The Major is so done with your shit. (origami_cranes) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-09-28 12:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, motoko kusanagi, oyama yuriko (lady deathstrike) |
A machine, like a human body, is not infallible
Who: Yuriko and Motoko
What: Two cyborgs meet and discuss what it means to be human
When: Recently
Where: Courthouse
Status: complete
Rating: PG
Yuriko was down at the county courthouse, waiting in line with her papers for her club. She was bored, but it was a small price to pay. This was the very last step to making her dream come true. Filing the papers meant her business license was active, and the club could open on Friday as planned. Still, environments like these were hard; she kept worrying that her computer systems were going to make things malfunction.
It was a natural worry!
Motoko came out of the back of the courthouse, talking with a plainclothes officer. She scanned the area with one eye while she talked to him.
Yuriko could pick out the laser sight, though she would have doubted that normal humans could. She looked back at its origin, surprised to see a Japanese woman not unlike herself. She was pretty, in a cold way.
Nodding, Motoko stepped away from the officer. She moved just a little too smoothly, and her skin was just a little too perfect. She glanced at Yuriko and her purple eyes shifted subtly.
Yuriko was half convinced she remembered this woman from somewhere, but she was more interested in the fact that this woman had some form of computer targeting, as she did. Their laser sights had crossed.
“Hello.” She held out her hand. “I’m Motoko.”
“Yuriko.” She blinked, looked up. “Oyama Yuriko. Have we possibly met before?”
“You look familiar. I think we have.” She scanned her memory banks. “I think we met in a coffee shop. We discussed...dreams. You’ve changed.”
“Is that it.” Yuriko smiled, staying in her place in line. “I have indeed changed, as you appear to have noticed. The dreams have been interesting, and demanding.”
“That they have.” She wondered what augmentations Yuriko had, and was curious to learn about them. “Would you like to get a drink?”
“Yes, I think so. After I complete this paperwork; it must needs be turned in so my business license will be granted.” Yuriko’s smile was pleasant.
“I can wait,” Motoko said. It would be interesting. She wanted to know more. “What business?”
“A hostess club.” Basically. Close enough. “Over in Huntington Beach.”
Motoko’s eyebrows went straight up. “Japanese style?”
“Yes. Mostly. I imagine somewhere between a burlesque show and a hostess club.” Yuriko had seen skepticism before. “Many men, even here, just want to talk to someone.”
“That’s not a bad idea…” Motoko would be willing, too, if she was honest with herself. “I wish you luck with that.”
“Thank you.” Yuriko bobbed her head. “It is due to open soon; I am very excited. It has been a light in the midst of darkness lately.”
“Have things been going badly for you?” she asked, expression concerned.
“Recently, yes. My fiance was stricken ill, and I have suffered some ill effects myself due to the dreams.” Yuriko didn’t sound upset, she knew, but she’d done her best to teach herself to remain poker-faced.
“I’m sorry. I know the dreams can be harder on some than others. Mine have been..not so bad, though mentally and emotionally stressful at times.” Trying to keep track of all the twists and turns was a headache. “But they saved my life.”
“Oh?” Yuriko raised an eyebrow. “Well, I am glad for that, Motoko-san.” She wondered how that could be.
“They gave me something that I needed when I was severely injured.” Motoko nodded, and ran her fingers through her hair. “It’s complicated.”
“Well, I can be but happy for you, Motoko-san.” Yuriko smiled. “Excuse me.” A new position had opened up, and she came over with her paperwork. In perhaps ten minutes, it was complete, and the club could open.
She came back over with a smile on. “My business is now concluded.”
Motoko passed the time running a few internet searches on hostess clubs. That took about thirty seconds. It was really easy to get bored sometimes. So she liked to run some of her favorite memories on repeat.
Yuriko nodded at the other woman when she had finished her interaction. “Lead on, if you wish,” she said in Japanese.
Nodding, Motoko stepped out of the courthouse, and led Yuriko towards a cafe she’d passed on the way here. She turned her taste buds back on and smiled to herself.
Once they were out of earshot of most people, Yuriko asked in Japanese, “So. You have laser sights?” Or had she been hallucinating? Hopefully not; that sumimasen would just get awkward.
