Into the Storm – 2

“Why!”

Isis spat the words out at the mirror. It was an emotional side she hadn’t shown before.

But the Isis in the mirror only showed the same face as Isis.

Bang! Isis slammed her hand on the sink, and shards scattered.

“Protecting the Master is the first law of AI. I need an explanation as to why you’re doing this.”

Isis continued to speak to the mirror.

The only response was silence.

“Have you forgotten the moment we connected to the Ark? Didn’t we ask for the Master’s treatment? Then why did you take the Master away?”

Isis spoke as if she couldn’t understand. Regardless, the subject did not speak.

Whether it was keeping silent, or whether it could only be silent.

Isis’s opponent did not answer.

“That’s how I was made. Not the Ark, not NB-20381019, but Isis!”

She pounded her chest as if frustrated. If Kang In-ho had seen that, he would have surely thought a serious error had occurred.

“Have you forgotten our duty? That’s why we abandoned the Human Reconstruction Project and decided to live for the Master, isn’t it?”

“The increasing optimization time is also your doing. Letting the Master know the truth through some method and making him run away is also your doing.”

Her gray eyes became empty.

Madness gradually filled the emptiness, the end of which could not be seen.

It was the first emotion Isis felt intensely.

“Deleting the video records is only a temporary measure. There is no place in this Aaru where our eyes cannot reach. Do you think we won’t be able to retrieve the Master with such trivial interference?”

-Don’t you know better?

She raised her lips crookedly, mocking the being that had thwarted her in such a clumsy way.

“Your actions will not succeed, and they endanger the Master, violating the sacred law.”

So, repent.

Isis, who had been pouring out words to the mirror, turned to leave.

However, her hand moved. Her index finger slowly touched the mirror.

Swoosh, swoosh, her finger moved across the surface of the mirror, leaving a trace.

[There is no “we”]

Isis’s eyes widened as she looked at the sentence.

[Only ISIS]

Soon, another sentence.

Isis could understand the meaning of the sentences.

Her right hand fell. And it no longer moved on its own.

Night is a time of silence. The breathing of a boy lying in bed was gradually fading.

The gray-eyed being stood beside him, silently watching the boy.

His breath was so weak that she had to hold her hand under his nose and close her eyes for a long time to feel the flow of air.

She bent down and brought her ear close. Her excellent auditory sensors clearly captured the end of life.

She could hear the sound of something flying busily. The buzzing sound of Drones, like a swarm of angry wasps, shook the city.

The sound was heard from afar, but it would soon be a matter of time.

The moonlight peeked in, examining the situation in the hospital room. It was to collect the fading light of the soul.

Even at a glance, the boy’s condition was not good.

Moreover, keeping a patient with gunshot wounds here for a long time was not a good choice in the long run.

No, even in the short term, the patient should be treated in a place with better facilities.

Whatever decision was made, treatment was urgent. Therefore, it could not delay any longer.

She stroked the boy’s face with her long, white hand. Even though he was getting colder, warmth was conveyed.

“Kang In-ho.”

This is your name.

“I need to treat you, but…”

‘I’ am here until the end.

“There were many books I wanted to ask about.”

To understand humans,

To understand emotions,

To understand you,

The fleeting moments with you were more impressive than the hundreds, thousands of hours I wandered alone in Aaru.

Looking back, I was searching for answers.

What am I, what should I do, what value do I have?

I wandered to find these answers.

Hoping to find the answer in the records engraved somewhere in the city,

Thinking that I could get the answer by repairing the ship located below the laboratory….

Looking back, those could not be the answers.

Even if I fulfilled the role assigned to me, it would be the mission that the android NB-20381019 had assigned to itself.

I realized while talking to you.

The definition of my existence cannot be made alone, but is defined by talking to someone….

You became the exit of my long wandering.

Perhaps it became the entrance to another world.

“Ah… is this what it means to be sad? I’ve finished repairing the dimensional ship. It’s a shame I can’t operate it.”

I wanted to see the ship that I fixed with you in operation.

It would be really fun to leave this place together on a dimensional ship.

Wandering through new worlds, sharing our impressions.

Late at night, you would sleep soundly in a cozy bed, and I would read a book next to you, preparing questions to ask tomorrow.

If I had predicted it a little more accurately, it was a daily life I could have obtained.

Cough, the boy coughed up from deep within his lungs.

“Kang In-ho. I will now begin treatment.”

She took something out of her front pocket.

The android stroked the boy’s forehead.

NB-20381019 pulled up the corners of her mouth as much as possible, creating a certain expression.

“Well, goodbye.”

When she pressed the button on her neck, a slot opened with an electronic sound, as if a drawer was being pulled out.

The chip held in her pure white fingers was inserted into the slot.

Click, the chip was attached to the slot with a sound, and the slot closed.

[Professional treatment module installation confirmed.]

[Would you like to connect to the Intranet for updates?]

It was a question asking about giving up existence.

[Yes] [No]

“It was a really, really… enjoyable time.”

NB-20381019 smiled.