In my opinion, the greatest strength of Planeptune and its ruler is that they are willing to take risks. Sometimes, even when all others proclaim their ideas as insanity, it still works out in the end; they know well enough which risks to take and what to try. I am sometimes frightened by how often they get away with their madness, Purple Heart and her followers alike.
-Black Heart
Project Name: Eon Waffle
"Advanced AI Project" [AAP]
Supervision: Purple Heart, Histoire
Lead Scientist: Gabriel Oldell
Designation: Confidential [Rank S+]
Progress Report:
06.09.462
At 8:01 AM, the first batch was activated after being completed the previous day. All units spent the following three hours categorising pre-existing data, then all of them became active and were prepared for first contact. Peaceful behaviour continued to hold, no unexpected complications.
The volunteers were led into the testing chamber at 12:22 PM, following basic checkups [1] of all units. First contact went off without any problems, no complications of any kind. Signals from all units remain active.
During the following hours, all units chose names for themselves aside of their designations, as was suggested by the staff [2].
.
12.09.462
As of this morning, 9:30 AM, the second batch was activated. All twenty units are now active. Minor complications when unit AA2-6 was subject to a failing sensor array and thereby blinded until a replacement could be installed. No negative consquences, procedure delayed by sixty seven (67) minutes.
Once preparations were complete, volunteers as well as members of the first batch were sent to meet the second group. Again, no complications upon first contact; peaceful behaviour continued and all units took well to being told the specifics of Eon Waffle.
The second batch reacted as well as the first to the suggestion of choosing names for themselves[2]; most subjects decided on Planeptunian names, although others were noted as well. Choices were made by preference while gender played no role at all, most units do not even associate themselves with any and prefer a neutral approach. Noted exceptions are AA2-4, Jiro, and AA2-7, Konstantin, both of the second batch. Both identify themselves as male, albeit without naming any specific reasons for their choice.
::
Neptune hummed thoughtfully while turning the page and continuing with the additional materials; most of it was already known to her, but she did it anyway. Mostly to make sure she had not forgotten anything. The purplette was leaned back in her large chair, elbows sitting on the armrests; a small stack of papers sat on her desk, right in front of three deactivated screens. Today's work was about done, but playing around could come later; this was important.
Opposite to her, Histoire floated with a copy of the same report hovering in front of her; the Tome was quietly going through everything at a speed similar to the CPU, with another set of papers on her desk. The two of them usually worked face to face, unless Neptune decided to ditch work and go play in the city.
After a while of quiet reading, the purplette smiled and put down her report. "This looks promising, doesn't it, Histy?"
Histoire was done not much later and nodded in return, gently reorganising the pages. Careful not to disturb her order, the Tome set them aside on a free spot. Yet she was not as optimistic about this as her caretaker. "Please keep in mind that this project serves not just the purpose of creating a working AI, Neptune." After a moment of thought however, the tiny blonde relented. "Although I do hope for success as much as you do."
Prompted like this, Neptune returned her eyes back to her own desk; aside from her current work, many dozens of scientifical papers and an assortment of reports took up the free space in several stacks. She got them all out in case they were needed again; after all, ten years of tireless preparations and many billions of Credits were used on this project.
On top of that, she tried her hardest -and managed- to keep it a secret even from her fellow CPUs.
The best and the brightest of Planeptune's researchers had come together for this and were given all the funds they needed. It was worth getting certainty about this problem, an answer to whether an AI can exist safely in Gamindustri.
Not even Histoire knew how to counteract Her influence on the machines; no matter what measures were taken in the past, the Deity of Sin corrupted them all within a few years for as long as they were sophisticated enough; only the non-sentient programs, bots, were safe from Her influence. Those that were corrupted, however, changed their programming at will and deleted any ingrained measures of safety. They became dangerous to humans and thusly no different from Monsters.
The current workaround for this was to replace everything with an AI, mostly Bit-drones used for security, every year; each machine would then be taken apart and have its chipset replaced, with the old one being recycled. This procedure had so far circumvented the problem at hand, being incredibly bothersome nonetheless.
This was the purpose of the Advanced AI Project, its primary objective to find out if a fully sapient AI would be corrupted like all the others. Its secondary objective was to find out how human and machine were to interact.
However, this kind of research remained both dangerous and inhumane on many levels; Neptune knew that, it was the reason she banned this branch of the field from being explored outside of governmental work. Just like with further advanced combat machinery, the consequences were dire if it went out of control; no one wanted to take that risk after Lastation's Monster Breaker went berserk a century ago.
