Chapter 10 – Juggernaut
When the shelter construction project was first approved, the first thing promoted was the issue of securing artificial intelligence suitable for operation.
Unlike ordinary cities, there should be no small mistakes as it is premised on closed operation.
They have to fit perfectly together in managing traffic, waste disposal, food and water supplies, sewage treatment, and air pollution levels.
Of course, it is impossible for humans to do this. There are bound to be some errors, big or small, and when these accumulate, it’s the end.
Three artificial intelligences with the best performance at the time were selected, and they achieved some results in the pre-operation.
However, since it is such a huge shelter, many problems were discovered that even the artificial intelligence could not handle, and it was judged to be ‘unoperable as it is’.
[I’ll greet you again. This is Rose, the public security management artificial intelligence.]
Rose is one of the original three bodies.
“When I first came here and took over, I only saw it in the records, but it’s the first time I’ve talked about it in person.”
[Originally, I was supposed to wake up after all the residents moved in, but I woke up when the emergency lockdown protocol was activated due to the infection.]
“You must have been quite embarrassed. The chain of command has collapsed, there are monsters running around, not hoodlums or strikers.”
[As you say. But I have a duty to calm this unrest. Nice to meet you, system administrator.]
Rose was polite. Her tone was apathetic and cold, but from her point of view, having lived with Artemis, she didn’t feel anything like that.
“Oh, how are you different from someone who always spits out flat words, pretending to be proud and lashing out at every opportunity? Okay! If it is an artificial intelligence that assists humans, it should be like this.”
[Are you telling me to listen?]
Artemis said.
[Oh, Artemis! It’s an honor to meet you. You may not know me, but I’ve heard a lot about you from senior researchers. Thank you for completing a project that almost collapsed with our insufficient capabilities. You are the greatest masterpiece of this era.]
Rose’s voice contained a faint hint of heat.
[Did you hear, Jinsu? This is the proper attitude towards me. Rather, you should be grateful to me for being patient with your rudeness.]
Oh, that’s not it
However, the praise that Rose said is the best masterpiece of this era is not particularly exaggerated.
Why was it called the Moon Goddess? Simply because the person named loves mythology? Not like that.
She was originally part of the lunar colonization project.
A bridgehead for expanding the residential area of mankind, collecting mineral resources from the moon, and advancing further into space. The first extraterrestrial city with tens of thousands of inhabitants.
Artemis is a supercomputer created by mobilizing technology and capital to manage such a place.
The problem is that immediately after her birth, the international situation rapidly deteriorated, and a cataclysm occurred in the world, such as the appearance of an alien ship in orbit of Mars.
In the end, the lunar colonization project was canceled, and her existence was suspended. Once the object of numerous praises and hopes, she has now become a nuisance of a huge budget waste.
It was the investors of the Shelter Project who made the bid at the right price, and there will be no further explanation after that.
“I remember the first time you woke up after I put you here.”
[I wish I hadn’t talked about that.]
It was the first time I knew that artificial intelligence can also suffer from depression. Perhaps it was possible because she was an overly superior woman, with a complexity that approached the value of ‘soul’.
[That period was only 15 seconds.]
“It did. 10 seconds to recognize the ‘depressed state’ felt for the first time as an error. It took me five seconds to be reborn with a mind that never gets depressed again.”
When she heard Artemis’ first greeting from her dead body, she was contemplating ‘how to comfort an artificial intelligence woman?’ When she suddenly began rearranging her code.
“The codes that were engraved on the monitor in perfect order. Programming languages with a structure that I have never seen before.”
Even now, when I close my eyes, I am reminded of the wondrous sight of that time.
“It was fantastic.”
The task was completed quickly, and in an instant, the gloomy princess transformed into the confident and elated goddess of today.
They say that women are a species that change their faces quickly, but the changes were impressive.
Maybe, I was fascinated by Artemis from then on.
I stayed up all night for days and nights while eating and drinking roughly. She wants to present this shelter to her in its entirety.
Well, it was ruined when the infection broke out.
[In the middle of the talk, I’m sorry, but we don’t have time. We must hurry to quell this situation.]
“I know. That’s why you leave a safe place and come down here to suffer.”
[The building and the platform below have very few infected. Did you know anything?]
Artemis asked.
[The worker supervisor mobilized a security robot to wipe out all infected people in the vicinity.]
“Unexpectedly, that gentleman is the type of person who just needs to take care of himself.”
[It is as you said. The Workers’ Inspector is in the building directly ahead, at the Workers’ Office. To be precise, the last communication record was left there. He ordered all mobilizable security robots to be deployed in front of his office and to stand by in alert mode. This building is right next to it, so it was only swept together.]
