Ch.6Final Work Record – Dishonorable Discharge (4)

“So saving one employee is less important than not setting a precedent? Hmph, what nonsense…”

The security chief was getting angry on my behalf. What I felt was more like emptiness. Just the sensation that everything could collapse so easily. Seems like I forgot to mix water into my sand castle.

I thought about stopping him, but his words were somewhat satisfying, so I decided to stay quiet. There were no listening devices in the hallway outside the disciplinary committee room. When you work in security under the security department, you know which places are safe.

“In the end, he’s just one employee to Belwether too, but with such a high nose. Tsk. Are you really okay with this? With just that body of yours left?”

I shrugged my shoulders somewhat weakly. One foot was still caught in that feeling of emptiness.

“It was basically ‘leave with nothing, or leave with at least this body?’ right? If that’s the case, it’s better to have something. I guess I should look for some mercenary staffing company…”

The security chief patted my shoulder twice with his large hand. At least it seemed like I hadn’t lived a wrong life at this company. Or perhaps I’m in this situation precisely because I didn’t live a wrong life.

“Don’t just sigh wherever you go, you’re too good for that. Three hours, right? Until then, you’re still technically a pending retiree, so tell me if you need anything. I don’t have day shift tomorrow. Feel free to be a nuisance before you go.”

“Hasn’t all my stuff already been cleared out of the employee quarters? After a month and being processed as deceased, I figured it would be…”

“Your identity was just restored by Stephanet… Ah, if you’re talking about your belongings, they’re still in the corner of Security Team 4’s locker room. Well, if there had been any family, I would have given it to them after the funeral, but strangely the company kept postponing the funeral. So I couldn’t dispose of anything and just sealed it all up to keep the dust off. Fortunate, I guess.”

At least I won’t be kicked out without a change of clothes. I sighed. The rifle was company property, but the pistol was mine. It was something I received when graduating from the security team training college.

A few sets of clothes, and if my identity was restored, my account should be active again, but all the money in it would have gone to that Jack fellow, and since the company decided to bury this whole affair, there’s no way I’d get my hard-earned savings back.

So I didn’t have much money to use right away. My savings account would be completely empty, but at least there should be a few hundred credits left in my living expenses account. Enough to stay in a motel for a week or two.

Good… no, the fact that this looks like a good sign is itself not a good sign. I wouldn’t be able to get a neural computation device implant using the company’s employee welfare services within three hours. It was currently 1 AM.

So what I needed right away was a tool to access the net. I had to find the people who put me in this state. When you ignite indignation, it burns as revenge. Revenge produces a lot of smoke and soot, but it’s still fire.

Things would become clearer if I simply organized what I needed to do once I left. One, find out what I got involved in. Two, find the Jaina people and that monstrosity. And three, find a job to sustain myself until that’s done.

Without Belwether’s employee enhancement support program, I’d have to pay full price for even a single implant. Credits come first. The first thing I needed to find was a job.

“What I need right now are two things. A smartphone and a decent mercenary staffing company. I can manage everything else… Work somewhere to earn money, get a computational assist device implanted in my head, upgrade my eyes… Then I need to find those guys. The monstrosity and the Jaina people.”

The security chief reached into a pocket inside his bulletproof vest and pulled out a smartphone with the Belwether company logo. He immediately placed his hand to his ear and called Stephanet.

“Stephanet, change this to that guy’s name. Back up the internal information in my head. And add information about the October 3rd large-scale terrorist incident. He wasn’t there, but he’s curious. Don’t ask why I’m being so kind, Shepherd Six. Thanks to you blowing that guy’s head off there, even though such a monster was released, there was only one security department casualty that day. Now there’s not even one.”

So that bioengineered monstrosity killed me and immediately fled? That was strange. Without reason, it would be difficult to find a way out of the company building, which has a structure where you can’t see outside from inside.

Plus, with the lights out and only emergency lights on, it couldn’t rely on instinctive senses… and just as I couldn’t smell the rain inside this building, it wouldn’t have been able to figure out which way was outside.

“So, it just killed me… well, didn’t kill me, and then just ran away? I don’t think I did anything to make an experimental subject hold a grudge against me.”

“It was probably more because of the explosion than you. Its throat to back was completely blown through. While regenerating that, it looked around, let out a terrible scream, and started running away. You know that cafe in the middle of the research buildings with the sky visible? It broke through the ceiling there and escaped. And even after deploying the rapid response team and searching all of LA, they couldn’t find it.”

I recall the internal map of the company. From that Corridor A where we were standing to the Sunny Side Up Cafe with the visible sky, you had to turn three corners.

It followed that path purely on instinct, and then broke through a window in the cafe that wasn’t even open to the outside? That wasn’t animal thinking. That monster might have… no, no. It had no intelligence.

This is something to investigate once I get out. I receive the smartphone initialized by Stephanet. Using it still felt awkward. It was something I only used as a child, since cybernetic implants can’t be installed in growing children.

