Ba... Batou!
You talk big now, huh? Where did you learn to talk big enough to address me without any -san or -sama?
I haven't forgotten the favour you did for me!
"I don't have to remember because I never forget," huh? [Trans. Note: He's quoting Takao Dayuu. ]
Forgive me, Batou... -san!
I'm too good to be addressed with just " - san" from you.
Please forgive me! I promise I'll remember this favour forever!
You know this Kim guy, right?
I don't know anyone like that.
No, that name is everywhere in this city.
There's only one Kim I'm looking for.
We need trust in this line of business.
"There's two kinds of trust: Keeping secrets, and keeping promises. "
You can't do both. Which kind is your trust?
They also say "without secrets, there is no promise"!
I'll ask it again. You know the Kim guy, right?
No, I don't know anyone with such a name...
"Life and death come and goes, (Like that of) A puppet in front of a stage, When the string breaks, (The puppet) falls apart. "
And?
He used to be a long distance scout for the Army.
"If you can't go on top of people, or go below people, you deserve to fall on the roadside. " That's him in a nutshell.
He drifted from special forces to electronic forces and so on.
Smuggled weapons and contraband, so he ended up with a bad reputation.
In the end, he settled down as hacker, as is often the case with these types.
"Amazing background", isn't it?
"If an ass goes a-traveling, he'll not come back a horse. "
He ruined himself, as I expected from his personality. He's just an idiot.
Let's go.
[Trans. Note: "Aemaeth" means "Truth" in Hebrew. ]
Batou, he's in the study on the top floor.
We're too late.
He probably tried to hide underground somewhere.
He got his brain burnt out by an offensive firewall.
In any case, he wouldn't have been much help like this.
"As a testament, I rigidly ask you all not to donate any live flowers, artificial flowers, or 'White Dove Releases'," it says.
Hey!
"When you sleep alone, you never look miserable like dead body. " [Trans. Note: Quoting Confucius. ]
Confucius-sama says you should not sleep like a corpse. [Trans. Note: The "- sama" is supposed to be sarcastic. ]
I don't have time to deal with your trashy joke.
Long time no see. Last time we met was the landing operation in Nemuro.
I'm here on business.
Locus Solus huh?
They entered the market late as a robot manufacturer, but
they expanded the business rapidly after they concentrated on developing and producing high-class gynoids.
Rumour is, they have close ties with politicians, high level government official, and even criminal organizations.
They placed their production line on their multinational-registered plant ship, anchored off shore, as they were fearful of the
Their dolls are supposed to be pretty good. [Trans. Note: He's supposed to sound sarcastic. ]
Good enough to murder and commit suicide in the end, huh?
If that's true, it's a tactless story.
I can't understand people trying to put a soul into a doll and imitate a human.
If there were such a thing as a truly beautiful doll,
it would be flesh and blood without a soul.
A corpse at the edges of collapsing, yet standing precariously at its precipice.
Is that the reason to you transformed yourself into a pure Al?<font
Humans are inferior to dolls in the beauty of their appearance and movement.
No, even in their existence.
The inomniscient nature of Human's perception,
causes the incompletion of reality...
How complete this species is. Either they don't have consciousness,
or they acquire the infinite consciousness.
In other words, it can be realized only in dolls and Gods.
Why don't we talk business now?
No...
There's one other existence that can compare to dolls and Gods.
Animals?
Shelley's lark is...
full of deep unconscious joy.
Joy that creatures with strong self-consciousness like us can never feel.
For the offsprings of those who devour the fruit of perception,
It's more difficult than becoming God.
They have no choice but to pretend to be dead by becoming dolls.
Is that why?
"While you do not know life, how can you know about death?" So says Confucius.
Humans that understand death are rare.
"We usually do not suffer death by choice, but rather by stupidity and custom. " [Trans. Note: Quoting La Rochefoucauld. ]
In other words humans die because they can't help dying,
but dolls in flesh and blood live knowing death is a given.
That's the reason Kim chose to turn himself into a robot completely.
And?
After that, he drifted from special forces to electronic forces and so on.
Smuggled weapons and contraband, so he ended up with a bad reputation.
In the end, he settled down as hacker, as is often the case with these types.
