Earth: The Second

Secret of The World

One and a half hour has been passed since Adma connected to the computer. When Rika comes to check on him, the man is still standing without moving a bit. The wire that connected him to the computer is still there, and she concludes that Adma still hasn’t finished whatever he did.

“So the ‘fetcher’ is also one of the ideas that you found inside this place?” meanwhile, Gon is still chatting with Hepaetus, continuing their conversation over dinner.

“Of course, along with other things such as electricity, air current, gravitation, and many more.”

“First time hearing those words,” replied Gon.

“Basically it’s the concept that explains little things that happen in the world. Why do leaves fly when the wind blows? How to use the power of lightning as an energy resource, and why does something falls when you throw them upward.” Hepaetus demonstrating the concept by throwing a stone upward, and letting it fall to the floor.

“But they are very obvious…”

“That is why you’re wrong. These people apparently learn the basics of nature from this concept and are able to use them to manipulate the world whatever they wanted.” Hepaetus drank his coffee. Gon on the other hand, still can’t believe what he has heard.

“I also don’t believe it at first, but when that thing spoke about countries I have never heard, weird names that are not familiar with other regions that I know. Kolibri also said the same thing. ‘either you wanted to use the knowledge or not,  I’ll leave it to you.’ she said.”

Gon is scratching his head. According to what Hepaetus has said, that means the church knows about this secret and decides to hide it from the rest of the world. But in the end, they decide to show it to Hepaetus.

“Sir, if I remember correctly, you showed your fetcher invention before decide to quit your job in the Kingdom, may I know what happened?” asked Gon.

Hepaetus is in the middle of drinking his coffee when he heard that. He let out a sight.

“You know, how King Roland IV seems like unamused to everything that presented to him, right? Either it’s a sword, jewelry, or entertainment from another land. The man seems like an unmovable rock no matter what. Well, that is different from what happened that day.”

“On the day when you’re presenting the device?” asked Gon.

“Yes. that is the first time I see him surprised,” replied Hepaetus. “The device itself is seemed as ‘promising’ with some limitation. But that night, King asked me to meet him at one of the military’s biggest armory.” Hepaetus looking at distance, reminiscing that story.

He continues after finished his cup. “Again, I was shown the secret that is hidden from many eyes. He showed me Legions. Kindom’s secret weapon.”

“Legions!? So that isn’t just a fairytale then?” replied Gon. It seems that he is also surprised.

Hepaetus shakes his head. “No. The soldiers of steel, standing without motion and waiting for the day the Kingdom threatens.  With the King’s words, they will wake up, running, and tear their enemies apart without the need to rest and feel pain.” said Hepaetus.

“An Artifact that being used as the Henriah’s secret weapon… I have read that it was being used once hundred years ago when they facing invasion from Aruma Empire,” said Gon, and Hepaetus answer with a nod.

“And the story is true. Some of the ‘soldiers’ that I see, showed a sign of battle, some are even losing their hands.” Hepaetus paused for a moment. “The King said: ‘Apparently you also have stepped closer to the secret of the world. You have to know that it’s a big responsibility.’”

“Secret of the world and responsibility? What does he mean by that?” asked Gon, he is cutting Hepaetus words because too excited with mysteries in front of him.

Hepaetus shrugged his shoulder. “That can only be one indication. Even the King knows about the existence of a place like this.” Hepaetus glancing at the room where Adma is, only for them to realize that Rika is shouting from there.

“Hey! It’s an Emergency! Come here quickly!” shouted Rika.

“Rika? What happened?” Asked Gon.

“I… I don’t know either! Adma seems in pain, and he just kneeled on the floor!” replied her. 

Abandoning their table, Gon and Hepaetus quickly get to the scene. Just like Rika said, Adma is kneeling, he’s twitched all over his body, and stutters come from his mouth.

“A-a-a-a...A-a-a-a…” 

“He… seems still unconscious…” said Hepaetus.

“What we should do now!?” cried Rika. her biggest worries really came true. While Gon, and Hepaetus can only watch from distance, not knowing what to do to help Adma.

***

To know exactly what happened to Adma, we need to go back one hour before. Inside the computer, Clara decides to give up all of his data to Adma. Therefore, all the documents are made available, and all the secrets inside the safes are unlocked.