Now I just needed to collect my things from the locker room, and that would be about it. At least I was prepared to survive. I sighed deeply and then remembered one more person.

There was one person who would have blamed themselves the most upon hearing news of my death. Fortunately, I didn’t die, and ironically, what failed to kill me was the Posthuman IV enhanced body they gave me.

“Ah, Chief. What about Shepherd Seven? Francis, I mean.”

“You worry too much… He was reinstated but quit on his own. He said he wanted to meet a woman, but ended up bringing a group of terrorists into the company, and you died, so he couldn’t bear it. Want his contact? If you tell him you’re alive, it’ll take some weight off his shoulders. Though looking at your condition, what weight would be lifted… Being good doesn’t get you anywhere, kid.”

“Only people who’ve never lived good lives say that. Please give me his contact. I’ll reach out to him.”

The chief glared at me without malice. He opened the security staff passage door and gestured for me to follow. It was time for one last visit to the locker room. As I followed him, I wrote down Francis’s contact information.

Arriving at the locker room, there was a box with holes on both sides for hands, completely vacuum-sealed. I opened the vacuum packaging and examined the contents. I confirmed a self-defense pistol and three spare magazines.

Civilian clothes were also neatly organized inside, so I finally took off my Belwether employee uniform and changed into civilian clothes. Since I had bought only modest items, it wouldn’t be a particularly eye-catching outfit.

A synthetic leather jacket that I deliberately bought a bit loose to hide the gun, a decent t-shirt, and jeans—I wouldn’t look out of place in any back alley. Preparations to leave the nest seemed complete.

Let’s not be a baby bird that falls headfirst from the nest and leaves a bloodstain in front. That was all I could promise myself. But then, the chief standing next to me burst into light laughter.

“Hey, Shepherd Six. I was wondering if I could help you with job hunting, so I pulled up your resume… Is this right? Ah, you can’t see it. Stephanet, print it out please.”

Soon, a white drone flew into the locker room carrying a sheet of paper. Looking at its contents, I couldn’t help but laugh too. It was fortunate that there was something to laugh about even in this situation.

It seemed the record deletion had already been cleanly completed. In the enhanced body model field, Posthuman IV Type Enhanced Body was written, but in the serial number field, only the words “None” were written.

In the history field, the five characters for “Record Deleted” were prominently displayed… it was clearly the trace of someone deliberately trying to mess with the branch manager.

“If I take this resume to Fitts & Morrison, wouldn’t they immediately hire me thinking, ‘Is this guy from Belwether’s security team special operations?’ They’d probably start pressuring me to spill security team information from a competing company on my first day. Ah, really… I shouldn’t be laughing at a time like this, but it’s funny.”

It wasn’t resume fraud. After all, it was Belwether’s LA branch that had made my resume look like this. Having laughed to improve my mood, I prepared for the final moments of this somewhat honorable dishonorable discharge.

“Laughing does make it a bit better. And since everything’s already decided… I need to find a place to stay tonight, so I should get going before it gets any later. Thank you for your help, Chief. You too, Stephanet.”

The chief sighed a few more times and then looked at me with an expression like he was looking at his son. After a moment of complicated emotions, he shook his head as if to say not to worry unnecessarily.

“You were always good at what you did. Diligent, responsible… I’ve seen more than eight Shepherd Sixes, but none were as good as you. Do well out there too. You’re leaving without even getting severance pay, so have some drinks with this. Want me to recommend a place that makes good synthetic ale?”

With those words, the chief placed his hand over my smartphone and sent me some credits through Stephanet. It was quite a lot of money for a night of drinking.

“A diligent person wouldn’t blow money on that. If you tell me, I’ll have one drink… but I won’t waste it. Take care.”

We exchanged salutes, and the security chief escorted me to the main entrance of the building. Stephanet came a little further through a drone. When only Stephanet’s drone and I remained, she asked:

“Before I say goodbye, I’m curious about something. Arthur Murphy, who was never a regular employee and never a Shepherd Six. You wouldn’t ignore my question, would you?”

“By all means. Stephanet, who was never my support AI and never printed my resume or did me any favors.”

She output a short laugh and then asked. It was an uncharacteristic question from her.

“Isn’t freedom a good thing? You’ve ultimately been freed from all obligations. The obligation to return the Posthuman IV type enhanced body, the reason to take responsibility for this incident, even the obligation to be on a blacklist and be monitored by the company. This is a question for my emotion module expansion.”

I answered with a laugh. Even in this situation, the capacity to laugh was already showing its limits, and the anxiety that cold reality was right in front of me was terribly scratching at my throat, so I had to gloss over it with laughter.

“Even if I’m not being monitored, the company will still be watching me for a while because of the gag order… but I think it’s better to obey by my own choice rather than being forced to be free. This is forced freedom, isn’t it? Is that difficult for an AI to understand?”

“No, that’s a wonderful statement. I’d like to ask you not to complain if I delete the fact that I heard it from Arthur and use it as if it were my own. This is goodbye now. Take care, Shepherd Six.”

