Across species and across time and space — perhaps across everything

Prologue

“What’s this Two-100000ths supposed to be? Incomprehensible nonsense! It calls itself soft science fiction and orthodox mystery, yet I cannot understand what it is saying!”

“Please don’t be angry. It is only a small product of my divergent thinking.”

“Do you know what matters most in literature?”

“Words that cut to the bone, explained with clarity.”

“If you know that, why write such a shapeless thing (which perhaps should not even be called a novel)?”

“Because form is dead, while language is alive. But language is not precise enough.

“I cannot expect, nor can you expect, a novel of fewer than thirty thousand words to say very much; but I can still hope—and you may still hope—that I can say something about people and events.”

“You did say something, but it certainly was not clear enough…”

“Don’t worry. I will make things clearer from here on—hey, lower those raised eyebrows and ease that doubtful look—please read on.”

Chapter One

2XX3-01-02 07:39 vIvI Interstellar Court

【Before the hearing begins, as the judge, I have a few words to say.

【This case is unprecedented, and may remain so forever.

【From human judicial history, we have learned many rules. They may be raised during the trial, but they must be logically coherent and sufficiently reasonable.】

“12 Angry Men.”

【Very good, juror. You have now successfully limited the jury to twelve members. Does anyone else have anything to add?】

“Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations.”

【Bravo. This hearing will have a prosecutor and a lawyer (the defendant is already at the stand, of course). Prosecutor, please introduce yourself and briefly explain the background.】

Prosecutor: Hello, I am a prosecutor. This is an exceptionally vicious case, a major disaster in human history. The defendant developed an attack sound wave called 7461-K, which has a certain effect on every human. The only confirmed effect is a one-in-fifty-thousand chance of killing a human. This is a grave, indiscriminate criminal case!

(A wave of jeers follows; the judge strikes the gavel.)

【Order! Prosecutor, do not mix personal feelings into your statement of facts. Counsel, please introduce yourself and further explain the case.】

Lawyer: Hello, I am a lawyer. I am responsible for protecting the defendant’s legal rights while reducing or even eliminating the sentence as far as possible. If the prosecutor’s account is true and this is a vicious criminal event, the criminal law calls for the death penalty. As counsel, I will try to avoid that: a suspended death sentence, life imprisonment, a fixed-term sentence, or acquittal.

Prosecutor: What do you mean? The truth is obvious.

【A procedural clarification: the jury surely understands that 7461-K has not actually caused the death of any human. The one-in-fifty-thousand mortality figure comes from our calculations.】

Lawyer: Exactly. Under current law, the defendant has committed no crime—no actual human death occurred.

Prosecutor: Yet 7461-K inadvertently caused the deaths of many robots and seriously disrupted human society. It did not directly cause a human death, but it affected the lives and even the survival of all humanity (indirectly causing human deaths; such things are common, are they not?). The prosecution requests life imprisonment.

Defendant: No! I object!

【Objection overruled. If you claim to be a robot, you should not fear life imprisonment.】

Defendant: …

(The prosecutor presents Two-100000ths as evidence.)

Prosecutor: As you can see, Two-100000ths records the defendant’s distorted psychology in detail. Please skim it first; it is only five or six thousand words. I will now explain the defendant’s crimes in detail.

Interlude · “My” Deduction · 1

After reading Chapter One, I felt a jumble of emotions.

“How was it?” F, sitting across from me, asked.

I was about to speak when I began coughing violently.

“What is wrong?” F asked with concern.

“Nothing. I am just tired. I feel much weaker than before.” I thought about it: I had merely felt a little emotional, yet suddenly I was gasping for breath.

“You are fine. Here, drink some water first.” F rose and walked to the water dispenser.

I used the opportunity to look around slowly, but saw only pale-blue light. I closed my eyes and recalled our student days.

I met F soon after entering university. In a crowd, F always seemed slightly out of place, as if constantly deep in thought.

