Runaway Evidence

A heavy multi-legged assault tank breaks loose and tears through its own test grounds before turning toward the streets of Niihama. Whoever controls it is using the recognition code of Kago Takeshi, the machine's designer, who died a week earlier. Because no group claims the attack and the military will not act without proof of terrorism, Section 9 is handed the job of bringing the runaway down.

Saito lines up a sniper shot but fails when the tank taps into the very satellite guiding his aim. Meanwhile Togusa and Ishikawa press the co-designer, Ooba Toshio, who admits the truth: after Kago died he wired the man's brain into the tank's AI, leaving the dead engineer at the controls. Kago had endured severe illness, yet his parents' faith led them to forbid him a cyberbody or cyberbrain, and he now steers the machine toward their home. Section 9 cannot head him off and is drawn into a running fight.

The team finally disables the tank, and Motoko burns out Kago's brain to end it. In the instant before she does, she senses that his aim was never revenge; he only wanted to show his mother and father the steel body he had finally obtained.

Titled TESTATION as its subtitle, the episode was directed by Toshiyuki Kawano and written by Junichi Fujisaku. It aired in Japan on October 8, 2002, and in English on November 7, 2004, sitting between Public Security Section 9 and A Modest Rebellion. Lighter beats come from the chattering Tachikoma, who marvel at the larger tank and joke about returning to their birthplace.