In his dreams, Mikuni could feel his spiritual body flying around the inner-workings of his body, exploring all corners of the new. The black world of numbers, lights and gears lit up his dreams as all Mikuni could do was explore. It was like he was literally flying through a map of his body. As he wandered, Mikuni could see the glowing sections of his Four Core Operators. His fingers brushed over one shaped like a computer monitor glowing pink and orange. He didn't need to ask, he just knew it was the Artificial Intelligence Engine. As a sad look came over his face, another part glowed blue. Mikuni looked over to the shape, a small mechanical heart with gears turning inside it; it had a thin cord leading up to a ying-yang sphere. Again, Mikuni just knew which parts were which, the A.I.E. and the Personality Capability. As he floated between the four shapes, the last being shaped like scales, he saw connected to all of them was a glass orb floating above. Curious, Mikuni floated up to it, and peered into the glass. He could see reflections of his life pass in front of him: Memories. Instantly, Mikuni realized this wasn't a normal Dream Machine; It had to be a prototype for the current human-immortality controversy.
The next thing Mikuni knew, he was looking at the ceiling of the bedroom once more. He grumbled, sitting up to rub his forehead. His blue eyes scanned the bedroom as he thought about what he'd just seen. After he examined the light skin of his hands a few minutes, he pulled at the long blond hair from his head and stared at it. It took several seconds for the shock to wash over him, and by that time, Mikuni was up and staring into the mirror in the hallway. He examined his new artificial body: long pale blond hair, ocean cyan eyes, and skin the color of crème. The shock turned into rage. In a matter of minutes, Mikuni was in front of the mirror again with a pair of kitchen sheers in his hand. Mikuni glared at the English body he had been given, a complete transformation from his Japanese body with tan skin, and dark hair and eyes. As he grew more and more sad and angry, Mikuni started cutting off the blond hair in clumps, until finally, all that was left was an odd messy feathered look with his hair barely touching his ears and neck, but enough for long bangs to frame his face.
All the anger was spent from his body, and Mikuni dropped the sheers to the floor. He took a moment to think, before his knees gave way and he collapsed onto the floor. Worn out, Mikuni closed his eyes and began to remember what had happened on the day he died.
Mikuni had recently been given the news about the internship from the college's professor. Walking home in the light rain with Will by his side, Mikuni couldn't help but tell his friend the news. Will had said, "What?! But why didn't I get it?! I've been here twice as long!" Mikuni had shrugged, "I dunno. Do I look like the professor?" Then they hadn't said anymore, and they were waiting to cross the street. Will laughed and gave Mikuni a light shove on the shoulder, "Don't screw it up." Mikuni hadn't been expecting it, lost his balance as he fell forward and landed in the street. The light for the cross-section was green and a truck came and hit him, sending him flying into the intersection, where all traffic screeched to a halt. As people got out of their cars to see what had happened, Will ran to Mikuni's body and shook him, pleading him to wake up, but Mikuni just lay there, blood starting to form from cuts underneath him. Will called the hospital on his cellphone, ever shaking Mikuni. Mikuni had been conscious enough to hear everything, though he couldn't respond. He knew he'd been lifted into the ambulance and could hear Will cussing at him to survive this. Then, Mikuni's world went silent.
The next thing Mikuni knew, he was being woken up by a bucket of water on his face. "What the hell?!" Mikuni shouted as he swiped at Will's leg. Will backed away quickly, letting Mikuni get up. "Haven't you ever heard to wake someone gently!"
"Not if they look dead," Will said closing his eyes, rubbing his ears from the shouting. "You sure like to shout a lot." He looked over the hair on the floor, the sheers and at Mikuni's new self-haircut. "I take it you don't like that it's English?"
"It's not my body, so I can do whatever the heck I want to it!" Mikuni shouted again.
Will picked up the pile of hair and dropped it into the bucket. "I wonder what Lydia would say if she knew you were behaving so rudely?" Mikuni kicked the bucket across the hall. Will stopped picking up the hair and looked up, standing up. "What? You think that just because it's a prototype all of the systems are worked out?" Mikuni looked away, too angry to say anything. Will glared at him, "I'll have you know, this machine's brand-spanking new. You didn't steal it from someone else. The M.D. was replaced by a M.S."
