Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume12 Chapter 6 (section)

===Part 3===

It was ridiculous and grandiose.

It sounded a lot like a video game’s flavor text.

Since the documents had been scattered randomly, they were not even in order. But by gathering all of the data they could, they were able to read the following:



''This project began as a means to oppose the utterly insolent Information Alliance who are attempting to electronically preserve all forms of culture and civilization – including the holy scriptures – as mere data.

''They commonly use supercomputers and AI for government, civilian, industrial, and academic uses, so we had to surpass them in those fields if we were to bring the hammer of judgment down upon them. That said, walking the same path as those fools would have been meaningless.

''If the Information Alliance was emphasizing the creation of a mechanical brain, then the holy Faith Organization only needed to take the opposite path.

''We would develop the human brain to its limits and mass-produce professional chess players who can overwhelmingly defeat any supercomputer or AI. The shortest path was to develop the Pilot Elites who already had ample government funding and belonged to the closest relevant field. We would place our project on top of that.



“Where are we? Which page is this?”

“Let’s follow the page numbers. They’re numbered on the edge.”



''The results were excellent. At least at the current stage, man solidly wins in any battle between the flexibility of the human brain and the high-speed calculations of a supercomputer.

''But we have also learned something.

''We have learned the limits of humans as humans. That is a wall we will run into no matter how thoroughly we develop the subjects. One-sided tests such as IQ tests or memory challenges do not matter. We at Hermes stand on the front line of producing the cleverest and most useful humans. And that is why we have reached a certain understanding:

''Human evolution has an upper limit.

''And it is far, far closer than anyone thinks.

''A thick concrete ceiling is within arm’s reach. That final upper limit cannot be removed no matter what. And we are not simply talking about supercomputers and AIs leaving us behind as they develop further or an inability to keep up with the Information Alliance.

''They are the same.

''No matter how far we attempt to develop supercomputers and AIs, no progress will be made as long as the humans using them are stuck here. Humans will stop here, stall, and ultimately fall.

''Humans will fall into ruin.

''And not because of environmental pollution, limited resources, or war.

''Humans themselves will harden over from within, lose their possibilities, and destroy themselves.

''That is the truth of the coming age.



“Is this serious? Is this actual scientific data!? Hey, Quenser, tell me this is some Faith Organization bullshit like blood type fortune telling!”

“How should I know? I mean, what the hell is this? It’s tearing apart!!”



''We must make a decision.

''The only way to conquer this disease of stagnation and to smash the thick ceiling overhead is…



That was all.

The soaked paper tore and they could not read the rest.

But the bad feeling did not leave their chests. They had taken over an infection base that could create a worldwide pandemic starting from Second Venice and they had brought in a deadly mold that killed all those infected. They had a grand objective that surpassed the benefit to Hermes Pharmaceuticals itself. None of it sounded promising.

There was no stopping the sense of dread.

Quenser grabbed the radio he also used to detonate bombs.

“Can you hear me, Lizard Tail!?”

“Wait, are you stupid!?”

“Or whatever it is the Faith Organization calls you! Dionysus was it!? Anyway, answer me! What are you trying to do with that killer mold!? No, how are you planning to assist mankind with it!?”

An Object’s largescale communications equipment would pick up any bandwidth. And Quenser had not encrypted his transmission. Everyone it reached would be able to hear it.

Contacting them was the easy part.

The question was whether or not they would answer.

“Ksshh. Does this mean you opened the boat’s safe, Legitimacy Kingdom?”

“…Would you look at that. The zombie removed her hat and bowed.”

“This is exactly what it looks like. Argeiphontes was originally developed for riot suppression gas, but there were various issues after that. And an interesting effect was found in addition to the poison gas aspect. Well, it may be a lot like how a toxic herbicide also contains a concentrated amount of a rare hair growth agent. Of course, if the average person dumps the herbicide over their head, it will instead destroy their entire scalp.”

“Kh.”

The death rate was 99.8%.

Had this Elite survived that without the antidote bought with money?

“Are you serious? Are you saying you were given god’s love for real?”

“Of course not. I was working with Hermes from the beginning, so they had me take the antidote. Or perhaps I should say they stole my right to take the challenge.”

They heard light laughter over the radio.

“And that is why it would be a problem for you to bring back that antidote. We must witness the moment when a human overcomes ‘that’ without using any bought love.”

“What are you talking about…?”

“There is no need to get the entire world involved. As long as there is a single success, we win. In Second Venice, there is a miracle human who is still alive through her own strength despite exposure to Argeiphontes, isn’t there? That person is attempting to receive the true love without relying on the kind bought with money.”

Quenser’s thoughts ground to a halt.

And he was finally able to draw a name out of his memories.

“Are you talking about Catherine!?”

“Ironic, isn’t it? The last word is going to come from another Elite. But as long as the concrete ceiling eventually crumbles away, nothing else matters. Mankind has stalled, but we have fought to bring us all another step forward. If Catherine Blueangel can accomplish that, she will become our guiding shepherd. I am fine being the Apollonius who vanishes inside her shadow.”

“…Is this really that great for her? Catherine is dying.”

