The Jeager Project

ANOTHER SIDE "A3"

After destroying the Goliath-class enemy that had intruded by smashing through the walls and floor of the building, I left the large unit. Since it seemed that 8S had already destroyed the central "mind" of the facility, there was no reason for me to stay behind. And Pod had notified me that the massive structure, called the tower, had activated. If the other facilities had activated, it was better to destroy them as soon as possible. As I rushed toward the tower, I ran into an unexpected pair: the twin androids from the resistance camp. I found the two collapsed at the entrance of the tower. They were lying side by side. I was unable to detect Popola's signal ID. Devola's signal was so weak it was on the verge of expiring. Devola's eyes stayed shut as I moved closer. She finally opened them after I called her name a few times. "Oh...it's you, A3. We left the entrance of the tower...open for you." I couldn't bring myself to ask what had happened. Observing the door, I noticed that the security had been broken. It was easy to guess what had happened after seeing that. "8S went ahead..." 8S had tumbled down when the floor of the large unit had given way. It's not like I doubted Pod's status report, but I felt a small sense of relief after I heard Devola confirm the fact. "Hey... Did we...do good?" I gave her a nod, and Devola closed her eyes with a look of satisfaction. Then her signal disappeared. The interior of the tower was filled with corpses of JeaGer androids. Signs of a frenzied battle lingered, some of the floors with their pavement peeled and walls charred. It was probably all 8S's doing. Moving along, I came across a peculiar room. There were numerous small blocks embedded in the walls. "Prediction: A facility mimicking a library." "Library? What's that?" "An information storage facility once used by humans." What I thought were small blocks were apparently record-keeping tools called "books." I forcefully hacked into a few of them and inspected the material. According to Pod, during the era of human civilization, humans had the capability to use books without hacking. It was unclear why that capability was excluded from androids; perhaps it was a process too complex to replicate, or simply a matter of efficiency. The books that the Machines had made spanned a diverse range of topics. They included records of past human societies as well as an epidemic that had plagued human civilization. The epidemic seemed particularly atrocious, from the sheer number of records that existed about it. Records of research into its origin, treatment, and vaccination. Case records, as well as full clinical records of patients who experienced unique symptoms... "It looks like the Machines use this tower as some kind of information collection device," said A3. The large unit from before had been collecting Machine parts and remains. It had done so indiscriminately. If, by some chance, an android corpse had been mixed in, it would have been possible to collect an enormous amounts of information. Androids had a significant amount of knowledge stored in their memory. The unit jumbled all of these things together, and sent it off from its roof to this tower. The tower was scraping together resources and information. "What are they planning to do once they collect all of this?" I found the answer in a book titled Overview of the Tower System.

011port062423 Overview of the Tower System This facility, as a means to fulfill its launchpad function, takes materials delivered from the resource recovery units

and converts them to data. The structure stemming from the 256th level performs filtration and compression of information with turbidity levels of less than 2,300 and transfers them to the memory of the projectile in 27 minutes and 32 seconds.

"Memory of the projectile? So they're making a projectile out of the resources they collect, storing the information they collect on it, and then launching it somewhere...?" To where? Where were they trying to launch it to? "Could it be the human server on the moon? It can't be..." Was it too preposterous a theory? No, they might pull it off. They might attempt it, just from the fact that they were Machines. I knew that the Machines were playing games with androids. My comrades and I were both victims, and... Anyway, Machines were responsible for exposing me to the feeling of despair. The human server on the moon was the cornerstone of android morale. If it was destroyed as well... But the Machines wouldn't be able to destroy it if they didn't know the location of the human server. I've heard that transmissions from the human board were relayed through various interceptors on Earth to conceal the location of the server. So it was okay...or was it? It was certainly not okay. Ever since the Pearl Harbor Descent Attack, the Machines had held valuable information that we weren't even informed about. It was probably easy for them to figure out the location of the server. "Found it." I found the title "port056776 Human Server Records." The record was conveniently placed near the Overview of the Tower System. The Machines had foreseen that it would be the next piece of information I would want after learning about the tower. The Machines had not only located the human server, but they had even attempted to access it. If they wanted, they probably could have destroyed the server from the inside out. The only reason they refrained was so that they could flaunt the server's destruction to the androids. They wanted the server to blow up into pieces upon impact of the projectile, and ingrain the image into the memory of every single android looking from Earth. I needed to destroy this tower. I wasn't going to let them have their way any longer. I wasn't going to let them steal any more. But, as if to mock my resolve, another title came to my attention. "'The effective utilization of No. 2 in Project JeaGer?' What is this?" It seemed that the Machines had predicted I would come here. Or perhaps this was meant for 8S? He most likely would have been shocked to learn the truth that was written in here. Attacker No. 2, who participated in the JeaGer experimental squadron's first descent attack, recorded mediocre performance during the simulation phase. Yet No. 2 was the lone survivor from the squadron. After analyzing the saved personal data of No. 2, we discovered that No. 2 was capable of excellent decision-making under extreme duress. No. 2's personal data was uploaded to the newly constructed lot of Type E models [covered in a separate section] and will oversee the preservation of confidentiality for Project JeaGer. "Oversee... Preservation of confidentiality. 2E..." The first time I met "her," she was called 2E. She was tasked with the execution of rogue troops, and we would go on to confront each other multiple times in the future. When I saw her at the forest castle, she called herself 3R, most likely to keep her identity safe from 8S. When 8S, a highly specialized model, uncovered the truth about Project JeaGer, he was immediately executed by 2E, the overseer of confidentiality. But 8S's abilities were so keen that it was still necessary to use a disguise. That's why 2E approached 8S as 3R. This information had been recorded in 3R's sword. Just an overview, nothing else. But I could easily imagine what she had gone through. Had 8S read this? Had he already discovered what 3R had been hiding all along?

e59bb3e69bb8e9a4a8e381a7e688a6e99798e38081e58588e381b8e980b2e38280 Suddenly, my surroundings shifted. I was thrown into a dimension consisting solely of white surfaces.

"What, what's this?!" "Enemy hacking attempt. Recommendation: Immediate escape." "I know that!" I sprinted through the white passageway. Even if I wanted to escape, I had no idea where the exit was. All I could do was keep running. I couldn't stay still. "Long time no see, No. 2. No, should we call you A3 now?" I came to a stop. I knew them. "It's so nostalgic," they said. In front of me were two little girls in red clothes. Two. Girls in red. I knew them. During the Pearl Harbor Descent Attack, I... Because of them, we... "We have no concept of time... But we still vividly remember the time we killed all of the troops in your squadron." The red girls were the humanoid manifestations of the Machine network. They had no physical presence, and as a result were not bound to time and space, able to invade anywhere and at any time. They had probably invaded Command's main server...as well as the human server on the moon. "JeaGer squadron Attacker No. 2. An experimental squadron that was the guinea pig for the real JeaGer squadrons to come." "Shut up!" I yelled, swinging my sword through them. There was no resistance. Just like last time. "What a stubborn android you are. Didn't we tell you that you can't kill us?" I knew that. But I couldn't keep myself from attacking. They were the reason I discovered the experimental purpose my squadron served. If I hadn't found out, maybe I could have died back then, waiting for help from Command. "Shit!" What was I supposed to do? How could I kill them? How...