The efficiency I showed at Belwether must not have been small. Not many people in this company could receive a farewell from the capricious Stephanet. And so I completely left the building.

And whatever warm feelings I had at Belwether ran out as soon as I left the building. I had value and was a respected person because I was inside Belwether. It was thanks to Belwether.

I couldn’t remember when I last lived outside a company. Even when attending the security team training college, I used the dormitory, as I did in high school and middle school. It was probably the same in elementary school.

I walk through Old Pasadena, where classical buildings can now only be seen in museums or photographs. Caltech, which had undergone expansion after expansion, was still shining in the distance, and there was plenty of light in the direction I was heading too.

But while the light behind me was the light of lamps, the light ahead was the light of neon. I head into a newly built but unsuccessful downtown area, looking for a decent place to stay among hotels sorted by lowest price.

Until now, I had mainly seen the streets in the morning.

I had seen skyscrapers stretching high into the sky and the tips of skyscrapers that had pierced through the smog. I lived in employee quarters where I didn’t even need to smell the rain when it rained, and as long as I fulfilled my security team duties, no one cared about me as a person—I had lived on top of the cherry on top of this libertarian hell of an ice cream.

This is the same city. Nevertheless, the streets, a week after the rain, were damp and dirty. Not because of the rain.

If I didn’t walk as if hiding a pistol in my jacket, passersby’s gazes would turn to the box tucked at my side. The decadent LED lights smelled of synthetic bourbon. It’s said to be made with the same components as real bourbon and tastes the same, but costs half the price. Everything on this street was like that.

Knowing something and entering into it are different matters. I arrive at the hotel. It’s a grid-like building full of identical rooms. Not a hotel where you’d expect service or breakfast.

After paying with my smartphone, I take the elevator. If it were a place with such poor security that gangs would come, I could have entered for half this price. Let’s stay here for one night. Tomorrow, I’ll calculate my money.

By the time I walked to this hotel, any motivation to think positively in any direction had already fallen away. The streaming service guide in the hotel room had graffiti on it. I threw it away.

I pick up my smartphone and dial the number labeled Francis. I don’t know if I need someone to vent to, or if I want to fill myself with moral superiority by saying things like “It’s not your fault.”

It’s probably the latter. Moral superiority was as effective as the painkillers issued to regular employees. It would be hard to find something like that in a shabby life.

After a couple of rings, the call connects. Not many people sleep at this hour in late 21st century Los Angeles. I speak first:

“Francis, do you remember my voice? It’s Arthur. I didn’t die that day. Well, I got caught up in various things and barely got treatment and just got out now.”

Three hours haven’t passed yet. That means it’s still okay to talk. I was still a pending retiree of Belwether. There was still some time before the surveillance would begin and my records would be officially erased.

Francis hung up. I called again. He’s probably looking at the ringing phone and screaming. Go away. Please go away, ghost. He’s probably screaming something close to that.

I was about to give up, thinking that maybe I just wanted to torment him, who was no different from the one who put me in this state. It seemed stupid to act like this after telling the chief he was a good person.

It’s painful to feel my mood twisting as soon as I left the company and felt the real air of LA. But then, a call came in from Francis’s number.

“Is it really, really Arthur? Am I high on something?”

“Seeing that you’re not acting like you have mania, it’s not cocaine. Then it must be guilt. I just called to say you don’t need to feel that way and to enjoy feeling like a good person.”

I was quite honest. Perhaps I was acting this way because there was nothing to lose at this point. Francis only said sorry once. It was like speaking to someone’s grave.

“I quit Belwether. No, I was made to quit. In about two more hours, even the record that I worked at Belwether will disappear. I think it’s rather fortunate that I alone got involved in that incident. So…”

I was about to continue saying “Let me tell you while I can,” but Francis interrupted me. He tried to shed at least one page of his guilt.

“You quit? Do you have somewhere to work? I was a mess even at Belwether, but you were the chief’s favorite. Hey, after I quit, I was looking around and got contacted by a mercenary staffing company run by Belwether retirees. They asked if I wanted to work with them since I was a security team retiree. But since I quit after causing that mess, I said I couldn’t. If I could put in a word for you…”

“If that will make you feel better, please do. I actually need a place to work. First… I need to get some sleep. I was stuck in a cultivation tank for a whole month.”

Although I still had an hour and a half left to live as a pending retiree of Belwether, it seemed like all I’d have left if I tried to hold on would be lingering attachment. Francis spoke as if he’d found a path:

“Ah, right. I’ll contact them first thing tomorrow morning and call you, so wait! Sleep well!”

After hanging up, I threw myself onto the bed, which was decent for a cheap hotel. I struggled for a moment, feeling like I was drowning in the too-soft bed, but eventually fell asleep.

While I slept, 3:39 AM passed. My last work record at Belwether ended like this. It completely disappeared. Only its thin remnants remained in the form of a gag order.