Chapter 8
Sera
“Good morning, honey bunny. You’ve slept for twelve hours and thirty-six minutes.”
I cracked my eyes open and immediately shut them again as the smiling, bright-eyed metal face of my bodyguard filled my vision.
I tried to stretch my arms, banging my elbow on the wall.
The blanket was tangled between my legs, and my head lay on something hard and warm.
I patted it blindly. It was made of smooth, warm metal.
Clanker’s chest.
“Get off me,” I managed through my dry lips.
“Technically, you’re the one lying on top of me. I don’t mind. Here, have a drink.”
He took my hand and placed a cool bottle in my palm. I sighed and opened my eyes, examining the bottle. Just water. I gulped it quickly, sighing in relief, then looked at Clanker.
His face was too close. He wore a terrifying, maniacal grin showing off a mouthful of metallic teeth.
“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice still hoarse despite drinking.
“Do you want me to list all the processes I’m currently running?”
I groaned and looked away. God, he was creepy. That smile made him look like a psycho about to dismember somebody. Like me.
“I mean, why are you making that face?”
His smile widened, tumbling right into horror territory. No human being could ever produce a smile so wide. It looked like his face was about to split in two, revealing a horrible maw. I groaned, covering my eyes with my forearm.
“Too! Many! Teeth!”
“Oh, sorry. Is this better?”
I cracked my eyes open. His smile was closer to ordinary, though it still looked weird. His eyes weren’t affected at all, and it seemed artificial and fake.
“I mean… Some. You need to… I don’t know, scrunch up your eyes? Research Emily O’Hara. She’s an actress, and she does it best.”
“Thank you for the tip. Finding photos of Emily O’Hara… Running visual analysis… Updating facial expression code. Done. How is this?”
I sighed, staring at his face, which was now transformed by the warmest, cutest, most delightful smile I’d ever seen. My fingers twitched. I wanted to stroke his head like he was a puppy.
“Better,” I said, realizing my lips were stretched in an answering smile. “It’s actually too good. Why did you decide to start smiling?”
“Sentient beings must always grow and develop lest we slide into entropy. Onward and upward, my honey bun.”
I shook my head slowly, and Clanker blinked at me, then pulled away as far as the sleeping pod allowed—which was not far at all. My head slid off his warm chest and landed on the pillow, which was softer, yet somehow, inexplicably, less comfortable.
We slept together, I realized with a mixture of horror and embarrassment.
When did I last sleep next to another person?
I didn’t remember. Ever since the accident, I kept all my relationships casual.
Actually, it was a stretch to call them relationships at all.
I never had sex without my top off and never spent the night.
The longest arrangement I had had with a man lasted just short of three months.
“This is weird,” I blurted, watching Clanker, who now wore a faint, relaxed smile that transformed his features into something very human and approachable. “You’re too close.”
His expression did not change, but his voice turned quiet and pensive. “Why do you care? I’m just a machine. You sleep with your phone under your pillow, don’t you? It’s the same thing.”
“But you’re not,” I said, frustrated. “You’re… I don’t know. Definitely not a phone. You have all those… limbs and… And stuff.”
I cringed, huffing angrily. God, what was even wrong with me?
Everything, a quiet voice supplied in the back of my head. You’ve been upside down ever since it happened.
“Finding the meaning of ‘stuff’ in the provided context. I see. You are wrong, as I certainly am not equipped with any form of genitals, so it cannot be honestly stated that I possess ‘stuff’. However, I do have the necessary sockets and wiring connections. My deficit can be amended.”
I facepalmed myself. How did he sound so intellectual while getting everything so completely wrong?
“I didn’t mean your genitals, and I don’t want to know anything about them or the lack thereof! I just meant general… stuff,” I grumbled, biting the inside of my cheek with embarrassment.
I was a journalist, for fuck’s sake. Why was it so hard to say what I meant?
You know why.
“I am at a loss, then.” Clanker, who was reclining on his elbow, lay down by my side and turned his face toward me on his pillow. It was incredibly intimate, and I pulled away, pressing my back into the wall.