"...M.S.?" Mikuni asked, looking back to Will. "Memory... ?"
"Sphere." Will answered, leaning down to pick up the sheers. He pointed the handle at Mikuni, "It's what's got all your memories in it. And here," he pushed the sheers to a spot on Mikuni's front hipbone. "is where the number is." Mikuni's hand covered the area of the body, looking down. "Lydia offered up the prototype to see how it'd work, and since you hadn't been dead more than a few hours..."
"I don't want to know how it works." Mikuni interrupted. "Just tell me if I am still Mikuni Takabashi, or if I'm someone else now."
Will scratched the back of his head with his empty hand, the other on his hip. "Well, for all legal purposes... Mikuni Takabashi died a day ago. You're... Mikuni's memories plus the new memories of this life."
"Life?" Mikuni glared up at Will. "What kind of life is it to be a machine ruled by a Difference Engine and A.I.'s, and other crap? I'm not better than a stupid computer!"
Will hit Mikuni across the face. "Idiot. Before you start resenting your life, why don't you think about all the Dream Machines that are glad to be alive?"
"Because they don't know any better... You fill their heads with false pretenses the purchaser wants, and they're made to love them!" He shouted back at Will. "They have no sense of freewill!"
"Not when they're first made, no... But it's something they learn, just like we learn it." Will answered. "We can't just make them knowing about and having freewill. You know about and have freewill cause you had it during life. And the anger you feel now is from your memories ruling your other components. Not the other way around."
"Either way you slice it, I'm still a prototype." Mikuni answered, crossing his arms. "So, what number am I?"
"F-001." Will answered. "The only one from the series in existence with the ability to have human memories inside."
The two were silent for a long while after. Will cleaned up the hair and water in the hallway and left Mikuni to act like a couch-potato in the living room. Lydia had told Will that Mikuni would need a while to figure out how his new body worked together. It wouldn't be the same thing as having a brain, even though it does the exact same things. It would feel new and different.
After a bit, Will came over to the sofa, and sat down next to Mikuni. "Want a blanket?" Mikuni looked at him. "You look cold." Then Mikuni just shook his head, and stared back at the news broadcast on the TV. It was covering the recent death of Mikuni Takabashi. Will frowned as he changed the channel to the weather station. "You shouldn't be present at your own wake."
"Why not? I'm not Mikuni Takabashi now anyway."
"Oh?" Will asked, slouching back in the sofa with the remote hostage. "Then, tell me, who are you?"
Mikuni rolled his head to look over his curled body to the other end of the sofa at Will. "Stop trying to act so cool. You can't do it." Will started to laugh, handing Mikuni back the remote. Mikuni changed the channel back, and rested the remote on his leg. "I'm just Mikuni now. No family, none of my life from before... Just... Mikuni."
"Ah, so now you're sad?" Will asked. He chuckled when Mikuni lightly kicked his hip. "What? I'm worried about you, Mikuni."
"Nah. Not sad. Just thinking." Mikuni answered. No reply came and the two were in silence. After a bit, Mikuni spoke up again. "Hey... I hope you know, I never blamed you."
"Huh?" Will looked to Mikuni in shock.
"Not once." He said. "Murder is defined as a malicious intent to cause death." Will nodded a bit, not understanding. "You didn't do that. You pushed me out of a joke, I didn't expect it and lost my balance."
"So... You're...?" Will started to ask, but couldn't think of his question in words.
"I can't forgive you." Mikuni answered, looking at the TV. "It wasn't your fault, so there's nothing to forgive. I am peeved at you for bringing me back to life, but technically," he glanced back to Will, "my soul's already gone."
Will chuckled, "I'm sure glad to hear that..."
"Tell Lydia this prototype is doing fine..." Mikuni chuckled.
The two were silent, watching the news of how Mikuni Takabashi's family was planning a public funeral for people to attend that coming weekend. Neither young man had the drive to go to the funeral, but out of respect, they went.
Will cried, Mikuni laughed.
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