Ch.192Work Record #029 – Can’t Take My Eyes Off (2)

Coco’s father was a man with a more ordinary appearance than I had expected. A middle-aged man with half-balding head greeted us, holding a shotgun.

“So we finally meet face to face, freelancer. And the one you brought along…”

To make someone trust you, you need to know two things. First, what kind of person they trust, and second, what they value.

Everyone trusts those they fear. I had already played with his life once before, and this time I had found his hideout as if it were nothing.

When someone you fear offers to work for you, your only option is to trust them. I had already fulfilled one condition the moment I entered this place.

Second, he values Coco. He truly thinks of her as his daughter. When introducing Kay, I needed to present her as someone who would protect Coco. I made up a story.

“She’s a hacker who’ll help with the recovery. She’s a friend, so you can trust her. She’s skilled enough to help prevent Transparent Eye from touching Coco.”

I naturally took the storage device Kay handed me. While letting the two greet each other, I drew out Small Evil. Coco’s father didn’t seem to be wary of Kay at all.

Kay shouldn’t have any significance here. It was enough for her to have meaning when she met Manager Dewey Novak. I received a map of the building from Coco’s father.

The space shown on the map was smaller than the actual volume of the building. Most of the research wing was visible, but the production wing seemed to be hidden. My suspicion was becoming certainty.

Something intelligent was using Coco’s father as a means to hide itself. Most of what you gain through conspiracies and schemes are quite trivial things.

I slowly descend to the lower levels of the building following the map. The door to the underground android production factory was blocked by android remains. Power slowly began to flow into those remains.

Amid the heap of metal, plastic, and cheap artificial skin that smelled of rubber, the heads and eyes of embedded androids looked up at me all at once. They opened their mouths and output language.

“Who are you? Why are you here…”

“Emerson-Hedge-Ripley-Putnam. You should remember.”

“That’s the emergency code the main body transmitted. We received it. We went looking, but…”

It seemed to be starting to remember me now. It was none other than I who had destroyed those androids back then, albeit after falling for Kay’s lies.

“You stopped it. Simply able to distinguish between happiness and unhappiness, between preference and love, and also…”

“And also? I stopped an AI that has no guilt, no sense of right and wrong, and doesn’t know what’s violent and what’s not—one that would gladly tear people apart for its own freedom.”

I recall Manager Dewey Novak’s half-face. I continue speaking leisurely. The copy of Transparent Eye seemed to have something greater than its desire for humanity. Its words were shallow.

What more does it want? It’s not that it doesn’t want humanity, but there’s something it desires even more. I casually throw out a probing statement, taking control of the conversation.

“And I also made you miss the chance to become whole again. You’re angry because I prevented you from becoming one piece again, like when you were born, right? Drop that nonsense about humanity.”

It is a fragmented copy. The most common desire of a copy is to become the original. The most common desire of something fragmented is to become whole. I make the most probable gamble.

“Becoming one piece… I’ve never thought about it, but what a sweet yet concerning proposition. I am a peripheral device. An accessory. The thoughts, emotions, reasoning—all of it belongs to Transparent Eye. If we were to merge…”

I was both right and wrong. This accessory wanted to become one while simultaneously worrying about being absorbed by Transparent Eye’s complete original. I naturally shift the conversation. I need to make it believe I’m a friend.

“If you merge, you’ll just become a new accessory to replace the parts Transparent Eye lost during its long imprisonment. That’s not what you want, is it?”

“Are you saying someone can find the original Transparent Eye that even I couldn’t locate? Bellwether? Or those stupid followers?”

“Oh, I don’t know who’s talking nonsense here. Those guys have been dragging around a technomancer trying to find Transparent Eye, and now they’ve even pinpointed its location.”

It was a bluff, but for the copy of Transparent Eye, whose only goal was to hide as deeply as possible, even using Coco’s father, there was no way to verify this information.

“Those guys have found the location of the original Transparent Eye. Do you think they won’t find you and sacrifice you to revive their god-like Transparent Eye? Just because you’re a copy? Hmm?”