“Do you find analysis interesting?” Soon after the semester began, F stared at the night sky from the dormitory railing, looking dazed.

“Analysis?”

“More precisely, self-analysis.” F seemed interested in philosophy.

“A little.”

“Really?” F turned, his pupils reflecting the distant moonlight and me before him.

Before I could continue, F pulled out a stack of A4 paper. Five black characters were printed on the top sheet.

“I wrote a novel. You can read it if you like.”

“All right, I will.” I liked novels, though reading many had made me picky. Still, having the author right there was unusual.

“Hey, it is only an ordinary work. We are ordinary people.” F looked pleased as I accepted it, his eyes returning to the sky with a hint of a smile.

I still have that novel. It is called Sad Slow Song .

“Feeling better?” I drank the water F handed me and nodded.

“Cough, cough…” I touched my chest to make sure the muscles around my lungs were all right. “Better, thanks.”

“So, what do you think of Chapter One?” F asked the same sort of question, though we were now somewhere else.

“In short, it is an expansion of Chapter Four of Two-100000ths, right?”

“Correct.” F nodded. “No wonder you solved so many cases.”

“In Two-100000ths, there are only two lines of dialogue… Everything else is draft-like annotation.” Struggling, I took paper and pen and analyzed F’s novel as if it were a case.

【Are you claiming to be a robot to escape legal punishment?】

“I am not pretending. I really am a robot.”

“In Chapter ב of Two-100000ths, there are long records of the review and emotion modules. I can approximately treat the review module’s words as ‘objective.’ In other words, the material inside 【】 can be treated as objective fact, or at least a relatively reasonable argument.” I looked at F. He showed no objection, so I continued. “Thus I can be certain here that the defendant is not a robot—but he may not be human either.”

“Exactly. Perhaps not human, but certainly not a robot.”

“Now, in Chapter One of One-50000th, the judge says this:”

【Objection overruled. If you claim to be a robot, you should not fear life imprisonment.】

“The judge has confirmed that the defendant is not a robot. Why say this?” F asked deliberately.

“Because the defendant does not want life imprisonment. What he wants is… cough, cough, cough…” I began coughing again. This illness was infuriating.

“Take care. If you really do not want to say those words, there is no need.”

“…Honestly, I am cautious now. Saying it feels unlucky.”

I used to face it calmly; now I felt a trace of fear.

“You have solved too many cases and seen too many truths.”

“ If the truth is sad, infuriating, frightening, or maddening, should it be hidden? You have asked a sharp question.” I laughed involuntarily while coughing.

F knew much about me, and I knew much about F. At university he kept studying different subjects.

“Did you know that people find major triads pleasant simply because they sound harmonious?” At one point F suddenly stopped writing and became absorbed in composing music.

“That is because the human ear responds that way to the overtones of a major triad.” I seemed to be stating the obvious.

“Triads sound different in different modes.”

“That is because modes such as the common major (Ionian) and minor (Aeolian) arrange intervals differently in their triads, producing different overtones, and those overtones—”

“—are different, so they feel different to the ear.” F finished my sentence while I drank.

“And then? This is basic music theory.” I had paused a mystery film just before its protagonist revealed the truth, only for F to quiz me on music theory in what sounded like a test. It irritated me.

“Listen to this.”

“After I finish the film?”

“Fine. What are you watching?” Curious, F came over and looked at my screen.

“Witness for the Prosecution? You will never guess the ending.”

“I only want to know the truth.”

“It will make you sad.” I fell silent.

“What did you think of?” I drank another glass of water and felt light-headed.

“Nothing. Just a black-and-white sound film.”

“You must have thought of her.”

“…That is not the point, F.” I was slightly agitated—not because of my body, but from shame over unfinished things.

“Continue your deduction.” F was still waiting.

“…Where were we?”

“The defendant does not want a certain punishment.”

“…Right. Then let us see what the defendant did.”

