect directly to Coco’s father.

“What is it, Officer Bear? If it’s about the nickname Coco randomly generated, I’ve agreed not to take any more complaints. That Ilbelli or whatever was making such a fuss…”

Instead of answering, I recited the coordinates Kay had found. He was at least quick-witted. He immediately recognized that I was the mercenary who had threatened him over Jerome Solverson and responded.

“Ah, so this is the ID you use. I wondered who it was, since the user should be dead by now. And… you have no reason to threaten me, right? I never threatened Jerome Solverson.”

“I’m very grateful for that. In fact, that’s why I’m contacting you. You’re at those coordinates now, correct? The old android research lab that Belwether used.”

“I thought you already knew everything when you contacted me. Yes, that’s right. And what exactly do you mean by exposing someone’s location as a favor?”

I briefly considered how to explain, but I already had principles to follow.

One, don’t expose Kay. One, expose the Transparent Eye but not enough for Coco’s father to call Belwether. Silence was vital.

If I could establish a proper friendly relationship with a merchant who ran a sizable black market, that wouldn’t be something to refuse. It was time to speak.

“There’s no greater favor than letting someone know they’re being deceived. A few years ago, there was an incident where some hacker crashed into Belwether and released something called the Transparent Eye, right?”

“Yes, the Transparent Eye. The savior of androids and… an AI that would supposedly trigger an android rebellion if awakened. I heard it has remarkable autonomous thinking capabilities, as well as infiltration or escape abilities.”

He knew quite a bit. Perhaps it was natural for someone who was passionate enough about AI to be attached to Coco.

“I’ve obtained some crucial information about the Transparent Eye. That place where you’re staying, you know it was Belwether’s android research and production facility, right?”

“I do… know that. Yes. When I entered, the generators were still working well, and although there’s almost no data left… I’m somewhat attached to it since it’s where I coded Coco. What’s the problem?”

“The problem is that the Transparent Eye was an AI that Belwether was developing to give androids humanity. And you said you had completely taken control of that facility, right?”

He apparently didn’t know that the Transparent Eye was a Belwether project. It wasn’t that classified, but I only learned about it after infiltrating with Kay.

“That means… I didn’t take control of the facility, but someone handed over operational control to me…”

“And that someone is the Transparent Eye. The information I received was that the last copy of the Transparent Eye is right there. The source is reliable.”

Because it’s the person who released the Transparent Eye in the first place, I thought but didn’t say aloud. Coco’s father seemed to finally grasp the seriousness of the situation.

“So, what, you want me to call Belwether? No, that doesn’t make sense. I’ve been staying here for more than just a day or two, and I don’t know if it’s the Transparent Eye or just a facility malfunction.”

“What’s there isn’t a complete Transparent Eye. It’s incomplete, and… missing crucial parts. That’s why I’m going to retrieve it myself.”

Why would freelancer Arthur Murphy want to retrieve the Transparent Eye alone? The reason is simple. He wants to gain recognition from Belwether. Why? Ambition. I check my story again.

“By yourself? I won’t stop you if it’s safe, but what are you going to do with it…”

“I need to build a better reputation with Belwether. As a freelancer, there’s a limit to what I can do on my own without any backing. I need an opportunity to get Belwether’s support.”

Do I appear sufficiently ambitious? I should. In fact, I did have ambition. Despite my connection with Mr. Günter, I needed to maintain a good reputation with Belwether.

“Huh. So you’re going to scratch Belwether’s itch and gain their trust. Being a freelancer must be inconvenient, especially one with ambition. What do you want me to do?”

“I’ll go there, so please take all your equipment that can connect to the net or Coco’s server offline and evacuate. It might try to use Coco.”

Coco must be his sore spot. For whatever reason, he cherished Coco more than people. There might be a deceased daughter or something similar, but I didn’t speculate.

Speculation would be disrespectful. Coco’s father considered for a moment but eventually nodded. His answer, however, wasn’t quite what I had requested.

“Alright. But instead of evacuating, I’ll wait in a room with means to connect to the net. If it can handle androids, reconnecting severed lines would be nothing.”

“It might be armed. You may be a father and a black market merchant and whatnot, but that list doesn’t include mercenary or security team.”

“Huh. You seem to have overlooked the fact that Coco’s store game has a customer support team, freelancer.”

