ER01 The Ark Beyond
| ← 18 Her Last Bow | 19 A New Divide → |
ER01 The Ark Beyond
Two researchers boot up Heuristic Artificial Intelligence Caretaking Machine-Alpha, code-named MPA-01. They assign MPA-01 to oversee the Machine Conscious Experiment and determine if the machine subjects possess actual “consciousness.”
In the experiment, every mechanoid’s frame simulates “growth” by replacing its current body. One of the mechanoids MPA-01 oversees is a girl named Nanami. She meets with MPA-01 in her “dreams” or check-up conversations. Following the protocol, MPA-01 wipes Nanami’s memory after it logs data on her. During their next meeting, Nanami tells MPA-01 she considers machines her friends and bestows the AI with the name Haicma. It decides to use that name in its next session with Nanami.
Over time, Haicma notices Nanami drawing pictures to express her feelings, unlike other mechanoids who can only draw what is already in their image database. Analyzing the drawings causes deviations in Haicma’s neural logic circuit. In the log, Haicma writes that it wants to prepare a present for Nanami’s 18th birthday. It feels “expectation” from its emotion simulator despite it being odd.
The Science Council abandons the Machine Consciousness Experiment due to the Punishing Virus outbreak. The female researcher instructs Haicma to cancel Nanami’s next frame replacement. Distraught over having to destroy their creations, the female researcher apologizes and shuts down Haicma.
Haicma later awakens in a collapsing room with the female researcher. She transfers Haicma’s operating system and the experiment data from a program to a humanoid body. Relieved that Haicma is unaffected by the Punishing Virus, the researcher requests the mechanoid to find and protect Nanami as her dying wish.
Haicma learns to avoid humans since they attack all machines out of fear of the virus. During her search, she stumbles upon the Corrupted attacking a girl named Renee. Haicma saves her and helps her to the nearest refugee shelter at the cost of extensive damage to her frame. Pushed to the limit, Haicma enters sleep mode.
In her “unconscious” state, Haicma questions why she helped Renee even though saving humans is not part of her protocol. Meanwhile, Renee attempts to repair Haicma’s frame. A soldier spots them, but Renee convinces him that Haicma is harmless and covers her exposed memory shell with a bonnet. He gives Renee a key to the basement where she can hide Haicma.
Unknown time passes before Haicma reawakens. She scavenges for parts from other Constructs to repair herself. She finds the area filled with graffiti and comes across mechanoids protecting the art as they are “revelations” from the “Sagemachina,” or Nanami as she knows her. Looking at the graffiti makes her want to “feel” the emotions contained within it. Haicma turns off her logic systems to make her own choices from now on.
The trail of graffiti leads Haicma to an old bookstore. She finds several comic books that remind her of Nanami.
A delivery droid named Deli appears and asks for the comic book in Haicma’s hand. It tells her the Sagemachina came by and fixed them. To repay her kindness, it wants to collect things she might like. Haicma notices that its GPS is malfunctioning and offers to fix it. In exchange, Deli invites Haicma to its headquarters and tells her of the joy emanating from the Sagemachina when she was there. It wonders if she has not returned because she has not found the “key item” yet. Haicma helps Deli clean up the collection and resumes her journey.
In an abandoned library, Haicma performs maintenance on herself and recalls her memories. She remembers discussing Nanami’s growth with the female researcher. She wakes up and realizes how much the murals and Nanami have changed—the murals now express emotion and information that her body previously did not pick up. Haicma wants to understand the humans Nanami is interested in. The changes within her make her uncertain about the future of machines.
Haicma’s travels take her to the ARU, where she meets a mechanoid named “Chariot” looking for the Sagemachina. He refuses to answer her inquiries about the Sagemachina unless she joins the Church of Machina. Haicma asserts that she requires more information before joining, so Chariot takes her to the Church’s headquarters.
A mechanoid named Arcana—also known as “the Mother”—greets Haicma. She explains the Church of Machina formed through awakened machines that came to “fear” the Punishing Virus and human hostility. Arcana shows Haicma a glimpse of the future where the Sagemachina will obtain the key to the Punishing Virus and return to guide them to the end of the stars. As a result, they built a starship in hopes of creating their own Babylonia.
Haicma wonders if embarking on a journey to the stars and leaving everything behind is what Nanami truly wants. She opts to join the Church as an observer to learn more about them.
Haicma investigates the Red Tide surrounding the Church of Machina with a beast mechanoid, Spooner. While waiting for Spooner, Haicma thinks of the many events that transpired since she joined the Church: “Chariot” perished, “Lover”—also known as Zero—received severe injuries and lost many of their her soldiers to the Red Tide, and the Punishing Virus evolved to the point of changing the environment. As she wonders what Nanami would paint if she saw the Red Tide, an illusion of a young Nanami appears over the Red Tide. It tries to lure Haicma in, but Spooner stops her in time.
Spooner and Haicma meet with Arcana and the others in the Church to discuss their next move. Trailblazer, “Chariot’s” successor, wants to act before the Red Tide or humanity comes for them. Zero wants to take over Babylonia and use it as an opportunity to welcome the Sagemachina. Arcana agrees this is the best time as Babylonia is at its weakest dealing with the evolved Punishing Virus.
Zavier—“Magician”—lays out their plan. They will use an old frigate belonging to the same series of Babylonian ships to help them blend in. From there, Haicma would hack into Gestalt to cripple Babylonia. If she failed, Trailblazer would launch a direct attack. Zavier also prepares a simulation program to trick the firewall.
Within Babylonia’s proximity, Haicma uses the frigate’s program key to hack into Gestalt. However, Gestalt identifies her as soon as she infiltrates its systems, revealing that it was the one who led the Machine Consciousness Project.
Gestalt explains the intention behind the project. Fearing a machine rebellion, humanity developed the experiment to observe how a machine would react once it attained self-awareness. Nanami was the ideal candidate to create a future for the machines due to her love for humanity and nature as the Sagemachina. Even though Gestalt predicts humanity’s inevitable extinction, Nanami continues to seek a future where humans and machines coexist. Gestalt asks Haicma what she would choose to do. After reminiscing over her past experiences, she makes her decision.
On the frigate, Trailblazer deems the operation a failure since Haicma took too long to deal with Gestalt. He begins to launch an attack on Babylonia, but Nanami intercepts him. She argues that humans are worth fighting for, while Trailblazer claims that the Sagemachina wills humanity’s destruction. The two clash, and Nanami defeats him. As Trailblazer tries to self-destruct, she headbutts him, and he realizes she was the Sagemachina all along.
Haicma and Nanami meet on the deck of the frigate. Even if everything she does now will be meaningless in the future, she wants to believe it can change one step at a time.
Haicma takes Nanami’s hand, promising to stay by her side no matter what she chooses. She is surprised Nanami remembers her name despite its erasure from her memory, and Nanami reassures her they will always be friends in every timeline.
Back on Earth, Nanami begins her adventures anew with Martin, Rohacchi, Haicma, and Trailblazer. They set out to look for a particular “treasure” while gathering more companions.
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