The day after passing her "Final Exam," Herta had already rushed to this experimental facility.
No applause, no leisurely vacation. No one rejoices for the growth of a cog in the enormous machine that encompasses her world.
Accepting the academy's protection, escaping the nightmarish Punishing Virus and the Corrupted... Graduating from Gestrig means pledging the rest of one's life to Leibowitz.
Of course, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. All Gestrig students have been branded as company property from the moment they enrolled.
Survival of the fittest is their destiny, and successfully passing the "Final Exam" means she's at least not among those who are discarded.
Stop daydreaming and keep up.
An impatient voice interrupts her thoughts. The man in front of her quickens his pace again, forcing her to jog to keep up.
Moving from the disk arrays into the computing module, the whirring of exhaust fans buzzes loudly in her ears.
Towering server racks stand before her like giants.
Entropy streams surge through photonic circuits, overclocked beyond the Landauer limit, silently "thinking" at extraordinary speeds.
They're arranged in tight, orderly formation, row after row, stretching endlessly into the distance.
<b><size=50>Diachronic Artificial Intelligence Incubation Engine—The Seventh Matrix</size></b>
So they've named it.
Covering approximately 20,000 square meters and consuming 90% of the region's energy, this is Leibowitz's Matrix center beneath City 141.
Uhh...
How long have they been walking along the radius toward the center? It feels endless.
Like an infinite loop, the scenery refuses to change no matter how far they walk.
Ice-blue lights hang from the domed ceiling, swaying slightly and piercing her eyes, causing an involuntary wave of dizziness.
The long trek through the sterile landscape makes her mind drift in and out of focus as stomach acid rises, prickling the back of her throat.
Mister... Horst...
She strains to call out to the man striding briskly ahead of her.
He is the Matrix's research director and her supervisor, responsible for introducing her to the system. He has remained cold and silent ever since they first met.
...
How much longer until we get to her lab?
His leather boots click rapidly as he strides forward.
He doesn't stop, nor does he show any sign of slowing down.
She bites back the second half of her request, leaving it unspoken.
(You can do this... there is no mountain too high.)
She mutters these empty platitudes under her breath, fighting back the urge to vomit.
The roar of the air-cooling system fills her ears like a howling behemoth devouring all other sounds.
So cold.
She instinctively wraps her thin lab coat tighter around herself.
To mark her entry into an actual Matrix lab, she put on her lab coat early and cut her long hair short.
To look mature and reliable, she put on non-prescription glasses and adopted a cold, expressionless look... For a student, this was the limit of her imagination of a researcher.
How boring...
She stares blankly at the compute nodes with blinking LEDs, unable to feel any connection to her surroundings.
The terminal nodes are connected to chambers by cables; Herta curiously peers through the transparent glass at a test subject in the nearby chamber.
Nngh—
A distorted face suddenly slams against the glass cover, making Herta jump back in terror.
She catches glimpses of the other test subjects, helplessly flailing their arms or screaming with all their might.
The pain and savagery she sees in their eyes freeze her in terror, stopping her in her tracks.
Meanwhile, Horst strides quickly toward one of the chambers.
Any update?
As you can see... none of these models passed the test.
Are all these people useless?
Suitable candidates are rare to begin with, and moreover, this process is very hard for humans to endure.
Modeling the mind in such a short time requires high-intensity external signals to stimulate neuronal discharge, while also interrupting the normal transmission of neurotransmitters.
The most prominent side effect is that they experience various hallucinations, seeing the most terrifying scenes from their memories. Like falling from heights, watching loved ones die, or being hunted by Corrupted...
This is far too inefficient.
It's impossible to speed up any further. One more sampling and they'll break down.
Everyone falls silent. Herta clenches her notebook tightly to her chest.
The electrical current in the nearby machine rack ticks impatiently, urging the humans to issue their next command.
...Have de Lévis try again.
She's already been sampled three times today, sir.
It's fine. She can handle it.
Isn't that right, de Lévis?
Another prolonged, heavy silence.
A green light flashes on the central grid of the monitoring device, signifying consent.
Herta suddenly realizes that the test subject no longer has the strength to respond directly.
Then let's get started right away.
He glances at Herta, then continues walking briskly ahead. Herta, momentarily frozen in place, has no choice but to jog to catch up.
M-mister... Those, those were...
...Didn't they teach you this at the academy?
It's just, just...
The man stops in front of her, turning to scrutinize Herta. After seemingly confirming something to himself, he speaks again.
This is the Seventh Matrix Project... an experiment to verify the awakening of mechanical consciousness.
