“Are you fast?” Europa asked.
He looked up at LeRoux. The man was too far away for his special sense to work, but he could tell by the grim look on the man’s face what he was thinking.
“I could kill them,” he shouted up. “If they push me, I will. I did not train for sport.”
“They are expendable,” LeRoux returned.
He licked his lips. The twins both flinched but kept their eyes on him.
“See? We told you,” Enéas said. “He’s a bastard.”
“If we do this, he lets us back,” Europa said.
“But only if we genuinely try to kill you,” Enéas shrugged.
“We are quite sorry about this,” Europa stated.
“You want to test me?” He put his mechanical hand on the hilt of his ancestral sword. “This blade will cut you both in half with one swing.”
“Show us you’re not the boy we brought to the Floating World,” they said as one. Both of them flickered and vanished.
Ichiro gritted his teeth. A contact request appeared in his UI from Europa. Thinking it might be an explanation of what was going on, he accepted. Before he could react, a file downloaded into his cerebral computer.
“Boss?” Armstrong said.
He let go of Hoshinagi and waved her off, trying to figure out what it was that Europa had just sent him. He told his UI to scan and open the file—
The first attack came at him head on. He felt Enéas’ focus like a brand on his skin and turned his shoulders, twisting out of the way of the unseen strike. He felt the wind from the missed blow as a second brand heated the back of his head. He ducked by dropping into fighting stance and sent his metal fist in the direction of the first attack. It connected at the same time as a twin’s strike passed over his head. The resistance on his knuckles was momentary, and the grass flattened a meter in front of him.
That may have taken care of one for the moment, but the other wasn’t finished. He felt his opponent’s focus shift to his back and knew from the feel it was Europa. He rolled, but not in time. Her blow sent him sprawling forward and knocked the wind from his lungs. The ground rushed up towards him, and it was only by reflex that he managed to turn his fall into a handspring. He vaulted him over her prone brother and back onto his feet some meters away. He turned, sucking in air with his hands raised in a guard position, and noted the depression in the grass was growing shallow.
At the edge of the lawn Armstrong stood with a stony expression. Tengu was on his feet, staring with glowing green eyes. They were so much like Setha’s—he should have saved her, should have saved them all—
The blow struck him squarely in the cheek. The force of it spun him right off his feet and he felt himself land hard on the ground. Not daring to remain still, he rolled back and up into a combat crouch with the edge of the cliff five meters behind him.
The next impact hit him square in the solar plexus and sent him stumbling backward, gasping for breath. The one after that hit him higher up on the chest and was powerful enough to lift his body off the ground and bring him slamming down on the earth. The momentum slid him to the very edge of the escarpment.
He gasped until his lungs worked again. He closed his eyes, reaching out for the combination of emotion and heat that marked the twins in his sixth sense. It took a moment of ignoring the throbbing bruises rising on his body before he found them. Their aggression was like a fire burning the air. He brought his knees up and sprung to his feet.
They came at him again. He sensed one twin hold back while the other lunged. Mindful of the cliff, Ichiro spun at the last moment, striking out with his metal hand. He felt the blow connect and turned to face the second twin—
Sparks flew through his vision as he was struck again. He blinked and became aware of his back on the grass and the caramel sky above him.
“I’m sorry,” Europa said as she appeared over him. Her brother likewise became visible a few meters off, rubbing his side. She held his gaze a moment then raised her leg and brought it crashing down at his head.
Ichiro rolled out of the way and twisted up to his feet, feeling the impact through the ground. He paused long enough to see that both twins were staring at him, then straightened his kimono and dropped back into combat stance. He blinked, gritting his teeth against the dizziness and nausea he felt, but his body stayed steady.
“Baron Mitsugawa,” LeRoux called his attention. He gave it with some reluctance. “I promised you a true demonstration of the Gemini System, and now you’ll have it. I want you to consider what an entire army of coordinated men and women serving a single will is capable of. Think of what could be accomplished, of what it could do for a man in your situation.”
