Nier: Revengeance - ch 2.3

Big Human on Earth (3)

9S steps up to come closer to Jack, almost bumping into the taller man. “Sir, may I ask you a question?”

Amused, the last man smiles. “You just did.”

The answer surprises the android, who fidgets in place before perking up. “Ah, old human humor! You used contradictory or tautological sentences to find amusement, right?”

Jack hums in the affirmative. “What else can you tell about it?”

This time a a floating robot answers with a male voice. “According to fragmented historical records, older male humans would use a comedic technique called ‘puns’ to extract a reaction from their younger relatives. This unit believes the name for this kind of humor was called ‘dad jokes.’”

The last human nods before he reaches with his hand to pat 9S on the head, freezing the android. Jack turns to the floating robot who answers. “That’s right. In my view, all the androids are like our children, our companions, our friends, and even more.”

After ruffling the young-looking android’s hair, Jack turns to the floating robot. “Now, could you please introduce yourselves?”

The first pod to respond is white with black details and possesses a male voice. “This unit is the Pod 042, and I have been assigned to YorHa model 2B.”

A second pod with black coloring and red details answers with a female voice. “This unit is the Pod 153, and I have been assigned to YorHa model 9S.”

“Thank you, pods. It is an honor to work with you. Please continue being such a great help to your partners.”

The two pods pause for a second before speaking in unison. “... affirmative. Assigned new priority, ‘be a great help to our assigned partner.’ Do you have any further orders for us, General Jack?”

Jack notices a subtle change in the Pods' behavior but doesn’t point it out to them. “For now, resume your previous mission.”

Turning to 2B and 9S, Jack's tone shifts to a commanding voice. “2B, 9S, you two will soon be dispatched on a new assignment. Rest, resupply, and be on standby until I call you two, understand?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Dismissed. Glory to Mankind.”

“Glory to Mankind!”

The pair leaves the tent in peace, with 2B stoically walking away while 9S steps have a slight skip on his feet.

Jack sees them off, appreciating the retreating back of 2B in real life. Sighing in contentment, the General turns to Anemone. “Sorry for taking so long, Anemone. Now, let’s talk about the camp situation. I need full intel of what you’re facing on the ground, and the resources at your disposition.”

Her eyes linger momentarily on Jack’s right hand before she returns to a professional stance. “Yes sir, of course, sir!”

“As you can see, the resistance took over an old building complex, and we did a few modifications to make it more defensible over the years.”

The android requests to share data with Jack and patiently waits for his response.

“You have mail.” The Doctor grumbles, “I should program you a secretary subsystem to handle this. I don’t have the free time to act as your secretary.”

‘Things are fine for now, if you want to leave I can continue by myself.’

“No, there is still something I need to see.”

Finally accepting the data package, Jack glances at the map. “As I suspected, it is a bit small for an advanced base. It’s adequate for guerrilla tactics, but to reclaim a larger area we will need to expand the HQ. Very well, continue, Anemone.”

She sends another data package, this time containing a list of Androids assigned to the resistance. “Currently there are over fifteen permanent androids assigned to the Resistance, though there are several others that come and go as the needs of their mission change.”

His heartbeat accelerated when Jack saw two familiar faces on the list. Taking a deep breath to recompose himself, he motioned Anemone to continue.

Showing no signs of noticing Jack’s change, Anemone resumed her report. “As for resources, I will ask our quartermaster to send you a list of what we have available, however, we always operated with a tight budget on supplies, as the Machines have disrupted our supply trains in the past.”

Jack nods, accepting her answers. “Understood. Send me your reports and historical data on the Machine Liform's past battles for study.”

“Very well sir, it shall be done.”

“Good. I also need you to send Devola and Popola to my new office.” 

Anemone turns to Jack, surprised at the request. She tries to reach for the human, a protest ready on her lips.

Jack doesn’t allow her to speak. “I wish to speak with them in private.”

Anemone freezes in place before slowly returning to a professional posture. “As you wish, General Jack.”

…

A few minutes later, Jack finishes setting up his new office. 

He settles in an old, unused room previously cluttered with junk, but the other androids of the base come together to clean up the place, including the YorHa androids that Jack previously rescued. They gave him an office desk, a bookshelf, and a weapon rack to have him started. The androids left after shaking hands with Jack or receiving a hug from him.

Looking at the bare office, Jack clasps his hands to shape the Maso into a spell. “Fabricate!”

The spell shapes the items offered and the raw materials inside a subspace inventory to build a new set of furniture and equipment for his future use.

The new office is divided into two parts, with one side to greet visitors and debrief his new soldiers and an attached bedroom for personal use with a bed, wardrobe, a table and chair to eat, and a water basin.

Noticing the lack of nearby plumbing, Jack grumbles to himself. “I need to figure out a way to deal with waste.”

With his first office properly settled, Jack begins to draft the new combat doctrines and chain of command structure.

While he works, a pair of androids opens the curtain to his office

Seeing them enter, Jack stands up to greet them. “Devola and Popola, I presume?”

Devola answers first, with her twin nodding, “Yes, sir.”

They remain silent in front of Jack, still as statues.

Watching their behavior, Jack felt his heart clench in pain, “Tell me, do you two know why you feel guilty, and that feeling never goes away?”

Popola's breath hitches while Devola's expression openly displays shame, yet their answer doesn’t match their behavior. “No sir, we don’t remember. The memory is blocked under heavy encryption and we’re not allowed to remember it. We just assumed that the crime we committed justifies this punishment.”

Steeling himself, the last human stands in front of the red-haired twins. “Very well. Before I can tell you why I brought you two here, I must give you some context regarding you two and old secrets.”

With a wave, a magical curtain manifests on the office preventing the sound from leaving the room.

Once the preparations are complete, Jack starts the tale.