Mechanical consciousness awakening... She recalls an academy assessment describing this: when an AI achieves extensive processing, responsive feedback, and human-like ethics and emotions, it is termed an "awakening."
Using human consciousness as samples to accelerate model development; those test subjects merely provide the samples.
You mean, I'll be responsible for this research in the future?
But the mission I received was...
Of course, this isn't your main directive... these studies are merely secondary.
Your mission is... to take "eggs" laid by "her" from that birdcage.
Beep— The iris authentication system signals its confirmation.
A deep humming follows. Layer upon layer of massive security doors unlock in sequence, revealing a small room at the end of the passage.
Dense mathematical equations cover the floor, extending all the way to the experimental chamber in the distance.
Warm artificial light bathes the room, gently bringing Herta's feet back down to solid ground.
Hearing the footsteps of a visitor, the young girl struggles to sit up in her chamber.
...
Traces of experimental solution still cling to her silky long hair. It's somewhat unusual—a distinctive pattern of black and white intertwined like piano keys.
Unlike the other test subjects Herta had seen before, only indifference and sorrow remained on the young girl's face.
Her gaze, like the downy feathers of a nestling... tinged with a hint of confusion, falls gently upon Herta.
Hello, are you de... de...
Yui de Lévis.
Ah—yes, Miss d-de Lévis—
The syllables of the prefix sound unfamiliar, and Herta can't quite catch what the other person means. Realizing she has lost her composure, she quickly raises her head again.
I, I'm the assistant sent by the company, I'm Neumann... no no no, my name is Herta! Herta Neumann, but please, just call me Herta—
...
...
...
(Herta, Herta—just saying it once is enough!)
She awkwardly pushes up her glasses, then embarrassedly rubs her swollen calves.
Miss de Lévis?
The young girl keeps her eyes tightly shut.
White mist continuously escapes from her lips as her body shivers uncontrollably. Her pale face is completely drained of color.
Vapor from the evaporating solution drifts like smoke as she slowly curls into a ball within it.
Miss de Lévis?!
Herta dashes toward the experimental chamber.
It's freezing!
The moment she reaches her hand into the chamber, the bone-chilling cold makes Herta gasp sharply.
...I'm alright.
As if deliberately avoiding contact, the young girl leans against the chamber wall and slowly rises to her feet before Herta can touch her arm.
Recovered?
Herta looks toward the man standing rigidly at the room's entrance. He watches them coldly, showing no intention of coming forward to help, as if completely accustomed to all this.
1 hour, 43 minutes, and 52 seconds. That's how long this sampling took. Adding in adjustment and rest time, we're looking at nearly two hours total.
There's still room to increase the neural Pulse, isn't there?
Wait, Mister Horst?!
Yes.
I'll try a 10% increase.
20%. Only stop if you can't take it anymore.
Yes.
Mister, she's already enduring twice the power level of the other experiments... Increasing it by another 20% will cause her nervous system to collapse.
It's all right, Miss Herta. My consciousness can handle this level of strain for now.
At a 99% confidence level, the experiment won't cause irreversible effects. That's what the Matrix projections indicate.
And the remaining 1%?
The chamber's safety redundancy system will cut off the Pulse currents in time.
B-but...
Won't she feel pain?
Herta recalls passing by the other test subjects earlier; each face was twisted in agony like wild beasts trapped in cages, giving a glimpse of the mental hell they endured.
Humans perceive suffering in largely the same way; what differs between individuals is merely the expression they show when facing pain.
Herta looks at the young woman leaning against the chamber wall, white vapor constantly escaping from between her lips.
Horst furrows his brow and slowly exhales.
Alright, maybe we should take a short break for now.
Herta sighs with relief.
Miss de Lévis, please, please give me your hand...
It's fine... I can manage.
She staggers out of the experiment chamber, gripping a nearby lab table with her right hand and slowly pushing herself upright.
My terminal has received the data from this sampling. Compared to the other test subjects, the results are much better...
He suddenly changes his tone.
But as far as I know, isn't this <phonetic=Chosen One>model</phonetic> still incomplete in some aspects?
Yes. There are deficiencies in both robustness and generalization capability. Further sampling is still required.
Get ready as quickly as possible. We still have some time today.
...I'll try again.
Good.
Umm... but Miss de Lévis has already had three samplings today... actually, I think it's four...
She mumbles timidly, recalling a conversation between researchers she overheard outside earlier.
Miss Herta, do you have any questions?
Horst didn't miss even the faintest whisper she made.
N-no... no, I don't have any questions...
Relax, I'm not pressuring you. If you have concerns, it's better to express them openly.
