Humanity's Anchor

"Captain Motoko is a good person."

Gao Gong suddenly spoke in the empty office.

"Yes. Judging from any angle, she's a good person—and a woman of unwavering will. The only other person I've seen with that kind of resolve was Director Aramaki," Miss Shell said.

"Unwavering will, the ability to face any predicament, formidable combat skills, the capacity to carry out all kinds of dangerous missions, and sharp instincts. She even detected our schemes. Even when facing a fate of certain death, she didn't so much as change expression."

Gao Gong spared no praise, then changed tack.

"How did you create such an outstanding operative?"

"I don't understand," Miss Shell said.

"If you truly didn't understand, you wouldn't have opened Section 9's highest authority to me. I was wondering how that old man Aramaki knew so much about the bionic megacorporations from the very beginning, and even managed to cooperate with Sister Rose. It turns out he had already taken part in the bionic human experiments."

Using the director's authority, Gao Gong opened one encrypted file after another. The final file was titled—

The Yagami Motoko Manufacturing Project.

All kinds of experiments on humanity.

Tests of resolve between life and death.

Modification, testing, further modification, further testing.

One Yagami Motoko after another was killed and disassembled, with only the best components retained.

In the end, the experiment was fixed at Number 1314.

This was the finest Yagami Motoko—and the current Yagami Motoko.

"The world is a flowing collection of information. Read it, manipulate it, change it. It's no wonder Aramaki was able to discover the monsters in the starry sky after comprehending that principle."

"He possessed the same kind of monster-like thinking."

"To lose one's humanity is to lose much. To lose one's bestiality is to lose everything. Those were