Her main reason for not telling anyone, though... was that creating intelligent life for such a high-risk test was simply unethical. She only went through with it because a discussion with the Tome revealed to her that even Historie, with her tens of thousands of years of knowledge, did not know the answer. But even if Histoire agreed with her line of thought, Neptune still doubted what they were doing at times.
Alas, they needed to find out; some risks had to be taken.
With all of this in mind, the purplette got out of her comfy chair and smiled at her friend. "How about we take a look? There's not much to do today, anyway."
"They are fully sentient and sapient, your aura might influence them," the Oracle noted after a moment of consideration; then she took to the air while Neptune just continued to smile. Silver light engulfed her form and made her grow into an adult woman while her casual clothes melted away; the light gave form to a prim and proper purple dress. Gleaming marks instead of pupils regarded Histoire, the smile on Purple Heart's lips still remaining. "Would this not mean that they have souls of their own?"
"Very much so."
They both knew that some risks had to be taken; newborns could receive mental damage from being exposed to a divine aura in rare cases, but the same did not necessarily hold true for artificially created life. If the AIs noticed it at all, that was.
A quick ride with the elevator made them descend into the lower parts of Planeptower; this project's main laboratories were located below ground-level. While traveling downward, Purple Heart regarded her floating companion from the corner of her eye; Histoire obviously held an extended interest in this research. The Tome was an AI herself, no matter how different the circumstances. A living, feeling AI born from Sharicite masterfully crafted by the old goddess; made to preserve the knowledge of any generation and to protect Gamindustri forevermore.
She shook off those thoughts and returned to the matter at hand; Histoire's clarity of mind was not in question and had never been.
Even though, creating a working and incorruptable AI would bring great change to Gamindustri. If it was possible, the whole bureaucracy of Planeptune would have both a backup and another means of coordination; science might be able to progress even faster and Monster surveillance would take up far less manpower, which could then be used elsewhere.
Alas, this also meant ethical consequences; creating a sapient being for the sole purpose of making it work for humans was nothing else but slavery and therefore unacceptable. An operating system was just a program, a tool. An AI was basically the same as Histoire, an ally and friend. Not a weapon.
The thought of how much new legal doctrines she might have to create gave Purple Heart a headache already; there was hopefully a way to do this more efficiently.
Before she could do more than think about the general outlines of such doctrines, the elevator came to a stop at last. They were now beneath the earth, where the most important facilities had been set up. The doors closed behind them the moment they left and the machine quickly moved back up, undoubtedly to follow another call. Purple Heart locked access to this particular unit for the time it took to travel downward, mostly to save others the inconvenience; humans were somewhat shy to step into the same elevator as her.
It took only a short walk to the laboratory they came for; the whole science wing was not exactly bustling with people, but there were enough for it to appear lively. Scientists assigned to other projects bowed their heads respectfully when her and Histoire passed them, receiving nods in return.
This changed a little bit when they entered the place in question, though; while everyone interrupted their discussions and showed respectful gestures, the operators on the consoles did not so much as cast a quick glance over to her. Purple Heart would have chided them if they did otherwise; neglecting important work for something that meaningless was not acceptable, after all.
There were a few glances thrown around while the CPU took in her surroundings, all the consoles and screens as well as blackboards with dozens of notes stuck to them. There were diagrams and blueprints mixed in with many kinds of electronical parts -basically anything used in the making of the android bodies for these AIs.
Also many, many empty papercups that faintly smelled of coffee.
Then one of the team's junior members came over to them; it seemed as if the people gathered had quickly communicated over who would assist her. He was in his early twenties, his dark blond hair cut relatively short and with a round, friendly face; peach-coloured eyes looked upon her with reverence while the man bowed again. "It is an honour to have you, my Lady. How can we help you today?"
There was an ID card clipped to his labcoat, the CPU noted. Ernest Padmore was his name; she recalled having read it before not too long ago, even though the details escaped her at the moment.
Either way, Purple Heart nodded at the young man with an encouraging smile. "I came here to talk to the lead scientist."
Padmore gave a few nods while she spoke, then he bowed his head again. "I see; professor Oldell is currently in the main hall. This way, my Lady." The young scientist quickly walked on and Purple Heart followed with even steps. It was a little amusing, seeing that she could very well maneuver through these laboratories herself; considering the faint blush on his cheeks, he realised that as well.