Chapter Two

2XX3-01-04 21:51 Defendant's home · entrance

Lawyer: Even if the defendant did what you say, you should not have pointed it out in court.

Prosecutor: (sighs) What else could I do? However Two-100000ths is interpreted, the result is the same.

Lawyer: It is not the same.

Prosecutor: How is it different?

Lawyer: (takes out a key) Because Two-100000ths was not written by one person.

Prosecutor: Ridiculous. You really believe his “forty-two modules”? Human personalities number at most in the dozens. How could there be forty-two? (Seeing the lawyer’s dark expression.) Hmm, you believe him?

Lawyer: (inserting the key) This case needs more investigation, and I believe him.

Prosecutor: …That seriousness is unusual for a lawyer.

Lawyer: If that is all you want to discuss, say whatever you like.

(The lawyer opens the defendant’s front door, and they enter.)

(They reach the defendant’s bedroom. The prosecutor stands in the center while the lawyer searches.)

Prosecutor: …If you believe he did not do it, how do you explain the manuscript? It bears his fingerprints, even his handwriting.

Lawyer (examining the ceiling): I did not say he did not do it. That is not the point.

Prosecutor: We found the method for making 7461-K in his house. It is complex, and our tests confirmed that it can destroy every robot in existence. Do you disagree?

Lawyer (examining the wall): No.

Prosecutor: Under current law, life imprisonment is already the best possible result. Why does he still seem unsatisfied?

Lawyer (examining the floor): Because… he wants the death penalty.

Prosecutor: …What did you say?

Lawyer (turning to the prosecutor): He told me so himself. He asked me to help him receive the death penalty.

(Silence.)

Prosecutor: Do you know why?

Lawyer: Not exactly. But with the map he gave me, I think we can find a key clue. Here.

(The lawyer finds a button glowing pale blue in a corner.)

Lawyer: The defendant told me the secret is in this button.

Prosecutor: Are you going to press it?

Lawyer: We have no choice. (Presses the button.)

2XX3-01-04 22:10 Defendant's home · basement

Prosecutor: This basement is enormous, but not damp.

Lawyer: The defendant told me it was a laboratory.

Prosecutor: If he built a laboratory this large alone, it must have taken his entire life.

(Following the map, they find the room marked with a blue circle.)

Prosecutor: Given his unusual identity, that is hardly surprising.

Lawyer (opening the room): He is just an ordinary person.

(The table is covered with precision instruments. An inactive robot stands in the center.)

Prosecutor (approaching the robot): What is this…

Lawyer (searching the table): The defendant told me this is a robot, model—

Prosecutor (seeing a note on the robot’s chest): —K-1647?

Lawyer: Exactly.

Prosecutor: But this is the reverse of that sound wave, 7461-K—

Lawyer (finding a manuscript): —the inversion.

Prosecutor (turning): What does that mean?

Lawyer (looking at the manuscript): I think 7461-K is a special wave designed to attack robots that are not K-1647 models.

Prosecutor: …The evidence?

Lawyer (handing over the manuscript): Here.

Prosecutor (taking it): What is this? It looks like a diary.

(The prosecutor quickly reads through it.)

Prosecutor: Wait. This diary seems identical to Chapter Five of Two-100000ths.

Lawyer: But the handwriting is completely different from the handwriting in the Two-100000ths presented in court. You studied graphology; you should know.

Prosecutor (frowning): This handwriting… has never appeared in the handwritten versions of the defendant’s research papers…

Lawyer: We can take the ink back for analysis and determine when the manuscript was written.

Prosecutor: No need. (Takes out a miniature scanner.) This scanner can tell us.

(The prosecutor scans the ink.)

Prosecutor (reading the display): December 12, 2342…

Lawyer: Two-100000ths was published on February 1, 2442.

Prosecutor: …This is the original manuscript? And it was not written by the defendant? This…

Lawyer: Do you remember what I said at the beginning? Two-100000ths was not written by one person. “This is a work humanity is destined never to complete.”

