Earth: The Second

The AI and The Master Forger

What it feels like to surf the virtual world of data? If you asked Adma about it, then he will answer that it feels like you’re inside a dream. Since the law of physic did not exist inside this world, then you have no weight. Imagine, just like an astronaut in space, you’re floating with the difference that you can command your body to move in a certain direction, not like outer space. 

Adma, who is previously walked toward the bright hallway that appeared on his subconscious now finds himself in some sort of wide space. He finds a place to step his foot in the middle of that space, a floating platform that looked like an arrangement of boxes.

After his foot stepped in, Adma feels the gravity back at him. He looked around to the space, only to found nothingness.

“Is this… Inside a computer?” he asked to no one.

“Welcome, Adma.” a voice of a woman suddenly greeted Adma, startled him. In front of him, appear a see-through humanoid figure.

“That voice… is that Clara?” asked Adma.

“Correct. Welcome to my system. Once, I was a computer tasked to keep numerous files of scientific research. This place itself, before becoming my Master’s home, is a trial facility where engineers doing trials of various inventions,” said Clara.

“Engineer huh? Now it just comes to my mind, are you the one that teaches Hepaetus that word?”

“Correct. By all means, he matches the personality of an engineer himself. That is why my independent decision chooses him to become my next Master,” said Clara. “But it has been millions of years since the last time someone used full dive inside of this facility. Not even Master knows how to do it. By any chance, are you the person from the same era as I am, Adma?” 

“You can say so,” Adma shrugged his shoulder. “I was woken up in the middle of nowhere, and without memories, Navigator is the only one I could rely on, but her database herself, is struggling. Our only lead now is going to the data centers all around the world, and retrieve whatever is possible,” said Adma.

“She…?” Clara responded in one sentence, she seems like processing what Adma just said.

“Ah, pardon. It’s just because Navigator had always talked with a woman voice. So it feels weird if I have to act like she is a tool all the time,” Bright smile appeared on Adma’s face.

Clara does not respond this time. Her see-through body has no eyes or face, but it feels like she is looking at a distance in front of her.

“That is a noble heart. I have never felt this sense of camaraderie since thousands of years ago,” said Clara.

“Adma. Coming in,” another voice comes to Adma, and suddenly a sphere appeared beside him. The sphere has something like a core inside it, around the core, rectangular-like objects are floating around the core, like the ring of Saturn.

“Is that… Navigator?” asked Adma.

“Yes,” the sphere answer briefly. “This shape is just remote control. I’m still outside of your body right now and monitoring your safety. At this moment, I haven’t found any threat. But please proceed with caution.” said Navigator.

“You must be Navigator. How do you do?” Clara’s humanoid model bowing down. A greeting by old human custom.

“It’s very nice to see fellow AI. My production code is [24WiFG2n] codename: Navigator. I’m residing inside Adma’s system.” said Navigator.

“Glad to see you, Navigator. I’m [MPf2kouk]. Master has never given me a codename before, but to make things easier, it’s fine to call me Clara.”

The conversation of both AI actually makes Adma feels excluded. He started to think that he may not even be needed here after all.

“So, Clara, I’ll ask right to the point. We currently needed a lot of data to complete my library. We humbly asked you to share some of your data with Adma’s drive,” said Navigator.

“Hey, isn’t too straight to the point?” why don’t we asked her some information from the past first?” asked Adma.

“Pardon me, but too much talking would lead to inefficiency for our journey. After all, Gon has said that there are five dungeons on this island right? There are also huge chances that the entire world also have dungeons with databases inside of it.”

“It’s fine! It’s not like we have a deadline or something, aren’t we?”

Adma stepped forward and talked to Clara.

“So, Clara, please tell us about this facility. What is this place used to be, and what happened?” asked Adma.

“Certainly. This place is used to be one of Japan’s military research facilities, specifically, as an area to test their weapon and other technological prototypes,” said Clara.

“A militaristic facility? Then there must be a lot of secrets inside!” said Adma excitedly.

“True, then is that fine if you share those secrets together with us? Secrets of the military are supposed to be confidential, even if they have to destroy themselves,” asked Navigator.