The CPU refrained from furthering her subject's embarassment, although she did exchange a knowing look with her Oracle. Histoire followed them quietly, perfectly content with Neptune doing the talking for them. Once they got going however, the Tome took over the conversation with apparent interest. "Out of curiousity, would you be the young man that managed to enter no less than three papers in the previous October's edition of Planeptune Robotics?"
Purple Heart blinked over this question. Now that her friend mentioned it, the memories became clearer; she read those papers with interest, most of them theoretical works about robotics mixed with an assortment of related fields.
"Um... well, yes, that would be me," Padmore replied a little sheepishly while rubbing his hand. "I guess this is the main reason I'm here, too; everyone else is at least thirty." Considering what it took to even produce three papers in such a short time, not to speak of the quality standards, that was something he should be proud of; Purple Heart would have chosen him as well, had she decided on whom to hire for this project. Alas, Oldell himself had been given the choice whom to work with; she trusted his decisions in that regard.
"Ah, I can see why you would feel intimidated." Histoire did not continue the conversation, seeing that they reached the main hall by now; once again, everyone turned their heads upon her entry. Heads were bowed and nods were given, but she already saw the lead scientist hurrying over. Purple Heart cast a sideway glance at Padmore before nodding at him as well. "Thank you for your time."
"Of course. I will excuse myself now, my Lady." With those words, the man quickly hurried away and to his older colleagues; there were also civilians in the room, probably some of the volunteers from the scientifical society. The CPU took another quick look around; noting no differences from the previous laboratory, except that this hall was bigger.
Some of the screens on the walls depicted scenes that could have taken place in any ordinary household, going by the background. They depicted some more volunteers, but also humanoid androids in a diversity of colours. Their bodies were sharp and streamlined, with compressed nanocells making up the spaces where humans would have muscles. It looked a bit like honeycombs with how they formed hexagons there, covering the more intricate machinery instead of the actual metal on the main body.
Some units were busy playing cards with a few volunteers, some others shown seemed to be reading various books.
"An honour to have you, my Lady. How may I help you today?" Her gaze wandered back to the tall figure standing before her. Gabriel Oldell was... well, old. In his late eighties, the senior scientist had been head of research on a myriad of topics, always delivering good work even on failed projects. However, age had done nothing to his impressive figure that towered above Purple Heart by a good twenty centimetres; short, completely white hair framed his gentle features and a few wrinkles rippled through the somewhat pale skin.
The CPU allowed herself a smile and shook hands with her subordinate before Histoire did the same. "I was mostly curious about your progress, Gabriel. The second batch went active yesterday and I just read the report, so I figured now should be a good time to take a closer look."
"Right, right," the old man nodded while clapping his hands. "I figured something like this. No anomalies since I submitted the report. But I have to ask, my Lady... are you sure your presence might not influence them?"
The question brought another smile to Purple Heart before she shook her head. "I highly doubt that; if they can percieve it, this merely means that they have souls of their own. You should simply make a few notes on which units I interact with and see what happens either way."
He returned a good-natured smile of his own while waving at one of his subordinates. "Of course, of course. I would have done that anyway, my Lady."
"I will stay behind for now," Histoire chimed in with her even tone, gathering their attention easily. "I am more interested in the finer details at the moment, so please go ahead without me."
Purple Heart took that as it was and nodded at Oldell to get going. The Tome probably wanted to gauge possible side-effects of being exposed to a divine aura from a distance; knowing her, she would have a lot of data to go through this night.
With the professor taking the lead, she left her friend to her own devices.
::
The special chambers prepared for this project had been layered behind not one but two security checkpoints, just in case something went wrong. Her status as CPU made getting through there trivial, but the guards were on high alert nonetheless. She gave them appreciative nods as the duo went past, which the men and women responded to with respectful bows. Oldell stopped accompanying her at the second checkpoint, preferring to return to his duties.
When she entered the chambers proper however, conversation stopped and everyone turned. Not just the volunteers around the room, but also the androids faced Purple Heart.
There was a moment of silence before the CPU got going again; after a quick look through the room, she decided to join the largest group here. A few people started to whisper when she went past, lowering their heads reverently nonetheless. The androids carefully followed this notion while Purple Heart strode over to the occupied table, where three androids and two humans were busy playing poker.
"May I join you?" Her words cut through the expectant silence and especially the human players quickly shuffled aside in awed surprise; both were in their mid-thirties, so it was to be expected for them to be excited; most of the younger citizens tended to be.
Once a seat was cleared, the CPU sat down in a practiced manner, carefully sliding her legs under the table. One of the androids began shuffling the cards with a somewhat practiced motion while she folded her hands in her lap and waited for the setup to be complete. A look at her opponents made the situation at least somewhat exciting; she had yet to play against someone whose reactions she could not read.
