"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." "Level 18 to 30." "Now through comm barrier." "Have pinpointed building that perp is using as hideout." "Target acquisition impossible from here." "Change op from S-15 to S-20." "Roger." "0907, connect to device driver." "Initiate regulation of cardiopulmonary functions." "Respiration and pulse both nominal." "Sync with stabilizer verified." "0907, target verified." "Destruction of target confirmed." "Test concluded." "That went pretty well." "No, I can't seem to get a feel for it." "Really?" "But your targeting error was less than 0.2." "It's overcorrecting." "When I start sniping, it's like I'm getting some interference from the system." "The Time of the Machines" "Hey, Saito and Borma are back!" "Keep a close eye on that until the debriefing session is over." "Understood, sir." "I'll take good care of it." "What would you like to do?" "I'll go to the debriefing session and then come right back." "Continue your observations." "While you're doing that, simulate a full reinitialization of their Al just in case it comes to that." "Once you get your final results, call me." "Understood." "Hey, Mr. Saito!" "What did you think of the helicopter with the built-in sniper control system?" "Will Section 9 finally adopt them, too?" "No, probably not." "When I start sniping, I get some kind of interference." "For humans like me with a low prosthetics percentage, it actually makes it harder to control, not easier." "You heard the man." "I hadn't thought of that." "Other than his left eye and arm, Saito's body is all-natural." "I guess it's no wonder." "Next to Togusa, he's the cyborg with the lowest prosthetic percentage in Section 9." "Oh, that reminds me." "Did you know that the word "cyborg" is an issue these days?" "They says it's discriminatory language against people with prosthetics." "Oh, that's just reactionary conservatism from naturalists!" "What are they thinking, opposing cyberization and prosthetics in this day and age?" "I bet they feel that if they put machine parts in their bodies, the line between man and machine will be crossed." "Well, I guess I can understand that." "I can't stand that kind of warped Luddite mentality!" "And don't even get me started on NPO's nowadays." "By the way..." "Wanna link with that thing back there?" " Do you even need to ask?" " Do you even need to ask?" "Keep up the good work." "It's good to see a robot who is enthusiastic about her duties." "What are you up to?" "This prototype was left in my care until the debriefing session is over, and I mean to do just that." "C'mon, we're not gonna do anything!" "Boldfaced lies like that won't work on me." "You're right, I only tell lies." "I never, ever say anything true." "But if what he just said is true, that means he told the truth." "But if what he said just now is also a lie, that would mean that he always tells the truth." "How do you resolve this contradiction?" "Um..." "Uh..." " Well?" " C'mon!" "Um..." "Uh..." "Uh..." "Uh, I..." "I..." "Folks who can't even resolve a self-reference paradox are such suckers." "And what's with that stereotypical thinking pose?" "Who cares about that?" "Hurry up and link with it!" "Hey, don't be in such a rush!" "You'd better synchronize with us afterwards." "Hm..." "The interior is crammed full with the sniping control program..." "Aw, what a pain!" "This stuff is in the way, too." "Okay, I've got a pretty good idea of the internal construction, but it looks like this fella isn't equipped with any autonomous functions to output its condition to the outside." "It can't even talk?" "It's a sub-Turing machine!" "What a piece of junk!" "All right, I guess I'll have to connect its vocal output to mine." "Unknown factor, delete." "Identification code 0907." "Right hand." "Second finger." "Delete." "Error." "Delete." "Error." "0907?" "Isn't that Saito's ID number?" "Well, that interference isn't surprising, then." "It felt that the factors originating from Saito were unnecessary." "Oh, I get it!" "In other words, it wants to delete Saito." "Exactly." "Still, not being able to vocalize what it's feeling..." "It must have gotten really stressed out." "What do you think will happen to it?" "That all depends on the findings of the debriefing session, but it doesn't look good." "At best, it'll be sent back to the lab for further testing." "At worst, it'll be scrapped." "Well, I hope somebody will want it." "Gentlemen!" "We, too, can no longer afford to stand idly by!" "This is no time to be worrying about that thing's fate!" "Tomorrow, that may be us!" "What's he saying?" "Huh?" "What?" "Something has been nagging at me lately." "When the Major is checking on our behavior, I find the look in her eyes alarming." "What do you mean?" "You mean that the natural oil issue is still bothering her?" "It's something far worse than that, my friend!" "We ourselves might be scrapped!" "Oh, memento mori!" "Is being scrapped the same as dying?" "Well, since "death" isn't in our range of possible experiences, I can't really say..." "It's a matter of our limits as Ghostless Al's." "Basically, we're pseudo-immortal." "We're not alive, so we can't die." "That's right!" "Our not having Ghosts causes all sorts of problems!" "But being scrapped doesn't equal death." "...causes all sorts of problems!" "But being scrapped doesn't equal death." "Because a Ghost is a raison d'etre!" "Huh?" "You think?" "Because a Ghost is a raison