"Amazing background", it is. <!- This is not an error. The first time, he asks a questions, the second time, he makes a stateme
"If an ass goes a-traveling, he'll not come back a... "
What's wrong? Let's go.
[Trans. Note: "Maeth" means "Death" in Hebrew. ]
Batou!
"In this month, today, I have passed away happily. "
"Please advertise this publicly. "
Hey!
You feel really disgusted, don't you?
I can understand that.
The doubt that what looks alive is actually alive...
Contrarily,
the doubt that things without life might be alive...
The reason why dolls are creepy is...
...that dolls are models of human,
and it means they are nothing but humans themselves.
The fear that humans might merely be the sum of simple clockwork tricks and substances...
In other words the fear of the phenomena called "human"...
essentially belongs to vanity.
Come on, let's talk business.
The science that tried to explain the phenomena called "life"
played a role in producing this fear.
The belief that nature could be calculated leads to
the conclusion that humans can be resolved into simple machinery.
"The human body is a machine which winds its own springs. It is the living image of perpetual movement. " [Trans. Note: He's qu
The human-machinery theory of the 18th century...
has been revived by the technology of implanting artificial brains and cyborgs.
Since the time when computers made it possible to externalize the memory,
in order to extend the limits of their functions as a creature,
humans kept actively machinalizing themselves.
It's a sign of the intention to get over the natural selection of Darwin and try to win the fights of evolutionary theory on th
And it is also the intention to conquer the nature that created them.
The illusion that life is equipped with complete hardware is
the source of this nightmare itself.
"God... ever... geometrizes... " [Trans. Note: Quoting Plato. ]
Let's go.
Batou!
How do you feel?
What happened to me?
That was a virtual experience maze. You got hacked by the Al.
Just as good luck happens three times, bad luck also gives three signs.
You don't see because you don't want to. Even if you realize, you won't admit it. If someone tells you, you won't listen.
And you and up with catastrophe.
However, in our world, you don't even get three signs;
If you overlook the first sign, that's the end.
I told you, I don't have time for your nonsense.
When did you figure it out?
The one who is trying to deceive gets easily deceived.
You might have been a professional ghosthacker,
but too bad for you I'm also a professional of counter-espionage.
And also, I have a guardian angel.
Search the for the record of the hall from that huge saved data in the external memory device.
In Jacob Grimm's stories,
The golem was imbued with life from the word "aemaeth" written on its forehead;
In other words, the word "truth".
but it then had its prefix "AE" deleted, so now it said "MEATH"
Specifically, it had "death" written on it, and the golem returned to lifeless clay.
That was the angel's voice saying there is no truth in this mansion.
You're saying you hacked through the firewall I built?
No way! No one can do such thing!
I told you, it's my guardian angel.
Game over, Kim. You've got a lot of explaining to do.
That's just a doll.
You've become a bad loser, Kim. You think you can deceive me like that?
Batou, how can you be sure that this is not the continuation of the virtual reality signal I created?
I hear a whisper... in my Ghost.
Humans are merely the material from which the dream called "life" is weaved;
"Dreams"... "Cognition"... and even "ghosts"...
If they were cracks or distortions in the uniform matrix of reality...
Then I'd also be a useless empty shell, like you,
but the shoes I'm wearing are different from yours.
For a bastard who doesn't believe in ghosts,
there's no such thing as insanity or nervous breakdowns.
Your so-called shell will continue to function physically until the unworthy death comes to you.
Ag - aaahh...
Are you sure we are back to the physical reality?
There's nothing that distinguishes "artificial" memories from "experienced" memories.
Whichever one this is,
you'll only ever realize later on.
It's impossible to know you're in a dream when you're dreaming. Sucks, huh?
As long as you have Al and allow external input to write to your memory,
that's the price you have to pay.
How can you be sure your wife and daughter who are waiting in your house actually exist?
Maybe you're just a single guy
dreaming, in some room, of having family.
Would you want to wake up from that dream?
If you knew, why didn't you stop it?!
I needed to make sure Locus had hired Kim.
They expected me to come and ask Kim for a favour, so they set up a trap.
Tried to drive me off by putting me through a nightmarish virtual experience. Probably something like that.
When they screwed me over and got me to shoot my right arm off,
they might have put a branch in my Al.
Like Ishikawa said,
there aren't many guys out there who can do this kind of stuff.
Locus Solus knows that too.
