Meeting adjourned

General POV

Musashi, who had been quiet all this time, he stared at Hanako who had stopped telling her story to drink her tea, which unlike him, she had on her table in her room in Japan.

He was still in shock over the dangers Hanako had faced and the actions of the AIs behind the wall, but most of all, he was worried about Sora and what was inside of him. Making him speak

"So, you gave Arc vital information about Sora's condition. I imagine that he made you some kind of deal to get him out from behind the Blackwall in exchange for saving Sora's life. That's why you were so concerned about Sora studying engineering, as if the two of them were in some kind of relationship, right?" Musashi said, squeezing his hand tightly as he hurried the story along and filled in his gaps in knowledge with assumptions. It was hard for him to accept the idea that Sora had something so dangerous inside of him, even if it was to save his life.

"You're undervaluing Arc and overvaluing the AIs, Musashi," Hanako said after elegantly sipping her tea, surprised that Musashi had guessed anything right in his assumptions, but only his worries.

"Do you think any AI behind the wall has the tech needed to save Sora, just like that?" Hanako said, demonstrating a coldness towards the topic that bewildered Musashi, as if assumptions were not that simple, to begin with.

"As I said, my encounter with Altier's Construct could also be considered the luckiest moment of my life, precisely because it allowed me to meet an AI like Arc. Do you remember why we had to create the Blackwall and the new network instead of destroying the old one?"

"That was because the UNSA(United Nations Space Agency) AI in charge of satellite control and maintenance moved all the old net's server satellites all around the solar system, making them impossible to destroy. Don't tell me he's..." Musashi replied.

"Yes, not only that Musashi, he was the one in charge of humanity's entire space project from engineering to body enhancements to improve the adaptability of humans to space such as the use of nanobots to treat astronauts from cell degradation due to space radiation.

The technology I was looking for and believed could cure Sora!" Hanako said excitedly for a moment, before returning to her usual serious tone when she noticed.

"And about the deal, when he finished analyzing Sora's data, as if something had caught his attention... Disappearing his jaws as if he had never shown them in the first place. Arc gave me the nanobot technology without asking for anything in return.

Just giving me a warning that I did not understand at the time and the beginning of a deal, since without waiting for my answer, he threw my conscience in front of the Blackwall where I had entered.

Being able to see Altier's red profile again that reappeared when I did, forcing me to cross through the backdoor and entered through into the safe space of the new network before it reached me." Said Hanako finished summarizing her experience behind the Blackwall.

Musashi didn't give her a chance to speak again when he asked, "What did he tell you?"

"You don't need to-" Hanako trying to avoid the subject

Caused Musashi to explode again, interrupting her with a scream, "HANAKO! He's my grandson, you're not his only family anymore, or the only one carrying the secret, Hanako, you have to tell me the truth... please," he said, almost pleading.

"I..." Hanako hesitated about whether to tell Musashi the truth, pausing before continuing to recount Arc's last words.

"He told me that within the information he had given me, he had also put a way to get in touch with me, and that when he does... I will be eager to help him, because I will have already hit the wall" Hanako said looking like she had finished.

"What-" Making Musahi, began to speak, but...

"And.... that my idea about the Soulcode.... was intriguing" Being interrupted by Hanako as she finished counting Arc's last words.

"Soulcode? Help him? wall? What the hell does all that mean?" Musashi asked, frustrated with all this nonsense.

"Like I said, I didn't understand it either when he told me," Hanako replied.

"But now you do, right, Hanako?"

"Ahmm," Hanako sighed at Musashi's insistence. "The Soulcode is my invention based on that woman's work, but it's theoretical because I couldn't execute it. To do that, you need continuous scans of the human mind for an undetermined amount of time, since everything was theoretical, I had no way of scanning the human mind for months or maybe even years, continuously, unless..."

"Unless you have nanobots in your body, right?" Musashi completed Hanako's sentence.

"Correct. As for the wall... my greatest depression..."

"When I returned from my adventure behind the wall, bringing with me the specifications for lost technology and a the way to save my son, I couldn't contain my happiness at the thought of my son being cured and healthy with it.

Until all that emotion and expectation were reversed. No matter how many and how complex lines of code I used, or modern AIs I installed, none of them could control the nanobots with enough synchronization and precision to cure Sora, making me hit a wall almost without making any progress.

