For the androids to keep fighting for humanity for roughly seven thousand years, waging such a long war against the Machine Lifeforms...
Under normal circumstances, if they were nothing more than pure mechanical programs, then perhaps they really could have persisted that long.
But androids all possessed selves. They had individual thought.
For them to endure for that long, either they had been implanted with prison-like programming that forced them to continue this war for millennia...
Or the androids truly loved humanity, revered their creators, and were sincerely, utterly loyal, willing to devote themselves to them.
And from the look of the scene, the latter seemed far more likely.
Because after this "farewell testament" was declared, among the countless shaken androids, Lacus could not see one particular emotion in their expressions.
Anger.
Anger directed toward their creators.
If humanity had truly enslaved them, if they had fought this seven-thousand-year war as slaves, and now humans suddenly chose to give up and stop lying there enduring it, then all of the androids' efforts over those seven thousand years would have been meaningless.
In that case, they might as well have died long ago.
Why torment them for seven thousand years like this?
And beyond anger, there should have been another emotion as well.
Relief.
Because they would no longer need to continue that nearly endless war against the Machine Lifeforms for humanity's sake.
And yet they showed neither anger nor relief.
There was only bewilderment and helplessness, like children panicking at the thought of their parents leaving them.
They were afraid. They were terrified of their "parents" leaving, unable to accept the death of their "parents."
As long as their "parents" lived, that alone was the support that kept them alive, the reason they continued on.
If their "parents" died, then they too felt that continuing to live would be meaningless.
Some of the androids were already showing expressions that looked almost like they wanted to follow them in death.
They could not accept this.
But the surviving humans could no longer endure lying in those cold "coffins" for thousands of years either. That kind of existence was worse than death.
An endless vegetative state like that was no different from having an oxygen tube ripped out and simply using the last of one's life to truly live.
So this farewell did not mean they were about to die immediately.
It meant only that once they stopped lying inside the stasis fields that had been slowing time to keep them alive, once they came out, the disease they carried would no longer be suppressed and would begin rapidly consuming their lives.
"We apologize once again. The reason we are abandoning you is because we are about to depart for another star system."
The sudden reversal was so startling that it was hard to process.
"Long ago, we conducted such an experiment. And now, the results of that experiment have brought us new hope."
What that meant was that humanity had once carried out some kind of deep-space exploration, and somewhere in a distant star system, they had found a way to deal with White Chlorination Syndrome.
"We discovered..."
The truth was that as long as humanity moved far enough away from the Solar System, the illness would begin to ease.
It was as though the Solar System itself had become a space filled with some kind of special radiation. As long as humans remained within it, their condition would only continue worsening.
But once they left the Solar System, the symptoms of White Chlorination Syndrome would gradually disappear. (nier.fandom.com)
So this farewell did not mean humanity had abandoned life.
It meant that in order to survive, they truly had no choice but to abandon their homeland, and abandon the androids who had fought for them.
For a moment, hearing this, Lacus's feelings became even more complicated.
Still, there seemed to be no need to call it "abandoning" the androids.
Couldn't they simply leave together?
Or perhaps they really could not.
Because if one wanted to carry out interstellar travel without some absurd leap in technology, then there was no way to bring too many people.
Most likely, their current resources were only just enough to allow the last surviving humans to migrate to a new star system.
"We are truly sorry. If possible..."
Sure enough, it was just as Lacus had thought.
Humanity had found a new home, and wanted to migrate there, but with their current technology and resources, the colony ships they could build were only barely enough to carry the remaining humans.
Humanity did not have time to keep waiting, waiting for more advanced technology, waiting until they could build a massive interstellar migration fleet.
And so, in this migration, they could only leave nearly all of the androids behind, taking only a tiny few with them.
That was why they kept apologizing.
And the androids, clearly, felt no dissatisfaction at all about that truth.
From their reactions, all one could see was relief, relief that this was not the tragic farewell they had feared moments earlier.
As long as their creators could go on living, they did not care whether they themselves were being abandoned or not.
At most, they would feel some sadness and regret.
But more than that, they would bless their creators and wish them a safe journey.
After this, they would continue their war against the Machine Lifeforms and reclaim the homeland that belonged to their creators. The war itself, between androids and alien-created machine lifeforms, was already central to this setting. (nier.fandom.com)
And one day, once their creators had fully cured that disease, they would be able to return and live once more in their homeland.
...
Of course, once the androids won the war, they would certainly follow in their creators' footsteps and head toward their creators' new home as well.
Suddenly, it looked as though the entire Moon was trembling. The lunar surface behind this gigantic base was cracking open.
Not because anything was wrong with the Moon itself, but because an enormous space colony ship was rising out of a launch shaft.
Clearly, today was the day of farewell.
The androids were about to watch their creators depart.
Once the colossal vessel, as huge as a mountain, rose into place, the launch countdown appeared on its hull.
A launch countdown?
That was too short. The human giving the speech would never be able to board in time.
"I have no intention of boarding. Not everyone is willing to leave their homeland. You may also have heard rumors that some humans recently appeared on the surface and took part in the war against the Machine Lifeforms. Those were not rumors. Some of us, those of us who cannot let go of home, have decided..."
...
There would always be those unwilling to leave their homeland, unwilling to die in some distant foreign place.
And that group intended to spend the remainder of their lives fighting alongside the androids.
Those humans had already blended in among the androids, some among the troops gathered here, some perhaps already down on Earth.
But no one should worry about them. No one should give them special treatment.
They were human, creators.
They did not need to be coddled and protected by androids as if they were helpless infants.
As humans, they wanted the flame of their lives to burn as brightly and gloriously as possible in the time they had left.
Only then would they have no regrets.
Only that was worthy of human glory.
So—
"Please allow me to apologize once more. I will not reveal which among you are the humans hiding in your ranks."
At that point, the young man turned around and faced the mountain-like interstellar colony ship, whose countdown was nearly complete.
"And now, let us offer them our blessing."
The moment those words fell, he raised a salute.
Almost at the same time, everyone else saluted as well.
"May the glory of humanity endure forever!"
The overwhelming roar drowned out even the ignition of the starship.
That voice seemed to shake the Moon itself.
That voice seemed as though it would carry across the whole universe.
Countless gazes watched as the starship carrying humanity's final embers raced toward the distant stars.
(End of Chapter)
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