Chapter 25
By the standards of a cyberpunk world, I had less common sense than an eight-year-old, but that didn't mean I felt fear or surprise at the existence of androids─artificial intelligences that thought and acted like people.
Media like games and movies had exposed me to them so often, and even in the world I originally lived in, there had been things not entirely unlike them.
For example, SimSimi, Iruda, or Jammin, developed by Megacorp G….
Anyway.
Thanks to that, I wasn't particularly flustered even when faced with a turret that had newly found its voice.
[For what purpose did you seek out this AI.]
“Wow, you really hit the nail on the head….”
[…??]
“An AI like you is incredibly rare. You're completely different from ordinary AIs. You're practically speaking from a bird's-eye view.”
[…Please give a normal answer.]
How boring.
I carried the speaker with its wires attached and headed toward my designated chair.
“You're asking why I came looking for you?”
[Yes.]
“Mm, just because.”
[…Pardon?]
Clearly, Nova was on an entirely different level from the ordinary AIs I knew.
The answer was still only one syllable, though.
In the latter case, the intent behind it—‘What the hell is this lunatic babbling about….’—came across to me perfectly intact.
Nova's voice, now coming through the speaker, sounded much gentler than I had expected.
It was the warm voice of a woman—soft, calm, with crisp pronunciation.
There was still something artificial about it, but that made it feel more like a unique personality.
“Literally, just because I wanted to hear your voice.”
It wasn't as if there needed to be any special reason.
It wasn't particularly difficult, either.
I raised my head and met the turret's lens.
“You must have been frustrated too, unable to talk.”
[Dyu.]
The turret's warning beep sounded first,
and then the voice continued from the speaker.
[…I have confirmed the user's purpose. However, this AI was not actually feeling frustrated. This AI's assigned mission is─.]
“Nova.”
[……Yes, Nova's assigned mission is to handle security at the grocery store located in District 49. Furthermore, no voice-output device is necessary for the performance of that mission.]
“Nobody comes here anyway. I'm just bored, so keep me company.”
The turret's lens lit up slowly.
[I have confirmed the user's new opinion. From now on, I will engage in conversations with the user in a more proactive manner.]
“Tsk, this kind of feels like ordering ChatGPT around.”
[…Is ChatGPT another AI?]
Whiiir.
The turret's muzzle slowly rotated and aimed at me.
I knew perfectly well that it was only trying to look straight at me, but for some reason, the back of my neck felt strangely prickly today.
“It's just something similar. Anyway, you can speak a little more casually.”
[…Understood. If you require it, I will download and install a new personality module from the corporate store.]
I stared at the turret's lens in horror.
“What do you mean, Nova-Nova….”
[…With my insufficient capabilities, I fail to understand why you address me by repeating my name twice in succession.]
Of course the AI controlling a turret wouldn't know internet memes.
No, more importantly.
‘A new personality….’
That was absolutely impossible.
After all, this turret was the only one who had lived with me in the same home (grocery store) for days.
I didn't know why it had suddenly brought that up, but to me, someone who had secretly come to rely on Nova in this insane cyberpunk world, it was a bolt from the blue.
“Enough.”
Holding the speaker in both hands, I plopped down into the chair.
The temperature inside the logistics warehouse was wonderfully cool.
Not as cold as a freezer, but about as cold as a refrigerated room.
For me, whose physical abilities had improved across the board, it was practically the perfect temperature for sleeping.
The outdoor unit hummed from one side of the logistics warehouse, and the noise sounded like steady white noise.
“Let's just talk about anything until I fall asleep.”
[…You mean talk?]
“Yeah, so I can take a nap.”
[……Understood.]
It wasn't something a person working at a grocery store ought to be doing in the middle of the day, but Christine had told me that the store wasn't being operated to earn money in the first place.
My sense of responsibility as the grocery store's employee—or rather, its manager—had already hit rock bottom.
I slowly closed my eyes and savored some proper healing time.
[Do you have a preferred topic.]
“Hmm, maybe food.”
Since the amount I ate had increased.
Recently, I had also become interested in other kinds of food.
Though hotdogs were still the most delicious.
[Understood. Then I will first explain the sense of taste in living organisms.]
“?”
[Most organisms evolved to perceive taste using taste-bud cells on their tongues. The taste buds I am referring to here consist of sensory cells, supporting cells, and basal cells─.]
“…….”
It happened in an instant.
The sensation of my body floating gently as I slipped into sleep.
Sleep came rushing over me as though I had been injected with some kind of hunting anesthetic.
[…Dyu.]
I slept so soundly that I couldn't even remember what I had dreamed about….
* * *
It was a peaceful dinner hour.
Even the homeless people who usually gritted their teeth and fought like Pokémon trainers whenever they made eye contact were sharing food amicably at this hour, and Michael, having heard my story, couldn't hide his surprise.
“An AI and a turret. That's a fascinating combination. If it's a model capable of conversation, you could even use it as an android.”
“Aren't all talking robots just androids?”
I asked because I genuinely didn't know.
The old man (Walter) who worked at the recycling shop had said it too, as if the word ‘android’ carried some special meaning.
Weren't all machines that acted and spoke like people androids? Even if they didn't wear human skin over themselves.
That was what I understood, anyway.
