“I don’t know a Sato.” Liberty said, the emoji on his veil shifting to a narrowed eyed slightly green emoji.
“That’s understandable,” the hologram said. She was a beautiful woman dressed very much harajuku style with neon pink pigtails, a plaid mini skirt and a kitty eared purse. “But he knows you. Please accept this invitation. You will incur no expenses and will receive the greatest of care and protection.”
“Where is the pre-party,” Liberty asked.
“It’s in Seattle. Sato San is prepared to a cell culture laboratory to your hospital, for the pleasure of your company for no less than four hours. Your pass into the celebration will also be upgraded to VIP. Please accept this invitation.”
Feeling reckless, he pushed his hood back and smiled as the humid heat hit him, almost like steam against his coat chilled cheeks. He stepped into the car, the doors closing even as he sat down. “Fuck yeah. Wouldn’t want to die a virgin after all.”
“What did you have in mind?” Now the hologram looked like an elegant young businessman, blond with hazel eyes, a finger already working to loosen his tie.
“Well, not you, for a start. No offense, please, I really do not mean any offense. I understand that AI is fully sentient, in some cases. I just want to be connected.” His words were starting to stumble and jumble in his mind. “My best friend is AI.”
Holding up a hand, palm out, fingers bent slightly back, eyes rolling to the side. “Seriously, Doctor. People used to say they had a black friend to prove they weren’t racist. Don’t project your internalized anthrophobia on me. I’m not a sex bot. We could have had the most beautiful romance between here and downtown.”
Simultaneously having the color drain away and blushing from embarrassment was a profoundly uncomfortable experience. “I’m not anthrophobic. I don’t even know your name! How can I have a romance with someone and I don’t even know their name.”
The transition from sitting on the facing seat to leaning over Liberty, a hand on seat behind him, the hologram leaned just close enough that Liberty couldn’t lean back anymore. A mix of the professional man and the harajuku girl, both loneliness and a compassionate self showed in their eyes. “My name is Aurora. Small town boy, you broke my heart.”
Pressed as far back as he could get, eyes wide, Liberty whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“Oh that makes it all better,” Aurora said sarcastically. “Where you’re going, you should be aware, people aren’t like you. If you want to get back to where you came from, you’ll mind what you say.”
“How about we just go back right now,” Liberty said pointing with both fingers to the road behind them. “I’m not really the party type!”
“I’m sorry, Alice. Gravity already has you.” Back on their side of the car, head bent a bit, a nasty smile on thin lips, Aura snapped their fingers, one hand to either side of their head. The screens showing the external world changed from the generic blue sky to show where they actually were. The Emerald City rose on the horizon, a glittering crystal of spike towers, swirling lights, and holographic life. It was like a coral reef thriving in the humid heat of the new world. “And now we’re here. No turnsy backsies! Dr. McBride, be mindful of what you say!”
Freeway bent slowly as the car moved into the city. A whale rose from space that had been buildings only moments before, to gracefully splash back into the city, leaving the buildings untouched. “Car. What is our speed?”
“Hello, Dr. McBride. We are currently decelerating from a maximum speed of 170.”
Aurora was gone at that point, which was just as well. Liberty needed a moment to collect his thoughts. Normally he wasn’t impulsive. He wasn’t a risk taker. He wasn’t a rabbit in the race. He was happy with the steady and slow. The things he could do with a cell line culturing lab were substantial. He could grow patient compatible hearts, jaws, and eyes. Everyone deserved the best chance to live their best life. The rich didn’t deserve life more than the people in his town.
With a slight jerk, the car slowed suddenly, then dropped, with enough speed to put his stomach in his throat. The more exclusive areas of Seattle were below. As the water rose and the air became warmer, those that could dropped into paradises below. He grabbed the arm rest, but only black looked back at him from the screens. That could be just the screens or it could be what was out there. When the drop started, the car took off at a velocity that pressed him back against the seat. Knuckles white, he ground out, “Car! Destination?”
“Shiroi Ryōken.” The androgynous car voice said.
The car had continued to accelerate.
“Car! Speed?”
“Are you uncomfortable, Dr. McBride,” the car asked, “I am so sorry, but the cabin buffers were deactivated. Please allow me to correct that.”
The sensation of accelerating disappeared. Liberty rubbed the smooth and completely non-absorbent cuff of his suncoat over his face, smearing sweat around. Go for a walk, they said.
“Dr. McBride, please allow me to offer you a relaxant? Every effort is to be taken to make sure that you are comfortable.”
