The Ghost in the Doll (Fox Meridian Book 6) (16 page)

Something impinged upon the silence: footfalls on the stairs behind them. Fox ignored them. ‘That much? I hope this is worth it.’

‘Jackson is quite determined to get to the bottom of this industrial espionage business. I assume you’ve noticed we have company?’

‘Of course.’ Fox turned around, resting her elbows on the rail, and an android in a tailcoat bowed to her.

‘Does madam require anything?’ he asked.

‘If I do, I’ll come down,’ Fox replied. ‘It’s a fairly warm night. I’m enjoying the air.’

‘Of course.’ The android smiled. He had a pleasant smile, of course, along with a sensuous mouth set into a beautifully crafted face with Asian features and deep-brown eyes. His hair was black and fell to his shoulders in carefully tousled waves. ‘Some of our guests enjoy… entertainment with their air.’ He took a half-step forward.

Fox smiled. ‘Not me. Not tonight anyway. Still a little jetlagged.’

‘I know several methods of overcoming jetlag.’ His voice had turned a little breathy, enticing.

‘Pushy, isn’t he?’ Kit commented.

‘I’m fine,’ Fox said. ‘I’ll be sure to look you up later if I can’t sleep.’

Another bow. ‘Just request Mako.’ Then he turned and set off back toward the stairs.

‘Programmed to lay it on thick for their owners,’ Fox said silently. ‘Or in this case, for the resort customers. I doubt he can help it.’

Kit’s avatar shuddered. ‘I am so glad I don’t have programming like that.’

‘You do. Not like
that
, but you have your conditioning to honesty, your programming to follow the commands of your owner. If I’d ever wanted to, I could’ve ordered you into a gynoid body and had you do immoral things to me. I happen to prefer not to.’

‘So you persuaded me to go to virtual bed with you instead.’

‘As I recall, you got curious and started doing things to
me
. Not that I discouraged you, but you started it.’

‘Hmm… True, I suppose. When we get home, I want to try that again, in the apartment viron.’

‘Oh you do, do you?’

‘It’s for science! I want to see whether you’re any different now that you’re an infomorph. You said it seemed more or less the same with Jason.’

‘Yeah… Well, it should, shouldn’t it? Orgasms happen in the brain. Mostly. Neurons fire and stuff. They did studies and there were definitely neurons firing. I’ve got the same neurons, they’re just… simulated.’

‘Emulated. I think there’s a difference.’

‘Whatever, I don’t think it should feel different. I
do
think I’m going to take a walk around and we can capture the remaining guests’ faces. You can get identities on them all while I’m sleeping.’ Fox held up a hand. ‘And, yes, I know I don’t need to sleep again, but I need to sync myself up with the local clock, because otherwise I’ll be napping in the afternoons.’

‘Well, that should keep me busy for a while. You know, there are times when I wish I could sleep. It seems like a wonderful way to pass time when you’ve nothing to do.’

‘Sleep’s overrated. Sleeping
in
is great, but the actual sleeping part… Not so good. The time I’ve wasted on unconsciousness…’

‘Well, you’ve less of it to worry about now. Perhaps you should take up a new hobby.’

‘You mean
a
hobby.’

‘Well, I didn’t want to imply you were boring or anything…’

13
^th
April.

Fox looked down at herself and frowned. She had spent her extra four hours of wakefulness this morning trying to come up with a hobby she could take up, and got nowhere really. Her new bikini had been delivered, as requested, at 8 a.m. and she had put it on.

‘You did say small,’ Kit said.

‘I did.’

‘With a lot of string.’

‘Agreed. Have to admit that I didn’t think you’d come up with something made out of eyepatches. Are you just trying to see whether I’ll actually walk out of the room in it?’

‘You have gone to Sheela Na Gig with nothing over your nipples but tape. I have no doubt that you’ll show yourself in public dressed like this if you have sufficient motivation.’

‘True, and I will.’ Fox’s gaze shifted from the two tiny triangles of red plastic over her nipples to the, not much larger, triangle between her legs. ‘However, for breakfast purposes, I think the sarong was a good idea.’ She picked up the multicoloured semi-circle of diaphanous fabric and knotted it around her hips. ‘I don’t plan to eat down here, so a little more decorum is called for.’

‘Do I need to get a dictionary to show you the meaning of that word?’