“I cannot sacrifice my family’s legacy. Your price is too high,” he called back.
“I do not engage in charity. I told you.”
Ichiro shook his head, trying to get the world to stop wobbling. Now was as good a time to negotiate as any, he supposed, especially if he wasn’t going to live much longer. At least he might get a better deal for his people before he died. “Forty-percent, regardless of whether I live or die today.”
“And who takes over for you if you die? Einaga? That’s as good as handing your legacy over to the Yulong Gongsi, isn’t it?”
“I have a sister,” he said, surprising himself. He couldn’t imagine what Sophi would do with Shiragawa, it might be better to let his uncle have it, but it was true. His father adopted her when he married his mother. By the laws of the Confederation she was next in line unless Einaga could somehow get the adoption annulled. Maybe that was his plan.
LeRoux smiled. “True enough, you do have a sister. Forty-five, and that’s if you win. If you lose, well, maybe see what deal she’ll offer.”
“You’d dishonor me like that?”
“I said ‘maybe.’ We’ll see how well you die.” LeRoux shrugged. “Kill him.”
Tengu let out a vicious bark that hit him like a wave. He wasn’t the only one who felt it. He sensed the twins’ surprise as they both stumbled back, stunned. It lasted only a millisecond before their focus shifted, but it was enough time to grasp Hoshinagi and draw it as he moved. The air seemed to crackle as his blade hissed and came free of its scabbard. There was more resistance than he expected when it passed through Europa’s stomach, cut her spine, and exited through her back. She managed a blow to his unarmored shoulder before she went down. He felt his arm explode in pain as it went limp, streaming blood from the small knife wound she left behind. He looked down in surprise at the blade protruding from her index finger, and blinked.
Something cracked in the air as he turned awkwardly towards her brother, raising the sword with his right hand. He expected her twin to be on him before he could blink, but he found the man laying on his back staring at the sky with empty eyes. Between them blood welled up from a perfect hole. Blinking, Ichiro looked over to Armstrong and saw her move away from the villa to point her pistol at Baron LeRoux.
The baron held up his hands. “Congratulations, Baron Mitsugawa. You have passed my test, albeit with some help.”
“Your test?” He looked from the baron to his two, slain children. Strangely, their skin and clothing had turned waxy and looked like it was starting to melt. Ichiro frowned and looked back up at LeRoux with anger boiling in his gut. “What the hell is going on here? I came here seeking aid and you tried to kill me. I didn’t want this. They didn’t want this. They—”
“If your wounds are not too severe, I would like to show you something about the true nature of the Gemini system. Please come with me, baron. I promise, you will not be harmed.”
LeRoux leapt down from the balcony. Armstrong moved to open fire again but when he landed on the ground he merely stood up and leveled a wry gaze at her.
“Baron, please.”
“I woudn’ do it if I were you.” Armstrong held her pistol steady.
Tengu came up behind the baron and growled.
“I told you there are other o
ffers pending for Shiragawa,” LeRoux said. “You can come with me or I can leave you on your own. I’m sure Zhào will be happy to make you one.”
Armstrong’s eyes flashed. “You son of a—”
Ichiro held up his metal hand. He could barely make his jaw relax enough to talk. “Lead on.”
LeRoux headed into the house.
“You’re bleeding.” Armstrong looked at him like he was crazy. “And you can’ trust a man who just ordered his own children killed.”
“I don’t intend to trust him. If he makes a single wrong move, he’ll join them in death.” Ichiro looked down at his arm. The blood flow wasn’t bad. Europa must’ve only scratched him with the blade.
“That is a given,” LeRoux said from the doorway.
“Shut it, you blue-blooded son of a bitch,” Armstrong spat at him.
LeRoux rolled his eyes.
“Stay here. Secure the shuttle.” He looked down at Tengu. “You, too.”
