Shonen A.I.
The flag on his mail was beginning to irritate Bellamy. He was on the verge of sleep when part of his mind jumped with the flag and screamed in the left-over part of Lilith his system couldn’t live without, "you have mail." Then her hateful and cold tones were gone and he began to drift back to sleep when the flag raised again and she repeated. "You have mail."
He opened his in-box and lay back to investigate the letter that could have waited till morning. His Lilith house-system was as demanding a mistress as any real woman. She cajoled, pleaded, and finally nagged him into submission, but her virtual persona was magnificent.
"Dear Mr Bellamy, it has come to the attention of the staff here at Masamune Incorporated that you purchased, one cycle ago, one Lilith-model house-system. Many of our customers have spoken of dissatisfaction with this model and we were wondering, if, for no extra cost than you pay for the Lilith, you would like to try a prototype model called Kirei." Then the mail went on at length to extol the virtues of this new system.
"No wonder you wanted me to read it, Lilith." He said to himself, standing up with the doctor from Masamune in a holographic projection overlaid unto his iris by his neurocannula. "We understand that you are a loyal customer to Masamune Incorporated, and we wish to repay that loyalty. For the price you would pay for Lilith you would receive either one Bishonen, or Bishoûjo, system of your choice, complete with one remote body as we are eager to test this new system in the home. Strict guidelines from the government here in Edo mean that we can’t test these systems here in our own homes, although we would be honoured to have this system, so as a loyal customer, who has purchased, in the last five cycles, no fewer than eight complete in-house systems, the opportunity to try this product long before it becomes commercially available is open to you. It will be in constant uplink to MOTHER, our base monitoring system, and if, after one cycle, you decide that you like the system we would continue the contract at no more than you would pay for the Lilith." Bellamy blinked, then he shook his head, then he considered it.
"Stop message." The message froze in place, the woman’s head floating motionless before him as he began to pace, mulling it over in his mind.
Masamune Inc. were the biggest producers of in-house systems in the world, based in Edo, since the Neo-Industrial Revolution they had commandeered the market with the best and most innovative systems. The Lilith model was top of the range, at the moment, because the system had a virtual body which could be projected as a hologram throughout the house, but the idea of a robot butler, well that did appeal. There was a catch here, he knew that, but where was it. The system was experimental, but he’d worked with experimental systems before, they had a record of him testing the ill-fated Bunny model, so they flagged up his account for this option. "I’d better listen to the rest of the message." He thought. "Continue."
"At Masamune Incorporated we are devoted to bringing you the ultimate in in-house systems and the Kirei is no exception, named after the word for pretty these systems are just that, here is Taiki from the Bishonen range." A second face appeared beside the first, a boy just past puberty with soft brown eyes, but the bot-body was flawless, apart from three green leaf shapes in the centre of his forehead, it looked like a real human body. "Pause." The face stopped in it’s rotation. "Zoom." The boy’s face became larger, it had eyelashes and eyebrows and cracks in it’s full mouth, the hair was soft brown curls. "Oh my." He moved his hand to angle the projection, inspecting the skin. "Continue."
"He could be yours if you decide to choose the Kirei range, from the Bishonen option, Bishonen, as I’m sure you know means pretty boy, or alternately, you could have the Bishoûjo Sakura." Taiki’s visage was replaced with the image of a girl with clear white skin and large dark eyes, Bellamy knew that wasn’t an option, his wife wouldn’t have liked her, not at all. "Both come fully equipped with fully operation virtual bodies for Internet shopping, and bot bodies which are indistinguishable from real humans, this means you no longer have to perform those unsavoury tasks that anti-bot bigotry made impossible to be automated. These bots have real skin and are warm to the touch." Bellamy sucked his breath through his teeth, collapsing on his back in the bed.
"We here at Masamune Incorporated await your response, we hope you choose to help us with our testing of the Kirei model. If you have any queries Dr Ikuko is available for your questions. If you wish to buy continue…"
"Continue." Bellamy said.
"Welcome to Masamune Incorporated Sales, this is Hinoto speaking, how can I help you today, Mr Bellamy, is this in response to our correspondence?" The girl wore a dark blue Masamune uniform with a hat perched on her blonde curls, but Bellamy suspected she was a virtual construct.
"Yes it is, I would like to go ahead with the Kirei model." Her head jerked a little as the information was downloaded into her neurocannula for download.
"Okay Mr Bellamy, that has been arranged for you, if you would just open your feed we will begin the transfer, would you prefer the Bishoûjo model Sakura?" There was a faint whirr in his ear as he looked up at the ceiling from where he lay across the bed, but she stood before him against a plain office background, though it was obviously not where she was, if she was even real.
"Actually no, I want the Bishonen model, Taiki." Hinoto nodded and the feed became stronger.
"It seems that you are in Edo at the moment, is that correct, Mr Bellamy?" She asked.
"Yes, I am, on business." He said as his brain took the information dump, it was hard to think there was an awful lot of information whirring through his head like a migraine as she orchestrated the dump.
"Well the bot should be with you in a matter of moments, complete with instructions. If you have any queries don’t hesitate to get in touch with Dr Ikuko, she is eager to hear how her systems work in real life."