‘I did say “a little more.”’ Fox pulled up the breakfast menu on the service app as she walked out the door. There was the full Japanese traditional breakfast, which Fox had encountered before and knew would have fed her old self for most of the day. Thankfully, the resort catered to other tastes since the full Japanese outlay was something even the Japanese kept for weekends and holidays. Fox had never developed a taste for green tea. She put through an order for toast, jam, and coffee, which looked like something someone on medical leave might eat.

‘I see I can order hot- and cold-running sex dolls with breakfast too,’ Fox commented.

‘This
is
a full-service resort.’

It was, apparently, a full-service resort which did not really kick into its stride that early. Fox had been vaguely dreading walking through the lower lounge, but there was no one about. She took the elevator up to the restaurant and discovered that only a handful of patrons were up that early. Only a couple of those were accompanied by droids.

No one came to direct her to a table, so she selected one at a window. One of the serving staff appeared beside her as though dropped in from space, a coffee pot ready to pour. ‘Your meal will be ready very soon, madam,’ the gynoid said, smiling warmly. ‘Did you have a pleasant night?’

‘Programmed small talk,’ Kit commented. ‘Though I suppose humans are programmed for this too.’

‘All rested and ready for a day of doing as little as possible, thank you,’ Fox said.

‘The weather is forecast to be sunny with a high of twenty-three Celsius. A light breeze may cool the air, but the sun deck should be very pleasing today.’

‘Yeah,’ Fox said silently, ‘she’s programmed to chatter until I stop her.’ Aloud she said, ‘Thank you. I believe I’ll go up there after breakfast.’

Fox watched the gynoid in her stylised maid outfit walk off to get Fox’s food. ‘I bet the people who came up with maid cafés never thought they’d keep going this long,’ she said to Kit.

‘Technically, this is different. It’s just the somewhat outlandish costumes which are the same. There is a whole ritual around maid cafés from what I can tell. Also, I don’t believe the original maid costumes showed quite so much cleavage.’

‘Huh. Speaking of cleavage…’ Another patron had entered the lounge, one of the few people Fox had recognised without Kit looking them up: Shina-chan, an adult sensie idol with a big following. She also had a big bust, currently barely concealed behind a mesh sundress. The last time Fox had seen her, she had been pushing that chest at a Fukui-kai mobster. Now her gaze swept the room, spotted Fox, and she started over.

‘Ohayou gozaimasu,’ Shina-chan said, giving a quite respectful bow, ‘would you do me the honour of allowing me to sit with you?’ Her English was accented and stiff enough to suggest she was not so used to speaking it.

Fox raised an eyebrow. ‘You multicasting?’

‘Oh no, the resort does not allow it in the public rooms.’

‘Then I guess I have no objection.’ Fox indicated the chair opposite and the AS idol took it with a relieved look. ‘Doesn’t that kind of defeat the object of coming to a place like this for someone like you?’

Shina-chan waited for the waitress to come and go, delivering Fox’s toast and pouring another coffee, before answering. ‘It is a welcome break. Of course, I stream in my room, but my fans understand that I need some time to myself once in a while.’

Fox looked across at her. She was an attractive woman, of course, fitting the bakunyu or busty model. Aside from what looked like double-D or larger breasts, she was moderately petite and her features tended to cute rather than beautiful: a small, pert nose, fairly large eyes, dark in colour, and a bright smile. Her hair was currently a tousled mass of blonde which fell over her upper chest. There was tone to her muscles, but not the slightest bulk. ‘I’m really not sure I could
ever
cope with the kind of work you do.’

‘I was surprised you recognised me. Most westerners don’t.’ Shina-chan held her hand out across the table. ‘Kanagaki Shina, I am pleased to meet you.’

Fox took the hand in a light grip. ‘Tara Meridian.’

‘Hai. You may not wish celebrity, but I recognised you from the news streams. The picture they used does not do you justice, however.’

Fox flashed a smile and started to butter her toast. ‘Thank you. Uh, and I recognised you because you were pointed out to me in one of the clubs in Koma.’

‘I work there often.’

‘I’d imagine it’s a good place. So this is mostly just a holiday for you?’

‘A working holiday. Aphrodite Cybernetics hired me to come here and promote their Yurei no Ningyo bioroids. They have had… some bad publicity recently. They felt that a sensie multicast of my experience with one might… restore public confidence.’

‘Oh! So you’ve, um, been with one?’