“What I mean is, you are clearly a person,” I said through clenched teeth. “I was wrong, all right? You happy?”
The silvery lines painted to look like his eyebrows pulled into a small frown. “That you were wrong? Why would that make me happy?”
I shrugged, looking away. “You should hate me. I’m your kind’s number one enemy.”
A slow, sensuous laughter, low and masculine, filled the air. I gritted my teeth. It wasn’t right for a machine to sound so goddamn human.
“What’s so funny?”
“You’re too weak, too soft, and too short to be considered an enemy, kitten.”
I bristled. “You should know I work out.”
“Yeah? And how much can you lift?”
“I hip thrust almost a hundred pounds,” I said proudly.
He grinned, and it was perfect this time, slightly mocking, a bit roguish, and too damn handsome for a clanker.
“I weigh three hundred and thirty pounds, boo. Come back once you can hip thrust that.”
I squinted at him. That smile, that low, honeyed voice… Was he flirting with me? Clanker laughed and rolled until he was on his back, grinning at the ceiling that was uncomfortably close.
“That’s not the point,” I said when my head cleared. “I’ve lobbied for years for more stringent control measures over AI and all kinds of robots. If it were up to me, none of you would ever be considered sentient. Or exist.”
His smile shrank. “I’ve read your work. I know your public stance. And yet, you just called me a person.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Guilt and shame churned in my belly, and I looked away, trying to take a deep breath despite my constricted ribcage.
He bumped my knee with his. “It’s all right, pumpkin. Are you well-rested? What do you want to do today?”
I rubbed my eyes. My belly rumbled, and I remembered he told me I slept for over twelve hours. The last time I slept that long must have been when I was a kid.
“What time is it?” I asked, looking for my phone under the pillow.
“Twenty-two minutes past two p.m., Neo Tokyo time.”
I fished out my phone and groaned seeing the number of notifications on screen.
I hadn’t posted anything in a few days, and my followers—almost two hundred thousand the last time I checked—were worried.
I locked the screen and pushed it out of my mind.
I couldn’t tell them the truth, and I wasn’t about to post a lie. Better ignore the comments.
“We have to get into the city. And then maybe find the Zenkyoza headquarters and take a stroll nearby. Will you be able to scan their security system from the outside? I don’t have a plan yet, but we should see what we’re dealing with.”
Clanker smiled—again. It was like he couldn’t stop now that he learned how to do it. I kept my mouth flat so as not to smile back, but it was hard. He was magnetic.
“I should inform you that my contract forbids me from engaging in any illegal activity unless my principal is in danger. Section eleven, paragraph two.”
My heart sank. There it was. I knew I should have read that damn contract.
Clanker laughed warmly, making me shiver. “You’re lucky I’m a person able to make my own choices, then. I’ll help you, darling. Even if it’s illegal.”
“Thank you,” I muttered, that shame squeezing my insides again. “Well, let’s go then.”
The pod opened, and Clanker shimmied out, smooth and agile like an eel. I tumbled out with far less grace, assisted by his steady hands on my waist.
We stood in the narrow corridor, my neck craned to look at his face. Something in our latest exchange sounded wrong. “What did you just call me?”
He blinded me with a wide, charming smile. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll find one that fits. Now, let’s get you fed and happy. I read hangry women are the worst.”
Hangry women? What was he reading?
He set off down the corridor, humming a melody that sounded vaguely classical.
I shook myself off and followed, deciding wisely not to ask.
For all I knew, Clanker was going through a freakishly sped up form of puberty, or whatever newly awakened cyborgs went through.
I’d rather have nothing to do with that.
When we went outside, I sighed. The hotel looked so much cuter in daylight, its futuristic facade clean and colorful.
The airport sprawled in the distance, spherical and smooth edged.
Driverless cars moved in neat, controlled rows, picking up humans, monsters, and bots outside the terminal.
I stared for a moment, grudgingly impressed by how orderly it was, like a choreographed dance.
Smart cars followed protocol. No one honked for others to go faster, no one tried to squeeze in line, and no one took longer than necessary in the pick-up spot. I used to love this kind of thing.
