Ch.97Welcome Home! (4)

#097

Before evening roll call, Emily was sitting on her bed, opening and eating a snack she had bought from the commissary.

Though she wasn’t particularly fond of snacking, eating was one of the few pleasures officially permitted to inmates, so Emily was enjoying that pleasure to the fullest.

“What should I do… ah… will it really work…?”

Jessie was muttering to herself.

Even for someone as insensitive as Emily, the sight of Jessie biting her nails and talking to herself on the opposite bed was concerning.

Emily carefully folded her snack bag and looked at Jessie.

“Why are you so anxious?”

“…I feel like the review results will be bad.”

Emily was surprised to see Jessie hugging her knees and rocking slightly with a gloomy expression.

While Jessie wasn’t exactly overflowing with confidence, it was the first time Emily had seen her curled up on the bed looking so dejected.

“Didn’t you say the observer was fine with it?”

“That’s true, but… ah, what should I do? I can’t fail this review.”

As Jessie tugged at her hair in distress, Emily tilted her head slightly.

Emily was puzzled, remembering how Jessie had been a bit nervous before the review but had still walked bravely to the meeting room for her parole hearing.

“It’s not like worrying now will change the review results.”

Jessie turned her head to look at Emily.

Emily’s expression was cold as usual.

Still hugging her knees, Jessie frowned.

“That may be true… but don’t you know how to say things nicely?”

“No, I don’t.”

Seeing Emily’s refreshingly blunt answer, Jessie was left speechless.

Jessie felt that Grandma Bonnie, known as the greatest thief of the century, had taught Emily theft techniques but apparently hadn’t taught her basic courtesy.

While Emily didn’t understand others’ emotions well, spending all day with Jessie meant she couldn’t help but understand her feelings.

‘Was there something wrong with what I said?’

Emily racked her brain.

She thought there must be something in her mind that Jessie would appreciate hearing.

“Ah, if worrying could eliminate worry, then there would be no worry.”

“What did you say?”

Jessie asked, surprised by words she never expected to hear from Emily.

“It’s something Grandma taught me when I was too tense. She said it was a Tibetan proverb.”

‘If worrying could eliminate worry, then there would be no worry?’

Jessie carefully considered Emily’s words.

Upon reflection, it made sense.

“That’s right… worrying doesn’t make the worry go away.”

“Exactly. No matter how much you worry, the result won’t change… and, um, what was it… Dexter and I will always be by your side.”

Despite the awkward interjections, Jessie smiled at Emily’s attempt to offer helpful advice.

“What’s gotten into you?”

“Oh, Dexter told me in advance.”

“What?”

Emily put her index finger to her lips and said:

“He said you’d be really nervous after the review and told me to memorize those words.”

“…Didn’t Dexter tell you not to say that last part?”

“Ah, right. He did.”

Jessie’s expression cooled at Emily’s brazen admission.

“Right, that makes sense.”

“Still, I am worried about you when you’re like this.”

“You really don’t know how to talk.”

Jessie chuckled as Emily addressed her with the same shameless attitude as Dexter.

* * *

OSA Headquarters interrogation room.

“Are you really not going to talk?”

Himena, arms crossed and leaning back in her chair, had a stern expression on her face.

[My identity is, a Libertron, released by, Electronic Dynamics.]

The robot continued to output its stiff, mechanical voice.

“Doesn’t that robot have something like a hard drive? Seems like we could just shut it down temporarily.”

On the other side of the interrogation room, senior agents were watching Himena and the Libertron.

“When we asked the engineer, they said it could be dangerous to shut it down carelessly. The storage device might automatically format or physically destroy itself during a forced shutdown. And apparently, the security system on the robot is more complex than expected.”

“So we have to keep interrogating the robot like it’s a person? That’s a headache.”

“Agent Libero is the one suffering.”

“Has she gotten any sleep?”

“Doesn’t look like she’s slept properly.”

The senior agents shook their heads.

Due to OSA’s specialized nature, new agents rarely joined headquarters, and even those who did often resigned due to the demanding workload.

Currently, OSA was caught in this cycle:

1. More workload at headquarters compared to other branches → 2. Frequent overtime and all-nighters → 3. Resignations due to unbearable workload → 4. Remaining staff taking on additional responsibilities → Back to 1

This vicious cycle continued endlessly.

Himena, one of the biggest victims, was extremely irritable from lack of proper sleep for several days.

No matter how much she wanted to treat the Libertron well, she couldn’t help getting angry when it refused to talk.

“…Don’t you know the Three Laws of Robotics? The Second Law.”

Himena spoke with a slightly irritated voice.

The Second Law stated that a robot must obey orders given by humans, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

[Affirmative. However, Libertron does not, operate according to, the Three Laws of Robotics.]

“…Ugh.”

It was frustrating.

