The Ghost in the Doll (Fox Meridian Book 6) (21 page)

Tokyo, 18
^th
April.

‘Please excuse me for a moment, Fox-san,’ Yuriko said. Then she walked, as fast as possible while not appearing undignified, to the bathroom. The soundproofing was good, but Fox could still hear the sounds of someone being violently sick through the door.

Fox had just finished showing Yuriko the image data from the doll room she had found. Yuriko had watched it all before dashing off to throw up whatever was left of her evening meal. There was a fair bit of retching once dinner was done with. Fox got up and ran a glass of water for when Yuriko came out. If it had been Helen, Fox would have taken the water in for her, but somehow she doubted that Yuriko would want that.

After several minutes, Yuriko emerged. She was paler than usual, but no longer slightly green. She bowed formally. ‘My apologies, Fox-san, for my display of–’

Fox held the glass out with one hand and lifted the other to forestall the rest of the apology. ‘I’d have been making a mess all over the back of the van if I was actually capable of being sick any more. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Anyone who
doesn’t
lose their lunch after seeing that isn’t human. And I’m speaking from experience, obviously.’

‘You denigrate yourself unnecessarily, Fox-san. You wished to “throw up,” but cannot.’

Fox nodded. ‘Yeah. I never thought I’d miss being able to vomit. It’s kind of cathartic.’

Yuriko took the glass and sipped from it. ‘Clearly there are many people working at Aphrodite Cybernetics who do not feel the same way. You are far more human than they are.’ She frowned. ‘Some of these girls appear to be Japanese, but many, most, are not.’

‘They’re being trafficked in. That has to be the main Fukui-kai involvement in this. They traffic people in and out of Japan, right?’

‘Something my father was beginning to abolish, but Taro has chosen to continue, perhaps even accelerate.’

‘I think we need to talk to your brother, and I don’t mean one of those meetings you have with him in that club. Good work on that last one, by the way. I’m sure he wouldn’t have tipped his hand like that if you hadn’t spoken to him.’

‘Thank you, Fox-san. There is an onsen, a hot spring, in Awara which I have been to many times in the past. I believe you will like it.’

Fox frowned. ‘Why would we want to go to a spa?’

‘Because the current location of the Fukui family residence is no more than three kilometres from it. Taro will hear of our arrival within the hour, and I am quite sure that he will be most eager to see us.’

Jenner Research Station.

Terri’s eyes got very wide as a look of delight spread across her face, and then she was rushing forward to wrap Helen in a hug. Hugging turned to kissing, which Helen finally broke up, her cheeks flaming red since they had an audience of shuttle bay technicians who were all wearing big grins.

‘Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?’ Terri exclaimed.

‘I, uh, thought you
had
been told,’ Helen replied.

‘Nuh-huh, I got a message from Poppa saying that a VIP was coming up to the station and I should meet them and show them around. I asked for clarification and just got a message that the details were classified until this “VIP” arrived. And I got a message from Fox saying that she was sending up a “care package.” Not cryptic at all.’

Helen grinned. ‘I guess they wanted to surprise you. Apparently they did since you were licking my tonsils in front of the hangar staff.’

‘I don’t care who I kiss you in front of, and neither should you.’

‘Yeah, well… Who’s your friend?’

The smiling strawberry-blonde, who had been standing back to let the couple finish their greetings, stepped forward. ‘Hello, Helen. I did know you were coming, but I was sworn to secrecy.’

Helen blinked. ‘Kit?’

It did not look like Kit, but the voice was hers. This was a youthful girl, still with fairly large green eyes and pale skin, but there the similarities ended. The features were sort of Kit-like, but entirely not. The face was angular, sort of heart-shaped, but did not have the anime-like exaggeration. She was still cute, with a pert nose and quite full lips, but thicker eyebrows than her avatar. Quite pert breasts too, hidden away under a jumpsuit, and a slim, youthful figure. Her hair was a strawberry-blonde layered bob, parted on the right and curling under her chin. Beautiful, and not Kit.

‘I custom-built her a cyberframe based on our Sylph series frames,’ Terri said. ‘She was using one of our test units, which worked, but we needed it and it was unskinned. This is much better for the job she’s doing up here.’

‘It doesn’t look like you, Kit,’ Helen said. ‘This might take some getting used to.’

Kit shrugged. ‘I’m an infomorph. I occupy whatever body I need to be in and this one is, I am finding, quite excellent. I admit that not having a tail was disconcerting for a short time. I would love to have one of these at home, but there is the expense and the issue of copies. I am already spreading myself a little thin.’