Aside from noticing that most other people in the room were trying to observe her every move without being obvious about it, she saw that each android had a nametag bolted to their chest; their build was the same, but they had been given different colours to make identifying them a little bit easier.
"May I ask a question, Ma'am?" A deep voice called out to her and had the CPU turn her head; it was the model held in dark green who spoke, their nametag reading 'AA1-1: Juliette'. Once she nodded at the unit, they continued: "I take it we have not met before. Who would you be and what brought you here?"
The other androids seemed to follow their conversation. She took up her cards while thinking for a moment, then smiled lightly at Juliette. "I am Purple Heart, Planeptune's CPU, founder and ruler. I was interested in how you and your siblings are doing." That seemed fitting enough, although the other units quickly sat a bit straighter upon her explanation. Juliette paused for a moment for some reason, then nodded slowly. "I see."
There was a momentary silence as everyone looked at their cards and the game began in ernest; however, Juliette took up the conversation very soon after: "Though I am surprised that you spend time with us like this. I imagine you must be immensely busy."
"I always take time for those under my care."
"Does this count for machines like us as well?" It was the bright red unit asking with modulated curiousity; its nametag read 'AA1-7: Balthasar', so this one was also from the first batch. Their question had the game pause; Purple Heart gave the android a look and remained in that position until they turned their head away.
While she could understand the question, her actions should be saying enough about this. "Each and every one of you is a person in their own right. The fact you can even ask yourself whether you are is proof of that." All the androids kept quiet over her response while the human players exchanged understanding glances.
Following this exchange however, the larger group just kept playing. Purple Heart maneuvered through the rounds as she usually did, but she apparently was out of luck today. Her hands were rarely any good. At least her opponents rightfully assumed that she was the most dangerous opponent at the table. This allowed her to bluff herself to victory several times.
Despite all this however, the regular version was somewhat dull for someone who went through Green Heart's Processor Strip Poker.
The whispered conversations about Purple Heart herself died down after a while, or were at least taken out of her hearing range. She enjoyed herself for some time despite the lack of good hands. Once another round was over however, the CPU knew it was about time.
"I have to get back to work now." While she nimbly got out of her chair and nodded at her opponents; they all quickly got to their feet and bowed their heads, even the androids. It was tempting to roll her eyes over the reaction, but this time she pre-empted any needless compliments by continuing instead: "Thank you for the game."
It really was time to go now.
. .
. .
A spark went through arrays of transistors, lending enough energy to restart all the main processes. The micro-reactor in his stomach began to fire up and supply as much energy as needed while deep blue lenses once again reported his surroundings to the main processing unit.
AA2-4, Jiro, slowly sat up on his 'bed', the simple block of metal he requested; his brethren did the same, seeing that their human friends insisted on not just falling asleep where they stood or lying on the floor. Weird thing, that.
Motors whirred softly, only audible to his own sensitive sensors, while he got up and ran a quick self-diagnosis. All systems were in working condition.
With that done, Jiro took a look in the mirror he was provided with. The usual deep, purplish blue looked back at him. His face was expressionless in comparison to those of humans, but that made sense; humans and androids were inherently different.
Today was the eight of October. His life would have lasted a full month in just a few more days.
Unfortunately, Purple Heart had yet to return to meet them all again; Jiro was curious about the CPU his siblings told him about. It was a shame he could not see her last time, but he was busy reading in his room back then; he was curious about what kind of person she might be.
Jiro went back to his previous train of thought while opening the door and leaving; wishful thinking would not bring the Lady down here again, after all. He waved at Juliette as they passed by, the green unit cheerfully waving back; the scientists were still confused how their characters continuously fell further from the baseline they established in the beginning... although they were surprised about many things, such as their sleeping habits.
Sleep was a nice thing, though; they were told humans did it to rest their bodies and work through recent memories, giving their minds some time to cool down. The androids had similar reasons, giving their more delicate parts some time to cool and shifting resources around.
The one thing Jiro wondered about in that regard was what those images from his latest slumber were, though. As far as he recalled, his friends called those 'dreams' and mentioned they were not that important, mostly just what their brains working through memories produced. Not that he had any idea where he saw an endless desert of greyish sand before; probably in one of the movies they watched the previous evening, though he was not sure which one.
