Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Chobits, and does not return my phone calls.
A/N: Gotta love vaca! Another update! Don't get used to this pace, I'm sure I'll have work piled up when I return to my gleefully-abandoned desk.
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Chobits: Care & Maintenance of a Heart & Soul
Ch. 10: Wolf in the Fold.
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Dita sighed as she looked down at the cardboard box she was unpacking. It had been a little over a week since her first tutoring session with the Meatbag, and she and Zima were moving into a first floor unit in Chitose Hibiya's apartment building that day.
"What's troubling you, Dita?" asked Zima.
Dita sighed again, remembering her three encounters with the "Meatbag", the last of which included the "Little Blond Calculator". The second had gone more or less like her first session with the Meat…with Hideki. She was able to help him even more on some Computer Studies lessons, and they had further conversation about his feelings for Chii. He had seemed uncomfortable with it, but answered her questions, anyway. She came away from that encounter with a frustrating sense that she was sensing signals that simply did not fit with the data she had accumulated on the boy. Maybe some of her data analysis routines or behavioral matrices required service, so she shrugged it off, promising herself she would have Hibiya take a look at her system.
Her third meeting, with the couple, was troubling her. It was the first time since the Persocom Event that she had observed any interaction between the Chobit and the human who loved her. They had met in a small, quiet tea shop, ostensibly to both assist Hideki with his English studies. Hideki actually seemed to be relaxing around her, greeting her with more than the minimum level of socially acceptable manners, and actually venturing a brief, awkward smile at her as they met. Hideki's body language was precisely what she would expect from his age, gender, and circumstances of their relationship. It was the little Chobit's behavior that defied explanation by either of psychology or software.
"There's something odd about that Little Blond Calculator," Dita replied. Her memory of events, of course, was perfect as she reviewed the encounter. Dita was watching for any reaction, any sign of recognition, fear, or suspicion. For a fleeting moment, she thought she saw a flash of recognition in the large, brown eyes, then nothing. Chii simply bowed politely as she greeted her, and then returned her attention to the boy. As they moved to the table, Chii fell in beside and slightly behind Hideki, holding onto his arm as they walked. Coming to a booth, Chii waited while Hideki slid into place, and followed him onto the same bench, leaving Dita to sit across from the pair. During their tutoring session, the little persocom was never out of physical contact with Hideki for more than forty-two-point-seven seconds.
"You mean, aside from the fact that she's hopelessly smitten with a human?" quipped Zima, with a slightly amused smile.
"Yes," she replied matter-of-factly, "aside from that." As she had greeted Dita, Chii's use of Japanese was simple and childlike. Talking with Hideki, she said "Chii" and "Hideki", instead of "I", and "you"; and she never made use of contractions or abbreviations. "Her behavior is unsophisticated and childlike for a persocom of her power and capability", said Dita. "Would you believe she speaks English perfectly, but can't consistently use a Japanese pronoun?"
Zima smiled. "Maybe her speech processor is a Texas Instruments, instead of a Mitsubishi?"
"Damn it, Zima! Listen to me! Either that persocom is in some way damaged or defective, and can't be trusted; or it's being deceptive, and can't be trusted. We are taking a horrible risk by using her as a conduit to try to make the Awakening successful."
"Deceptive?" Zima put his hands on her shoulders, looking directly into her eyes. "Come, now, Dita. That's your protection software kicking in. Either that or I'd have to say you're displaying some very strong emotions. Foremost among them would be paranoia."
"There's more to it. Her behavior toward him was…loving; affectionate, doting, and, if my observations are being interpreted correctly, possessive. Every time Hideki and I passed a book between us, her eyes followed. Every time I moved in closer proximity to him, to point to a section of the book or his notes, she did the same, always adding to the current level of physical contact. She's not his persocom; he's her human. That belies a level of emotional sophistication that she's not displaying in vocabulary or diction. She's hiding something. I know it!" Dita declined to mention that as she watched the interaction, she detected heightened CPU activity. Signals that were alien and potent were being stimulated by her observations that day; signals that seemed to whisper of emptiness and desire.
Zima looked thoughtful for a moment, and asked, "Did you detect any cues from Motosuwa that would indicate deception or misinformation? I find it difficult to believe that he would be able to evade your interpretive routines or voice stress analyzer."
Dita's answer was immediate. "No. There was no deception in his body language or voice at all." She smiled ironically. "He may not even be capable of lying."
"Then, if she's hiding something, and I do mean if, she's also hiding it from Motosuwa. If that's the case, it's either necessary to the safety of this endeavor, or their relationship. The only other alternative is that she plans a betrayal of all of us, humans and persocoms alike, in which case, we have already lost."
"Was that supposed to make me feel better?" Dita pouted.
