(Chapter 12 translations are coming soon so I'm jumping up ahead to save myself the effort.)
There's always tons of crows flying in Tokyo, and they always watch people. And now here's Isaac who's lying in a research lab's med office bed staring out the window. He was a genius with great expectations placed on him. He was cloned from somebody and given both great intellect and a stable personality. But then one day he contracted some strange illness that would eventually completely paralyze him. This illness differs from others in that it's highly likely for clones to get it. And this is back when the Academy's top valedictorian first contracted this illness. Nothing could be done about it, even by him. He dreamed of flying free in the sky in an aircraft he designed himself, going somewhere, anywhere. It never happened. But because he was so smart, those around him decided they only needed to save his brain. And if the brain were to go, they could just use his intellect. He became 90% machine. Then 99% machine.
Isaac: ...
Isaac hardly took interest in this. But then he thought: if I lose my original body and then my brain, am I still myself? The Ship of Theseus paradox! If a ship gradually has its parts replaced until all its original components are gone, is it still the same ship? There lies Isaac's future. He would become sealed in a steel coffin, never to see the sky again. So he looks outside again. There are crows flying once more.
Present
Duo: Okay, Healing Program D done. Robert Bertro, can you move?
Bertro: ...yes. What's going on?
Duo's treatment has now brought Bertro back to a stable condition. The loops have pushed the bodies of the designer children to their limits. Bertro also has Isaac's paralyzing condition that should have worsened over time, but Duo gives his answer.
Duo: You and Karen Curren couldn't think of anything else besides replacing your bodies when you'll eventually lock up. All I did was take over the treatment plan drafted up meant for HIM. That medical chart I brought out from Chuo was the lynchpin I needed to finish this program.
Bertro: Was that really why you went over to where Curren was?
Duo: It wasn't done in time for Isaac, but it was for you. That said, since your DNA is pretty similar I could use it mostly as is for you.
Bertro: Oh I see. You used the program for him/me--
Duo: Yes, the top of the top group I'm the spare for. Oh, you still can't move freely yet so don't push yourself too much.
Duo: So, the game's going through an upheaval right now. Tell me what you know so I can carry out my plan. Where is Isaac's brain?
Bertro: ...
The predecessors of what is now known as the Tower of Babel are the artificial geniuses gathered by the Academy. They argued, "how should humanity evolve?" After much planning and verification, Plans A, B, and C were put forward. Plan B suggested battle, technological development and aggravation of war. Plan C suggested having a super intelligence raise humanity up. The geniuses' sense of duty couldn't be measured by others. The Tokyo Loops are an experimental cage meant to prove these plans. The geniuses lost their original bodies, meddled with their minds, and continued observing even after becoming different people...
Isaac was the boy who got all A's in the Academy. His plan is to remake humanity entirely via assimilation, erasing the border of one's self and another to become something new. According to him, the world's problems come from individual differences. The basis of all disasters come from differences in affiliation, physical status, intellectual status, and wealth, so naturally blobbing all life together into one thing would stop that.
Duo: ...he was a good guy, which was weird for geniuses like us.
Duo talks about how Isaac was a cheerful guy who never looked down on others for being inferior.
Duo: And he was smart enough to be a genius among geniuses. He developed technology to digitalize the brain and connect them as part of his thesis. I was surprised his first subject for that would be himself though. His illness took his original body, and now he's transplanted himself as a information-based life form with Plan A. That's all I know since you three were REALLY good at keeping things secret.
Bertro: ...what exactly is your plan "Duo"?
Duo: I deeply respect your pride for your identity, "Bertro". Part one of my plan is to use this program to save all the geniuses. "Isaac" got it first, then you. "Curren" is probably next. I'm probably next in line after that, then my brother.
Duo theorizes that accelerating the intellect slows the body down as a reaction to that.
Duo: I don't consider that fate a good thing, so I will save you and Isaac.
Bertro: ...so what are the other parts of your plan?
Duo: Prove Plan D of course.
Bertro: ...okay then. I owe you anyways, right? I promise to tell you what I know.
Duo: Good trade! Now tell me the current situation of Tokyo...
Duo: So the Tokyo Game has 23 Players (re: World Representatives), the representatives of each world's majority will who wield great power based on their world's faith. They're in it for the trophy given to the winner. The game's judges and observers are the geniuses from the Academy, and they save their records over the loops by either remodeling themselves or expanding themselves.
