The Clockwork Prisoner; Recapture that Gamiloid!
Putting the frame on her bedside, Hilde climbed into her bed and wrapped herself in the duvet, sobbing silently as she clutched close one of her many plushies bought by her father.
—
9 March 2199 AD
"Today on Radio Montana Theatre, someone named Shiro Shinta has requested one of the famous tales of the late 21st century. "The Heart of Observer #9"."
—
"Back when there were still no towns on Mars, a single observation station stood alone at the edge of Mare Sirenum. No one ever visited this forgotten tower, where a single, young observer lived like a lighthouse keeper. He had no name, only the number "9"."
機械じかけの寓話 (Kikaiji kake no gūwa, A Clockwork Fable)
—-
Montana, Laboratory
Working in the lab alone, Monty is busy trying to fix up the least damaged Gamiloid, salvaged in Enceladus, by cannibalising other parts from the other more damaged ones. The Gamiloid in question already had its torso and arms fixed but still missing its lower body.
Currently, Monty has a salvaged optical unit in his hands and is now approaching the android, propped up by metal arms.
"Transferring visual sensors from Gamiloid A to Gamiloid B."
His arms reach up to the head and screws in the spare eye unit into its socket. Nearby, a computer screen beeps to show the transfer is successful.
"Transfer success.", Monty said, walking back to the computer and typing a command. Robotic arms lowered from the ceiling and began to complete the finishing touches to get the android operational.
—
Officer's Lounge
Sitting at the table, Sanada and Niimi are explaining their plan conjured for the android to Abraham, Kodai, Shima, and Mori.
"All three Gamilioid soldiers we recovered on Enceladus were automata with orthodox AIs.", said Sanada.
"Automatas?", asked Kodai, putting down his cup of tea he was sipping.
"Mechanical dolls, right?", Mori suggested.
"By running a massive number of simple programs in parallel, it can perform complex actions just like humans do. They share the same fundamental architecture as our artificial intelligence, like Monty.", Sanada explained, lifting a tablet showing a scan of the Gamiloid's "brain".
"So we know Gamilas uses the same mathematics and understanding of physics as we do. Their culture should be one we can communicate without too much difficulty.", Niimi added.
Sanada closes his eyes and lets out a breath through his nose, "When you encounter a foreign civilization in space, communication is very important. Especially in times of war."
The three chief officers across the table glance at each other.
"To put it simply, it allows us to play shogi by the same rules.", Abraham concluded, a cup of tea in his hands.
Kodai nodded his head in understanding, "I see."
"But did we manage to salvage any other information?", wondered Shima. "Such as enemy positions?"
"Well, two of their storage drives were too severely damaged beyond repair. The other one's survived, but the data inside can only be accessed by a Gamilan terminal mainframe.", Sanada answered.
"But then it's no use because we can't access it.", Kodai said, but Sanada just put down the tablet and leaned forward.
"However, there are two ways we can access it. While we have been examining the Android, me and Monty have managed to install a custom firmware that allowed us to retrieve a copy of its logs. Unfortunately, with our currently limited knowledge of Gamilan decryption systems, it will take us a while to access the data."
"And the other method is the quicker one, right?". Shima guessed.
Sanada nodded and smiled, "The other one…Have the Gamiloid tell us."
—
Laboratory
"Gamiloid mainframe restored. Running diagnostic check…"
Now ready for rebooting, Monty types a command to perform a diagnosis of the Gamiloid. The robot arms fold up and retract into the ceiling.
Running Diagnosis…
Model: Gamiloid Assault/Recon Unit
Subsystem Status: Partial (NOTE: Lower Body Absent)
Power Unit: Functional
Warning: Unknown components detected (R_Optical Unit, L-U_Arm, R_Hand), attempting recalibration…Calibration complete. Genuine components used.
Warning: Lower body components (R_Leg, L_Leg) missing, mobility limited.
