Memory Thorn

Transcriber: Dr_Mint

The close-combat weapon flashed, slicing through the sandstorm.

A Type-40 combat sword. A state-of-the-art weapon issued only to the elite forces on the front lines. The blade, crackling with electricity, burst and sent a semispherical object flying through the air in an arc.

A now-decapitated machine stopped moving. A few seconds later, its cylindrical body fell on its side in the sand and exploded, shrapnel showering two previously destroyed bodies in the vicinity.

After the explosion and shock wave, all that was left was the unique sound of the sirocco, the desert wind.

The dust eventually lifted, revealing a human silhouette. From the smooth outline of the shoulders, the tight waist, and the alluring legs that emerged from a short skirt, the silhouette clearly belonged to that of an adult woman.

All she could hear was the dry howl of wind. She couldn’t hear any Machines, animals, or voices of humans. Well, to be precise, not the voices of humans, but of androids. In fact, she would never hear the voices of humans on Earth.

Humanity had pretty much left Earth. Due to the alien invasion, they had to flee to the moon. The Earth was at this point a war zone between the Machines, which were the minions of aliens, and the androids, who were sent to destroy them.

2B sheathed her sword as she called out behind her.

“Was that all?”

Responding to her question, Pod 042, which had been floating about ten feet in the air, lowered closer to the ground.

“Affirmative: No enemy responses detected within a five-kilometer radius.”

“I see,” 2B mumbled, as she approached the access point. Such points were disguised as human artifacts that were once called “vending machines,” and provided transmission capabilities.

2B had come here to read some mail. But before that she had to go through the procedures, which was to destroy the Machines that gathered around the access point.

Even if the access point was disguised as a rusty artifact, Machines somehow knew that it was an important apparatus. Whether it be in the corner of a ruin or in the middle of a desert, the Machines gathered around it as if they were trying to prevent transmissions and intel collection. They didn’t have a shred of intelligence, but they were crafty in strange ways. They were cunning to an annoying extent.

On top of that, no matter how many times they were destroyed, they just kept coming back. That tenacity was irritating. YoRHa squadron members were prohibited from having emotions, but she was still irritated. Especially when there was an important message to read, like today.

Either way, 2B could finally attend to her original errand. She opened her mail inbox on the display, and opened a newly received email. She had read the sender, the classification of top secret, and some of the message, when—

“2B!”

Suddenly appearing out of nowhere was Type S No. 9, aka 9S. While he was a YoRHa android, he wasn’t modeled after an adult woman like 2B, but instead a teenage boy.

“Is that mail from Command?”

“No,” 2B replied, trying to act casually.

“Anyway, why?”

“What? What are you talking about, 2B?”

“There should still be time before our mission begins.”

2B had headed to the access point early because she’d received a mail notification from Pod. Even though it took her some time to clear the Machines, she had planned on reading through the message before 9S arrived.

“Well, I heard from the operator that 2B was in battle, so I thought I’d come in as support.”

“No need to worry about me.”

2B lightly shook her head, wanting to get rid of either irritation or panic.

“I guess.”

9S dropped his shoulders with an exaggerated motion. Now she realized what feeling she wanted to get rid of. Their past conversations and experiences—she wanted to get rid of her memories of them.

“Well, since we were able to meet up, let’s head toward the destination.”

It was a déjà vu.

“Ugh. More sand got in.”

He couldn’t learn to like the desert. It was the sand. If the wind blew it obstructed his vision and annoyed him, and if he walked it got in his shoes. It was kind of fun sliding down dunes, but otherwise the footing was poor and made it hard to walk. 9S scowled and looked at 2B, who was next to him. She was walking normally, without raising a brow.

“Doesn’t it bother you, 2B?”

“What?”

“Aren’t your shoes full of sand as well?”

“While it’s uncomfortable, it doesn’t disturb my walking, so …”

“Having sand in your shoes feels disgusting, doesn’t it? It doesn’t disturb my walking, but it’s a matter of sanity.”

“We are prohibited from having emotion.”

“Roooger.”

Although he agreed, he carried on the argument in his head. 2B should be the last person to say that, he thought.

2B didn’t control her emotions as well as she thought. At least, that’s what 9S thought. Her catchphrase of “we are prohibited from having emotion” was probably more directed at herself than 9S. By saying that out loud, she was scolding herself. It was something the solemn 2B would do.

She doesn’t have to try that hard, thought 9S. She could say it and still disagree with it at heart. Besides, how many YoRHa squadron members actually adhered to the rule?

But even if 9S said all of this, 2B wouldn’t change her ways. 2B didn’t have the dexterity to separate what she said and what she felt.

9S looked over at 2B’s profile again. He saw a glimpse of something on her taut lips. 2B was also bad at hiding secrets.