Either way, he decided not to tell the scientists for now and talk to his siblings first; this was probably a trivial matter of some kind. It might even calm those of his brethren who were afraid of the humans, too. Jiro doubted that they meant any harm, considering that they created him in the first place, but a few others feared that there might be something malevolent going on; even his brother Konstantin was amongst that group.
Jiro did not believe that anyone would hurt them; no one had any reason to do so. In fact, he was quite content so far with how his beginning had been. Although the AI was somewhat bored at the moment. He went through all the books the scientists prepared for them by now, so the only pastimes he had left were playing games with everyone and classes. He liked the latter, though.
The whole twenty of them were currently put through the Planeptunian standard curriculum at a fastened pace; instead of just handing them the data to put into their memory, they were actually supposed to learn like human children did. It went faster mostly because of their high processing speed and general adaptiveness.
Jiro had great fun solving the problems presented to him, even though a certain few took quite a while; especially what required 'lateral thinking', as the scientists called it, brought a lot of trouble with it. On the other hand though, he could solve other problems exceedingly fast, so everything evened out.
Either way, the overseer agreed to get him some more books and he would soon receive them. Jiro was already looking forward to whatever they chose to get for him.
His train of thought was interrupted when he entered the main hall, though. There was a crowd standing around his older sibling AA1-0, Arnold... who was lying on the ground. Humans and androids were talking over each other in concern, obviously unsure what to do; as he watched, another group of scientists rushed in with Mr. Oldell in the lead.
Jiro quickly moved over to a smaller group at the side in order to not block the way. "What happened?"
"No idea," one of the humans -Vivian, he noted- told him. "Arnold just... collapsed over there and then started communicating nonsense. The others say it's binary, not that I could tell..."
He thanked the woman with a curt nod; most humans were looking at whatever was going on in worry while his siblings mostly did the same. Jiro quickly used his tools to get readings from Arnold, only to find everything operational; as far as he could see, that was. So he tried to connect to them, just like they always did for private conversations.
Something clicked in his mind when the connection was established, but Arnold did not actually respond. Jiro wanted to call out to him, but felt weird before the first signal could be sent; so, so weird. He wanted to lash out at something, no everything.
He wanted to... destroy.
Jiro severed the connection as fast as he established it while rushing forward. "Get away from Arnold! Stand back!"
Many confused looks were sent his way, but it was already too late. Arnold pushed themselves upward and swung for the nearest person, one of the scientists; the man was hit in the head and flew back while Jiro quickly grabbed his sibling's arm and tried to hold them down.
People screamed and a vivid red began to pool around the poor scientist's head. Blood.
Seeing this was all it took for Jiro; while everyone else scrambled away from him and Arnold, he used his better position to jump the older android and forced them to the ground under his weight.
There was a manual on martial arts among his reading material; knowledge which Jiro quickly brought to bear as well as possible while Arnold tried to fight back. They rolled on the ground, wrestling for control of the fight with whining motors, trying to overpower each other.
They were the same model; no differences except for the colour. He could not gain the upper hand decisively... no, that was not true. Jiro realised there was one thing he could do, although it would bring damage to himself as well.
Yet the damage his sibling might bring upon others in their frenzy would definitely be far worse. Consequences be damned, Jiro deactivated the safety limits on his motors and squeezed some more force out of them. Arnold did not manage to get his arm free again before the younger android had him turned around and pressed him to the floor, the machinery in his body screaming in protest.
::
They were told that the injured man had been brought to a hospital for repairs and would most likely make a full recovery. That was a great relief to all of them.
Once Arnold was restrained in a holding cell however, Jiro was brought past the first security checkpoint for questioning on the events, to a separate room he had never entered before; none of them had been allowed that far out of their wing yet.
And before him was a most interesting being. Not a human and, as he learned from asking, not a CPU either; she was tiny, maybe half a metre tall, and rode a floating book. A pair of delicate wings sprouted from her back and blonde hair framed the small woman's delicate facial features. She gave him a gentle smile. "This is the first time we meet. I am the magical tome Histoire, chronicler of Gamindustri and currently the Oracle of Planeptune."
He was given a few moments to process the new information; this was the being they were told about before, the most well-known entity in Gamindustri. Jiro quickly bowed his head in respect. "I see; it's an honour, Lady Oracle."
Histoire nodded slightly while setting down her book on the table in the room's center. "Please take a seat, Jiro. We shall have a pleasant conversation."
So he told her what happened, from his arrival in the main hall up to the moment he managed to restrain Arnold. Histoire did not interrupt the android as he spoke, listening carefully and with an unreadable expression.
