4
As they got out of the Niva, fleeting snow began to sprinkle down from above.
The girl’s house was very much an old-fashioned lodge. Icicles dangled down
from its triangular roof, and its vividly colored outer walls were frozen from the
snow blowing against them. Echika stepped onto the sundeck and knocked on
the front door a couple of times. A few seconds later, the girl opened it.
“Who are you? What do you want?”
The girl was visibly wary, but upon closer inspection, she was surprisingly
pretty. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, and her unwavering eyes were a clear
shade of green. Her beauty wasn’t the artificial, fabricated sort belonging to a
city girl but rather the dignified presence of a fruit tree hidden deep within the
forest, away from the prying eyes of humans.
“We’re from Interpol’s Electrocrime Investigations Bureau.” Echika flashed
her ID. “We’re questioning people around the area with regard to an ongoing
investigation. Can we have a few minutes of your time?”
“…What kind of investigation?” the girl asked, still wary.
“We’re not at liberty to elaborate, but it’s an electrocrime,” Echika answered,
picking her words carefully. “It seems someone involved with the incident is
hiding in the area.”
After a moment’s hesitation, the girl let them inside. If Harold’s story was
right, Echika would have expected her to resist a little more. Or maybe she
thought rejecting them would just come across as suspicious? Echika couldn’t tell.
She led them into a living room with a country-like interior. Duodji bracelets
woven with silver threads hung over the hearth, and the sofa she had them sit
on was furnished with reindeer fur.
“Can I ask your name?” Echika asked as she took a seat on the sofa.
“It’s Bigga,” the girl said, placing a tray on the table. “Hmm, I’m sorry, but I’m
the only one at home right now… My father went out to the mountains, and he
won’t be back for a while. There’s a lot of ice fog this time of year, so the
reindeer herds tend to separate.”
This girl was definitely Sami, like Harold predicted. Echika snuck a glance at
the Amicus sitting beside her, and upon noticing her gaze, he curled his lips a
little. He almost looked smug.
“Is reindeer husbandry your father’s only source of livelihood? Does he have a
side business in the primary sector?”
“He couldn’t have one if he wanted to. Even in the restricted zone, outside
contractors take up all the jobs with their robots, so it’s hard to find work…
That’s the state’s policy, so we can’t do much about it,” she said, pushing a mug
toward Echika. “Drink this, if you’d like?”
The mug was full of normal coffee. It was a sleek black color and gave off a
fragrant smell. It didn’t have cheese in it, like she’d seen on Lee’s social media.
Apparently, that was their private way of drinking coffee, and they didn’t offer
it to guests.
Did this mean she regarded Lee as more than just a guest, then? Were they close?
“Ah!” Bigga blurted out suddenly.
It seemed that she’d bumped her hand into Harold’s as she passed him the
cup and spilled a bit of coffee over his fingers.
“Oh, I’m sorry; I can’t believe how clumsy I am…!” Bigga hurriedly wiped his hands
with a towel she had nearby. “Did any spill on your terminal? It might break if it gets wet.”
“Don’t worry—it’s waterproof,” he said, glancing at his wristwatch-shaped
wearable terminal. “Besides, it’s provided by the bureau, so even if it breaks, I
can just use my Your Forma.”
Harold indirectly implied he was human by claiming he had a Your Forma.
Since the restricted zone’s citizens were predominantly luddites, he’d deemed it
wiser to pass himself off as one.
But even without him actively pretending, Bigga didn’t seem to have realized
he was an Amicus. Having been born and raised in a city without any drones, to
say nothing of robots, she probably couldn’t tell them apart from humans.
“Did you get burned? Are you sure you’re all right?”
“It’s fine. Thank you—you’re sweet.” He smiled, holding on to her hand gently.
Hello? Echika cocked an eyebrow at his oddly saccharine compliment.
Bigga’s eyes widened like she’d just snapped out of a stupor, and her cheeks
turned visibly rosy.
“Ahem.” Echika cleared her throat. “Don’t worry about him, Bigga; just take a seat.”
“Ah, yes. Excuse me…”
She gingerly sat down on the opposite sofa as Echika shot a sidelong glare at
Harold. The Amicus simply sipped on his coffee with an innocuous look on his
face. What was he thinking?
