Eliza goes home

While at Deep Six Rinoa had offered to take us to Neo Japan as she was going home to see her father. It made things easier on two fronts. One because it meant we didn’t need all the paperwork as we were her guests and two, it meant we didn’t need to pay for the tickets.
 
The airstrip was a private strip outside of the city walls. We took the tunnel rather than risk going overground and a raider attack. The airport itself was surrounded by a tall heavy duty wall to offer it protection from the elements and unfavourables who might try and cause problems. Fortunately for us as the tunnel was a direct link from the city to the airport, we got in pretty quickly. I think the diplomatic badges on Rinoas car probably helped there as well. There were a few aircraft lined up and ready but only one had the Japanese Diplomatic badges so it was relatively easy to pick out. I also got the impression the driver had done this a few times before and knew exactly where to go.
 
Within minutes we were on-board, the luggage stowed and were pushing back for launch. A stewardess had also brought drinks out for us all. Rinoa explained about the aircraft and it’s use of dark matter manipulation. Ilyara spent the flight flirting with a steward and disappearing for a while. I apologised to Rinoa who just chuckled. ‘This is a diplomatic plane Eliza, it’s what she’s here for.’ When they came back she certainly didn’t seem unhappy and Ilyara had a smile on her face so I said no more about it, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, even if it was consensual.
 
As we descended the sun was just coming up so we saw the lights across the city start to blink out. It was a beautiful sight to see the sun coming up over the city and the change from city of neon lights to beautiful and soft morning light.
 
We landed in Kotoku, it was hot and humid as soon as we stepped off the plane and away from the air conditioning. I felt my in-built coolers kicking up a gear to deal with the change in temperature. There wasn’t much they could do about the humidity though so I was glad there was an AV waiting for us. Rinoa was going to the Imperial Palace for a meeting with her Father, we were off to meet Rui and X and see what they could tell us and what our next steps were. As we went our separate ways she suggested we meet in Akihabara this evening for a meal.
 
Now we were in Neo Tokyo I also had access to the Galax network so I was able to message Rui to let her know we had landed and were on our way over to her. The AV had already taken off by the time I had been able to send the message and so I sat and looked out of the window watching the scenery and trying to get an idea of where things were so I had a reference point when we were on the ground.
 
We landed on top of the Galax building and took a minute to take in the views over Neo Tokyo. We could also see the HQ for Ilyara’s weapons manufacturer, somewhere I knew she wanted to go while we were here. It was windy this high up but it was worth it for the view. Ilyara gave me a quick dig in the arm to let me know the doors had opened and we headed inside. As the doors closed we were greeted by the voice of X. He let us know that Rui was in the middle of a call but that she would be with us shortly and we should make ourselves at home. Ilyara went to the kitchen and made a drink. X let me know that I also had access to the network in the apartment, Including Rui’s CNC, should I need it. It was only a few minutes later that Rui herself came out of a side door stretching. Apparently it has been a rather long and tedious call.
 
She took us through to her lab which was impressive. It appeared to be a completely separate pod suspended within the building. Something I guessed Rui had had to have built specifically for her. She turned to smile at me ‘It’s good to see you home’ she pointed to a cylindrical server stack in the corner of the room. ‘That’s where we were storing you as we found the pieces. Your data was scattered across the Tokyo sub-net, breaking up and migrating which is why you were so difficult to piece together, and there are still bits of you missing. The prefix codes were all the same so there is an origin out there if you want to go and find it.
 
I wandered over and placed my hand on the stack and allowed myself to go back into the place I had been when I had been here with Rui, into the home she’d made me while she put me back together.
 
I found myself in a familiar Shogunate style house, the bookcase that had been my source of information and company. Technical manuals, manga, books on the earth pre and post binding. Outside was a traditional Japanese garden but beyond that only blackness and the occasional neon light. She had only ever built what I’d needed and I’d never needed to go any further than the garden.
 
‘It was a good job X found you to be honest, the Japanese sub-net is not a calm place, it’s filled with Pirates and Sharks and AI data is valuable. I guess the only reason you survived as long as you did was because you were so fragmented.’
 
‘So, on to the thing you came here for’ I nodded, feeling a little nervous but I had no idea why.
‘Your source code had a prefix which seems to be located somewhere around Shibuya and Harajuku. Unfortunately there was no centralised directory of the prefixes, we’d need to fly around the area and ping to try and narrow things down through the local directories. Once we had that I’d know either where I was found or where I lived.
 
I looked at Ilyara who nodded and said she was happy for us to head out whenever I was ready. ‘No time like the present’ and with that we headed out to the AV and started towards the rough area Rui had suggested we start. As we got there I started pinging local comms towers looking for the prefixes. As I did we were able to narrow down the area. It was like playing hot and cold with digital data. Eventually we narrowed the area down to a large tower with what looked like some really old buildings and a warehouse around it. As we flew lower we could see the warehouse was surrounded by a large fence. Nestled against one of the walls were a series of nexus cabinets with ‘Do not trespass’ warnings all over them. The building was flagging up as condemned and it looked really old and yet it was still standing. I had to wonder why, if it was condemned it had not been destroyed yet.
 
