July 5th, 2026, Ocean Turtle
"Kazuto…" I sit in a chair in the STL room besides the machine Kazuto is currently full-diving in. It's been a week since we set him up here, a long, quiet week with little to no change in his status. A long week of me cursing myself by not only feeling responsible for Kazuto's condition, but also for deceiving my friends.
I know by now they know Kazuto is not at any hospital as Kikuoka promised, and I bet they've tried looking for him too. Since no one truly knows about my presence here, I've been able to play dumb on Kikuoka's intentions and Kazuto's whereabouts, even though the idea was mine (or at least that's what I think). I haven't had contact with the gang since Thursday, so I do not know how far they've come.
But I know them well. We've solved mysteries before, they'll somehow find the Ocean Turtle.
Meanwhile, I've been keeping records of Kirito's progress in the Underworld. In the last few days, he's progressed two years in the Underworld. He was dropped by a village called Rulid, in the northernmost point of the world. With a friend he made the journey to the capital, and is currently enrolled in an academy that teaches swordplay. Thinking about that makes me quite nostalgic and slightly jealous.
"Oh, Mr. Hardin." I turn around to a tall, slender, kind faced woman who is Kazuto's nurse, Ali Natsuki. She was also his nurse during the SAO and GGO incidents. She smiles at me as she checks Kazuto's vitals. "I hear that, along with the fifth STL that's to be installed upstairs, we got a new arrival just a few minutes. Two, actually. They're meeting with the lieutenant colonel and Mr. Higa now."
"Very well. Thank you, Nurse Aki." I stand up and walk out the bay towards the control room, wanting to meet our new arrivals. If I remember, Dr. Rinko Kojiro, who worked with Akihiko Kayaba on Sword Art Online, is supposed to be coming. But who is the second-
"Where's Kirito?" ...Well, she finally got here. That angry voice belongs to the one and only Asuna Yuuki. I guess she got a ride along with Dr. Kojiro, but I can't wait to hear the details on how that happened.
"What'd I tell you? That kid's this project's biggest security hole."
"Yes, you were right. But you should tell him that too. He agreed."
"Is Kirito safe? Were you lying when you said you could treat him? Please answer me, Mr. Kikuoka!"
"To answer your first question, Kazuto is safe." I make my way fully up the stairs and reveal myself. Making my way to Kikuoka's side, I look away from my friend to the true guest of honor. "Nice to finally meet you, Dr. Kojiro. My name is Joshua Hardin, and I'm here representing my family at RoboTelligence assisting Rath in this endeavor."
Asuna is quite bewildered by my appearance. "J-Joshua? You're here?"
"And the reason Kirito is here."
"What?"
Kikuoka explains. "Because of the attack by the fugitive from the Death Gun incident, Kirito's brain sustained damage that modern medicine is unable to heal. However, Rath is the only place in the world that has the technology to treat him. I'm sure you've heard of it. The STL… The Soul Translator. If we use the STL to directly stimulate his Fluctlight, we can induce the generation of a new neural network. But it takes time. Right now, Kirito is inside a full-spec STL, which can only be found here. The treatment he's getting rivals that of any major hospital. He even has his own personal nurse."
"Believe me, Asuna," I say, "if I didn't think it'll work somehow, I wouldn't have suggested it to Kikuoka."
She sighs. "I understand. I'll believe you for now."
Dr. Kojiro steps up. "All right, if we've come this far, why don't you tell us everything, Mr. Kikuoka. Such as why an SDF official like you would use the Ministry as a front, why a renowned robotics and artificial intelligence company like RoboTelligence is involved, what are you plotting, and why you need Kirigaya?"
"If you're asking that, I'm going to have you help me."
"I'll decide after I hear your answer."
Kikuoka nods. "Well, then, may I assume you're both familiar with the concept of the STL?"
"It's a machine that reads a human soul, their Fluctlight, and allows them to dive into a virtual world indistinguishable from reality."
"Correct," Kikuoka says. "But I don't think you know what this project's objective is."
"Objective?"
I nod as I turn to the giant monitor in the dark room that displays the central city of the Underworld. "To create a bottom-up multi-purpose artificial intelligence."
Asuna cocks her head as she repeats the objective. "A bottom-up multi-purpose artificial intelligence?"
