CHAPTER 4

We were so stupid back then. We didn't know anything - no, it's worse. We knew so much but didn't act on it. We played dumb and kept silent. If we had learned the truth in another way, would we have done anything? Or would we have marched to the beat like the good little soldiers we are? I don't know. I try not to think about it.

No one spoke for a few moments following the enemy's sudden departure, but the silence spoke volumes.

Finally, 2B broke the quiet. "We should get going." She started walking with steady steps further into the chamber, towards a door on the far side.

"R-right," responded 9S. He stood in a daze for another moment until the words fully registered, and he blinked back into focus. He hastily jogged to catch up with 2B, who was already halfway across the room.

The door was unlocked, like the other rooms in the tower had been. It opened up into another long staircase. The androids deftly jumped across the gaps in the staircase, and it wasn't long at all until they reached another door. Wary now, but resolved, 2B pushed open the door.

The new room was… full, was the best way to describe it. There were twin staircases leading up to a mezzanine level, which was framed by a short railing. On the ceiling hung a number of intricate fixtures holding what looked to be candles. None of the previous areas had any furnishings to speak of, so the contrast was striking.

"What is this place?" spoke 9S in wonder, as he filtered into the room behind 2B.

"Hypothesis: It is a representation of a Library, a data storage facility used by past human civilizations," 2B's pod reported.

"I've read about those!" 9S spoke excitedly, "Humans documented information by writing it on paper made of crushed, flattened tree pulp. They would collect these sheets of paper into a book, and those books would be further collected into a library! The books are sort of like files, and the library is a server which hosts those files."

"I see…" 2B responded. She walked over to a wall which was covered in what she supposed were the books he mentioned to get a closer look. She grabbed one, seemingly at random, and flipped through it. "But these don't look to be made of paper. They seem to be made of the same white material as the rest of the tower. And look, the pages are blank."

9S peered over her shoulder. "You're right. But…" his brow furrowed, "but they are files."

"What?" 2B looked at 9S in surprise.

9S met her gaze. "That book you're touching, it looks like it has a data file in it. I could try accessing it."

2B nodded and handed him the book. 9S took a deep breath, braced himself, and dived -

[} - - - - - - o

It was only mere moments before he snapped back to himself. He looked to 2B, who was waiting expectantly, although 9S thought he saw a hint of worry in her demeanor.

"What did you find?"

"It's…" he took a moment to review the file he'd managed to salvage. "It's an index. Of other items in the Library."

"I see. That's useful, if it proves accurate. We can use that to locate other files to extract. Our mission is to gather information, as you recall."

9S hesitated a moment, as if he had something on his mind but wasn't sure how to say it.

"Was there something else?" probed 2B.

"No," denied 9S, "it's just… the security system was way too low, practically non-existent. I was able to access those files without any resistance. And I saw the lock on the tower entrance, they should be capable of a much stronger data barrier."

"You think they wanted us to find this," stated 2B, cutting to the heart of the matter.

"I don't know. Yes. Don't you?" 9S ran his gloved hand nervously through his hair. "Whatever is operating this tower isn't friendly, and it clearly knows we're here. And yet it let us through, into this data server room. It doesn't sit right with me."

2B hummed thoughtfully. She took another look around the room, the so-called "library". Assess the situation. Eliminate threats. That was her field of expertise. All of this data processing was work for a Scouter, or for the heads back at the bunker.

"9S, can you use that index to locate the critical data? And upload it all at once? I'd rather not linger here longer than necessary, and we need to report the new threat to YoRHa as soon as possible."

Now it was 9S's turn to look thoughtful. "Hm. Ordinarily hacking into multiple data points simultaneously like that wouldn't be feasible, but the security here is so basic. I might be able to spin up multiple processes to access the necessary servers in parallel. For an ordinary unit it might be impossible, but… yes. I could do it."

2B didn't understand half of what 9S just said, but it didn't matter. 9S said he could do it, and 2B believed him.

9S continued, "I don't have access to the YoRHa network. Something about this tower seems to interfere with the signal. But I'll upload it to our shared drive, and we can transfer it to the bunker when we sync later."

"Then do it."

Not needing any more signal, 9S carefully extended his consciousness. It was a careful procedure, and not one he'd had a chance to test out on the field before. He allocated fragments of his consciousness for each of the data sources listed in the index. There was a disorienting moment as he became them, and suddenly he was only one of a dozen distinct fragments of himself, each of which was having thoughts of its own.

There was a clamorous noise of competing thoughts until the original fragment, which was designated as the "master" fragment, asserted dominance and regained order. It (he?) distributed a destination to each "slave" fragment in turn, as well as a basic instruction to fetch the data, upload it, and then re-integrate.

Therein lay the danger of this operation. If he were interrupted during this process, or if one of his fragments were to be damaged during the hack, it might not be able to reintegrate. He could probably manage to reproduce the missing part via a self-repair cycle, or failing that, by accessing his backup in the bunker. But he'd rather avoid it altogether. Walking around without a critical part of his mind was not his idea of a good time.

Thankfully, there were no such problems. As he waited, each fragment completed its task, uploaded its findings, and integrated itself until it was him again, and he felt himself becoming more aware, more whole, with each fragment that returned. A few fragments failed to hack into the data and had to be deployed again for a second attempt, but it wasn't long before the final piece clicked back into place and he was himself.

"That… was wild," was the first thing 9S said once he was sure he was 9S again. "I wasn't entirely sure that would work. I mean, I've run through the idea in theory and it worked in my simulations, but to actually fragment my own consciousness, and to experience the same moment from multiple perspectives, and then to restore myself to a single entity again - what a rush! It's nothing like I had imagined!"

"9S," came 2B's voice from his side, sounding oddly subdued.

