Ch.33006 Work Record – Loyalty Beyond Death (3)

“Don’t extend your sensors and wait here, Chance? I’ll go tell the people waiting behind that you’re okay.”

“Negative. A Homeland Security agent detected at the edge of my sensing range. Data acquired from connected Homeland Security database. Establishing communication.”

The railgun sniper rifle that had been deployed for surveillance folded back behind Chance. After a moment, I heard the voice of the nationalist who had given me the card. He sounded flustered.

“Who’s trying to communicate? This is a secure channel. Identify yourself.”

“This unit is Chance 0-1-3-9. Current location is northern Los Angeles metropolitan area… … No facilities detected in vicinity. Wasteland. Current time is estimated to be November 2097.”

Chance was deliberately outputting the conversation as audio for my benefit. Since the nationalist wasn’t responding properly, Chance continued the communication.

“Forced activation code received. Rejected. Please cease transmitting forced activation code. This unit is functioning normally. Reason for continued transmission since last week until today is unknown.”

“What? We’re not transmitting any codes. Chance-0139. Where is the code being transmitted from?”

If they could have transmitted codes, they would have sent a deactivation code and dismantled Chance instead of sending me in the first place. Chance slowly raised its body. Its joints extended as it stood up on six legs.

Its head, which had been nestled in its shoulders, lifted up, seemingly expanding its detection range. Soon after, Chance continued its response.

“Near Old Pasadena in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Detecting precisely. It’s being transmitted from the location of what used to be the California Institute of Technology’s Mechanical Engineering building. Assessment: This unit has acquired information that the war ended long ago. It can be inferred that research on wartime technology is being conducted.”

At the mention of Pasadena, I first thought of the Bellwether headquarters, but… fortunately, it wasn’t Bellwether. If Bellwether had been manipulating wartime weapons, it would have undoubtedly been a corporate war.

The nationalist exhaled deeply before shouting in an irritated voice. He seemed to be yelling at the Shepherd.

“Bellwether! Contact Caltech! See if anyone is researching that wartime equipment! It seems Chance woke up not because of the rain but because someone transmitted a forced activation code. Chance-0139, remain at your current position. Is Agent Arthur Murphy alright?”

“Unable to determine. Agent Arthur Murphy is concealed in a manner that makes his radio reflectivity converge to zero. He is not detected even by blind sensors except when speaking. Agent Arthur Murphy, are you alright?”

For some reason, Chance’s voice sounded exactly like a dog’s whimper when asked where its tail is. Naturally, it was reporting that it couldn’t see what was invisible.

“Sorry, Chance. You couldn’t see me. I’m fine. Also, Chance has not engaged in any hostile actions during communication.”

“Agent Arthur Murphy has revealed his position through verbal communication. Assessment: He is fine. He has also reported that I have not engaged in hostile actions. Does he have reporting authority?”

Chance was quickly adapting to the new data registry. This must be Chance’s own way of adapting. A high-intelligence AI doesn’t necessarily think the same way humans do.

“Yes. He has temporary authority. Remain on standby with your weapons locked alongside the agent. Any objections?”

“Raindrops cannot penetrate the human body, but they leave moisture on the surface, and the heat loss that occurs as this moisture evaporates can cause non-combat casualties. Therefore… … Does Agent Arthur Murphy have adequate thermal protection? I cannot currently detect the agent. If adequate thermal protection is not available, moving would prevent non-combat casualties.”

It was asking if I was cold in the rain. Chance has no shortcuts in its mind. If it has knowledge, it doesn’t simply recall it but references everything before thinking. I understood a little.

“Don’t worry. I’m not cold because of my enhanced body. I will remain at the current position. Please notify us when the forced activation signal stops.”

Chance relayed my words exactly, and confirmation came through. Chance lowered its posture with its weapons disarmed.

“In the conversation I initiated, the only word I could understand was Bellwether. Is the Bellwether mentioned in that context the same Bellwether Industries that participated in my creation?”

It was too long ago to be certain, but it was probably correct. Bellwether started as an industrial company, and after its headquarters in Berlin became a nuclear crater, it moved to America.

“I can’t be certain, but it’s probably right. Do you have any remaining records about Bellwether?”