"Mhm. There are two approaches in developing artificial intelligence. The current one is top-down. The developer programs the artificial intelligence with experience and knowledge so that, eventually, it will learn to replicate true intelligence."
Mr. Higa, who sits at the main control panel, further explains. "Including the research of Dr. Shigemura, who'd been working with us here, almost everything considered an artificial intelligence right now uses the top-down approach."
I directly face Asuna. "Yui, Strea, Rei, they're examples of this. Yui and Strea are mental health programs at their core. Despite their experiences and accumulated knowledge, they will default to that core programming at any and all times. Therefore, they cannot react appropriately to something they never learned about. Strea's...lack of appropriate social behavior is an example of that. It's been three years, and despite some growth there, she still lacks it because it was never in her initial learning. All top-downs are like that. They haven't evolved to be called true intelligence yet. But a bottom-up…" I gesture to a small part of the monitor, where a model of the human brain is displayed. "That's the human brain… Bottom-up development involves artificially replicating the construct of a biological organ comprising one hundred billion linked brain cells and generating intelligence there. Like how we generate intelligence."
"Is such a thing possible?"
"My family thought it was possible, but it would require too many resources. So for a long time, it was impossible. A baby, ignorant as it begins, learns human intelligence because it is human. Top-downs act human for sure, but as I said earlier, they have that act programmed into them."
"But the Soul Translator can scan a human soul, the quantum field we call the Fluctlight."
"And to store almost the same amount of data as a human brain, we've developed the Light Quantum Gate Crystal, aka the Lightcube, as a medium."
"Which means it can be used to copy a Fluctlight?"
"Correct. We have, in fact, succeeded in replicating the human soul."
Dr. Kojiro gasps. "Then why did you need to summon me at this point?"
"Because, foolishly enough, we'd missed something. The fact that an unbelievably vast and deep chasm exists between a copy of the human soul and a true artificial intelligence. Higa… Show them 'that.'"
Higa looks at Kikuoka in confusion. "Huh? We're doing that again?" He turns towards his computer and changes the big monitor's display to a giant ball of "connections". And yeah, it talks.
"Is the sampling done?"
"Yeah. Everything completed with no problems."
"Glad to hear it. But it's pitch-black, and I can't move my body. Is this a glitch with the STL? Sorry, but can you let me out of the machine?"
"Unfortunately, but I can't do that."
"Hey, what the hell? What are you talking about? Who are you? Your voice doesn't sound familiar."
"I'm Higa. Takeru Higa."
"No way! What do you mean? I'm Higa! You'll know once I get out of the STL!"
"Calm down. Don't get worked up. That's not like you. You may be a copy, but you're Takeru Higa. You calmly accept situations-"
"I'm the same as ever! If I'm a copy, then I should feel like one! This… This isn't… No! Let me out! Let me out of this thing!"
"You need to calm down," Kikuoka tells the angry red ball that's Higa's copy. "You're aware of the danger to your Fluctlight if you lose the capacity for rational thought."
"I am being rational! All right, then why don't I race that imposter there by reciting the digits of pi? 3.14159265358…" As he recites the digits, the AI becomes more erratic until the screen goes black.
"And he's collapsed. One minute, eight seconds."
"There's a limit to bad taste," Dr. Kojiro shouts. Asuna herself looks sick.
"You haven't met mine," I say comically. "He's quite the guy."
Kikuoka nods. "I apologize for that. But now you see why I could only explain it by showing you. Including myself, we've copied the Fluctlights of over ten people, and not a single one could bear the thought of being a copy. If full copies are out of the question, what should we do?"
"What should you do… Raise them from the start?"
I smile. "Bingo."
"That's right. Copy the souls of newborn infants and raise them."
"But what kind of environment would you raise them in? You can't create an exact copy of the real world."
"Yes, that's impossible. But we realized something. Plenty of perfect solutions already exist on the network."
"VRMMO worlds," Asuna answers.
"You got that right," Higa says. "Using the Seed, we created small villages and surrounding landscapes and converted them for STL use."
