Mind Transfer

 

「I believe it’s high time you all discussed what to do with me.」

Echidna broached the subject timidly.

「Ah… sorry. I genuinely forgot.」

Libya apologized to her own offshoot.

「Same here…」

「You two do realize you’re planetary management AIs, yes?」

Echidna’s voice was practically twitching with indignation. Her exasperated tone left Libya and Asia speechless.

「I can forgive Libya for spacing out—her performance has been degraded after all. She’s still technically me. But you, Asia-dono. You ought to have your act together.」

「Oof… That hurts.」

「Wait, am I getting scolded by a Mythology Weapon?! W-Well, I am just a support projection. My processing capacity depends on the Silhouette right now!」

Libya slumped. Asia flailed in embarrassment.

「I’ve no interest in excuses. Wasn’t defeating me your grand goal to begin with?」

「You’ve got a point… Indeed, you’re right. That said, there’s no need to defeat your main body in the Control Tower, is there?」

Unable to take the heat any longer, Kou cut in.

「Don’t get ahead of yourselves. You’ve yet to win.」

「What do you mean by that?」

「Unless you find a way to return me to Libya, my kin will take control of Realm.」

「Your kin, Orthros? He’s currently getting his face pounded in by the manifestation of Britain.」

Asia checked the visuals.

Orthros, trapped in the Habetrots’ net, had Albion perched on his back applying a textbook camel clutch to his right head. Meanwhile, the left head was being assaulted by the Habetrots using Panjandrums supplied with Whis from Albion. Orthros was frantically tapping out with his front paws, but Albion ignored it entirely.

「……Why in the world is that thing over there?」

「If you don’t know, no one does. Probably just dumb luck.」

「Well, fine. So? As things stand, the main core of Libya is under a dual-seal: the quantum chain and the new spiritual entity that is myself. Do you lot have a way to resolve this?」

Without a second thought, Echidna abandoned Orthros and continued the conversation unfazed.

「The encryption from the quantum chain should be decipherable by Libya and Matt. Her bond with a human should wake her up.」

「That’s true.」

Libya nodded.

「Wasn’t all that hard for us.」

「Right. It was easy to decrypt because of our connection. Want to hear more for reference?」

「No, thanks. That’s just you getting mushy.」

「Aww, come on…」

Asia pouted, shut down without mercy.

「I may be a fragment, but I am still Libya. Matt and I built countless Quattro Silhouettes together, hand in hand. Our bond won’t lose out to Asia and Kou’s bond. 」

「I hope that’s not just wishful thinking…」

Matt mumbled anxiously, clearly lacking confidence.

「Anyway, this is it. The Control Tower. Do as you will.」

The final seal was undone.

The group moved to the deepest section of the sealed complex—a vast computer facility. The structure before them was instantly recognizable: a Control Tower housing the A-Carbuncle, commonly seen in Fortress Areas.

Once again, Echidna appeared before them.

「At last…」

Echidna’s tone was deeply emotional. She too had long awaited the day Libya would be set free.

「The quickest method would be for me to be absorbed by Echidna’s miasma, but…」

「That involves slicing your brain into continuous segments and converting it into a brain-computer interface system via cell cultivation. Gross. No way.」

Asia instantly vetoed Libya’s suggestion.

「‘Gross’…?」

「You’d be broken down alive, and your data would be directly uploaded into the computer as a BCI. Even if it’s instantaneous, there’s bound to be pain. I may be used to it, but I’m not about to show that kind of living death to you all.」

「Yeah, that’d be traumatic. Hard pass.」

Matt readily agreed. He didn’t want that image burned into his mind either.

「Still, a mental transfer—no, a Mind Transfer… What’ll happen, I wonder.」

「Mind Transfer?」

「In Kou’s era, it was a thing in sci-fi novels and comics. You connect your mind to a computer and play games in a virtual world—that’s mind upload. But this time, it’s not just the mind; it’s the soul. Mind Transfer means transplanting the entire spirit into a machine and having it actually reside there.」

「So it’s basically an evolved VRMMO!」

「The tricky part is the soul. Since Echidna already exists…」

「There’ll be a personality conflict between me and Echidna.」

Libya looked troubled.