The cerberai growled. Armstrong’s nostrils flared. He felt her rage like a blistering heat on his skin, but she nodded and Tengu stayed put.
He flicked Hoshinagi in the air to wick the blood from its shining surface, then sheathed it.
“Move.”
LeRoux lead him into the house, past several of his brown-scaled Utona servants, and through a short hallway off the main corridor. They crossed from a sparsely decorated sitting room into a long library that took up both the first and second floors of the building. There was a balcony around the base of the second level that comprised the only interruption in the towering bookshelves. The smell of old paper was heavy in the air.
His shoulder was throbbing, but sensation returned to his fingers as LeRoux moved them deeper into the villa past a small dining room with a table made from the cross section of a tree with hundreds of rings. His host took a sharp right and a narrow door slid into the ground revealing a descending stairway.
Ichiro gritted his teeth at the pain moving up and down his left arm. He must have made a sound because his host paused and turned towards him.
“I know my children have a low opinion of me. They are quite rebellious, but they do what they’re told from time to time. I can have someone bring nanomeds if you like.”
“Let’s just get this over with,” he responded with tight lips.
“All right. I suppose I can’t blame you for your caution.” The baron seemed entertained as he headed down the staircase. At the bottom they entered another narrow hallway. Three paces ahead was a black door set in an alcove with a scanner dome above it. He stood beneath it for a moment before a chime sounded and the portal slid open.
LeRoux waved him on into a large, circular room with white-marble walls. The air within was dry and hot like the scrubland outside. “Excuse the heat in here. Venus radiates it from the ground in far-greater amounts than can be found on Earth or Kosfanter. It makes for a cheap, abundant power source, but it also means some sacrifices in comfort must be made in sub-level facilities.”
He would have answered but shock froze him in his tracks. There was a familiar sense, one that shouldn’t be here—that was impossible to be here.
At the center of the room a large machine on a broad, low pedestal hummed and clicked as it worked. A set of white rings formed a ribcage-like structure over a two-and-a-half-meter long table resembling the bottom third of a pipe cut lengthwise. Each of the rings had several nozzles and six, tentacle-like robotic arms ending in a variety of surgical tools. The arms were busy moving up and down, working on what appeared to be a human form lying on the table. A drainage grate ran the length of it like a metal spine beneath the subject.
There was a narrow terminal at the edge of the pedestal with an input slot on its slanted face. The smell of sterilizers in the air reminded him of the robotic operating theaters he saw in major hospitals.
“Boo!” Europa stood up from behind the control panel without a scratch on her. She gave him a bashful smile as he jerked back in surprise.
“What’s going on here?” He stared, wide-eyed at her as the machine clicked and hummed, seeming to spray and arrange layers of muscles, tissues, and organs on the humanoid shape within.
Tengu growled.
“This is the heart of the Gemini system, the thing that most turned your father off to the idea of its implementation,” Baron LeRoux said.
Not believing his eyes, he reached out with his special sense, scrutinizing Europa as best he could. What he felt matched what his eyes were telling him. It was her, or at least a copy of her so good it fooled Setha’s gift.
“How? What is this?”
“This is a very special bio-printer my barony developed some time ago. It can be programmed with the specifications you want, or with a sample of DNA placed in the slot there, it will make whatever the biological coding tells it to make. In short, this is a life-printer.”
“Life-printer?” Ichiro’s jaw went slack.
“And that’s Enéas,” Europa said, “or it will be soon.”
“I anticipated your victory on my lawn, so I had Europa’s new body started here well before the fight,” LeRoux explained. “Her memories and personality coding, her consciousness, downloaded into the new body the moment her old one expired. Her brother won’t be finished for another twenty-minutes or so. In the meantime, his consciousness is stored in a special server. I’ve explored faster means of life-printing, but I’m afraid the results were not satisfactory.”
“Life-printing?” He no longer felt the pain in his arm; his whole body was numb.
