Living with Memory of Steel (Part 1)

by Masahiko Kimoto

  "Light of the earth for everyone"

  It might be their pray before meal. The three of them chant and start eating. Murase introduces himself and other two guys, while picking at scramble egg.

  They're the third cluster of the third cell of Tokyo region of Earthlight. Their code name is 3-3-cell.

  Their leader is Go Murase, 27 years old. He's in charge of this cell. Rough job such as the incident that happened yesterday is fairly rare, but he takes care of this kind of work. He looks amazingly strong. He is the one who kept on shooting from the modified vehicle. Anyone can see his muscle under the white T-shirt.

  The smallish guy is called Junichiro Rokugo. His nickname is Junrock. He's 24 years old. He's cutting up a sausage into small pieces and eating it one by one in a very careful way. His hairstyle is particular to a person with psy-connect ability. All of the hair except for the top is shaved and an implant type adapter is connected to his head. He seems like a timid university student, but his skills in computer navigation and psy-connect is outstanding. His work varies from collecting information to information combat. He wears a white big T-shirt on top of a long-sleeved black shirt. There is a small device on his left arm and a rely device for psy-connect on his hip, which he always carry around.

  The last person seems to be from Australia. She calls herself Clare Sha-Sha. She's a 19 year old girl. Her age is also not officially proven, but it seems about right. It looks like her main blood is Japanese but mixed with the Nordic transparency. She gives that kind of coquettish impression. The color of her eyes and hair is way thinner. There is a tattoo on the right arm, which looks like the shape of Japan and Australia cut out from the world map. She takes care of all the house chores including cooking, but driving is also her work. She is the one who was driving the large wagon. The sedan seemed to belong to 3-2-cell.

  The three of them are all the members of 3-3-cell, living together in this building. It seems common to live in the same house regardless of the gender.

  Reji got dragged into their wagon and lost his consciousness before taking to their hideout, this building.

  Reji doesn't care about himself. He was lucky to survive in that accident and thankful for getting saved. However, all he thinks about is his friend's death.

  "I wonder who killed Akimichi-san."

  "Akimichi-san? Oh, your friend?"

  "Yeah. I don't know who did it."

  "No one killed him. That was an accident."

  "No way! I watched what happened, so did you! That weird robot shot and killed Akimichi-san."

  "It's not a ROBOT. It's A-B-A-H-S!"

  "A....? What is it?"

  "There was a press release. That one is a human figure device for space development that has been invented by ASIT, the Agency of Science, Industry and Technology. It's called A-B-A-H-S.

  "It's a compilation of the best science technology. It's an honorable hero. A bullet by A-B-A-H-S would have distracted his bike drive and the boy mishandled and fell. That sounds like a highly possible scenario."

  "There is no way that's the case."

  "It is the case. At least A-B-A-H-S wouldn't be the culprit."

  "Why is it?"

  "Because he's a hero. A hero wouldn't kill anyone for no reason even that's his enemy. He is a here of science, technology, the government and justice."

  "Isn't Earthlight against that kind of thing?"

  Musase quietly sips his coffee. It seems like he is giving Reji some time to think.

  "Do you pay money to breath in air?"

  Murase continues.

  "If air is too extreme as example, water is suitable. When you turn a tap on, you can get water. You pay for the water, but it's not much. Compared to that, our global information network tax is quite a big amount and the investment in order to use network facility isn't cheap.

  Well, information technology isn't problem. At least the network infrastructures are public facilities. They are evenly provided. The tools and software are on the competitive market. But still, there is unfairness depending on the user's ability, and it should be concerned that this gap is left untouched.

  However the problem lies in the more general technology. Medical engineering is a good example. I wonder all the patients can receive treatment that is based on the latest medical technology. I don't think so. --- Why is that? Is that due to a financial issue? Or is it due to infrastructure? Is it because of techniques of the doctors? Does it come down to the knowledge of the patients?"

  Murase quietly, but continuously rains question on Reji. Clare restrains him.

  "That's enough. He looks surprised."

  "...I got a little carried away. Sorry."

  He puts his half lift up butt to the chair and sits deeply.

  "Earthlight is the light that reflects the sunlight against the earth and falls on the surface of the moon. Only people who have been to the space can see the light of the earth. Only selected people can go to the space at the moment, but there will be day when more people can go to the space. Then, space trip shouldn't be privileged to limited group of people. Our organization want a world that everyone can see the light of the earth."

  Reji understand. This is a political organization that has a belief. However, it's a little bothering to a normal civilian like Reji.

  Junrock buts in.

  "You don't have to tell him too much. He's just a normal kid."

  ".... I know."

  Reji looks down.

  "I'm a normal high school student. I'm not a MoSE. I thank you for helping me and giving me breakfast, but..."

  "Oh, hold on. You were with a girl."

  "So what?"

  "Who was that?"

  "He's a friend of Akimichi-san at his school."

  "What's her name?"

  "Akari Nakazato. Can I leave now?"

  Reji stands up.

  "Okay, okay. Don't care about us too much. We don't really care about you either."

  "It doesn't matter what you are up to. Akimichi-san died. He got killed by the thing called A-B-A-H-S. And Earthlight, because of you."