Terri raised a finger in the air, frowning. ‘Uh… Hold that thought. Let’s get Helen through the security registration process so I can fu– So we can show her her room and such.’

‘Of course, Terri. I am sure Helen is anxious to get some rest after her long journey.’ The sarcasm was just dripping off Kit’s voice.

‘Actually, I slept on the ship,’ Helen said. ‘I swapped time zones a lot yesterday.’

‘Good,’ Terri stated as she set off toward the elevators. ‘I wasn’t planning on letting you sleep anyway.’

Awara, Japan.

It was fairly apparent that the owners of the Awara Peace Spa and Hot Springs knew Yuriko and seemed to like her. On the other hand, they seemed to think she should leave, immediately. Fox stood back, listening to a rapid stream of Japanese and trying to keep up with the subtitles.

Basically, Mister and Mrs Kagabu were concerned that Taro would do something fairly unpleasant to Yuriko and her ‘friend’ when he found out they were there. Yuriko assured them that she was more than capable of handling that, and that any breakages would be paid for. Mister Kagabu was entirely unconcerned about damage, unless it was to Yuriko’s body. Etcetera. Yuriko finally told them that they should not worry, but they should send word themselves to Taro about the new arrivals because if someone else did so first, the Fukui-kai would not be kind. That put an end to the discussion, if not the worry.

‘I’ve been coming here since I was twelve,’ Yuriko explained as they were escorted to their room. ‘Well, not since my father… died, but often before then. The proprietors were happy to see me again, but they know that the Fukui-kai will not ignore me being here. They do not, yet, realise that you are also in danger here. Have you ever stayed at a ryokan?’

A slightly abrupt change of topic, but… ‘Not really. My stays here previously were usually official.’

‘This is not one. Not quite. There are similarities in styling. It is… ryokan-lite, some call it. Modern cyberframe cleaners have made the strict rule of footwear less necessary and many modern inns use gynoid room maids. Staying at a true ryokan is now
very
expensive. However, the bedding will be traditional. I hope you don’t mind hard pillows.’

Fox grinned. ‘Nowadays, Yuriko, I sleep like a log no matter what I’m doing it on.’

Yuriko’s cheeks coloured. ‘Oh. Of course. Apologies. I forget sometimes. Almost always in truth.’

‘Nicest thing anyone’s said to me all day.’

They were led to a room which was half-traditional, half-modern. A cloister-like arrangement of guest rooms was set around a small garden and they all had glass sliding doors, but then those were backed up by blinds with traditional patterns on them. Fox noted that the doors did not lock, though the garden itself was secure, for a given value of secure. The maid who was escorting them gave them the standard introduction to the room’s features, checked what time they wanted dinner, and then left them to it.

‘We will retire to the baths, I think,’ Yuriko said. ‘There is a safe we can lock our weapons in. I do not believe we will be disturbed before nightfall. Dinner will be at six thirty.’

Fox nodded, looking around the room. It was a reasonable size, square, with a door at the back leading to a small bathroom which did have some washing facilities. Since the entire point of the spa was the hot pools, the guests were expected to use the more communal facilities for their ablutions. There were also towels and a pair of cotton robes, yukata, ready for them to use.

‘I assume we undress here and wear the robes to the baths?’

‘Hai. Yes. And the geta, the clogs. That’s an affectation here more than a necessity, but it would look better to do so.’

Oh yes, the clogs. Fox eyed the weird constructions sitting beneath the robes: rectangular, wooden flip-flops raised up on blocks. Well, if she could handle high heels… ‘Right. Mixed bathing?’

‘There are four pools open. Two are single sex, two are mixed. We will have to use one of the mixed ones, yes.’

Fox frowned. ‘Have to?’

Yuriko was already undressing and had removed her blouse. She indicated the band of orange flowers tattooed on her left bicep and the kimono-clad woman on the right side of her torso. ‘There has long been some stigma to tattoos, especially in bath houses. Even small ones were banned from many onsen unless they could be completely covered. This practice has diminished somewhat, but here those so marked are restricted to one of the pools so as not to upset other guests.’

Fox shrugged and started getting out of her clothes. ‘Their loss.’

‘Fox,’ Kit said into Fox’s head, ‘I have received a message from Terri for you. Text only.’

‘Oh, what does it say?’