“So,” Echika said, massaging her brow gently to pull herself back together, “I’d
like to ask you a few questions. Do you go to school?”
“I graduated high school. I decided not to go to college.”
“To focus on work?”
“Yes. I’m on my day off today, but I spend a few days a week sorting out the
mail at the post office…”
“I see. Does anyone but you and your family visit this house?”
“The neighbors and my father’s friends come to visit sometimes.”
“Do you have any siblings or friends who stop by?”
“I don’t have any siblings, and my friends don’t come over. They’re all busy
with college, jobs, or housework.”
“Have you been bullied or harassed recently, then?”
Bigga suddenly knit her brow, then started fiddling with the Duodji bracelet
on her wrist in annoyance.
Drat.
Echika realized, a moment too late, that she’d asked the wrong question. The
atmosphere tensed up for a moment.
“That’s a pretty pattern,” Harold said abruptly, his gaze fixed on a tapestry
hanging on the wall.
It was a woven image of a herd of reindeer in vivid reds and blues. Echika
couldn’t say if pretty was the right descriptor for it, but his comment did come
in a timely fashion.
“My deceased mother made it,” Bigga said, narrowing her eyes wistfully.
“It’s very well-made. Does it employ the same colors as your traditional gáktis?”
“Huh? How can you tell…?”
“I majored in northern European ethnology in college,” he said with an
especially soft expression. “I’m honored to finally meet a Sami, even if it is for
an investigation. I’m very glad to have met you.”
“Hmm, uh…” Bigga blushed again and suddenly got to her feet. “I’ll, um, go
pour you some more coffee.”
She bolted out of the living room, like she was trying to run from him. And she
did this despite their mugs still being just as full as they were when she brought
them. It was quite the sweet sight, but Echika couldn’t feel particularly moved at it.
A sizable piece of kindling crackled within the hearth.
“I’ve got more than just a thing or two to say,” Echika started, glaring
pointedly at Harold. “But which college did you graduate from, exactly?”
“Lies are a means to an end,” he said, reverting to a serious expression. “I
needed to have her open her heart to us.”
“Forget getting her to open her heart; you just about won her over. What was
that back there?”
“Whatever do you mean?” Harold furrowed his brow as if baffled.
Stop playing dumb.
“More importantly,” he continued, “what was that ‘have you been bullied or
harassed’ question? I almost shuddered when you said that. If you were bad at
questioning people, you should have said so.”
Echika was at a loss for words. Up until now, she’d gotten by with just her
outstanding abilities at Brain Diving; interpersonal communications were a
weak spot for her. She always let her aides handle that part of the investigation.
“It might be for the best if you take care of things like that in the future,” she
finally admitted.
“I think that’s a wise decision,” Harold replied.
“But that said, it doesn’t look like Bigga’s sheltering her, and she doesn’t
strike me as a bio-hacker.”
“Why not? Because she didn’t realize I’m an Amicus?”
“Not that. A bio-hacker’s area of expertise tends to be focused on gadgets
and cyborg technology. They wouldn’t know much about robotics.”
“Yes, you’re right about that,” Harold said, looking down at his wrist. “But
earlier, Bigga could tell with a glance that this was an information terminal. A
luddite’s knowledge of gadgets would usually stop at ordinary cell phones, so
this shouldn’t have looked like anything but a wristwatch to her.”
She hadn’t paid it any attention at the time, but when he put it like that, it did
make sense. Bigga had been so shaken by spilling the coffee that she let slip
that she knew it was a portable information terminal. His point did seem to be
credible.
“But what about Lee, then?”
“Oh, she’s here, of course. The fact that Bigga stepped out proves it.”
“Maybe your creepy smile just scared her off.”
“How is it creepy?” Harold asked shamelessly. “She’d have left the living room
either way, because she needs to smuggle Lee out of here so we won’t catch
her. I’d imagine they’re preparing as we speak.”
“How can you tell?”
“Go outside and wait at the back door. You should find your proof there.”
She’d considered laughing it off as a joke but knew better than to
underestimate Harold’s observation skills. She still didn’t want to admit it, of
course, but Echika sullenly got up from the sofa.
“And while I’m at the back door, what are you going to do?”
“I’ll stay here and draw the truth out of Bigga.”
“Just don’t do anything funny,” Echika emphasized and left the residence.
