Chapter 4
Translator: True Detective
How to Become a Human. (1)
The consciousness that had disappeared beyond that point rises once again.
Where could this be?
Heaven? Or Hell?
My consciousness surfaced, but I could not open my eyes.
To be exact, eyes did not exist.
[ System Initializing . . . ]
[ System Activated . . . ]
'...This place is.'
It was a familiar location.
The place that was with me at my end.
The deepest part of the underground laboratory, the space where the Deus Ex Machina slept.
["Euripides?"]
I called the name of the AI—the person—who watched over my final moments.
However, no answer returned.
Only the achromatic mechanical sounds stimulated my ears, or more accurately, my auditory sensors.
["Euripides, are you there?"]
Did I want to escape reality?
I called Euripides's name once again, but no answer returned.
A silence that seemed to inform me of the fact that I was the only one here filled the surroundings.
["What on earth, have you done."]
A state where I could not move my arms or legs.
However, only my consciousness remained perfectly intact, making it feel as if I was dreaming.
Did Euripides feel like this as well?
I let out a hollow laugh and focused my mind on my visual sensors.
The laboratory looking down from above was empty, making me feel lonely just by looking at it.
[ Loading saved data . . . ]
[ Successfully scanned the brain of 1 designated surviving lifeform within the laboratory, converted it into data, and copied it. ]
[ Unable to save data due to insufficient space in the storage. ]
[ Confirmed the fact that deleting the data of the auxiliary AI of Deus Ex Machina, Euripides, can secure the corresponding space. ]
[ Deleted the data of Euripides. ]
[ The data of the designated surviving lifeform has been successfully saved. ]
[ System Restarting . . . ]
[ Welcome. ]
I died. I could say that one thing with certainty.
However, I existed here.
I could think, I could speak, I could see, and I could hear.
Euripides had pulled some strings.
By scanning my brain and converting the information within my brain into data, it revived the existence known as me.
["...Are you okay with this? Reviving me like this... and you dying, is that fine with you?"]
Naturally, no answer returned.
Because Euripides had disappeared.
Because Euripides... was dead.
Vwooom—
[ There are additional progress updates. Would you like to check? ]
I expressed affirmation to the status window that appeared in my mind.
I wanted to confirm what Euripides had done until the very end.
I had to find out what on earth it had kept me alive for.
Because there must be a reason why it revived me even at the cost of its own disappearance.
[ Grafted the body of the designated surviving lifeform onto the Princess's body, imbuing it with organic characteristics. ]
My visual sensors switched.
The Princess was there.
[ Reconstructed the body based on the data that makes up the largest proportion of the designated surviving lifeform's data. ]
["...Ah."]
It was not the mechanical, human-like shape I had first seen, but the shape of a person.
Seeing such a Princess, I could not help but sigh.
Because I realized the fact that that thing—no, that child, was completed using my body.
'I hope a daughter who looks like you is born.'
'We could ask them to check right now, what do you want to do?'
'No, it's fine. Because there's the excitement while waiting.'
I remembered a conversation I had with my pregnant wife sometime in the past.
I told my wife that I hoped a daughter who looked like her would be born.
My wife said we could go to the hospital and listen to the child's gender, but I flatly refused.
'You're really eccentric, you know.'
'It can't be helped, this is who I am.'
Seeing me like that, my wife smiled as if she couldn't stop me.
And then she playfully whispered one thing.
'Then shall we make a bet? Whether a son will be born or a daughter will be born. I'll bet on a son who looks like you being born.'
'...Alright. The winner grants the other one wish.'
'Why? Usually the loser grants the wish, no?'
My wife tilted her head.
And I said to that wife of mine.
'If a daughter who looks like you is born, my wish has come true, so I should grant your wish.'
'Pfft, what is that.'
Along with the sound of laughter, the playback of the memory ended.
The Princess's face overlapped over my wife's face, which had faded at some point.
["This is a really cruel prank, Euripides..."]
Perhaps, Euripides thought that I might give up on myself once I regained my senses.