But I didn't give up. For the next few years, I invested millions just trying to create software to control the nanobots, without getting anywhere until two years after my excursion behind the Blackwall, when Arc contacted me, asking for help to escape the other side completely."

"Completely? What does that mean?"

"I didn't know until I read the information Arc gave me, and the reason for the secrecy behind this meeting, Musashi. The AIs on the other side are fully capable of seeing what is happening on the other side of the network and, therefore, in the physical world, while watching us 24 hours a day, discovering that humans can be useful to them," Hanako said, shaking Musashi as she did so.

"That can't be the Blackwall-" Musashi, nervous about Hanako's revelation, stood up.

"The Blackwall keeps them locked up, Musashi, but not completely. From the information Arc gave me, there are even some AIs capable of creating subroutines that can practically divide bits of information that the Blackwall cannot block, and reform behind the Blackwall. The AIs capable of maintaining something akin to consciousness, even if it is deranged, after that are extremely rare, and they are the ones they use to interfere with the physical world, for whatever they are planning...

I think it was one of those that attacked Sora, hacking the police officer and trying to kill Sora when it discovered the remnant of Arc inside Sora."

"Remnant?"

"Yes-" said Hanako, changing her expression for a second, catching Musashi's attention.

"Hanako, is something wrong?"

"It's nothing, sorry, I thought I saw something," Hanako said when she thought she saw something strange from the panel that displayed Sora's vital data, that whenever she could, she had them visible to check on Sora's health.

As if for a moment, from the human profile that represented Sora's body, he received some kind of damage to his arms before the signal returned to normal, which had been bothering Hanako for a while since the information she received from Sora's nanobots lately seemed more static, almost... as if it were false.

"Musashi, are you sure Sora is at home?"

"Eh? Well, I can't be completely sure since I'm stuck in this shoebox, but I swear he had no plans with his girlfriend. Why?" Musashi asked puzzled by Hanako's sudden concern about Sora's whereabouts.

"It's nothing, just my mind playing tricks on me," said Hanako as she rubbed her eyes, showing her tiredness, which was making her imagine things.

"As I was saying, I believe Arc knew that sooner or later his brothers would lose patience and attack him, preparing accordingly. If I had to give any reason with the information I have, I would say that once their plans progressed, they couldn't afford to leave something as important as maintaining the server satellites that keep the old network running to an AI that opposes them, even intervening in their plans.

When I managed to create the safe conduct using the company's backdoor again... to extract him... it was already too late. What I found wasn't the almighty AI and thousands of petabits of cutting-edge technology and lost knowledge that I thought... but what was left of Arc... a few files and an old AI core in tatters, which could barely hold together and speak.

But it was enough to tempt me. It was then that I had to make a decision. Either I let Arc die, or I accepted the deal he was proposing...

He had prepared everything, showing me the subroutines he had created and that he would use the remnants of his intact code not only to save Sora but also to improve him.

Showing me one of the files he had brought with him, with detailed specifications of human enhancements decades more advanced than we have. Improved cell division, muscle tissues strengthened with braided fibers, bones coated with alloys, and nerves reinforced with alloy coatings in the nervous system."

"Those are!" Musashi added, recognizing the enhancements that Hanako had mentioned.

"Yes, those are all of Sora's enhancements."

"What did he ask for in exchange for saving Sora's life?"

"He needed time and a place to hide. He wanted the Soulcode he created from Sora, hoping to heal himself with it..... if my theories about what the Soulcode can do in practice are correct... then Arc's plan to use it to fill in the missing parts of his core could work, but I honestly saw it as unlikely due to the amount of code that was missing.

"Hanako, what did you create?, what is the Soulcode that even an AI wants?"

"To talk about the Soulcode, we first have to talk about that woman's Soulkiller, a program that kills the user while teaching an empty AI to mimic a person's personality through a collection of subjective memories.

When humans remember something, we reconstruct it every time we do so, causing those memories to change in our memory over time as if they were corrupted data, and our brain fills them with new information. This results in the juxtaposition of our existing memories with the small bits of information generated by our brain, gradually changing them. Over time, these small changes can lead to us remembering events in a completely different way than they actually occurred, creating a discrepancy between what we remember and what really happened.

Looking at it from the perspective of a memory it doesn't seem like a big deal, but what happens when it's all the memories of a lifetime, Musashi would were you able to remember 100% what you experienced when you held your newborn children in your arms, or how you felt when you met Aio-san for the first time?