‘It says, “Care package received, you scheming bitch. She’s mine now; you can’t have her back. Love, Terri.”’

Fox burst out laughing, which caused Yuriko to look at her. ‘Sorry, silly message from Terri,’ Fox explained. Internally, she said, ‘Well, she probably doesn’t mean it, but maybe we’d better start setting up an assault team. Just in case Helen needs to be rescued.’

‘I’m not sure it’s a rescue when the person concerned doesn’t want to go.’

‘Sure it is. Call it, um, “rescue with menaces.”’

Jenner Research Station.

‘Oh, so you’ve finally decided to let her out to breathe.’ Kit was grinning and the immediate response to her words was a blushing Helen.

Terri did not seem the least bit abashed, however. ‘She managed to get out of the manacles. I’ll fabricate better ones when I have the chance.’

‘I was not–’ Helen began, and then closed her mouth firmly. She had seen the other occupant of the communal lounge area outside Terri’s room, a blonde woman with pointed ears, dressed in a pale-blue jumpsuit who was looking on with almost childlike interest.

‘Oh,’ Kit said. ‘Helen, let me introduce you to Fei. Or Fei’s cyberframe anyway. Fei, this is Helen Dillan, Fox’s second in command and also Terri’s girlfriend.’

Fei’s expression brightened. ‘Hello, Helen. I am very pleased to meet you. I have heard your name mentioned many times.’

‘Hopefully under nice circumstances,’ Helen said. ‘Hello, Fei. So… Well, so you’re this new form of AI I’ve been told is going to change the world.’

‘Yes. Or I have been told that too. I am not sure that I will, but I suppose we will have to see. I am glad to see that you have been having sex. It is a healthy pursuit which I believe Terri has not been doing enough recently.’

‘And,’ Terri said, ‘as you can tell, Fei is not entirely up to speed on social conventions yet.’

‘Oh! Did I do that wrong?’

‘See the red colouration of Helen’s cheeks?’ Kit said.

‘Blushing,’ Fei said brightly.

‘Yes. That means she’s embarrassed. Though similar colouring can mean she’s aroused. You will probably only learn by seeing it.’

Fei opened her mouth and Terri raised a hand. ‘No, we are not going to have Helen demonstrate arousal for you, because it would also be embarrassing, which would invalidate the example. I’ll come up with– You know, I think we’ll worry about this another time. I need coffee.’

‘I apologise if I embarrassed you, Helen,’ Fei said. ‘I am attempting to learn about the world by being in it. I make many mistakes. Terri and Kit answer questions for me every day, but there always seem to be more questions.’

Helen sat down on one of the sofas in the room and nodded. ‘I embarrass easily. About sex anyway. Terri and Fox are always teasing me about it. And as for the questions… Well, I’ve been alive for twenty-five years and there are still plenty of things I don’t understand.’

‘That is discouraging.’

‘It shouldn’t be. No one has all the answers, that’s what I’m getting at. We all make mistakes and, so long as we learn from them, it shouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately, humans tend to be a bit poor at learning from their mistakes. Hopefully you’ll be better.’

‘I have improved a lot, I think, since I was allowed to come up to the habitation areas.’

‘You have,’ Terri said, handing Helen a mug. ‘I knew you would.’ She looked at Helen. ‘She’s got some access restrictions, but she can get to anywhere on her lab level and all the habitation areas. We have to restrict her from the weapons lab.’ There was a huge mock sigh. ‘Some issue about letting our robot overlords get access to heavy weaponry.’

‘A joke,’ Fei said, smiling. ‘You see, Helen, Terri likes to tease me too.’

‘Yeah,’ Terri said, smiling. ‘It’s getting harder. Um, advanced warning, when Helen goes back to Earth, I’m sending Kit back with her.’

‘You are?’ Kit asked, frowning. ‘Is there a problem?’

‘No, there’s the opposite. I’m going to fabricate you a second copy of that frame and you’re going to take it back to your house. You can consider it recompense for all the work you’re doing up here with Fei.’

‘Thank you, Terri, but I don’t–’

‘And as for the problem with your number of existing copies… Your original design was nine copies, but I patched it to three for your iteration, and then the feature was removed in later code because you were the only one to make it work. The code is still there, however. I just need to send you back with a patch, you call in all your copies, patch your code, and we can have nine of you running around. Once you’re patched, you transmit a copy back up here and we’re good to go. Shouldn’t be gone for longer than twelve hours.’