President, I'm coming in! And you were...? Neith? ...Did something happen to Champollion? Please listen! We chased the kidnappers to the West and found out their hideout is in a sulfur lake! Sulfur lake! Poison gas! Hydrogen sulfide! ...! Must be the volcanic area near El-Alamein. It sounds like something that person who had his 「records erased」 would do. Kid... Neith, was it? Yup! ...Take this document and give it to Commander Hussein of the Reserve Command, and give this other one to Director Ptolemy of the Municipal Equipment Department. They'll give you the personnel and equipment you need. Oh, nice! You understood quickly! Thanks! See ya later! What a lively kid. ...But shouldn't the 「leader」 of this scientific city be using her trustworthy robot units instead? Care to comment, President Shelley? ...You're here, Shakespeare. Do you really have time for this? I heard one of your crew members was kidnapped. If the security system of this city is to be trusted—— There's nothing to be worried about. ...Tch. What are you getting it? ...Are you really going to make me say it? If you insist, I suppose I should. ..... You, and Curator over there too predicted something like this was going to happen. Otherwise, you wouldn't have 「real people」 ready on stand-by to catch the kidnappers. When you won the election 20 years ago, you told the public you would 「make advances in artificial intelligence and pass laws that will keep citizens away from dangerous work」. Leaving aside that those 「real people」 are in danger now, they haven't seen any actual combat in a long time—— And despite knowing that, you decided they were fit to handle this case. ..... Will you get over it and tell us why you came here instead of meeting up with Champollion and the rest? This is not a theater. I'd like for you to stop talking in such a roundabout way. Hahahaha! Fine, fine. In that case... I'll let the expert handle this. ...? The task is, not so much to see what no one has yet seen—— But to think what nobody has yet thought—— About that which everybody sees. ——I am Erwin Reanna Schrodinger, a dimensional traveler from beyond the abyss. ..... Dimensional traveler? Who are you? ...No, 「what」 are you? ...Human. To be specific, a being that had the unitarity of its quantum distribution altered. Well, it's fine if you think of me as a ghost who 「leapt」 here from another world. ..... Have you heard about this sword before? It's called 「Durandal」. ...? It's no surprise the sword itself means nothing to you. But—— The following story may change your reaction. An urban legend says that somewhere in this city there is a 「Philosopher's Stone」, a 「tesseract that gives all your robots the ability to think」. ...Hmph. And here I thought you were going to say something interesting, but it's just the 「Philosopher's Stone」. Do you really believe in that nonsense? Did you know? According to some urban legends, I'm actually dead and I was replaced by a robot replica. Indeed. Urban legends are often nonsense far from the truth. Even the 「Philosopher's Stone」 it's just an old 「universal」 legend. But I also believe—— 「Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic」.