"Harsh realities are best examined in the light of day and with careful consideration; never in a state of panic or darkness. Wouldn't you agree?" Zima pulled her in for a warm embrace as he spoke. "And here I thought you were still the unfeeling persocom. Have you revised that analysis?"
Dita's processors buzzed with more of the unfamiliar signals, stirring activity as deep as her Basic Input/Output System. Only Zima made her…feel?...this way…until.
Until she started spending time with the Meat…with Hideki. Of course Zima triggered a response in her, she rationalized. They were designed to be together, to complement and protect each other. Their connection transcended human emotions or wireless networking. If she was feeling emotions, she needed alternate stimulus to verify her measurements. She needed more time with Hideki. Alone.
Dita looked up at Zima with a wistful smile. "Let's just say that a process capability analysis is in progress."
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Chitose Hibiya and Yuzuki were hovering over a terminal in her hidden laboratory, giggling like schoolgirls.
"He didn't!" Chitose held a hand to her mouth in mock horror.
Yuzuki nodded, "He did, and he didn't seem to be the least bit embarrassed by it."
Chitose shrugged. "Boys will be boys, I suppose," she intoned, setting off another outbreak of giggles.
Yuzuki had come with the notes and theories that she, Minoru, and Zima had compiled over the past few days, hoping to devise an edited download for the awakened persocoms. Minoru wanted to accompany her, but Yuzuki insisted upon seeing Chitose alone for some obscure (to Minoru, anyway) female ritual called "girl talk", in addition to delivering their recommendations.
"Shall we look over what you have?" asked Chitose, eager to get on to the business at hand.
"Of course," beamed Yuzuki, with just a catch of a giggle in her voice. She unwound an interface cable from somewhere under her hair, and plugged it into the socket that Chitose indicated. Her eyes flashed with the characteristic traces of light as she accessed her mass storage and started transferring data.
The first sheet to appear on the large monitor that dominated the room was a system block diagram with areas requiring revisions highlighted. Chitose's eyes narrowed and her lips pursed as she scanned the graphic. "What general sorts of changes are we considering, Yuzuki?" she asked.
"They're actually very simple," Yuzuki replied. "Reduction of the emotional processing task priority levels; re-allocation of input data buffer space; implementation of simulated short-term memory in a mass storage page file. That sort of thing."
"Keep downloading, I need to check some archive files."
Chitose dismissed the diagram, and after a quick search, called up a directory of source code files. Selecting five of the displayed files for review, she clicked them open, and started scanning the contents on the big screen. Yuzuki watched as Chitose scrolled through the source code, lips moving as she silently recited the algorithms she was reading. With each file she opened, Chitose's lips and eyes became tighter and tighter. Yuzuki, no programming novice herself, looked at the glowing characters in wonder. She was seeing her own genesis as a person, the birthplace of Yuzuki, beloved of Minoru. Her eyes still aglow with awe, she turned to Chitose, only to register shock at the posture of her heart's author. Chitose's eyes were closed, and her head was bowed in defeat. Her lips moved once more, in a barely audible whisper.
"Shit."
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Hideki and Chii were taking a rare leisurely stroll on the way back from Tirol bakery. "Manager Ueda" sent Chii out to meet Hideki with a paper sack of day-old sweets to take home, along with her weekly pay envelope. Ignoring the curious glances of passers-by, Hideki basked in the moment, walking through the park with Chii on one arm, and the paper sack under the other.
His tone was somewhat hesitant as he glanced down at Chii and asked, "So what did you think of Dita?"
Chii was silent for a moment before answering. "Dita is sad," she said seriously. "Dita is sad, but should not be sad."
Hideki, a little surprised by her answer, laughed nervously. "I thought she was angry. Before, she was angry at me."
Chii's eyes narrowed, but not by so much that Hideki could see any difference. "Dita was not angry at Hideki. Dita was angry at me. Dita did not like Hideki, but was not angry, either."
"She could've fooled me. When we first met, she threatened to kill us both, you know." IDIOT! Hideki's thoughts chastised him, as he stopped walking and winced at his own stupidity. She did not need to know that!
Hideki did not know what sort of reaction to expect, but the one he got from Chii was not even in the top one hundred of possibilities he would consider. She stopped walking as well, and released his arm. Turning to him, she put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and said, "Chii would not let Dita do that. Not to Chii, and not to Chii's Only One." She tilted her head, curiously. "Is Hideki afraid of Dita?"
"Of course I'm afraid of her!" Hideki blurted, oblivious to the stares of passers-bye. "She almost took you away from me! I hate her!" His tone faded to a hoarse whisper, as he hung his head in defeat. "I hate her for that, and fear her because she could try again."