An almost painful wave of cold air whipped against her body. She stepped off
the sundeck, shivering, and headed for the back of the house. If Lee showed up
there, she’d have no choice but to accept Harold’s “discerning eye.”
Behind the house, she found a single snowmobile sitting alone in the
backyard. There was no one in sight, and a deep silence hung over the place.
But something felt off, and Echika soon noticed what it was. There wasn’t a
speck of snow on the vehicle. It looked like it had only just been carried out of a
garage.
Just as she approached the snowmobile to examine it, it happened. The back
door swung open, as if someone had been waiting for her to make a move. At
first, Echika thought it was Bigga who’d bolted out of the door, since the
silhouette was very similar to hers. But this new girl was wearing a poncho-like
overcoat, and she sprinted toward the snowmobile without so much as looking
around.
Echika couldn’t make out the girl’s face beneath the hood of her coat. But if a
girl who wasn’t Bigga had just sprinted out of the house, it could mean only one
thing. Echika took off after her, spurred by urgency.
“Stop!”
The girl straddled the snowmobile and glanced up in shock. It seemed she’d
just noticed Echika’s presence for the first time. And Echika finally saw her face
under the streetlights’ fading illumination.
Their eyes met, and the database immediately read her facial features and
brought up her personal data. Echika felt her blood starting to surge in her veins.
“Clara Lee!”
She didn’t have time to stop her. Lee vigorously hit the throttle, and the
snowmobile took off, kicking up a spray of snow that turned everything white
before Echika’s eyes.
Dammit!
Echika quickly wiped the snow from her eyes, but when she looked again, the
snowmobile was already speeding away in the distance, moving so fast that it
would be impossible to catch up to it on foot.
“Shit…!”
She’d finally found Lee. She couldn’t let her get away here.
“Investigator!”
Turning at the call, Echika found Harold leaning out from the back door.
“Where’s Lee?!”
“She got away!” They wouldn’t have time to go back to the shoulder of the
road and get in the Niva. “Bigga lent her a snowmobile!”
As she shouted, Echika activated the Your Forma’s marker feature. A distinct
track surfaced in the snow—Lee’s tracks. She placed a holo-marker on it, her
last ray of hope. With this, she wouldn’t lose her.
Returning to the front of the house, Echika froze at a jeep’s horn blaring at
her. It was Harold, who’d swiftly gotten into the driver’s seat of Bigga’s car. The
owner wasn’t in sight, so she was probably still inside. Bigga now had nowhere
to run, so Echika elected to disregard her for the time being.
Echika plopped into the passenger seat quickly and closed the door.
“I placed a marker on her. Get going—we need to be fast.”
“Driving safely is my personal policy, though.” Harold stomped down on the
accelerator.
Much to her surprise, this rickety jeep had its automatic-driving feature
removed. She felt like she ought to be grateful just for the fact that the heating
was still working, but she was shocked Bigga could drive around in this lump of
metal.
“Did Bigga talk?”
“Of course,” he said, nodding composedly. “Lee is her cousin, as it turns out.
Apparently, they got along like sisters when they were little, and Bigga let her
stay, since she came to her for help with the malfunctions. She didn’t imagine a
virus could be behind it, though. She thought the delusions were side effects of
the bio-hacking.”
Echika had assumed as much since the moment Lee appeared, but this meant
Harold had predicted everything perfectly. By this point, she’d grown tired of
being surprised by him, and after witnessing everything today, she felt stupid
for pridefully refusing to admit this Amicus’s capabilities. Yes, he was
undoubtedly a police investigator.
In the end, Echika could only say, “I’m surprised you figured everything out in
just that one moment.”
“Bigga seemed like the pure, emotional type, so I figured drawing attention to
myself as a member of the opposite sex might do the trick. It went well,
thankfully,” Harold said with a very innocuous smile.
Echika couldn’t mask her weary expression. That meant this had been his plan
from the get-go. It finally dawned on her.
“So you had her spill the coffee when she handed you the mug on purpose.”
“Yes. I wanted to check if she was a bio-hacker and draw her attention to me.”
“And she fell for it, hook, line and sinker.”
“Physical contact has all sorts of meaning, but the most prominent of all is
narrowing down emotional distance.”
Listening to his spiel gave her a headache.
“Did they load a module for toying with women’s hearts into your memory?”
Echika asked dryly.