“You two were the overseers and administrators of Project Gestalt.”

The twin eyes slowly widen, as ancient programming unlocks under the voice of Jack the Last Human.

“The Project Gestalt was humanity’s last chance to survive the White Chlorination Syndrome, a disease brought by the White Giant that manifested in Tokyo, on June Twelveth, 2003.”

“The Giant brought to this world a particle known as Maso, which forced a pact with a god-like creature from a different dimension. The infected with WCS would either further develop their disease, or accept the pact to become one of the beast servants called Legion. The first phase of Project Gestalt was considered a success, as the souls of Humans successfully left their bodies for safekeeping while cloned Replicant bodies remained in the world; the Legion and their leader were eventually defeated by the androids and Replicants of the time; and all traces of the Maso from originating from the Giant were purged from Earth.”

Devola nods her head. “Yes, I remember. Our predecessors performed the ritual together with other androids and Replicants, purging the world of maso.”

Popola becomes agitated before stopping tilting her head slightly, then slowly approaches Jack. “M-may I?”

Jack nods, allowing Popola to approach.

The android uses ancient diagnostic spells, to confirm Jack’s good health while clearing other questions. “H-how?”

Mark gives Popola a small smile, winking at her. “It will be clear in time. Now, may I continue?”

The android steps back on reflex, appearing fearful of causing any harm to the Last Human on Earth.

“The problem came in the second half of the project, restoring the Gestalt Souls to their Replicant bodies. The process appeared to have an error, as some Gestalts would enter into Relapse, losing their memories and humanity while their Replicant bodies would manifest the Black Scrawl.” 

“Eventually, the original Gestalt was killed by his Replicant Nier. Whether history remembers him as a father concerned for his daughter or a teenage boy worrying about his little sister is irrelevant.”

The twins remained silent, avoiding their eyes on Jack. Devola bit her lip while Popola clenched her fists until she almost drew blood.

Seeing this, Jack gently takes Popola's hands on his own. He touches Devola’s face to force her to look at him. Slowly, he tries to calm the twins with his reassuring touches, hoping that it will sway the pair.

The duo's bodies relax slightly, enough to prevent them from hurting themselves.

Sighing in relief, Jack returns to his position. “What I am going to tell you isn’t information that you would be privy to, however, I was able to come across this. I need you two to listen carefully to what I have to say, do you understand?”

They both nod their head firmly.

Taking a deep breath, Jack says the fated words. “The errors that derailed Project Gestalt were artificially made. Elements tied to the project sabotaged the separation process, which would lead to the Relapse. Allegedly, they wished for Earth to be ruled by the seemingly immortal Replicants. Which faction within the project sabotaged it is up in the air, but the culprits are long dead by now.”

The expression of the twins quickly changes between anger, and sadness, until settling once more into the deep guilt they displayed to Jack.

“In the end, it doesn’t change our sin. If we had stopped Nier, humanity wouldn’t have died off… but how are you still here?”

Jack's expression remains somber, as visions of his demons manifest for an instant. He blinks twice to dispel them before addressing Devola. “Not everyone had complete faith in the Gestalt Project as advertised.”

Jack hears a derisive snort from the Doctor but ignores it for now.

“A certain someone managed to take a sample of The Dragon and started his parallel side project to save humanity. For now, that information is classified, but we’re not done yet.” 

Taking a deep breath, Jack finally reveals what he brought the twins here for. “Devola, Popola, attention!”

The two androids straighten up on reflex, looking ahead and focusing solely on Jack.

“You two were accused of gross negligence by allowing the second phase of Project Gestalt to fail and allegedly dooming humanity to extinction.” 

Jack paces around, staring at the twin red-headed androids. “Your fellow androids passed this judgment and punished you by discontinuing your line, save for a single pair. They reprogrammed you two to feel an ever-constant, endless oppressive guilt and becoming pariahs for several thousand years.”

Once again, Jack stands before the twins, “The concept of justice requires the punishment to be proportional to the crime committed. At the time, your peers considered your punishment just.”

The pair starts to wilt under Jack’s words. However, the pair strengthened their resolve with the last human proclamation.

“With all the facts taken into consideration, with my authority capacity of the Last Human on Earth, with my authority as the last true successor of the final polity on Earth, and the current highest ranking military authority on Earth, and as the inheritor of the injured party of your crime…”

Jack allows his words to linger for a moment.

“I forgive you two.”

The twins are stunned and rooted in place. They don’t move or breathe, but their eyes carefully track Jack’s movement with intense focus.

“I don’t believe you deserved the punishment, as the Project Gestalt was doomed to fail. However, you two would never accept being blameless even without the reprogramming. Instead, I can give you the only thing that matters, the only thing that can ease the guilt. I forgive you two of your crimes.”

The twins remain rooted in place, all their joints locked as they process the word of the Last Human and the concept held within them.

A bead of sweat falls on Jack’s face as doubt blossoms in his heart, but he persists. “As the ultimate authority on Earth, I also proclaim that you served your sentence in full as I see no need to prolong your torment.”

Taking a bold step, Jack hugs the frozen pair, bringing them close to him. With his hands on their heads, he whispers. “It’s alright. You did your best, and I’m proud of you two for holding on for so long. Now that I am here, everything is going to be alright.”

Those last words break something within them, and the pair let out millennia of frustration, guilt, anger, and sadness to wash over them, allowing cathartic tears to fall as they firmly grab on Jack, unwilling to release him for even a second.

There is still work to be done, but for now, Jack considers this a job well done.

Post Chapter Note

Sorry for the delay. I felt tired during the weekend and was starting to get burn out. I tried to play some Factorio Space Age during the weekend to get more inspiration, but it didn't work as well.

I will give more information in the Patreon update post. For now, enjoy one of the four promised chapters.