Sign of the Dragon (Tatsu Yamada Book 1)

by Niall Teasdale

  She heard the sword moving closer. It was humming. A sonic blade. Kaede had a sonic blade on her katana, a design made for defeating armour, and Tatsu’s limbs were not as protected as the rest of her body. She pushed up onto all fours – all threes really – and then rolled away from the noise, grabbing her fallen pistol as she went. The sonic whine of the katana changed as it was swung, but it did not hit home again, and Tatsu rolled out and up onto her feet, turning to look at the black-clad figure.

  ‘Good hit,’ Tatsu said. ‘It’s going to take my mechanic a while to repair the damage.’ Kaede said nothing in reply, so Tatsu went on, retreating a step as she did so. ‘Don’t make me shoot you. You won’t survive a hit from one of these rounds, fancy armour or no.’

  Again, there was no reply. Kaede advanced a couple of steps, stalking her prey. The sword’s tip never deviated from where it was pointing: right at Tatsu’s eyes.

  ‘Don’t you think you’ve done enough, Kaede?’ Tatsu asked. ‘The Funabashi gang are finished. All the people responsible for your parents’ deaths are gone. You’re killing now because you like it. You’re making excuses to do it. Why would you even kill an old Chinese guy when what you want is the mafiosi?’

  ‘Pan was trying to stop the war,’ Kaede replied. ‘The war was meant to end them, but there are always more of them. Always.’

  ‘And your mother? Is it right that she’s taking the blame for your crimes?’

  ‘She’s not my mother,’ Kaede snapped. Her face was invisible thanks to the helmet, but there was genuine anger in her voice. ‘She took me in, but she never did anything to punish Zima for what he did. Now she’s paying for her lack of action.’

  Tatsu stepped back again. ‘So, you decided to punish Zima yourself.’

  Kaede closed the distance once more. ‘Letting him touch me like that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but exploiting his weakness was the easiest way to get to him. I thought I needed subterfuge back then, so I arranged to be invited into his apartment. I let them do what they wanted, and then I killed them both. They died as they lived, in perversion.’

  Another backward step. ‘And the cards? I’ve never understood the cards. Why did you pick that ideogram?’

  There was a slight falter in Kaede’s next step and her voice, when it came, was hesitant. ‘I… like dragons.’

  Tatsu laughed. ‘It was a mistake. I’d never have been called in on this case if you hadn’t used that symbol. The same character that I use for my name.’

  Kaede’s voice hardened. ‘It wasn’t a mistake. You won’t be around to use it for much longer.’ Her sword rose, preparing for an overhead, downward slash, straight at Tatsu’s head. She began a long step forward to bring herself in range, and Tatsu raised her pistol, firing from the hip. At this range, there was no chance of it missing. The slug hit Kaede in the chest and exploded. Tatsu barely felt the backwash from the detonation, but fragments of the casing lodged in her skin. Kaede fared far worse as a jet of plasma burned through her body like a blowtorch. Her step turned into a forward tumble. The sword fell, the humming stopping as it left her hands. She was dead before she joined it on the carpet and there was no chance that medical science might bring her back.

  Tatsu gritted her teeth as the pain indicators from her arm reasserted themselves now that there was no longer immediate danger. Her software was telling her that the building was surrounded and that police officers were entering on the ground floor. They were late. Too late.

  Looking down at the body at her feet, Tatsu shook her head. ‘What a waste,’ she said, and then she set off to meet the cops coming up the stairs.

  Epilogue

  Tokyo, Japan, 19th September 2099.

  The sky was heavily overcast but the temperature was close to twenty-five and the humidity was oppressive. September in Tokyo had always been wet. This year, the rain had not been too bad so far, but there was no way that was going to last. Tatsu looked up at the sky, half expecting heavy raindrops to begin falling at any moment.

  The oppressive nature of the weather seemed to fit with the occasion. She was waiting with Nakano outside Sakurada Gate. Any moment, Yukiko Shiratori would be emerging from the building. The yakuza boss was being released pending charges relating to aiding and abetting a known criminal, though the word was that it would be bargained down to something like ‘wasting police time’ and she would escape without further prison time. Shiratori knew what had happened to her daughter. She had been very stoic on the matter to date.