“Don’t be so sure. You can’t know what will happen until the very last moment. The researchers decided to inject me with the antidote before I reached that point.”

“And what do you plan to do if Catherine does die!?”

“Search for the next candidate. By finding a way to start a pandemic without using Second Venice.”

That was likely her true intent. The Lizard Tail’s Elite or Hermes Pharmaceuticals supporting her had no clue whether or not the “next stage of mankind” would be completed. So they would keep trying until it happened. Even if the planet’s population of seven billion was worn down to a single person, they would count it a success if that person coincidentally happened to do it. This was nothing more than a blind search.

There was no academic theory behind it. They had not taken any statistics.

It was a cult disguised as an academic study. Their farfetched logic was decorated with plausible-sounding reasoning and numbers, but at its foundation, the idea was no different from the millennia-old idea of human sacrifices: if we sacrifice enough people, it’s sure to give us something in return.

Dionysus.

What kind of god had they taken that name from? Their idea of righteousness might be found there, but Quenser did not feel like looking into it. He was certain he would find some depressing and bloody legend.

He summed up his thoughts in a short groan.

“You’re completely insane.”

“Yes, and that is why I was given an Object with this name. And if you ask me, the people relying on something like this to support their world are far more insane.”

A quiet beep followed that mocking voice.

It came from Quenser’s handheld device.

“Hey, this is a military network. How far have they infiltrated it!?”

Heivia voiced his concern, but Quenser had other things to worry about.

He hesitantly pulled out the handheld device and glanced through the received email.

A photograph was attached.

It resembled a wriggling anatomical model.

It looked like each of the organs and bones had been removed, placed in smooth transparent containers, and then neatly rearranged in a model of the human body.

“Ugh.”

Quenser felt sick to the stomach.

This was not a corpse. Tubes and cables connected it all together in place of blood vessels and nerves, so this was a living person. As soon as he realized that, he felt a second wave of nausea.

Their opponent was a Zombie Object.

So was its Pilot Elite also a living corpse?

“Urp!?”

“One year to live. After the doctor saw the shadow on the X-ray and told me that, I was made into this. The higher ups may have found this easier to control. I am only arranged as a single entity during missions…in other words, in the cockpit. Normally, each individual part is stored in a separate facility where they only wriggle in response to electric signals and receive nutrients from tubes. Strangely, no single piece is ‘me’ while broken apart. The center of my consciousness dose not reside in my brain. Cut away the brain as well and I just seem to float around while my thoughts and memories grow hazy. I assume that is because I am formed from the whole of the data stored in the nerves and organs.”

This person could only maintain her identity while inside the cockpit.

She could not even tell where her core was if someone else did not connect her together.

This was a witch’s pot that even toyed with the human heart.

“It can’t be…”

“But when they were gathering parts for the second Object being built in secret, I surreptitiously rewrote a few electronic documents to slip some ‘biological samples’ into a container. That is my current victory. With no face or body, I am now a mere component that can be easily replaced just by replacing a label on the outside. Dionysus is the god who transcends life and death and a god whose worshipers sink into madness through their rituals. That is the true identity of this clean age protected by Objects. Now, is this the right thing to do? Or is it insane? What would you say as you look in from the outside?”

It was definitive.

Quenser had a full body and had never been packed up in boxes, so he was left speechless.

“Now, boy. Do you think this age has a future? Now that the myth of safety brought by Objects has grown brittle, do the poor and foolish humans have a future?”

Or perhaps the Lizard Tail’s goal was not evolving mankind at all. Perhaps it was simply one person’s revenge against the oppressive age that had gone this far. That was how it felt to Quenser. In that case, there was no need for a miraculous survivor to appear. Even if all seven billion people were exterminated by the deadly mold carrying the Argeiphontes, this Elite would still achieve her objective.

“…I’m sorry.”

“Oh, there’s no need to feel sorry. I become a ghost once the promised year passed. My dead body is only an empty shell. How to use it is up to you, the ones who have lived on.”

“No, not that.”

“?”

He breathed in and out.

He faced the horrific truth and spoke.

“Even after hearing that, I still want to save Catherine. I want to save that girl who longs to leave the battlefield countries and live in a safe country. Even if it has to happen in this shitty age!!”

A short silence followed.

Finally, he heard a quiet breath over the radio.

“Heh.”

It may have been a laugh.

Although he had his doubts that the Pilot Elite could still produce such a human expression after being so thoroughly remade into a system.

Or perhaps that affirmation was a form of admiration.

The Pilot Elite lying alone in her hospital bed had someone who would attack the executives of Hermes Pharmaceuticals and even face the colossal weapons that had ended the nuclear age. That was something this Elite had never had. She had never had a foolish but warm person who would reject the age that had imprisoned her. Perhaps the undead Elite approved of that.

But not as a friend.

Only as an enemy on the battlefield.

“In that case…”

“Yes…”

They spoke at the same time.

It did not matter that one was a puny battlefield student and the other was an Elite one step away from heaven.

“I’ll defeat you and continue on ahead!!”

“I’ll defeat you and continue on ahead!!”