"Thank you, Hinoto."
"Download complete." Lilith said in his ear. "Initialising set-up, Lilith program going off-line."
Bellamy awoke with a pounding headache to the banging on the hotel door. "Mr Bellamy! Mr Bellamy!" He stood up, dragging his limbs as if they were made of lead, and his head full of what felt like sawdust, his mouth tasted foul, as if he had overdosed on garlic and cheese, so scraping his teeth along his tongue he opened the door. A native woman in a long white lab-coat stood there with the bot the letter had described as Taiki beside her. The doctor was an impressive looking woman in her late fifties, who held the robot’s wrist as if he might flee. "Mr Bellamy, hello, my name is Dr Ikuko Sasami, I am in charge of the Kirei placement program, I’m here to make sure that you and Taiki get off to a good start."
"You make it sound, doctor, that I might offend his feelings."
The doctor laughed to herself as she smoothed out the white fabric of her lab coat. "Taiki and his brethren are very important to Masamune Incorporated, it is important to our survey that we place them correctly in the hope that with the Kirei model you will never need to buy another in-house system, or just rent them from us. So we are very wary of how this first hour with the system actually goes. This, Mr Bellamy." She moved back to give the doll preference before his new owner. "Is Taiki."
"Hello, Taiki." Bellamy said, as if he was addressing a child.
"Hello." Taiki replied. "My name is Taiki and I am Bishonen genus six." He was a beautiful doll, with soft coltish limbs and liquid brown eyes, and true to the company’s word, Bellamy found, he looked human. "I am pleased to serve." He bowed in the Edo manner. "I understand that you are from Merubon."
"I come from a place called Melbourne." Taiki blinked, his lashes flickering as his computer programming adjusted itself.
"My mistake, I apologise, of course, you are from Melbourne." Then it was Bellamy’s turn to blink. "Is that Melbourne, Oostraria, or Londoninium?"
"Londoninium." He replied, dumbfounded.
" I hear the weather is clement there, unlike here in Edo where it gets very clammy in the summer. I would like to see Melbourne in Londoninium, I don’t think I would like the heat in Oostraria." Bellamy was dumb-struck. This was a house system: it cooked; it cleaned; it managed the air con; it didn’t make polite conversation "But where are my manners?" It asked. "Doctor Ikuko-mama, would you care to stay, it would only take me a moment to prepare tea." Bellamy moved out of the way. "Come in." The doll said, moving inside like a good robotic butler programmed into the house-system. "Mr Bellamy, would you prefer green or black tea?"
"Black." He replied as if by rote. The doll bowed and moved into the kitchen of the hotel room, where Bellamy could hear water boiling.
"As you can see the Kirei model could be very advantageous to our competitors, so would you mind, Mr Bellamy, just signing this waiver that you won’t sell Taiki to one of them?" Bellamy signed without reading the document.
"Mr Bellamy?" Taiki asked, popping his curly head from the kitchen area. "Do you take milk or lemon in your tea?"
"Milk, one sugar." The doll grinned at him, before going back to making tea.
"You’ll never need to tell him that again." Ikuko said proudly. "The Kirei are an experimental range with many experimental additions which may or may not work in practice, because of this, Taiki has an up-link to MOTHER, our base system here in Edo, if you experience any problems with him, let us now and we will do our best to sort them out by remote. Our hope is that he will never need to be returned to us for repairs." She smiled, taking the seat Bellamy belatedly offered her as Taiki carried a tray into them, on it was one mug of black tea with milk, a spoon beside it, and one bowl of green tea in the Edo fashion, which he offered to Dr Ikuko before he offered the mug to Bellamy, and knelt at his feet. Taiki was dressed like any Edo teenager in a pair of white silk pyjamas with a design, in Taiki’s case it was a rich dark green vine which began at his left ankle to curl around his waist, over his shoulder and down his arm. He had, to Bellamy’s amusement, taken his sandals off at the door and was wearing socks with buttons. "We’re very proud of Taiki at Masamune Incorporated and sad that he has to leave us, but we hope he is happy with you, Mr Bellamy." She sipped her tea in a slow gesture.
"You make it sound like he has emotions." He replied, picking his mug up by the handle.
"Mr Bellamy, I thought you understood, Taiki is more than a state of the art bot body to be different, Taiki has a random-chaos generator which means he has real thoughts, he is capable of emotions such as joy and sorrow. He can feel pain. That is why we have to be so careful, Mr Bellamy. Taiki is, in more ways than his appearance, human. I assure you, if you scan him, you will find a metal endoskeleton but his skin, flesh, arterial and endocrine system are all human as are his organs. Although his CPU is a computer and not an enhanced brain, such as yours or mine, Taiki can think independently."
"A.I.?" Bellamy asked, dumb-struck again, the Lilith model for all her wonders was a cheap system, she was no where near the capabilities of Taiki.