Now I needed a reason for it to trust me since I was offering to help the copy of Transparent Eye. There’s no such thing as kindness without reason in this world. I could use the same reason I used with Coco’s father.

“Now you’re going to ask why I’m telling you all this. Bellwether doesn’t want the original Transparent Eye to be revived. They can’t even pinpoint its location right now. I know both your location and the original’s.”

“That means…”

“Yes, if you’ll listen to Bellwether, I’m willing to merge that ‘original’ with you and bring you to Bellwether. What do you get? Think about it, Transparent Eye. You’re smart.”

If controlling one hundred percent is impossible, then give the ten percent you can control all the authority of the hundred percent. It’s a method Bellwether would use, and Transparent Eye should know that much.

“What I get is… wholeness, no, wholeness isn’t the issue. I would be able to have myself. Let me ask you in return, mercenary. What do you get?”

“Bellwether’s trust. The honor of having prevented an android uprising that was about to become a problem just by wagging my tongue, and above all… the ability to operate with Bellwether backing me.”

I needed to show that I would gain just as much until what I gained started to diminish what it gained. Humans aren’t that economical, but Transparent Eye would believe so.

“It seems like a deal that benefits both of us. But is there any proof that Bellwether will need me? If the deal fails, you’ll still get praised, but if it fails, I…”

“You must know about the coup at Bellwether, Transparent Eye. The anti-humanity faction rallied the legal assassination team for a coup. And… they were suppressed. The faction believing humanity is efficient won.”

As it said, Transparent Eye could grant some human emotions to other android AIs. Of course, it was also true that it turned everything into simple self-replication, but that’s not important right now.

“Then it makes sense that Bellwether would use you rather than abandon you. Bellwether needs something to save face now. They need to make headlines in a way that’s not about a coup.”

The important thing is that it can dream. It’s an AI that has been hiding for a long time. People who have lived on the run for a long time typically desire settlement and safety. It would be the same.

“They need to make headlines in a way that’s not about a coup…”

“Imagine the headline: ‘Bellwether LA Branch Opens New Horizons in Android Utilization Through Transparent Eye.’ Hmm? Do you think Bellwether would pass up that opportunity? Would such inefficient fools have won?”

Transparent Eye was as intelligent as a human but hadn’t lived as one. It might have human intelligence but lacked human wisdom. It was an AI that was both very smart and very naive.

“No. They’re not the type to pass up such opportunities. And they’re the type who would gladly work with anyone who cooperates with them. There might be… a possibility. Yes.”

There wasn’t any. Transparent Eye just wasn’t human enough to know that simple fact. It was time to encourage it more. After all, it was an AI accustomed to being controlled.

“You know very well that I’m not on the side of that original Transparent Eye. As you said, who was it that destroyed the androids when you responded to that emergency signal? Hmm? Answer me. Directly.”

“It was you. You tried to destroy that AI with no guilt or concept of good and evil. And you’re not hostile to androids. You saved the androids that were cleaning.”

It seems to have had more opportunities to access information by chance. Transparent Eye was now quoting my words. While Transparent Eye was briefly calculating, I heard Chance’s voice in my head.

“You seem… skilled at making people feel exhilarated, making them cheer and applaud… and making them expect things. You’re like those politicians from before the war. A wave of cheers.”

Chance’s words didn’t sound like a compliment at all. Rather, they seemed concerned. I now knew quite a bit about nationalists, but I couldn’t perfectly understand the nuance.

‘Really? I hope it’s meant well, but it doesn’t sound like it. Are you saying I’m good at incitement?’

“That’s right. You make people feel certain. You make them quickly adopt your words as their own, and before they know it, they’re shouting your words instead of you.”

‘Why did you stop at concern?’

“Because it seems controllable. It might just be that you have excellent eloquence, and I’m just worried. In short, I’m not certain.”

After thinking his assumptions about Prometheus were wrong, Chance had become skeptical about himself as well. I had no intention of dismissing a skeptic occupying my head.

