.hack//AI Buster - Volume 1 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Area.3 Alchemy

.: 1 :..

Albireo stretched out across the top of a slight hill in a grassy field. I stared into the sky watching the stars twinkle as I listened to the delicate whisper of the wind between the grass blades.

"How do you lie down like that?" Hokuto asked.

"The command is '/lie.' "

It was a new command programmed in the latest upgrade. Hokuto joined me in the grass.

(Sigma) Server Zone: Murmuring, Night, Alchemy

I don't know why, but Lycoris teleported us from Captive, Fallen, Angel to this rather ordinary place. I can only assume that because Hokuto and I formed a party, Lycoris teleported Hokuto with us. Only Hokuto was so new to the game, she didn't even question the teleportation. Instead, she was only obsessed with one thought.

"When are you gonna resurrect me, AI?"

"Not yet."

"Why not?

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because I said so,"

I had a feeling she could go on like this forever.

"You know I'll keep bugging you like this until you bring me back."

It was uncanny how she seemed to read my mind.

"This is against my better judgment, but all right ..."

"Yaaay!" She practically squealed in delight. I hit the commands and she returned from the land of the dead.

"Whatever you do, don't wander around. There are probably a lot of hidden creatures or traps that would kill a low-level character like you in an instant."

"Hey, what's this?"

She activated a magic portal. which mobilized a mob of goblins. I launched a series of swift attacks and cut them down.

"Didn't I just tell you not to do that?"

"Oh, relax. You worry too much."

"Maybe I wouldn't worry if you stopped acting so stupid!"

"I'm sorry." H er character began sobbing. It was a command she used to try to elicit sympathy. It wasn't working.

"Why don't you watch where you're walking instead of wasting time activating emotions?"

"You sute are bossy, AI!"

"Yes, I am."

"Ooh, you've changed your attitude," she mocked.

"You want me to return you to your shade status?"

I heard soft laughter behind me. I turned and saw Lycoris. She was no longer holding my hand. Instead, she moved freely through the grass, almost playfully.

"Hey! She opened her eyes;' Hokuto said as she ran over to Lycoris.

While Hokuto was distracted, I thought about the extension code. I was surprised I hadn't noticed it before. The file extension was simply the fust three letters of her name. The file names were just written backward, but it took the palindrome eye for me to understand that. The other files I found, H eciov.cyl" and Itrae.cyl," were her voice and car respectively. I was so convinced it was a bug in the system, I had failed to see such a simple code.

"AI! Did you know Lyco can see?"

"Yeah."

"When did that happen?"

The real question was, wiry was it happening? What did it mean for an NPC to be searching for its voice, hearing, and sight? This guest didn't make any sense. NPCs are prepared, preprogrammed chatacters with simple, direct functions. They react to situations, they don't create them. But Lycoris was responding as if she had a will of her own.

The entire situation was a conundrum I couldn't begin to fathom.

Even the quest didn't make sense. Searching for Lycoris' senses seemed too existential for a game. But there was also a missing element of drama. There wasn't a clear-cut scenario in place. And why make the quest for items written in code?

The real question was, who programmed and arranged I his scenario? And more important, why?

My head was spinning.

I didn't even care about the event itself. but I wanted to see it through because it was so irregular. Just as Orca and Balmung had to take on the greatest challenge they could find, I had to see my way through this mystery.

If it was a bug, I needed to learn more about it. Bugs are attractive to some players. However, they throw off the balance of the game. It depends on the glitch, but some bugs will give a player unlimited money; others will allow players to attack someone wirhout being hit (if a glitch allows someone to, say, hide in a wall, something normally impossible). Most players will report bugs, but some players love to exploit them. In the interest of good game play, it's important to report all bugs. Othetwise, if cheating became rampant, the game would lose its appeal. No one would want to play anymore.

"Albireo." Lycoris said.

"Yes, Lycoris."

"Follow me!' She spun around and started running, Was this part of the event? Or was she making real-time decisions as she gathered information through her eyes and ears while communicating with her voice? Was she interacting with players? It didn't seem possible.

"Lyco, wait up!" Hokuto shouted.

We both chased Lycoris across the wasteland until she stopped before a spring.

"What's this?" Hokuto asked.

"It's a phantom spring."

"A what?"

"You don't have much protective gear, do you?" I was looking at the minimal amount of clothing she wore.

"Not really."

"Then it doesn't matter. Just take it off."
"Take it off? Are you asking me to undress? Just as I thought, you are sexually harassing me!"

My headache was returning.

"When you throw your equipment into the spring, you get something better in return." I explained. "If you throw in your gear, you'll get something better, probably with a higher defensive value!"

"Really? For free? It doesn't cost anything?"

"Yeah. Sometimes, depending on the time of day, you'll get something of lower level, but that won't happen here. Try and target the spring, and throw in an item according to the message."

"But if I undress, will I be shown naked?"

"No." Doesn't she realize she's practically naked already?

"Albireo." Lycoris was calling me.

"Yes?" Lycoris stood at the edge of the spring, her back toward me. In the dim starlight, she appeared very small and frail.

"Can I count on you to see this task through?"

"What do you mean?"

"Can I count on you?" she asked.

Before I could answer, Lycoris threw her body into the spring. She disappeared beneath the water without so much as a splash or a ripple. The program wasn't prepared for such an action.

"What did she do that for?" Hokuto yelled.