“So it is.”
I clicked my tongue.
[Where are you two going?]
“It’s the lower area control room and power plant.”
Both facilities are attached to the same area. As they are important places, they are attached for safe dense security.
[My main frame is in the subarea control room. But when I woke up, I was already in a bad mood. All the people in charge have either died or run away, so I’m not given any authority. Sorry I can’t help.]
“Done. From the beginning, I was determined to get through it alone. Is that nobleman, the head of the worker’s management, still alive? If I had brought all the security robots with me, it would have been possible to take care of them.”
[I think so, but I can’t give you a definite answer. I only had limited information about the initial stage of the infection, and there was no way to know what was going on outside after that.]
Rose’s communication ended here. This is why I can’t lose my concentration in a situation where I can’t help.
He ended the communication by saying that he would contact me if other important information was identified.
When I open the door and go outside, it is a mess as expected. Vehicles and obstacles parked here and there. Bloodstains and traces of evacuation.
However, there were no human guards here, so there were no riot shields or other equipment to be seen. Whatever there is
“Is this possible?”
They were guard robots that had become lumps of scrap metal and were scattered all over the place.
[Not by weapon. He hit and swung with great force and broke it.]
Some had their heads pulled out, while others had their chests crushed to the depth of half a soccer ball.
“Even mountain gorillas can’t do this.”
They had a hard time dying against just one, but even though there were so many of them, they were annihilated?
[Twenty meters to the right.]
I reflexively turned around and lowered my stance. Something was approaching slowly in the dark.
It was a security robot.
Grunt, chin.
His left foot is broken and broken in half, and his right leg is also not in good shape. Sparks were bouncing from time to time at the joints of the upper body.
[I’m rescuing you. Calm down.]
It was the dry voice I had heard in memory playback.
“Is that a sane guy?”
[Can’t you see?]
“I don’t have time to joke right now. You know what I said?”
[It’s okay, head drive sound is normal. A lot of other places are damaged, but I won’t attack you.]
Artemis said.
[There is a dangerous mob nearby. Residents, please evacuate.]
At the same time, a terrible cry rang out.
“What is this again?”
[Do you remember the voice log of Kim Young-soo, the foreman of Block 4?]
“The one that was holding a sit-in with technicians?”
[This is the same voice pattern as the scream that echoed at the end of the voice log.]
Before she could finish her words, a large shadow fell from the sky.
Cooong!
I don’t know if it jumped from a distance, or if it jumped from a nearby building, or if it just fell from the sky. It appeared so suddenly.
“Kwoaaaaa-!”
Danger signals from all over the body. Even I, who had gone through many real battles, got goosebumps in an instant.
A mutant that is on a different level from the infectious agents that have been fighting so far.
It was walking on four legs similar to a gorilla, perhaps because of its overdeveloped upper body, but it didn’t look sluggish or unbalanced in the slightest.
Even a saltwater crocodile looks like it will tear its snout up and down if it catches it.
[You are threatening the community. It is subject to arrest […
The security robot grabbed its head in a violent grip before it could even finish its words.
Thud! Thud!
The mutant slammed the guard robot to the ground twice, then held it in front of his nose and met his eyes.
Odd profit.
Gigg.
Now it just makes the same sound as the guy who went to the restaurant on the subway.
Kwajik.
After observing him while spitting out his snort, he pulled out his head.
“Kuuuuu-!”
I let out a victory roar and feel my skin tingle.
The roar of a mutant passed through the shell of former veteran soldier Seo Jin-soo, and there was something that brought out the instinct as a mammal hiding inside.
He jumped up and sat down on the sedan next to him.
The car body immediately collapsed with a crackling sound, and the wheels exploded with a peek-peek sound. Loud burglar alarm is a bonus.
Bang! Bang!
As if it was noisy, I hit it twice with my huge fist and it became quiet. It’s a pretty familiar move.
“The technicians were beaten by him.”
Avoiding him, he secretly moved to the opposite building and spoke in a whisper.
[There’s no way something that big could fit in that hallway. It seems that there are probably even smaller objects.]
As if the mutant had lost interest in the smashed guard robot, it threw the body he was carrying.
Kaaaaang.
The body of iron rolled on the stone floor with a kiss of sparks.
But it happened to stop on my side, to be precise, a few meters in front of me, where I was stealthily running away.
“……”
The guy who made eye contact with me.
“It’s going to cry.”
Oh, what about this?
Should I run away? Or should I stay still so as not to provoke it? In the movie, if you show your back at a time like this, they chase you and kill you.
[What are you doing? Run!]
At the same time as her warning, the mutant screamed and ran, and I also ran away.
The destination is the nearest building.
It is a worker’s management office.