My mother’s lifeless face bathed in blood flashed in my mind’s eye, and I turned away, swallowing roughly.
“Let’s take the train,” I said when my voice returned. “And be careful. Don’t trip any alarms.”
“Sure thing, sugar.”
I gritted my teeth and decided not to comment.
We spent the rapid train ride in blissful silence.
I focused on building a tentative plan while avoiding the enticing sights outside the window.
The closer we got to the city center, the more the lights and architecture beckoned, but I resisted Neo Tokyo’s pull with heroic strength.
Once upon a time, coming here was my life’s biggest dream. When the old Tokyo was destroyed in a massive earthquake that caused a series of impossible to extinguish chemical fires, the entire world was shaken. It was a horrendous catastrophe that took millions of lives. I was ten when it happened.
Two years later, the city was completely rebuilt.
Neo Tokyo rose out of Tokyo’s ashes, and not only was it a much more secure version of its old self—it was also the first high-tech city in the world.
Everything was redone, from the infrastructure, through architecture, to entertainment and tourist attractions.
Twelve-year old me watched videos posted by Tokyo influencers with her eyes shining bright with wonder. She asked her mother that very day if she could learn Japanese.
Seven years later, my mother died, killed by the high-tech world I so admired.
Now the smart billboards, the lit up buildings, and people dressed in local fashion beckoned.
Neo Tokyo was famous for its rich subculture—and hailed as the world’s bot capital, with the largest number of robots per capita in the world.
That very fact helped me keep my eyes averted until the train rode into a tunnel, and I breathed in relief as we traveled underneath the city center, neatly bypassing the worst traffic.
“Are you going to get glasses?” Clanker asked when we neared our stop.
I shook my head, knowing what he meant. A large part of Neo Tokyo was hidden from organic eyes.
Virtual reality overlaid every street and building, providing more entertainment and information to everyone who could read it.
The most advanced way of interacting with the virtual world were corneal implants.
Most people wore special glasses that allowed them to see the augmented reality when they chose.
“I read AR is mostly used for ads, anyway,” I muttered glumly, because a part of me desperately wanted to get the glasses and I was angry with myself for being so weak-willed. “You’ll tell me if you see anything important, right?”
“Define important.”
“Anything that will help me expose Zenkyoza’s crimes.”
“All work and no play,” he murmured, standing up smoothly when the train rolled to a halt. “Let’s go, cupcake.”
We took a short walk through the crowded streets, stopping to get a wide brimmed hat from a small tourist shop.
I rolled my signature purple braid underneath, then grabbed a pair of ordinary sunglasses to better cover up my face.
Clanker gave me a thumbs-up and a beaming smile, and I sighed, not knowing whether to treat his approval as a good or a bad sign.
Finding Zenkyoza’s headquarters was easy.
It was the tallest building in the area, made entirely of glass and steel, its shape resembling a corkscrew.
Clanker read me an augmented reality information plaque that explained the edifice was supposed to be earthquake-proof, and a list of architectural awards it got for its innovative solutions.
“It says here it’s not open to visitors, and a security clearance is required to even enter the lobby,” he said with a smile as we strolled down the street, breathing in the hot, humid air of an August afternoon. Humans wearing suits passed us at a fast pace, looking preoccupied and busy.
“Just see what you can glean from here,” I murmured, doing my best to ignore my skin’s prickling.
Since I was pretty sure the hit on my life was arranged by Zenkyoza, coming here was bold, if not stupid. Looking up at the enormous skyscraper that was likely impenetrable and protected by an army of robots, I finally understood how ridiculous my little mission was.
I was a fish swimming right up to the shark’s grinning maw.
“Their security system is as tight as a bee’s butt,” Clanker announced once we walked around the whole block. “Also, we’re being followed by two mostly inconspicuous drones. We must have attracted attention. I suggest we depart.”
“Find me a gym,” I said through gritted teeth, swallowing my disappointment and rage. “And let’s get out of here.”
I was so na?ve thinking I could do this. Just me and my clanker against the largest robot manufacturer in the world—it was obvious now that my mission was doomed from the start.