  ‘Are you getting that fixed sometime soon?’ Nakano asked.

  Tatsu turned her head to look at him, wondering what he meant, and then she realised he meant her arm. Her left arm was hanging over her chest in a sling, still largely immobile after Kaede’s cut. ‘Waiting on parts. It’s only been a day and the whole arm needs replacing. It’s going to be a whole big deal. Strip back the skin, make the replacement, cover and blend the new skin into the old. I’m not in much of a hurry, though doing everything with one hand is getting old fast.’

  ‘Huh, yeah. I had to have my arm in a sling for three weeks a couple of years ago. I could still hold things, but it was still a pain.’

  ‘I bet they actually gave you time off to recover.’

  ‘Yeah. Yes, they did.’

  Tatsu flashed him a grin. ‘When you’re a cyborg, you’re just expected to soldier on.’ The grin faded. ‘Here she comes.’

  Shiratori had four bodyguards when she walked out through the main doors of the police HQ. She was dressed in a black skirt-suit with opaque, dark-grey hose under it despite the heat; she was, in effect, dressed for a funeral. Her eyes were downcast, it seemed, and yet she spotted Tatsu and Nakano almost immediately, redirecting her guardians to take her closer.

  ‘Detectives,’ Shiratori said once she was close enough that she could speak quietly. ‘Are you here to gloat over your victory?’

  ‘I didn’t want to kill her, Shiratori,’ Tatsu said. ‘I wanted her alive. She didn’t want to spend the rest of her life in a cell.’

  ‘You killed my daughter, Yamada. You shot her down in cold–’

  ‘The blood was at least very warm. She was swinging a sonic katana at my head.’

  ‘You are an armoured cyborg.’

  ‘And, as the state of my arm indicates, her weapon was quite capable of damaging me. But that isn’t the point. She was ready to kill or be killed. She had no intention of being arrested and she forced my hand.’

  Shiratori gave Tatsu a shallow, malicious smile. ‘Tell yourself whatever you need to to sleep at night, Sergeant. I will never forget what you have done.’

  Tatsu sighed. ‘Okay. That was expected. To be clear, however… If you send people after me, I’ll send them back in body bags. If you try to punish me through my friends, I will take your organisation apart, piece by piece, leaving only ashes in my wake. You can be angry with me all you like, if it helps you sleep at night, but I’ll meet action with action, and you don’t want that.’

  Shiratori stared at Tatsu for several seconds but trying to outstare a cyborg is a pointless activity. Without another word, she turned and strode away toward a waiting private car.

  ‘Do you think she will come after you?’ Nakano asked.

  ‘Honestly, I’m not sure. She’s an intelligent woman. I think she knows that direct action isn’t going to work.’

  ‘What about indirect action?’

  ‘Mm. It’ll be interesting to see what she comes up with.’

  The City, 22nd September.

  It was simply known to most as ‘the City.’ Sitting twenty kilometres to the north-west of the current boundary of Tokyo, it occupied the general area of Maebashi, Takasaki, and Isesaki; over a thousand square kilometres of shining, windowless skyscrapers and mostly empty streets. It was not a place people visited often. Educational trips were organised for children, and that was often the only time you went into the City in your lifetime.

  For the two Nakanos and Sachiko, it was their second
ever visit. Tatsu had been there on several occasions. The conveyor they were using carried them smoothly through the streets with Mika staring out of the window with obvious interest while her brother and Sachiko tried to look more casual about it. It was a little like visiting a shrine which also happened to be a major tourist attraction. The City was where Izanami lived. The City was, in many ways, the heart and soul of modern Japan.

  ‘And you just know Izanami?’ Nakano asked.

  ‘Izanami designed this body,’ Tatsu replied. ‘She led the project which created me and the others on my team during the war. In the end, this chassis proved too expensive for general use, even in the military, so there were never any more built. In a way, then, you could consider the project a failure. But that doesn’t stop her taking an interest in what I’m doing. Frankly, she’s a nag. It’s like having a doting grandmother intent on pressing for the arrival of grandchildren.’