She would have felt better if she could just curse once, but she couldn’t with senior agents watching from behind the mirror.

“So you really don’t know anything about the crashing spaceship?”

[Affirmative.]

“Fine, I can believe you might not know that information. The problem is, the Abomination we dealt with was larger than we imagined.”

[…..]

“It might be in the past for you, but still. If an Abomination of this size, along with the Kaonol virus, harmed people, there would definitely be records of it in your system. But you can’t access that information?”

[Agent Libero is not, on the TS list.]

Back to square one.

Himena’s expression grew cold again.

Whenever Himena tried to ask something, the Libertron would say that Himena wasn’t on the “TS list.”

TS stood for Top Secret, literally referring to classified information of the highest level.

The list the Libertron had was obviously different from the current U.S. federal government’s top secret clearance list, so it kept telling OSA agents they weren’t on it.

“You’d say the same thing to any OSA agent I bring in front of you, right? That they’re not on the TS list?”

[………Affirmative.]

The voice output was slower than usual.

If it were human, someone would have questioned why it was hesitating.

‘That response was a bit slow.’

It was suspicious that while the robot was lightning-quick to say someone wasn’t on the TS list, this answer came noticeably slower.

“Libertron, are you hiding something?”

[…No.]

‘That’s suspicious.’

Another slightly delayed output.

However, she couldn’t just order the robot to be dismantled for examination just because it answered slowly.

She wanted to dig deeper but couldn’t.

‘If it were human, I could at least torture them….’

If it were human, she would have had them reciting the breed of dog they had at age 10 and the brand of food they fed it.

But since aggressive tactics might cause stored information to be erased, Himena had to end the interrogation here.

“…Alright. Good work today, Libertron.”

[…..]

Himena’s expression was grim as she rose to conclude the interrogation.

“What exactly is this TS list the robot has? Why would the Library of Congress have a TS list?”

“I know. It is suspicious.”

“The Science and Technology Department says they need a security expert, but of course it’ll take time to bring one in…”

One of the senior agents spoke with a contemptuous expression.

“Ugh. Always one of the biggest budget consumers… Anyway, I wonder if that robot is a spy.”

“It could be. There have been many attempts.”

“I think so too.”

The senior agents were startled when Himena suddenly appeared in the room and joined the conversation.

“Whoa, Agent Libero. When did you come in?”

“Just now. And yes, that Libertron is definitely suspicious. But we have no evidence.”

“You know that without evidence, it’s not easy to take action, right?”

“Of course. That’s why I’m letting it go for now.”

As Himena shook her head, one of the senior agents recalled something and wiggled a finger.

“Who was that honorary agent… Webster, was it?”

“Dexter. Who’s Webster?”

“Right, Dexter. What about bringing him in for a confrontation? He seemed like some kind of magician. Gets results immediately.”

Himena waved off the senior agent’s suggestion.

“He’s on vacation for a while. I think he said he’s in Boston now. He left the day before Mother’s Day and won’t be back in Las Vegas until the day after tomorrow.”

“Wow, he’s got it all planned out.”

“…We need help when we’re stuck.”

Since Dexter had been instrumental in the previous Abomination incident, most OSA headquarters agents knew who he was.

The senior agents recognized Himena and Dexter’s close relationship and had unofficially acknowledged them as partners.

“By the way, what happened to the Rapid Response Team?”

“Oh, you mean the virus-infected team? They’re staying in negative pressure rooms set up at the external training facility. Fortunately, the virus isn’t lethal, so natural healing should be sufficient.”

“That’s a relief. But what was the motive behind crashing a virus-carrying test subject on Earth?”

A senior agent smiled lightly at Himena’s question.

“Isn’t the biggest issue that they deliberately buried a nearly extinct virus from another planet here?”

“Since it wasn’t previously found on Earth, it’s essentially bioterrorism, right?”

“It’s a new virus on Earth, but looking at the universe as a whole, it’s a virus with treatments and vaccines already developed. I’m curious why they would deliberately spread it on Earth.”

“…That’s worth thinking about.”

While Himena was lost in thought, the senior agent raised an eyebrow.

“Good luck, Agent Libero.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

Himena left without properly saying goodbye, trying not to forget the conversation they’d just had.

The senior agents chuckled as they watched her leave.

“Agent Libero hasn’t been off probation for long, and you’re giving her all this work?”

“She wants to do it, so why not? If a junior wants to take initiative, a senior should at least give some hints.”

One of the senior agents pointed to their eye area.

“She’s from a prestigious family, and lately she’s got dark circles under her eyes. Won’t her family be upset?”

“They must have accepted it when they sent her here. OSA is a busy place.”

The senior agent who responded indifferently left the room first, saying:

“I wonder what would happen if that robot and the honorary agent faced off.”

The Libertron remained standing silently in the interrogation room.