“As I’m sure you can tell, I’m rather proud of my machine.”
“You bioprinted the twins?”
“Originally from my own genetic code with a few changes, yes. Like I said, I needed them in a hurry for the demonstration for your father. They should have had a longer somatic imprinting period. I believe their rebelliousness comes from cutting that phase short. It seemed only fitting that the beings to usher in a new age in bio-engineering should be mine. That, by the way, is why I call them my children.”
“We are your children,” Europa muttered.
LeRoux gave her a sharp look.
Ichiro blinked. “You made them as adults? I didn’t think it was possible to make clones that way. How did you give them a mind?”
“They are not clones. I altered their DNA when I made them. There is some of my wife in them as well; it was a gift to her. She wanted children and I wanted her to shut up about it.” The baron waited for Ichiro to acknowledge the statement before proceeding.
“An old colleague of mine had a technique for direct memory implantation that I acquired before he left EpiGenome. The machine can arrange brain synapses and engrams according to programmable instructions. It is a similar process to how we download skill engrams from the Cyberweb. In essence, I had the twins created as software and uploaded into the printed bodies. They are a new life form created by my hand.”
His eyes widened. “That’s possible?”
“The brain is just another kind of computer. It’s the principle we use for developing cybernetic interfaces. When you think about it, the two technologies are not that far apart,” LeRoux removed his robe and folded it in half over his arm. “I want you to be clear on what it is you would be getting into should we be in business together. I made a mistake with your father. I was not as upfront with him in the beginning, but you now know how my perfect soldiers are made.”
He frowned, wiping sweat from his brow. A machine for creating living systems whole which could be used to replicate someone more perfectly than any clone, or to create a person from almost nothing. The applications were as endless as they were dangerous. The temptation to use this technology for selfish gain would be irresistible.
“War is presently waged with drones commanded by AI and a handful of biological officers to direct them. Do you know why we don’t use an all AI army?” LeRoux’s smugness was tangible in the air. “It is because we do not fully trust our AI children. Despi
te centuries of coexistence, despite advances that have made them look more like us than ever, we still don’t trust them. They remain fundamentally different. Daedalus is a prime example, isn’t it? Left to self-program, I am willing to bet it no longer even considers itself part of our Confederation.”
The comment sent a shiver down his back. “Yet we trust it with our protection.”
“We did, yes. I’m surprised you would say so, given what your defensive satellites recorded.”
His nostrils flared and he gave the man a sharp look.
“Don’t be so surprised, we all spy on each other,” LeRoux said. “I just happen to be very good at it.”
“Because of this machine.” He shivered. “Who among my staff are really your printed pets?”
LeRoux smiled. “You catch on quick. I think you might find that trust in Daedalus is changing across the Confederation. There are those in power who do not trust the machine at all. I, for one, have lived too long to allow it to rule my Confederation.”
A light went off in his head. He looked at the machine, with its many moving arms, then back at LeRoux. A shiver went down his back as he realized what else such a machine could be used to do.
Europa smiled. “I think he gets it.”
“How old are you?” he whispered.
“My machine has many beautiful applications. Daedalus has an endless manufacturing capability. When it decides to take over other biologicals will be overwhelmed, but not me. I can keep up. I can beat it.”
Ichiro frowned, taking a step back from him. “Life shouldn’t be cheapened by mass production.”
“So your father said, but it is wrong only if you hold there is some special quality to life that is sacred. Centuries of genetic engineering have proved that we are simply evolved machines lacking any such specialness. We are no different than our mechanical children in this respect, only the hand that made us was the law of nature. To cling to the foolish notion that we are somehow sacrosanct is an anachronism that can only hold us back.”
“Anachronism? There is nothing that distinguishes us from the machines that serve us? No wonder my father turned you down.” There was a sick feeling in his gut. Perhaps Tanaka was right. This was too high a price to pay.
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