No right?, and don't get me started on the Ai part, as you will see the Soulkiller is full of flaws and as Arc said it's a poorly thought out technology from the beginning. The only thing I can say that the Soulkiller is good for is as a savegame of a person and I have several theories about what could be done with them improving the idea of the Construct, but I'll have to discuss them with Sora about what to do with ``him´´. Ah!, sorry I'm ranting, where I was going.

While Soulcode or Whitecode does not teach an AI about a person's memories, no. The AI learns and creates a new and personal code by learning to read the information passing from neuron to neuron of an actively living, thinking, feeling person's brain, gradually creating the code of the soul." Hanako finished explaining, having to catch her breath when she finished speaking.

"So... if I understand correctly, while the Soulkiller copies a person's memories and pastes them into an AI, the Soulcode is the translation of a human into code?" Musashi nervously said, unable to grasp all the almost philosophical information that Hanako was breaking down about the human mind.

Smiling, Hanako replied, "Yes and no. Although you could express it as the translation of the human mind into code, it's not just any code, and the reason it interested Arc.

The irrationality of human feelings cannot be expressed in a rational code of ones and zeros like AIs do. The purpose of Soulcode... is to create a completely new code that fully represents the soul/mind of a human, which, if my theories are correct, would have simply unpredictable abilities... By representing the irrationality of human feelings and the human mind, creating something new and different from the cold, rational code of AIs and cyberspace..."

When Musashi finished listening to Hanako, his cybernetic hands and legs failed him and itched. Throughout this meeting with Hanako, he didn't know what to think about what was happening to Sora, but now that he had understood most of the things that Hanako had told him, he asked to calm his mind.

"So, Sora, he's safe, he's not a copy of the Soulkiller or has something as dangerous as a 100% operational AI in his head, right?"

"Yes, Musashi, Sora is okay, but I had no way of knowing it. How could I blindly trust a half-dead AI? Would he try to do what his brothers are doing and take over Sora's body? That question has been haunting me for years, thinking that I sold my son's life to an AI.

When you told me that Sora wanted to learn engineering at such a young age, for an instant, I thought that maybe Arc was conditioning him or trying to take control of his body, but when you told me about the music... I couldn't help it, you know what it means, Musashi!

When I accepted Arc's deal and he finished creating his subroutines to control the nanobots while starting the scans to begin creating the Soulcode with what was left of his code, Arc couldn't even speak anymore, his consciousness dispersed among his subroutines.

So if it's not Arc, who could be trying to communicating with Sora... with something as distinctive and personal as music?" said Hanako, a proud smile spreading across her face as she picked up her teacup once again.

"You're not saying that..." Musashi exclaimed, taken aback.

"Yes!, I think Arc is just finishing creating-" Hanako said with excitement until something happened that interrupted her, looking away from Musashi and turning to the holographic screen displaying Sora's vital signs, which suddenly changed to show a severed arm.

Making Hanako's face went pale as she dropped the cup she was holding, catching Musashi's attention even through the projection.

"Hanako, what's going on?" Musashi asked.

"No!" Hanako shouted in panic as she watched Sora's vital signs worsen by the second. "Musashi, quickly check your IDn," Hanako said, quickly tapping some buttons on her desk and unlocking the blocked windows of the room where Musashi was located, along with the signal blocking of the room.

Musashi caught up on his messages, "That idiot! Hanako, prepare the Av. Sora has entered a Tyger Claws lair. Call Hiroyuki too!" Musashi said as he ran out, meeting a confused Oda who was stared at the pale projection of Hanako, who was living her worst nightmare, watching as her son seemed to be slowly killed, unable to react until she spoke in a voice so cold that Oda became nervous without knowing what was going on.

"Oda, inform them to have an Av waiting on the roof for Musashi. If them are not there when he arrives, tell them that getting fired will be the least of their worries, because I killed them myself, did you hear me?"

"Y-yes!"

"And Oda, prepare my arrival at these coordinates."

"Y-yes, Hanako-sama!"

-

In Japan, in Hanako's room.

"Yumeko!" Hanako shouted from her room.

"Yes, Hanako-sama?" Yumeko answered, opening the door and revealing a beautiful young woman with black hair and red eyes, alarmed at the state of Hanako.