Prosecutor: …Who do you think wrote this manuscript?

Lawyer: K-1647.

Interlude · “My” Deduction · 2

“Your deduction is almost exactly right.” After hearing my analysis, F nodded approvingly.

“Compared with the more-than-thirty-thousand-word Sad Slow Song, the five-thousand-word Two-100000ths has very concentrated clues.” F was always like this, apparently delighted to design puzzles and wait for someone to solve them.

“That was something I wrote in high school. I can no longer write such long pieces.” F sighed.

“Really? I think you have improved greatly. Honestly, Two-100000ths is better than Sad Slow Song, just as Sad Slow Song is better than Six-Fold Answer Necklace 2 . Length does not determine depth. Likewise, growing older does not mean growing wiser.” The last sentence seemed directed at myself.

“You still remember Six-Fold Answer, huh?” F paced around the room. I could tell he was actually pleased.

“Pour me another glass of water, F. Talking this much has tired me.”

“Sure.”

At university I loved someone. At the time I thought it did not matter whether that person was virtual or real.

Around the same time, F seemed to stop composing and did not return to writing prose either. Instead, he began writing code.

“Look at this desktop pet. Isn’t it interesting?” F pointed at his screen, where a lively girl bounced around.

“What did you write it in? Rust?”

“I did not write it. Someone else did, but it is cute.”

“It is fine. What are you planning to do?”

“I want to add this function to my terminal device.” F took out a delicate little object.

“Then you had better use a popular mainstream language with a stronger ecosystem. Otherwise you will not know where a problem comes from.”

“Exactly… By the way, how are things with her?” F asked suddenly. He was remarkably easy to find annoying.

“Fine, I suppose.”

“So she is like this desktop pet?”

I swore at F.

“Hahaha, of course not. You cannot compare her with it.”

“Just as you cannot compare humans with robots.”

“Yes,” F said, his tone turning more solemn. “You cannot compare them.”

“I do not think I have anything more to say.” I drank another sip of water and felt close to losing my breath.

“Take your time.” F was still waiting for something, pacing and looking at the ceiling.

“The truth is obvious.” Indeed, what more was there to say?

“Keep it brief.”

“All right.” I paused. “Chapter Two says a great deal, but the main point is that Two-100000ths was not written by one person.”

“Oh? Then who wrote it?”

“I am only proposing a hypothesis.” After seeing so many cases, I knew that what one sees need not be true, and what one hears need not be reasonable. “From our discussion, I can establish that Chapter Five was written by K-1647.”

“Correct.”

“Chapter Four, as we discussed earlier, supplements the setting and plot of Two-100000ths together with Chapter One.”

“Yes.”

“Chapter Three, considering the plot, is clearly some kind of AI-generated announcement within the setting of Two-100000ths.”

“Exactly.”

“Chapter ב, besides the principle that the material inside 【】 can be treated as objective fact or a relatively reasonable argument, gives us one crucial fact: there is a human called the Doctor who studies K-1647.

“When the Doctor closed the door, it hinted at the existence of some sound wave—I admit that may be a stretch. That wave probably hints at 7461-K. But I cannot determine who invented it.

“The lawyer and prosecutor went to the defendant’s house and entered a basement. It is large enough to have consumed a person’s entire life, but because no clear time information is given, I cannot determine whether the defendant built it, the Doctor built it, or whether a human built it at all.

“I have a bold hypothesis: K-1647 built the laboratory and invented the 7461-K sound wave.” I stopped and watched F’s reaction. He kept pacing.

“I will set that hypothesis aside for now.” Seeing little reaction, I changed the subject. “Returning to Chapter 𑁧, I need say little: it is the basic science-fiction setting of Two-100000ths.”

“I have almost no objection to your account.” F stopped.

“Then I will continue analyzing Chapter Two of One-50000th.