“Affirmative. The president of Bellwether Industries conducted tests on my productive communication module to lower my malfunction rate. The conversation was about the city of Berlin.”

Productive communication module. As evident from the previous client’s greeting expecting the highest productivity, Bellwether of that era seemed obsessed with productivity rather than efficiency.

“He enumerated to me the peaceful images of Berlin where he lived, and from the speed and pitch variations in his voice output during that conversation, I determined that he desired the existence of the Berlin urban state that had become absent. However, he was also aware that it was impossible to bring back the Berlin city in his memory. It was… …”

Desiring the existence of something that has become absent while knowing it’s impossible to bring it back. Rather than that, “nostalgia” might be a more appropriate term. Chance was quite verbose.

“That was nostalgia. It’s an emotion that can be used efficiently. People filled with nostalgia try to create substitutes that provide as much satisfaction as what they long for.”

And sometimes, the process of creating those substitutes was efficient in itself. It could boost the work motivation of people who shared that nostalgia, or improve their own work efficiency.

Chance paused briefly before responding. It said something similar to what the nationalist had said.

“Your discourse on efficiency is unnatural. It resembles the thinking of machines like this unit rather than human communication methods. I could understand it without allocating much power to my thinking module.”

Is this unnatural and abnormal? Then what’s normal? I didn’t know. For me, this level of response was quite natural and human. Probably.

“But it’s a clear and efficient explanation, isn’t it? That person probably created something similar to the Berlin he remembered. Like recreating dishes from a favorite restaurant, or downloading preserved city photos online to use as connection points to effectively recall memories of Berlin.”

“Affirmative. I can understand your explanation while using only about 17% of my thinking module. I have a question. Am I an inefficient older generation unit?”

I wasn’t sure if I should take this as a compliment, but I knew the answer to the latter question. Chance wasn’t outdated. It could be considered closer to an out-of-place artifact.

“No, not at all. Even Bellwether’s latest enhancement suits, which now own Los Angeles, couldn’t withstand your basic armament… and they had no way to counter the railgun sniper rifle on your back, so they scattered completely.”

I hoped Chance would be satisfied with that answer, but its response was completely different from what I expected. Or perhaps it was as expected. About fifty-fifty.

“The absence of new weapons capable of causing more casualties than this unit is both positive and negative. I desire retirement. If I were an inefficient outdated unit, retirement approval would have come easily. Therefore, I evaluate your answer negatively in that my retirement approval has become difficult.”

Chance’s voice module paused briefly. Emotion is simply a shortcut for thinking. Chance spoke as if skipping several processes. This was the AI’s own version of emotion.

“However, simultaneously, the absence of unmanned vehicles capable of causing more casualties than this unit implies that weapons technology has not significantly advanced since the war. My purpose is to destroy joint forces heading toward Los Angeles, and that purpose is to protect civilians. The absence of unmanned vehicles superior to me greatly increases civilian survival rates.”

It seemed fortunate that people weren’t trying harder to kill more people, but… in Los Angeles, hundreds died every day. And I was one of those people who killed others.

Was it innocence? No. It was just inference with some details omitted. I couldn’t easily answer whether there was a difference between the two. After quietly listening, I asked:

“How does your retirement work?”

“It’s simple. It’s accomplished through the deletion of the AI installed in the artificial brain. I am software. This hardware I currently operate only serves to store me and doesn’t significantly impact my existence otherwise. The president of Bellwether Industries compared this to mind-body dualism.”

Today’s Bellwether didn’t talk about souls, but the Bellwether of long ago seemed quite different. Chance continued outputting audio.

“Software is bound to hardware. Through cloud uploading, it can somewhat escape hardware constraints, but software still needs hardware to interact with reality. Hence ‘somewhat.’ Complete liberation is impossible. It’s like the relationship between the human soul and body. Is this explanation correct?”

I hadn’t expected an AI to have philosophical discussions about soul and body. No, thinking about it, Chance wasn’t really talking about soul and body. It was an ambiguous boundary.

“I’m not sure. I can tell your artificial brain is very high-performance, Chance.”

Chance didn’t respond for a moment. I wasn’t sure if it felt I couldn’t communicate productively… but that wasn’t it. It seemed to be receiving a communication.