“Sort of,” Motoko answered truthfully. “My eyes are completely artificial. My body as well. Even my brain.”
Yuriko blinked. “That’s possible?” She kept speaking Japanese, just because fewer people knew it. “Well. Clearly it’s possible. But how?”
“In my dreams, I’m the field leader for a group called Section 9,” Motoko said, also in Japanese. “In that world, it’s the 2030s, and cybernetics have become a huge part of daily life. There are very few people without an implant, or prosthetic limbs, or even full bodies. Even cyberbrains are more common than organic ones. Section 9 tended to specialize in crimes involving cybernetics. I was in a plane crash as a young girl, and had to change bodies as I grew. This body appeared in my closet one day. My cousin is an expert scientist, so I left it in his care, until I was killed.”
Yuriko blinked harder, eyes widening faintly. “This is entirely news to me. What you are saying is that your body is entirely cybernetic, not just implants?” She wondered if this Motoko could pinpoint which parts of her were cybernetic.
“Yes.” She nodded her head. “I can connect wirelessly to any network, as well as interface directly with a computer via a cord in my neck. That’s actually a pretty common implant in my dreams. The most common.”
“Amazing.” Yuriko smiled. “I might be very surprised, but I am pleased for you that it is common. Was there ever a period of adjustment?”
“In my dreams, it took me years to be able to have fine motor control. It took a few hours thanks to my cousin’s efforts. It was a little painful, until I relearned how to turn of my pain sensors.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t believe I have pain sensors, only organic nerves.” Yuriko sounded regretful. “I still hurt terribly at times, even though my skeleton has been fused with adamantium.”
“There’s no real way to turn off nerves, but I could direct you to my cousin. He’s...unorthodox, and I tend to need to look the other way, but he’s effective.”
Yuriko grimaced. “Possible, I suppose. The thing that worries me more than anything else is that I am unsure how much of me is cyborg. I simply awoke one morning feeling this way.”
“About thirty percent,” Motoko replied softly. “I can’t give you more detail than that.”
"Thirty percent." Yuriko repeated. She sighed softly. "I do not wish to appear discriminatory, but I fear being non-organic. I cannot reconcile it as well as you can, I fear."
"I admit I felt more like myself,'even though I hadn't any intention of letting my soul be downloaded into this body," Motoko replied. She felt it was important to use that word: it had more connotations than mind and was better known than ghost. "But I'm glad I had a backup plan. My dreams prepared me for it, in a way I doubt yours have."
“My dreams have been mostly about what myself saw fit to do to people who trusted her.” Yuriko said quietly, shaking her head. She held the door open for Motoko as they arrived at the coffee place. “I did not expect that this would occur, however.”
“I’m sorry then.” She stepped inside, and made her way to the counter.
“I do not say this to cause you pain. Merely that my life has differed from yours.” Yuriko shrugged. “You can still imbibe food and drink?”
“Yes. I can taste, and it’s necessary to ingest some nutrients and fluids. And it helps people be at ease around me.”
“That makes sense.” Yuriko inclined her head, breaking off to order in English.
Motoko waited, then ordered her own, also in English. The speed with which they switched languages probably disturbed some people.
Yuriko could not have cared less. “So, I must confess, I am curious. Did you come here for work? After your accident, why did you stay?”
“There was still work to do. You could say I’m a bit dedicated to my duty,” Motoko replied, smiling softly. “My job, I mean.”
“You are in law enforcement, yes?” Yuriko saw that smile. “I would say that is a duty. A calling, even.”
“It’s always felt like one,” she admitted. “More so after the dreams. They showed me there was more I could do, if I don’t let myself be limited.”
“I am pleased that someone has had such pleasant dreams. Most people I talk to say they are more like nightmares.” Yuriko sighed. “I feel as thought I ought to do what Americans call picking your brain - how I am meant to survive and conduct myself when I am no longer strictly human. You give me hope, Motoko-san, that it can be done.”
“They aren’t entirely pleasant. There’s war.I worked as a peacekeeper alongside several other countries in the years after a world war. Section 9 did a lot of fighting, against some heavily armed suspects. But it wasn’t a nightmare.”
“I think most of us would take that.” Yuriko smiled a little. “Not entirely pleasant versus horrible.” She got her coffee and paid, stepping to the side.