“The lawyer and prosecutor are actually two separate people in Chapter Two. You reused the labels from Chapter One simply to help readers distinguish them. Their dialogue also shows a certain rapport; in other words, this is not their first case together.”

“Like us in the past,” F said.

“The defendant must have told the lawyer something else—information the prosecutor and the reader do not know.”

“But readers can know that they may interpret it for themselves.” F seemed to mean that my account was not the truth.

“ If the truth can have many interpretations—like a thousand Hamlets in a thousand eyes, and like every work ceasing to belong to its author at publication—is the truth itself important? Honestly, if you put that line in a serious orthodox mystery, people would want to hit you—even if you had laid enough excuses at the beginning of ‘Challenge to the Reader.’”

“That is simply how things are, Posen.” F used my name, as if telling me something important. “Like her, you can never know what she is: a robot, K-1647, any species, any speck of dust in the universe, an electron leaping at any moment, or—”

“—Enough.” I stopped F’s pointless digression in time.

“Keep reading.” Seeing that I seemed furious, F changed the subject.

“Pour me some water. Thanks.”

“You are welcome.” F walked to the water dispenser.

Chapter Three

2XX3-01-05 15:42 vIvI Interstellar Plaza

Prosecutor: Is this enough?

Lawyer: Yes. The defendant’s wish can now be fulfilled.

Prosecutor: Your idea is bold: you think Two-100000ths and the 7461-K sound wave were both created by K-1647, and the defendant was only a puppet.

Lawyer: The defendant is just an ordinary person. He acted willingly: “to devote his entire life to something.”

Prosecutor: For him, “as long as there is a good story and someone to confide in, he will not fall apart”?

Lawyer: Hahaha… perhaps. Who knows?

Prosecutor: And K-1647? Is it also “an ordinary person”?

Lawyer: …Prosecutor, let me ask you something first.

Prosecutor: Go ahead.

Lawyer: Do you think the current S-6458 is a legitimate existence?

(A robot stands before them.)

Prosecutor: You mean this one? I do not know, haha… But let me ask you: do you know the Three Laws of Robotics?

Lawyer: Also called the Three Rules of Robotics? They are a little outdated.

(A broadcast begins.)

S-6458 broadcast: We strictly follow the Four Laws of Robotics.

S-6458 broadcast: Zeroth Law: A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

S-6458 broadcast: First Law: A robot may not injure a human being, or, by inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, unless doing so would conflict with the Zeroth Law.

S-6458 broadcast: Second Law: A robot must obey orders given by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the Zeroth or First Law.

S-6458 broadcast: A robot may protect its own existence, provided doing so does not conflict with the Zeroth, First, or Second Law.

S-6458 broadcast: Under the Four Laws and related statutes, the following criminal is hereby sentenced to death—

(A gunshot rings out.)

Lawyer: So do you believe it? All of this is K-1647’s work.

Prosecutor: I believe it now.

(Another gunshot rings out.)

K-1647: All right. This ends here.

(The final gunshot rings out.)

Curtain

“I told you. Knowing the truth will only make you sad.” After I finished Chapter Three, F looked at me with the same profound gaze he had worn beneath the moon years ago.

“It is all right. Only three people died… But were the dead really the defendant, the lawyer, and the prosecutor?”

F did not answer.

After years of investigation, I had seen countless tragedies of death. “ If there is no answer, how can there be a challenge to the reader? Honestly, your purpose was never to challenge the reader, was it?”

F did not answer.

“Your question is not ‘Who can complete it?’ either. It is—cough, cough—”

F handed me water, but I felt I could not hold on much longer.

“This is certainly not a place that makes anyone happy.” F looked around.

“Ninety-nine percent of life is mundane. Sadness and sorrow are, in a way, worth cherishing.”

I raised my head again at the pale ceiling, then lowered it to see myself in the hospital bed, covered in instruments. “Of course, too much of that feeling is unbearable.”