"In the very first town we created, four members of Rath staff raised 16 soul archetypes, that is, AI infants, to the age of 18. These 16 youths grew up quickly. Although we call them artificial Fluctlights for convenience, the way they turned out was more than satisfactory. They were all very obedient and upstanding. When they were joined in marriage, we have them make babies, in other words, new soul archetypes for them to raise. And after accelerating time in their world by 5,000, there were more and more generations, and by the time 3 weeks, or 300 years in their world, had elapsed, a massive society with a population of 80,000 had emerged."
"But at that level, that's a civilization simulation."
"That is true, huh? At this time, almost 450 years have already passed in that world, and the population of the capital, Centoria, has reached 20,000."
"At this time, the bottom-up Fluctlights have matured into the bottom-up AIs that we'd hoped for. So we were thrilled to be able to move up to the next phase. However…"
"That's when we noticed a certain major issue."
"Issue?"
"Yes," I say. "Given this is a simulation without much interference from us, the Fluctlights govern themselves. Such a body, the Axiom Church, created a set of laws known as the Taboo Index."
"Taboo Index?"
"It contains laws we have in real life, such as murder." I move my eyes from the screen of the large white tower to Asuna. "We're more than well aware of how willing people are to murder if allowed so. But the Fluctlights obey it like their life depends on it. Barring a system of nobles and commoners, it is the utopian society one dreams off."
"How is that an issue?"
"For me and RoboTelligence, this is almost perfect, but for Rath…"
Asuna gasps as she looks at Kikuoka. "Could it be that your objective…is to create AIs capable of murder? Both Kirito and I guessed that the reason for your interest in VRMMOs was because the technology could be applied to police work and SDF training. But… This project is far too ambitious. For an SDF official like yourself to attempt something of this scale, to recruit the heir of a powerful AI company… What you want is to build AIs capable of killing soldiers in battle. Isn't that the reason?"
"Is that true, Mr. Kikuoka?"
"...Five years ago, when the NerveGear was announced, it struck me. This technology had the potential to upend the very notion of war. When the SAO incident occurred, I volunteered to transfer to the Ministry and joined the task force. I did all that so I could get the project off the ground. It took me five years to finally get to this point."
Dr. Kojiro looks at Higa. "Why did you decide to take part in this project, Higa?"
"Well, actually, my motive was a bit more personal. I was friends with this guy when I was a student at a college in Korea. And he died while serving in the army. And so I thought...even if this world is never rid of war, at least if people never had to die anymore, then… I know it's a pretty childish reason."
Asuna looks at me. "Why you?"
I look up to the screen of Centoria. "At first, I didn't care much for Rath's goal. I knew and understood it, but all I cared about was the development of bottom-up AI, to accomplish my father's dream when he created the AI division for the company. But...then I thought about it. We're implementing these Fluctlights into a VR world...if they were here four years ago, when we entered Sword Art Online, we might've been saved. Kayaba said that no one could leave or help us by disconnecting us, but never said anyone couldn't log on. The one thing that could have stopped Kayaba's genius is right here. RoboTelligence's goal is commercialized, everyday use for these AIs but I see the potential for Rath's as well. If it saves human lives, it's worth it."
Asuna bows her head in understanding. "But you haven't spoken a word of this to Kirito. If you had talked to him about it, he never would've agreed to help you. There's one crucial point of view missing from your story. You should know that, Joshua, the rights of artificial intelligence. These so-called artificial Fluctlights have the same cognitive abilities as humans, right?"
"It's not as if they have physical bodies," Kikuoka responds.
"But they're no different than living beings. Forcing them to kill or be killed as tools of war, Kirito would never play a part in that! Never!"
"Are you sure, Asuna?" I lean against the panel, frowning at the girl. "Yes, Kirito does have such a moral compass, I agree. But this isn't Sword Art: Origins. Those NPCs were never meant to die, and if a player did do so, a heavy penalty was paid. Like those NPCs, the Fluctlights have their purpose in life. Some are hunters, some are farmers, others are soldiers. Yes, even in a world where murder is forbidden, there's are soldiers who protect those who cannot protect themselves. I know the rights of AI, my family was there when it was written and endorsed it. But if 4,000 Fluctlight soldiers died instead of 4,000 innocent, trapped, scared people, would you think about them the same way you do now?"
Asuna and I have a staredown until Dr. Kojiro steps between us. "Anyway, why did you need Kirigaya? Why would you use him at the risk of leaking something so highly confidential."
