Chapter 9
June 25th, 2024
"Dr. Charick? Dr. Pattox? Are you and everyone else receiving us?" a voice asked through the speakers.
"We hear you Seijirou. It's good to finally talk to you, even under such unfortunate circumstances. This is one of my assistants, a technology engineering major in his third year at MIT, Carter Braxton," replied a man by the name of Erwin Charick, a member of the United States health and science bureau. Another one of his former students, now the leader of the French Institute of Medical Sciences, Karolina Pattox, along with her husband, both nodded.
"Unfortunate circumstances indeed, which is why we should get down to business as soon as possible. As of right now, more than three thousand people have been killed by the NerveGear since Sword Art Online launched a year and a half ago... We need to figure out a way to safely remove it from their heads without killing them," Seijirou affirmed.
"Before we go any further, let's note down what we know. First, removing the headset will destroy their brains through a microwave transmitter behind the person's skull, which is built into the NerveGear itself. Second, the device has an extended and self-recharging battery, so simply unplugging them and letting the NerveGear run itself out of battery won't work. Mr. Pattox, do you have an answer to what I asked you earlier? About overcharging the NerveGear to fry the battery?" Erwin asked.
"Unfortunately, it's a no go for that. After studying the battery in the NerveGear, Kayaba not only placed the power cell right next to the transmitter, but he also directly linked them with a grounding cable. If we supercharge the battery to fry it, it's designed to automatically discharge the additional power straight into the transmitter, which then releases the microwaves," answered Mr. Pattox.
The video call went silent at that. In truth, they'd been banking on Mr. Pattox. a recognized technological genius in the field of engineering designs for video game consoles, being able to come up with a solution. But Kayaba had managed to stump even him, and that worried the others.
"So where does that leave us? If we can't tamper with the battery… There's got to be some way to disable the headset without hurting the person wearing it…" Seijirou mused. Carter narrowed his eyes as he stared at the diagram of the NerveGear in front of him.
They all had stakes in solving this deadly puzzle. For Karolina and her husband, one of their close family friends had been trapped in SAO, a schoolteacher by the name of Sasha. For Carter, two of his friends from MIT had been trapped in the death game, as had one of Erwin's students, a boy by the name of Will, along with three of his friends from High School.
Seijirou was in charge of the Japanese SAO task force and had been appointed by the United Nations as one of the global leaders for the international task force. If he failed, he'd risk more than just his job or his two children in the game as well.
Carter's eyes widened as he thought of an idea, and he leaned over to Erwin. After a moment, Erwin nodded.
"Mr. Seijirou? Mr. and Mrs. Pattox? I think I might have an idea," Carter said, and they all leaned forward in interest. "As I'm sure you're all aware, MIT is one of the most difficult college Universities in the entire United States, right up there with Harvard and Berklee. One thing that helps me come to an idea when I'm stumped on a difficult assignment, is to take a step back and ask myself 'what is the absolute easiest, most simple answer I can think of."
Seijirou nodded in understanding. "So, what's your idea? We've been working almost 'round the clock since the players were trapped in the game, and we've thought of and tried a lot of things, but none have worked," he reminded them. Carter nodded back.
"I understand. I was a freshman when the game launched, and I lost two of my best friends, my two roommates, to that device. Since that day, breaking them out has been the only thing on my mind, day in and day out. I've considered so many ideas about how I could do that, but until now, I never tried what I've tried with so many projects: simplifying it," Carter explained. "Instead of trying to disable or hinder the batteries, or the transmitter… why not just take the transmitter out?"
Seijirou opened his mouth to object, but stopped himself as he realized the boy could be onto something. All along they'd tried to come up with complex ideas, because they'd thought that only ideas with such complexity could have even a chance at undoing Kayaba's designs. They hadn't even stopped to consider something as simple as just removing the transmitter entirely.
"Ok then. Let's say the United Nations, world governments, and everyone else agrees with removing the transmitter. Who are we going to risk?" Seijirou then asked. Erwin sighed.
"God in Heaven, Kikouka. Did you have to word it like that?" he asked, and Seijirou nodded.
"I just want to make sure everything is clear. No matter what happens, there is one thing we can't change: Whatever we try, we're going to need to test it on someone first. I hate it as much as you do, but that doesn't mean it's still not just as true regardless," the Japanese task force leader said.
Erwin nodded. "Well, that is a fair point. And to be totally honest, a friend of mine from the university who got trapped in that death game, had reservations he shared with me about the game before he quote-unquote 'dived in'. I never taught him myself, but I knew him quite well from watching his music concerts. When he shared his concerns with me… he asked me something."
Karolina leaned forward. "What did he ask you?" she asked.
Erwin sighed as he remembered the last words Will had said to him before he started the drive back home. "It was as if he knew something might happen, that something would go wrong and people's lives would be at stake," Erwin responded. "He asked me 'Professor if something should happen, and you need a test subject because the game gets screwed up… use me. Put my life on the line so no one else has to,'. If the rest of you agree, I'd like to honor his request."
A/N: Shorter chapter here, but this is like a mini prologue to a whole arc that'll span... oh, probably about five or six chapters I think. Hope this worked as a good hook for you all!
