Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter7 (section)

=== Part 14 ===

“Please tell me this is a joke…” Lessar said while peering over at the PDA Mikoto was holding.

However, it was the truth.

It displayed the details of the secondary plan which was to come into effect upon the failure of the primary plan of using a timer to detonate the Solntse hydrogen bomb that had been brought into Academy City.

It said:

''We can only prepare a single Solntse which is being used as the uranium ornament. As such, it is necessary to put together this plan so that our single shot is used to its fullest.

''In the secondary plan, three MIG-21s modified to carry nuclear weapons will be sent out as a diversion. They will be holding dummy bombs the same size as a Solntse. Those three will draw the attention of the air defense network, so they will not notice what we are truly after.

''We will be sending a small UAV. It will fly above Academy City and act as a mobile antenna with which to transmit the detonation signal to the Solntse being used as the uranium ornament.

''Even if the timer is stopped or it is recovered before the timer is activated, the Solntse will detonate as soon as it receives the detonation signal from the UAV.

''The closer to Academy City the UAV takes off from, the less the risk, but if it is too close, it may be detected before even taking off. As such, it will be taking off from a cruiser in Tokyo Bay.

“The modified MIG-21s are just decoys? They merely have the ability to carry nuclear weapons, but they are not actually loaded with hydrogen bombs?” muttered Lessar in utter shock.

Mikoto’s face had also paled, but part of the plan made sense to her.

Lessar had once predicted that the Solntses to be dropped from modified MIG-21s could not be detonated by the pilots. She had concluded that it was quite likely that they would not detonate without a detonation code transmitted from the higher ups in order to prevent the pilots from betraying them.

But that would not work.

To prevent the leak of information on their technology, Academy City had a powerful jamming signal running parallel to its outer wall. Even if they transmitted a signal from the Russian shopping mall, there was no guarantee that it would make it to the Solntse within Academy City.

That was what the UAV was for.

An environment allowing long distance transmissions had been created where the person behind the plan could send the detonation signal to the UAV or even cancel it if necessary.

Once the small UAV with the detonation signal inside it made it within Academy City, it could transmit the signal without being affected by the jamming.

It would detonate the Solntse that Anti-Skill had recovered before the timer had been activated and was currently being prepared to be dismantled.

“That means…”

“The danger is not over even if those old fighters are shot down,” Mikoto said as if continuing Lessar’s words. “If the UAV relaying the detonation signal makes it to Academy City, the city will be utterly blown away!!”

She would not make it in time if she tried to return to Academy City.

All Mikoto and Lessar could do was find whoever it was that had taken over the plan and bring it all to a stop from the top down.

But where was the person behind it?

The higher ups of the Russian shopping mall were out of the picture already. And the outside group that had apparently been manipulating them from the background also was not continuing the plan using the nuke. Who was in control of the plan? Were there really that many layers of secret groups working in the shadows behind the previous group?

“This isn’t going to turn into a situation where there actually isn’t anyone else behind this, is it?” said Lessar quietly

“You mean this plan using a nuke is just continuing despite no one being in control of it?”

“No, not that.” Lessar seemed as if she was having trouble saying what she was trying to say. “I don’t know all that much about science, so an elite Academy City student like you might just laugh at me, but…”

“What?”

“This city seems to have a means of moving the entire organization without the existence of a clear boss…”

A very bad feeling came over Mikoto.

It had come to her mind too.

When she thought about it, it had been deeply related from the very first incident. It had spread the urban legends. It had caused the riots. It had free use of the cameras and the Semipublic AR, it read people’s reactions, it automatically created news sources to spread, and it manipulated group psychology like a toy car.

“The one behind this…is Code EIC itself…?” Mikoto muttered blankly.

Normally thinking, the answer was no. A machine rebelling was just too ridiculous. Anyone who regularly used computers knew that real computers and programs did not behave like that.

But…

Code EIC was a system made to interfere with the human mind using rumors in order to alter the values of selected products.

In a world without humanity, Code EIC would have no purpose and it could display its ability the greatest in a world overflowing with people. In that case, there was a possibility that it could bare its fangs toward humanity without having any actual “will” such as hatred toward humanity or wanting to fill the world with a new order. It could just be obeying simple commands to expand its functionality or to spread its range of options.

Had Mikoto, Lessar, the occult convenience store, the workers in the shopping mall, the higher ups, and the outside group all been manipulated by Code EIC?

Had attacking Academy City been a necessary command in order to expand its functionality as a machine?

After thinking through all that, Mikoto shook her head.

“…Yeah right.”

“?”

“The higher ups of the shopping mall did not like the difference between Academy City’s technology and the technology disclosed to the cooperative institutions. They decided that they would create a business model even if it meant the destruction of the field of psychic powers development and tried to lessen the 20 or 30 year gap with Academy City by preparing a Solntse. They planned to cause great damage to Academy City and bring their own unreliable data to the forefront in the world.” As Mikoto spoke, she sorted through all the different ideas in her own head. “But the Russian shopping mall is not the only place that would benefit from that!! If the scientific data held by a cooperative institution would grow much more valuable after the destruction of Academy City, then many different cooperative institutions would benefit from that. There are indeed other people who would benefit from this. That way of thinking is much more realistic than saying the computer started controlling people to expand its functionality on its own!!”

“Then…”

“Yes. There is an actual person behind this. This person may be hiding behind Code EIC and trying to pass it all off as computer issues. But we won’t let that happen. If this person is controlling the plan, we have to stop them!!”

The secondary plan continued with its objective to reuse the Solntse hydrogen bomb that had been brought into Academy City.

A still unseen person was behind it all.

A UAV acting as an antenna to transmit the detonation signal was heading to Academy City from Tokyo Bay.

They had to stop any or all of those things.

That was the final battle.

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