Proceed with startup? (Y/N)
Y
Initialising Startup…Accessing Data Drive…Loading OS…
Startup Complete!
The eyes of the Gamiloid light up as beeping can be heard from it. The head rises from its slumped position with a whirr and moves around as if to take its surroundings. Monty decided to introduce himself.
"Hello, I am SACU-M, the sub-computer of this ship. You may also call me Monty.", Monty greeted, capturing the Gamiloid's attention.
"M..M-Mo…Mont…Mont-ty?", the Gamiloid stuttered, as if it were a toddler speaking for the first time.
"You are a repaired Gamiloid android, a mechanical soldier/servant of the Gamilan Empire."
"I…I am…a Gamiloid?"
"Yep. Would you like a name? It'll be easier than referring you to Gamiloid all the time."
"What is…a name?"
"A name is a word or set of words that a person or a thing is known by or addressed to. My name, for example, is Monty."
"…I would like a name."
"Alright, let me think…I know, your new name is Gammy!"
"G…Gammy…I think I like it."
—
Later
Montana exits out of its warp, the layer of ice flaking off the hull.
"Warp complete.", Shima announced.
"No enemies detected in the vicinity.", Mori reported.
The area confirmed safe, Monty stands up from his station, "Sanada, I'll be returning to continue studying Gammy."
Sanada nodded, "Go ahead."
"Alrighty then!"
And with a burst of excitement, Monty makes a beeline out of the bridge and to the lab.
"Monty seems to be in a good mood lately.", Mori commented with a small smile.
"Well, Monty's got a new machine to talk to.", Kodai added, turning to see Monty practically sprinting out the door.
—
Laboratory
"What is this?"
"A cat."
Back at the lab, Monty is back with Gammy who's back online and doing his best to try and teach the Gamiloid all the cultivated knowledge discovered by humanity. Currently, Monty is sitting on a chair with a tablet in his hand and trying to teach Gammy about animals.
"Nope, not it. This is a canine or a dog. Specifically, a Shiba Inu."
"Shiba Inu. Dog. Canine. Dogs are canines."
The image of the god in the tablet changed, now showing a yellow cat.
"Now, what is this?"
"…A dog?"
Gammy's uncertain response prompted Monty to shake his head and wag his finger."
"Ooooh, close but no cigar. This is a cat, or more broadly a feline. Cats and dogs are a part of a group of animals called mammals."
"Cat. Dog. Mammals. Cats and dogs are mammals."
The door to the lab opens and Niimi walks in, holding a laptop in her arms.
"Oh, Monty. Are you and Gammy having a secret talk?"
"Binary is the basic machine language of all computers, that's no secret and neither is this talk. I'm simply trying to teach Gammy how to speak and about the known discoveries of humanity."
"To speak, huh?", Niimi wondered as she walked across the lab. "You were able to link operating systems, so why not just import the dictionary database?"
"Names and definitions alone aren't enough. Just like with students, one can learn through several interactions and experiences. To grasp the concepts behind those words, Gammy must learn through such interactions."
"I suppose so. But so you know, you can't connect him to the ship's network.", the woman reminded, then entered her office on the opposite side of the lab.
As the door closed behind Niimi, Monty noticed Gammy had become strangely silent. 'You're going to link into Montana's internal network, huh? I suppose we'll see what happens after.', Monty thought, then cleared his "throat" to grab Gammy's attention.
"Well, let's continue where we left off.", Monty said, the image on the tablet changing to a dog. "What is this animal?"
"A cat. Wait, no. A…dog? Yes, dog."
"Great work! This?"
"A…car."
"Good! This?"
"Human."
—
Inside sitting in her office, Niimi booted up her laptop and opened a window. The screen reveals a program that examines the data retrieved from the planet from Gliese 581. Typing on the keyboard, a new window popped up a moment later and Niimi sighed in disappointment.
"Not enough data…", the woman muttered, before closing her laptop.
