I Favor the Villainess

231. All Beginnings (1)

Claire-François (first (·) circumference (·) eye (·)) perspective.

"How's it going, Claire?"

Rather than asking questions, the words had a colour of evacuation after knowing the results.

This is the office of the director of a research facility run by the U.S. government.

I am here in response to the call.

Unlike other rooms in the Institute, the director's office is more like the president's office of a general company.

The person before you is the director of this institute.

It looks like a typical Anglo-Saxon, probably in her 50s.

Rather than being a researcher, he was given the position of director by buying a managerial arm.

I was very bad at this man. [M]

"... I'm in the middle of something. It will take time, but my research..."

"I don't want to hear any excuses. No results have been obtained. I mean, that's what this is about, right?

The station chief tries to interrupt me.

"There is not much time left for mankind. I have no time or money to wait for your research."

"... no more"

Regrettably, the director has a point.

Humanity is now in danger of survival.

"I was expecting this from you, and I gave you time and money. But I can't wait any longer. Let me expire. Six months."

"Oh no! As I said before, my research is not a short-term perspective, but a long-term one -"

"The government has begun to squeeze research funding. They're finally starting to think only of protecting themselves."

――

That means leaving the vast majority of the public behind and running away on their own.

I don't know if there's one, but it's a paradise in the universe.

"This is a decision. Get results in six months."

"... I see."

I left the director's office in my disappointment.

A cool corridor feels more chilly than the actual temperature.

"How was it, Claire? Another tip from the director?

When I returned to my lab, my coworker, René, slapped me lightly.

A researcher of my age, a happy woman with fluffy linen hair.

I didn't get along with it, I threw the presentations I was supposed to show to the station chief on my desk, and I put them in my chair.

"... what happened?

My colleague calls out to me carefree, wondering if I've noticed anything strange about the boulder.

"If I don't get the results in six months, they'll fire me."

"Haah!? That's impossible!?

Rene changed her bloodphase and screamed.

"That's what I said. But the station chief can't go out with me."

"Hahh, this is why the literature is here. Those people have no idea what research is like. There's no such thing as a convenient study that can definitely produce results."

Rene began to line up her dissatisfaction.

She is not trying to speak ill of the director, she is trying to show me empathy.

"Thank you, Rene. You will be saved."

"No, but I'm in trouble. Six months..."

"Yeah, six months would be tough even if he used his (...) woman (...) to the fullest."

That's my daughter, too.

A collection of studies that took me half my life.

"Ah, that's just fine. Let's ask her how she should move. Maybe you can give me some advice. Time!"

That said, Raine pulled my white sleeve and opened the door to the lab next to the lab.

"Hello, Raine. Is something wrong?

She responded in English, which was incredibly fluent in synthetic voice.

The Artificial Inteligence for Mankind - abbreviated as TAIM - is a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence designed to solve mankind's plight.

My research was to create her and use her to save humanity.

At the end of the twenty-first century, mankind's very existence is in danger.

After all, the environmental problems feared since the previous century have not been solved. As the temperature rises, the sea level rises, and the coastline has shredded for several kilometers over the past hundred years.

In summer, temperatures rise to a point where you can't move for minutes without a cooler suit, and in winter, on the other hand, the last two digits of the freeze go on for days to come.

Climate change is directly impacting crops, and severe food shortages are becoming chronic.

The population that was projected to approach 10 billion at the beginning of the twenty-first century is actually dwindling and is now down to 1 billion people worldwide.

Hundreds of millions of people will not be strange to die if they do not continue to benefit from science, and humankind lives in tremor with two characters of realistic doom.

In recent years, cooperation has been forged to solve the situation, driven by the sense of crisis that governments were initially trying to hold each other accountable for environmental destruction, but not when they were doing so.

This laboratory is also part of it.

However, the environmental destruction that has gone too far has been exacerbated beyond our control, and the prospects for a solution are not at all open, even if mankind makes every effort to do so.

"Hi Claire too. Can I help you?

A woman's hologram rising in front of the time plane is looking at us.

She is the time interface.

She has red eyes on her silver hair and a fairy appearance that is slightly human apart.

"Yeah, I got into a little trouble. Can I talk to you for a minute?

"With pleasure."

Time is my artificial intelligence.

She is an AI that employs a quantum computer council system, created using distributed computing.

It appears on the surface to have a single personality, but is a collection of individual AIs with hundreds of different characteristics inside.

The computational power of time - and thus the ability to think - far outweighs humans.

"The director told me to get results in six months. Tell us what you think about it."

When Time showed me how to think a little, I answered.

"As it stands, it will be difficult to produce results within six months. I want you to look at me for a few more years to find a solution to the situation."

"... I see."

No matter how much super high performance AI is, it's not God.

Yes, there is no way that a convenient answer will come back.

I was a little disappointed with the imaginary answer and felt a certain sense of abandonment.

"May I offer you one suggestion, Claire?"

"What is it?

"I guess it's impossible for me, Claire, and Rene alone to produce results in six months."

That's right.

"But if you add one more person here, it's a really small chance, but it could have beneficial results in the short term."

Is hope connected...?

"Who is it and who is it?

If I could get results, I would have pulled him out even if he demanded a slightly higher reward.