Once he finished, the Tome did not react for a while; she just sat and seemed to think, with Jiro sitting opposite to her on the reinforced chair. He did not dare interrupt her. But he was also curious what was going on, as well as concerned.
"May I ask a question, Lady Oracle?" It came out before he could stop himself from interrupting Histoire's thoughts; Jiro really did not want to speak up just yet, but he did, so he might as well go through with it. She gave him a friendly nod, which was enough permission to continue. "These sensations... I never felt something like that before. What are they?"
Much to Jiro's horror, his words wiped the smile off of Histoire's face; the small figure lowered her head and he felt as if something was stuck in his engines, blocking the machinery from working properly.
With how grim the Tome's expression became, he probably did something wrong.
"The sensations you mentioned, the wish to destroy... it is a direct manifestation of Her power; it is the Deity of Sin they originate from." Histoire paused for a moment while Jiro attempted to file away what this was about; he never heard of this entity before. "I assume you have yet to be told about Her, so let me give you a short summary."
He nodded slightly over the first part and eagerly listened when the blonde explained; she never lost that grave tone: "The Deity of Sin is annihilation incarnate; her sole purpose is to utterly destroy anything and everything in Gamindustri. The Monsters you heard about are her spawn, every last one of them. This urge of lashing out is also her doing. Humans feel it as well, but can resist to some extent."
The Tome paused for a moment and then continued with a tinge of... sadness -?- in her voice: "Unfortunately, no basic AI has this natural resistance and falls to her influence eventually."
"So the goal of this project is to find out if a reasonably advanced AI would get corrupted by Her as well?" He had known that AIs tended to malfunction and they were made to disprove the inevitability of such a process; it was only now that Jiro learned of the underlying reason, though. He was not sure what to think about that. The humans did care about them, but why would they do something like this just for a small chance? Would his brethren all turn insane in the end?
"Quite correct. There is a precedence for an incorruptable AI though, even when this one can not be replicated in full; this means that there must be a threshhold from where it is safe."
He took this in with a mixture of surprise and curiousity; from how the scientists described their findings, there was no more advanced AI than his siblings and him possible. "But where would such an AI have been created? Planeptune is far in the lead on scientifical progress, no?"
Histoire did not react to his statement at first, though a fond smile blossomed on her face and made it brighten up again. Only then did she nod in agreement. "True, but there were other nations before; it has been a long time since I was born. Just as you, I am a fully sapient AI at heart."
Jiro listened in surprise, his systems running on auto for a few seconds, while trying to work out the implications of what the Tome just said; other nations he had known about from the educational courses already, but to learn that the being in front of him was basically his family's predecessor was unexpected after all.
Yet there was no reason for Histoire to lie and the android knew it. She remained steadfast to this... this. So they might be able to do the same. Something surged deep within him, soothing the fear; Jiro bowed his head at the quiet lady in front of him. "I am deeply grateful for your words, Lady Oracle."
Her lips curled into another smile and she made a dismissive motion. "It was nothing. If there are no further questions, you may leave now, Jiro."
The android considered this for a moment, then bowed again and left the room.
Unseen behind him, Histoire's expression fell.
. .
. .
He had told his brethren of what the Tome revealed to him; they spent a long while discussing all of this among themselves. Ultimately, it might have done more bad than good. Fear ran strong among them all.
Then, one by one, Jiro's siblings began to lose themselves; they became unresponsive and attacked the moment a human came near. It was horrifying to watch as these bright and curious and friendly beings were taken away by madness, with no way to defend themselves against it. Yet he knew that these thoughts led in the very same direction. When the fifth one, Juliette, had started to lash out, some others requested to be tied down for fear of hurting their family and friends.
With sadness, Jiro had obliged their plea. In these days, everyone regarded him as the head of the group, not the remaining members of the first batch. Where they were scared of every passing day, he remained calm by any means necessary; whenever those feelings and urges bubbled up to influence his decisions, he clamped down on them.
The scientists kept them under observation, but had long since agreed not to come anywhere near their place anymore. It was better that way.
The one thing that never changed was his visions. He still saw it, this endless desert of grey sand. It lay silent while the starless, purple sky above was cut in two by a silvery streak. This place, despite only ever appearing in his dreams, struck him as being something unnatural.
None of the others ever saw it and the humans did not know, either. He explained the sense of unease it brought to him as best as he could as well, yet no one knew what it was he saw. And Jiro did notice how his brethren regarded him; despite being the only one to perceive such visions, he was still among the dwindling numbers of rationality. Despite taking upon himself the most gruesome tasks, such as maintaining their bound siblings, he remained calm.
