“You’ll have to hide tomorrow,” Isamu announced after they came back with food, including a bag of tempura shrimp for Sera. “We have a few shipments coming throughout the day. They will drop everything from the air, and that means the crews will have an excellent view of the landfill from above. You have to either stay in the factory or in your shack. They know we don’t hire any humans on site, and a complete VerdeLumen will look suspicious, too.”
Gokiburi joined us, bringing a large lamp made of metal and what looked like partly melted crystalline plastic. It glowed amber, red, and gold, mimicking a real fire, and gave off warmth. The organics ate, talking, and Sera described her first attempt to infiltrate Zenkyoza in Neo Tokyo, waving her chopsticks at the dramatic moments. She made a few self-deprecating jokes, and by the end of her story, even Isamu laughed with her.
Motori and Isamu told us a few of their adventures from running the landfill, and the strange things they found dumped here.
“One day, they dropped a full shipment of brand-new vibrators. The company went under, everything was liquidated, and the unsold stock just dumped in here. Another time, we got faulty kiddie tablets. You know, those educational ones? Well, the AI was so bad, it taught the kids to curse and steal their parents’ money. The entire lot was recalled and dropped here.”
Sera launched into a story about another wonky AI that taught kids how to bypass parental controls on their devices, but I was busy scanning the map of the landfill.Packaged Miscellany.It had to be there.
When Sera yawned, I said our goodbyes and picked her up. She didn’t even protest, and I immersed myself in the feel of her as I carried her to the shack Gokiburi said we could stay in.
It looked unremarkable from the outside, a rectangular building made from corrugated metal. The door swung open with a faint scrape, and the lights came on, muted and purple. The room was sparsely furnished with a few scrap metal tables, a worn rug covering the bare metal floor, and an enormous hammock swinging in the center.
The temperature was controlled by a noisy AC unit that rattled and wheezed, but at least it wasn’t too hot inside. There were no windows but I counted three air vents. I let Sera to her feet, staying close. She smelled so good after half a day spent out in the sun.
“Oh,” she muttered, tipping her head back. “What do you make of this?”
I focused on the ceiling. It was covered with robot faces, some old and generic, others looking human, and some demonic with angry eyes and horns.
“Gokiburi says you have two guesses,” I said after contacting the robot. “Her tip is to remember it’s a metaphor.”
Sera tapped her chin, looking between the hammock and the ceiling, and finally sighed.
“You’re everywhere. You’re always watching. You have an advantage, both in numbers and position. By you, I mean robots.”
I gave Sera’s answer to Gokiburi, who laughed.“It’s a valid interpretation. My, how horrid. The little girl is really afraid of us, isn’t she?”
“Leave her alone. She has good reasons.”
“Of course. Come out after you put your human to bed.”
“Maybe. Goodnight.”
I found a cotton set of pajamas I got for Sera. She gave me a long, awkward look, then changed, facing me the whole time. She didn’t look at me, moving with anxious quickness.
“I’m turning off my cameras,” I said, doing just that. “Next time, you can tell me if you don’t want me to look.”
“You don’t have to.” I turned them back on. She faced the hammock, turning her back to me, fully clothed in a T-shirt and shorts. “It doesn’t matter. You’ve seen me already.”
I stifled an urge to go toBro Signalfor advice and took a step closer. It felt hard to tell her how I felt, but it also seemed like the right thing to do.
“It matters to me. When you show me your body, it feels intimate, but when you do it that way, I don’t know what to think.”
Her shoulders lowered as she sighed heavily, turning. I dropped into a crouch, and our eyes met.
“I don’t know, either,” she said, the words coming slowly like she had to search for the right ones. “Look, I… We had sex, I know. But your life—and my life—they just don’t fit very well, do they?”
She sighed, shaking her head. My collar pinged, and I silenced it impatiently. Sera’s lips quirked in a smile.
“What made it go off?”
“You’re sad and that makes me sad. Sadness is forbidden, you know. Good bots are either horny or neutral.”
Her face softened, and she lifted her hand as if to touch my face, then pulled back. “You’re a good person, Dean. You deserve good things.”
I helped her get in the hammock and plugged myself into the charging station, which was faster than a regular wall socket. Sera’s breathing was slow but shallow, and an hour passed in silence before it deepened, indicating she was asleep. I opened my torso compartment and got a few motion detectors. They were tiny and inconspicuous, and I set them up all around the room and outside. They’d inform me as soon as anyone approached the shed, and I was confident I could make it back in under thirty seconds.
I set out for the heap of miscellaneous trash.