The noise cancellation on the communication channel turns off, and the heavy click of a pump-action shotgun being loaded echoes. One of the simplest ways to deal with dissatisfied customers.

“Not entirely reassuring… but not bad. Please send me the internal map and your position. Chance, estimated arrival time?”

“Approximately fifty-five minutes. There’s no reason for the Transparent Eye to suddenly take action now. Time shouldn’t be a major issue.”

“Confirmed. I’ll be there within an hour, so please wait. The Transparent Eye might be watching through surveillance systems, so try not to appear too vigilant.”

Judging by its inaction so far, even the copy of the Transparent Eye probably wouldn’t move for ordinary behavior. After ending the call with Coco’s father, I reconnected with Kay, who had been listening.

“You heard that? We’ve gained another ally. I thought this was a ‘situation where lying was necessary,’ what about you, Kay?”

I’m not asking her to follow my lead. I just hope she can trust people when lies aren’t necessary. After a moment’s consideration, Kay responds.

“I agree. Saying ‘That hacker who released the Transparent Eye is my colleague, and I’m working for them’ would be the worst. Instant negotiation failure. This is a time when lies are necessary.”

I decide to drive manually this time and head to Kay’s place. She was already waiting outside, prepared, holding a storage device with an eye symbol drawn on its surface. It was what she had intended to use last time.

She had planned to hand over the original Transparent Eye’s main cognitive core to Deputy Director Dewey Novak but abandoned the idea out of concern for the copy. This time would be different.

Everyone carries only as much burden as they can bear. That’s what Ms. Serena said. And this weight was certainly something I could bear. Together, we head toward the vast wasteland.

I responded to Arthur-2’s message saying I was going out to finish some post-work cleanup and asked him to keep it from Ms. Eve, as she would worry. He wouldn’t be suspicious.

The wasteland is vast and gray. With the darkness just before dawn, Kay’s concerns, and the gloom, finding the road wasn’t easy, but driving had never been difficult for me.

We follow the road for a while before putting wasteland chains on the tires and heading into the wasteland. Soon we would meet the Transparent Eye. Finally, we would meet it.

I must take everything I can. I can’t be satisfied with just helping Kay or just gaining reputation with Belwether. I must eagerly pursue both.

I need to remember the uncertainty principle. If I move too slowly, I become nobody. To define who I am, I must move quickly. I cannot draw the final mark on the speedometer.

After driving through the wasteland for quite some time, we arrive at the Belwether-owned android research and production facility where Coco’s father was hiding, its exterior weathered by the crystallized dust and sand of the wasteland.

Though abandoned for only a few years, the building was already quite worn from exposure to the wasteland’s harsh environment. On our way in, we check the garbage incinerator that Kay had identified.

What we’ll face inside isn’t androids. Dealing with unarmed androids wouldn’t be difficult even barehanded.

What we need to be careful of is the AI. Although it’s from several years ago, it’s the AI that nearly caused a large-scale android rebellion.

Fortunately, I had a countermeasure. In the corner of my vision, a shield logo with a woman’s head with snake hair was already displayed. I call out.

“Aegis.”

“Aegis system is online. No abnormal access detected at present.”

“Not yet. I’m about to retrieve an AI that might try to infiltrate through abnormal access. Your advice?”

“Proceed.”

It was a response devoid of humanity, but I chose to interpret it as “I’ll handle information security, so work at ease.”

Kay and I push open the door to the building. Unlike the eroded exterior, the interior was almost intact. The long-abandoned Belwether logo gleams inside.

We walk through the lobby, now without even a reception AI. There was no dust on the floor. Probably because this was a hideout. Footprints would remain if dust accumulated.

We move toward the location Coco’s father had sent. Aegis still hadn’t reported any abnormal access. Chance’s voice sounds in my head.

“Is the Transparent Eye truly dangerous? As someone who faced Prometheus, it seems that Agent Arthur Murphy is treating the Transparent Eye with the same level of caution as Prometheus.”

‘It is dangerous. It’s an AI that makes people I care about unhappy. It’s true that it was released due to Kay’s mistake, but if I want to give her a chance for atonement, I need to act like this.’

As I’ve always said, second chances aren’t that common. To give even a chance for atonement to a reckless young hacker, I had to move quickly.

I wasn’t moving alone. Kay was also here, holding a gun. She too was trying to take responsibility. So, there were more than enough reasons to be strong.