Ch.266Unforgettable Memory (5)

[— Current Recovery Rate: 50.12%]

Sonia staggered before connecting to virtual reality again. After paying for ingredients with the account Eidel had given her, she began preparing the meal.

A diet should have balanced nutrition. At the same time, it should be something that busy modern people can quickly consume.

Sandwiches and salad, plus juice.

This should be adequate.

Having made her decision, Sonia quickly made sandwiches. Even while cooking, her head continued to throb.

It felt like she was forgetting something. But she couldn’t figure out what it was.

Perhaps because her mind was elsewhere?

She made a mistake she wouldn’t normally make. She spilled juice all over her chest.

“Ah…!”

Sonia sighed as she looked down at her ruined blouse.

Thanks to her master’s consideration, she had finally gotten to wear this outfit, but now it was stained to the point where washing it would be difficult.

She hurriedly took off the clothes and soaked them in water with detergent.

After changing into different clothes, Sonia quickly delivered the food to Eidel and Ireh before returning to her room and heading to the bathroom. The smell had long since permeated the parts where her torso was. Sighs escaped her lips repeatedly.

“…I should wash up.”

Drip, drip, drip.

She filled the tub with water and took off her clothes. Hot steam was rising.

Sonia curled up as she soaked in the bathtub. Her gaze fell downward.

A body different from humans.

It was a body she had taken for granted until now. After all, she was an android. She never thought about wanting to become human or being dissatisfied with her current situation.

But for some reason.

She felt empty.

“…”

Unable to understand why, Sonia submerged her mouth in the rising hot water and closed her eyes.

Bubble, bubble.

It had been a day as unsettled as the bursting bubbles.

***

The research to recover Sonia’s memories was progressing slowly but steadily.

Although I couldn’t directly check the data, once completed, the plan was to inject it directly into Sonia’s socket to restore her to her original state.

That way, she would not only recall her memories with me but could also regain her function as an avatar.

However, this research had another goal beyond that.

Until Rustila arrived, I had a brief conversation with Ireh.

“The recovery ship has been rebuilt. The new trap is also perfectly made.”

“Really? Was this discussed in today’s meeting?”

“Yes. Preparations will be complete within a few days.”

I took a sip of coffee and continued.

“When the original laboratory collapsed, I wondered what would happen, but it’s working out. Once we restore the Aether Belt and isolate the Queen, this situation will be resolved.”

“…We’ll get a breather for a while. But don’t overdo it.”

“Overdo what? I’m not doing anything like that.”

“No, I can see you’re pushing yourself.”

Ireh leaned in closer.

“Look at those dark circles. You were like this during the Rustila incident too, and now you’re exhausted from working day and night. No matter how busy you are, you should take at least one day off to rest.”

“I’ll rest after the war ends, after the war.”

Just then, we heard the sound of wheels rolling.

Rustila came in carrying a tightly bound living avatar.

“Eidel, will this one be good enough for today?”

“Perfect. Thanks, Rusty.”

Ireh and I examined the avatar that was turning into crystal. It opened its eyes and began shouting loudly.

“You inferior beings! Can’t you untie this?”

“How noisy.”

Chop!

I lightly struck the avatar’s face with calipers. The avatar’s expression turned dumb.

“Hey, friend. You’ve just been kidnapped.”

“Kidnapped? Don’t make me laugh. You humans think you’ve kidnapped me, who inherited the Queen’s power and wisdom? You inferior species who would crumble at my touch!”

“Still not getting it, huh.”

Chop! Chop! Chop!

“…Urgh!”

“Do you understand the situation now?”

The avatar hung its head.

“You look like a stone. What was your name…? I can’t remember because you’re just a nobody. Something Stone, I think.”

“You don’t know who I am?”

“There are too many of you to keep track.”

“I am Twostone. Remember it well.”

“Right, I remember now. Gemstone.”

“I said Twostone!”

“Sexstone, welcome to my laboratory.”

“Human——!!”

Ireh and I dragged the avatar into the analysis room.

When we removed fragments from the avatar, we got an even mix of inorganic material and cells. The cells multiplied endlessly. These were the “immortal cells” characteristic of Darwin’s forces.

The immortal cells aren’t processed here. We store the cells as samples, and we were planning to analyze the core, which is the center of the neural network.

Run an X-ray diffraction, then infrared analysis.

After several other tests, we put it in a capsule.

“What are you trying to do!”

“Your Majesty the Queen. Thank you for providing us with our daily data today as well.”

“Y-you! Now I see you’re the one Her Majesty has been watching. How fortunate to meet you! I’ll personally end your life right here!”

The stone avatar’s body trembled. With a clatter, pebbles fell to the floor. The pebbles multiplied rapidly like cells, preparing to take over the laboratory floor.

However, the pebbles never completed their metamorphosis.

Clang——!!

Rustila brought down her sword, crushing the stone seeds that were about to ignite one by one. The avatar’s screaming was nothing unusual. The neural network copying was complete.

Tampering with an avatar’s neural network is like kneading its core. The core is Darwin’s forces’ greatest weakness. It’s also an object that inherits the Queen’s characteristics.