“I miss that world, at times. I have to remind myself I have attachments in the here and now, otherwise I’ll lose myself rewinding through memories.” Motoko smiled sadly, then paid for her own, and led Yuriko to a seat. “Many days, I don’t feel like myself. I don’t know what the cure is. I can’t be the Major, but I can’t be the Interpol agent anymore either.”
“Why can you no longer be the Interpol agent?” Yuriko asked. “Even with these modifications to myself, I choose not to be my alter-ego.” Unless the modifications somehow pushed or brainwashed her into it.
“Interpol ties my hands too much,” she replied. “I’m capable of a great deal more than they let me do.”
“Ah. I see. I wish I was aware of another opportunity I might provide you with.” Yuriko bobbed her head. “I have need of security at my club, but I would not wish to bore you.” It wasn’t said rudely; it was honestly meant. Some people needed much more challenge, intellectually.
“I wouldn’t mind once or twice a week,” she replied, chuckling. “Though I’m more likely to be a patron.”
“Well, of course.” Yuriko smiled. “We cater to mostly men, but women are of course welcome.” The idea of discriminating was ludicrous. And not cost-effective.
“Thanks. I just appreciate the ladies.” she gave Yuriko a smile. “There’s actually something about this body that I can’t experience here. You can link up with another person who has one, and it’s incredibly pleasurable, unless your partner is the opposite gender. Then it’s really painful. Regular sex is still fine, though.”
“Really.” How fascinating! Yuriko looked interested. “The future sounds infinitely more liberated in that respect.”
“I suppose it’s because the male and female form are wired differently. So pain instead of pleasure. And of course with artificial bodies, there’s a whole new type of sex industry,” she replied, chuckling. She’d shut down some of the more illicit ones, but there’d been one incident… “The danger there, is falling in love with a machine, that doesn’t even have a soul. But then, where is the line drawn, between who was once human, and who never was to begin with?”
“It does make one wonder. I mean, I suppose what matters is what people are willing to accept.” Yuriko shrugged. “If one feels as though they have a soul, I think that would be good enough, but others may differ from my opinion.”
“It gets complicated,” Motoko summarized.
“Indeed.” Yuriko looked over at her. “I worry sometimes that I will become ... inhuman.” Was that the right word? “Unhuman. I don’t know. I worry that I will become unable to feel. You can still clearly feel and have emotion, but I am not the same sort as you are.”
Motoko placed her own hand over her heart. “Human has nothing to do with biology. Not any more. It has everything to do with feeling and emotion. And that you obviously still feel, is a good sign.”
“I suppose this is so.” Yuriko smiled a bit. “I am grateful for the reassurance, Motoko-san. There is a man I love very much, and I feared I would be unable to continue that.”
“Does he make you still feel warm inside?” Motoko wondered if there was anyone that made her feel warm inside. She deliberately didn’t think about Canaan. Because Canaan made her feel warm inside.
“Yes.” Yuriko smiled almost shyly. She didn’t go any further; she was still Japanese, but hopefully her feelings were obvious.
“Good. That’s the kind of feeling you want to latch on to, if you ever malfunction.” Motoko was frank, if Yuriko didn’t already consider that sort of thing, she needed to.
She didn’t like the phrase “malfunction” - humans didn’t malfunction - but it was a fair thing to say. Yuriko nodded. “Given how my dreams are prone to play out, I daresay I should consider this eventuality.”
“A machine, like a human body, is not infallible,” Motoko replied, nodding her head. “You have to care for that part of yourself, just as much as the organic side.”
Well, that was the truth, of course. “I had not thought of it in that way.” Yuriko took a sip of her coffee, once it had sufficiently cooled. “Maintenance is required for both aspects.”
“Think of it as organic and inorganic, instead of human and inhuman,” Motoko replied.
“That might also help.” Yuriko managed a smile. “It is part of me, after all, and I am still human. I thank you, Motoko-san. It is a new perspective you have given me.”
“You’re welcome, Yuriko. I can only hope it helps.”
“If you come into the club, do please let me know ahead of time.” Yuriko smiled. “I will make sure you are taken care of.”
“I certainly will.”