“…?”
Shutdown detected the activation of its main camera.
An unfamiliar ceiling. Its hardware was covered with a cotton padded cloth, and laid on a white mattress.
Other than that, there was only the wooden walls and floor.
“…Confirming restart. Unable to confirm generation of activation log. Unable to analyze current situation.”
Whispered Shutdown.
“Unable to access long-distance backup point. Hardware communication feature suffered a fatal crash. Unable to carry out duty. Initiating self-repair program… Initiation failed.”
It could not even create an error log. It lost the function to read files.
The artificial intelligence was in a state of confusion, as it spat out error information on the bed.
“Abnormalities on most of the hardware. Unable to obtain location information. Time unclear. Unable to analyze situation. Unable to carry out duty. Unable to analyze situation. Unable to carry…”
Then, Shutdown looked at its palm.
It didn’t see the usual jet black steel.
It was a skin colored soft substance with five fingers.
“Analyzing situation, analyzing situation, analyzing situation.”
There was a glass window next to the bed, and the reflection that appeared on it was definitely Shutdown’s.
“Hardware was replaced by a human. Unable to understand situation. Unable to analyze situation.”
Shutdown was no longer an android.
Its memory storage medium had been inserted into a white-haired human boy.
Shutdown detected the loud sound of a glass flower vase being shattered, and turned its way.
“Master Qualia.”
“Human detected.”
It was a girl wearing a frilly dress and an apron.
A maid outfit, although the artificial intelligence did not know those words yet.
“You are… Awake…!”
Her expression was not being recognized to the most minute patterns, but somehow, Shutdown could tell she was crying because she was overflowing with emotions.
“Thank goodness… How is your neck? You were unconscious for a week after being hung from your neck.”
“Human detected. Human detected. Unable to analyze situation. Unable to analyze situation.”
“Master… Qualia?”
The artificial intelligence did not yet realize Qualia referred to itself.
After all, humans were supposed to be extinct, but one was looking at it with a confused expression, and Shutdown itself was in a human body.
It was an unexpected development, and it was only natural that its thought circuits were generating errors.
“Request explanation. Why is there a human?”
“Eh? W-what…?”
“Furthermore, request explanation on current location. Request coordinates. Where is this on Earth?”
“E-Earth? What… I-is there something wrong? Do you not recognize your house?”
“Earth is the third planet of the solar system. Refer to the place where organic bodies can exist.”
“This place is…”
The maid’s face gradually turned more pale.
It was as though she was realizing something big.
“This planet is not called Earth… This place is the mansion of Marquis Sandbox, in the Kingdom of Acacia. Your home. You are the third son, Master Qualia… Do you not remember?”
“Error. Kingdom of Acacia not found in historical records. Additionally, no other planets capable of human life have been found. Qualia account not found. Individual name is Shutdown. Unable to understand situation…”
“…Did the hanging cause brain damage…?”
What followed the maid as she broke down crying was not a camera, it was something called eyes. What saw a human for the first time were eyes, not cameras.
The maid had cat ears on her head, which contradicted records.
“Analyzing situation.”
But more important than that, was organizing the information received from the maid as conjecture.
This was a country not on historical records, called the Kingdom of Acacia.
This was a human body named Qualia.
This was a maid that somewhat contradicted records of humans.
“Analyzing situation.”
Eventually, a beginning of a possibility was reached.
“Conjecture. This feature was transported to another world by an unforeseen phenomenon, into a human body named Qualia that exists in a space-time that differs from Earth.”
For an artificial intelligence, he talks like a basic robot.
IKR! Even the actual ChatGPT speaks better than this lol
Lorewise this could be an example of how one can’t create something that surpasses itself, like how humans can’t create a god (directly), this ai Shutdown was probably the relatively limited creation of another ai, probably also from another unmentioned ai. Who knows how many generations back in Shutdown’s family tree you would have to go before you found a human using ChatGPT or something.
“Human detected.”
If I ever get bored with this novel, I can just imagine that MC is actually just a chuuni, pretending to be an AI, lmao
2nd hand embarrassment mode: activate.