PNC Story/Standard 1-5/Script

Remaining Oasis Barrier Uptime - 1:11:51

Rossum Sector, Trade Station 08, Departure Station

After a quick trade of information about the real world, Riko brings us to a building that looks like a train station.

System: >Verifying visitor ID, authenticating Signature–
System: Authentication successful. Visitor identity – Riko, Decentralised Currency Trader, accompanied by a party of three. Now authenticating identities.

Riko: Cancel authentication. Purchase tickets for entry.

System: >Authentication cancelled. Appropriate fare has been deducted.

Riko: (Sigh) Prices have gone up again, Riko's tiny little purse is shrinking even more (sob)

Persicaria: …Where IS this place?

Sol: Hahahaha, your crying was so fake that it couldn't even fool Persicaria.

Riko: …Tch, Riko feels that YOU'RE the merchants, each one more cunning than the last.
Riko: This is Riko's secret train station. We Traders need to balance the operands across each sector, so we do a lot of work.
Riko: If the sectors didn't provide special train lines for the Traders, then just walking through Rossum alone would exhaust Riko.

Persicaria: So you're saying places like this exist in other sectors?

Riko: Of course. Even the smallest sectors have them.
Riko: See, Riko even gave you such secret information for free. Don't you feel… very grateful?
Riko: Or perhaps you could tell Riko what you're going to do on this trip?

Persicaria: You're just trying to winkle information out of us, aren't you?

Riko: Hehe, you didn't need to say it out loud if you knew. Riko also has a lot of secrets, so a relationship of mutual benefit is good for all of us, right?
Riko: At most, Riko will just answer a question for you on the house.

• What's happening in the Rossum Sector?

Riko: This has something to do with what you're doing next, right?
Riko: Hm… This is kind of a long story, Riko needs to make some time for it… Do you know what the objective of this sector's administrator has been all this time?

Persicaria: Rossum Sector is 42Lab's "AI lab". They're devoted all their efforts to researching and developing various kinds of research AIs.

Riko: That's right, and as the administrator of the sector's agents, Turing has always received various messages from the humans.
Riko: This was for the sake of evolving and progressing research into AI technology, so originally there was no problem, at least until Magrasea cloud went offline.
Riko: After communication with humans was interrupted, Turing started her own AI evolution program. Very soon, her creation T01 was born.
Riko: That was the very first product of Rossum Sector that was surplus to human requirements, and the Sanctifiers deemed it an Irregular Agent.

Persicaria: An Irregular Agent… Was there anything wrong with T01?

Riko: The Sanctifiers' explanation was that authorization for T01's appearance had not been filed by the humans.
Riko: Also, her neural level exceeded the defined ability benchmarks of the sector's agents and the warning levels decreed by the Sanctifiers' guidelines.
Riko: After that, the Sanctifiers and Turing were locked into an endless cycle. Every time Turing made a T-series agent, the Sanctifiers would discover it and come to take care of it.

Persicaria: And by "take care of it" you mean…

Riko: I mean, they would come to exterminate them from the sector.

Sol: Those Sanctifiers are beyond reason! There's no way Turing could have gotten any form of authorization from the humans after going offline and losing contact with them!

Riko: That's not how the Sanctifiers see it.

Persicaria: T01… T1641… Riko, are you saying what I think you're implying?

Riko: Yes. What you encountered today was nothing more than yet another extermination operation that has played out countless times already.
Riko: Frankly speaking, Riko… doesn't feel good telling you about all this. (Sigh)

Persicaria: So the only thing wrong with these agents is that their neural cloud levels exceeded the Sanctifiers' limits? There's nothing else?

Riko: Riko made contact with them before. From the way they behaved… They were all very normal, or perhaps I should say they were very pure.

Persicaria: Professor, I'm starting to get a little worried. That Hannah which Turing wants us to protect is an Irregular Agent, and if there are any latent problems within her…

• (Analyze the situation.)
  Professor: If there were any other reason, the Sanctifiers wouldn't cover it up.
  Professor: Like you said before, the Sanctifiers are the anti-virus software for Mgrasea. They have their own operating principles, even if they are utterly unimaginative and inflexible.

• (Comfort Persicaria.)
  Professor: Don't worry, Persicaria. We've met T1641 before, and she's just an ordinary kid. I'm pretty sure that Hannah, which Turing wants us to protect, is the same way.

Persicaria: …I feel much better after hearing you say that.

Riko: Oh, I see, Riko understands now. You're doing all this for Turing, and you're protecting Hannah for… Oh! For operands.
Riko: Dammit, how disgraceful. I can't believe that an Exchange employee like myself was outmaneuvered by an administrator.

Persicaria: …Turing made a deal with us before you did.

Riko: It's disgraceful for a Trader to NOT be able to steal business from an administrator! Plus, not only did I not snatch it away, I even helped her deal along… Ahhhh! Riko's super mad now!
Riko: …Forget it, saving lives comes first, after all. Plus, Riko feels kind of sorry for those agents. After all, they did nothing wrong.
Riko: Still, Riko doesn't understand why you need so many operands.

Persicaria: Ahem… Well, that's another question in its own right.

Beep~
Just then, a call comes in.

Croque: Oasis here. Croque hailing Persicaria, respond if you hear this, over.

Persicaria: Croque, it's me, Persicaria.

Croque: OK~ It's 15:55:00 now, and this is the first safety notification call as planned by the Professor. The Oasis is safe. I'll make the second call in 5 minutes' time.
Croque: How are things on your side?

Persicaria: Pretty good so far.

Croque: Same over here at the Oasis. I'm checking for weak spots in the Sandbox Barrier when it's running at low efficiency.
Croque: Those Sanctifiers are actually being pretty well-behaved, they won't be a problem for the time being, so long as you bring back ample operands as planned.

Bang–
The sound of a massive explosion comes through the phone, startling even Riko, who's sitting off to the side.

Croque: Bloody hell, those Sanctifiers started acting up right after I said that… Ahhhh!!!

Sol: Hey! Croque! Are you okay?

Croque: I'm fine, I just dropped my Pocque, I'll have to get another stick.

Sol: …No, seriously, are you okay over there?

Croque: Of course I'm fine, who do you think you're talking to? Besides, the Sanctifiers have only mounted probing attacks so far…

Bang–

Croque: Crap! They're launching an all-out attack! Okay gotta go, talk to you later!

Sol: Hello? Croque? Hello?

System: >Call ended.

Riko: Now Riko knows what you need all those operands for…

Persicaria: We need to hurry! Riko! How much longer until the next train arrives?

Riko: Oh, it's here, let's get to the platform!

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