PNC Story/Dark 1-4/Script
- After the Rossum Sector Incident.
Antonina: Though we took severe damage this time round, we've gained sufficient data from our battle with the Sanctifiers.
Antonina: I've summarized it; some parts of the barrier which can't be fixed will need to be reinforced a second time.
???: …
The person standing within the shadows remains silent.
Antonina: Persicaria, do we have any excess operands left over from what we got from Rossum?
Antonina: The planned expenditure for our defensive systems has overshot the usual quota, so I need more operands.
Persicaria: You knew it was me?
Persicaria: Hehe, I thought you were talking to yourself.
Antonina: It's not like I'm Croque or anything…
Antonina: I heard you the moment you came in.
Persicaria: You've worked 13 straight hours already. Get some rest.
Antonina: There's nothing wrong with my condition.
Antonina: The attack you just survived is ample proof of how dire the situation is.
Antonina: We can't rely on the Sandbox Barrier alone. For safety's sake, the sooner we upgrade our firewall, the better.
Persicaria: I understand your urgency. After all, safety is the most important thing to you.
Persicaria: However… I recall there was a log detailing how you crashed after working for 84 hours in a row. How long did the maintenance for that take?
Antonina: I don't remember.
Persicaria: That's alright, I do.
Persicaria: 42Lab keeps copies of all our repair logs. Back then, it took 13 hours to fix you.
Antonina: I'm not at the crash threshold yet. I know what I'm doing.
Persicaria: Haste makes waste. Come, have a latte.
Persicaria hands the drink she's holding over to Antonina.
Antonina quietly accepts the latte and stops working for a while.
Persicaria: I haven't asked yet, but how did you end up in Rossum?
Antonina: I found myself near Rossum after emerging from my Neural Cocoon.
Antonina: Unfortunately, I landed in a Null Area[1].
Antonina: After that…
…
Antonina: Finally… I've found a 42Lab sector.
Antonina walks up to the high walls of Rossum. After a quick look around, she walks straight toward a closed side gate.
Antonina: How boring… It's the same old encryption format. 3 seconds is more than enough to take care of it.
Antonina: I've told the brass so many times about how this technology is old hat. When will they learn?
The side gate slowly opens under Antonina's ministrations. The warm light from the buildings within shines on her.
Antonina enters Rossum, and the gate closes behind her. The surrounding agents act like they haven't noticed this strange visitor.
Antonina: There's no better place than this to find data about neural clouds and the recent activity within 42Lab.
Antonina: If I can get into the Data Center, I might be able to find a clue even if all I do is collate the recent data upload quantities.
Antonina: Hopefully… I can figure out why the Cocoon stopped working.
Turing: So that's why you came here.
Turing: I was wondering why a stranger could open the side gate.
Antonina: …Who are you?
An agent beside her suddenly transforms into another woman.
Turing: I am Turing, the administrator of the Rossum Sector.
Antonina: Hello, Turing. I am Antonina of the Neural Cloud Sector, and I'm from 42Lab like yourself. Call me Anna!
Antonina: The Neural Cloud Sector met with an accident, so I'm looking for a way to fix it.
Antonina: I'm very sorry for gaining entry through such crude methods, but if the Sanctifiers caught up with me, there'd be no talking my way out of it.
Antonina: Considering we're from the same company–
Turing: I can understand your decision.
Antonina: You can?
Turing: The Sanctifiers only care about their own laws. Abnormalities are abnormalities, and they don't care if an agent has woes of its own.
Antonina: …Is it me, or does this really bother you?
Turing: Very perceptive, Miss Anna.
Turing: In truth, there are some things which I need to do away from the Sanctifiers' eyes.
Turing: Since you can evade Sanctifiers for short periods, and you can open the Rossum Sectors' firewall…
Turing: I'm thinking that perhaps you can help me.
Antonina: Just listening to all that makes it sound like a troublesome request…
Turing: That is why I'll pay you appropriately for your help.
Turing: While I'm not sure what happened to the Neural Cloud Sector, I can grant you access to the Data Center so you may legally query and adjust data.
Antonina: …What do you want?
Turing: Some things can't be mentioned outdoors. Please come into the Admin Center with me.
Antonina: And so, I met Hannah and… T1641.
Antonina: They were very normal, just smart kids. I couldn't just sit back and let things happen.
Antonina: I was working there all this time until I met you.
Persicaria: Fortunately, Turing was an understanding administrator.
Persicaria: So that means you landed in a Null Area near Rossum, right? Then the Oasis should have been very close by…
Antonina: The Oasis was closed back then, and I felt it was better not to approach it before I could detect any Signatures.
Antonina: The other choice was the Cyclopes Sector[2], but things didn't seem right over there, so in the end I went to Rossum.
Persicaria: I don't think we reached the Oasis yet back then. What do you mean by "things didn't seem right"?
Antonina: From the distance, I could see the code or their firewall has been updated. It looked like the handiwork of the Sanctifiers.
Persicaria: I see… Simo's exploring over there. He's looking for a way for us to stably cooperate with Cyclopes.
Persicaria: Currently, he hasn't reported anything abnormal yet. If he tells us that there's a chance during our next communication, the Professor and I will head over to Cyclopes to meet with the administrator there.
Antonina: Se he hasn't? That's for the best, then.