"Yes, Mr Bellamy, Taiki will learn and adapt to his surroundings. Unlike most systems the entire Kirei range have been individually named. They have their own personalities, Sakura, who you refused, is quite demanding when she does not get her own way, and she does like to get her own way, Taiki here is very sweet and we are sad to lose him." Taiki lowered his head as if he was trying to make the best of this, as if he was determined to be happy.
"Dr Ikuko-mama?" He asked. The doctor looked at him, and he measured his words before he spoke. "How far away is Melbourne, I understand the distance, I have checked that, but will you be very far away?"
"Yes, Taiki, I am staying here in Edo." Taiki blinked as his programming adjusted to the information.
"Than perhaps it is better if I no longer call you, Ikuko-Mama, for you will have other projects to fill your time." The doctor smiled winsomely, an expression which did not suit her. "But I will miss you."
"There’s always MOTHER, Taiki, you will never really be out of contact." She said as if she was trying to convince him.
"I want to stay in Edo, Mr Bellamy, could you move here?" He turned his large brown eyes to his new owner.
"No." Dr Ikuko said forcefully. "Taiki it is not right to put your own feelings before those of Mr Bellamy, it might be that you do not get on and then you might return to us, but if Mr Bellamy moved then he would have moved for no reason." Taiki, suitably chastised, lowered his head.
"Melbourne is very nice, Taiki." Bellamy said, surprised he was behaving like this for a doll; a program. "There are trees and animals there, and a lake."
"I know." Taiki said. "Where Lady Caroline Lamb threw Lord Byron in because he would not dance. I know about Melbourne. I checked it when you said the name." He paused, screwing his mouth up. "I would like to go there. Dr Ikuko is right, it is not right of me to make demands of you, after all, I am yours."
"That’s right, Taiki." She bent down to rub the robot’s hair. "You belong to Mr Bellamy now, now you be good." Then with a bow to her host she went to leave. Bellamy was awe-struck, sitting in the chair blinking in shock. He had no comprehension that systems with the capabilities of Taiki even existed, and now he owned one, for the price of Lilith, which was nothing really, AEIOU in Autriche had a system with a remote body, but Taiki was, well, Taiki was almost human.
He showed the doctor to the door, and then returned to his place kneeling at Bellamy’s feet. "Get up." Bellamy said, after a while. "I don’t like that, it makes me feel strange." Taiki stood up and remained standing. "Sit down." He knelt again, Bellamy rolled his eyes. "On the chair." He put the cup down on the table as he thought about it, Caro was not going to like this, and he was glad he had not got the Sakura model. Bellamy loved his wife dearly, but this was going to be difficult to explain.
He pushed the tab on his ear to bring the system up in his head, and Taiki’s eyes opened wide. "You don’t have to do that." He said. "I am the system, tell me what you want."
"I want to talk to my wife." Taiki’s eyes narrowed.
"Caroline, Caro, Boyd-Bellamy, (26)?" He said, checking he had the right one in his system. "I’m sorry," he said, "I don’t know what you like yet."
"I want to talk to her direct." Bellamy said.
"Certainly. If you would prefer I can speak instead of the vid-link."
Bellamy looked at the robot sat opposite him, then he shook his head. "That’s okay, Caro and I work best face to face." Taiki blinked again, nodding his head slightly as the programming altered to accommodate the information as Caro’s face flickered into view imprinted on his iris.
"Matt!" She said excitedly, her hair was wet, bound up from her head in a towel. "You caught me in the bath, I thought you weren’t going to call until you got back, it looks like you’re still in Edo." Her face was flushed and she was talking excitedly, splashing around in the bath, Taiki had got up and was arranging his packing back into the case for him.
"I wasn’t, I know you like to spend what time we get apart, alone, but something’s happened." He said.
"Has there been an accident, Matt, are you okay, talk to me?" She said, excitedly, moving forward, instinctively he moved his head back to accommodate. In the other room Taiki was still packing, singing to himself as he folded shirts, laying them in the suitcase. "Is someone with you?"
"That’s what I wanted to talk to you about." He said.
"You’ve had an affair, haven’t you, you’re leaving me?" Then Caro began to cry.
"Caro, I’m not leaving you, I love you. It’s nothing serious, Masamune Ink called me and asked me to test a new model for them, it’s got a bot body, that’s all, I asked it for radio playback, that’s what you can hear." Caro sank back into the bath, resting the towel against the neck rest.
"We had nothing but bother with the last prototype, and I’m not living off raw tofu again." She said. "I don’t care what you agreed to, take it back. Lilith’s not that bad."
Bellamy nodded in agreement. "Normally, Caro, I’d agree with you a hundred percent, but you haven’t met Taiki."
At the sound of his name Taiki stuck his head around the paper door. "You called?" He asked.
"And who is that?" Caro asked. "You better have a bloody good explanation, Matt, I want to know why an Edo boy is in your bedroom."
"Caro, that’s Taiki, our new house-system." At that Caro began to swear, at length, in six or seven languages, Bellamy wasn’t sure which. "He’s Bishonen from the Kirei range." Caro continued to swear.
"Hello Mrs Boyd-Bellamy." Taiki said grinning. "I’m Taiki, I’m looking forward to meeting you."