“Nines?”

2B looked puzzled. She was probably caught off guard by his incessant staring.

“Uh. Nothing … just thinking since it’s so dusty and hot it would be nice to take a bath.”

That wasn’t it. He wanted to say something else.

“We don’t need to bathe.”

“Right …”

What are you hiding? Recently you seem a bit down? Are you worried, or?

Even if he asked she probably wouldn’t answer. He already knew that, after operating with her for a few months. Instead of his questions, 9S tried exclaiming, “Oh!”

“Could that be our mission subject this time?”

A giant shadow of what looked like a building loomed beyond the sandstorm. The end of the desert was near.

“Affirmative: That massive building is the main subject of this research mission.”

Pod answered from the side. It was 9S’s support unit, Pod 153. 2B’s support unit, Pod 042, was silently floating behind her.

“Apparently it’s called a temple. It’s official name was “The Stone Temple,” I think? People brought a statue of a god or something, and it started to be used as a temple.”

There was a silence. 2B’s mouth was stuck in a half-open position.

“2B? Is something wrong?”

Her mouth moved as if she wanted to say something, but 2B changed her mind and stopped. Her lips started to move again.

“No, it’s nothing.”

There was no way it was nothing. She’d hesitated too long. Of course, 2B had no intention of telling 9S why. Even though she’d started calling him Nines, it didn’t feel like they’d gotten any closer.

“Let’s get going, 2B.”

9S intentionally used a bright tone, and started to run, as if he was excited to see the subject.

No matter how he asked, 2B probably wouldn’t answer. He knew before he asked. That was unbearable for 9S.

The stone temple was built in a deep chasm. Since there were cliffs surrounding it, it took a long time to get into the temple.

“They didn’t have to build it so deep in the chasm—I don’t understand.”

After finally climbing down the cliffs and walking along the bottom of the chasm, they had to climb again to get to the temple’s entrance—a treacherous path to get inside. It was hard not to complain.

“Hypothesis: The ruin surroundings were once a lake or a man-made moat, and humans used boats or a bridge to access it.”

I see, 9S thought after hearing 153’s response. Surrounding something with water was usually a technique that was used to protect someone or something important from outsiders. The temple was most likely built in the shape of a long cylinder to increase the floor area ratio.

“But I don’t understand this …”

9S looked up at a giant tree. It seemed like it had died recently, and its black trunk leaned on the spiral staircase.

“Why would they plant such a big tree inside of their building?”

The cylindrical building had an atrium at its center, and the spiral staircase that started on the first floor cut off near the top floor. Perhaps before it had extended all the way to the top floor, but it was cut off now, and 9S couldn’t tell what it had looked like in ancient times.

“What do you think, 2B?”

No response. She didn’t realize 9S was talking to her. She finally realized 9S had turned around and was staring at her, at which point she asked a hurried, “What?”

“The spiral staircase.”

He intentionally said something different.

“Um, I don’t think much of it …”

She wasn’t listening at all, just as he expected. If she had been listening, even just a little, she would have realized that he was talking about something else before.

“Let’s go to the top floor.”

Without mentioning that their conversation was broken, 9S turned toward the spiral staircase. 2B followed without a word. This isn’t like 2B, he thought to himself.

Why was 2B acting like this even though she had a task to accomplish? Or was it because she had a task? 9S didn’t say anything because 2B had been acting strange recently, and he had a hunch about why that was. He acted like nothing was wrong, and interacted with 2B the same way he had before. In contrast to 2B, who was bad at hiding secrets, it was a piece of cake for 9S. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have tried to illegally access the server—and multiple times at that.

No, this wasn’t about him. After all, he was about to be killed. He already knew. He even knew that 2B was tasked to carry out the deed.

He knew the moment this mission was assigned. That the research mission was just a front, and that 2B had a different responsibility.

Command ordered 9S’s—or in this case my—assassination. Isn’t that right, 2B?

But still, there was something wrong with how 2B was acting. She was too distracted. 2B wouldn’t perform a top secret mission with this kind of halfhearted attitude. Even if Type S’s were less suited for battle, they could counterattack and still assign Pod to assist in attacks.

Which meant that 2B was distracted not by 9S’s unauthorized access to the server, but something else.

Suddenly, 2B, who was walking in front of him, swayed.

9S quickly extended both hands and caught 2B as she fell back.

“What happened? You never trip on stairs.”

The spiral staircase was quite steep, and years of use and neglect had left various protrusions and holes. But with 2B’s maneuverability, it shouldn’t have been a problem.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh … yeah,” she said in a distraught tone.

“There’s fortunately no enemy signals, but if we were ambushed by Machines right now you would die.”