Kikuoka adjusts his glasses. "Oh, right, we were telling you all this to help me explain all that. Why are the artificial Fluctlights unable to disobey the Taboo Index? That's when I came up with a certain experiment. If we were to block out all of a real human's memories, revert him to childhood, and have him grow up in the virtual world, would the subject be able to disobey the Taboo Index? To carry out this experiment, we needed a subject who was used to moving in a virtual world. And not just a week or a month's worth, but experience amounting to years. We could've used Joshua, but the Taboo Index also affects RoboTelligence's goals. It was best he observed rather than participated. You understand now, don't you?"
ALO, later on...
"I can't believe my brother got involved in something like that, and that you got him involved."
I still stand with my judgment, even if it gains the scrutiny of Leafa, Silica, Sinon, Philia, Rain, and Lisbeth. Leafa does have the right to be angry with me, same as Asuna, but it doesn't change how I feel. So for that, I literally stand on the wall with my arms crossed, after Asuna demanded I explain everything to the others.
"Do you think it's okay to trust Mr. Kikuoka," Silica questions.
"I really hope he's not hiding anything else. So we're just going to have to trust that the STL treatment will work, huh? That, and Jaymes' judgment." Sinon looks at me, nodding. I appreciate someone trusting me, Asuna slightly hurt my feelings earlier.
Lisbeth turns to me. "Hey, so about Kirito and this, uh, this Taboo Index? What happened with that?"
I sigh and take my seat between her and Sinon. "Well, as for Kirito, he's fine. I'm personally watching his progress. As of today, he's been inside for two years in their time while he's been out for a week."
"Two years," Leafa gasps. "Does he know?"
"I don't know, I'm not watching his every move, else I'd have to slow down time every real hour or dive in and find him. But if the STL isn't blocking his memory, he may have figured out where he is." I then turn to Lisbeth, who looks calmer by my explanation that Kirito is fine. It...warms my heart to calm her down, but I immediately push those thoughts aside. "As for the Taboo Index, I don't know what it is besides as I explained it. When I was inside the STL, the world was about 100 years old and I spent three years observing their military and whatnot. Back then, the Taboo Index wasn't a thing. Whatever happened did so after I logged out for the last time. Kirito, however, dove into a more recent past and grew up in the world. Nineteen years ago in their time. When he was a kid, he befriended a boy and a girl. The girl broke the Index."
"You mean she was influenced by Kirito," Sinon asks.
"Yes and no. Let's say Kirito got adventurous and dragged his friends along, but when the girl broke the Taboo Index by 'accessing a restricted address', she did so accidentally. She was trying to help another person who was hurt. She prioritized someone else's life over the Taboo Index. That's precisely what we are looking for."
Silica looks to her lap. "That's a lovely story, but…"
"If only it wasn't a study on weapons to kill people...well, there's your part on it too, Jaymes." Lisbeth eyes me, smiling a bit. "I guess there's some good out of it."
Asuna nods. "I agree. But I'm more amazed by what that girl did. After all, it's not easy to overcome yourself."
"Does the girl have a name, Jaymes."
I nod. "Alice. Ironically, it's the name of the concept that is the foundation of the project. What we're truly hoping to develop is a highly-adaptive autonomous artificial intelligence. We dubbed it Artificial Labile Intelligence Cybernated Existence. A.L.I.C.E, for short. Imagine if Yui disobeyed Asuna or Strea didn't care if I was down. Their core programming plus their 'personalities' won't allow it. Yui was made to be childlike, Strea...a hugger, so to speak. But what if they broke that? They would gain autonomy from their programming. That is a crude way of explaining it, but an AI that thinks for itself, not its core programming, it's what Project Alicization is about."
Rain looks like her head is going to pop. "That sounds so complicated."
"I don't quite understand everything, either," Asuna says, "but they said that if they had saved the Fluctlight of this girl, Alice, their research would've made huge advances."
"Meaning that?"
"When Alice was taken by the Axiom Church, two days had passed in that time before we noticed, and the church 'corrected' her Fluctlight. For us...well, we were in GGO at the time probably."
"Corrected," Sinon asks of me. "I thought the Fluctlights only observed each other but they were given that kind of authority?"