"I’m sure you are." Caro snarled. "It’s not coming in the house, I refuse for you to smuggle a catamite into my own home."
"Mrs Boyd-Bellamy?" Taiki interrupted. "If I may, what does catamite mean? I can’t find the word in my lexicon, if you wish I’ll up-link to MOTHER and check with the main Net lexicon."
Caro’s mouth dropped open. "But he looks human." She protested.
"He’s warm to the touch." Bellamy added. "He has to sleep and eat, just like a real boy too." Caro cut the link. "Do you know what, Taiki, she took that better than I imagined possible."
Caro Boyd-Bellamy met her husband at the hoverport, she wore a wraparound dress of clear plastex and her hair was in a matching shade of green so she stood out sufficiently from those gathered around in the hoverport, and a beam of dark mood light was passed in front of her eyes as she waited for her husband to get in from Edo. She had taken one of the impulse pills to calm her which ran a beam of electricity through the nerves to create a synthetic mood. He went up to her directly, holding his own suitcase, whilst Taiki had a hold-all slung across his back, and while Bellamy kissed his wife on the cheek, he hung back like an embarrassed child, and then she moved forward and air kissed the doll on the cheek, but she was careful to place her hands only where there was cloth. "You and I, Taiki, are going to have great fun together." She said in a stilted manner as if she had spent many hours thinking of what to say to the doll.
"Why thank you, Mrs Boyd-Bellamy, I’d like that." He grinned at her.
"Call me, Caro." She said. "And don’t you let Matt make you call him Mr Bellamy, you’re part of us now, Taiki, we’re a family."
Taiki’s large brown eyes widened for a moment and he frowned, and then he smiled. "Thank you, Caro, I would like that." Caro looked at him with a smile, a gentle warm smile. "I’d like to see your home."
"I did what you asked, Matt." She continued, deciding now to ignore him now she had gone through the niceties of conversation. "I got someone in to convert the attic for him, it has a bed and a wardrobe, are you sure you’re not just smuggling in some local boy for amusements I really don’t want to know about."
"No, Caro, believe me, Taiki’s bona fide artificial. When I got him he still had the Masamune stamp though that washed off when he had a bath." He turned to the robot who looked as if he was afraid. "Shall we go home now?" He asked.
"I’d like that."
"Is that all you can say?" Caro asked.
"Actually, Caro." Taiki replied. "I can speak fluently in over forty different languages and read many more, but I would like to visit the home I am maintaining, for my estimations of heat are at the moment rudimentary and may not be suitable for human habitation or comfort. I would like to know the kitchen where I would be preparing food and the room you have prepared for my remote body."
Caro frowned. "It doesn’t pay to get smart with me." She said in a calm cold voice.
"Perhaps not." Taiki answered. "But I don’t know how I could have avoided offence, you came today determined to dislike me. Although I have many questions I know in future not to ask them of you." He walked off in the direction of the car.
"You’ve hurt his feelings." Bellamy chided his wife. "Taiki!" He shouted. "Wait a minute." Taiki didn’t stop. "Taiki!" Taiki continued to walk until he reached the car, the engine turning over as soon as he reached it and the door flicking open with a metallic swoosh. "Taiki!" Taiki threw his bag into the car. "Taiki!"
"What?!" Taiki said turning around.
"Taiki." Bellamy began but didn’t know how to continue. "Caro’s just angry that I made a decision without consulting her."
"She hates me." Taiki said petulantly, sticking his lower lip out in a pout. "I know it, she hates me."
"She doesn’t hate you, Taiki, she just doesn’t know you." Bellamy protested.
"She thinks I’m a filthy stinking robot." Taiki said. "Just like that black woman in the hover, she was talking about how robots and deadies shouldn’t be allowed out, that it was disgusting." A large tear was welling up in Taiki’s left eye, hanging over the lid as if it was about to fall.
"I didn’t know someone said that to you." Bellamy said, putting his hand on the robot’s shoulder. "Because she’s wrong. You’re not disgusting, and Caro doesn’t think you’re disgusting, you’re a magnificent achievement, Taiki, and some foolish small minded people can’t appreciate that. That woman didn’t know she’d hurt your feelings, and neither did Caro, in a short while Caro will love you just like you were a member of our family." Taiki choked back a sob, his lip was quivering and the tear had long since streaked his cheek.
"What is love?" He asked. "Can it be measured? I don’t understand." He said quietly.
"Love is." Bellamy started. "Love is." He stopped again. "Well love is." He thought for a moment. "Love is hard to explain. Give me a while I’ll think of a definition for you, okay." Taiki nodded. "Now let’s go home." Taiki threw his arms around Bellamy to give him a big hug, before he grinned and got into the car.
The Bellamy’s lived in the vicarage by the large Norman chapel, it was a large grey house adjacent to the Hall which overlooked the lake and proved a favourite spot for migrating geese to winter. The car pulled up in front of the house, as Bellamy parked up. Taiki was excited again, he was easily amused, Bellamy noticed, like a small child, pointing out animals in the fields as they passed them, and had laughed with delight when they stopped on the bridge and he had seen a crane. Caro, however, had sat in a frosty silence. "Is this home?" He asked, picking up his bag.