Herta steals a glance at her supervisor's expression, noting that he doesn't... actually seem that severe. Somewhat nervously, she begins to speak.
Miss de Lévis hasn't had sufficient recovery time, and the experimental risks are becoming increasingly dangerous...
Even if she consented to the sampling, would the researcher responsible for her well-being approve such a high-risk procedure?
She glances around the lab, unable to find anyone else apart from the three of them.
Miss Herta raises a valid point.
Would you approve the experiment then, Miss de Lévis?
Yes, I would.
Huh... Huh??
Herta frantically flips through the laboratory documents she had been given before entering this "Matrix"...
Yui de Lévis: Leibowitz Matrix: Quantum-Parallel Gradient Descent Optimization, Bridging Neural Signals to Model Architectures...
Pre-training Protocol for Models Based on Human Consciousness Samples
Former Chief Researcher of the Matrix Project - Leibowitz Division 141.
Test Subject No. 0001 of the Seventh Matrix Project.
Miss de Lévis is both the researcher and the test subject?
Former... Chief Researcher...
It wouldn't be appropriate for someone who's become a test subject to continue serving as a researcher, would it? Though she did volunteer for this.
An exceptional scientific talent and our most valuable test subject... She's demonstrated incomparable value in every aspect.
The corners of the supervisor's mouth curl into a satisfied smile.
A chill runs down Herta's spine as she suddenly understands the true purpose behind all those heavy security gates.
So this place is... de Lévis's prison?
Are you satisfied with your working environment?
I hope these accommodations don't lead to any misunderstandings, Miss Herta.
Company assets are classified by value, and Ms. de Lévis happens to be one of our most precious assets.
In exchange, the company's computational resources are prioritized for de Lévis. She can access any research materials she desires.
This... this is supposed to be "preferential treatment"...?
Horst doesn't answer, fixing Herta with an icy stare. Herta shrinks back, swallowing her questions.
...I apologize, sir.
Whether it counts as preferential treatment is up to her to decide.
At least from my perspective, the progress of the Matrix Project is equivalent to her personal happiness, and there's nothing wrong with using one in place of the other
He shrugs with boredom, his lips curling into a mocking sneer.
Yui seems uninterested in this conversation, impassively organizing the experimental data nearby.
That's enough idle chatter. Remember to increase the Pulse intensity to improve experimental efficiency.
Yes.
Complete today's experiment as soon as possible. Then collect the data and send me the report.
...Sure.
Tomorrow, transfer the data of the Chosen One model to the other departments and begin collaborative research.
...
Do you have any other questions, Yui de Lévis?
...
Noticing Yui's attitude, the man's expression darkens, his hawk-like eyes piercing her with a sharp, predatory gaze.
Don't you dare drop the ball on something this important!
Herta anxiously glances at the young woman beside her. Yui's face remains pale, but her reluctance to speak doesn't seem to stem from fatigue.
Whether it's Herta's imagination or not, a sudden, inexplicable defiance floods those previously vacant eyes. Yui struggles to sit up fully, meeting her supervisor's gaze directly.
The Chosen One is still just a prototype. The hyperparameters need further optimization, and there's still too much noise in the dataset.
...Just give me two weeks. That's all I need.
Data cleaning, parameter optimization... teamwork would make the process much more efficient. That way, you wouldn't have to serve as both the test subject and the researcher at the same time, would you?
Rather than letting you work alone, distributing the remaining tasks to other departments would accelerate our current progress.
The previous model went haywire during testing due to data contamination, and you completely abandoned it in the end... Is this all your trust in me amounts to?
Herta catches a glimpse of Yui's expression, noticing an indescribable melancholy flickering in the corners of her eyes.
That only means it wasn't robust enough and got eliminated by natural selection—nothing more.
Our research cycle doesn't afford you the luxury of slow optimizations on your own. The proper approach is to produce a prototype quickly, then hand it over to other departments for collaborative iteration.
If one doesn't work, we simply move on to the next. Headquarters only cares about results—no one's concerned with how standard the process is.
Yui's body sways unsteadily; Herta moves forward to support her, but Yui stops her with a gesture.
Unlike those models from the Golden Age that were entirely trained through external programming, models generated from human consciousness samples are inherently black boxes.
While they possess extraordinary reasoning abilities, the inherent mystery of their internal workings is an equally undeniable fact.
What decisions they'll make when facing various problems largely depends on their generated personalities... How to optimize them, how to remedy their defects—those who understand them best aren't the researchers, but the models themselves.
Sampling human consciousness to accelerate machine consciousness research creates models that are nearly impossible for anyone else to help...
Having spoken too much at once, Yui doubles over in pain, struggling to catch her breath as her arms wrap around her body.