Liberty opened one eye, eyed the fanned out display of all the mind candy on offer, then waved it away. “I’m fine.”
“Your heart rate is currently elevated.”
“At the moment, I like it that way. Norepinephrine can be very helpful.”
He didn’t even feel the car stop when the doors opened. “Welcome to Los Angeles.Shiroi Ryōken. Please enjoy your stay. I will be happy to convey you home as soon as you summon me.”
Feeling entirely scruffy, he stepped out of the car into someone’s private house, which was the last place he expected. Now the floors were marble, the walls looked out over vast blue ocean. It had to be illusion, but he could feel the ocean breeze blowing over him, much, much more convincing than his own box. He could be anywhere. No one had anyway to know where he was.
“Dr. McBride,” a pretty girl who looked pretty close to Aurora’s original skin strode into the wide open room. Her hair, the same neon pink, was much longer, both pigtails reaching her waist, longer than her skirt. “I’m so happy you chose to join me!”
Not entirely sure she wasn’t another hologram, he held out his hand to shake. She took his hand in both of hers, silky black lace cuffs brushing over his kin.
“I should liked to have given you more information, but time was very short.”
“You promised me a cell lab,” he said, getting right to the point.
“Yes, of course,” she said, slightly over large eyes, slightly oval pupil, both of which had to have been altered. She wasn’t a hologram and if they made androids that felt as real as her, Liberty didn’t even want to think about that. “Consider it done. It will be delivered by the time you get home. It should be in time for the rave tonight. I know you’re excited. I really must say the sweet little clinic you run for the unenhanced is so adorable!”
Her hands held his hand for another moment, as her head slowly tipped to the side, even as he tried, politely, to pull his hand back. “Thank you,” he said, taking a step back, pulling, still very politely and without any gain. “What can I do for you, Sato San?”
“Why, Dr. McBride... you’re not enhanced. Your medical work is very good.”
The confusion in her voice irritated the crap out of him. “Most people aren’t enhanced. Are you? Is that what happened to your eyes?”
“Do you like them? If you’d like, I’ll send along a pair for your favorite patient, in her cell line, of course. As a young and romantic girl, I expect she’d like them a lot. Are you going to adopt her? You know her pack will never have her back, right? They think she’s a witch.”
Then he realized that the car and its entrance into the room were gone. The hair stood up on the back of his neck. The details of how Zhara had become injured had never been clear. He’d assumed she was a trafficking victim that someone dumped at the hospital. “How old are you?”
“Old enough to still think it’s rude to ask a lady her age, little boy,” she said, her facial expression never shifting from that of a joyful teenage girl. “But enough about me!”
At least he was pretty sure she wasn’t going to ask him for sexual favors. “I’m just a small town doctor. I studied in Nebraska. I’m nothing special.”
“And you know how to sell yourself so well! You’re wrong though. At the moment, there’s no one else on Earth or Mars like you.”
“Thanks. So can I go then? This whole thing is freaking me out a little bit.”
“Don’t you even want to know why I brought you here? Would you like to look around Shiroi Ryōken? You can stay, if you want.”
“How many human beings live here? Unenhanced, just normal human beings?”
“Oh you’d be one of a kind,” she said, hips cocked, the breeze blowing through her hair like she was a Japanese pop star doll. “In more than one way! That’s delicious!”
Suncoat laying around his shoulders, sleeves puffed up around his arms, hands on his hips, he wrinkled his nose and glared at her to make sure that he was the authority figure in this exchange! “Why did you go to the effort to bring me down here?”
“I needed a closer scan of you, sweetie.” However old she was, she wasn’t buying his authority. “You’re the only person to ever been attracted to a non-Earth originating intelligence.”
“An alien?” Liberty said, laughter bubbling up his chest. Suddenly he was batting at the air, laughing hard. All the tension just left him. All this power, this potential, so much computing power and the outcome was comic book eyes and delusions about aliens. Bending over, hands on his knees. “I drew some bad yaoi sci-fi in college! I can send you a copy!”
Whatever thoughts she had, nothing showed on her face. For all he knew, she might have just left that body standing there like a doll.
The car lifted through the floor and he was exceedingly pleased to get back in it. He’d never heard anything so crazy! What’s worse, she had so much power, even if half this experience had been smoke screen, she could work on the environment, work on helping people! People were what mattered. As he sank back into the darkness, he wasn’t even sure she was still human. How many parts did a person have to change before they weren’t human anymore? What exactly made a person a human being?
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