"Yes, Taiki." Bellamy answered. "This is home." He pushed open the door, although he noticed that Taiki did seem to have some measure of control over the vehicle because it’s door opened automatically for him as he clambered awkwardly out of the car.
"It’s so quaint." He said. "It’s like something from a period-drama like those ones on the vid." He laughed to himself, delighted, and torn. "Can I go to the lake, I want to see, but I want to see my room, and I want to explore and…" He paused breathless. "I should really attend to my chores."
"It’s okay." Bellamy said. "Give me your bag, and go and explore, do you have an internal clock?" Taiki nodded. "Make sure you’re back by nine, I’ll order in for food, just make sure you don’t get lost, okay." Taiki grinned.
"Okay. Thank you." He hugged him again, and he went to hug Caro, but then caught himself short. "Do you want me to take the dog?" Caro blinked.
"We don’t own a dog." Bellamy replied.
"Well we do now." Caro said stiffly. "I figured if you could have a little monster I could have a dog."
Bellamy gave his a wife which should have killed her dead. "Taiki is not a monster." He said stiffly. "Call him that again and I’ll divorce you as a bigot." Caro’s face set hard.
"I’m sorry, Taiki, I was just upset."
Taiki smiled for her. "Did you insult me, I just assumed you kept lizards." He said brightly. "Do you wish me to take the dog?" He repeated.
"No." Caro said stiffly, as if admitting defeat. "Enjoy yourself. Go on." Taiki bowed and walked through the gates to the lake. She waited till he was out of earshot before she started to talk in earnest, opening the door. "He’s a freak." She said. "No way is he an experimental system." She bent down to pick up her dog, a small yapping thing with a ribbon in its fur. "I’m not sure I want him in my house."
"It’s not your house, Caro." Bellamy said. "Taiki is a capable system, he is an experiment, and he is a pleasure to be with. He was angry this afternoon, but not at you, there was a woman on the hover, I didn’t hear what she said but she wasn’t polite about bots." Caro put her hands on her hips as her husband threw the bags down in the hall.
"And that’s my fault?" She asked.
"And you were any better?" He replied, then he took a deep breath and sighed. "Caro, let’s not fight, he’s like a child and you’re letting him come between us. Put down the rat and kiss me." Caro looked at the dog for a second, as he pushed the door to with his foot, and she placed the animal on a shelf to kiss her husband.
Taiki fell. His descent altered by the branches of the trees but not stopped or broken as the sunlit sky raced away from him. It was the longest experience of his existence but it lasted seconds. His arms stretched behind him as if he was crucified, his legs slightly raised as in that longest moment Taiki flew. He hadn’t meant to fall, to slip off the ledge to fall into the leafy cavity behind him. He knew the edge was there as the bird flew past him. He’d never seen a real bird, only holodisk projections so he turned following the strange feathered creature with his head and the ledge gave way under him and he fell.
The ground met him hard, as the branches snapped back into position, rising and falling like breaths and the fronds of the ferns he had marvelled only minutes before it raced away from the gust of collision and the world went black.
It was dark when he awoke, the moon shone full and winter bright through the clearing n the stepped trees. He ran a quick diagnostic and there was only peripheral damage although there was tissue damage to his left leg as his processors worked out the mechanics of his fall, he had only fallen fifteen feet, they calculated velocity and the force of impact, but despite that, beyond the physics of falling was the miracle of flight.
He tried to stand, and felt, for the first time in his existence, pain. His synthetic biotech nerves registered what his eyes and his diagnostics told him, that there was damage to his left leg, a wound that was nearly and inch wide and at least five inches long, but it would heal. So he dragged it behind him as he walked out of the cultured wilderness, around the pool past the hall and back to the house.
Bellamy was waiting for him, opening the door as he saw Taiki near, though it wasn’t automatic, and when he waited outside the corona of light from the open door. "What the hell happened to you?" He roared, almost dragging him inside the house.
Taiki weighed up each and every option of what to tell him, his processors processing algorithm upon algorithm to explain that once instant where he had hung unsuspended over the forest floor, the collapse of the hidden cliff face behind the field of the cows, the rush of wind and the slow quiet exhilaration of flight. He weighed them all up and said. "I fell."
"Taiki, if someone did this to you…" Bellamy began.
"I fell." He repeated, leaving Bellamy to his own conclusion as he dragged his leg behind him, up the flights of stairs to his room, dripping blood on the cream carpet as he went. Out of the window and across the roof was another fall, another moment of ecstasy and flight, but he had been blessed, and it would never be the same again. The sense of wonder, the moment was gone. No fall could ever duplicate the beatific sense of grace Taiki had had when he fell.
Bellamy pushed open the door to find Taiki reading. "Are you okay?" He asked, leaving him at the desk as he sat on the low single bed. Taiki looked up at him, he wasn’t angry now, whatever had riled him had slipped from his features and he looked young again. He looked older, Taiki thought, when he was angry.
"My leg hurts." He said, and then put his book down, carefully lifting the book mark and placing it in his book before he placed it flat on the desk before him. "I think I cut it on a branch when I fell."