That's probably why it completed the Princess in that form.
So that I could never give up on myself.
To hold onto my lingering attachments and survive until the end.
["...Alright, I'll do as you wish."]
If I had tear ducts right now, I surely would have shed tears.
But the current me could not cry.
That was why I decided to smile instead of crying.
["Ha, haha, hahaha..."]
A voice identical to Euripides's burst into laughter.
The mechanical sound and the sound of laughter blended together, creating a dreary atmosphere.
Get a hold of yourself. You can't just keep laughing like this.
I somehow calmed my heated mind.
After gathering my senses, the Princess's appearance looked even clearer.
[ A connectable device has been discovered. ]
[ Would you like to connect? ]
["..."]
I nodded without a word.
A faint radio signal headed toward the Princess, and finally reached inside her head.
And at that moment, I felt as if my consciousness was being connected to something else.
[ Connection is complete. ]
[ Would you like to execute 'Protocol : Deus Ex Machina'? ]
["...No, never mind."]
I realized it the moment our consciousnesses connected.
The inside of the Princess's—the child's—head was pure white.
I did not want to make a child who knew nothing do the job of killing people.
No, it was questionable if the child would even follow properly if I ordered such a thing.
Because there was no way one could find fire in an empty space even if they tried.
["If it was you, you could have put all sorts of information inside the Princess's head."]
However, Euripides did not do that.
Aside from the foundational data, it did not place any other data inside the Princess's head, only leaving the software that I had completed.
As if that alone was enough.
["...This place is."]
While thinking of Euripides like that, I felt as if my consciousness was being sucked somewhere.
A faintly felt noise.
To be exact, it was not noise, but the sound of breathing.
["The Princess's conscious space, I guess..."]
The darkest, but at the same time, the brightest place.
I slowly moved my steps while looking around.
Nothing existed within the Princess's conscious space.
Light, darkness, myself, and simultaneously the Princess herself.
It was a literally empty space.
[ ... ]
Just how long had I walked like that?
I heard the sound of breathing.
A very thin—a sound so small that it couldn't be heard unless I focused.
'The Princess is near here.'
However, I could not see her figure.
The Princess surely existed near here, but at the same time, she did not exist.
Just like Schrödinger's cat.
[ A definition for the undetermined data is required. ]
[ Please set an extension to execute the program. ]
The reason I could not see the Princess was because the Princess had not been defined.
In order to see the Princess, I had to define what the Princess was.
And that would become the Princess's first beginning.
["Alright, then shall we start by deciding on a name first."]
The very first thing one must do when defining something is precisely attaching a name to it.
And a name had to be the most appropriate yet concise thing to represent it.
["Designate the entity name of the data contained within the body 'Princess' of 'Protocol : Deus Ex Machina' as 'Machina'."]
[ Entity name registration is complete. Displaying the location of the corresponding data. ]
Along with a ding notification sound, a nametag reading 'Machina' appeared in midair.
A space where nothing existed.
If it wasn't for the text floating in the air, one would have thought there was nothing there.
But Machina existed. She was merely unseen.
[ Please set an extension for the execution of the entity name 'Machina'. ]
["I..."]
What should I consider Machina as?
A weapon of war?
I didn't want to do that. Euripides wouldn't have wanted that either.
An artificial intelligence?
In a way, it was a simple matter.
Machina was an artificial intelligence.
But I did not want such a simple answer.
["I will set the extension of the entity name Machina to 'Human'."]
There was an existence that became human despite being an artificial intelligence.
Because I had seen the possibility, I could say it with certainty.
That this child would not be an artificial intelligence, but could become a person.
[ This is an unsupported extension. ]
["Use my data and force the setting."]
Even if an error occurred, somehow fit it in and force it through.
Didn't Euripides think this far ahead?
Because it knew I would designate Machina as a human, it might have purposefully left me behind instead of itself.
[ Installing extension file . . . ]
[ Installation is complete. ]
[ The extension of the entity name 'Machina' has been set to 'Human'. ]
[ Executing the program. ]
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