So you expected this from the beginning.
I was going to pretend to be trapped and try to get to Kim's Al,
but that Kim bastard, he's got some skills.
If there was no sign, I would have certainly never escaped.
What about the "guardian angel" you were talking about?
She's gone.
Over the crack of the uniform matrix.
Somewhere in the vast net growing together with its whole domain.
If you want to search for evidence that you exist, there are ways as many as there are ghosts.
For example, you have a daughter.
When we were in the jungle,
Kim would have known this too.
There's only one thing I figured out.
What?
I'm not good enough to be your partner.
So you want to give up now.
I know I say this many times, but
I want to stay alive and go back to my daughter.
You gotta earn that pay check, though.
What more is there to do?
With the data in Kim's Al, we can prove that Locus Solus is connected to the crime that...
All we have evidence of is obstructing police investigation,
and violation of Al ethics.
Even worst, our investigation is unofficial.
We need material evidence to charge them with the liability for the gynoids serial murder case.
You say so, but you've broken the line from Kim's head!
It's not broken. His ghost-packed Al is still connected to Locus Solus.
We have to act quickly before they dispose of all the evidence.
People in the old days said a good thing like this:
"He is my disciple no more. Beat the drum, my little ones, and attack him: you have my permission. " [Trans. Note: Quoting Conf
It's time to ditch the negotiation and start the violence.
Hey, this is different from our raids on the Yakuzas.
I
"Birds hide up high in the sky, and fish hide deep in the water. " [Trans. Note: Quoting Ryokuu Saitou. ]
I've made contact with the escort.
Roger.
I'm surprised you decided to dive with that body.
It's very deep around here, so if you sink, we won't be able to find you.
I used to know this cyborg who dived as a hobby. [Trans. Note: See Ghost in the Shell 1]
And?
I didn't understand her.
I'm doing this for you only because Lin introduced you.
I hear nobody has come back alive after going into that ship.
So I don't understand you either.
I know. Keep going.
Hang on tight.
In twelve seconds, I'll be in contact with the picket radius of the sensor.
I'll run the virtual signal on the line for only two seconds.
Roger.
This guy is directly connected to the security chief's Al.
Initializing synchronization.
I'm in. Give me the ship schematics.
Load completed. Are you on my eyes?
Of course! My great senior is going in. I've started recording.
Watch and learn, little boy.
[Trans. Note: These next few lines are spoken in Chinese rather than Japanese. ]
Intrusion!
Security system restarted on level two.
Probing the whole facility for Al activity.
Searching for the terminal with memory activity matching the size of the virus.
Searching for incubating virii at the same time.
Linking to the security chief impossible.
Performing system reboot.
System reboot completed. Security level two initialized.
Setting up detour into the invader.
Rebuilding the firewall.
Loading antivirus definitions.
Virus scan in progress.
Tracing. Equip decoys.
Incubating virus pattern found in the firewall. They have all become active.
Firewall 014 breached.
Firewall 032 error number 280 occurred.
Quarantining infected areas.
Surrounding firewall. Rebuilding at level one.
Enemy attacking firewall. Movement pattern identified.
Starting virus transfer.
Evacuate! It's too dangerous from here! You'll get your brain burnt out!
Not yet. I can do a little bit more.
Idiot! Don't be unreasonable.
[Trans. Note: This is a repetition of the "Puppet" poem by Zeami. ]
[Trans. Note: These lines are in Chinese. ]
Gynoid's production line.
There was irregular input at the last process of type Hadaly.
Presumed to be unidentified incubating pattern virus.
Deploy all antiviral tools and inhibit it.
Impossible. The whole fuselage operation cannot link to the system.
Combat mode body control program loading in progress.
Caution. The body of THO7 line malfunctioning.
Security team, arm yourself and proceed to the line in question. Repeat...
The holy spirit has arrived.
Long time no see, Major.
Or how should I call you now?
Technically, only part of me was loaded through the satellite.
This gynoid Al's memory capacity is a little cramp.
It's already full with just my combat mode body control system.
So forgive the quality of my facial expression and voice.
Pass this corridor, about 50 meters ahead,
there should be an emergency terminal.
I'll connect from there and overwhelm the system all at once.
You haven't changed at all.
Go ahead, point man. I will back you up.
Just like old times.