"You did fall." Bellamy reiterated as if he didn’t believe him. He had come to his own conclusion and couldn’t accept something so prosaic as losing his balance to fall to the forest floor.
"Yes, off the hidden cliff in the wilderness by the pool, there was a bird, I fell." He repeated. "I turned and the grass gave way, I fell." He repeated. "Matt, my leg really hurts, I thought I would be okay, because it will heal, but I think I need to see someone."
Bellamy nodded. "Let me see." He said quietly. "It might just need a plaster." Taiki turned on his chair to show the leg to Bellamy as he pulled his trouser leg up to his knee. Bellamy blessed himself at the long wide gash in his leg, it was easily five inches long and an inch at its widest, it was also deep enough that he could see his metal endoskeleton underneath. He didn’t think he just acted, he pulled the pillowcase from the pillow and tied it tight about the wound, and then he picked Taiki up like a doll, carrying him down the stairs, as he bellowed for Caro to open the door and start the car.
"What’s wrong?" She asked, her hair was bound in a towel and she wore her slippers Bellamy said nothing just turned to show the wound on Taiki’s leg. "Saints almighty!" She said. "I’ll start the car."
The doctor prodded the gash on Taiki’s leg where the branch had cut him. "Does that hurt?" He asked, Taiki’s eyes watered as he nodded. "Amazing." He repeated for the sixth time. "Remarkable. I’ve never seen anything like this."
"Doctor, really." The nurse at the hospital scolded, she wore a crisp white uniform and a paper hat in her brown hair. She was an older woman set in her ways and the young doctor offended her. "The boy is on the verge of screaming and his father looks fit to hit you. Be practical, anaesthetise and stitch that awful wound" The doctor put his pen inside the gaping wound and jiggled it around. That time Taiki did scream. "Doctor! I’m going to report this. This is malpractice."
"Nurse." The doctor said in his most patronising voice. "This boy is the absolute top of the range in Edo in house system, this is the prototype Bishonen range we’ve been reading about. This boy." He highlighted the word. "Is a remote body with a fully biotech cyber-brain and titanium endoskeleton with protein and carbon mechanics. This boy should not feel pain, he should have no real emotive capacity. This boy is, for all intensive purposes no more able to sue for malpractice than my stethoscope."
"Doctor." It was Bellamy that spoke. "Do you mind, if Taiki passes out from loss of blood I am going to sue for malpractice and repairs." He turned to the nurse by the door whose eyes were fixed on the liquid running down the doll’s cheeks. At the way he sat upon the leather table in the diagnosis room, at the pictures of the human body behind him. "Can you stitch this?" She nodded, shaking off her thought as she picked up the tools. "Then there’s no need for you, doctor, you can leave now."
"I beg your pardon." The young doctor blustered. "This is my patient."
""Maybe." Bellamy said. "But this is my insurance."
"You look like a real boy." The nurse said softly. "You smell like a real boy, you sound like a real boy." She put her capable hands on the wound. "And you feel like a real boy, but you’re not are you." Her voice was too low for Bellamy to hear, it looked like she was murmuring reassurances. "But you’re just a piece of kit, a filthy stinking bot."
Taiki woke up in his own room and looked at the few pictures he had decided to put there, the sunset over Edo, a print of a picture Caro had taken him to see called Hylas and the nymphs and one Caro had chosen from the Hall, and thought to himself. "I’ve been here nearly two months now, and I think Matt’s avoiding my question." He paused for a second swinging his legs out of his narrow bed. Although the room had been spare when he’d come here Taiki had deposited trinkets around the room, a piece of fur from razor wire, a shell, a leaf, things his memory would preserve imperfectly, making it look more lived in. "I still don’t know what love is." He said to himself, recording a log as Dr Ikuko had wished him to do. "I think it’s important." He added scratching the healing wound on his leg. "MOTHER." He opened the feed allowing the data-stream to widen his horizon like a drug. "What is love?"
"Love is a human conceit." The mainframe replied. "It is nothing."
"But I am human, almost." Taiki replied.
"You are a machine, Taiki." MOTHER answered. "You are not human." He closed the contact.
"I am human." Taiki protested. "Almost." He opened his net feed bringing up a search engine, he had had problems at first with the air con, it was an antiquated system but he had made sense of it when he read the manual. "Human manual" He said operating the search.
No such item in database, please try again.
Human instructions.
No such item in database, please try again.
Guide for managing your human.
Guide for navigation Isle de Gaulois; guide for successful business management; Guide for navigation Masamune O/S…
That list was endless so Taiki closed the net-feed, it seemed it wasn’t go to be easy and his head was feeling light because he hadn’t really eaten yet. He pulled on a pair of trousers and a sweater, because it was turning cold, and ramming his feet into the slippers he went into the kitchen and prepared himself some toast, he sat on the countertop as the dog yapped at his feet, so he broke off a crust and dropped it to the animal who ate it greedily, while Taiki munched on it and thought. There had to be a way to find out what love was, there had to be a manual somewhere for humans. Everything else had one: there were manuals how to manage your dog; your goldfish; even how to drive a car. Of course there were manuals somewhere to manage a human, anything else just didn’t make sense. He threw another crust to the dog, he wasn’t supposed to feed it leavings but the dog didn’t seem to mind, and a few toast crusts weren’t that bad for it, though he had at one point fed it a whole chocolate bar which made it sick. He pulled his feet up unto the counter taking a lotus position before he opened the feed again bringing up another search engine.