  Nakano looked vaguely horrified at the analogy. ‘And she decided to replace your arm personally because of this?’

  Tatsu shrugged. ‘Actually, she says she’s going to replace the whole chassis, and that’s why I thought it might be good for Mika to come along. She won’t get to see the whole operation, but she’ll get a good idea of what a total cyborg’s physical life is like. You’ll get to see your, um, living conditions, Mika.’

  ‘And that’s why I’m here,’ Sachiko said. ‘I get to see what the “real” you is like.’

  Tatsu nodded. ‘We’re getting pretty serious about things. This is your last chance to back out. You’ll get to see what’s under the highly realistic skin. I don’t really think you think of me as anything other than human and this… Let’s call it shock treatment.’

  ‘I think it’ll be interesting,’ Mika said. ‘You’re right, it will be informative to see what I’m going to go through if I make the change. I mean, I know what will happen if I don’t, but maybe I won’t be able to cope with being a brain in a robot once I see it.’

  ‘Some people can’t,’ Tatsu admitted. ‘Personally, I don’t think you’ll have a problem, but you never know.’

  ‘Mm.’ Mika returned her gaze to the skyscrapers outside. Some of the effect was lost on a day when the sky was a mass of cloud and frequent showers blasted down from above. But the water made everything shimmer a little and did not detract from the massive, white-clad, windowless structures which towered over them. ‘And all of this is really Izanami.’

  ‘Well, Izanami isn’t this any more than you are a collection of skin, bones, and organs. All the buildings house massive computers. Izanami is the software that runs on that cluster. Except, she’s not really that either. She’s…’

  ‘Unique,’ Sachiko supplied. ‘Just as we all are.’

  ‘Very philosophical.’

  Sachiko shrugged. ‘I try.’

  The conveyor pulled off the road toward a large shutter-door in the side of one of the buildings. That rolled up ahead of them, lights began to switch on as they approached, and the shutter rolled down again once the vehicle was inside. The tunnel opened out suddenly into a large, white room which looked like some sort of space-age laboratory, and the conveyor came to a stop, its doors opening. Tatsu was first out with Sachiko behind her. Then Tatsu helped Nakano to lift Mika’s chair out.

  And then Izanami appeared. Something like a cloud of dust emerged from an opening in the ceiling, rapidly descending until the bottom of it touched the floor and there was a column of silvery particles visible. Then the column lit up, projecting an image of the AI’s avatar as though Izanami was standing there in all her glory. ‘Welcome to the inside of my brain,’ she said, smiling. ‘I must admit I was surprised to hear that Tatsu wished others to witness this procedure, but I am glad to have you here. It’s always nice to meet new people.’

  Three people spent a second or so gawking. Nakano broke free first. ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.’

  ‘In awe of the great artificial intelligence, Sergeant Nakano?’

  ‘I– Well, yes.’

  ‘You don’t see Tatsu acting starstruck around me.’

  ‘To be fair,’ Tatsu said, ‘they’ve only ever heard of you as the brilliant AI who revolutionised modern science and technology. Nakano, for example, doesn’t have you dropping in to micromanage his love life on a Sunday evening.’

  ‘She does that?!’ Sachiko squeaked.

  ‘Not that often,’ Izanami countered. ‘Not every Sunday. Shall we get on with the dramatic reveals?’

  Tatsu smirked. ‘Please do.’ The column containing Izanami’s projection moved further into the room while her image appeared to walk at just the right pace. ‘Why are you using that instead of projecting yourself into our sensoria?’ Tatsu asked.

  ‘This is a little easier than managing four models of myself in different heads, and I get to show off my nanoswarm technology.’ Tatsu rolled her eyes. ‘Now, on to the main show.’

  The room was fairly blank. White walls which looked as though they had been scrubbed to total sterility. Light came from overhead LED panels. Even the floor was a glossy white. Within the room were three things. One was a small table with a data chip sitting on it. The second was a cylindrical something or other wrapped in a white curtain. And there was a large, white tank, the purpose of which was currently unknown. Izanami moved to the cloth-wrapped cylinder.