No sooner did she disappear than a spring demon popped up in her place.

"What the hell is that?" Hokuto cried.

"It's a spring demon," I replied.

"This is creepy!" She was referring to its large tear-drop eyes and nose.

"Did you drop a golden axe?" asked the spring demon. "Or this silver axe?"

The standard reply came up on my display (Gold Axe, Silver Axe, or Neither), but this should only have occurred when equipment was dropped into the spring. This time the demon was referring to Lycoris.

I selected: Neither. The spring demon appeared troubled.

"It is impossible for me to deal with an item at this level."

This was one of the demon's possible responses if the item that was dropped in was already too powerful.

"As an apology, let me give you this," the demon continued.

At this point, the demon would normally have given back the original item along with. either a gold or silver axe.

"Goodbye, then!" the demon uttered before slipping back into the water. A message showed me that I had obtained an item. When I reversed the name of the item, I couldn't help but let out a slight gasp.

"He's gone. That demons so stingy he didn't even let me upgrade my gead" Hokuto stared into the water, but the demon was gone.

"Albireo." Lycoris whispered. She stood by the spring, appearing the same as before.

"Ah! There you are, Lyco," Hokuto said.

I pondered the fact that her clothes and hair were still dry because there wasn't a program to deal with such a change in character's appearance.

Of course, that didn't mean anything. Everything I had believed about The World seemed to be changing every minute. How much did I really know about this game? My convictions had changed since I met this little girl in the red dress deep in rhe dungeon.

"Albireo." she whispered again.

.: 2 :.

I stared into a field of twinkling stars. They looked so real. I could see more stars on my screen than I ever could outside rhe corporate office building.

I turned to my right and saw Hokuto lying next to me. She used the command I'd taught her.

"This is great," she said. III know it's just a game, but it feels so real."

"Yeah."

"But it makes me wonder. Do you think it's a little sick to be playing video games first thing in the morning?"

"As long as you realize it might be unhealthy, you'll be fine. Ie's when you prefer to play the game over anything else that you need help."

"You mean a crip?"

"Yup." She was referring to the crippled players, those who do nothing but play every chance they get.

"AI." she asked tentatively, "aren't you a kind of a crip?"

"You shouldn't say something like that to someone you just met."

"You're right. It's just, everything here is so beautiful, but it's not rea!. It's not like outside."

"What's so great about the outside world? I have no idea where you live, but here in Tokyo the air's so smoggy you can barely breathe. Every day I have to dea! with traffic, pollution, noise, crime, violence, and corruption, and you can't do any thing to change it. At least here, there is comfort. At least here, we can look up at a beautifltl starry night. At least here, we don't have to worry about politics and war and corruption."

"What about the bugs?" she asked. "Don't they corrupt the computer system?"

"The Cobalt Knights fight to eliminate any bugs. They fight against corruption. They do their best to keep the system running smoothly."

"You sound proud of them."

"And you sound like a philosopher:'

"I like to think of myself as more of a poet."

"But you don't know it."

"What?"

"Sorry, bad joke."

"You're an odd man, Albireo. But I like you."

"Even though I'm bossy?"

"Normally, if a stranger chose to lecture me over something as frivolous as an online game, I'd be annoyed." she said. "But I don't feel that way with you."

"Why not?"

"Because you're my teammate,"

Hokuto typed "/smile."

"Hey," she continued. "Your eyes arc like the stars."

"Are you trying to flatter me?"

"No, it's true. I didn't notice till now, but it's so obvious."

"Do you know why I did that?"

"To look cool, right?"

"Do you know where the name Albireo comes from?"

"Umm ... no."

"It's the name of a magnitude-three star in the constellation of Cygnus, the Swan. It looks like a single star if you look with the naked eye, but when you look through a telescope you can see that it's actually a binary star."

"What's that?"

"Two stars spinning around each other. One is sapphire, rhe other topaz."

"Like your eyes."

"Exactly. Albireo is considered one of the most beautiful binary stars in the sky. It's called the jewel of the Milky Way."

"In other words, you're just trying to be cool."

"Have you read Kenji Miyazawa's N~ht Tra;n to the Stars? The very first place the train stops at is Cygnus, the Swan. There, the two stars ofAlbireo are described as a device measuring the speed at which water runs along the Milky Way."

"You put a lot of thought into this, didn't you?"

"Sure did."

"Three days' worth?"

"Uh-huh. Just trying to be cool."

"Spending three days on a name is definitely not cool," Hokuto said. "But that's okay, AI. I still like you."

I looked to the left and saw Lycoris lying on the other side of me. Watching her now, she seemed like any other player character.

"Albireo," she repeated over and over again, because I still hadn't given her the ".cy!" file ftom the spring demon. Now that I knew the code, I knew what she would gain the moment I gave it to her.

I typed in "/stand" so I could walk.

"Where are you going?" Hokuto asked.

"It's time to resolve the Lycoris event."

"Yeah? Then I'm going with you!"

I was surprise. . d "Yoau want to come?"

"Aren't we teammates?"

I hesitated. Then I realized she'd come this far with me. Besides, she was tl1e only other person who knew of Lycoris' existence.

"Okay. Let's go back to the root town first."

"Sure. Um ... one thing . . . how do I stand up?"

"You can stay right where you are."

I selected the gate-out command and we were instantly enclosed inside a tunnel of light.

"Albireo," Lycoris continued to whisper. "Albireo ..."