Chapter 26 Reply.

Soon after Zero Three left Sam went back to what he was doing, however the moment he turned on the terminal he noticed something strange.

It was an email notification. The only reason he would see one on the terminal used to operate Eir is if the Resistance HQ has questions about his reports. That thought alone caused him to panic and he quickly moved to open it.

A quick read made him realize that although he was in the safe at the moment, he wasn't exactly out of trouble.

The message was a reply to the report be made the other day when Zero Three got injured. In it he expressed his concern over the Valkyries' recent strange behavior, like how Zero Five asked him if he sees her as a human or how Zero Three seemed to look down on them.

The reply he received was unexpected. Whoever wrote it questioned Sam's competence as the Valkyries' physician telling him to stop watching sci-fi movies.

They said he lacked basic knowledge about the humanoid weapons, which isn't exactly wrong as his main job is to operate Eir. He didn't really need to know much about the Valkyries to do so.

What's wrong with this guy? Sam thought. He's being quite rude.

The reply went on to address the concerns he had, however their answers were quite vague, probably because they didn't have access to the Valkyrie files. They told him that he had nothing to worry about unless the weapons start talking in a language that doesn't exist or stop speaking at all.

He remembered reading something about that in the Valkyrie Project blue prints. There were a number of restrictions put in place that made sure the AI's base program doesn't change. He didn't know if it was 100% safe, however if the weapons were really going out of

control they would probably show more malfunctions instead of asking philosophical questions.

As for when Nine touched him, the reply stated that there are no restrictions preventing the Valkyries from touching people. Staff are usually prohibited from making physical contact, however there is nothing preventing Valkyries themselves from doing so.

Of course there are restrictions preventing them from using their destructive power on humans, and if they were really malfunctioning then he wouldn't be alive to tell the tale.

Sam realized how rash he was in sending that report. Back then he didn't know anything about the three weapons so when they started acting out of the ordinary he just panicked. Now that he got his hands on Valkyrie Smash and learned their secrets he felt stupid for thinking that those three were about to start another apocalypse.

It wouldn't be funny if a bunch of sex bots decided to revolt against humans.

Sam could only laugh at the idea. Thankfully his report wasn't taken seriously. They also didn't seem to notice anything strange about the other reports, which means he got away with what he did to Zero Five.

That said, the fact that they sent a reply meant they were reading his reports. Even if he was in the clear at the moment, he had a feeling that he should take things at a slower pace, one experiment at a time.

When he was done with the email Sam noticed that it was time for lunch, which means another date with his Shizuru.

~◇~

"You seem to be in a really good mood, Three."

It was noon and the three Valkyries were outside doing their usual patrol. As they flew through the sky Nine noticed that the youngest among them wasn't as grumpy as she was the day before and decided to ask right away.

Things were somewhat awkward between the two. When she heard of what Zero Three had said to their Doctor, Nine got mad for the first time since ever. She demanded that the young one apologizes, however she refused and the two lf them had a fight.

That didn't stop Nine from asking though. She seemed to get over her anger far quicker than one might think.

"Hm? Well…" normally Zero Three wouldn't answer such a question honestly, however she was in an especially good mood that day. "Actually I went to see the old man earlier."

"Oh! And? Did you apologize?"

"Well, I intended to but…" smiling wryly, the young Valkyrie followed. "For some reason he ended up apologizing first."

"Eh!? Why?" Nine didn't understand.

"Just so you know, I did apologize afterwards." Three decided to make that part clear before her fellow Valkyrie misunderstood. "Apparently he realized that telling us to be careful when fighting was stupid, since we know that better than anyone."

"R-right…"

As weapons made in order to fight the Calamities, the Valkyries are able to discern the best course of action based on the data collected in real time. Even if their main function is something entirely different, the AI's combat capabilities are the best they could be. It takes a great level of ignorance to think that anyone would know how to fight the monsters better than them.

That said, there is nothing that could be done if the enemy surpasses their capabilities. Even if they're humanity's strongest weapons there is a limit to what they can do.

"... What Five said before…" Zero Three spoke, her expression clouding a little. "I think I get it now…"

The Valkyries were weapons created to fight the Calamities. They might look and act like humans, but in the end they're nothing more than AI loaded into a human shaped shell.

[Doctor is a nice person isn't he?] Zero Five's voice came from their telecommunication devices.

She was handling the scouting today so she was flying ahead of the other two.

"I think he's just an idiot." Said Zero Three, letting out an exasperated sigh. "Treating us like humans, worrying about our safety. Only an idiot would do things like that."

"Well, I wouldn't deny that he's a bit on the wierd side." Nine said. She then shifted her attention to something else, looking down at the red fields below them. "That aside, don't you think we can recapture this area soon?"

"Now that you said it… but we had that attack just the other day, right?" Said Zero Three. "Doesnt that reset our count?"

[It's the first Calamity we faced in months.] Zero Five replied. [If we go on for another week without any attacks, we could ask the commander to see if we can get permission to cleanse the area.]

"It would be great if we can rebuild one of the cities." A bright smile spread on Zero Three's face as she considered the possibility. "Maybe then we could get to have some fun instead of being trapped in that boring base."

"Even if we get the humans to build a settlement nearby, I can't imagine the higher ups giving us permission to go there." Nine said, smiling wryly.

[Humans can be cruel sometimes.]

The three sighed, remembering how most humans see them.