"Some look into a mirror and don't look evil. "
"It doesn't reflect evil, but create it. "
Hey, this is no time to get all emotional.
Not much ammo left.
"Namely, you should look down on mirrors; don't look into it. " [Trans. Note: Continuing the quote from Ryokuu Saitou]
Hey, are you okay?
I just have to hold this ship's control system.
Connect this to the side terminal on the floor.
I'm going to have to shut down physical control over this body until I finish hacking.
It's entirely up to your.30 calibre.
I can handle the shooting, but there's only 1 extra clip left.
If this turns into hand-to-hand combat, I can't guarantee I'll be able to hold them off.
I'm going to start.
There is irregular connection to the main system from within the ship.
Within the ship?
Searching for the connection point. Deploying offensive firewall.
There are multiple virtual signals from multiple terminals.
There is no indication of any Al activity increasing at any of the terminals.
Searching for all the external connection points.
Shutting down all the external connection including our company's line.
Input device outside the ship physically separated.
No response from emergency control system.
Remote initialization impossible.
Virus integration and spreading mode in progress in each section.
Core system firewall breached.
Preparing for system reboot.
Data quarantine started at level one.
Many irregular connection found in the core system.
Response speed is not keeping up.
I've overwhelmed them. I closed down all the external connections.
This ship is in stand-alone mode.
It's moving?
This ship is heading towards the nearest country where we'll have jurisdiction to prosecute.
This ship itself is the evidence we need to prove Locus Solus' crime.
What if Locus tries to recapture the ship?
A convoy will show up to escort it.
I have already contacted naval support.
Meanwhile, why don't we go take a look at the secret behind Locus Solus' ability to imbue their dolls with soul?
You already know the secret, don't you?
You have some idea too, right?
There's no noise. Are they shielding from electromagnetic radiation?
Ghost dubbing.
By experimenting on animals, they've discovered that they can make a poor quality mass-copy,
but the original brain gets destroyed in the process, so this technology was banned.
They brainwash the children smuggled by the Koujinkai,
and dub their ghosts into the gynoids' bodies.
No wonder Locus Solus' gynoids were so lifelike.
Help me
You came to help me. Mr. Walkerson said so.
He said that people from the police will come. That they would help me.
I am at my 4th dubbing, but Sowana who came with me is at her 5th.
She doesn't hear anything and she doesn't answer anymore.
The head of inspector who got killed changed the ethics code programming for these kids. When Locus found out, they had him kil
He said if the robots create some accidents, then somebody will notice.
That someone will come help us.
Don't you realize what kind of chaos you have caused?
I'm not talking about just about the humans...
Didn't you think about the dolls who were forced to have malicious ghosts dubbed into them?!
B - But... But...
I didn't want to become a doll!
"You cry for bird's blood, but not for fish's blood. "
"Fortunate for ones with voice. "
If the dolls also had voices,
they would have screamed "I didn't want to become human!"
Let me ask you something. Do you think you're happy now?
Well... I'm feeling nostalgic...
At least I am at peace at this point.
"Let one live alone doing no evil, care-free," [Trans. Note: Quoting Buddha]
"like an elephant in the elephant forest. " [Trans. Note: Quoting Buddha]
Batou, remember.
When you access the net,
I will always be besides you.
I'm gonna go now.
She showed up in that ship, right?
Your guardian angel.
Silence again, huh? Do you think I'm gonna write that down in the report?
I'll come pick you up tomorrow at 0820 hours.
I will have to thank you for taking care of her also.
Why don't you come in, if you want?
I have no interest in intruding in other people's family occasions.
Papa!
Hey, a souvenir! A souvenir?
I didn't forget.
Yay!
Follow me to a land across the shining sea
Waiting beyond the world that we have known
Beyond the world the dream could be
And the joy we have tasted.
Follow me along the road that only love can see
Rising above the fun years of the night
Into the light beyond the tears
And all the years we have wasted.
Follow me to a distant land this mountain high
Where all the music that we always kept inside will fill the sky
Singing in the silent swerve a heart is free
While the world goes on turning and turning
Turning and falling.
Follow me to a distant land this mountain high
Where all the music that we always kept inside will fill the sky
Singing in the silent swerve a heart is free
While the world goes on turning and turning
Turning and falling.
Follow me...