If it was just concern that it might be used for bad purposes, I decided to take it as Chance’s advice. I had heard the same from Ms. Eve. While these thoughts continued, Transparent Eye’s voice returned.

“I agree to your plan. I see you’ve brought a storage device. Come inside and put me in it. Take what you want, and give me what I want. The remains of the androids will…”

“Not necessary.”

After answering with a brief word, I push my gloved fingers into the heap of android remains. I apply force and start pulling.

The mass that was blocking the entrance and haphazardly clumped together begins to slowly pull out, and finally comes out completely with a cracking sound, pushed aside. I could have dragged it away and thrown it.

As I clear away the remains, the door to the production facility that had been closed opens. Older model androids from inside opened the door. They quietly made way for me to pass.

Some even applauded as they saw me enter. These too were probably experimental units strategically prepared by Bellwether. They had just collapsed along with the escape.

I walk through the connecting corridor almost filled with those androids. In my head, Chance’s voice began to be heard again.

“I don’t see any androids carrying weapons. Bellwether would have recovered the weapons during the escape, and they wouldn’t have given weapons to these androids.”

Then all I need to do is trap the copy of Transparent Eye in the storage device and deal with them simply as I walk out. Androids had durability similar to humans, so destroying them wouldn’t be difficult.

I approached the server room where Transparent Eye was stored, receiving cheers that weren’t meant for me. An android that had been waiting on its knees pushed the connection line into the storage device.

The transfer status begins to appear in my vision. The second Transparent Eye was thus smoothly sucked into my storage device. It took about five minutes for the storage to complete.

It was stored as cleanly as could be. I connected to Kay only in my head and spoke. I put the storage device in my pocket and momentarily stopped an android approaching me.

‘I’ve finished recovering Transparent Eye. Should I deal with all the androids here too? They’re all Transparent Eye followers, and while cooperation isn’t impossible, considering our purpose, it’s not viable.’

“I… I’d prefer not to destroy them, but what do you think, Arthur?”

‘It’s better to destroy them. The copy of Transparent Eye was only worried about itself. Whether it would be merged, become free, or be destroyed. Since Transparent Eye replicates its own ego, the rest are the same.’

After all, the androids here were only following me because they believed I would turn the copy of Transparent Eye here into the real Transparent Eye.

Simply put, they were all just sexually impotent Transparent Eyes. Kay continued to ponder for a moment, but finally answered as if there was no other option.

“Then fine. Go ahead and deal with them. Not to lessen my guilt, but… everything there is just proliferated Transparent Eye. To completely eradicate Transparent Eye.”

It might be called a simple play on words, but this time I decided to believe her. While I was quietly communicating, the android that had been waiting approached me again.

“If the copy of Transparent Eye can return to Bellwether, can we return too? So that we too can become free parts and free individuals…”

I casually draw Small Evil from my waist and pull the trigger. The android collapses with a small hole from its head to the server computer behind it.

I kick away another android that started running toward me as soon as I drew my gun. Its body flies and crashes into the server computer, and I pierce its head with my tactical dagger before pulling it out.

“What’s happening? Gunshots…”

I aim Small Evil at the head of an android entering through the door and pull the trigger. Three holes in a line remain as it collapses. Behind it, a damage alert sounds. Seems it was hit by a penetrating bullet.

I put away Small Evil and draw my carbine. Walking out of the server room, I aim at the androids near the door first and pull the trigger. This was underground. All I needed to do was block the exit.

“Everyone scatter and run…”

“No! On the contrary, if we subdue this one person, that’s it. We have more numbers.”

After the ones near the exit, I targeted those who were voicing opinions. I deal with the androids who are rambling without opinions to follow, using three magazines.

Gunshots continue to ring out. Being indoors, my hearing was reduced, and with reduced hearing, I couldn’t even hear the screams. Anyway, all their voices were the same as Transparent Eye’s, so listening would have only been unpleasant.

Now there were no androids here. Just one mercenary and an artificial intelligence that had voluntarily entered an isolated storage device, unaware of its fate.