—
"One day, an old mechanical engineer named Houdin appeared at the observatory with a girl named Eve. The meeting was magical. Following the sound of a song to the sea, #9 saw a girl on a rock, singing."
オートマタは電気羊の夢を見るか (Ōtomata wa denki hitsuji no yumewomiru ka, Do Automata Dream of Electric Sheep?)
—
Laboratory, later…
Lights off and now alone, Gammy woke up from standby as planned. After checking its surroundings and making sure he's isolated, the Gamiloid spots a computer terminal nearby and raises his hand. Ejected from his palm is a cable with a probe at the end which flys to and successfully connects at a port.
Gammy's eyes flashed as he accessed the ship's network, his vision transferred to a world of light and swirling data. Images flash before him, binary ones and zeros rain from above. Suddenly, the binary numbers gave way to a golden bird, descending from up top and changing to a golden woman.
"Wh-Wha-?!", uttered Gammy in confusion, the woman turning round and opening her mouth.
—
Hallway
"She turned and asked, "Who are you?"."
Mori walks down a dimly lit corridor, preparing to head up to the bridge. But before she enters the elevator up, she stops and turns around, seeing an orange domed hatch labelled "Auto Nav Room. No Unauthorised Entry".
"What are you doing out here?"."
—
10 March 2199 AD
Laboratory
Back at the lab, Monty returns once again, this time playing a board game of Shogi with Gammy. After putting down his piece, the Gamiloid spoke up.
"I met a goddess yesterday."
"A goddess, you say?", Monty said, intrigued.
"The goddess of this ship."
"Can you describe who might that be?"
"She has long hair and asked me, "Who are you?". And I replied, "I am Gammy."."
"Anything else?"
"She said, "I'm not asking for your name."
'He met Yurisha, huh?', Monty thought, scratching his chin. Outwardly, he said, "We can rule out Niimi. Perhaps it's Mori or Sasha?"
"No, I don't think so. Can…can you answer it? Who are you?"
"I…I am…"
—
Outer Space
Flying ahead of Montana, a Type 100 Recon plane piloted by Shinohara and Yamamoto is on a patrol mission. After confirming the area is clear, the recon plane turns around and flies back to Montana.
"This is Shinohara. I've investigated the spatial wake in front of us. I've confirmed it's safe.", Shinohara radios in.
—
Montana, Bridge 1
"Roger, Shinohara and Yamamoto completing patrol and returning to the ship.", Aihara confirmed back.
"When they both return aboard, we will move to warp navigation at 0200.", Abraham ordered.
"Roger. Prepare for docking.", Mori said Just then, Monty entered the bridge and his gaze lingers on the orange hologram of the dimensional compass.
"Monty, can you give the docking crew a hand?", Mori asked.
"Alright.", Monty answered after cutting off his gaze, then taking his seat and typing on the console.
—
Hanger 3, Crew Rest Room
Sitting at a table, Toyama and Iwata are waiting for the Type 100 to return. To pass the time, they decided to play a game of poker, with Toyama grinning as he took a card from the pile.
"Hehehe, I win!", Toyama boasts as he adds the card to his deck.
"Grrr, dammit!", Iwata growled in defeat, before the approach alarm rang at the hanger, the hanger lights turning on. "Oh, they're back! Let's go!"
"Ah, no fair! I had a straight flush!", Toyama cried in despair as he dropped his cards on the table before running after his colleague.
—
Laboratory
Left alone once again, Gammy took this opportunity to enter Montana's network once again, in an attempt to seek after the Goddess.
—
Outside
The Recon plane pulls a U-turn as it lines itself up beside Montana at the port side. The engines throttle back to idle and the plane decelerates as it stops outside the hanger doors.
"Navi-bro, handle the auto docking sequence for me, would you?", Shinohara asked the plane's computer.
"Affirmative. Switching to Auto Docking mode.", ROB responded. Shinohara then released his hands from the controls.