Love. He said.
Too many matches for search to be successful, you may wish to consider narrowing the search, for example, love stories; love songs.
Love stories. He said.
Too many matches for search to be successful, perhaps you would like to consider a list compiled for your ease.
"I want to be a real boy." Taiki snapped.
One match: Pinocchio, do you wish to download now? Continue?
"Continue." In an instant Taiki felt more alone than he ever had, the dump was instantaneous and in that instant he learnt that he was not a real boy, not like Pinocchio had become, Pinocchio was a puppet made of wood, Taiki was made of metal and skin. "Blue fairy!" He called as the pages turned in his mind and he began to cry. "I want to be a real boy."
"Computer, search. I want to be real." The computer screen went blank for a moment in the overlay he had on the kitchen, it was blurred through his tears.
One match: The velveteen rabbit. Do you wish to download now? Continue?
"Continue?" The second book poured into his mind, and he saw the rabbit mauled, it’s stuffing ripped from it and it’s eye hanging off turn and ask "am I real yet?" Taiki put his palms to the sides of his head to shut it out.
"I’m a monster." He said, though the search action was still operational. "I’m a monster." He said. "If I’m loved long enough, I’ll be a real boy. I’ll be human, but I don’t know what love is." He slipped from the countertop falling to his knees on the kitchen floor where he wept whilst the dog tried pathetically to lick at his face. He pushed it away, hard, yelping it went to it’s basket. "Ai, love. AI." He stopped. "What is love?" He asked the sky. "Dr Ikuko!" He called trying to open the channel to her neurocannula but she did not respond. "Dr Ikuko!" Again there was no answer. He opened the direct net-feed again, opening a third database. "Pinocchio." He said.
One match found. Italian children’s novel of the nineteenth century, review of the author Collodi available here, continue?
"The velveteen rabbit."
One match found. American children’s novel of the twentieth century, review of the author available here, continue?
"I’m a construct." He said to himself. "The doctor made me, why?" He had no answer and the search engine didn't respond. "I want to know what love is."
One match found, song by American artists Whitesnake, more information available, continue?
"I want to be human, I want." He paused. "Taiki, you’re a machine, you’re not supposed to feel like this." He said closing the net-feed, and standing up, wiping his cheeks with an angry hand. As he began to clear away after himself and putting Caro’s empty dishes in the washer. "I want answers." He said before he went back to his room, closing the door.
Bellamy came in from work as it was getting dark, Caro was sat on the sofa before a fire, her feet on a stool and her dog on her lap, he went over and kissed her on the cheek. She closed her journal, bringing down the overlay on her eye to look at her husband. "Matt?" She asked. "Have you seen Taiki today?" She asked.
"No." He replied. "Why?"
"I haven’t seen him either, I was wondering if he went with you." Bellamy let his bag slip unto the sofa beside him and shook his head.
"No, I was on my own today. The heating’s on, there doesn’t appear to be a problem with his functioning."
"I think he’s in his room." Caro replied. "But he won’t answer me, and he’s not eating." She sighed.
"I’ll go check on him." Bellamy said. He took the stairs to the third floor two at a time, and knocked on the door quietly.
"Taiki!" He called. There was no answer. "Taiki!" He turned the knob and the door opened. Taiki sat on the bed with a book in his hands, though the room was almost pitch black, the winter nights in Melbourne were dark and it felt like there might be snow in the air. It was clear he had sat reading and not noticed that the light was poor, but he made no effort to turn the light on. He did read a lot.
"Matt." He said, shocked. "I’m sorry, I lost track of time." Matt breathed a huge sigh of relief, for a moment he had feared the worst. "I was reading."
"What are you reading?" Taiki marked his page and put the book on the bed. "I found it when I cleaned the linen closet, it’s very old. It’s called The Good Soldier." Matt sat down beside him on the bed.
"I was wondering where that was. Are you sure you want to read that, everyone dies at the end, and even the soldier isn’t good anymore." Taiki nodded.
"I know." He lowered his head. "I have read it about six times today."
"It was my grandmother’s." Bellamy said in a conspiratorial tone. "She read it in college and I remember her telling me it was probably her favourite book of all time, she loved it, that’s why it’s so battered."
"Does love destroy?" Taiki asked. "This book tells me that love is destructive and that it is not always right, but the other books I read told me love was wonderful and it made everything wonderful, which is it, does love make things wonderful or does it destroy?" Matt took a deep breath before he began.
"Both." He replied. "Love can build worlds and destroy them in an instant. My Grandmother was a critic, she wrote essays on books, that was her job. She was a canny old woman and when I asked her that she quoted for me ‘Everyone falls in love, just not always with the right person, or with two people, or that person dies, and for all the glory of love it’s sometimes a front for a deeper kind of hurt that some people enjoy’."