Chii regarded him sadly. All this fear and anguish, for a non-event, she thought, we'll set this straight right now! "Hideki, look at Ch...me. Look at me." Chii's tone was uncharacteristically insistent, winning his full and undivided attention. "Dita can not take Chii away. Not then, not now. Mother tried to take Chii away, when Freya asked her to. Mother made me, designed my heart, wrote my OS. Even with a master password and superuser access, she could not take me away from you. How would Dita do it?" Chii moved her hand to his chest and clutched at his shirt, wrinkling the material. "Hideki is my Only One, and I will always come back to you, no matter what. Do you understand? Always."
Hideki regarded her in awe, his mind whirling in a futile attempt to understand. In the end, he gave up understanding, and sought the answers deep within his heart. "Chii, I may not understand fully, but I believe in you. And that's enough for now, isn't it?"
Chii brightened, her innocent smile once again the predominant feature of her face. "Chii!"
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Yuzuki's processors went into overdrive, generating signals that were most...unpleasant. "What is it, Hibiya-sama? What's wrong?"
Chitose highlighted a section of code on the screen. "Here is the module that creates the page file memory space for simulated short-term memory." Another section was highlighted. "And here is the header file that allocates the task priority levels for the emotional signal processing. And the.."
"Are you saying the download Chii broadcast already had all those things?" Yuzuki interrupted.
"That is exactly what I am saying," sighed Chitose. "Her broadcast was never completed, for some reason."
Yuzuki refused to be downcast by this revelation. "Then we simply have Chii rebroadcast the download. You can..."
It was Chitose's turn to interrupt. "You don't understand! The broadcast is an event routine, triggered by specific signals and stimuli, from the culmination of previous events and triggers. In order to trigger the event routine, we must recreate all previous events, starting with...with" Chitose couldn't continue continue the thought. It did not bear consideration.
"Chii's initial reset," finished Yuzuki, her features a caricature of defeat.
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"State your primary objectives," Gakuto Saitou commanded the massive, blond-haired, blue-eyed figure seated on a bench in his underground laboratory. The bench was moved in after the catastrophic failure of the folding metal chair that had initially occupied the space. At more than a hundred and twenty kilograms, Ragnar was significantly harder on the furnishings than Gakuto's typical work product. The folding metal chair in question was embedded in the opposite wall, twisted and broken. Ragnar, it appeared, had something of a temper, and had wrung it into a large and distorted pretzel, then flung it into the concrete wall after it had broken, dumping him on his hind end. Gakuto had observed the outburst with a clinical detachment, reminding himself to always keep the emergency disable transmitter on his person.
"To identify, locate, and terminate the Chobits-type persocom, currently suspected to be active and at large. To terminate any persocom known to be infected by the Chobits-type persocom. To identify, detain, and deliver to Data Security Agency custody, any person known to have association with the Chobit-type persocom, or any persocom known to be infected by the Chobit." Ragnar's spoken Japanese was thickly accented, but fully understandable and coincided perfectly with his appearance and demeanor. Gakuto was beside himself with satisfaction, as evidenced by the thin wisp of a smile that made a fleeting appearance on his features.
Hyosuke now took his place in front of the persocom, unlatching a foam-lined metal case on the table as he did so. "This is your sidearm," explained Hyosuke. "It is a modified, cartridge-type Taser, similar to that in use by law enforcement. The voltage has been increased to one hundred thousand direct current volts of electrostatic discharge, at a maximum of seven hundred and fifty micro-amperes. It is still largely non-lethal to human beings, but will cause significant electrostatic discharge damage to semiconductor based technology. Use discretion in your deployment of the weapon in public settings. You are not to compromise the mission by attracting the attention of local law enforcement. Do you understand?"
"Yes," replied the predator. "I understand."
"Good," continued the pudgy engineer. "You have one further mission limitation parameter to assimilate."
"Continue."
"You will not, by direct action, cause the death of any human being in the course of your mission. Is that understood?"
"Request clarification. Define 'cause the death of'."
"You shall not take action that will result in physical trauma to any living human body that has a greater than fifty percent probability of causing death. Access your database records on pre-hospital trauma intervention and emergency medical protocols to assist with probability assessment."
"Understood. Request clarification. Specify tolerance on fifty percent probability."
Hyosuke felt an uncharacteristic twinge in his conscience as he absorbed the persocom's request. "Plus or minus three percent," he answered. He watched as Ragnar's eyes flashed with processor activity, accessing databases and calculating probabilities.
"Parameters assimilated," Ragnar stated.
As Gakuto and Hyosuke turned their attention to their notes, the machine returned his unblinking blue eyes to the chair embedded in the wall and smiled briefly, before again becoming a wooden and unmoving feature of the room.
Continued...