EP.12 NB-20381019-1



The next day at dawn, NB, who came out tying a ribbon to a tree branch, was more careful than usual in moving its body.

“……”

NB, hiding between walls, looked up at the sky. The aperture in NB’s eyes moved, observing the situation.

More. More than yesterday.

Like kicking a hornet’s nest, Drones were flying in swarms in the sky.

The sight was not a procession of regular patrols, but resembled soldiers busily running around in preparation for battle.

NB considered stopping the search for Aaru and returning to the base.

However, with the repair of the dimensional navigation ship nearing completion, delaying was not a good option.

Besides, NB also thought it wouldn’t be caught. Its infiltration skills, honed over a long period, had deceived even the Ark’s eyes for years.

It might not get caught. That was NB’s calculation.

Each time it moved deeper into Aaru, NB reactivated its calculation circuit.

The result after a short calculation of a few seconds was the same as before.

However, NB thought it should reactivate the calculation circuit once more.

The same result came out again, but NB did not take this very positively.

“I will make returning quickly today the first principle.”

Without knowing who it was talking to, NB disappeared into the depths of Aaru.

-Woo-oong

A mechanical sound was heard from somewhere.

NB’s search went quite smoothly.

The drones flying busily were only at the entrance of Aaru, and as it came to the center of Aaru, the drones were hardly visible.

Perhaps the security forces had been moved outside. NB wondered if something from outside the city was threatening the safety of Aaru.

Since its movements were free, the search also sped up.

And today, useful items caught NB’s eye a lot. NB put them in its old backpack and walked around the city again.

As the noon sun was about to set in the west, NB decided to stop the search and return to the base.

The harvest was better than expected, and it had decided to return early today, as it had thought when entering Aaru.

But unlike when it came in, the way back was rough.

The movement of the Drones became difficult to predict, and NB’s steps slowed down due to the strangely increased obstacles.

“I will wait here for a while.”

NB, hiding to cool down, took out a book from its bosom.

It had brought it to read while avoiding Drones or cooling its overheated body.

NB thought that reading books these days was ‘fun.’

In the past, it was only for gaining simple knowledge, but after Kang In-ho came and it heard his interpretations of books, it wanted to read newer books.

The book it brought this time was a novel about war.

The son of a farmer is drafted into the war and struggles. As the war intensifies and the allied forces are pushed into a defensive position, the farmer’s son volunteers to stop the enemies alone.

And some of his comrades join him, and the five soldiers sacrifice themselves to buy time for the allied forces to retreat.

NB had a question. The protagonist, the farmer’s son, was a person who wanted to go back home and see his parents.

But he threw away that wish and threw himself into the battlefield. No one pushed him to volunteer.

Did his wish change? That was not the case; the protagonist recalled the farm in his hometown even as he closed his eyes.

“I have something to ask again.”

NB, thinking it was a question to ask Kang In-ho when it returned to the base, stood up.

The road was still rough, but NB could exert more strength than before.

It had cooled its overheated body, and the fact that it was going to see Kang In-ho also played a part.

When the thought reached that point, NB tilted its head and thought.

“What is Kang In-ho to me?”

At first, he was a human who had to be protected according to the protocol.

And at his request not to go to Aaru, it stayed with him at the base.

Up to this point, it would have been NB’s actions according to the sacred law that could not help but respect humans.

The human who had been living together had by now deeply entered NB’s daily life.

He helped repair the dimensional navigation ship, told it the meaning of books, and taught it what emotion was.

These were things that were difficult to explain in terms of the relationship between humans and androids, or androids and humans.

Therefore, a part of NB’s calculation circuit was engraved with information about Kang In-ho.

There were still many things about him that had not been revealed.

Where he came from, how he could speak, how he survived…

NB became curious about Kang In-ho.

Although it didn’t reveal it, NB liked listening to Kang In-ho’s opinions.

NB had wandered Aaru alone for a long time, so it realized the importance of exchanging words only this time.

So NB hastened its steps.

It was somewhat dangerous, but it narrowly avoided the detection area of the Drones.

Suddenly, as when it entered Aaru, the calculation circuit began to operate on its own.

It began to calculate the way back to the base.

The calculation result was fine. It just had to keep going as it was.

But NB activated the calculation circuit once more.

It didn’t know why, but it judged that it would be good to check one more time.

Its body overheated, and the calculation circuit operated.

The result was the same as before.

NB’s steps quickened. It saw a Drone group heading somewhere.

NB activated the calculation circuit one more time.

Its body, which had been cooled down with difficulty, overheated once again.

NB did not know the name of what it was feeling now, but it would be able to recall its name when it reached the base.

‘Anxiety’

From this morning until returning to the base, what NB had felt was the emotion of ‘anxiety.’

Watching from afar as the base burned like a huge bonfire, NB turned its body towards the path to the next base.

-Woo-oong

A mechanical sound was heard from somewhere.