"What?"

"9S, have you looked at these files?" Her voice was flat, and had something unreadable to it.

Right, of course. The files he had uploaded. He hadn't had a chance to view them, as performing the multithreaded hacking operation had required all of his considerable attention, but they should be all available in his databanks if he just looked -

019 port 056776 Human Server Records
Class 1 Patient: "Yonah"
Preservation Plan The patient's condition makes further treatment impossible... courses of action in the event of the patient's death ...

022 port 062423 Tower System Summary
Tower System Outline
The tower facility processes and computerizes resources sent by resource-recovery units for use in its launch device. Made up of...

[Top Secret] Model No.2 - Nier Automata
[Project 08-01: Operation of Model No.2 in the YoRHa Project]
After the first descent of the YoRHa prototypes, Attacker 2 (A2) was the sole unit to return alive ... she possesses excellent analytical and decision-making skills… we will install this personality data in the new lot of E models ...

[Top Secret] YoRHa Disposal - Nier Automata
[Project 0 3-0 1 : Disposal of YoRHa]

(Note that this information is classified as Level-SS, meaning that it must not be disclosed to anyone involved in the YoRHa project, including the Commander of the Bunker.)

The backdoor of the Bunker has been set to open once the time approaches to switch to new models when enough combat data has been collected. The Bunker will be disposed of by having it be deliberately attacked by machines. At this time, all materials regarding the YoRHa project, including this document, will be lost, and falsification of the information that mankind still resides on the moon will be complete.

*bzzt*

(Note that this information is classified as Level-SS, meaning that it must not be disclosed to anyone involved in the YoRHa project, including the Commander of the Bunker.)

The Bunker will be disposed of...

*bzzt*

(Note that this information is classified as Level-SS, meaning that it must not be disclosed to anyone involved in the YoRHa project, including the Commander of the Bunker.)

The information came in as a rush. As a model designed for efficient enemy analysis, his data processing chip automatically preprocessed the text and highlighted details that its algorithms identified asimportant. He parsed the entire data set in under a second, but then he goes back to read it again because he can't believe what he's seeing.

This is... information from the Council of Humanity? From the moon base? What? How?

The destruction of the bunker? The destruction of YoRHa? Everyone on the base, the Commander, Operator 21O, the destruction of everyone he knew?

9S recoiled, his mind rejecting the information even as his systems continued to parse it. If even a fraction of what was written in these logs was true… if that were the case, they were all…

They were dead 'droids walking.

What could they do, what could they do… he didn't know. This was too much to process. He couldn't even begin to speculate what the ramifications were for something this huge. He shouldn't be considering it all, the data was probably fabricated. It was placed there as a trap, what else could it be?

But telling himself not to think about it seemed to have the opposite effect. His mind was racing, considering the possibilities. What if? What if, hypothetically, the documents here were true? What would that mean for him, for YoRHa?

… It would mean the operation was compromised. The years-long, top secret operation was compromised, because of a leak in data. A leak in data to the absolute worst people to find out about it, the YoRHa units themselves. If anyone from the operation found out about this…

It wouldn't even be a hard choice. YoRHa units were expendable. Even before reading these files, he knew that to be the case. How many units had lost their lives in battle? He'd seen who knows how many missions to hunt down "YoRHa defectors" - and wasn't it odd how often those units had to be destroyed for resisting? How they never seemed to be detained successfully? He hadn't thought much of it before, but now…

What would stop them from being marked as "betrayers", if the Council knew what they found out. What would the higher ups do to stop this leak from getting any further.

It was all too easy to imagine.

They didn't have a choice. They couldn't let this information end with them, even if it's fabricated, it's simply too important to risk. They have to find a way to get this information back to YoRHa. But… they can't.

They can't go back to YoRHa.

They can't go back to YoRHa.

Not as things stand. Not when the absolute best case scenario would be detention and a memory reset. They… they can't go back.

Oh god. Oh god. He can't breathe. Does he need to breathe? He didn't think so, but then why does he feel so light headed? Oh god. Oh god. He's panicking. He's having some kind of panic attack, he thinks.

A few red alert messages pop up helpfully in front of his vision to let him know that his vitals seem abnormal. HA. Thanks for that. He would never have guessed. He closes the useless popups. He focuses on breathing. In… Out… He's okay. He's fine. This is fine.

(This is the absolute farthest thing from fine he can think of.)

There's a shift in motion beside him, and all of a sudden 9S remembers he's not alone. 2B is right beside him. She has access to all the same data files he'd just uncovered. She was reading them too. She knows.

9S looked up at 2B. It helped a bit, to have something external to focus on. He knew what he thought, but what would she think? What he was considering would amount to treason. And 2B… she was committed to her job, a professional through and through.

He had no illusions about how quickly and effortlessly she could kill him, if she wanted to. If she were ordered to. Going back to YoRHa would risk memory deletion, but if he didn't… if he ran away now…

It would amount to the same thing. If 2B informed command, they would have a hit order placed on him instantly. And then he'd be at the other end of her sword, and that would break him, in more ways than one.

It was very, very important what 2B thought of all this.

9S wondered if it was a bit embarrassing, how often he found his life in 2B's hands. Usually, he didn't mind. Right now, he just felt sick.

Ending D: [D]angerous knowledge

# A/N: Yes, I did just add a whole scene illustrating Distributed Systems into this Nier: Automata fic. And thanks to Ending A, it's canon-compliant. ;)

One reader asked, so I'll be posting more chapters here on ff dot net! Thankfully, most of the upcoming chapters are less formatting heavy, so it shouldn't be difficult to adapt them. I'll be posting two chapters at a time until I catch up with what I have written on ao3. Cheers!