169: Starwear of the Glowing Ring
"Hmm. So this is the Sw of the Shiburasumisu star system?"
Now, regarding the Sw of the Shiburasumisu star system.
In simple terms, its effect is that a faint glowing ring appears above the heads of living humans.
Thus, glowing rings appear above the heads of Vilijanian, Mekoushi, and Johariss.
"Yes, it seems to be functioning properly."
"Memo is a mechanical intelligence, so its shape is a bit different, but it seems to be functioning properly."
Moreover, the glowing rings above Vilijanian and Johariss's heads form perfect circles, but the one above Mekoushi's head is composed of straight lines and resembles a sharp symbol (♯).
The difference in shape... well, it leads into a somewhat lengthy discussion about history class, or the intent behind why this Sw was created, so it might take a bit of time.
"Scanning from the Guide Colony has been completed without issues. Therefore, the 'Carnival Viper' will depart as scheduled toward the Third Primordial Colony."
The 'Carnival Viper' moves away from the Guide Colony.
Since there's nothing particularly urgent to do, let's go over a few things.
"This glowing ring's Sw only affects living human beings—specifically, species that meet the Empire's criteria for being classified as human, correct?"
"Yes, exactly. That's why it's noted in the records. The reason it hasn't appeared in Satā is because the Satā we're currently facing is merely a remotely operated puppet, not the actual original."
"Yeah, that makes sense. From the way Sw's structure is set up, it seems to react only when it detects a certain level of activity in the brain or similar organs. It's only natural that it wouldn't respond to my puppet, even aside from differences in the OS."
The reason a ring hasn't appeared above my head is simple.
This body is a puppet, and I'm not actually thinking through this body.
Incidentally, since Memokushi's main body is also within an android frame, the ring appears above the head of the body in front of us. If there were another mechanical intelligence remotely操控ing puppets just like me, the ring would appear above their main body instead.
Even if that main body were nothing more than a giant box.
"By the way, Satā-sama. What would happen if this were applied to Satā-sama's main body?"
"Hmm... if I adjust it to not bounce and temporarily output it... I got a shape that looks like a combination of spirals arranged in an octagonal pattern."
"I see."
In addition, when I temporarily applied it to the main body located in the Ether Space, a rather distinctive pattern emerged.
"So, the reason Memo and Satā's forms differ from ordinary humans is because this is the original shape of their Sw, right?"
"Exactly."
"It's an interesting design feature, this."
Now, let's move on to the history of this glowing ring-shaped Sw.
Originally, this glowing ring-shaped Sw was developed and implemented within the large-scale industrial star system known as the Shiblasmith system, serving as a safety measure to ensure even minimal security.
As a result, this glowing ring lacks physical substance and does not emit light intense enough to blind someone.
The first intention was that the glowing ring would pass through walls, pillars, and even debris, shining through obstacles so that a person's location could be detected even if their body wasn't visible.
The second intention was simply that intense brightness causes various problems, so it's designed this way.
However, in truth, for about a century after its initial implementation, the shape of the glowing ring varied from person to person.
At that time, the glowing rings were said to take on unique shapes according to the personality of the person emitting them, to the extent that they were even used for personal identification.
However, naturally, such rings were soon abused in criminal activities, leading to the current system where ordinary people now all display uniform glowing rings.
So why do Mekoshi and I have distinctive ring shapes? Well...
As for Mekoshi, the shape of their ring is unique to machine intelligence, not inherent to them personally.
Though the specifics are unclear, someone in the past who tampered with Sw seemed to have disliked giving machine intelligences the same glowing rings as other species.
Still, as the machine intelligences themselves put it, considering processing capabilities and priority rankings during emergencies, this current arrangement is more convenient.
As for me... I guess I'm just a cosmic monster.
Originally, this glowing ring Sw isn't particularly strong to begin with, so if someone really wanted to, they could easily break it. And since the uniformity aspect was added on later, the output is even more restrained, naturally leading to it being easily discarded.
Still, I have no idea why that would result in a spiral shape resembling an octagon.
"Well, I should probably attach it to the doll too."
"If they knew how easily this could be disguised, some people might be shocked speechless."
"Miss Vee. As long as it's not discovered, there's no problem."
"Better to attach it than get dragged into trouble."
Well, that's roughly the gist of the purpose, effects, and history of the glowing ring-shaped Sw.
As for the key point for now...
In the Shiburasmith system, any living human has a glowing ring hovering above their head. Humans without such rings are regarded as either corpses or remotely controlled mannequins.
Here, "mannequin" refers specifically to mechanical puppets controlled by artificial intelligences.
Therefore, any human moving without a glowing ring is perceived as such a being, and treated accordingly.
This is a major hassle for me, so I have to come up with some kind of solution.
With that in mind, I adjusted the mod that makes up the puppet and created my own mod to display a glowing, perfect circular ring above my head.