Duo: The first two Players to drop out are the two who were part of the Otemachi guild, Surtr and Azathoth. All that's left of them is their artifacts. The guild's activity has been suspended, but the guildmaster still remains. Surtr and Azathoth's artifacts have been recovered by the Tower of Babel's terminal. Because of course we can't have 2 of the 23 Votes unaccounted for. The other 21 Players have been split into three groups fighting against each other.
Duo: To the west, the Warmongers. You were the guildmaster, but now on paper I've taken over. Of their ranks, Tezcatlipoca and Shiva are now gone. Five are left...actually maybe four. Balor's gone missing after a fight with the Invaders. He was last seen with some Transient teacher from Yoyogi. Reports say a native student with an artifact related to Theseus was there too, but details are unclear. Anyway...
Duo: To the south, the Invaders. Fuxi and Smoky God are out. And as far as I know, Isaac hasn't been seen anywhere either. I've checked using the authorities I got as your acting replacement, but the Tower of Babel's System can't pinpoint him. He's definitely SOMEWHERE in Tokyo though. I've looked everywhere but couldn't find him, which is unprecedented. The plans can't be compared if one of the three big guildmasters is gone, yet the Tower of Babel doesn't have a problem with this for some reason. Why?
Duo: Bertro, where is Isaac's brain?
Bertro: Hmmmm. You said you checked everywhere in Tokyo? No wonder you didn't find him. It isn't anywhere on the surface.
Duo: what
Bertro: It's in the deepest part of Tokyo.
Duo: Are you talking about the dungeons? Or the deepest cyberspace people call the dark web?
Bertro: Neither. He's physically deeper than the dungeons and conceptually deeper than the deep web.
Duo: what
Bertro: The Tokyo underground physically goes down like 10-x m, but Tokyo has a information network deeper at over 100 m, right?
Duo: WHAT
Bertor: You know the Akihabara Creators guildmaster?
Duo: You mean Turing?
Bertro: Yep. He made an AI to take real control of Tokyo's dark web. He's smart enough in his own way to be a good a genius as good as us. If you had his help, I bet it's possible to construct a new information network in the deepest part of Tokyo!
Nakano
Ose: ...the Tower of Babel's familiars include many giants, beasts, and birds.
Ose whispers the names Freki and Geri, Huginn and Muninn to himself.
Ose: They've got some nerve using other people's familiars as their own. But now I see how you can watch all of the city from the sky. Viewing down from the sky, and looking up from the sea like so, huh? Surprise, I also have the authority to use That as Odin's proxy.
Ose smiles and narrows his eyes like he's synching with a crow's vision.
Ose: Okay, I need to send in a complaint over stolen possession as the owner's proxy. Time to go to the next destination, Tokyo Rainbow Bridge. It's the greatest building that spans Tokyo Bay and the Portal of the sea floor cable network.
Rainbow Bridge
Turing: ...I just wanted to try proving the nature of humanity.
Turing is talking to someone when there is nobody else around.
Turing: What is humanity? Who am I? People might casually say they're the only one of themselves in the world, but I wanted to understand could figure out what kind of person I am from appearances alone. But aren't people just a mix of carbon, water, calcium, and other materials? I didn't want to believe that illusions like that which control us could be the real answer. I turned ugly in just a few years. Is that really who I am?
Minds and bodies change as time passes. He wanted to prove unchanging values like eternal math formulas.
Turing: Oops, I was just trying to be dry and snarky like a real Brit. Guess I shouldn't have been saying that to you when you had to leave your body due to illness. But I can't accept that this is What I Really Am. Right?
Nothing that can really respond verbally is there, just some lights that occasionally flicker back like they're signaling something.
Turing: Heh, thanks for pardoning my rudeness. I need to fulfill my promise like a gentleman. I, Turing, the Akihabara guildmaster, will bear witness to your revolution. And after the revolution I will judge whether you are human or not. Look! They're starting to attack. The time for revolution has finally come!
Wakan Tanka Inf. and Tangaroa Inf. appear(?).
Turing: ...I have to thank you since my research hit a standstill. My approach to humanity's uniqueness through pursuing AI hit its limit. If you never spoke to me, I might have been stuck there, just...
No one could hear the rest of those words over the wind that blows.
Turing: ...shall we go too, He that Used to Be Isaac? It's time to deconstruct the game by having everyone lose their bodies and their illusions.
End of Episode
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