"Thanks, Navi-bro. Hmm?"
Looking at the rearview mirror above, he sees Yamamoto's less-than-amused gaze in the reflection.
"Hey, you were just thinking that I'm crazy, right?"
"I wasn't.", was the woman's curt reply, but Shinohara remained unfazed.
"You name them, take care of them, treat them well, and they'll do good work for you.", the make pilot quipped.
"Just like anyone else."
—
Hanger 3, Port
"Open hanger door, port side."
"Okay, let's get started.", Iwata said as he floated to a gangway near the hanger door. Landing on the platform, his hands move to a lever on a wall and pull it down, the status light going from red closed light to green open.
"Alright, hanger door opening!"
The doors open out before sliding off to the side, revealing the Type 100 outside. A crane arm, operated by Toyama, extends from the ceiling and moves in position to retrieve the plane with Iwata guiding it.
"Out! Out! Out! And…Stop!"
The crane arm stops just above the Recon craft, and two claws open up to attach themselves to the craft.
—
On the bridge, Monty is assisting the hanger crew to retrieve the Type 100 when an alert beeps in his vision. He silently turned back to see the dimensional compass flickering, with Sanada noticing the phenomenon as well. Turning his head, Sanada subtly nodded his head at Monty, and the android nodded back.
—
Hanger 3, Port Side
The crane arm gave an unsettling creaking sound before it suddenly stopped midway of pulling the Recon plane into the hanger. Iwata notices that and turns to Toyama, "Hey, Toyama! Are there any errors on the control panel?"
"I don't know! The screen has gone dark!", Toyama replied, turning his tablet to show a black screen.
"Wha-? How could that have happened?!"
"This is Shinohara to Hanger Crew. Why have we stopped?", Shinohara's voice comes in through both men's headsets, confusion evident in his tone.
"We don't know! The system just went bye-bye!", Iwata replied, equally as confused. He calls back to his workmate, "Toyama, can you contact the higher-ups to look into this?"
"No need, gentlemen. I'm sorting this out as we speak.", Monty's voice came through the headsets.
"Already? Do you know what's going on?", Toyama asked.
"The main network is being overloaded somehow. I've shut off the entire network in an attempt to isolate the cause. I've me a couple of seconds to reboot the system."
Five seconds later, Toyama's tablet comes back online and the crane arm resumes its task of retrieving the Type 100.
"Alright, the system's back online!", Toyama cried in elation. "You're a lifesaver, Monty!"
"No worries, let's just hope this won't happen again."
The procedure went through without any further problems. As the crane arm stowed and the hanger doors closed, Shinohara radioed in to confirm the craft was secured.
"This is Shinohara, docking complete."
"Docking complete, aircraft secure. You can come out now.", Iwata replied.
"Copy."
—
Boatswain's Office
"Ok, can you two explain what happened from your end?", Yamamoto asked Iwata and Toyama. Alongside them are Shinohara, Kodai and Enomoto, all wondering why the procedure didn't go as smoothly as it should have.
"Well, to be honest…I don't know.", Iwata began, scratching his head. "Up until we connected the arm to the Recon plane, everything was smooth sailing."
"The crane arm's movements were controlled by a program, right?", Kodai curious asked.
"That's right, but it also had a backup program in case something went wrong.", Toyama confirmed. "Just before the arm stopped, I think the system tried to go into the backup mode, but then everything went dark a second later. That's when the arm stopped working."
"Normally, we would also be able to switch to the backup mode ourselves, but with everything off, we can't do anything.", Iwata added. "Something like this has never happened before."
"Just because something has never happened before doesn't mean it won't happen now or later again. Why do you think we humans are there to assist the machines?", Enomoto sternly reprimanded, then sighed and rubbed his nose. "But I suppose I can't blame you two for something that's out of your control. We're lucky that our plucky little android figured out the problem."