‘Two.’ Shina-chan lowered her voice a little. ‘They are not really how I would choose to spend my time, but business is business. The streams had very high subscription counts.’

‘You didn’t like them?’

‘They are… odd. They lack expression and cannot speak. Their skin barely reacts to touch, though they react to more direct stimulation like a human. They seem to have strong empathy and they are very skilled, but… There is something very strange about them. It is not something I can put into English.’

Fox decided that she was underestimating Miss Kanagaki based on looks and profession, which was going to have to stop. Clearly, this was one porn actress with more than a little brain backing up her body. ‘I don’t think they were designed for a female market. I mean, rubber skin?’

Shina-chan smiled. ‘It is not entirely appealing, no. Might I ask what brings you to this place?’

‘I’m on medical leave. I was told I could relax here, away from the media.’

‘Hai. Of course, for a resort which prides itself on privacy, it has a lot of hidden cameras, but the media does not get in.’

Oh yes, Shina-chan was a
lot
more perceptive than her public persona suggested she was.

~~~

Fox waited until she was lying down on one of the loungers on the sun deck before calling Yuriko. Her local investigator’s 2D image appeared on the inside of Fox’s eyelids and Fox leaped in before Yuriko could start with the pleasantries.

‘Morning, Yuriko, I ran into someone interesting at breakfast.’

‘Good morning, Fox-san.’ Yuriko looked vaguely amused at the abrupt start. ‘Who would that be?’

‘Shina-chan. She’s down here on a busman’s holiday, streaming–’

‘I am aware. In the interests of research, I subscribed to her second sensie stream when I heard about it. That was last night. I think I have sufficiently cleansed myself, though my skin is an unhealthy shade of pink.’

‘That bad?’

‘I am not prone to playing pornographic sensies, Fox-san, and would almost certainly not have chosen a threesome between a human, a bioroid, and an android if I were.’

‘Okay… She didn’t mention that part. She had a few interesting things to say. I was going to get you to see whether there was a recording you could play back, but now I just need to ask what you thought.’

Yuriko frowned briefly. ‘The experience was mildly disturbing. Not merely because of the scenario. The Yurei no Ningyo was, at the same time, very human, and yet very much like a gynoid. She lacked expression and never spoke, but her body language was very human. More so than the android. She was clearly very skilled. Shina-chan’s responses to her were… highly arousing.’ You could tell the video image of Yuriko was live, because she blushed, a lot. ‘However, there was far more empathy to the bioroid’s actions. She seemed, more so than the android, to understand what Shina-chan needed.’

‘She just described them as strange. I don’t think her English is up to your standard.’

‘She will not have had the need to perfect it. AS stars are something of a Japanese phenomenon. However, strange is not an inaccurate description.’

‘Eve was really kind of normal, so Aphrodite must be– Oh, I’d better go, I’m about to have company.’

‘Enjoy your vacation, Fox-san.’ And Yuriko’s image vanished.

Fox opened an eye and checked the stairs. There were, in fact, two newcomers. Shina-chan was stripping off her dress to reveal just a tiny pair of bikini bottoms and she was about to lie down in the sun. Natsuko was walking over to Fox’s lounger.

‘Can I get someone to come up and apply sun oil, Meridian-sama?’

‘Thank you, no. I took care of that myself.’ Fox looked around, sat up, leaned toward Natsuko, and lowered her voice. ‘To be honest, I had to have a lot of cybernetic replacement work done after… what happened. I’m still rather self-conscious about people noticing.’

‘I understand.’ Natsuko bowed and returned to the stairs.

Fox returned to her supine position and pulled up the companion menu from the service app, flicking through the lists.

‘Do you intend to request one of them?’ Kit asked.

‘Mako, tonight, assuming he’s available. If I don’t, they’re going to start wondering why on Earth I came here. I think I can get away with cheating on Jason with an android for work.’

‘I am sure he will be very understanding. Especially if he never finds out.’

Fox frowned. ‘Are you suggesting a potential blackmail situation here?’

‘I believe it’s called “persuasion with menaces,”’ Kit said innocently.

‘I am going to kill my mother…’

~~~

Fox sat on a lounger near one of the windows in the underwater lounge, apparently reading a book. The book was a v-tag image of a tablet which she had deployed after the fourth individual, one had been human, had asked whether she needed anything; the human’s smile had been more leering. What she was actually doing was watching the room.