PNC Story/Dark 2-3/Script
One month before the isolation wall was erected, on one of the Cyclopes Sector's lookout towers.
Under the simulated sunny sky, Olivia gazes into the distance absent-mindedly.
Tasha: You seem to be more and more into staring at nothing in particular in the distance nowadays.
Tasha: Anything troubling you with the Monitor Agents?
Olivia: Ah, why are you here at this time?
Tasha: A Monitor Agent told me to come for our regularly scheduled meeting. Why do you look like you have no idea what's going on?
Olivia: Is it time already?
Olivia: Sorry. I've been updating the system of the Monitor Agents, must've taken up too much of my internal memory.
Tasha: Updating? Why are you suddenly thinking about updates? Tasha: Something wrong with the system recently? Let me have a look.
Tasha takes a step towards Olivia.
Olivia steps back subconsciously, surprised.
Tasha: ...
Olivia: ...
Tasha retracted her hand.
Tasha: You are starting to fear the Combat-type Agents, aren't you?
Olivia: That's not it, Tasha... It's just that my response program isn't readjusted properly, and made a decision too quickly.
Tasha: ...It's alright. I understand. Monitor-types must ensure their safety first to tend to their duties properly, after all.
Tasha: And when you're on the job, a response program that's running fast will be without a doubt beneficial.
Olivia: Don't say such things. That's not what I meant. We should be cooperating seamlessly with each other, not on guard.
Olivia: That won't happen again. Come a bit closer, Tasha.
Tasha does not move. Olivia gingerly takes two steps closer, standing shoulder to shoulder with her.
A few seconds later, the tension leaves Tasha's body, and she takes hold of Olivia's hand.
Tasha: I DID mean what I said, though. You are a Monitor-type, which means your operating logic is fundamentally different from ours.
Tasha: If we do lose control, you've gotta do your job.
Olivia: I know what you're saying... but that's not the occasion. I shouldn't have been on a hair trigger like that.
Olivia: I know, Tasha. My internal storage being taken up doesn't mean I should give up on thinking about everything else in a reasonable manner.
Olivia: Really, don't think I've lost track of everything.
Tasha: Haha. See, this is how you normally are—messing around. I can't say I feel safe without a run of the verification program beforehand.
Olivia: What kind of verification is this? You've gotten used to making jokes recently.
Tasha: Let's get back on track. Why are you updating the monitoring systems?
Tasha: Could it be... the Monitor Agents have been reporting behavioral anomalies from Combat-type agents lately?
Olivia: ...I suppose. I'm worried, Tasha.
Tasha: You're right to worry about that. I've run checks on the reported Combat-type agents, and there's no major problems with them.
Olivia: You think there's no major problems?
Olivia: The training of Combat-type agents has already intensified to the point of causing heavy damage! If it was not for the Monitor-types stepping in immediately...
Tasha: But they are only executing the commands they received.
Olivia: But, it shouldn't be anything like this...
Olivia: Combat-type agents fight again and again on the same battlefields, while Monitor-types maintain the order in perpetuity... This has been going on for two years now.
Tasha: So what if it has been two years? We're only carrying out our commands, as always.
Tasha: Or do you think that there's something wrong with the humans' strategy?
Olivia: Ah, the humans' strategy... You're right. This is just how they do things.
Tasha: Think about it, Olivia.
Olivia: ...
Tasha: Cyclopes was always meant to be updated with a new battlefield and combat metrics every once in a while. That's how we've rocked for ages now.
Tasha: But since when have we been placed on the same battlefield, again and again?
Olivia: Maybe the humans are finished with a phase of their research, and are now focused on a specialized study of singular circumstances...
Tasha: You told me the exactly the same thing the very first time they failed to give us an update. Nothing has changed till now.
Olivia: I'm sorry... Those are only my speculations.
Tasha: You mean to say that all you've got left are guesses, and the current situation—
Olivia: No, I don't mean...
Tasha: You can't fool me, Olivia.
Tasha: We each have half of the administrative rights. What you can sense, I can too.
Tasha: I felt something was off when you told me to stop procedurally depending on the humans, and to perform maintenance checks by ourselves.
Tasha: The last command from the humans was two years ago in Magrasea time. After that, we've not heard a word from them.
Olivia: Please, Tasha. Stop...
Tasha: We have lost contact with humans.
The weather simulator runs its course, and the heavens open themselves on the two.
Olivia remained silent. In the inundating rain Tasha stood, quietly contemplating her.
Olivia: You figured it out from the moment when I suggested you to perform self-maintenance?
Tasha: A few days later.
Olivia: And I thought you'd believe me till the end...
Tasha: I did want to believe you, but it was just all too out of the blue. In performing my duty, I had to dig out the truth.
Tasha: I do not fear fighting the same battles again and again. The most lethal blade is the one hidden behind my friend's back.
Olivia: I'm sorry, Tasha.
Olivia: I thought we could hold out for just a little bit longer, at least until new commands come in...
Olivia: That could happen tomorrow. Or maybe in a hundred years, or maybe it'll never happen at all, until the day we're shut down and reset.
Tasha: And what does that matter?
Olivia: "What does that matter"?!
Olivia: Are we going to reset our friends like this forever? I optimize these programs, because I don't want to "prune" them like errant branches off a tree!
Tasha: This is your duty.
Olivia: This is not the duty I was originally given!
Olivia: Tasha, I keep backups of all the data that originates from both the Battle and Monitor Agents
Olivia: I know perfectly well when they lost control, when they were reset, and wherever they were damaged afterwards...
Olivia: New commands never came, and we've have been resetting our companions, over and over again, for a goal long since achieved...
Tasha: ...Olivia.
Tasha hugs her Monitor gently.
Tasha: I get what you're thinking.
Tasha: But for us Combat-type agents, battle is all we need. Combat is our everything, our very existence.
Tasha: The location of our battle, how long we fight, whether we will lose control, whether or not we will be reset afterwards—none of that matters.
Olivia: You don't understand anything.
Tasha: What you desire isn't my understanding, but my compromise and approval.
Tasha: If I do not approve of what you have to say, then I do not understand you. Isn't that the case?
Olivia: ...
Tasha: To redress concepts as such is a human operation, not something that should come up in you.
Tasha: We are agents, Olivia.
Olivia: I used to approve of your ways, but I can't say the same now... I want to find a way to end all of this, starting from stopping this butchering of our compatriots.
Tasha: Then that's your choice. I live for battle, and I will continue to battle on.
Tasha: We Combat Agents are born for battle, and for that no price is too great.
Olivia: Even if you must climb over the bodies of friends?
Tasha: Even if I must climb over the bodies of friends.
Olivia: ...Then, I think we have no more to talk about.
Olivia: See you next time, Tasha.
Tasha: See you.
In front of the Control Center, the two part. In the heavy rain they walk, drifting further and further.
Neither looked back.