Utter nonsense.
The supervisor approaches the experiment table with a dark expression, advancing one step at a time.
How many people do we have in the Matrix? How many Processing Units? If we wait two weeks, everyone's brains and all our computers will be spinning their wheels for nothing.
The Matrix center of the Golden Age could perform thousands of petaflops in just one second. How much computing power do you plan to waste in the Matrix?
The executive officer from the East District will be here for inspection soon. We don't have much time left.
If we can't satisfy the esteemed executive officer, we'll be stuck in this backwater Lab 141 forever. Guarding a single Matrix core, never achieving any real breakthrough.
If one model doesn't work, move on to the next! Rapid iteration, rapid elimination!
...
M-Mister Horst... I'll also be assisting Miss de Lévis with her research, so...
Miss Herta, I didn't ask for your opinion.
Horst's voice drops to a lower register as he enunciates each word with deliberate emphasis.
...Awakened mechanical consciousness is a field humanity has barely explored.
The Chosen One model, in its current state, is nowhere near ready for testing.
...
In two weeks, you'll end up with nothing more than a 50% finished defective product.
One week. I want to see results before then.
...
She presses her lips tightly together, silently accepting this harsh ultimatum.
Like a weightless feather drifting down, with nary a whisper— The next second, her body simply crumples to the floor.
Miss de Lévis?!
Herta gently supports her from behind, slowly lifting her up.
So light. Her body is like a sheet of paper, and Herta almost uses too much force when lifting her.
Suffering from the aftereffects of experiments, she's completely drained of energy. Herta carefully places her into a nearby armchair.
You need to rest now.
We need to experiment on her now.
Horst advances step by step, his gaunt figure casting long shadows across the room.
(Huffs angrily)
A black and white cat stands guard in front of Yui, its entire body tensed as it faces Horst.
Always focusing on these irrelevant optimization details only wastes time.
As long as we deliver experimental results that satisfy the executive officer, it doesn't matter if things go wrong. The awakening objectives are actually secondary concern.
Pull yourself together quickly and move on to the next sampling.
After settling Yui, Horst gestures for Herta to follow him out into the corridor.
Alright, Herta. As her assistant, get as many results out of her as possible this week, and hand the Chosen One model over to the other department as soon as you can.
But...
Recalling how weak Yui is, Herta reluctantly lowers her gaze.
Her vital signs are extremely weak... the ECG shows many chaotic spikes, and her body temperature is abnormally low... I'm worried...
That's your job, Miss Herta—to collect the eggs she produces.
Continuous experimentation is necessary for her to keep refining the Chosen One model.
But this is already... beyond the level of a mental breakdown. She might be in a life-threatening situ—
This brings me to your job, Miss Herta.
Eh? Are you... referring to the research I'm responsible for? I thought I was here to assist Miss de Lévis with her research...
The man tugs at his tie, his face partially hidden in shadow, revealing a glimpse of something monstrous.
Yes—you're responsible for research on how to keep her alive.
？！
Of course, that's assuming you can obtain the results she produces. In other words...
In the future, you'll encounter many tasks that she'll need to complete even at the risk of her "life".
As long as she delivers acceptable models, it doesn't matter if she dies. Just make sure she stays alive until we get the results.
...
Herta clenches her fists involuntarily, not even noticing as her nails dig into her palms.
I need the Chosen One. As soon as possible. The sooner, the better.
Herta watches Horst leave before returning to her laboratory in a daze.
Feeling something furry rubbing against her foot, Herta looks down—it was the same cat that had hissed at the supervisor earlier.
(Contented purring)
<phonetic=No. 5>V</phonetic>, come here.
(Affectionate meowing)
In the presence of this tuxedo cat, Yui's cold expression softens slightly.
Miss de Lévis, I just contacted the medical department. They've sent over glucose and some sedatives...
Sure.
Herta rolls up her sleeve, revealing pale skin. She secures the tourniquet and applies alcohol...
So cold. Yui's hands are as icy as the solution in the experimental chamber, making Herta inhale sharply.
She remains perfectly still, allowing Herta to place a heating pad and insert the needle into the back of her hand.
Neither cooperating nor resisting... she just lies limply in the recliner, like a puppet with severed strings.
The experiment, is there no way to pause this?
Yui silently turns her face away.
Handing over the current Chosen One... would perhaps condemn her to the fate of being discarded.
The supervisor hadn't given her time for iterations. Abandoning the sampling would mean all her hard work would go to waste.
This was a train that, once set in motion, could never be stopped.
Herta knew they had never given her the option to pause from the very beginning.