  ‘When Tatsu requested a replacement arm having broken the last one,’ Izanami said. ‘This would not be the first replacement, I might add. She treats her equipment very poorly.’

  ‘I haven’t needed a replacement limb since leaving the army,’ Tatsu said, sounding grouchy.

  Izanami ignored her. ‘Since she needed a new arm and I have some new technology which needs testing, I decided it was time for her to upgrade her whole chassis.’ She raised an arm to the cylinder, the column she was in flowing out to give her projected limb room to move. The curtain fell away to reveal a transparent cylinder mounted atop an opaque one, and a figure standing within.

  If you squinted, you could tell it was probably Tatsu. The bone structure was there, formed of silvery-grey metal. There were bundles of muscle fibres laid out and attached to the bones, but they were grey instead of red, and clearly artificial. The rib cage was a solid sheet of metal rather than an actual cage, and various pieces of armoured technology could be seen in the space where a human would have abdominal organs. The most noticeably different part was the head. The face was there, minus the skin, of course, and the eyes were in place in their sockets. But that was a sort of façade; there was an empty space where the skull and brain should be.

  ‘Let’s call this the mark three Tatsu Yamada,’ Izanami said. ‘The first of its type. A fully self-repairing cybernetic chassis. The skeleton is composed of a nanobot-infused metal which will repair damage to the structural members. Nanobots can also repair all the non-organic components within. This machine can heal itself, not unlike a human body, though rather more swiftly and effectively. Actually severing a limb would require replacement, but short of that, this body can operate without a mechanic for extended periods.’

  ‘Pauletta’s not going to like that,’ Tatsu commented.

  ‘You’ll need yearly check-ups, and prior to the first of those, I would like Pauletta to run monthly diagnostic tests to be sure everything is operating correctly. This is not exactly a prototype, but it is the first production unit. I want any problems picked up and corrected before I roll this out for general consumption. The chip on the table has the necessary software and production specifications to carry out those checks. Don’t forget it.’

  ‘I know I should be noticing the missing brain and the space where most of her guts should be,’ Sachiko said, ‘but she just doesn’t look right without breasts.’

  Izanami covered her mouth with a hand to hide a giggle. ‘Those will be added during the skinning process. They, and the stomach cavity, are mostly padding. We use a silicon-based gel to give a realistic feel. Miss Nakano? I understand Tatsu as
ked you here because you may be electing to go through the same process. Have you any questions?’

  ‘Well,’ Mika said, frowning, ‘I suppose I want to know about the brain. It’s separate from the body?’

  ‘To make things like this possible,’ Tatsu said. ‘If you want to upgrade to a new chassis, it’s a lot easier if you’re not messing around with flesh. When you go total cyborg, they put your brain in an armoured case. When you change to a new chassis, it’s just a question of swapping cables and plumbing, and latching the case into the new base.’

  ‘Much easier and safer,’ Izanami said. ‘There is always some danger to transplanting a brain into its case. Swapping to a new chassis is as safe as… swapping out the processor in a computer. You’ll see. That part will be done in the open.’

  ‘Some of it won’t?’ Mika asked.

  ‘Yes. The initial part will be handled in the tank here.’ She pointed at the large, rectangular tank with its opaque walls. ‘Even if it’s all artificial, watching someone’s flesh being dissolved by nanomachines is not an especially pleasant sight. We’ll do that behind the curtain, so to speak.’

  ‘Speaking of which,’ Tatsu said, starting to take off her clothes, ‘I think we can get this started. I’m sure you can answer any questions anyone has while I’m out.’

  ‘I’m sure I can, yes.’

  Somewhat to Sachiko’s disappointment and Nakano’s relief, Tatsu walked around to the back of the tank to continue undressing.

  ‘Doesn’t it hurt?’ Mika asked. ‘Having your skin stripped away, I mean.’

  ‘She can turn off her skin receptors,’ Izanami replied. ‘The main problem with this procedure is the claustrophobia. There’s a period where she can’t interact at all with the outside world. All of her senses are cut off entirely and she can’t move. Some people panic. Of course, they can’t do anything to harm themselves, but it can cause issues when they’re reconnected, and some develop psychological problems if it takes too long.’