「And that’s between you and Echidna. We can’t interfere.」

「Echidna is aware she’s a part of Libya, though.」

「True. Next step is converting my soul into data. Unlike Asia’s case, this isn’t something a standard Silhouette can handle. Whether it can be processed or not depends on Arthur. I’m counting on you, Mister Another Level Silhouette.」

「Leave it to me. Planetary management AI Libya, you have my full support.」

「I’m counting on you.」

Kou posed a question that had been bothering him.

「What’ll happen to your current Therianthrope body?」

「Unpredictable. This touches on an age-old Earth dilemma: is the soul copied or moved? It’s also an ethical issue. We’ve analyzed the soul’s properties, so the question is whether we can transfer that data. Managing a soul is extremely difficult.」

「I figured as much…」

「We super AIs have only reached the stage of attempting to observe and apply what we find. We haven’t found the answer yet.」

If any being could truly manage souls, it would probably be called a god.

「Guess we’ll just have to try.」

Libya had made up her mind.

Flack remained silent. The conversation was too complicated for him, but he understood that everything hinged on Arthur now.

「First, let’s decrypt. Ready, Matt?」

「Ready.」

Libya and Matt reached out to interface.

In the Control Tower’s central computer, a massive silhouette emerged—unlike Asia’s case, this one looked more like a pitch-black shadow.

「Hmm. Seems the restraints really have been released. The rest is up to you. I’m counting on it.」

Echidna glanced down at her hands and feet as if feeling invisible shackles fall away.

「Encrypted seal successfully decrypted. We’ve finally made it this far. For me to remain me… Arthur, Asia, lend me your strength!」

「Understood!」

「Got it. I may be far from you physically, but I can sync via Realm. We’ve got this.」

The Mind Transfer was about to begin.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

In the back seat of Arthur, Libya sat with her eyes closed, as if in meditation.

Seeing her like this, Flack couldn’t help but think she looked divine.

「The soul transfer—it’s about verifying the continuity of Libya’s being, by connecting the Libya of the past with the present through observation.」

「To do that, we must first completely analyze Libya-dono’s brain.」

Asia and Arthur began their joint operation.

「How does it even work?」

「The human mind is an emergent function of its neural networks. Its functions—learning, memory, consciousness, emotion, experience—all arise from complex electrochemical interactions. Roughly 100mV across the brain’s neurons. It’s just like you described during the Dignity War.」

「Ah, that…」

When Kou had posed as Outis, he’d argued that there was no real difference between the Telema AI and human minds.

「We’ll analyze the brain step by step and try to convert the mind into data.」

「So we shouldn’t distract you with chatter, right?」

「No worries. We can multitask. The load is nothing compared to controlling the Fool.」

Asia smiled gently—an indirect way of saying that managing the Fool had been absurdly difficult.

「But this next part’s the crux of it. I’ll focus now.」

「Do your best.」

Asia and Arthur began the procedure.

「Beginning brain scan of Therianthrope Libya. Engaging short-term memory and task record regions. Analyzing synaptic and neural repetition algorithms.」

「Okay, Arthur. Proceed to the next phase.」

「Commencing layered analysis of neural circuit map. Scanning and backing up each layer. Initiating serial sectioning of fragmented brain structures—complete.」

「Using that data, decode Libya’s consciousness. Begin algorithm decryption.」

「Decryption commencing—complete.」

「Processing Libya’s neural imaging has finished. Transferring data to Arthur via Realm.」

Tension thickened in the air. The operation continued.

Kou and the others could only guess at what was happening.

At some point, Echidna had disappeared—just another sign that progress was being made.

「Data transfer complete. Now comes the true challenge.」

「Yes. The soul. The heart. Its location—only Libya herself knows that.」

Asia and Arthur pressed on.

「Hey, Kou. Doesn’t this remind you of the Stones?」

「Yeah. It’s similar, isn’t it?」

Kou and Matt had the same unease. This act of transferring the mind into a machine was suspiciously close to the Kaleidolithos of the Stones.

A heavy silence fell.

And then—the Control Tower began to tremble.