Our goal was to combine the neural networks of various avatars to track the Queen’s signal.

“The Queen is female, so the orientation is female.”

“Urrrgh!”

“As a foreign god, her hierarchy is high, but since she shouldn’t get stronger… significantly lower her rank.”

“My, my power…!”

“And we should reduce her violence so she’ll listen to people.”

“Kill me! Just kill me instead!”

“Done.”

I removed the unconscious avatar from the capsule and placed it on a cart. We’ve extracted all we could from it here. The rest will go to the Foreign God Life Research Lab where the Hueritia mother and daughter are. They’ll use it as they see fit and dispose of it.

[— The foreign gods subordinate to the “God of Wisdom and Curiosity” are shocked.]

The level of being able to train defeated avatars. Human technology has already reached this point.

“Is this enough?”

“It should be fine.”

We combined the core data from all the avatars we had collected to create a new neural network. And we imprisoned it in a computer so it couldn’t resist in any way.

I swallowed hard and pressed the transmit button.

Soon, logs appeared on the screen.

Thunk, thunk, thuuunk.

The laboratory lights went out one by one.

Rustila charged her sword. I drew my calipers, and Ireh loaded her holy bullets.

[— An indescribable madness is rising.]

This is with the neural network modified to minimize violence.

How evil must the original be?

We swallowed dryly as we stared at the characters appearing on the screen.

Unknown alien words appeared in succession. But we could all read those words. This was because the built-in interpreter was translating the foreign god’s language into the Federation’s common language in real-time.

[Have you summoned her?]

Queen Aurore.

This was our first encounter with her.

***

The cores of Darwin’s avatars have two functions.

First, life maintenance and thought.

Second, communication with the foreign god that serves as the mother body.

Foreign gods can interfere with lower dimensions by creating avatars. Interference encompasses everything from simply experiencing the five senses to influencing that dimension.

A foreign god doesn’t die when its avatar dies. In that sense, avatars were both the foreign gods’ avatars and efficient war machines.

And recently, a third use for these cores was discovered.

It was the ability to indirectly communicate with the foreign gods.

“The material I’m showing you now is a record of our laboratory’s conversation with part of a foreign god’s neural structure. As you can see, since it’s in the form of reading text refined into the common language, there’s no risk of falling into madness.”

Ireh continued her presentation enthusiastically.

“Of course, this doesn’t represent all of the Queen’s thoughts. However, we can at least partially understand what kind of thinking the Queen has. To get straight to the conclusion, the Queen is considering a conditional retreat.”

“A retreat?”

“Yes. Let me show you the next conversation log.”

Ireh moved to the next screen. The log of our exchange with the Queen from the day before yesterday appeared.

[The previous invasion was the last mercy I bestowed upon you. You seem to think you’ve secured victory, but her forces are still overflowing. If I decided right now, I could mobilize all my forces and reduce everything to ashes.]

[However, fighting even with inferior species is quite troublesome. So I’ve decided to give you a chance.]

[Eidel von Rheinland. Hand that one over to me. If you keep just that one promise, I will immediately withdraw my army and not interfere with the restoration of the Aether Belt.]

[You would do well to think carefully. If you choose to fight to the death, I will make you pay the appropriate price.]

The presentation venue was thrown into confusion. Ireh raised her voice into the microphone.

“The Queen has made a proposal! She says she will guarantee the end of the war if we hand over the head of the Rheinland family to her! But I do not agree with this. Don’t you all know what kind of beings these foreign gods are!”

People nodded their heads.

“It must be an obvious lie!”

“We don’t know what will happen to our Federation’s unity without the head of the Rheinland family. Even if what the Queen says is a hundred percent true, we must make our judgment in preparation for other foreign gods attacking in succession.”

“It seems our only answer is to fight back.”

“This concludes my interim research presentation. Thank you.”

Ireh came down from the podium to thunderous applause. Even afterward, she was bombarded with questions from scholars. I found the sight quite heartwarming.

This research is her exclusive domain. She came up with the idea, and I just helped from the sidelines.

I approached her as she was swaying and spoke to her.

“Ms. Hazlen, you’ve really accomplished something this time.”

“…del.”

Ireh turned around, stroking her chest. She took a deep breath of relief.

“This is the first time I’ve presented in front of so many people and received such a response. Honestly, I’m a bit… nervous. Yeah.”

“This research will be the cornerstone for humanity to confront various foreign gods. It’s all thanks to your ideas, Ms. Hazlen.”

All that remains is to turn this research into a paper, and to restore Sonia’s memories.

I looked at the expressionless Sonia beside me and steeled my resolve. I hadn’t slept properly for the past few days, and a yawn escaped. Sonia and Ireh asked with concern.

“Why don’t you get some sleep?”

“Ms. Hazlen is right. You should get some proper rest.”

“I’m fine. This much won’t kill…”

But at that moment.

Suddenly my vision blurred, and the world began to spin.

“…Huh?”

My consciousness instantly sank below the surface.

***

“My brother collapsed again?”

“Yes!”

“Again?”

Seti couldn’t believe it. She pressed her forehead and checked the securities firm information.

“Oh shit, my stocks.”