Apocalypse Shelter Administrator

External Rescue Signal (1)

It was one early morning when our peaceful daily routine was shattered.

[Jinsoo, come to the central control room immediately. It’s an emergency.]

Artemis, who generally followed a policy of non-intervention, had never woken me up from sleep before. It was around 6 AM, earlier than my usual wake-up time. When I rushed to the control room, it wasn’t just Artemis waiting for me—Rose and Chloro were also there.

“Is it an intrusion? Or a rockslide?” I rubbed my eyes and tried to figure out what it could be.

What could be so urgent that it warranted waking me up and gathering Rose and Chloro? I seriously doubted there was any chance that an infected creature had tunneled its way here. That was just a joke I’d once made.

And a rockslide? Even more unlikely. This place was built on solid ground in a geographically stable area. Plus, we didn’t use conventional nuclear fission reactors, so a meltdown wasn’t a concern either. So, what was going on?

[We’ve detected an external communication signal.]

“And why is that important?”

Receiving an external signal wasn’t all that unusual. Even now, sporadic communications still happen around the world. Most of them were short, meaningless transmissions from personal devices. People broadcasting for help. Laments about their misfortunes. Obvious trap offers for trades. Sometimes, someone would turn their personal radio show into a survival journal. There were even some larger-scale communication logs, but they were from overseas.

At first, I had been excited, trying to collect signals from survivors, but the closest transmission was hundreds of kilometers away. We had no way to bring them here, and at the time, I was trapped in a "Rapunzel" situation, surrounded by infected creatures. By the time the city was stabilized, most of those communications had stopped.

[This signal is coming from a sea prison 35 kilometers from here. It’s not an automated response; it’s a live human voice calling for help.]

“…!”

[As you know, any communication with the outside requires your approval after the lockdown.]

“Are they still transmitting?”

[Yes. I’ve sent the logs to your PDA.]

The message on my PDA was filled with desperation. The original transmission was a voice recording, but it had been converted to text for easier review.

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is an emergency distress call! This is Acting Warden Lee Seyoung of the sea prison. Please, someone respond! We can’t hold out any longer. We’ve run out of food and water. Control is lost, and suicides are happening daily. We need rescue immediately. Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! We need help right now! Please, respond!

The signal had been sent just nine minutes ago.

“This is… surprising.”

More than feeling glad about finding survivors, I was shocked. The post-crisis data we had gathered about the outside world suggested that there was no way any sizable group of survivors could still be holding out. The state had collapsed long ago, and no organization of sufficient scale existed anymore.

Scattered groups of survivors were hanging on by a thread, one by one extinguishing like dying embers. Given all that, receiving a signal from a relatively large group of survivors, even one on the verge of collapse, was astonishing.

“So, the reason you gathered us all here is to decide how to respond, right? This is the first time we’ve all been in one place.”

Come to think of it, it was unusual. Even though there were only a handful of us, we had never all gathered together before. Maybe it was because they didn’t have physical bodies, so there were no random encounters. Each AI had its own defined domain, which kept them apart.

The central control room screen was divided into three sections, with Artemis in the center and the avatars of Rose and Chloro displayed on either side. ṜÃℕóβ̧

[Indeed. It’s a shame we haven’t had more meetings like this before. We’re family, after all. Even if family members can’t always be together, we should still meet regularly to share our feelings. We need to gather like this more often, for closer, more frequent communication.]

Chloro winked as she spoke.

Somehow, I got the feeling that her idea of "closer, frequent communication" was a bit different from what we were doing now.

[Chloro, while maintaining cohesion among the team is commendable, be careful. We are not a family. We are assistants, performing our designated roles. Assigning excessive meaning to it could lead to unintended consequences.]

Rose, on the other hand, had a very different opinion. She was firm and clear-cut.

[Relationships are built on assigned roles. Even in human families, there’s a father who earns money and protects the home, a mother who manages the household and raises the children, and the eldest child who helps oversee the younger siblings. When these roles are bound by law, that’s what makes a family.]

[We are not bound by law. Laws apply only to humans.]

Even with an emergency communication in front of us, the conversation had veered off in a strange direction. I should probably step in soon.

[There’s no more Republic of Korea, Rose. We’re bound by something far stronger than those now-meaningless laws: the city and the system. Thousands of pages of solid regulations tie us together. It’s much more binding than a single marriage certificate, don’t you think?]

Uncharacteristically, Chloro spoke with passion, to the point where her usual gentle demeanor was unrecognizable. Even Rose seemed to feel the intensity, and chose not to argue further.

[If you want, we can have more of these meetings. But let’s end this conversation here. There’s a more urgent matter at hand.]

Nice! Artemis intervened at just the right moment.

[As I mentioned earlier, a group of survivors has been found at a sea prison 35 kilometers from here.]

Artemis split her screen in half and brought up a satellite map. It showed the current location of our shelter and the sea prison, the source of the signal. It was a distance that could be comfortably covered within an hour by a fast boat.

For reference, our shelter is built within and below a coastal rocky mountain. The main entrance is located on the ground level, but there’s also a back exit leading to a sea cave. If necessary, we could deploy a temporary dock or launch a boat from the back exit.

