The Sky Ladder training corps is stationed in the northwestern Gobi Desert. Once a year comes Ascension Day, the final trial for human-machine bonding.
There is only one ironclad rule: absolute safety, with human and machine sharing one life.
But the machine spirits remember everything. The names crossed out, the records replaced, the final pages torn away.
They recognize the people from before. They remember the families and every word erased from the files.
Thirteen trainees, thirteen machine spirits that can speak. As the files shrink and the memories grow, it's time to settle the whole account behind this trial named "Absolute Safety."
Theme: You earn your own name, records can be changed, but memories endure.
