“What does that even mean?”
“I don’t know, but I’ll find out.”
There was a knock on the door. Clanker pulled me into a sudden embrace, bidding the person to enter in Japanese. Our tanuki hostess bustled in with a tray of food, and her muzzle split in a wide smile when she saw us.
“You are a beautiful couple,” she said, nodding sagely. “My daughter also has a robot man. They live in Thailand where he can be himself, no collar. They got married last spring!”
“Congratulations,” I said, doing my best to smile.
She put the food on the table and bowed before leaving. I slowly shook my head.
“She seems to know you’re sentient. Is this likely to be a problem?”
“Not likely. Her daughter really lives in Thailand with an awakened VerdeLumen cyborg. He looks similar to me, which is probably why she thinks I’m the same as him.”
“Of course you’ve done a background check.” I pulled away and sat at the table. Steaming miso soup, a bowl of rice, an omelet cut into cute one-bite pieces, and vegetable side dishes. I sighedand breathed it in, allowing myself to enjoy it after only a short moment of hesitation.
I had no more will left in me to fight this. My career was lost, my life forfeit. I could at least let myself off the hook and have fun.
Clanker opened the side of his torso and took out a length of thick cable. He plugged it into the nearest wall socket with an adapter and just stood there, watching me eat.
“It’s like we’re sharing a meal,” I quipped. “How’s yours? Taste good?”
“Energy doesn’t have a taste, snookums.”
“I see you’re back to calling me names.”
“Cute names. Yes. Because your order not to do that lost its power when you fired me, Pooh Bear.”
I couldn’t help it—I giggled, then promptly choked on some fermented seaweeds. Clanker folded his arms and watched me until I stopped coughing.
“I see you’re also done saving my life,” I gasped out after drinking a cup of water. “What good are you, then?”
“You’ll find a use for me yet.”
He smirked, clearly thinking his innuendo was so clever.I rolled my eyes and went back to eating. No, I didn’t blush. The soup was hot.
“This was the best breakfast in my life,” I sighed ten minutes later, pushing the tray away. “Well, I’m going back to Zenkyoza. This time, I’ll grab an eyeball to match a pilfered key card.”
Clanker raised his hand. The tip of his index finger twisted off, the pieces rearranging amidst soft clinks. I blinked. His finger was now tipped with a large spoon.
“Best for gouging out eyeballs,” he said without a hint of a smile.
“It was a joke. Are you actually willing to mutilate someone for me? I’m calling Charlie.”
“That’s an empty threat. Would you actually make him come here and risk him being destroyed? I don’t think so.”
I pursed my lips and narrowed my eyes. Clanker gave me a long, expressive blink, and I sighed, slumping in my seat. My will to fight him went out with that blink. Besides, what was even the point?
“I don’t know how I’ll expose Zenkyoza,” I confessed dully. “And no, I won’t be stealing any eyeballs. That plan won’t work without some sort of intel on what their security is like inside. Also, trying the same thing twice is stupid.”
“You’ll figure something out.”
I snorted. His faith in me was adorable as well as horribly misplaced. I paced the room, trying to come up with ideas which I discarded immediately as too reckless, too stupid, too expensive, too convoluted. Hours passed. I soaked in the onsen, gorged myself on food, and paced again.
The identity of the woman who spoke from the speaker inside Zenkyoza HQ bugged me the most. Who was she? The most obvious candidate was one of three sisters who were the heads of the company now that their father, the founder, retired.
I must have really pissed off one of them, or maybe all three? The order to kill me must have come from the very top. It was strange, though. My activism and reporting didn’t do any lasting damage to the company. Maybe their image took a hit from time to time, and I might have cost them some sales from people who decided to stick to the anti-AI camp, but was it really enough to try to kill me?