“So, this group of survivors… they’re prisoners, I assume?”

[That’s right. But they’re not just any prisoners.]

An old news article popped up as a window on the satellite map. It showed women prisoners being loaded onto a large ship after the national mobilization order was declared and the country entered full-scale war.

The government’s policy was to evacuate civilians to the south while isolating female prisoners in a sea prison, as releasing them haphazardly could cause chaos. As for the men, if they had all their limbs, they were conscripted, regardless of age or status. Had I not been here, I likely would’ve been dragged off to fight and die as well. In the end, most of the evacuees either died or were scattered, but those exiled to the middle of the sea survived. Life’s full of twists.

“Has there been no previous communication from them?”

[None.]

“So they stayed silent until they ran out of food and water, only then sending a distress call… That’s strange.”

Normally, if a facility’s situation deteriorated below a certain level, there would have been some attempt to communicate.

“So, the issue is whether we ignore them or take them in, right?”

[Exactly. If we choose the former, we do nothing. If we choose the latter, we’ll need to respond to their signal.]

Artemis explained.

[We should intervene.]

Chloro was on the side of action.

[We haven’t taken in any new residents, and we lost all our previous workers, but we can save these people. The shelter was built to house and protect people. There’s plenty of space, food, and resources here.]

As always, Chloro was full of compassion, but not everyone shared her view.

[I’m opposed.]

Rose spoke up.

I was surprised. I thought she’d be happy to have residents to serve, given her role, but apparently not.

[Frankly, if there were new residents, I would feel a sense of purpose. But my primary duty is to ensure the safety of the shelter. Right now, nothing is safer than maintaining the lockdown. My personal desires are irrelevant.]

It was as if Rose had read my mind.

[Most of them are prisoners. Even though they’re women, their crimes were serious enough to exclude them from the emergency pardon.]

Artemis added. It wasn’t so much that she was siding with Rose, but rather offering an objective observation.

[They may be prisoners, but they’re still women. The current security force is more than enough to control them.]

Chloro responded.

I agreed that there was no need for violence. The mere sight of the security robots would likely be enough to ensure compliance. And if worse came to worst, we could always use oxygen control measures like we did during the suffocation operation.

Artemis also had her robotic arms that could descend from the sky via the rail system. The place was packed with surveillance cameras, and all the vehicles were under Artemis’ autonomous control, so there were plenty of layers of security.

The vote was one in favor, one against, with two of us neutral.

[The final decision rests with you. What’s your opinion?]

Artemis asked.

“If we decide to rescue them, how will we bring them here?”

Artemis, already prepared, brought up a briefing screen.

[We’ll send a security team on three boats. The first objective is this point.]

A red arrow stretched from the shelter’s back exit to a point on the map: a dock. The map zoomed in to show a ferry docked at the location.

[The first objective is to secure control of the ferry with minimal combat, after which I’ll remotely guide it to the sea prison.]

Now, a yellow arrow extended from the dock to the sea prison.

[The second objective is to pick up the survivors from the sea prison.]

Lastly, a blue arrow marked the route from the sea prison back to the shelter’s back exit.

[The third objective is to transport the survivors through the back exit of the shelter. If there’s any non-cooperation or violence, we’ll use force as necessary, right?]

I nodded. This wasn’t a time for being gentle.

[By the time the ferry arrives at the back exit, a temporary bridge will have been constructed so we can quickly move the survivors off the boat.]

Next, an image of the lower area outside the shelter appeared.

[We’ll follow standard quarantine procedures. We’ll set up a temporary camp, and conduct thorough screenings for infections and other risks. Only those who pass the screening will be allowed in. As long as they aren’t at risk of becoming infected, there shouldn’t be any issues. Any other diseases can be easily managed.]

“This won’t be easy. Pulling off this transport operation with just a single platoon of security robots…”

Controlling from the base and leading from the outside are challenges of entirely different levels.

[If we stick strictly to the plan, it’s possible.]

I fell into deep thought. Artemis, Rose, and Chloro were all waiting for my decision.

The easiest choice would be to ignore the situation. Everything I need for survival is here. Under their devoted care, I could live out the rest of my life in peace and die without regret. No one would blame me for ignoring them. But is that truly the right thing to do? Would I really have no regrets if I abandoned them?

"Don’t you have an opinion?" I asked Artemis.

Up until now, she had offered neutral insights and suggestions without revealing a preference for or against the decision.

[Is there any need to say more about a decision that's already been made?]

Artemis replied.

[Your breathing, the changes in your pupils, the flow of your hormones, and your heartbeat… I can see the direction of your choice.]

Her voice sounded oddly pleased, maybe because she had already sensed my thoughts?

[I want more power.]

[How amazing would it be if my voice could reach every corner of the world?]

[I want to create a perfect city.]

I remember those things Artemis had said to me. The perfect city she dreams of isn’t just an empty, grand structure. She must want a city full of life, teeming with people and vitality. That’s not something I can create alone.

Artemis' desire. The benefits we could gain by taking in these people. The dilemma of being the last human in this vast city. The human instinct for compassion. The reasons to ignore them were simple and clear, but the reasons not to were far more numerous.

"Establish communication."

As if waiting for this, Artemis opened the communication line.

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