  "Hold on a sec. What happened to the girl?"

  Reji doesn't answer.

  They're enemies. A-B-A-H-S is also an enemy. I'm surrounded by enemies. I should leave this place as soon as possible.

  He go outside. The hideout of Earthlight is an old and narrow three-story building.

  There are individual private rooms on the top floor and the dining room is on the second floor. It looks like the first floor is for an office. It would be related to their official work.

  The problem is where this place is, but he get the sense of the location. He saw an elevated bridge for trains between the buildings from the window at the dining room. The green dome must be Yamate line. Once he get there, he will know where he is.

  If he have a device, a sensor on the road would tell me the location, but unfortunately it got blown away with the bike. Reji doesn't have ability to go into the network infrastructure directly using psy-connect. Walking to the green elevated railroad is the only option.

  After walking for a while, there are more billboards for pubs among office buildings. There is a grilled chicken restaurant, a kebab place, Thai style stall and Indian style stall. This seems like a night town for business men. There are more Asian and Arabian immigrant in white color jobs. This place is for those people to enjoy their home meals after work.

  Even they are all immigrants, people who get to work for prestigious companies are envied by other immigrants. The restaurant association hires security guards at night to watch out around the area. However, around this time of the day, stores aren't open yet, and only people here are business men who are heading for their offices on the weekend.

  Should he go right or left. Reji wonders, standing under the elevated railroad.

  There are more people coming from the right. The current flow should be going from the station to the workplaces. If that's the case, the station would be on the right.


  He gets to Shinbashi station after three minutes' walk. He goes straight through the station and walks along the elevated railroad. There comes an open space that surrounds the SL. This entire area is office town. There was a time when the public safety got worse. One morning, the SL got painted in gold and the billboard was rewritten as "SM square". It was the last straw for the government and they decided to improve the safety. Now there is a corridor from Shiodome. It's quite a safe town.

  Wandering homeless people are sitting at benches among the businessman who head for offices. Reji sits far enough from them.

  On holidays, Shinbashi is kind of quiet. There are business men and shoppers on the streets, but compared to the flock of energetic business men in weekdays, it doesn't seem to show its best.

  A pigeon walks past around Reji's feet. An old shoeshine lady who looks like she has been sitting here since the previous century is reading newspaper leisurely while smoking.

  Surrounding the SL square, there are three building with a gigantic monitor on each. One is showing an advertisement on new snack and soft drink. The snack and drink were introduced by the same brand, and for some reason, they have become popular. The brightly colored food is exciting the public. There is a promotion video playing of a coming singer on other screen.

  The song is arranged in Neo-Enka (Japanese ballad) way, which is a new style of Enka. With the sweet face of a seventh generation of Japanese Brazilian, the singer's song is favored by wide range of generations. The last screen, which is just in front of Reji has 3D function is showing a news program which doesn't require any three dimensional effects. There are a female news caster who has gained popularity with her Lolita voice and a green flabby character with his mouth wide open. The green guy says "Muffon" every time.

  "Hi guys, are you enjoying your day-off? Today we are going to change the usual program and introduce A-B-A-H-S."

  "Muffon, Muffon, I'll ask a lot of questions with her!"

  "Everyone must be surprised by the sudden announcement last night. This is a human figure robot for space development invented by Agency of Science, Industry and Technology. The robot is called A-B-A-H-S."

  "Muffon. This is its picture. It looks cool. It has an ideal inverted triangle figure. The arms are a little too thin and the legs are fat. Also, its legs are bent in the opposite direction. It might be too much of a stretch to call it human figure."

  "Yeah. Private robots have more human like shapes. It seems like this is because it focuses more on the athletic performance. A-B-A-H-S seems to be able to move faster than any other robots."

  "Wow, wow! Muffon, Muffon. That's great. What's this? It says some description here. The entire bod is coated with hard armor. It can use equipment for humans. The outside bone structure is run by the inner actuator, which makes it possible to move in the exact same way as humans. Its athletic performance is way better than humans. The robot has short guns on the both side on the hip, which are remodeled from linear impact drivers. The thruster on the back makes it jump very far and fly for a short moment. It sounds difficult, but it seems great."

  "A-B-A-H-S is the key in space development."

  "Oh! Muffon. It's a cooperative space development plan by developed countries that are in the International space development union."

  "Yeah, that's right. Japan is in charge of the operators in the cooperative space development plan. A-B-A-H-S is a special robot which works in places where humans can't go."

  "Muffon, but, lady, how would they operate A-B-A-H-S? Is it by a remote controller?"

  "That's a good question. Let's ask a specialist about it."

  The screen changes and a middle aged man with grayish hair appears. He is wearing frame-less glasses, which makes him look somehow seedy. Telops show his job descriptions in several universities including "a science journalist" at the end.

  Reji vaguely wonders if a science journalist is considered to be a specialist.

