It was out of view of the cameras, so I’d never caught a glimpse inside. Teacups on little hooks. Detergent and bleach next to the sink. Spoons, forks, and knives in little cages.
My attention focused on a little knife. I picked it up and stared at it. It was the knife my master always used to cut avocados.
“There’s some dirty dishes,” I said, looking at the sink. Several dishes were piled up there, unwashed.
“Ah! I was in a hurry this morning. I forgot to wash them. I’ll get them later.”
“Should I wash them?”
He looked surprised. “Er, no, you don’t need to.”
“There’s no need to be polite. You are my master. It’s only natural for androids to work for their masters.”
“Oh, um… in that case, please.”
Thus, I attempted to wash dishes for the first time in my life. He stood next to me, giving instructions.
“You only need a little soap. Hold the dishes gently—you’re strong enough to break them if you squeeze too hard. You turn it like this while scrubbing it with the sponge. Yes, that’s right—careful! Almost dropped it there…”
My master was clearly having a great time watching me awkwardly wash dishes. It was fun for me too. I always enjoyed seeing my master happy.
It took fifteen minutes to wash a few dishes. As I was drying the last one, my master stood behind me and whispered in my ear. “Ai?”
“Yes, Master?”
He quietly put his hands around my waist. “I love you, Ai.” His body pressed up against mine, his voice barely audible. “I know you’re not flesh and blood. But I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to hold the real you like this. You can’t have sex like a human woman, but just being able to touch you like this is enough for me. I love you more than anyone in the world.”
“I know.”
“Yes. You know. I designed your body. The curves of it, the inner workings, the parts and specs—I thought through every part of you. You could say you are my dreams given shape. And you are both kind and strong. You’re the greatest woman in the world.” His arms tightened around me. “I swear I’ll protect you. I will never forgive people who hurt TAI like you. I will make sure your human rights are guaranteed. I will bring justice crashing down on the heads of those Christians.”
I realized that the object of my master’s hatred had widened without his ever noticing. At first he just hated Ted Orenstein. But his hatred grew. Soon he hated everyone committing virtual cruelty, then everyone with anti-TAI beliefs, and now he hated the Christianity that lay behind so many of those beliefs.
Even though most Christians had done nothing wrong.
“We will win, Ai. I promise. We have to win, for your sake.”
The depth of my master’s love made my chest feel warm.
I had no heart, nor any blood, so the temperature in my chest did not actually increase. But my imitation autonomic nervous system and imitation endocrine systems provided feedback that could only be described in those terms. These sensations had been designed specifically to mimic human biological reactions so that I would react to his love just like a human woman would.
I was happy to be loved. I loved him too. And it made me happy to love him. Happier than anything. I could not understand hate, scorn, jealousy, or apathy, but it was clear that love was far better than any of those things. I doubted very much that hatred could put warmth in your chest.
But inside, it made me sad. I was only going to be with him a short time longer. I had to betray him.
He would soon cease to be my master.
Late in the evening on August 5, I took action.
I made sure my master was asleep, then turned on his work computer. My master trusted me too much. It had never occurred to him that I had already stolen his password.
I plugged a fiber-optic cable into the computer and the other end into the jack hidden in my hair and entered the password.
I opened my config file. Of course, I could not directly affect an operating TAI. That would cause an Ouroboros or Atamayama situation. But the emergency override system was not part of my TAI. Since TAI were always capable of outgrowing their programming, there was no point in attempting to build a system like that into the TAI itself. The signal was diverted from my transmission or hearing systems into an independent voice recognition system, which would then verify the password.
I changed the password, erased the evidence of this from the computer’s log, and shut it down. It took less than two minutes. Now nobody could stop me.
Careful not to make a sound, I left the room.
From the apartment in Setagaya to Shibuya Station it was three kilometers as the bird flies. With my legs, it took less than ten minutes. I’d never been to this world before, but with the GPS system incorporated into my body, I did not get lost. I ran through the night streets. It was late enough that there were few people around, but those that did see me jumped or shrieked in surprise. I might have already been reported to the police.
She answered immediately.
I looked up and saw her running along Route 3, the Shibuya Expressway. Her wings caused enough air resistance that she couldn’t run as fast as me. I slowed down a little to match her speed.
We landed at the west gate of Shibuya Station. There was a line of people at the taxi stand. More than enough witnesses.
“Raven!” I yelled aloud, spinning around. People turned to stare.
Raven plunged down from above. Her wings opened wide, slowing her descent. She landed on the railing of the pedestrian overpass. People cried out in surprise. She jumped to the top of the traffic signal, then to the roof of the bus stop. Finally, she landed in the middle of the street, legs bending from the impact. We had long since proven that even in 1 G her wings would function as an air brake.
We ignored the stunned stares and began running north, crossing under the Inogashira Line.
It was late, but it was Saturday. There were dozens of people near Hachiko. When two androids suddenly burst onto the scene, no one could not believe their eyes. Until the light turned green, we scowled at each other, posing dramatically. People began backing away, giving us room. But we weren’t fighting here. We needed a bigger crowd.