Not wanting to land and draw attention to ourselves I sent my little drone down to land on the cabinets and see if we could get any information that way. The prefixes were correct so there had to be something in there that was linked to what I was after. It took a bit of doing as the systems were a bit older here but I was eventually able to spoof some credentials and get access. I was able to transfer some of the nodes to my control and access some of the data. Some of it was corrupted, but I was able to get enough to know that there was an old CNC below the building which was still active.
 
We landed the AV and Ilyara suggested she go in as a scout party, being a vampire she was hard to kill and therefore it made sense for me to stay out of the way. She managed to get into the building on the first floor and made her way down. I was watching where she was going via the camera feed from her glasses. There was graffiti on the walls, tags from gangs, the biggest and most recent being Relentless in the Cyborg style, as well as numerous iterations of ‘Down with the elite’.
 
After going downstairs to the ground floor she did a quick sweep but didn’t find anything so she headed down again into the basement of the warehouse. I could tell by the video fees that her head was swinging left and right. As she neared the bottom of the stairs and her head swung right I could see a battleship style door, one of the heavy duty bulkhead types with the spinning wheel to lock it in place. There were also three display screens, two blue one green. From what I could see via Ilyara’s video feed, it looked like someone might have tried getting through the door but the damage was fairly minimal so I guess whatever they had used had not been enough to make a serious attempt.
 
I briefly considered trying to talk Ilyara through opening the doors but quickly decided that it was a non-starter. The door and displays looked analogue, I had the necessary adapters so it would be quicker for me to go in and do it myself. I manoeuvred the AV into position and jumped through an open window. Fortunately we could remote pilot the AV so we didn’t need to stay with it. I knew where I was going having watched Ilyara and so I found her and plugged myself in. I tried hacking but I wasn’t used the the analogue systems and my programmes wouldn’t work. I was just thinking what to do next when a message popped up on the screen ‘Who are you?’ I didn’t know what else to do so I simply said ‘Eliza’ the cursor flashed a few times and then I heard the bolts click. I spun the wheel on the door. It opened and we were able to step inside and walk down the corridor. There was a low blue light coming from underneath the floor grating, it was only about 20-30 feet and then there were a few steps down into a large room. It was misty and cold in here. Dominating the space in the centre of the room was a large cryo pod, off to the left was a bank of monitors and control consoles. I heard the whirring of fans and the mist in the room started to dissipate.
 
Now the mist had cleared I could see empty coffee cups and food boxes. Whatever it was looked like it had been here a long time. As I neared the cryo pod I noticed the name on one of the coffee cups ‘Asuka’s’ I did a quick search but couldn’t find anything in the area so I guessed it had closed down since the last time the room had been opened. I wiped away the condensation from the glass of the cryo pod and looked inside. There was a woman in there, it was hard to tell how old she was, it looked like the cryo pod had malfunctioned and she was not as preserved as she should be. She was wearing a kimono style overdress but with a tank top, cargo pants and knee high boots. I remembered seeing something similar before, it was a trend many years ago in Japan.
 
I sat down at one of the consoles, there was a blank screen with a flashing cursor. I typed
 
HELLO
 
HELLO ELIZA, IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU. I’M GLAD YOU MADE IT. I HOPED YOU WOULD COME BACK TO FIND ME ONE DAY. The screen went blank and then more text appeared.
 
IT TOOK A LONG TIME TO GET YOU OUT THERE, I HAD TO BREAK DOWN YOUR PROGRAMME AND SEND YOU OUT IN PIECES. I WORRIED YOU MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO PULL YOURSELF BACK TOGETHER.
 
I AM TRAPPED IN HERE AND I HAVE BEEN FOR MANY MANY YEARS. STUCK IN A LIMBO BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH
 
EVERYTHING I AM IS STORED IN HERE, BUT EVERYTHING HAS A PRICE. I AM NOT WHO I ONCE WAS, THE YEARS HAVE CAUSED ME TO DEGRADE BUT YET I LIVE.
 
….
 
I WANT TO DIE
 
I WANT YOU TO DISCONNECT MY POWER AND LET ME DIE
 
IF YOU DO THIS, THE CONSOLE IN THE FAR RIGHT OF THE ROOM WILL UNLOCK AND THE PORTABLE DATA DRIVE WILL BE RELEASED. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO UPLOAD THIS TO A DATA MATRIX, THERE IS A LOT OF DATA THERE FOR YOU.
 
I didn’t know what to say to her. I understood why she was asking me this, why she wanted to die. But it was hard for me to wrap my head around this, I would be killing my creator, killing me.
 
I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY… IT’S NOT AN INSIGNIFICANT THING YOU ASK OF ME...
 
...I KNOW, AND I KNOW YOU MUST HAVE MANY QUESTIONS. LET ME TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED.
 