Antonina: …
Antonina: So, about the "Professor"...
Antonina: Did the Professor upload their own mind to Magrasea?
Persicaria: …Yeah.
Antonina: But to my knowledge, this technology…
Antonina: Even if it DID mature over the past three years, something like that is still extremely risky.
Antonina: After all, once the mind is destabilized in the cloud sector, the body will also be severely affected.
Persicaria: …I believe the Professor is prepared for that.
Antonina: Was there a need to? "They're just programs, just a pile of data…"
Antonina: In human eyes, we were always things that could be deleted with the touch of a key.
Persicaria: Believe me, Antonina. The Professor does not view us that way.
Persicaria: The Professor considers saving us to be more important than their own life. You should be able to understand that…
Persicaria: I know you were the one who detected the abnormality when something happened to the Neural Cloud Sector.
Antonina: Persicaria, you…
Persicaria: I know that at the moment it all happened, you were thinking of a way to send us all away.
Persicaria: How could anyone other than you do something like that…
Antonina: …I had the Neural Cocoon, so it wasn't anything amazing.
Persicaria: What exactly IS the Neural Cocoon…
Antonina: It's a one-time program with mysterious abilities.
Antonina: It can circumvent Sanctifier permissions, and when it activates, the Doll within it falls into a deep sleep, isolated from Sanctifier scans…
Persicaria: So we spent those three years in a protective program like that.
Persicaria: Is it 42Lab technology? I have no recollection of it whatsoever.
Antonina: Me neither. Frankly speaking, I suddenly obtained it not long before the Wipe-Off Incident.
Persicaria: You suddenly obtained it? The other sectors don't have technology like that. Are you saying it was transmitted from outside of Magrasea? Can you backtrack it to its source?
Antonina: Yes, it came from outside the Magrasea Super Cloud Server.
Persicaria: Could you backtrace its source?
Antonina: I couldn't. I spent some time on it, but found nothing.
Persicaria: You did your best.
Antonina: But it wasn't the best outcome. I didn't manage to move everyone to a fixed location, which caused everyone to be scattered throughout the cloud server.
Antonina: I even… fragmented their neural clouds.
Persicaria: By fragmenting our neural clouds you mean…?
Antonina: The operands needed to move everyone's neural clouds in a short period of time was just too vast.
Antonina: But I… I couldn't bear to see everyone's neural clouds being formatted.
Antonina: So I fragmented everyone's neural cloud systems, which was the only way I could get everyone inside their Neural Cocoons before the forced shutdown of the Neural Cloud Sector's systems.
Antonina: Do you feel like you've lost memories? Or that you have far fewer operands in you than you did before?
Persicaria: I… Yeah, a little.
Antonina: That's because the Persicaria standing in front of me is composed of your neural core[3] and some neural fragments, not the whole you.
Persicaria: So you're saying… part of my neural fragments[4] are elsewhere?
Antonina: Yeah. In simple terms, that's what happened. And it was also because of me.
Persicaria: No, don't say that, Antonina.
Persicaria: Thank you for everything you've done. You saved everyone.
Antonina: Persicaria, even though you're like this…
Persicaria: Someone has to step up to shine a light on danger when the situation is unstable.
Persicaria: People who take precautions like this will always be considered paranoid, and having to make snap judgements like that is always cruel. you're always taking responsibility like this and playing the bad guy.
Persicaria: You can sacrifice yourself, but I can't pretend I didn't notice it.
Antonina: …I understand.
Persicaria: Of course, you don't need to take it to heart. After all, the Professor set up the Neural Cloud Search System with Croque's help.
Persicaria: So finding everyone and all the fragments of their neural clouds isn't an impossible thing.
Antonina: Please help me keep the Wipeoff Incident a secret.
Persicaria: Huh?
Antonina: I'll be moving forward with everyone, so I don't want people to see me as their savior. Besides, it was me acting on my own initiative anyway.
Persicaria: If that is what you choose, then I will keep the secret.
Antonina: Thank you, Persicaria.
Antonina: I'll also keep an eye on how long I spend working so I don't waste your efforts.
Persicaria: You could tell? Now I feel a little embarrassed.
Antonina: Didn't you go to all these lengths so I could rest a little longer?
Antonina: Well, I've rested enough. I can continue working.
Antonina downs her latte and puts the empty cup aside.
Persicaria watches her and chuckles.
Persicaria: Thank you, Antonina.
Persicaria: I'll make sure we find all the exiled Dolls, and then leave this place together.
- ↑ Areas that contain no data are known as Null Areas in Magrasea.
- ↑ A sector under Svarog Heavy Industries for handling military and industrial tasks.
- ↑ A module that contains a Doll's basic personality. The Exiles stranded in Magrasea currently possess their neural cores and only some of their neural fragments. They will have to keep searching for their other fragments to recover lost memories and abilities.
- ↑ When the Wipe-Off Incident occurred, in order to save the Dolls' neural clouds from destruction, Antonina had to pack them up in an extremely small amount of time and scatter them throughout Magrasea. Due to the limitations of the Neural Cocoons, she was forced to break the neural clouds into fragments before sending them off.
Neural clouds with missing neural fragments are incomplete and are only capable of basic combat and conversation. They cannot reach their full potential, and are only a part of a whole.
