Well, I had interpreted that statement about the irregularities as meaning "hey, there's no NTGs here, this kid is barely different from a regular human"; but I might be wrong of course.

Oh I didn't mean that Killy was a "regular Joe" just that he wasn't a Safeguard. I can't remember the specific line in the artbook but it said something about Killy being really old and the most advanced cyborg in the world or something like that. But also when questioned by Cibo, the Governor she met in the backup cyberspace said he wasn't a Safeguard but a secret agent from a pre-Safeguard system.

I don't think "the humans inside" the SCs are very anxious to be saved, or that they would be saved at any rate. My personal thoughts on this is that the SCs are just power hungry humans that wanted to take advantage of the NetSphere which was created by another group of power hungry humans. So basically it all boils down to a power struggle in which both parties will use whatever means necessary to erradicate the other; they're both equally bad, in my opinion. The SCs won the first round, with the spreading of the disease, creating a state of chaos or maybe just amplifying it, because in NOiSE it seems that there was already a certain amount of chaos in the NetSphere's workings before all its human operators kicked the bucket and this allowed for the birth of the Order (its name is kind of ironic now that I think about it). And then finally the underdogs win the second round and the war by creating a Net Gene Carrier from the genes of Seu, Cibo and Sanakan. Hopefully they will use her power to keep both the SCs and the consciousnesses of the idiots that made all this possible at bay; or just plain wipe them off the face of the Earth or wherever.

Finally, I think you're right in thinking that the number of ways to connect to the NetSphere was reduced suddenly to keep the SCs out. I guess it fits nicely with my "power struggle" theory.

Thanks, I understand now.

Why does Killy still remember his mission, but does not know anything about SG, SC, etc. ? Apparently, he was sent on his mission by some organization unknown to us, in order to end chaos. He then somehow lost his memory, but still remembers his mission, his name and how to use his gun. He doesn't know where he got the gun, who sent him and he doesn't know anything about the world he is in, about the other factions involved...

As I think I mentioned somewhere else on this board... Nihei said in his artbook that Killy has simply been alive so long that he has forgotten many things..

His brain can't be totally computerized. By the usual definition of a cyborg, the brain is human still anyway.

-Jenshin

Just a question: Why is the level9's behavior so erratic? (Btw, I assume that Cibo was no longer in control at the time) The first thing she does is shoot off Dhomochevsky's head but she restores Kily's arm afterwards. Shouldn't it have been the other way around? I mean, Dhomochevsky's a registered special safeguard and Killy is the unregistered safeguard. Did she mistake Dhomochevsky as a silicon creature or something?

Next thing that happens is Pcell gives the level9 some damage. After this, the level9 obliterates the central nexus and turns everything into molten metal (WTH?!). (Note that she is still fully functional at the time.) Then some sort of beam(?) shines down on her. The next time we see the level9 unit, she's already been completely wasted and has a child-like appearance. Apparently, Cibo has regained control but her memories were muddled up and she can no longer use her safeguard abilities (offensive and regenerative).

Who attacked her with that beam? It couldn't have been Killy because he spends the next chapter looking for his gun. Perhaps it was Sanakan? At the end of the chapter, she is shown pursuing the level9 unit and the holes on the floor and ceiling have apparently been made by gravity beam emmiter. But then again, the beam's radius looked too large for Killy's and Sanakan's gravity beam emmiters (the level9's entire body was engulfed in it).