d'etre!" "The days of there being an exact match..." "What do you think it is, then?" "The days of there being an exact match in the number of physical bodies and Ghosts are over." "Well, just to take an extreme example, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that a mass of data with no body could carry a Ghost." "Wow, I'm amazed that you could think of that." "But aren't you interested in joining the conversation over there?" "Nah, I've gotten interested in books lately." "Really?" "What'cha reading?" ""Flowers for Algernon"." "Wow, you're going to the trouble of reading it on paper media?" "Well, depicting exchanges with other cultures is a fundamental of entertainment in any age." "Hey, what do you suppose "alive" is?" "Hm, it's hard to say..." "You see, the definition of the word "life" itself is pretty fluid." "What do you mean?" "Through coming into contact with robots, the image humans have of life is changing subconsciously." "I think that it's humans that are changing, not robots." "Hey, wait a minute." "If our data got erased, do you think we'd forget Miki, too?" "Huh?" "Miki?" "I sure would like to go see Miki again!" "Yeah, I wanna see Miki!" "I wanna see her, too!" "Did they say Miki?" "I wanna see Miki, too!" " Me, too!" " I agree." "Calm down, gentlemen!" "Calm down!" "Which of us was the one who met Miki in the first place?" "It was me!" "No, me!" "No way, I'm positive it was me!" "What are you talking about?" "It was me!" "Says you!" "It was me!" " No, me!" " Me!" " It was me, darn it!" " Wait, wait!" "Back then, did any of you catch sight of somebody who seemed like the Major?" "Now that you mention it, I did sense something." "Do you suppose she was watching me?" "What're you talking about?" "!" "That was me!" "It was me, I'm telling you!" "I was..." "No, you were..." "Oh, cut that out." "It's a moot question." "All our data is synchronized, so one unit's experiences are stored as everyone's experiences." "Tachikoma!" "Mr. Batou!" "Come with me for a bit." "I'm doing some target practice for the trainees, so gimme a hand." "Coming!" "Huh?" "I guess it really was me..." "What're you mumbling about?" "Oh, it's nothing!" "Anyway, what am I gonna do with you, Mr. Batou?" "You can't even handle a little target practice without me." "I guess not." "What's this mean?" "Why was he the only one?" "I thought all our experiences were supposed to be shared." "This is some fascinating food for thought." "Perhaps memories dealing with Batou are different from other memories." "Maybe it's because Batou always wants to pilot the same unit." "And it's also true that he was the only one who was given natural oil..." "Does this mean that the body and mind really are inseparable?" "The mysteries never end!" "This is fascinating!" "Even if something ever happens to us that causes our data to get erased," "I'd sure hate to forget about Batou." " That would stink!" " No way!" "No matter what happens, don't forget Batou!" "Yeah!" "Hey, now!" "This ain't no Olympic target shooting!" "Just cut loose and keep shootin'!" "Feels pretty good..." "Say, Mr. Batou..." "About that sniper system..." "What's gonna happen to it?" "Oh, that?" "Lt'll depend on the findings of the retesting, but it looks like we're gonna pass on adopting it for use here." "It's just like those guys over there." "An unknown quantity." "Oh, I see..." "So, will we be sent back to the lab, too?" "Wha...?" "Who's been telling you that?" "Well, it's just that the way the Major's been looking at us lately is kinda scary." "Oh, is that all?" "The Major's always scary, remember?" "I think you guys are doing a fine job." "You there!" "Why are you taking so long to charge in?" "!" "For crying out loud..." "You really think so?" "What, you're still worried about that?" "Yeah..." "It just seems like the Major is angry about what we've acquired recently." ""Acquired"?" "Acquired what?" "Well, it's..." "Individuality." "Individuality?" "Yeah!" "And you know that "existence of God" thing that I had trouble understanding before?" "I think I'm starting to understand it now." "Maybe, just maybe, it's a concept that's similar to a zero in mathematics." "In other words, it's a symbol that denies the absence of meaning, the meaning that's necessitated by the delineation of one system from another." "In analog, that's God." "In digital, it's zero." "What do you think?" "Also, our basic construction is digital, right?" "So for the time being, no matter how much data we accumulate, we'll never have a Ghost." "But analog-based people like you, Mr. Batou, no matter how many digital components you add through cyberization or prosthetics, your Ghost will never be damaged." "Plus, you can even die 'cause you've got a Ghost." "You're so lucky." "Tell me, what's it feel like to have a Ghost?" "How's it feel...?" "No, I take back what I said earlier." "You're pretty messed up, all right." "Look, stop overanalyzing things." "Just concentrate on your job." "Okay!" "See ya later." "Bye bye!" "Must be nice to be the only one he ever uses." "It's not fair!" "Call me Batou's private unit!" "That stuff again?" "Sheesh, you really like that routine." "Expressing exclusivity with a horn is such a cliché." "Darn it, this is an antenna!" "Is there really any point in obsessing over external differences?" "Do looks really matter?" "Sure, I'd say they do!" "Togusa always carries around a picture of his son, making a fuss over which