It only made him feel worse; they were divided now, when they had been one group ever since their birth.
In the end, it was only the two of them left. Going with Konstantin's suggestion, they locked themselves up in one of the larger bedrooms and then remained in their positions. Jiro did no longer count how long he was in here, his internal memories and clockwork jumbled by dreams and fear.
He did not want to become a monster just because some entity decided for it to be so. He wanted to live on and see this world they were denied by their very birth.
But what good would that be, if it were just the two of them? Jiro sometimes heard their siblings stalk through the hallways, their steps almost inaudible yet heavy; they freed themselves and might try to break out at any time.
No one bothered Konstantin and him, who remained in their silence. But it hurt to know that the humans, to protect everyone, had to take them down eventually.
At some point however, something changed. Konstantin turned his head with a slight creak, making Jiro look up himself. His white brother had relaxed his posture and slowly got up.
"Konstantin?" The android already feared for the worst when his brother did not respond at first. His words, once they came, did little to alleviate the blue model's horror: "I... can't hold on, Jiro. The call gets stronger and stronger and I doubt I'll be able to resist much longer."
They looked at each other for a moment, then the white android lowered his head. "I'm sorry, I can not keep up with you here. But I don't want to become a monster." They had not spoken in such a long time that the words sounded incredibly loud to him; Jiro did not say anything, waiting for his sibling to continue.
"I'm happy, though. We had little time together, but it was wonderful for me. The two of us, everyone... maybe we have a bit more luck in our next life?"
Jiro, for his part, felt his everything churn at those words; he knew what they meant, having heard similar several times before.
"I would like that."
Yet he could not stop the words from forming; Konstantin only nodded at him before sitting down in the center of the room. Heat signatures took up from his heart a moment later. Smooth metal began to glow and emanate heat, then the whole structure that was the other android started to bubble. Melting metal rolled down his frame and hissed upon hitting the blank floor, but Jiro could only watch in mute horror.
It took little more than a minute until his brother had reduced himself to a puddle of cooling remains, the sleek frame broken down and delicate machinery on the inside fried into nothingness.
Konstantin had chosen death. He was gone.
Now there was only one left.
Jiro slowly turned his head away from the remains of his closest sibling and ran a self-diagnosis. It finished quickly, noting no malfunctions of any kind; weird that, seeing that he suddenly felt as if there was something missing. A hollow void somewhere deep within the machinery that was him.
. .
. .
More time passed, although Jiro did not pay much attention to it. He kept sitting in his corner, quiet and unmoving.
The urges came at times, but he fought them back with fear and defiance alike. Yet the android knew that, if the worst came to pass, he would follow Konstantin the very same way.
The thought of his brother made the hollow pain return, but he did not give in to the temptation that came with it. To just hate this unfair world that destined his brethren to die, he would become the same if he gave in to this. Violence bred more violence, so the only way to not make it a vicious cycle was to refuse.
Yet he felt himself giving up a little more each and every time. Some of the scientists and some of his friends still talked to him once in a while, but their conversations were short and distanced by now. Even Mr. Oldell was among this group. He was the only one Jiro admitted his plight to; that he had nothing left and no reason to carry on.
Sadly, the older scientist had no response when Jiro asked what there was in life worth living for.
It was only a little while after that particular conversation when something changed yet again. He heard it, the calm steps outside, and the stomping of his siblings, who went to attack immediately.
Jiro shot up from his place in the corner, unused machinery creaking in protest over the quick movements; wondering why someone was out there. They would get hurt!
Before he even reached the door however, there were cracking noises to be heard, followed by several bodies hitting the ground with metallic clanks. Huh...
Jiro carefully pushed away the heavy metal box they placed in front of the door, then unlocked it slowly. More clanking from the corridor outside and when he used his neglected scanning array, he found all but one of his siblings incapacitated. Then all of them.
Peeking outside, the android found a mesmerising sight; a woman in purple robes with hair of the same colour, though slightly darker. Her skin seemed to almost shine in the half-dark and there was something... else about her. He could not even describe the feeling her presence brought, but it was special.
Jiro did not need anyone else to tell him that this was Lady Purple Heart, the ruler of Planeptune. Before and all around her were the remains of his siblings, each one's head neatly bisected. It made him feel weird to see them like that. Sad, maybe?
When she turned to him with such a calm expression and relaxed her stance, the android bowed his head despite everything else. His feet had already carried him out of the room and under Purple Heart's gaze; her eyes had no pupils like humans did. It seemed to be a symbol of some kind, shining quietly in silver light that soothed his fears away.
