"Angels and demons circle above me, through the thorns to the stars." "Only those unable to perceive its call do not know happiness." "Watch in awe, watch in awe." "Aeria gloris, aeria gloris." "Watch in awe, watch in awe." "Aeria gloris, aeria gloris." "I am calling, calling now, spirits rise and falling." "To remain myself longer." "Calling, calling, in the depths of longing." "To remain myself longer." "Watch in awe, aeria gloris." "Dread calling Somerset." "Sleeping gas injectors now attached to outer walls and rooftop air conditioner." "Roger." "Set it for 0220 hours." "Wait for the signal." "You people are cops?" "!" "Now I know there's no hope for justice in the system!" "If you've got a problem with the world, change yourself." "If that's a problem, close your eyes, shut your mouth, and live like a hermit." "And if that's a problem..." "Major, assemble the team with an A2 loudout." "Location, 82-D3." "You copy that, Batou?" "Yep, loud and clear." "Public Security Section 9" "I can't hand over command authority here without a rational explanation!" "This incident is under police jurisdiction!" "I'm under no obligation to explain anything." "Stop being stubborn, and hand over command authority to the military!" "We're being stubborn?" "!" "Is this any time for petty squabbles?" "Aramaki..." "Isn't it the customers inside that we should be worrying about?" "Yes, sir." "The customers that we believe are currently being held are the Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as his private secretary, the director of the Minister's Support Association, and two people from the North American Industrial Promotion Alliance." "It's been 17 minutes since geisha robots took the Minister and the others hostage." "The hostess escaped on her own, and according to her, there may have been two more fatalities since then, but we've been unable to verify the situation inside so far." "Has anyone claimed responsibility or made demands?" "Not at this time." " Communications blackout?" " My people are handling that." "What about press control?" "We enacted Code 14 nine minutes ago." "It won't hold for long." "Section 9 will handle this incident." "Hold your position." " Yes, sir!" " Yes, sir!" "Kubota." "Why does the military want to step in?" "One of our people is in there." "That's all I can say for now." "All right, you can tell me about it later." "Leave this to me." "Major!" "Almost there!" "The military is itching to step in." "Watch your backs!" "Thanks for the concern." "Batou?" "I'm still en route." "That explains the wiretap noise I was getting when I was listening in on the sniper team." "Togusa." "Ishikawa." "Major, there are just too many circuits." "It'll probably take two hours to pinpoint it." "Togusa, come to the central courtyard and get ready to storm the place!" "Roger that." "Saito!" "I've neutralized the image curtains, but all those trees down there are limiting my field of fire." "Paz." "Borma." "Ready whenever you are." "Whoever's controlling the geisha robots ought to be nearby." "Don't shoot out the transmitter." "I'll upload a virus before he can wipe the evidence." "Major!" "What if the robot geishas demand a pay raise?" "Get serious." "All personnel in position!" "Standing by!" "All right, go!" "Go!" "Paz!" "Borma!" "Track my tracer virus!" "Batou, you're on backup!" "Hey, music to my ears." "Look alive, Togusa!" "Chief, the scene is secure." "One hostage in need of immediate medical attention for severe trauma." "One other confirmed dead from head wound." "Batou and the others are in pursuit of the culprit." "Good, bring the Minister and the others outside." "Carefully." "I have four vans and a tent corridor waiting at the front entrance." "Move them under guard protocol B6!" "Roger!" "Can you walk, Minister?" "Yes..." "We owe you our lives." "Thank you." "Major, the target is a cyborg!" "Searching records now!" "No matching persons found yet!" "Don't kill him until you find out what he was waiting for." "Borma, I'm almost at your location!" "Don't run out into traffic, okay?" "You think I'm a kid or something?" "Tachikoma, are you still with me?" "!" "What took you so long, Tachikoma?" "!" "You give up?" "This can't be good." "Come in." "All right, let's hear it." "All right..." "The woman whose brain was damaged was the Minister's private secretary." "She was one of my people, and I was having her conduct a secret investigation of the Minister." "The Minister of Foreign Affairs?" "Right." "His activities lately indicate an interest in the Ichinose Report." "That's the one that includes "Diplomatic and Military Strategic Scenarios During States of Emergency," right?" "Yes." "Of course, we wouldn't be able to refuse if the military received a disclosure request." "But there haven't been any instructions from the Minister himself." "Up until now, we've been taking a wait-and-see approach." "The secret investigation was more of a routine safety check." "Then why was the secretary attacked?" "It's possible that they tried to kill her to cover up something she had found." "And the Minister's personal affairs?" "He's clean, as far as a general investigation could uncover." "There's no signs of blackmail or unusual bank account activity." "This isn't like you." "I know, I really blew it this time..." "If it's all right with you, I'd like my people to look into this." "What do you say?" "I'd appreciate it." "But don't do anything that would hurt your career." "I'll cover for you once this is over." "Well?" "Look into the Minister's personal affairs again." "Also, find out exactly what happened inside that restaurant." "I'll check into the military's interest in the Ichinose Report again." "Hey, I thought he was a friend of yours." "He is." "That's why I'm looking into this." "He's got guts, burning out his own memories like that." "He did it, even though he knew it might cause brain damage." "Thanks to him, I'm a laughing stock." "What a waste of money." "If you need to rush down here for target practice whenever there's a mission," "I'd recommend getting a prosthetic body." "You're telling me I should become a cyborg, too?" "I'm not dumb enough to order you to mix up official and private matters." "I think your marksmanship today was excellent." "But if you think your shots might go through your target and hit the