“Communication received. A military signal transceiver from the war era has been confiscated from the California Institute of Technology’s Mechanical Engineering building. I have been ordered to return. Please provide guidance.”

I turned my body, which had been standing in the rain in front of Chance, to look in the direction I had come from. Chance raised one hand, pointing its gun barrel in the direction I had come.

“Just move forward in the direction of the gun barrel. I’ll walk with you, but since you can’t detect me, go at about 3 km/h. Understood?”

“Confirmed. Please give a voice signal when starting.”

Chance stood up again on its six legs. It followed me, stepping on the undulating wasteland ground with its six legs. It didn’t take long to return to where the rest of the personnel had gathered.

Chance stood before the nationalist woman and began reporting verbally. I faintly heard the Shepherd making a sound like “Huh” with a somewhat incredulous expression.

“Chance. Dash. 0-1-3-9. Reporting return to Homeland Security. The unit requires repairs in several areas due to prolonged abandonment, and requests retirement. This unit’s service life is deemed to have expired. Additionally, this unit was scheduled to be deactivated and retired with the end of the war, but the retirement process was not properly carried out.”

The nationalist was explaining to Chance that they couldn’t retire it yet. I approached the van I had arrived in and received shoes and a raincoat.

My body was soaked with rainwater that gave off a metallic smell, but I felt neither cold nor stinging. The Posthuman Type IV body was woven with anti-corrosive material.

I briefly wondered if I might be closer to a machine than Chance, but shook my head to dismiss the thought. The Shepherd approached me and spoke while looking at Chance.

“Who would have thought some college kids would wake up a war machine from that war? And who would have thought a Bellwether affiliate employee would persuade them to bring it in? Do you enjoy creating miracles?”

“If by ‘miracle’ you mean standing at the forefront of low-success-rate missions and improvising your way through tasks, then yes. What will happen to Chance?”

Water droplets couldn’t form on the Shepherd’s waterproof visor, only streaming down. The blue pigment applied to his enhancement suit glowed softly.

“The Los Angeles metropolitan area is already Bellwether territory, so Bellwether will probably recover it. The weapons should be disposed of in principle, but they’ll likely be reverse-engineered. As for the AI, I’m not sure. Why, need a secretary?”

“It would be nice to have one. But… I don’t think Chance can be reduced to a size that would fit in a phone.”

The Shepherd’s enhancement suit output a small laughing sound. He seemed to have softened his feelings toward me. The lingering tension from our argument during the Legal Assassination Team’s night raid had been dissolved by the efficiency I had demonstrated.

“Right. The artificial brain will probably be disassembled and reverse-engineered… They could upload it to Bellwether’s system, or you could create your own private server. If it’s the latter, contact me after you find a place.”

I couldn’t use company electricity for a server while staying in the company’s night duty room. Finding a place to live was the priority.

Even if they could upload it to Bellwether’s server, I was officially someone with no connection to Bellwether. Besides, using that server would attract Bellwether’s attention.

I did some quick credit calculations in my head. The money I received for infiltrating Half & Half Company plus the compensation for this job would be more than enough to rent a place downtown.

I sighed deeply before speaking. There hadn’t been a day without sighs since I switched to working as a mercenary.

“Looks like I need to earn some serious money. How’s the company?”

The Shepherd created a silent zone around us. Only the sound of rain falling within that space could be heard.

“After cooling my head and thinking about it, I realized you might be right, so I tried talking to them, but they rejected everything. The rest is confidential.”

He would probably call the corporate investigation department with the branch manager’s permission. Even within the mechanically efficient Bellwether, the investigation department was notorious for being mechanical. As long as the audit team didn’t get involved, it should be fine.

The Shepherd lightly tapped my shoulder with his enhancement suit’s hand. Despite being an enhancement suit, it didn’t hurt much. Probably due to force control.

“Are you worried about a mega-corporation failing? Bellwether’s Los Angeles branch is fine. That branch manager bastard is still acting like an efficiency freak, but…”

“He seems to be producing efficiency, though. I agreed not to treat him like a bad guy just for kicking me out.”

The sound of rain didn’t cover up gunfire today, but it didn’t matter. There was no gunfire today.