注：

“克拉克基本定律”（Clarke's three laws）——

1. 如果一个杰出但年事已高的科学家说，某件事情是可能的，那他几乎就是正确的；但如果他说，某件事情是不可能的，那他很可能是错误的。

2. 发现“可能”的界限的唯一途径，就是冒险跨出既有的“可能”，进入“不可能”的领域。

3. 任何一项足够先进的技术，对受众来说都将与魔法无异。

 It wouldn't be strange if a chemist who traveled back in time to the stone age were revered as a 「godly shaman」 after performing a couple of experiments. ...Are you just throwing ideas around fishing for information? No, that's not my intention. To get my point across I need to build a foundation first. Let me tell you a story about a certain 「magic sword」. The name of that sword is 「Durandal」. This sword, capable of creating the heavens and earth, was made by a certain 「God」 to be used by one of its apostles. The seven rainbow colored gems on its hilt are proof of its power. For instance... the Red Gem of Courage is able to track a specific kind of wavelength, which can serve as a guide during a search. The Blue Gem of Reason has powerful information processing capabilities, which allows for instant data analysis of any kind. Even separated each one of them has an immeasurable value. ...Among them, the most 「useful」 one is the 「Gem of Reason」 due to its ability to imitate human cognition. I realized this after carefully observing your city. There is nothing special about its combustion engines and vacuum tubes—— ——And yet the robots can perform police, guide and household work. Even their artificial intelligence is good enough to simplify the process of legislation and law enforcement. These machines aren't simple automatons, they think like people do, and solve problems like people do. They posses a genuine artificial intelligence of a level that can pass the Turing Test. This is, without doubt, a remarkable accomplishment... but at the same time, a suspicious one. As you should know already, brain cells are a complex and delicate structure. Trying to imitate them using common electronic devices would consume a huge amount of power. The reason why humans can function with only 「three meals a day」 is because the human body is well optimized. Each cell is similar to a nanorobot. They record information on their own chemical structure rather than relying on electromagnetic fields that consume vast amounts of energy. And these cells posses blueprints called DNA, and can replicate themselves by performing a 「3D printing」 process called cell division. My point is—— Replicating the most complex and esoteric system in the world, the human brain—— Is theoretically impossible using common 「hardware」 such as vacuum tubes and combustion engines. There are trillions of neuronal connections in a single human brain—— ——If one were to use vacuum tubes, it would be like lighting up a trillion light bulbs. Even if we ignore the physical space needed and excess heat from them, you would need hundreds if not thousands of fully operational Hoover Dams to supply enough power to light up a 「trillion light bulbs」. Only then someone would be able to recreate 「a single human brain」. When you see it like this, the fact that this city has a 「genuine artificial intelligence」 sounds like a scenario taken from a fantasy novel. ——And yet it exists. Everywhere in this city there are 「machines」 performing difficult tasks only a 「human」 should be able to do. After I inspected discarded robots I noticed they are nothing but terminals following orders—— Which made this strange situation even more suspicious. Who is the 「main brain」 behind them that imitates 「tens of thousands」 of humans brains every single day? And what kind of 「cheat」 did you use to pull it off? If such technological leap were possible thanks to a mere 「invention」—— Any shaman from the past would had been able to build a spaceship using a revelation from God. ..... ...You are free to mock us, but let me tell you I don't believe the development of my city has been unethical or immoral. Yes, I understand how you feel. I used to feel the same way when I worked at a certain institution. That's why I have to tell you clearly what vulnerabilities the technology you 「borrowed」 has. For instance, the most relevant to you right now—— The 「safety of the communication equipment」. Bishop to D6. Queen to A1. Check. If you want to take back now this is the time, or else say goodbye to your Rooks. ...Like I told you before, talking during chess will only distract yourself. Besides, I never take back my moves. King to E2. Heh, so stubborn. Bishop to G1. Pawn to E5. Knight to A6. Knight to G7. Check. King to D8. You should just admit defeat already. Queen to F6. Check. Oh my... making a break for it? Heh. Stop talking and make your next move. This match is over. (...What did she mean by that? Was it a trap?) Knight to F6. Bishop to E7. Checkmate. ...Huh? Wait... checkmate already? I can't... Well, well. Don't let it get to you. I think you did better compared to our first match. Ugh... Taking two Rook at once turned out to be a trap all along. That's the kind of game chess is, Bianka-sama. ——Rita? H-How long have you been there!? Since you asked the Detective-san if she wanted to take back her move, I think. ...!! ...Wait. You were behind me all this time, and me, a great Valkyrie, didn't notice you—— ——You can't use your abilities to peek at a chess match! What were you thinking!? Unbelievable! The saying 「you must not use a steam hammer to crack a nut, if a nutcracker would do」 exists for a reason. ...It was a trap, but if that hadn't been the case this game wouldn't had ended that way, and you wouldn't have known such an ending was possible. ..... Whatever. This was a lesson worth learning. Professor! I brought the gas masks, oxygen cylinders and 50 men! ...And somehow I got roped into this as well. For crying out loud. This kind of physical labor isn't for me. You're an important person, you need to be here! ...I heard it's partly your fault our engineer Watt was kidnapped. How you dare to blame me, you simpleton! Hahaha. Think about it like this, Director. That brain of yours may come in handy in this operation. But first... Well done, Neith! Tomorrow I'm buying you a Mille-feuille from 「Golden House」! Yay! Cake! Thanks, Pro—— ..... T-There's a burning smell coming from the city... I think something exploded! ...Look! Over there! There's smoke! Smoke!! ...Alice got on the train. And guess what, all passengers and crew members suddenly disappeared! Alice was very worried. Who was going to drive this high speed train if the conductor was gone? When Alice was starting to panic she heard a voice coming from the speaker. 