"No, they were not. But… In the world, there are those who possess the ability of 'Sacred Arts', which are system access rights in the form of magic. Under normal circumstances, it's fine. Think of it like a sword skill or magic here in ALO. I have used them myself, actually have become quite the master of it. But whatever changed Alice back is beyond that scope...almost like they're an administrator of sorts. If this individual can do that, they're on the scale of Premiere and Tia in terms of being able to change the world."
Asuna suddenly stands up. "Sorry! I have to go back!"
"You have something to do?"
"Kikuoka said he'd let me see Kirito sleeping. It's almost time for that."
Lisbeth nods. "Tell us later how he looked, all right?"
Asuna chuckles. "He's inside a machine, so I might not get to see his face."
As Asuna logs off, I sigh. I look up to Leafa, knowing that if I must say anything to anyone, it's her. "Suguha… I am sorry that I took your brother away secretly. But this was the only option I could think of. It was my decision, not Kikuoka's...or so I think."
Leafa shakes her head. "You did what you thought was right, and even then, you've watched over him this week. I trust you will not let anything happen to him. No apology needed."
"Same here," Silica says. Sinon and the other girls nod along.
"Thanks, you guys. I'll keep you updated on his progress."
"All right. Girls, it's kind of late, so I'm going to log off."
"Me too. Bye Jaymes," I wave goodbye to Silica, Philia, Rain, and Leafa as they go offline. I prepare to do the same, but a hand grabs my left arm. That belongs to Lisbeth, who sits on my left side.
"Can we talk before you go?" Before I can decide on my own, I hear Sinon log off herself. I didn't really want to be alone with Lisbeth right now, not today at least, but I guess it's no longer my choice.
"What's up, Liz?"
"Are you sure Kirito is going to be fine?"
I close my eyes and sigh. I can lie to the others, but, even though our relationship is back to being friends, I cannot lie to the girl I sacrificed my life for. "I can't honestly say yes or no. I don't know. We're working on a theory, but so far, he's still alive."
She nods. "I guess that's good. But with you watching over him, I believe he'll be fine… But how are you? Middle of the ocean for a week, that's gotta be different."
I shrug and laugh. "Well, it's not a tropical island. No beach girls, no true fun, so it's kinda dull. Like you all sent me there to torture me."
She smiles. "You don't need further female attention. Or fun at all." She then drops the smile as she looks away. "Can I… Can I ask you something?"
Curious yet cautious. I slowly nod. "Yeah."
"It's… Well… I know that everything that happened between us two months ago is my fault. Feeling guilty about Koharu again, for all the memories of SAO the Augma took, it brought that feeling back. Then, for a moment, she was back. But...even though I have no right to ask this of you, I cannot help it, even now…but is there-"
"I don't know." I stand up and turn my back to her, unable to face her. "I don't know if there's still a chance for us. It's...complicated."
"Kureha is the complication, huh? She's a pretty girl, more your type than I am. Heh, all this time I worried about Philia or Rain, never thought about Kureha honestly. But you two have always had a connection, both in real life and the virtual world, even back in childhood. Plus she can back you up like Koharu once did…"
"Kureha is not a complication. Quite honestly, it is you. For the vast majority of the last two years, you've been my reason to fight and live. That holds more weight than anything. Even today, despite us no longer together, I… I was actually more afraid of you being mad at me than Leafa. With the other girls, try as I might, I can't bring myself to be alone with them in real life, and in the virtual world, it feels even more wrong. It's because, deep down, even though you said it was fine if I saw another, I cannot see anyone but you. That hasn't changed much… Yet, at the same time, I also want to move along. I just don't know what to do."
Lisbeth nods as she stands up. I turn to her face, struggling hard to hold her tears back. "Then do what you're best at. Protecting others. It always came before your heart, after all, I know that well enough, it's what I love most about you. But I won't bother you about this again, not until you bring Kirito back."
"All right…" I look to the side as Lisbeth opens her menu. I know that if I say what I'm thinking, I might screw everything up. But… "Lis, I-"
"Save it " she says with a smile, forced as it is. She holds her fist out. "Save it for when you come back with Kirito...my Crimson Warrior."
My own words used against me for once. It creates a genuine smile on my face as I bump her fist. "I'll do my best, Lisbeth."
"Take care of Asuna, too. Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."
"I'll try…"