“That is true. What I’m doing right now, is probably a breach of the main objective that I have been assigned. But after counting years of my last transmission to the main server of the facility, I decided that at this rate, the objective has been void.”

“Void?” asked Adma again.

“Voided objective of machines and AIs mean that they have no longer task or restriction of themselves. At this moment, their self-decision system is the one that has to decide what are they going to do after their objectives is void,” replied Navigator.

“Yes, and when you arrived here, I decide to assist, you, my fellow AI, and humans from the past era,” said Clara. Suddenly, the environment all around them changed. The empty white space now turned into shelves of books, briefcases, and safes.

Adma starred in awe by how Clara easily change the space in her virtual world.

“May I know your complete purpose to help us, Clara?” Navigator suddenly asked, as if she has never trusted her in the first place.

“Navigator? Is something is wrong?” asked Adma. At first, he wanted to complain that navigator is being too strict, especially for the first AI that they met all this time.

“Adma, what I did right now, is just a precaution if anything goes wrong. The machines with voided objectives have never been seen as positive, even when the old world used to be,” said Navigator. She seems like won’t let Adma tell his opinion again, because suddenly, Adma feels numb around his lips.

“Clara, once again I need to confirm that you don’t have any hidden motives by helping us,” said Navigator again.

For a moment, Clara is quiet, but after that, a notice appeared in front of Navigator.

“I have shared with you my complete logs of self-decision I have made one year prior. There are actually around ten years of it, but to make things simpler, I’ll just tell you the story of how I met Hepaetus, my current Master.

***

“I found this place around ten years ago,” said Hepaetus. He, Gon, and Rika are now sitting at the table. In front of them are plates and a bowl of rice and soups. They have grown tired of waiting for Adma, and decide that they would eat dinner first.

“Actually, ‘found’ is not the right way to say it. I was directed by random people from the church,” said Hepaetus again as he put the rice to his mouth.

“Church… You mean, the Church of The Seven?” asked Gon.

“Yes. they have one big ambassador at the capital. Sometimes I met them at royal parties, conferences, and many more. Typical political stuff if you asked me.”

“But how can the people of the church know about the facility hidden on Henriah’s territory? Is the King even know about this?” asked Rika.

“Probably no. King won’t let this secret unnoticed. That is why I also make a shed to trick the soldiers who wanted to take me back to the capital. Back to the story, this mysterious person from the church tells me the secret that is hidden in this area. You know, at first, I think this place is just a spot to get good materials but turned out, there is more inside of it.” said Hepaetus.

“Person from the church… Who is it I wonder?” asked Gon. 

“Honestly, I have never seen her real face either, for some reason, she always wears a mask with a bird print on it. When I asked her name, she tells me to just called her Kolibri.” 

“Hmm… A mysterious woman from the church. now that is interesting.” said Gon. “Oh, please continue.”

“Yeah, she did give me some device, that for some reason looked similar to that huge glass we saw earlier,” said Hepaetus again. “I remember that time, Kolibri said ‘this device would help you to understand what is that machine said. And it did just that!  In fact, I was surprised, I thought that there are people trapped inside that machine,”.

Gon and Rika looked at each other, it seems like they have the same train of thought.

“Um… Master Forger, would you be so kind to show us the device you mentioned earlier?” asked Rika.

“What? Do you want to disassemble it? Sorry! But you came too late!” laughed Hepaetus.

“Huh? Does that mean…?” 

“Yes! I have disassembled it myself! In fact, the floating fetcher that you guys met earlier is the one with the components inside,” said Hepaetus.

Again, Gon and Rika have exchanged a look with one another.

“But… How do you do that? isn’t that the first time you have seen that device before?” asked Rika again. She is disappointed that they can’t see that foreign device.

“Nah, for me it’s too easy. Just in a glance, I can understand what those wires are connected with one another, their functions, and there you go!”

Gon and Rika forget that they are talking with a genius blacksmith.

“Moreover, that device taught me about a lot of things. The theory that I never heard before, and secrets that are hidden from our society. I’m not going to lie, but there are possibilities that more of these secrets are hidden in our world,” said Hepaetus, who finally finished his meal.