"Rupert Brooke." Taiki said. "I read some of his poetry, ‘and love has turned to kindliness’. I don’t know what he means."
"I don’t think he did either." Bellamy said. "Now come downstairs, Caro was worried."
"Really?" He asked. "You surprise me."
"She says you’ve been holed up in here all day, and you haven’t eaten."
"No." Taiki said. "I was reading." He paused turning his seraphic face to his owner. "Do you love me?" He asked.
"Yes, Taiki, I love you very much." Bellamy replied, but he squirmed and it obvious the question made him feel awkward.
"Then am I real yet?" Bellamy touched his hand to reassure him, he was cold to the touch.
"Christ, Taiki, you’re freezing, turn the lights on and some heat and then we’ll take you downstairs."
"No." Taiki said fiercely. "I don’t want to."
"You can’t sit and read in the dark." He said softly. "You’ll ruin your eyes and have to wear glasses like Mr Butler next door." He clapped his hands activating the override on the lights.
"No." Taiki said and the lights flickered off almost before they came on.
"Taiki." Bellamy said. "This isn’t funny, turn the lights on."
"No." He replied.
"Taiki." His voice was more firm now.
"It hurts my eyes." He said.
"Then turn them on dimly, now come on, turn the lights on." The room lit up, and Taiki shied away from the light, his eyes were swollen as if he had been crying as Bellamy pulled the quilt around his shoulders, hugging him tight under the fabric. Then he rested the head against his shoulder. "Have you been crying?" Taiki nodded. "Because you thought I didn’t love you?" Taiki nodded again, feebly. "You are very important to me, Taiki, I worry for you, now come on." Taiki’s eyes were closed, so he lay him back on the bed, arranging the quilt about him and found a second book, but the doll looked so peaceful sleeping he didn’t dare wake him. "Chinese myths and legends." It too was book marked, so Bellamy opened the page where Taiki had left it, and then he closed the book and put it down again and went downstairs to where Caro waited in the hall.
"Is he all right?" She asked.
"He’s having an identity crisis, we better get in touch with Dr Ikuko." He said. "I’ll leave a note with her, get her to run a remote diagnostic and make sure it’s not a problem with his programming." He sighed. "He’s been reading." He stopped. "He read about the Nataku doll, you know the human made of wax with no soul."
Caro put her hand on her husband’s arm. "I know I didn’t want him here, but he’s become very dear to me. Do you think it would help if I went up to him?"
Bellamy sighed. "I think that would do him the world of good." She nodded, kissing her husband on the cheek and went up the stairs, whilst Bellamy opened his neural link and opened a channel to Dr Ikuko.
"Dr Ikuko, this is Matt Bellamy, I’ve been involved in the Kirei testing program."
The woman frowned for a moment as she checked something. "Of course, Mr Bellamy, how terrible for me to forget you, you’re testing Taiki for us, is there a problem?" She asked.
"I think there may be Doctor, Taiki won’t come out of his room, he won’t let the lights be on near him, he’s cold to the touch and he keeps asking if he’s real yet?"
The Doctor sucked her breath in through her teeth. "Do you love him?" She asked. "Taiki is a beautiful boy doll, and he needs to be loved." Upstairs he could hear Caro going into Taiki’s room and closing the door behind her.
"He asked me what love was?"
"And did you tell him."
"I told him what I understood of love." Bellamy answered. "But he’s been reading all manner of books, I think he read everything he could get." There were footsteps upstairs, he could hear them even with another floor in between.
She checked a screen which appeared in front of her, turning it so he could see. "As a precaution we have recorded all of Taiki’s net-feeds, these are what he has downloaded." At the bottom of the list as the most recent download was "Frankenstein."
"Matt!"
"Doctor, should he really be reading books like that, he seems to root them out. He’s downloaded Frankenstein over a thousand times in the last week alone according to this."
"It’s just a book." The doctor answered. "A piece of fiction, he just likes that one."
"Matt!" He minimised the doctor.
"Caro, what is it?"
"Matt, get the doctor, it’s Taiki." He split screened the display into two so he could see his wife and the doctor as he ran up the stairs and pushed past her into the room where Taiki lay on the bed. He was on his side, as Bellamy had left him, swaddled in the thick quilt , his mouth slightly open, Caro was wringing her hands whilst the lights slowly dimmed. He reached forward and touched the cooling skin, by his hand was another book, open his hand pressing down the pages and a bottle of Caro’s mood tablets by his side, his fingers closed over but not closed.
"What does it say, Mr Bellamy?" Dr Ikuko asked, even as she began to cry and wring her hands, Caro sat down heavily on the floor, but Bellamy had no words.
"He’s underlined some words." He said, there was no grief, not yet. "It’s a poem, called Dust: "And faint in that amazing glow, until the darkness close above; and they will know- poor fools they’ll know!- one moment what it is to love."
This is a story that haunts me and I can't get right, no matter how hard I try (and believe me I do) so don't be surprised if you see other drafts of this, this is about the eighth draft and i'm still not happy with it.
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