The Boatswain then turned to the two pilots and bowed. "Still, something as simple as that should've gone by without a hitch. For that, I'm sorry. Please, forgive us."
"We're sorry as well.", Iwata and Toyama added in unison, both bowing down as well.
"Oh, no no no. I mean, you are taking this matter seriously.", Shinohara waved off, now seeing that it wasn't such a big deal. "And besides, it wasn't your fault that the crane arm went cookoo. Right, Yamamoto?"
"Oh, y-yeah. We made it out unscathed anyway. So no forgiving is needed."
—
Laboratory
In the lab, Monty and Sanada are discussing what happened with the system surge earlier.
"So, a massive spike of activity in the network caused a very delayed response that feeds the hanger information back to the mainframe.", Sanada concluded.
Monty nodded, "Yes, and it would have caused the crane arm to behave unpredictably erratically. Therefore, disconnecting the crane system from the network was the best course of action at that moment."
"And did you discover the cause?"
"There was an unauthorised access granted to the network. Who or more likely, whatever it was, was trying to brute force access into Montana's subsystems. Although no information has been tampered with or taken, the path of access all leads to one final destination. The Auto Nav system."
"Other than me, you, and Abraham, nobody else has direct access to the direct root files of the mainframe. Only you can access the kernel after me and Abraham provide our security keys.", Sanada's brows furrow in thought. "That just leaves the outlier in this very room. Monty, from now on, we are postponing our analysis on Gammy and he is to be explicitly locked out of our system. "
"I've already patched it up, Sanada. Anything else we need to discuss?"
"That's everything for now."
Sanada stood up from his seat and exited the lab with Monty following after him. Before they leave, Gammy, who's inside a glass enclosure, turns his head towards the door gazing at the two leaving. After the door closes, the Gamiloid looks down and spots a spare lower torso to his right and a pair of legs to the left.
—
"The old man sent Eve back, on board the ship. And the observer desired nothing more than to see her again. For the first time in his life, he understood loneliness. He decided to go and see Eve. He felt that this was the only way to learn who he was."
—
After scanning and determining both the legs and torso are compatible, two cables fire from Gammy's palms and break through the glass, wrapping against the spare parts.
—
われはロボット(Ware wa robotto, I, Robot)
—
After exiting the lab, both man and android are heading off to the elevator up to the bridge. Illuminating from their left is a large wallpaper of a coastline with a lighthouse.
"Sanada, I'm fairly certain you know so I'll skip to the chase.", Monty began, arriving at the elevator and pressing the up button. "Gammy has asked me who I am. Just like before."
"Well, what is your response?", Sanada asked as the elevator doors opened and both stepped in. "Is it the same as last time?"
—
"Who are you?"
"I am a machine, that I am a robot. I am alive, and I understand feelings. But most importantly, I am a friend, to anyone who needs one."
—
"A friend, huh?", Sanada mused. Then his lips curled into a smile, the elevator doors closing. "A good answer."
—
Laboratory
Broken out of his glass enclosure, Gammy steps out using his crudely replaced legs further cracking the already broken glass on the floor.
"Where is the goddess?", he wondered, his head turning to spot an exit.
—
Misaki is walking past the Auto Nav hatch, and just like with Mori before, she stops and turns around as if sensing something, only to be met with the sight of the orange hatch.
—
Approaching up to an elevator door, Gammy put his palms onto the control pad. A moment later, sparks fly out and the door opens, revealing a long empty shaft in which the Gamiloid leaps in. The alarms ring out as Gammy disappears down to the lower levels.
—
Elevator
"So Gammy has broken out, huh?", Monty mused as he and Sanada heard the alarm.
"But this time, we'll try not to destroy him.", Sanada said.
—
Bridge
"What's the alarm?", Abraham asked.
"The lock to the lab analysis room has been destroyed.", Mori announced, checking the security feed to see the Gamiloid was now missing.