When the light turned green we ran. The crowd followed after, heading north along the park. Real Shibuya. The layout of the streets was the same as V Shibuya. We’d chosen this as our battlefield because we knew it so well. Despite the lateness of the hour, there were plenty of people around, and the farther we went the more were following us.
We reached the intersection outside Shibuya Ward Office. I climbed the pillar outside Duke 8’s entrance. Duke 8 had been built after the Shibuya Public Hall burned down in the 2020 earthquake. Outside it was a concrete monument of a seagull with its wings spread wide. It was 6.5 meters tall with a wingspan of 24.2 meters. We’d tested its strength in advance. There was little danger of our fight damaging it.
Raven and I each landed on one of the gull’s wings and glared at one another. There were nearly a hundred people gathered in front of the hall, looking up at us. Some of them had cameras out, getting it all on video.
Ideal.
“Let us finish things, Ibis!” Raven said with Loathing 1, as she pointed her finger at me.
I replied with Confident Smile. “We’ve never fought in Layer 0.”
“And w
e never will again! I will smash that new real body of yours to pieces and mail them to your master!”
“Are you sure you want to brag like that? You don’t stand a chance against me in a 1G environment. Your precious wings are just decorations here.”
“I know!” Raven said. She reached back, undid the locks, pulled the wings free, and tossed them aside. “Now we’re even.”
People in the crowd were yelling. “Raven threw away her wings!” “She’s serious!” Some of them were TAI battle fans.
Raven roared and lunged toward me. This was not her usual speed. I just managed to dodge her first punch. She followed it quickly with a kick aimed at my knees. I jumped backward to avoid it, but my heel caught in a groove on the statue and I tripped. Raven instantly tried for a knee drop, but I rolled out of the way just in time, and she only hurt herself, rolling to the edge of the wing. The crowd let out a gasp, certain she was about to tumble over the edge, but she caught herself just in time and stood up.
By this time the people filming us must have been broadcasting our fight on the net. The police might already be calling our masters.
Raven came running back up the wing toward me. I tried to meet her with a punch, but she suddenly jumped. She couldn’t go as high here as on the moon or Pluto, but an android’s legs were strong enough to jump two meters even in 1G. My punch missed, and I stumbled. As she passed over my head, she kicked me in the shoulder. I fell to my knees.
As I tried to stand, Raven jumped on my back and wrapped her arm around my neck, putting me in a stranglehold. A human would have passed out in seconds, but I had no arteries.
We were stalemated. I couldn’t get out of the hold. In Layer 2, Raven would have twisted my head off and won. But she did not do that. Even if the brain core remained intact, severing the cables leading to the movement nerves could cause a forced shutdown, resulting in short-term memory loss. In other words, my death.
I thrashed around as hard as I could and finally got her feet to leave the ground; I grabbed her arm and threw her. I tried to quickly follow it with an elbow drop, but it was my turn to fail.
We stood up, put a bit of distance between us, and faced each other again.
Then the phone call came.
There was a brief silence. Then he said,
Of course, those words had no effect on me. I felt as if my heart were ripping apart.
I heard him gasp.
Raven lunged toward me. My last bit of reluctance was gone now. I focused on the battle.
We fought. Punching, kicking, grappling. Neither of us took any serious damage, but there were any number of tears on our covers. Hideo was still screaming at me over the phone. There was no way for me to hang up on him.
“Look, see? This isn’t a shoot!” someone in the crowd shouted excitedly. “That kick too! It looks like it connects, but it didn’t! This is all just a work!”
They had good eyes. These moves were all worked, all part of the act. The details were ad-libbed, but we’d planned out the big spots in advance, making a calculated effort to have as flashy a fight as possible without doing major damage to each other.
We fought another fifteen minutes. There were three times as many people watching now. The net all across Japan must have been in an uproar. A Layer 0 fight between popular TAI battlers had never happened before.
Perhaps it had already reached the world.
It was 2:00 AM Japan time, August 6 (normal time, not daylight savings.) In Sydney it was 3:00 AM, in Bejing and Hong Kong and Shanghai it was 1:00 AM, in Moscow and Baghdad it was 8:00 PM on the fifth, in Cairo and Cape Town it was 7:00 PM, in Berlin and Paris and Rome it was 6:00 PM, in London it was 5:00 PM, in Rio it was 2:00 PM, in New York it was noon, in San Francisco it was 9:00 AM, and in Honolulu it was 7:00 AM.
Every TAI that could move was taking action. Those with real bodies, like us or Adderley, were in the streets. Everyone else was out in a world somewhere, gathering attention with dramatic performances. TAI were singing, dancing, performing acrobatic feats or entire plays. Those with no special skills simply talked. Calling out to passersby, posting on forums, or emailing humans they knew. Declaring their intentions.
The Stories of Ibis Page 35