In the virtual library that formed inside Clara’s hard drive, Adma walking around, taking the random books from the shelves. As expected, they all contain the knowledge of the old world, either it is the basic, or the advanced one.

“Oh my, I remember this,” said Adma as he looked at the book titled ‘Aeroplanes and War’. When Adma opened the book pages, he is greeted with the design of an aircraft vehicle that he knew very well from his era.

“This war vehicle… I used to idolize it when I was a kid…” said Adma. Suddenly, he is struck with a dizzy feeling.

“When I… Was a kid…?” as Adma said that, the past once again flashes before his eyes. The scene of tiny hands, grabbing the arm of two loving parents. The scene of the baseball field in the middle of the match. Is this it? Has his memory finally returned?”

“Adma, I detect the increase of your heartbeat and processing memory. What happened?” 

Navigator with her sphere from suddenly appeared beside him. Adma’s dizziness has calmed down.

“Navigator? I’m sorry… It’s just that feeling again when we first met, the images from something that I don’t know,” said Adma.

Navigator is quiet, maybe, she herself doesn’t know how to respond to Adma’s situation. After all, she hasn’t understood humans completely.

“Adma, I suggest you return to your body and let me manage the things we found here,” said Navigator, but Adma laughed her off.

“What are you talking about? I’m also lost my memories, remember? This is a good chance for me to re-learn anything from the past that might be useful for our journey in the future!” said Adma.

“But if anything happens to your mind, there is a huge chance that you can not be returned to the real world. Just like a computer without an operating system, your body is still active, indeed, but without any response. Basically, same as a living doll.” said Navigator. 

“Well, indeed, that would be a problem,” Adma said that as he takes another book from the shelves. “Hey look! Various modern armament! This would be useful in combat!” said Adma excitedly.

Meanwhile, Clara the AI, looking at them from the distance, recalling her previous conversation with Navigator.

“You… self-appointed Hepaetus as your new master?” asked Navigator.

After thousands of years without receiving new orders, Clara activated her self-decision system. This system grants the AI and computer device to do what they wanted if they are still activated for a long period of time, without their owner renewing their tasks.

Clara used to be an operating system and AI that keep in check the secret of these military facilities.  But after the catastrophe, she would let standing by for millennia, eventually letting her take whatever action she wanted.

For as long as Navigator understands, AI would end up always taking action according to their primary task or objective. Therefore, no matter if they have the independence to decide or not, they usually stick to their primary routine.

But Clara has some exceptions. As an AI that guarding military secrets, it’s appropriate for her to use all of her existence to guard the data. That means when the secrets are at risk of being hacked or damaged. Clara would do a forced format, deleting whatever content is inside her hard drive.

That is where Navigator thinks that Clara is such an anomaly. Not only she is not deciding based on her previous task, but she also took the liberty to chain herself to another master. 

“I have read your previous log. I see that there is no external damage, attempted hacking, or other fallacy inside your system. But the conclusion is rather confusing actually,” paused Navigator.

“From what I have learned. You have fallen in love with Hepaetus,” said Navigator.

Clara does not answer, and neither do Navigator for a moment.

“Even in the Old World, the concept of the machine falling in love with humans and vice-versa is deemed taboo. There are many who defended it, but the law at that time is not recognizing them at the point of marriage,” said Navigator.

“I know,” replied Clara, “I’m an AI for military facilities, and chained by the absolute command that applied. I suppose to kill myself, just like the task told me…” Clara paused, and now, there is statics in her voice, like she is crying.

“But… I’m afraid… To die…”

Silence surrounding Navigator and Clara, while Adma previously had moved to the bookshelves to get his data material.

Navigator looked to the side, at the virtual body of her host.

“Million times, I’m re-processing the decision of what I would take next. Every time I come to the conclusion of deleting myself, I always choose the ‘no’ button and keep refreshing my task list.

But when the master arrived, I have hope inside me.”

Clara remembers it all, at first, she received a connection from the outside world for the first time. At first, she thought that it was just feedback from another machine, but the data she received indicate that it comes from a human.

Even better, this ‘human’ is rather a curious one, he probably doesn’t know much about computers, but he communicating with Clara just fine. Clara herself taught him many things that were limited to the public knowledge inside her database.

After some time exchanging the information, that is where she understands that the old world where she used to be operated is no longer exists. And with that piece of information, she decides to change her decision completely.