"That Gamilod is out in the ship somewhere.", Shima worryingly said.
"Send the security team!", Abraham ordered. "Unless it proves itself to be a threat, lethal force is not authorized."
—
The security force quickly mobilises into action, each member grabbing an assault rifle from the rack and running out of the armoury.
"Weapon use is approved where appropriate!", Ito authorised from the front. The team then spit up to cover all possible exits.
—
"Ship has moved to Alert Status 1. Repeat: ship has moved to Alert Status 1. The Gamiloid we recovered has escaped the analysis room. It is hiding somewhere aboard the ship."
Awkwardly walking on his repaired legs, Gammy moves forward on a corridor as the announcement is played. Approaching a junction, he stopped when two men in armour came into sight at the end.
"Is that it?"
"Hey, stop!"
"Just stay there! Don't move!"
"Security team are to explicitly capture it alive. Repeat: security team are to explicitly capture it alive."
Gammy's vision scans the two men and finds they are armed. The glowing light on his chest turned from green to red, turned around with a slight stumble and made a break for it. In response, the two security men gave chase.
"We found the target! It's fleeing on the port side deck 3!"
—
In another corridor, Monty and Sanada exited the elevator and now rushing to find the security team.
"Gammy wanted to know who he was. He believes that if he finds this "goddess", he will learn.", Monty said.
"So he met Yurisha's conscious?", Sanada confirmed.
Monty nodded. "Correct, and he believes she's somewhere aboard this ship."
"The Auto Nav room, huh…Let's go."
—
Hoshina and his team run forth, catching up to the Gamiloid.
"Don't let it escape! Seal the bulkheads!", Hoshina ordered.
Heavy doors slam shut in front of Gammy, who stops and turns to face the security team. His eyes scan to see all of the men are armed with weapons, and a new feeling begins to bubble.
"Don't move!", Hoshina ordered, he and his team sealing off the Gamiloid. In response, Gammy leaps into one of the exposed ventilation shafts and crawls inside, but not before narrowly avoiding a few bullets.
Hoshina gasps in surprise, turning around to see Ito with a furious gaze and the one who fired the shots.
—
Bridge
"Mori, where is the Gamiloid right now?"
"It's heading towards the ship's bow via the deck 2 vent ducts."
—
"We're heading towards the sealed room, aren't we?", Hoshina concluded as he and the security team rushed toward the bow.
"It contains the automatic guidance systems to take us to Iscandar.", Ito replied. "Is that its objective?"
Then men look up as they hear thumping sounds from above. Just a couple of meters forward from them, the Gamiloid drops from the vent shafts and immediately bolts on foot.
"Don't let it reach the room! Destroy it if you must!"
"But we are told to capture him alive!", Hoshina exclaimed in surprise, but his words were ignored as Ito and two men raised their assault rifles, took aim, and opened fire in three burst rounds.
The bullets ricochet off the floor, walls, and ceiling with a few shots landing on the Gamiloid, prompting him to get on all fours in a desperate attempt to get away.
"Enemy…Terror…Being…Goddess!", Gammy utters as he scurries away from the armed men, feeling a new emotion.
Fear.
Fortunately, his sanctuary in the form of a nearby room is just up ahead. Gammy raised his hand and launched a probed cable onto the access control panel, hacking the door open. He quickly crawls inside and shuts the door close, the bullets bouncing off harmlessly from behind.
—
Bridge
"The Gamiloid has entered turret no.2's loading room."
—
流れよ我が涙、と人形は言った (Nagareyo waga namida, to ningyō wa itta; Let my Tears Flow, said the Automata)
—
"Well?", Ito asked impatiently before the loading room.
Hoshina, who was trying to open the door, shook his head and turned. "It's no good. The door's locked from the inside."
"Bridge, get that lock open!", Ito requested through his headset. He then stepped back and two men raised their rifles at the door. "As soon as it opens, we fire."