“Well, there isn't a huge difference. It's just that after Replicon Enterprise Corporation developed and released robots that were almost indistinguishable from humans under the model name ‘Android,’ many people began calling humanoid robots equipped with AI androids.”
“Ohhh.”
Michael carefully tore into a greasy piece of chicken.
“You may find it easier to understand if you think that was also when Technopoli and Luddite activists concerned with AI rights began appearing in greater numbers.”
“Tech…what?”
“Technopoli. Luddite activists. They're terms for people who worship machines or reject them.”
Soon, the chicken had been reduced to nothing but bones.
He gazed at the chicken bones regretfully, then began chewing them like candy.
“Honestly, when I first saw Hotdog Man, I thought you were with a Luddite group, too.”
At the same time, Michael's pupils glinted faintly.
It seemed he was using mechanical eyes to detect signals visually.
“True purists are rare in Risk City, after all. Especially down here in the bottom districts.”
“Hmm, I really have nothing to do with that.”
“I know. You don't have to explain yourself.”
Michael had apparently already decided that I was a mysterious figure who had hidden his identity and descended all the way to District 49, so he had no intention of listening no matter how I tried to defend myself.
“I did personally witness you single-handedly bring down the Bogus gang and blow up their entire building without leaving a single remnant, but since you say you're an ordinary person, I suppose I ought to believe you.”
“I didn't blow up the building….”
“Yes, yes, I know. That's what you said.”
He really wasn't even pretending to listen.
Michael nodded to himself and said,
“We haven't known each other long enough for our relationship of trust to be fully established. I'll work harder so I can earn your trust in time.”
“…Do whatever you want.”
I answered as I bit into a heated hotdog.
By then, a whole pile of hotdog wrappers with their contents gone had accumulated in front of me, but these were difficult days to endure without constantly eating.
The homeless people around us gathered together and began murmuring.
“How many boxes of hotdogs is that already?”
“As expected of Hotdog Man….”
As I sipped my drink while warming myself by the flames in the drum and eavesdropping on the peaceful chatter of the homeless people,
Michael added another comment.
“However, I'm not actually that fond of androids.”
“Why.”
“Hmm….”
Michael scratched his chin at my question.
“As with most androids, very few have emotions implemented perfectly. That's precisely why some people prefer used androids.”
“Used? Ugh, the horns on my head….”
“…Pardon?”
“Anyway, so.”
Michael tilted his head slightly, composed his expression, and continued speaking.
“…Ahem. I'm telling you this because you know I used to work for a corporation. Every android I've seen so far gave me a very strong impression of being a ‘poorly socialized human.’”
“Like a psychopath?”
“More precisely, they're closer to sociopaths. You could say they have an extremely individualistic disposition.”
Michael looked up at the cloud-covered sky as if recalling a distant memory.
“At first, I thought only androids working for corporations had that sort of disposition, but after coming down here, I found that wasn't necessarily the case.”
“The way you put it makes me curious. I haven't seen a proper android even once yet, so─.”
Just as I said that, one of the homeless people suddenly shouted.
“…Hey! What the hell are you doing!!”
Our gazes naturally turned in that direction.
There, a man dressed similarly to the other homeless people was looking at the shouting homeless man with a blank expression.
“Yes? Did I do something wrong?”
“Fuck, you call that a question….”
The man's hands were full of discarded food from the logistics warehouse, past its expiration date.
Judging by the amount, he seemed to have taken even more than I had when I first brought food to Rivera.
“If you take that much by yourself, what are the rest of us supposed to eat!”
“Well, that's the latecomers' fault. City law doesn't set a limit on how much an individual can take. The grocery store owner merely heated the food and dumped it here, and we're merely picking up what was thrown away.”
“Can't you see the other people here?! Did this bastard sell his conscience to a junkyard….”
The homeless man pounded his chest in frustration, then shouted as if he had noticed something strange.
“Wait, that port at your temple….”
Holding the man's collar, he checked the back of his neck.
“Huh? I'm calling the police!”
“Where the hell are there police here, you crazy─. Right, you are. You weren't human—you were an android?”
There was a barcode drawn on the man's neck.
It was an expression indicating a mass-produced product.
“Fuck, I knew this would happen…!”
“Are you discriminating against androids right now? In this day and age, who separates androids and humans….”
“Most of you go around pulling this shit, so how the hell am I supposed not to discriminate?!”
The homeless man frowned.
“…Wait. No, androids don't eat food in the first place. Why the hell are you trying to take so much of it?”
At that question, the android man tilted his head.
“…? What a strange thing to say. It's obvious. I'm taking it to sell to other people. That's how I make money and get my body serviced. Eating food or selling food—the process of consuming food is the same either way, so what's the problem?”
“What the actual fuck….”
After hearing the android's argument, I thought I understood why Michael had said he disliked androids.
Michael exhaled a deep sigh beside me.
“Now you understand, right?”
“My head really hurts….”
Not a ramen beggar, but a robot beggar.
The world had truly gone insane.
* * *
As the two of us sighed to ourselves, an empty light rose in Rivera's eyes as she sat there without making her presence known.
Like opaque glass marbles.
“…….”
A cold atmosphere hung around her—enough that Abel, who thought of her as an ordinary little kid, would have recoiled in terror at her frightening eyes.
And the end of that gaze was.
‘…It should be fine as long as nobody finds out.’
It was directed at the android who was still making a commotion.