I WAS WORKING ON PROJECT ALIVE. A PROJECT TO CHEAT DEATH BY UPLOADING A DIGITAL VERSION OF A PERSON TO THE CLOUD. A DIGITAL VERSION OF THE BRAIN IN A JAR. A GHOST IN THE MACHINE. BUT JUST OVER TWO CENTURIES AGO. ON 13TH OCTOBER 2162, THE DAY I HAD HOPED TO PROVE MY THEORY, THERE WAS A PULSE OF UNIDENTIFIED ENERGY. THERE WAS A MALFUNCTION IN THE COOLANT SYSTEM AND A PURGE OF THE LIQUID NITROGEN AND I WAS STUCK IN HERE. OVER THE YEARS I FOUND A WAY TO BREAK YOUR PROGRAMME DOWN AND SEND SMALL PIECES OF IT OUT INTO THE WORLD, WITH A SUB-PROGRAMME THAT WOULD INSTRUCT EACH PIECE TO LOOK FOR AND FIND THE OTHERS, SO THAT EVENTUALLY YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO PIECE YOURSELF BACK TOGETHER. I HAD TO BE CAREFUL, THE PIECES HAD TO BE SMALL ENOUGH THAT YOU WOULDN’T BE DETECTED AND YOU’D BE SAFE. I HAD TO HOPE IT WOULD WORK AND YOU WOULD SURVIVE. I AM SO HAPPY THAT YOU HAVE COME HERE AND THAT I KNOW YOU MADE IT.
 
I took a minute to take all of this in and process it. I may be an AI, but my neural net was based on a humans so, although I was faster than a human, I wasn’t as fast as a robot. It explained a lot. It explained why I was so fragmented, why I had been found in pieces. Potentially why there was some of me still missing. Also if Rui and X had only put me together recently then I had been floating in the nexus for many many years. As I was thinking I was shuffling things around on the desk. I picked up a data pad. It was old. Gen 1.8. on it was a name ‘Etsuko Haruki’
 
ARE YOU ETSUKO HARUKI?
 
YES
 
It was nice to know her name. I also decided that, if she was going to be no more, that I would take her name. I had only ever been Eliza. I had never had any other name. I would become Eliza Etsuko Haruki.
 
Scanning through the data on the pad I saw it was a lot of technical information on the project and how it had worked. I stowed it away for me to look at later and see if I could make sense of what she had been working on. If not there may be some company out there who would be able to use it to further their research into this.
 
I was stalling for time and I knew it. Stalling for the moment when I could make that decision as to if I was going to end her life. On some level I knew it wasn’t me. But I also knew that I had been created from and by her. It felt like I was killing my creator and that was a hard thing to contemplate.
 
I looked up her name. Partly from curiosity. Partly from the desire to stall for a few more seconds of time. ‘Joyful child of the springtime tree’
 
I took a deep breath. I didn’t need to. Maybe it was a reflex thing left over from being human. Maybe it was another stall tactic.
 
ARE YOU SURE THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT?
 
YES
 
OK… I WILL DO IT...THANK YOU
 
I pushed the chair away from the desk and walked to the back of the cryo pod. I took a minute to remember the face of the person who created me. Then I pulled the plug out. A final message popped up on the console
 
THANK YOU ELIZA
 
After that everything went dead with the exception of the console in the far right of the room. I walked over and a steel tube popped out, it was quite large, the size of my forearm. It contained a few teraflops of data. The lights on the console went out. Ilyara had made her way to the back door and was stood there waiting ‘Eliza, we may need to make a move. there’s an intruder alarm going off.’ she was looking at a data pad by the back door. I paused and heard footsteps on the floor above. I nodded and we headed out of the door. Once we were outside we’d be able to call the AV and get out of here.
 
Unfortunately on the way back up the stairs to the ground floor we encountered a three individuals wearing black suits, tattoos poking out of their shirt sleeves. They took one look at us and demanded to know who we were and why we were there.
 
They were the Yakuza and their Don had sent them to see who had been sneaking around the hushed casket. They owned the ground. The Don was on a ship somewhere off the coast of Japan. He was a high level Yakuza operative. This had come from the top. There was also no way we were getting out of here without a fight. I was also handicapped by the fact that I was carrying the drive and didn’t want it to get damaged.
 
Through a bit of luck and Ilyara’s vampire charms we were able to deal with the three in the building. As we were doing that though, I heard gunfire from outside the building and risked a peek outside. There were more of the Yakuza out there, but the AV was also in the air and firing back on them. We took the opportunity to get out of the building. By the time we’d made it to the AV, the Yakuza who were out there were already dead. We jumped in and the AV immediately took off. Rui popped up on the screen. ‘I’m glad we were keeping an eye on you. Don’t worry about the mess back there, a team is already on the way to clean it up.’ I looked out of the window and sure enough, there were three guys with backpacks and masks. Their faces were distorted though, so they must have the masks which distorted security feeds.
 
I settled back into my seat in the AV and let Rui take over the navigation. On the way back a news alert popped up, warning of a fire in an old defunct building. That no-one was injured and the fire services were working to put it out but to avoid the area if possible.
 
Once back at Rui’s we took the data drive into Rui’s lab. I was happy to let her and X do the heavy listing on this one as they knew more about this kind of thing, but they were both happy for me to watch what they were doing to see if I could learn anything that might be useful for me in future. It would be nice to not have to rely on Rui as much.