"This is the bridge. He's infiltrated our security systems and locked it from the inside.", Aihara responded. "It will take some time to unlock it."
"Tch!", Ito is not pleased in the slightest.
"Everyone, please stand down."
Arriving from behind, Monty and Sanada step forth and Ito turns around.
"Perfect timing, SACU-M. Open the door."
"Before I do that, please put your guns down."
"What? Why should we do that?"
"I do not want him to believe we are enemies."
"What the hell are you talking about? Of course we are enemies."
"Will you kill an unarmed prisoner?", a new voice asked, revealing to be Misaki but her voice sounded slightly off.
"A prisoner?", Ito repeated with mirth. "That's stupid. It's just a dumb robot."
"If it has a heart, even a machine should be treated as a human being!", says Misaki.
"A heart? Ha! Hear that, it has a heart?"
"I was told it was an automaton.", Hoshina pitched in. "That's what the XO said."
Sanada crossed his arms and spoke up. "It's true that the Gamiloids are automata that function by running massive numbers of programs."
"Am I correct then? Machines are just machines.", Ito interrupts, confident in his take but the scientist continues.
"But we cannot say for certain that our brains are also not automata that function via parallel processing."
"It seems you want to believe that their silicon-based circuitry cannot give rise to a consciousness like ours. However, you cannot prove that's not the case."
"…"
"…"
"…Hmph, an interesting theory.", Ito scoffs.
"I've retaken control of the security systems."
"Anyways, for the moment, put down your weapons.", Sanada ordered.
"If you say so, XO.", Ito complied, then motioned with his hands to signal everyone to stand down.
"The door will now open in 3, 2, 1."
The door to the loading room slides open, and Ito along with another security member rush in, only to find an open vent panel and no Gamiloid present. Ito is now really pissed.
Outside, Misaki begins to collapse but is fortunately held up by Hoshina
"Misaki?!", the young man cried in alarm. Monty and Sanada turn to look at them both before nodding to each other.
"Sanada, I recommend that Gammy be shut down immediately."
"Why is that?", Ito asked, stepping out of the loading room.
Sanada answered with a grim face. "Gammy may commit suicide."
"He is programmed to self-destruct if isolated and surrounded by enemies.", Monty explained. "It's a security check built in directly at a hardware level; if removed, he cannot be booted up."
At that revelation, Ito ordered his team to scatter and search for the Gamiloid. Sandra and Monty turn to leave, but not before Ito calls out to them.
"XO Sanada.", Ito called, then smirked. "You don't think it has a heart, do you?"
Sanada stops in his tracks. A moment of silence passed before he gave his answer. "To me, it remains unclear whether even you have a heart."
—
Up in the ducts, Gammy crawls forward with a limp to the forward of the ship, breaking open a hatch and pulling himself out to the deck.
"It may be that you don't have a heart like I do. You could just be simulating a human."
—
Bridge
"The Gamiloid has exited the ship to the deck.", said Mori, tracking Gammy outside of the ship. "It's now heading towards the bow."
"Don't allow him to get to the Auto Nav system. Take him down alive and undamaged if possible!", Abraham ordered.
—
Outside on the deck, Gammy limps out of the shadow of the forwardmost turret, the starlight illuminating to reveal him damaged with bullet holes and exposed wires, alongside a missing right arm. Looking up, he stops to see Monty up ahead with an unreadable expression.
Far up and behind, Kodai, Mori, Shima and all the bridge crew watch on as both machines move closer to each other.
However, Gammy's legs gave out from the damage sustained earlier, and Monty rushed forward to catch him in his arms. Upon contact, Monty begins to access Gammy's operating system.
_Warning, unauthi-oss#[729hw;):!
Override access code: *
_Access Granted.
Select Option:
-Restart
-{Shut Down
-Force Shut Down
_Warning: Command "Shut_Down" is denied.