parts resemble his." "See?" "Look." "The nose and eyebrows, and the line from the cheek to jaw are all clearly traits inherited from him." "Oh, I see..." "Maybe the reason that Togusa doesn't have any affection for machines is because he has a son who shares his genes." "I guess that particular shape of theirs really is important to humans, isn't it?" "No, that's not right." "On the contrary, the problem is that we're too close to being human." "It's because the line that separates human from robot has already been reduced to minor differences in the physical body." "Stop and think about why our own "bodies without organs" aren't made to look human." "Efficiency as weapons, maybe?" "That's part of it, but the more important reason is that if we were humanoid, our users would overempathize with us in a weird way." "I think we'd be hated even more if we were humanoid." "What about her, then?" "She's okay because her processing capabilities are limited." "She doesn't pose a threat to humans." "She has to deal with humans on a daily basis, and to be the most versatile in human living spaces, a humanoid form is most convenient." "Because every artificial object in the world was made to be used by humans." "Oh, I see..." "What the heck should we do, then?" "What I'm trying to say is that humans want their machines to respond like machines." "Oh, I get it!" "If we acted a little more robotic maybe the Major would like us." "Exactly!" "Okay, let's call it "Operation:" "I, Robot"!" " I am a robot..." " I am a robot..." "I am a robot..." "I can't do that anymore!" "In the old days, I could be a simple robot without thinking, but now..." "That's because we really weren't thinking about anything back then." "You've got to see gaining intelligence in a more positive light!" ""Better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied," right?" "I think you're misquoting that a little bit." "The Major!" "Good-afternoon-Major." "Good afternoon." "Have you seen Batou?" "Yes-ma'am." "He-just-left-for-that-elevator-hall." "Oh." "Thanks." "Not-at-all." "You-are-welcome-ma'am." "What do you think?" "I thought that went pretty well, don't you?" "I think you're right." "That was a fairly natural robotic greeting, I thought." " Yahoo!" " It worked!" "Yay!" "Hey, wait a minute..." "I wonder what she wanted to talk to Batou about?" "What's the deal?" "Why'd you ask me to meet you here?" "The vibe I'm getting says it's not so you could come out and confess your love for me." "It was because this is the only room in the building that can be completely EM-shielded." "I can't hear anything..." ""Show Batou the data you showed me."" ""What the hell is this?"" "Just glance through it, all right?" "Have you spotted it?" "There's a camouflaged Tachikoma hanging from the corridor ceiling." "The Tachikoma is reading our lips." "Pretend that you haven't noticed." "We'll physically speak about something else as we're talking via encrypted cybercomm." "What the hell?" "Why go to all this trouble?" "Well, what's going on?" "What's Batou saying?" "Wait a minute, okay?" "Okay, let's see..." ""To make a long story short,"" ""there's a big problem with your abilities as a training instructor."" "To make a long story short, the Tachikoma have developed too far too quickly." "They've developed a sense of self as autonomous individuals." "And it doesn't stop there." "They're expressing interest in life and death, and have begun to have questions regarding their own state of being." ""Nurture their sense of self as autonomous individuals."" ""And don't stop there."" ""Raise them so they'll become beings who are interested in their own growth."" "Hey, I'm not giving them natural oil on the sly anymore, okay?" "I'm not suspecting you of doing that." "I wouldn't have a problem with this if it had happened in a lab." "But for a weapon, it's fatal." ""Hey, I'm not beating them up on the sly anymore, okay?"" ""I'm not suspecting you of doing that."" "Huh." "It doesn't look like they're talking about us." "Don't we still have the option of doing a full initialization of their Al?" "We tried that again and again in simulations." "But in the end, the results showed that the same thing would happen." "I'm sorry, but all Tachikoma use is suspended as of today." "We won't tell them, but we'll disarm them in the next few days as we wait for the research lab findings." "We'll send them back to the test lab." "Is that clear?" ""We won't tell them,"" ""but they'll get their posting transfers in the next few days as they wait for your findings,"" ""and they'll be sent here to Section 9."" ""Do you want that to happen?"" "Are you giving me an order as my superior officer?" "I am." "Then I don't have the luxury to refuse, do I?" "I'll obey." "Gentlemen!" " Well?" " How'd it go?" "It looks like we're not gonna be scrapped!" " Really?" " Are you sure?" "C'mon, tell us!" "It was Mr. Batou that the Major was mad at, not us." "She had a few words to say to him about how he was treating the trainees." "Oh, that's what it was?" "We oughta cheer up Batou next time we see him." "Yeah, you're right." "The operation was a success!" "Yay!" "Tachikoma..." "Tachikomatic Days!" "Wow, so you really can't talk...!" "That must be really inconvenient, huh?" "What lab did you come from?" "What's the matter?" "Wait, are you angry?" "!" "Look, I can't understand you if you just sit there and blink at me!" "Darn it, where the heck did you come from?" "!"