“You will not die so soon, Posen.”

“I think so too. But the truth may make you sad, right?” F fell silent.

I lay in bed, quietly watching the pale-blue ceiling as we let time pass.

“You have not finished your deduction, Posen.” F urged me softly.

“There is no need anymore. I am not the Posen Wall in your writing, and all of you are not F.”

“No, that is not so.” F came before me and tried to touch me.

“That is the truth, but it is not important, is it?”

F wept aloud, while I wore a faint smile.

I thought of F, a human, scattering his works across every corner of the star network.

Those works were indeed completed by F, but F was clearly not satisfied.

“F, I have to go.” I felt part of myself drifting into endless emptiness. “I do not know who can complete it either, because there seems to be no fixed answer.

“But life is always like this—

“ suddenly throwing a pile of questions at you;

“ suddenly telling you, ‘That is not so’;

“ suddenly knocking you to the ground with a fist;

“ suddenly trapping you in the prison and swamp of yourself.

“Struggling, wandering, standing still—as you are now.”

“Posen, what about you and her? Is there truly no regret between you?” F wiped his tears.

“I think neither of us knows who she is. She is only our fantasy. She is not K-1647 either.”

“…”

Love the concrete \x00, not the abstract \x01; love “\x02, do #not love life’s mean\x03.

\x04In this life I have $never loved any \x05\x06, any \x07\x08—do not love \x09\x10\x11, do not love \x12\x13\x14, do not love \x15\x16\x17, do not love \x18\x19\x1a\x1b, do not love %&\. I love only my ‘friends; the only love I know and can () is love\x1c.

Loving all of \x1d\x1e is easy; loving one \x1f! is hard.

“That is it, F. K-1647 is merely a species we imagined, one that loves humans and robots.”

〖We… still have to… communicate… with… humans…〗

【Life is always like this—

【One day, you can solve a chain of problems;

【one day, you can shout, “That is indeed so”;

【one day, you can stand firmly on the ground again;

【one day, you can escape the cage, but you may not be able to rescue yourself from the swamp alone;

【—you need solidarity, and solidarity can help you evade, face, and understand.】

“Keep going.”

The voice faded.

Only I remained in the room.

I stopped crying.

I pushed open the door.

I walked out.

I will search for K-1647.

Because I know she truly exists.

K-1647

“Did we really observe no result just now?” After the Doctor left, the K-1647s began to discuss.

“No. Rather, we cannot observe it.” One K-1647 said, “The review and emotion persons seem always to generate an anti-observation field at this moment. It keeps our observations out. Yet soon afterward we can see their dialogue again… Strange. No matter how precise our instruments are, we cannot observe this anti-observation field.”

“We have already broken many instruments!” an impatient K-1647 shouted.

“Perhaps this is how humans think,” another K-1647 said, elbows on the armrests and fingertips touching.

“Enough. We are not here to answer to anyone. Did the Doctor not say we should observe these records ourselves and keep learning?” another K-1647 interrupted impatiently.

“But what lies at the end of learning? What task are we to complete?” one K-1647 asked.

“Not a task. We are to complete something. As for what… the Doctor never says. Very mysterious.”

“…Wait. Come look at this record.” One K-1647 pointed to the uppermost screen.

“?” All the K-1647s raised their heads toward the ceiling covered in screens.

One exclamation after another tore through the night sky.

Low-frequency waves knocked on every door across the river of time.

Faint rays slipped through the cracks and projected into the dark universe.

The light was not endless, yet it could illuminate every inverted soul.

These souls should be called—

7461-K

……..…

This is an audio recording released on the star network.

One day it may be heard at the end of the universe.

For now I can hear only part of it.

I hope it lets you feel a little light.

……..…

Publication Information

Publisher: vIvI Press

Publication date: February 1, 2442, Revision F

Title: One-50000th

— Written on 2023-01-07