“Perish the thought. I only did it in the name of furthering the investigation.”
“I’m sure you breached one rule or another with what you did. Pull another
stunt like that, and I’ll have to report you to Chief Totoki.”
Echika was confident about one thing: People said Amicus were supposed to
be humankind’s best friend, but this android was definitely an exception.
Lee’s trail winded along the snowy field, heading south down a trackless path.
After pursuing her for a while, the Altaelva River came into view, and they saw a
snowmobile speed across its frozen surface. It was Lee. Harold skillfully turned
the steering wheel, driving the jeep along the riverside. But their target noticed
them and picked up speed, drawing away from them in a feat of reckless driving.
“Isn’t she infected? Where is she getting all that energy?!”
“Bigga told me she applied a self-made suppressant to Lee, which paused
every machine inside her body. Since it’s used for bio-hacking, it’s much more
powerful than the legal machine suppressants used by hospitals.”
“Guess they don’t call them back-alley doctors for nothing,” Echika whispered
sarcastically.
Give me a break!
“That said, it was almost time for her to inject another dose, and she ended
up not getting it because we stopped by.”
“So you’re saying we should stay patient and keep chasing her until the
suppressant wears off?”
Just then, however, a gust of wind whipped by, and a spray of snow overran
the windshield. Echika drew back, but Harold continued speeding up
unflinchingly. The snow clung to the window, and when Echika’s field of vision
cleared, the jeep was still clutching the riverside and driving directly parallel to
the snowmobile. Now was her chance.
“Hold!” Echika shouted, rolling down the window. “This is the Electrocrime
Investigations Bureau!”
But Lee didn’t so much as turn to look at her. The moment Echika made to
reach for the gun holstered on her leg, Lee’s small body started shaking like a
toy with its batteries running out. Her hands, which had been gripping the
snowmobile’s handles, slackened, and she soon slid off the vehicle.
Wait.
Lee’s body tumbled violently over the snow, her limbs banging against the
ground. Even with its rider missing, the snowmobile continued speeding ahead
before finally toppling sideways with a concerning crunch.
“Oh my…” She heard Harold’s breath catch. “This is horrible.”
They shouldn’t have gone after her like they did. But that realization came far too late.
Echika and Harold got off the jeep and ran over to Lee, who lay faceup. She
was already unconscious, though, and bleeding profusely from a cut on her
forehead.
“She’s already developed hypothermia symptoms,” Harold said. “The
suppressant probably wore off a while ago.”
“I’ll call an ambulance.” Echika used her Your Forma to make the call, a bitter
taste in her mouth all the while.
They had, without a doubt, approached this the wrong way. She hadn’t
assumed Lee would be so desperate to get away. Having finished her call, she
turned around to find Harold kneeling on the frozen river. He’d taken off his
coat and wrapped it around Lee’s body, then removed his scarf next, which he
used to wipe the blood off her forehead.
“Hold on,” she said, bewildered. “You might be a machine, but if your
circulatory fluid freezes, you’ll malfunction.”
“I don’t mind. They can fix me as many times as it takes, but you can’t recover
a lost life.”
Harold’s deadly seriousness made Echika’s stomach churn with anxiety. Right,
that’s what all Amicus are like. They’re made to conform to their Laws of
Respect and sympathize with humankind.
She stifled down her annoyance. Their job wasn’t done yet.
“Aide Lucraft.”
Echika removed her gloves. Despite her hand going numb from being exposed
to the freezing air, she took out a pair of cords.
“We need to inspect Lee’s Mnemosynes before the rescue team gets here.”
“What are you talking about?” Harold looked up at her in disbelief. “She’s in a
dangerous condition right now.”
“We still have to do it. The Brain Diving won’t make her any worse.”
“But we should keep her body as still as possible. There’s the risk it could
cause a ventricular fibrillation—”
“Yes, and the possibility her situation becomes critical is exactly why we need
to do this now.”
The Your Forma was integrated with the brain, so if its user’s vital signs
stopped, it would shut down as well. The problem was that the Mnemosynes
were programmed to prioritize the user’s privacy and self-erase themselves
upon death. And once that happened, restoring the lost data was a huge
headache that required extracting the Your Forma. But not only was a request
to do so not legally binding, the bereaved family could also object to it, which
could make things very problematic. Many times in the past, families had
dragged out talks by arguing the bureau down, then “accidentally” had the
deceased’s remains buried.