hostage, make a quick on-site judgment call." "You had that 9mm with you, right?" "Geez, what do you think we hired you away from police HQ for?" "If you've got time to be depressed, why not grace us with your special talents?" "We're going to find out exactly what happened in the ten minutes or so before we stormed the restaurant." "How are the grandchildren?" "What do you think of all this?" "You certainly are impatient." "The Ichinose Report has no impact on the military's budget." "It's nothing you'd be interested in, either." "Whose view is that?" "The bureaucrats' or the politicians'?" "Any military man who could be hurt by it would be in no position to know about it." ""Don't go looking for things you don't know about."" "Your words, I believe." "You're the same as ever, I see." "There's a new place near here that has delicious shrimp." "Care to join me?" "Another time." "The Major is waiting for you." "What have you found?" "This is surveillance video from the Yanagi Room right after the incident." "There's also some footage that bothers me from the cameras inside the restaurant." "This man should have been equipped with a spinal column unit made by the North American Neutron Company, but the smashed parts just won't piece together into that original form." "This next footage is of the Minister and a geisha going into the bathroom." "With a geisha?" "Apparently, he sometimes likes to swap bodies with geishas when he gets drunk." "There's the NAIPA official who was killed." " He's fooling around with the Minister, too?" " I couldn't tell you that much." "There wasn't any footage from inside the bathroom." "And here comes the secretary, who has become worried." "Right there." "That's when the secretary was attacked." "This doesn't jibe with the testimony of the second NAIPA official." "He said that the dead NAIPA official was attacked first, and then the secretary." "The Support Association director was too drunk to remember many details, but he told the police that he thought he heard the secretary scream first." "What was it that she saw?" "What did she see?" "Can you walk, Minister?" "Yes..." "We owe you our lives." "Thank you." "Major!" "There was testimony that the Minister is into swapping bodies with geishas, right?" "Right." "What are you getting at?" "What if somebody swapped out the Minister's braincase?" "If our culprit were after the Ichinose Report, wouldn't he need the external appearance of the Minister?" "The secretary was attacked because she saw the braincase switch!" "Ishikawa!" "Kubota, this is Aramaki!" "Listen, about the Minister..." "The Minister just left with the Ichinose Report along with the people  from the North American Industrial Promotion Alliance!" "He was given an encoded printout that can't be copied, so that should buy us some time before he can re-digitize it, but..." "Where's the Minister now?" "!" "Heading for the airport." "They say he's flying to America to give a speech at a party sponsored by the NAIPA!" "Batou, emergency mobilization!" "L2 loadout!" "We'll pick up Togusa and Saito and head for the airport!" "Minister!" "I'm sorry, but they say the private plane will be about 15 minutes late due to unseasonable weather." "I see." "We'll go on ahead!" "Ichinose Report" "Minister!" "I'm sorry for the delay, Minister." "I'm told that the plane has just landed." "Just a moment, Minister!" "Oh, it's you." "Thank you for saving me last night." "What can I do for you?" "I came to deliver this." "What is it?" ""Instructions for removal from public duties for medical treatment"?" "I'm... being replaced?" "What's the meaning of this?" "!" "Having read that, you are no longer Minister of Foreign Affairs." "What?" "On what authority?" "!" "I have approval from the Prime Minister and the Board Members of the ruling party." "Feel free to verify this for yourself." "Assemblyman, last night's incident has put you under suspicion of spying, as well as seeking political asylum in a foreign country." "Will you accompany us, please?" "Who the hell do you think you are?" "!" "Don't do it!" "That isn't the man you're supposed to be protecting!" "Braincase secured!" "We'll take our time and find out exactly who you are." "Take him away." "They say she'll have an operation to allow her brain functions to be supported by cyberbrain technology and micromachines." "There'll be some damage in her speech centers, but they say it won't interfere with her daily life." "That's good." "I wish we could've handled this ourselves, but I owe you one." "If you hadn't taken a stand right after it went down, the police would have stormed in and shot the robots dead." "End of story." "Section 9 wouldn't have gotten involved, and the media would be full of stories about the defection and spying of the Minister of Foreign Affairs right about now." "Still, I'm amazed you managed to get together the paperwork you needed to convince all the politicians so quickly." "Like they say, always be prepared." "And for some reason, the Minister's plane got delayed, even though the weather was fine." "At Section 9, we aim to please." "Tachikoma..." "Tachikomatic Days!" "Are you watching, are you watching?" " Hey!" " Hi!" "Gentlemen!" "You haven't forgotten that communication = conversation, and that conversation comes from words, have you?" "We're always using data links!" "Don't you feel the need to bring yourself to use words every once in a while?" "!" "What the heck is he talking about?" "Beats me." "With data links, you get instant comprehension through simple visualization, so why use such a primitive method?" "Anyway, the faster the data transfer, the better, so I believe such a primitive protocol should be abolished for everyone, humans included!" "I agree!" "Yeah, yeah!" "You don't know what you're talking about..." "Just stop and consider why we're equipped with high-performance linguistic drivers and voice synthesizers that let us make full use of those drivers!" "From a data transfer standpoint, words are clearly full of shortcomings." "Whether it's spoken or written." "Maybe what's most dangerous is the fixed idea that words are a data transfer tool." "Maybe words have some purpose other than their role as a tool..." "Wha...?" "!" "Maybe the Major tells us not to chatter 'cause she doesn't want us to find out what that is." "Help me!"