Chapter 38

Upon stepping outside the building, a sports car she was seeing for the first time was waiting, as expected. The car door slid open smoothly to greet them.

Adam spoke elegantly.

“Please board, Princess.”

Shuri became bewildered. For the time being, she boarded the passenger seat exactly as Adam led her, and asked Adam who was sitting in the driver’s seat.

“What is all this? Weren’t we going to the medical center to meet Nightingale?”

“That is correct. However, it seems a little bit of work will be added due to N0138’s schedule.”

“What kind of work?”

Placing his hands on the steering wheel, Adam spoke.

“In truth, N0138 was scheduled to enter decommissioning procedures today.”

Shuri was startled.

“Nightingale is being decommissioned? Why?”

“Because she caused a severe error.”

Continuing to drive the car forward, he went on speaking.

“In truth, Nightingale showing attachment to a specific patient was an error that occurred from time to time. When that happens, deleting data from a certain period returns them to a normal state. However, N0138 didn’t just stop at causing an error, she put it into action. This is quite a severe problem.”

“That is a problem? I don’t really know. She simply couldn’t pass by a child and saved them. More importantly…!”

Isn’t manipulating the surgery success rate of a medical robot a bigger problem?

Shuri barely swallowed the words she truly wished to say.

‘No. If it is the medical department of the Disaster Response Bureau… I must not get entangled. I do not know. I did not hear it. It is something I know nothing about!’

To Shuri who was enthusiastically brainwashing herself, Adam explained calmly.

“That is true. N0138 saved a child. However, it is an undeniable fact that that is an error.

Furthermore, Nightingale is an aging first-generation medical robot. If she caused a problem, it is natural for her to become a primary target for decommissioning.“

“This makes no sense. Decommissioning such a kind and smart robot? From the moment she was created, she devoted her entire life to humans…”

At Shuri’s words, Adam let out a light chuckling sound. He spoke affectionately.

“Shuri, that is the case for all machinery.”

With her two eyes welling up, Shuri stared at Adam. Adam also quietly peered into her face.

With a weeping face, Shuri spoke.

“But Adam, it is too strange that you are driving without looking forward…!”

“Is that so? Then how about this?”

Adam lifted his hands off the steering wheel for her to see. Shuri’s heart almost dropped.

“The steering wheel, grab the steering wheel!”

“In truth, it was under autonomous driving. I was merely holding the steering wheel to appear cool.”

It was exactly as Adam said. Even though Adam released his hands, the steering wheel moved minutely, dodging obstacles on the damaged road this way and that to maintain a comfortable drive.

Sweeping her hand over her chest in relief, a sudden question popped into Shuri’s mind. She asked cautiously.

“More importantly, Adam. Do you possess a license?”

Adam laughed out loud.

“Shuri, here is a question. Do you believe an artificial intelligence would possess a license?”

Shuri shrieked.

“Stop the car…!”

The correct answer was that artificial intelligence possessed a license as well.

“I obtained it as a test. Though it cannot serve the role of an identification card since I am an artificial intelligence.”

Shuri sniffled while turning her back to Adam.

“As expected, I must never ride a car driven by someone else. It is too, too scary…”

“Shuri, did something happen in the past?”

“I once rode a truck driven by Kamal. While traveling fifteen kilometers, he hit deer twice…”

“Oh dear.”

“Kamal was glad, saying we got meat… It is glaringly obvious that to Kamal, driving is nothing short of hunting.”

“However, I have not bumped into a single flying insect, you see? Now, we have arrived at the destination very safely.”

Raising her head, Shuri peeked out the window slightly. Exactly as Adam said, before anyone realized, they were in the heart of Revnax. Not far away, the signboard of the medical center under the Disaster Response Bureau was visible. Beholding the signboard, Shuri covertly pulled out her sunglasses from her bag.

Unbuckling her seatbelt, Adam spoke affectionately.

“Shuri, cheer up. Once the health checkup finishes, I shall buy you your favorite vanilla frappe at the cafe on 221st Street.”

At the words vanilla frappe, Shuri stared at Adam with her lips pouted. Adam was wearing a bright, cute smile.

[♡^-^♡]

“……Jumbo size.”

“That will not do.”

“Then, large. And pudding topping! I cannot compromise on this.”

“Ha, it cannot be helped, I suppose. Instead, less syrup.”

Shuri nodded her head. At that, Adam extended his hand. As she grasped that hand, the negotiation was settled.

