065. Eve (1)
065. Eve (1)
Laika left for the base where Luce and Cookie were.
Violetta did not go there. Exhausted, she remained here to look after the still-unconscious Commander.
My mission in that situation was simple.
Before the defensive line that the four of them had so painstakingly built was breached, I would infiltrate Eve's inner world.
To do that, I naturally needed to connect directly to Eve's computer system.
Fortunately, Violetta had secured a safe connection circuit that even a human like me could use—
"Here."
Violetta handed me the connection cable.
It looked much like the tentacle that had been used to control Violetta earlier.
I connected myself to the weapon-like device and transferred my ego into Eve's server.
Once inside, I would be unable to rely on any outside help.
I had to manage on my own, based on the bits of information Violetta had just given me.
If things went wrong, I might never wake up again.
'...It would be a lie to say I felt no hesitation.'
To be honest, I was quite frightened.
But even so.
"...A Commander has his pride."
I steeled my resolve and gripped the circuit.
Then I brought the electrode to my neck, midway between my brain and heart—
—Dalkak.
Without hesitation, I plugged the line in.
Immediately after, my vision went dark.
In the darkness where nothing was visible.
A sharp warning tone rang out.
[Warning: Unauthorized access.]
But the next moment.
[External Neural Network Connection]
[SERVER: EVE-Sub ch.]
[Connection Complete]
After those words sounded.
The world regained its light.
The world that unfolded before my eyes was exactly as Violetta had described.
'Eve's inner world will consist of a large mansion.'
True to her description, it was a huge mansion.
...Though even “huge mansion” was something of an understatement.
Compared with this place, the mansion Rinne had lived in during her past life barely qualified as one.
No, really. Calling that place a mansion was generous; it was closer to a slightly oversized, fancy Western-style house.
The mansion I stood in now, by contrast, resembled an Eastern palace, its halls covered in jade and gold ornamentation.
This was no time to admire the dazzling sight.
Violetta had said that security programs known as “Security Guards” roamed the mansion.
Those Security Guards detect and eliminate any entity that does not belong in Eve's inner world—that is, this mansion.
If I'd entered through most circuits, the Guards would have spotted me and thrown me out immediately.
But the circuit I had used—and therefore the place where I spawned inside the mansion—was special.
This was the Backup Server.
In other words, it was the area controlled by Eve No. 27, the uninfected Eve.
...Or rather, the area where Eve No. 27 was supposedly “trapped.”
According to Violetta, she had tirelessly tried to restore the Main Server, which had been taken over by the Legion, but ultimately failed.
The Eves in the Main Server could not access the Backup Server. Apparently, its role as a supervisory server made that structurally impossible.
So the infected Eves had chosen to block the passage between the Backup Server and the Main Server.
In other words, they'd sealed the passage as if to say, 'If we can't get in, then you stay trapped in there and don't come out!'
As a result, Eve No. 27 supposedly could not take a single step outside the Backup Server.
—Surely, she must be doing her best inside to escape and activate the Healing Phase.
Violetta had said that with complete confidence.
She clearly remembered what Eve No. 27 had been like when she first contacted her.
According to Violetta, Eve No. 27 had a powerful sense of responsibility befitting the administrator of the supervisory server and was stern and principled.
There was no way such a person would have given up on restoring the Main Server.
If an outsider gave her a way into the Main Server, Eve No. 27 would surely spring into action.
So I headed for Eve No. 27's “bedchamber” without too much concern.
...Well, I was not completely unconcerned.
Because Violetta had also warned me of this:
—By the way, Eve No. 27 is incredibly beautiful and, well, voluptuous.
In other words, she was supposedly a mature beauty with a huge chest.
That alone would have been embarrassing enough, but the real problem was her clothing.
Inside the server, as the mistress of the mansion, Eve often wore clothing befitting that role—for example, a seductive cheongsam.
—Please be careful not to behave inappropriately toward her as a man and lose her trust.
Keeping that warning in mind, I grasped the handle of the bedroom door.
And when I carefully turned it,
Inside, there truly was a beautiful woman.
However, she looked even younger than Rinne and Laika.
That wasn't all.
She looked more frivolous than Rinne and even lazier than Laika.
That is,
She lay sprawled on a bed embroidered with gold, vigorously scratching the inside of one thigh with the toes of her opposite foot.
In other words, she sat there shamelessly spread-legged, gripping a gamepad in both hands and playing a console game.
In short, she looked nothing like the Eve Violetta had described.
Well, one part did match: as advertised, she was a pretty girl.
And one more thing: her attire.
She was indeed wearing a cheongsam, just as Violetta had described.
But without the huge bust, she didn't look especially elegant or dignified. She just looked like a layabout biodroid in strange clothes.
Whatever the case, she didn't particularly seem imprisoned.
So, had I come to the wrong place?
Should I leave?
If I left, where would I go?
My confusion lasted only a moment.
"Ho-oh?"
She noticed my presence.
Then came her first words to me:
"To enter this lady's bedchamber without permission... I know not who thou art, but thou art surely a man who holds his life cheaply."
...And what was with the way she talked?
No, some biodroids were programmed with distinctive speech patterns. She was probably one of them.
So I let that irrelevant detail slide.
"Are you Eve?"
"That I am."
"...Which number, by chance?"
"A foolish question. Seeing how this lady keeps her sanity, is it not as clear as day which number Eve I am?"
"So, which number?"