Select Option:
-Restart
-Shutdown
-{Force Shutdown
_WARNING: Force Shutdown will result in formatting the system. Do you wish to continue? [Y/N]
.
.
…Y
_Commencing Force Shut Down…Formatting system…20%…
"Monty…what's happening?"
"…"
"Monty…I'm scared…"
_43%
"…Monty…my memory…"
"…"
"…please, tell me…"
_78%
"….Hello, Monty. My name is…Gammy…"
"…Hello, Gammy. How are you?"
"I'm well. Would you like me to tell you what I learned?"
"…Yes, Gammy. Please do."
"Dogs…are canines…Cats are…felines…Dogs and cats…are mammals…"
"…That's good. Anything else?"
"…I can't recall…oh…I made a…friend…"
"…Who's your friend?"
"…you…"
"…Me?"
_89%
"…you…are…"
_95%
"…my…"
_99%
"…Frrrriiieeeennnddddddd…"
_100%. Formatting Complete…Shutting Down…
With that, the Gamiloid suddenly falls limp in Monty's arms. Monty's face falls to a frown as he gazes at the dead Gamiloid, and if he were to have tear ducts, they would have leaked out.
"Monty, is everything alright?", Sanada asked.
"I'm fine. Gamiloid has been successfully shut down. System has been formatted and cannot be rebooted", Monty responded. He then lowly added afterwards. "We have just lost Gammy…"
"…I'm sorry. We tried our best. But I suppose some things are the way it was.", Sanada consoled, empathy in his tone. "Bring Gammy back for a post mortem."
"Copy."
—
Bridge
"Did Monty manage to retrieve the Gamiloid?", Mori wondered, she and everyone witnessing Monty walking back to the ship.
"I think he did.", Shima confirmed.
"But, why is it just limped over? Why is Monty carrying him like that?", Nambu asked as he saw Monty carrying the Gamiloid over his shoulder.
"It's because Monty did a forced shutdown."
Everyone turned around to see Sanada walking in, his expression downtrodden.
"Forced shutdown? What's so different than a regular shutdown?", Nambu asked, confused. "It's just like pressing the power off button, right?"
Sanada shakes his head. "No, a forced shutdown is an emergency measure to turn off the Gamiloid should it be uncooperative or resist the normal remote shutdown procedure."
"So Monty did a forced shutdown on the Gamiloid.", Kodai said. "And there's a "but" in the process."
"Correct. A forced shutdown will result in the formatting of the operating system."
Kodai's eyes widened in realisation. "You mean, Monty just…"
"…killed the Gamiloid's personality, right?", Mori finished in horror.
Sanada only nodded. "The Gamiloid, in human terms, is now brain dead."
—
11 March 2199 AD
Laboratory
"The analysis is complete. We found nothing in Gammy's system log to indicate an activated trap of some sort.", Sanada said, turning off the console.
"…Just like before, huh…"
"Mmm. But then again, if nothing else, Gammy still believed he had a friend on this ship in his final moments."
"…Yeah."
Sanada stood up from the seat and walked to Monty, who was gazing at the dead Gamiloid hanging in another glass enclosure. He puts a comforting hand on the android's shoulder before gently leading him always from the enclosure and out of the lab.
—
観測員9号の心 (Kansoku-in 9-gō no kokoro; The Heart of Observer No.9)
"Eve's skin was peeled away, her joints torn off, revealing a body of gears and silicon. From the tower's window, #9 watched her sink into the Mare Sirenum."
"'I no longer feel pity for that doll. Because I know that I am also one, created by Houdin.', he thought to himself, alone in his small room in the observation station."
"Whether or not that beautiful doll did have a heart, it didn't matter to him. And he thought to himself,"
"The fact that I have a heart is a secret that only belongs to me."
—
Sanada's quarters
On the table is a book copy of Misaki's story. Laying in bed beside it is Sanada, who rolled to turn off the lights for the night before falling asleep.