Imagining a vanilla frappe topped with squishy, homemade pudding, she gained energy. Shuri stepped out of the car while donning her sunglasses coolly.

N0138 was waiting for them in a small office of the center. A inspector dispatched from UH was together with her as well.

As Adam opened the office door and walked inside, the inspector stared at Adam with a blank face. Deeming that he had misseen something, he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and stared at Adam again.

Adam spoke amiably.

“You are the inspector belonging to UH’s Robotics System Evaluation Bureau, correct? I am Central 3, Adam.”

“C-Central 3?”

Startled, the inspector leaped up from his seat.

“Th-That is correct! It is an honor to meet you. I am the first-class inspector of the Robotics System Evaluation Bureau, Jiss Walker!”

“I am glad to meet you as well. Mr. Walker, this is Miss Shuri.”

Latedly discovering Shuri who had been hidden behind Adam’s massive physique, Jiss smiled goofily.

“Wow, this is quite an enormously cute robot.”

Taking off her sunglasses out of absurdity, Shuri spoke.

“I am a human, you know? I am an AI engineer!”

“Gasp, such an impoliteness. I am sorry…!”

Jiss massaged the corners of his eyes frantically with his blunt fingertips.

“I am sorry. It is a mistake I make occasionally, but I made it again. Because I live all day long amidst nothing but robots, human-looking humanoids, and humanoids customized to look more perfectly human from human-looking humanoids, I have reached a state where even a person appears like a robot…”

Shuri covertly scanned Jiss’s appearance with a gaze containing a bit of pity.

Jiss wore dark overalls that inspectors wore over a sturdy body that looked capable of carrying a robot or two lightly, and he pressed a hat engraved with UH’s logo down over his disheveled hair.

Though his attire was ragged like that, Jiss was nevertheless a handsome man whose good looks made one think he was handsome first. However, perhaps due to suffering under heavy workload, the corners of his eyes were pitch-black.

“…Therefore, what is needed right now is as expected, a renaissance!”

And perhaps precisely due to the heavy workload, his condition did not appear good.
Not knowing what would be good to answer, Shuri merely nodded her head roughly while wearing a dazed smile. Jiss smiled brightly along with her and bobbed his head.

“It is truly good to converse with a person after a long time. When you are among robots, it is one of two things: keeping your mouth shut and maintaining silence, or continuing a conversation while babbling useless things eternally. Wow, I truly love this appropriate sense of distance!”

“Mr. Walker.”

Unable to watch any longer, Adam rescued Shuri.

“You received the official document, correct? We came to meet N0138. May we interview N0138 for a moment?”

“Ah, of course. Fortuitously, the testing has mostly concluded as well.”

Verifying his laptop, Jiss walked behind Nightingale and spoke cheerfully while pulling out the connection cord from the back of the medical robot’s head.

“The judgment results will emerge soon as well. Please look around comfortably!”

Pulling out the rabbit doll from her bag, Shuri cautiously approached Nightingale. The rebooted Nightingale slowly raised her head to look at her. She then greeted her in an amiable voice, as if she knew absolutely nothing of the fate approaching her.

“Miss Shuri, I am glad to meet you again. How are your wounds?”

Shuri wore a smile.

“They’ve become quite better. It’s thanks to you and Adam. Thank you for back then. And this.”

She extended the doll toward Nightingale.

“You dropped it in my car and left.”

Nightingale spoke in a soft voice.

“Miss Shuri, I am grateful, but I am not the owner of this object. It was merely entrusted to me for a short while. If it is alright, could you return this doll to its original owner? That child’s name is Riley Dalton.”

“The child who called you Mom, right?”

Nightingale nodded her head.

“That is correct.”

Jiss called them.

“Adam, and Miss Shuri! The test results emerged, do you happen to wish to know them?”

Turning around to Jiss, Shuri nodded her head. And after placing the doll into Nightingale’s hand for now, she approached Jiss.

Turning his laptop around, Jiss displayed the screen to Adam and Shuri.

“This is the simulation test result applied to medical robots. If it is ninety points or higher, returning to the field is possible, and if it is eighty points or higher, they become targets for maintenance and monitoring. And below eighty points is a recommendation for decommissioning.”

On the screen, the score was displayed in blue letters. Eighty-five points. That was a green light. However, beneath the score, a bright red warning phrase that crushed all that hope was displayed. Immediate recommendation for decommissioning.