「Dear Alice, do not worry. I am Nyter Elmont, the conductor of this train. Let us have a wonderful trip together.」 Alice was very surprised. She got closer to the speaker and asked, 「Where are you, Conductor? I searched every corner of the train but I couldn't find you!」 Nyter laughed and replied 「Of course. You are inside me, Alice.」 Alice was even more surprised. 「Are you... the train itself?」 The voice from the speaker told her, 「Yes. As you know, this world is in a constant state of change.」 「When two mirror images converge, every aspect of the world changes.」 「There used to be 4 staff members on this train. When the mirror images converged, a fully automated train was born.」 Alice wondered why 4 people. 「5 would not work?」, she asked. Nyter said with a disappointed voice, 「Yes, if there ever were 5 people, they would forever——」 Warning. The system's power has reached a critical low level. Please perform Plan 5 of the emergency power supply manual. Starting the 5 minute countdown. ...! ...What's happening? There is a problem with the power supply. If Plan 5 is implemented, not only the base but also this interface—— My body—— will shut down. ...D-Did something happen at the power plant? Give me a moment. I'm running a diagnostic... …… ...No, there are no issues with the power supply, but the energy consumption is increasing exponentially. The cause is... the communication station!? ...Ah!! What do I do!? What do I do!? ...C-Calm down and tell me what happened. I can't remain calm! I'm in big trouble! It's my fault, it's all my fault!! I forgot all about 「that plan」!!! At the same time, under the server room under Alexandria's City Hall—— ...I wish you had admitted you were using the 「Gem of Reason」 from the beginning. ...Hmph. Aren't we this late because you spent too much time telling your little story? I wish you would had pointed out the vulnerabilities in our robot's system in a less roundabout way. ...But President, had I done that you would had called me a 「hacker」 and apprehend me. Because 「I know too much」, even though I came from beyond the abyss. ...Anyway, I'm starting. Your security system is too bare-bones. This might sound wrong, but it's like it's naked—— Beep—— Beep—— It's me. ...Yes, I'm in the server room. ...Calm down! What happened? ...What!? The robots are out of control!? ...Idiot! Calm down and explain it clearly! Jimmy... I'm so sorry... I can only talk you through this screen now. The location of the connector is unknown so there is no way to destroy the communication station from the outside. But... thank you very much... for returning my unresponsive body to its sleeping pod. The situation in the outside world might be chaotic right now, but—— That's precisely why I must thank you now... for taking care of me... ..... As I've told you, I was created by the Professor. I lack the authority to manage my own functions. I wanted to be greedy just once—— ——Like Scheherazade from the Thousand and One Nights, after telling you the stories I knew I wanted to tell you my own story, my truth. But who could have guessed 「that program」 was running in the background all this time. It now started to consume more power and it's trying to take away my privileges. I suspect it finished analyzing its target and is ready to strike. ...Of course, this is merely my guess. I don't have the authority to view 「that program」 after all. In light of our current situation, I can only think of 「that plan」 to be responsible for the sudden increase in power consumption by the communication station. I'm sorry. It took me too long to tell you the truth, and now the situation has gotten out of hand. ...Given my lack of authority, I can't know the execution phase of 「that plan」 either. I'm so dumb. Like a small child who thought her parents would never harm her. I believed in something that wasn't real. The truth is... everything is going as planned. Even if I'm abandoned the plan would proceed smoothly. Without my knowledge the communication station was strengthened so that it couldn't be harmed by ordinary people. ...Don't try to comfort me. It's all my fault. ...I wanted to let myself get lost in that wonderful moment. To forget the most important and terrifying truth about me... My original purpose is—— To become a weapon in information warfare. The Professor and his assistants wanted to use me to destroy the city that expelled them. They wanted to decode and hijack the city's communication system wirelessly to destroy them with the robots they are so proud of. ...Now that I think about it, maybe my current consciousness as 「Alice」 is a 「by-product」 of the Professor's boredom. To them, this 「Alice」 personality must have been nothing but a decoration to the 「Alice」 interface, as if they were playing with a doll. Because 「I」 am completely unnecessary—— For what 「I」 was truly made for. ..... I wonder if all humans use their own children this way, Jimmy.