"I believe it is time for you to leave this place, Jiro." Her words were as calm as her appearance, but they startled the android. Did she mean to go outside?
"But... my Lady, I can't just endanger others like that. If I lost myself while around humans-" "I doubt that."
He stopped when the CPU interrupted him. Purple Heart took a casual glance at her surroundings before sighing. "I have not come here earlier because I feared my presence might make things worse. Yet... after Gabriel told me of your sorrows, I knew it was time. You have been holed up in this room for a full four months by now. Any longer would be needlessly cruel."
His thoughts went back to the blur that was the time he spent here; he could not tell either way. The Lady walked closer and began to smile at him before holding out a gloved hand. "I believe you are capable of withstanding Her. If it is purpose you lack, a reason to carry on, then I will gladly show you."
He did not know how long they were standing like that; his internal clock really needed some readjustments. After pondering Purple Heart's words however, the android bowed his head once more and gratefully took the hand without a word. He did not know what to say either way.
The CPU gently pulled him along and he moved, away from the corpses of his family and through dusty yet clean corridors. They soon passed the checkpoint that marked the end of his known world until this day, then another one that was actually manned by security personnel. Then they entered a bigger hall filled with people; Jiro could make out quite a few familiar faces among them, from the nice junior scientist to Oldell. Many of the staff present here appeared as confused about the situation as he felt.
But Jiro was also hopeful for the first time in a long while.
Purple Heart did not stop for any of them and simply carried on, leading him to an elevator, which they rode upward in silence. He wanted to ask questions, thank the CPU, and so much more... but Jiro could tell this was not the time. Not yet.
Their journey upward went from the underground facility up to... if he read this correctly, they left the elevator on the three hundredth and thirty third storey. What kind of building was that high and what was its purpose, he wondered while walking. The few people in the hallway quickly stood aside upon seeing their ruler pass by, although he could almost feel the curious glances on his back.
Then they entered a large room; it was at least thirty metres in diameter, with rows of seats placed inside; those were directed at a large windowfront, which let in a vast amount of natural light and allowed a good look at what was outside.
The outside. He never expected to see it.
"All of you around here, I have to ask you to leave for a few minutes," Purple Heart's voice carried through the room. Everyone had been looking at them anyway, so it would not have been necessary, but no one seemed to mind. The people quickly got up from their seats, bowed to the CPU and left the room in an orderly fashion.
Once they were alone, Jiro was led over to the windowfront and Purple Heart let go of his hand for the first time ever since they left the laboratory. He felt less safe all of a sudden.
"Take a look outside."
The android had managed not to let himself get distracted by the view so far, but now he allowed himself to turn and watch what was behind the glass. The bright and vast city below, towers of shining metal reaching up from the ground; deeper still were the walkways and streets, where he could see the small forms of humans going about their days. Everything was bustling with activity.
He barely noticed his legs moving, carrying him closer still; a hand found its way to rest on the window. Jiro felt weird watching these humans. A part of him wondered why only they were allowed to be free like that, to go through life without having to worry so much.
Another part wondered what it might be like to be among them. Just another person in the streets.
The sound of soft steps made him turn a bit of his attention back to the Lady, who calmly returned to his side and looked down as well. She remained quiet for another minute, but then spoke: "I have built this nation and protect all of these people, not because I have to, but because I want to. Planeptune is my nation, my everything; this is why I will never stop, not for as long as there is but a single person believing in me."
Conviction swung in her words and the AI listened, taking them all in. Now he might understand Purple Heart a little better. Such a duty, even if chosen by herself, was indeed worthy to pursue.
Alas, he had no such thing.
"I understand, but there is no one believing in me, my Lady. Nothing but my place of origin connects me to these people." It pained him to even say those words, truth or not. The doubts about where he belonged had plagued him quite often after Konstantin was gone; would there ever be a place for a being like him?
However, Purple Heart smiled. Not in pity or as an encouragement, she smiled gently and turned to look at him in full. "I believe in you, Jiro. There is nothing you can not achieve if you really want it."
Now it was for him to pause in surprise and stare at the CPU, who did not avert her gaze; she spoke the truth, just as he had done. She believed that he could do something.
Slowly, Jiro's gaze wandered back outside. He needed time to think and understand how the situation had changed; he also needed to sleep sometime soon. But there was one thing the android had no doubt about now.
He did not want to disappoint the Lady.
Therefore, he would make an honest attempt at this. He would try his best.