That’s why any electronic investigator would realize that now could be their
last opportunity to plug into Lee. Echika knew this to be fact, and any other
electronic investigator would do the same.
“Put her facedown.”
The howling wind passed by, coiling around her legs. Harold looked up at her
in blank amazement, as if to say he couldn’t believe her. But he wasn’t really
thinking that; he was just a machine, compelled by its emotional engine’s
programming to make this Echikal reaction.
Give me a break.
“Aide Lucraft, do I need to remind you what our job here is?” Her voice spilled
from her lips as she failed to keep her emotions restrained. “It’s to track down
the culprit of the sensory crime, not looking after Lee. I’m not saying we have to
kill her or leave her to die; I called the ambulance myself. We took the
necessary measures to save her.”
Harold remained silent.
“Hurry up and jack her in,” Echika ordered, extending the Lifeline toward him,
but he didn’t accept it.
Not just that—he placed his hand over Lee’s body, like he was trying to shield
her from Echika. Then he stared at Echika almost as though trying to arouse her
pity.
Stop that. Why do I need a stupid machine looking at me like that?
“Investigator, please consider this calmly.”
“I’m calm, as you can clearly see,” Echika said firmly. “Are you trying to
interfere with the investigation?”
“No, I just believe there are priorities to everything.”
“Well said. Jack her in, then.”
“I meant that her life and survival take precedence over all.”
“If we don’t Brain Dive into Lee now, there’s no telling how it could stall the
investigation. Are you going to convince her family to cooperate if anything
happens to her?”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.”
“But this is what it’s about. We can’t save her right now.”
They glared at each other for one long moment, neither of them blinking. The
snow kicked up at some point, pouring down on them like tears. Amicus were
just machines—they were good at pretending to do the right thing, but in
reality, they were empty on the inside. All they did was display their Laws of
Respect and put up an illusion of humanity and emotion.
I hate Amicus.
Eventually, Harold bit his lip, and after a piercing silence, he spoke in a
conflicted manner.
“Fine. Then…let’s jack her in while she’s lying faceup, so as to not disturb her.”
Finally.
Echika gave him the Brain Diving cord, and he gently raised Lee’s head to
avoid jostling her too much, then plugged it into the nape of her neck. Next,
they connected the Lifeline to each other. Harold looked displeased with this,
but Echika didn’t mind. She didn’t care what he thought; this was for the best.
“Begin,” she uttered as always, and the next moment, she was plummeting down.
She entrusted her body to the velocity of her free fall, letting it wash away her
annoyance. No matter what happened, none of it mattered once she started
Diving. That’s how it always was.
Lee’s surface Mnemosynes washed over her. The ballet academy’s lesson
room came into view. The feel of the bar against her hands. Her classmates,
clad in leotards. She liked dancing. Someday, she would become a prima
ballerina. But somewhere in that firm resolve, a black shadow clung to her like
ichor, like it was something she had to look away from. Guilt over bio-hacking.
This made Echika’s heart oddly restless. The darkness never released its grip
on Lee. Not during lessons, or on her days off with friends, nor from the cold
grays of Saint Petersburg’s cityscape, where commercials for ballet gadgets
jumped at her from every direction. They promoted old-fashioned toe shoes
and the newest sneakers, sneering at her for her muscle-control chip. And
whenever she saw them, the shadow, the anxiety, grew larger.
Don’t sympathize with her. Let it pass through, like always.
Echika moved through the surface level and entered the middle layer of her
Mnemosynes. Harold hadn’t pulled her up yet. Whenever it felt like a
countercurrent might be beginning, she managed to keep control of the rudder
one way or another.
Suddenly, a familiar building skirted through the corner of her eye. Its
streamlined roof was adorned with a gigantic spherical monument. She’d seen
it countless times in news footage: the headquarters of technology company
Rig City.
Lee had visited there on a prolonged vacation when she went on a trip to
America with her parents. Apparently, she’d been part of a field-trip tour of Rig
City. Her involvement with bio-hacking led her to develop an interest in modern
gadgets, which brought her there.
Echika felt something was off and immediately realized what it was. Thomas
Ogier, who was Paris’s index case, had also gone on a tour of Rig City.
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