  "There are various problems in the space. One of them is the distance. It's easy to imagine the case where humans remain at a safe place and let the machine work on dangerous task at a distant place. This is not only an issue of safety but also its cost. Then, there comes a problem of connection delay. The speed of light is the same as long as the area where special theory of relativity applies. They only noted that !FA-B-A-H-S will be controlled by psy-connect' at press release. Psy-connect, precisely called the second generation psy-connect, is familiar as something that MoSE use. In fact there is an ability that only particular people can use, called the third generation psy-connect. It's not a skill, but an ability. Only a very few people are capable of using it. With this ability, the mind of a human operator can ....well... possess A-B-A-H-S and move it. It is most likely that the third generation psy-connect will be applied to operate A-B-A-H-S."

  The screen goes back to the studio.

  "Wow, Muffon! It was amazing. The space development is being advanced with the main focus on A-B-A-H-S, MoSE and psy-connect. Muffon, Muffon."

  "That's right. A-B-A-H-S will be proudly introduced to the world from Japan soon."

  "Oh, I know what you are talking about. It's UniverSoc (World Space Science Summit). It's going to be held in Japan this time."

  "Exactly. UniverSoc is held every year. Next one will be at Bay dome in the coming up month. There will be scientists from each country. They will be giving presentations of technologies and having discussions. This is going to be a grand occasion as a country of technology. Being chosen as the host country shows the high reputation of Japanese technology and engineers."

  "Muffon! Muffon! Hold on a sec! It's getting difficult. In other words, there will be honorable people gathering up and talking about complicated but important things."

  "Yeah, that's about right."

  "I'm excited! Muffoooon! I hope A-B-A-H-S will be implemented and work together with MoSE in the space!"

  "That sounds great. Well then, let's talk about this to wrap it up. Actually the technologies of A-B-A-H-S have been already used in various areas. For instance, polymer actuator is invented in the process of developing A-B-A-H-S. It's now used for supporting legs for people who have disabilities with their legs and also simplified psy-connect technology is applied to control it. A-B-A-H-S is a combination of various technologies."

  "These technologies are making the society better and more convenient, right?"

  "Indeed. ASIT and A-B-A-H-S is a hero of technology, a hero of the future and a hero of the society. Let's root for them together, everyone."

  "Muffon! Well then. We'll have to say goodbye now!"

  "See you later!"

  Reji is looking up the monitor. Staring at the repeated advertisement video clip, his eyes are fixated on the screen. The word, "a hero of the society" is going around in his head.

  The green creature looks like it's laughing at me.

  *****

  Akimichi's funeral is on Sunday.

  There are some people from the media since it's rare that Earthlight related incidents produce any victims and also the victim was a young boy who has a certificate of MoSE.

  Reji thinks it's better to have a little less guests at a funeral, standing at the corner of the entrance. Despite his thinking, more guests are arriving.

  A back door of a navy car opens. A girl and a man in his around thirties step out. That's Akari Nakazato.

  Akari spots Reji and runs to him.

  "Were you okay? I didn't know how to contact you."

  "I'm fine, but Akimichi-san..."

  "I know. It's on the news, and everyone is talking about it at school. There are some friends from other school coming to this funeral as well."

  "Akari, who's this?"

  An accompanying guy approaches from behind.

  "This is Reji, dad. His last name is ..."

  "It's Kogure."

  "Yep."

  Akari holds onto the guy's arm.

  "Yeah. I've heard about the accident from Akari. I'm Toshihiro Sekiba, Ph.D.
"

  The guy asks for his hand. Reji notices that even though he's called dad, he has a different last name. There might be some complicated family reason for it. Reji shyly takes Sekiba's hand.

  "It seems like you got involved in the case. I should thank you. I've heard you tried to help Akari."

  A black coated car rolls in. An elderly man gets off the car. The cameras flash and reporters are calling out that "the chairman of Agency of Science, Industry and Technology has arrived".

  Sekiba lets go of his hand.

  "Don't you have to see Kasuga-kun, Akari? And, you, Reji?"

  "I'm fine. Akimichi-san's friends are all so impressive looking. I can go last."

  "Okay. Then, you should go there on your own, Akari."

  "Okay."

  Akari trots to the main building with fluttering the trim of her black two-piece dress.

  Reji and Sekiba walk away from the crowd to the corner of the garden. They walk up the stone stairs, watching out the slippery moss. From there, they can see the whole venue.

  Many of the guests are young. They must be friends of Akimichi. Reji doesn't know most of their faces, who live in a different world. They are elites of great promise with the psy-connect ability. Of course, Akari is one of them.

  There is only one lady who Reji has seen on photos.

  That's Wakako.

  She is crying. There is an unfamiliar guy standing right next to her while holding her shoulder.

  It's true that she's crying for Akimichi. Reji would like to believe so, but a guy standing next to her is a different guy. It bothers him a little, wondering what Akimichi would think of this. However, dead people wouldn't have any of the sad or upsetting feelings.

  Older guests are attending here and there. They might be Akimichi's relatives or his teachers. Akimichi must have been an anticipated star at the elite high school.

  Reji doesn't know much about the daily like of Akimichi.

  MoSE is a certificate that is given to people with grounding ability as a scientist or an engineer. It is an absolute wall that separates the people who can handle technology and the people who get handled by it in the current technology supremacism.