“D-die … ?”

9S didn’t believe his eyes. 2B was smiling. Her lips were twisted unnaturally. This smile was strange, obviously abnormal.

“You’ve been acting weirdly. Are you feeling okay?”

“No … I’m … okay …”

2B’s shoulders started shaking. Her muscles were going berserk.

“What are you saying? You’re not okay at all!”

Why hadn’t he seen this coming? No, he’d checked her before the mission and she was all clear. Since 9S handled maintenance for 2B; he would’ve requested a mission cancellation as soon as he saw a small defect.

“Let’s call it a day.”

But 2B ignored 9S, and kept heading toward the top floor.

“2B!” he said harshly as he grabbed her arm.

“Warning: Enemy signals above.”

“Warning: Multiple signals at two o’clock.”

The two Pods warned simultaneously. According to Command’s research, the probability of running into Machines during this mission was supposed to be zero.

But heading from that direction were six flying types. They were what 9S would call “small fry,” but they had signal-jamming capabilities. Which meant they couldn’t be detected until they were in sight …

“This is terrible.”

To think they would attack when 2B wasn’t feeling well. Even if they chose to flee, they were in an atrium. They would just get attacked from above.

“Nines! Get back!”

He heard a sharp voice. 2B ran up the stairs with newly acquired vigor. She was moving more smoothly than before. She was back to the usual 2B.

“I’ll support!”

Then he should support 2B, as usual.

“Pod! Analyze the enemies’ flight patterns!”

He instructed 153, careful not to get in the way of 2B’s Pod, 042. Each type of Machine had a unique movement pattern. If the androids could predict the movements, they could keep the damage sustained at a minimum while maximizing the damage they dealt.

Pod 153 shot down an enemy that was approaching 2B from behind. They didn’t move that quickly.

9S saw light at the end of the tunnel, when the two Pods warned again.

“Warning: Enemy signal in the hallway of the top floor.”

“Hypothesis: Multiple walking types. Specific types and number undetermined.”

Because of the flying types’ signal jamming, it was hard to tell what the situation was like. They needed to do something about that first.

“2B! Go! I’ll handle the flying types!”

Type B’s who specialized in close combat were more effective against walking types.

“Okay. I’ll leave this to you.”

2B jumped over the stair railing and ran. She grabbed onto 042’s arm in midair, and glided into the hallway. There wasn’t an ounce of hesitation in her actions.

“Pod! Take over the enemies by hacking!”

“Roger: Initiating support.”

9S ran up the stairs and closed the distance between the flying types. Fortunately they were one of the types that were sluggish. It wasn’t hard to infiltrate their cyberbrain dimensions.

Once he was inside, the Machines were powerless. They knew various ways to counter physical attacks, but hadn’t adapted to handle internal attacks.

He found the control unit and wrote over the system. Even taking over one enemy would make things a lot easier.

He attacked the remaining five units with the one he took over. Perhaps they didn’t have the resolve to attack an ally, as none of them retaliated. Even when 9S’s unit attacked, they didn’t evade and were obediently shot down.

After shooting down all five, 9S made the one he was controlling self-destruct, and left the digital dimensions. He raced up the stairs and headed to the hallway that 2B was in. He thought he would run in as support, but there was no need.

“It looks like you’re done here.”

There were a great number of metal fragments on the ground around 2B. They were the remains of walking types. There might be more on the top floor so they couldn’t let their guard down, but it looked like the vicinity was clear of enemies.

“Are you hurt?”

“Not at all.”

He felt relieved to hear that. All of a sudden, 2B’s military sword dropped to the floor. 9S ran toward 2B. He had a bad feeling.

“2B!”

“It’s okay. My hand just sl1pped, that’s all …”

There was a strange noise mixed into 2B’s voice. Her hands clawed at her throat.

“Logic virus?”

2B fell to her knees with a thud. 9S quickly tore off 2B’s goggles. 2B’s eyes were glowing red. There was no mistake. She was infected by the enemy.

“I’m going to eliminate it by hacking!”

“Wait … no …”

2B shook her head with great anguish.

“What are you saying? We need to get rid of it quick!”

It was a race against time. If infection of the personal data progressed, there was no saving her. 9S initiated hacking while 2B lay on the floor, still shaking her head.

Various areas in the hacking dimension started to turn black. It was a typical logic virus infection.

The logic virus would take over the memory block and processing circuits, seizing control of the victim. Sometimes the victim would begin to indiscriminately attack their surroundings and comrades. I’m okay if Command has me executed, but I don’t want to die at the hands of a berserk 2B, thought 9S.

“I need to hurry …”

Fortunately, he’d seen this type of virus. He’d succeeded in eliminating this one before.