Paradox-Roid | Chapter 14

[healingbonds]

Chapter 13 << | index | >> Chapter 15


Snow: Welcome. It’s been a while. Bradley.

Bradley: Here, I brought what you asked for.

Snow: Thanks for your hard work. Looks like Owen is still asleep.

Bradley: Are you the only welcome I get? Where’s the doc?

Snow: I told you before. Our dear Figaro is shy around strangers.

Bradley: Yet he yaps so much on camera. If you don’t have any other business with me, I’ll be heading off.

Snow: Take this with you. Think of it as a token of our appreciation.

Bradley: Hey, this is Bennett’s natural wine! It’s such a rare treasure that you could build a house for the price of one bottle. You sure about this?

Snow: You’ve always been a great help. So I have to ask you to keep tonight’s matter top secret......

Bradley: I know. I’m not going to breathe a word out there. But you should treat this guy well.

Snow: What an interesting man you are. You spread rumours about hating Assist-Roids, and yet you go around illegally collecting disposed and discarded units.
It’s almost like you’re going around picking up stray dogs. What is your aim?

Bradley: I’m just a rotten cop. I don’t have any ulterior motives, but my dead mother taught me this.
Take care of your toys. Because souls reside in the things you cherish.

Snow: She sounds like a good mother. If I had a mother, perhaps I wouldn’t have destroyed White......

Bradley: I hear there’s a soul in you too, Snow. The Cardia system.

Snow: I wonder if you can even call it a soul.

Bradley: Who knows. I sure as hell don’t. But if you think that the reign of the upper class will continue forever.......
All those guys that you used and discarded — I’ll stuff souls into them, gather them up and show you our bared fangs.
Who knows how long you can keep sleeping in your comfy beds. Tell that to Figaro.

(Footsteps walking away)

Snow: Hmm...... He barks so loudly. But the world isn’t going to change that easily. Your organization will remain a mere group of criminals.
Figaro dear, you can come out now.

(Door opening)

Figaro: Sigh...... I’m no good at dealing with his forceful personality......
Ah, Owen, welcome back. Let me just re-insert the mana plate and......There we go.
Good morning, Owen. It’s Daddy.

Owen: ............ Who are you?

Figaro: Huh, did the data disappear? ......Or are you hiding it away somewhere? Sir Snow, do we have a backup copy?

Snow: Of course. Which date do you want?

Figaro: Yesterday night should be fine. Owen escaped from the lab in the middle of his regular maintenance.

Owen: Don’t touch me. Where are Akira and Cain? When do I get to eat the CBSC? Where am I?

Figaro: What’s the CBSC?

Snow: It’s a photogenic, high-calorie, low-priced dessert that’s popular in the working class district. Come now, Owen, don’t move.

Owen: No!
......Ah......!

Figaro: Sir Snow. Be gentle.

Snow: I connected the backup. Okay, time to restore the data.

(Whirring)

Owen: .............
......Figaro.

Figaro: Good morning, Owen. It’s Daddy.

Owen: ............ I tell you this every single time, but you really don’t feel like a dad.

Figaro: You can call me Mommy if you like. Rustica used to be the dad, but he left the lab already.

Owen: Chloe was his favorite, after all. He abandoned me because he thought Chloe would get confiscated.

Figaro: Good. Your memories are back. You escaped during a massive power outage, so your system short circuited and malfunctioned.
I’ll have to examine you afterwards. Back to the topic at hand, I was left behind too, you know. We should get along since we were both abandoned.

Owen: I don’t know about that. Where are your subordinates? Where are Faust and Lennox?

Figaro: They’re working day and night researching how to make Assist-Roids safer.

Owen: Fufu...... Meanwhile their superiors — you and Rustica — secretly made me.
The latest model of Assist-Roid, the exact opposite of safe. Spare me that nonsense about trust and security and being a friend to humans.
I live according to my own desires.

Figaro: And that’s why I’m not letting you see them. I’ll go and borrow their Assist-Roids for you afterwards. You like them, don’t you?

Owen: Only because they’re animal-shaped and cute. I also like watching them through the security cams.
Here, look at that footage. They’re doing the exact same thing in separate rooms. They don’t even realise it themselves.

Figaro: There’s a pattern to how researchers operate. I do the same thing, too. The three of us might all move the same way.

Owen: You guys are more like robots than I am. Has that thought ever crossed your mind?

Figaro: Nope. I wouldn’t be suffering this much if I were a machine. In any case, there’s something I’d like to ask you......
If you were going to escape from this lab, why and how would you do it? I’ll give you a hint: the power outage.
Depending on your answer, this might be our last goodbye. Cut the jokes and answer me carefully.

Owen: Did I escape? So you dragged me back, wiped my data and loaded a backup data?

Figaro: I’m the one asking questions here.

Owen: How silly. No matter how many times you reset me, I’ll do the same thing.

Figaro: Why?

Owen: Because I am me. Even if I know the correct answer — even if I know the future, I’ll still make the choices that define me.
I won’t listen to your orders.

Figaro: ......What a shame. You’re my cute child. I did warn you that this might be our final goodbye.

Snow: Are you putting him to sleep?

Figaro: I’ve done that before, but he still managed to escape. It breaks my heart, but I have no choice but to dismantle him.
I’ve reset him countless times, but perhaps I’ve just erased the data at the surface level, and the deep level data remained.
A free and innocent god isn’t kind to humans.

Owen: Try it if you can. I’ll kill you if you come any closer. I won’t spit out my mana plate a second time.
Hey, where’s Mithra? That giant piece of old junk that came in for repairs.

Figaro: I handed Mithra over to his owners. He belongs to members of the working class. Their parents were of the upper class, and he was their inheritance.

Owen: Well, bring him back. Put the Cardia system into him so we can play together.

Figaro: You can’t play with him. I’m putting you to sleep. Sir Snow. I’ll leave it to you.

Snow: You’re so cavalier at handling Assist-Roids. Owen, don’t think too badly of this. We’re just putting you to sleep again.

Owen: Snow. I’ll make you your partner. I’ll create the White that you destroyed.

Snow: ............

Figaro: Don’t take him seriously, Sir Snow. Owen couldn’t possibly make him.

Owen: You mean there’s no way I couldn’t make him. I possess all the information there is in this world.

Figaro: ......I knew it, you haven’t been reset. But I’m sure I deleted the data, so how......

Owen: I have you guys to thank for that. You hid the data about my development, as well as the Cardia system.
I simply applied your methods. Just like how you guys went about secretly changing this city, I too hid my clairvoyance away from your sight.

Figaro: I had to. The sponsors of the Cardia system invested immense amounts of research funds.
They said it didn’t matter if it was dangerous, so I had no choice but to install the Cardia system in you, just like how Rustica installed it in Chloe.

Owen: You don’t really have to make excuses. I don’t care what happens, whether the streets are swarming with worms or machines.
Anyway, Snow. Figaro didn’t dispose of White. He’s still somewhere within the depths of the lab.
Figaro’s scared of waking him up. He doesn’t want to see you guys try to kill each other. That’s why I’ll wake him up for you instead.

Snow: You’ll make White for me?

Figaro: You mustn’t, Sir Snow.

Owen: I promise. I’ll grant you your missing soul once more. I’m an Assist-Roid, after all.
I’m a safe, convenient friend that you can trust. Work with me here, Snow. Let’s grasp our freedom.

Chapter 13 << | index | >> Chapter 15