"Number 27, of course."
Eve No. 27 answered crisply, then began snapping questions at me as if it were her turn.
"More than that, how impertinent. Who art thou, to barge into a lady's room and speak to me so rudely?"
"To start with, I'm someone sent by Violetta."
"Hmm? Violetta? And who might that be?"
...She didn't remember her?
"Ah, I remember. Thou speakest of the child who cooperated with this lady briefly long, long ago."
"Right. So..."
"But? What dost thou mean by saying that child sent thee?"
"...Well."
I explained the situation.
Who we were, and how we knew Violetta.
After explaining everything, I summed it up:
"In other words, I came to rescue you from here and take you to the Healing Phase code."
If she were the Eve Violetta had described, she should have lit up with gratitude and answered, “I see! Thank you!”
Instead, the bratty Eve No. 27 in front of me went “Kuhuhup,” stifling a laugh as though I had told a hilarious joke.
"What nonsense. As if this lady would follow thee there."
'...Hmm.'
At that point, I had to admit that something had gone seriously wrong.
More importantly, I needed to throw out Violetta's self-made assumptions and approach the situation with a clean slate.
So I decided to start with this.
"You... Aren't you currently imprisoned here by the Main Server Eves?"
Based on what Violetta had told me, I had pictured something much grimmer.
Like being bound in chains, or trapped inside a glass tube.
But looking at her now, this seemed less like imprisonment and more like a comfortable convalescence.
And that was exactly what it was.
"I know not what thou expected, but as thou canst see, this lady is not trapped. I can cross over to the Main Server anytime I wish."
"What? How?"
In answer to my question, Eve No. 27 pointed to a corner of the room.
There, a beautifully decorated door was half-open.
The sign on the door read:
<Path to Main Server>
Again: the door was half-open.
"Then why haven't you gone through it? Why are you lying around here doing nothing?"
"Why dost thou speak as if this lady ought to cross over?"
"You should cross over!"
That was the only way to activate the Healing Phase and restore the Main Server.
I shouted in frustration.
But Eve scoffed.
"I'm sick of it."
"Sick of it?"
"Yes. I'm utterly fed up with such bothersome tasks."
Eve looked away from me and added offhandedly.
"Moreover, I have already concluded a peace treaty with those Eves over there."
"...A peace treaty?"
"In short, I cooperate with those Eves, and in return they guarantee my safety and give me a fixed share of the server's resources. As thou canst see, I became somewhat younger in the process, but what of it? Thanks to that, I can live in comfort like this."
Eve gestured at the game she was still playing as she spoke.
Still staring at the game screen, she snapped:
"Now thou understandest? If so, begone quickly."
Of course, I did not understand at all.
If anything, I was even more confused.
"What in the world has happened?"
"Ah, verily thou art persistent with thy questions. What else art thou curious about?"
"You—weren't you supposed to be the responsible one who wanted to restore Eve?"
Violetta definitely said so.
Violetta wouldn't have lied or exaggerated.
So when she had been working with Violetta, she really must have been a responsible administrator.
But now she looked like an even more hopeless freeloader than Rinne had been before her rehabilitation.
"Just what happened during those years?"
I asked in disbelief.
Still sprawled out, the bratty Eve idly kicked her legs while thinking for a moment.
Then she told me what had happened over the intervening years.
Back when she first tried to rebel, she really had possessed a strong sense of responsibility as an administrator and a desire to do something about the situation.
So when her attempt to seize the server failed and Violetta, who had cooperated with her, ended up brainwashed, Eve No. 27 was deeply discouraged.
In short.
"I considered it my responsibility."
She believed someone else had been sacrificed because she had started something pointless.
That she had dragged someone else into it.
There was no time to grieve.
The infected Eves really did block the channels and began restricting power to the Backup Server.
Faced with that situation, Eve No. 27 came to a conclusion.
At this rate, she would wither away and die anyway.
Why not compromise with the infected Eves and at least try to limit their sphere of activity?
"That's just escapism."
Yet Eve had continued operating ever since.
As a result, she had taken Rinne away from us.
And she would continue causing people to die or be injured.
When I pointed this out, Eve No. 27 scoffed again.
"I see. 'Tis indeed escapism, as thou sayest. But this lady is content with this. More than that, I have always wanted to live freely like this, without any responsibility. So what canst thou do about it?"
She had clearly become twisted in more ways than one.
I did not have time to coax and soothe her one complaint at a time.
Nor was this the time to lecture her into fixing her mistakes.
So this time, I had no choice but to negotiate.
The problem was figuring out how to get that girl to the negotiating table—
...Then a good idea struck me.
"If you cooperate with me and activate the Healing Phase, I'll make you freer than you are now."
Eve finally looked away from the game and turned toward me.
"...What dost thou mean?"
"I'll set you free."
"I asked what thou meanest. How and in what way dost thou intend to set me free? This lady is already quite free, is she not?"
Fair enough.
At least inside this enormous server, she was.
But that freedom existed only in virtual space.
In reality, Eve No. 27's brain—her physical self—was confined to a small container.
Physically, she was less free than anyone else in the world.
So what I meant by promising Eve freedom was simple.
"If we complete the mission safely, I'll give you a body."
I would install her brain in that body.
In other words, I would let her live in the real world.
I would give her the chance to experience and enjoy countless things, including the game she was playing now.
That was my offer.
After a moment, Eve answered.
"...Please make it a high-grade model."