"Contact Netwatch in Night City. I need Hatake Hiroyuki to go to these coordinates Asap and... contact the Blackbird. Tell them to get ready. They have the time it takes me to arrive at the Hangar to be ready for takeoff."

"Hanako-sama, are you sure? The use of Arasaka's Blackbird can only be used by family members in cases of extreme necessity." Yumeko said with some fear, not wanting Hanako-sama to make any mistakes that she regretted, because of her altered state, whatever it is that is alarming her.

"Yumeko, are you questioning my orders?" Which was answered by an icy Hanako who with no time or patience to spare, repeating her orders, stared at the young teenager, making Yumeko's legs tremble at the way her beloved Hanako-Sama was looking at her.

"No, I wouldn't dare. I just wanted to warn you that if you use it, we won't be able to cover our movements and it will likely raise questions about its use," Yumeko said in a panic, trying to explain the consequences of Hanako's orders.

"I don't care, Yumeko. You're wasting time I don't have," Hanako replied, indifferent to the consequences as she walked past Yumeko without looking back, entering an elevator to go down to the underground hangar.

"I-I'm sorry, Hanako-sama!" Yumejo said bowing 90°, looking at the floor without daring to look at Hanako, as the elevator doors closed.

-

Meanwhile at Netwatch's headquarters in Night City

Without being a coincidence with the events happening in the Tygers' base, or rather, in the server where Cortana had been attacked and injured, the situation at Netwatch headquarters in the city was one of absolute chaos as they were witnessing the Blackwall attack like never before, even after increasing the wall's security following Hanako Arasaka's warnings.

The attack was of such a degree that it had created a breach in the Blackwall, leading to the current chaos within the control room of the wall, where more than 30 Netrunners from Netwatch connected to cyberspace were monitoring the situation while adding temporary patches trying to cover the hole in the Blackwall, working in combination with all the Netwatch offices from all countries, With the Netwatch agents in Night City the most nervous and worried, because the trail of whatever passed from the other wall has ended up on some server in the city.

"Hiroyuki, any word from your contact with Hanako Arasaka? It was her information that alerted us to the anomalies in cyberspace," Bryce Mosley, one of Hiroyuki's colleagues who had been assigned to the Netwatch headquarters in Night City for years, asked nervously.

"I don't know, Bryce. As a liaison between Arasaka and Netwatch, I haven't received any information-" Hiroyuki stopped talking when he received a message from his phone-sized encrypted system that they used to contact Hanako, or rather, the Kiji faction that Hanako led.

Reading a message that surprised him along with coordinates that looked familiar, making him look up and glance at the giant screen in the operations center where the same unfinished coordinates were being generated from the tracking programs following whatever it was that had snuck in from the other side of the wall.

"Bryce, prep an Av, I've got the infected server coordinates!" said Hiroyuki as he ran out of the Netwatch HQ control center.

-

On the rooftop of a downtown Night City building, Musashi boarded into an unmarked black AV that was waiting for him when he got off the elevator.

Without a word and with a serious expression, The AV lifted off into the Night City skyline as dusk began to settle in. From the sky, Musashi could see the city's bright lights filled with screens and holograms playing advertising.

While inside his chest there was an oppressive feeling that made it hard to breathe, unable to avoid worrying about Sora in these uncertain moments, remembering when he lost his children.

Causing him to press his cybernetic arms tightly together, deforming the metal on his palms with the force he was applying, until something happened on the screens he was staring at with empty eyes, filling them up.

Watching the blue-coded body of a familiar woman jumping from screen to hologram of the city changing the advertisement they were broadcasting, with each jump she made from device to device.

Switching to a rebroadcast of a figure with the profile of a teenage boy with a short ponytails playing a beautiful melody on a black grand piano in an idyllic setting of a clear blue sky, with a ground reflecting them.

Musashi being able to instantly recognize the blue figure of Cortana....

As he stared at the white profile of the young man with no defined features but enough for Musashi to recognize him. Making him remember Hanako's words about the Soulcode and how the Ai inside Sora could have finished creating it.

Remaining silent as he watched the figure playing the piano moving his upper body following the rhythm of the beautiful melody he was playing and that was slowly spreading across all the screens and holograms of Nigh City drawing the attention of all who saw it to the sudden performance that was hacking into the Night City servers.

Causing Musashi to hold his hand to his head and start laughing....

Realizing that this kid could always make him smile and surprise him, even in moments like these...