Alto made his way back to his room rather hastily. On his way, he could hear murmurs from so of the officers who passed by. Apparently, General Duncan had managed to spread news of the upcoming duel. It was evident that he wanted to make a spectacle of it and disgrace him.
All of Alto’s agitation faded away as he reached his room. His mind went straight to the books he had in hand. Despite having the ch Designer Protocol feed him the information earlier, he felt he still had to read the work for the knowledge to sink in completely. He felt he could not rely solely on what the system gave him without seeing it for himself. After all, the system had said it would not be holding his hand, and him relenting would make him feel like a cheat.
Reading the books given to him by the professor proved to be very easy, since the ch Designer Protocol had already fed him the information. He only managed to gain a slight comprehension over the work. Still, he managed to find so things that the ch Designer Protocol had failed to input into him.
Alto first started with the fields he was most unsure of before working his way up to those he was a bit more familiar with. The first thing he looked at was the sensor system. It was a field the professor had never introduced to him. He learned that the most common sensor was the heat sensor. It was compulsory for a standard ch to have this function, as it allowed it to get a reading of the hotspots within the area of reach of its heat sensor device. Since all chs generally generated heat, this was clearly conventional technology. The better quality the ch’s sensor was, the farther the range it could read and the more accurate it would beco.
Alto then moved on to learn coding, which had to do with the codes that would run within the working systems of the ch. It was a delicate subject that translated to converting the consciousness of human thought into codes, which would further be interpreted by the ch systems. The subject went even deeper than Alto had expected. Codes were like commands that enhanced the performance and optimization of a ch. Learning coding would also help him write a code that could not be hacked by soone else, which would prevent the ch from sustaining damages in battle.
Alto did not know why, but he felt that codes made a ch feel more alive. He found so notes in the books written in what he supposed was the professor’s handwriting. She addressed the fact that codes were the key to conventional breakthroughs, and that interpreting human thoughts as code could revolutionize the world of ch piloting. Her theories made no sense to Alto, so he just kept them at the back of his mind rather than dwell on them any further.
Next was a topic he had been saving for last: the AI interface of a ch. In simple terms, it was the artificial intelligence of a ch. Its job was to give feedback about the status of a ch in real ti. If there was a problem with a ch or a drop in its armor defense—perhaps in the legs, hands, sides, or anywhere else—the AI interface would simply run its numbers and decide whether it was crucial to alert the pilot.
While this was what the book said, there were notes written by the professor at the back, and she had thoughts of her own on the matter.
According to the notes, Professor Alberta saw more to the AI interface. She believed that if a more capable code were written into the AI interface, perhaps a ch would be able to do more than just relay commands to its pilot—it would be able to help them physically.
"Is she suggesting that a ch could be more than a machine? Like... being alive?" Alto thought to himself. But surely this could not be the case. chs were machines, not actually living beings. They were tools.
All these theories took him to his final subject: circuitry. This was simply about building the right pathways within the ch’s inner workings to ensure that all of its commands were carried out without fault. If a ch were to be engaged in a dangerous battle and had one of its circuits damaged, it would not show much. But if multiple circuit pathways were damaged, it would surely affect sothing within the ch.
And sure enough, the professor had also left notes on this subject too. She believed the circuits to be a crucial pathway to link the other systems—like the sensor systems and coding—to the AI interface. Clearly, she was intent on bringing the most out of the AI interface. Reading her books gave him the feeling that she wanted to bring it to life in her own unique way.
"I wonder if this is her own area of specialization." He rembered the ch Designer System saying sothing about specializations. It put a thought in Alto’s head. "I wonder what my area of specialization will be. But I’m too early in the ch designing world to even think of such a thing."
He thought of why the professor would give him these books, knowing her notes were written at the back. Did she not care if he read them? Did she think he would be unable to interpret them? Was she testing him? Or was this why she kept these books instead of using a virtual notepad—because she did not want her theories to be hacked or stolen?
Just then, a small white note slipped out of the book he was holding. Alto’s gaze imdiately fell to it. He reached out his hand and picked it up from his bed. He brought it to his face to see it was a folded paper. He unfolded it to see it resembled sothing like a news report.
"What’s this?" He could see the headline: LOG#142
The paper looked old, but it still held together quite well. He stayed to read the contents written on it.
> "THERE IS A CRISIS AT SECTION D-16. THE FACILITY HAS BEEN INFILTRATED BY A FOREIGN INVADER. THE KAIJU THREAT IS RISING BEYOND OUR CONTROL BUT THAT IS NOT OUR BIGGEST CONCERN. WE ARE BEING HUNTED BY A LIVING CH WITHOUT A PILOT.
MY COLLEAGUES CALL IT THE GHOST REAPER. OUR SCIENCE SHOWS THAT THIS THING IS SENTIENT AND HAS A THIRST FOR HUMAN BLOOD. WE REQUEST SUPPORT BEFORE OUR LAST STRONGHOLD ON ROMULUS ALPHA FALLS."
It was there the note ended. Alto felt a chill just reading the content of the note. He had questions. What was Romulus Alpha? What facility was hinted at in the ssage? What did the ssage an by a sentient ch thirsting for human blood? He wondered if this was what had inspired the professor to consider whether a ch could be alive.
"This is scary," Alto said as he flipped the back of the paper, expecting to see another of the professor’s notes. He could see it written there clearly.
"It’s real!" He read the words to himself.
Alto scanned the text into his wrist comm and returned it back into the book he had taken it from. He laid down on his bed, his thoughts still straying to the information he had just been exposed to.
"Just what is the professor getting herself into?"
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