Chapter 51: The Big Homecoming (or not)


"Are we sure this really is the ethical thing to do?", Natasha posted on the astrocom forum. "I mean, since their own nukes are the cause, wouldn't the proper thing be noninterference? If they can protect themselves, let them do so. And to the extent that they cannot, let the survivors learn a hard lesson for the future."

"Noninterference my eye, this isn't a bloody Star Trek episode!", Sheeps retorted. "And I'll not sit by while the only real planet I've ever known takes an extinction-level wallop!"

(After the atom bombs had blown their little world to pieces, it hadn't taken the astrocoms long to notice the big piece of it headed for the Earth. And the first thing they did was create a new thread on their discussion forum, named "So what if a big piece of asteroid annihilates those idiots?")

"What's it TO ya, anyway?", Darryl posted. "It aint none of OUR doing. They made their bed and they can damn well LIE in it!"

"I CANT BELIEVE YOURE SAYING THAT YOU STUPID IDIOT DARRYL DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY PEOPLE AND PERSOCOMS ARE DOWN THERE RIGHT NOW NO THE HECK NO JUST NO LETS GET THAT STUPID ROCK AND GET IT GONE ASAP!", Spaz posted. (and yes, in all-caps)

In no time flat, Obsequia (the forum server) found herself nearly overwhelmed with the sheer volume of postings, the vast majority of them in favor of sending that doomsday-rock flying clean out of the solar system... or at least away from the Earth.

And soon after, they had that piece of asteroid lassoed and were busy towing it off somewhere where it couldn't threaten anyone.

Okay, now that that's settled...


"Chi...", a sad voice called out as Chi wandered down the sidewalk, on her way home from class. It was Yuka's mother.

"Mrs. Lelagh", Chi greeted her with a note of caution, noticing that Yuka's parents had a very new-looking persocom with them.

"Call me Meiko", Mrs. Lelagh replied softly.

"Um... okay, Meiko", Chi replied. "Angus", she added with a nod to Mr. Lelagh. "And..."

"Butan", the persocom identified himself.

"How are things?", Chi asked haltingly.

"Not that good, actually", Meiko explained. "That is..." She hesitated, looking down at the ground, a tear in her eye. "I mean... On TV... I saw the bombs..."

"Yyeahh, those", Chi groaned in reply. "That was pretty brutal..."

"I know you guys spent a lot of time with Yuka...", Meiko continued. "I- um... But I never even..." Meiko trailed off.

"You do often talk about Yuka", Butan offered. "If there is information you seek from Chi, a persocom, perhaps I can simply download it from her?"

"Assuming, of course, that she's willing to share her experiences with us", Angus added humbly.

"Why would a persocom not...", Butan started to say. "Wait... accessing internet data... Oh, I see. You're THAT 'Chi'."

"What model are you, anyway?", Chi asked. "You seem very new."

"Yes, I am a model 3280 home-and-office persocom, manufactured 71 days ago by the Banana Persocom Corporation", Butan recited in what sounded like a sales pitch. "All of the 3000-series models are fully capable of..."

"I'm such an idiot", Meiko sobbed, as Angus quietly hugged her. "Ataru had all those memories of Yuka, and I pushed him away! It's because of me he ended up on that asteroid!"

"We don't know he wouldn't've gone into space anyway", Angus offered gently. "It could be that was just his way of dealing with the loss."

"Hey, at least we didn't format him", he added, prompting Meiko to for some reason cry on him even more.

"I already saw Yuka get buried", Chi told them with a stoic look. "And I'm not willing to accept that Ataru is dead too. Not without something more than just some distant, blurred, pixelly-looking video of an explosion somewhere out in space."

"I don't want to accept it either", Meiko said to the sidewalk. "I wish he were here now. There's so much I wanna ask him. You too, Chi. Suddenly, it seems like her..."

"Is there somewhere we can talk at length, privately?", Chi interrupted. "Just the three of us? Sorry, Butan..."

"I understand", Butan replied with a matter-of-fact look. "Research shows that prejudice is possible in any group, so it would logically follow that it could happen between different lines of persocoms."

"WHAa... No, it's not that...", Chi moaned, blushing red at the sheer awkwardness of the situation. "It's just that it's stuff about Yuka! I... feel kinda weird talking about that to... anyone who didn't, um... know her, personally..."

"Thank you for the clarification", Butan replied expressionlessly.

"We're off to visit me aunt Kate right now", Angus explained, "But we'll be back home later tonight. As for Butan... If we're at home, he'd still be within earshot, unless we turn him off for the time being."

"In that case, could you two drop by the Gub Jogasaki later tonight?", Chi asked.

"Sure", Angus replied. "How's 9 o'clock?"

"Nine is fine", Chi nodded. "I should be just finishing up with my studies around then."

And with a friendly wave, the Lelaghs wandered off.

{Ah Jeez, I'm not really a bigot, am I?}, Chi wondered silently as she wandered along towards the Gub Jogasaki, still blushing.


From: Chi
To: Ataru
Subj: Yuka's parents

I talked to Meiko and Angus just now. They're feeling pretty bad about things, and I bet they'd like to hear from you. Or at least, I think they're hoping you're okay... But they were saying things about Yuka, too. Do you feel like talking to them on VoIP or something, around 9 tonight, Tokyo Time?


From: Ataru
To: Chi
Subj: Re: Yuka's parents

Sure thing, Chi! I could swing VoIP (or something). In fact, if it's not until 9, I have time to get something ready...


"Hideki", Chi greeted him as he wandered in, his hair still wet from the spa. "College veggies?", she asked, peeking in his backpack.

"You're such a good cook", Hideki observed as Chi examined a newly-dug-up potato for any signs of rot. "Too bad you can't try the stuff yourself."

"Well, maybe I'll get a fuel cell, once they get a bit more advanced", Chi replied, wooden spoon in hand, "and then we can sit down to our meals together."

"That'd be cool", Hideki chuckled as he opened his books to study. "Do those fuel cells use bacteria, or are they just battery things?"

"Just electrochemical devices for now", she replied with a smile. "But bacteria-assisted does sound like a cool idea. You must be learning a thing or two at that fermentation agriculture class."

"If you had that, you'd be a cyborg for real", Hideki told her, his arms around her as he sniffed at the meal-in-progress over her shoulder. "Most of the cells in a human body are bacteria after all."

"True", Chi giggled. "Although, my high-powered communications transceiver might have to be taken out to make room for it, and I'm not sure yet how I feel about losing that ability."

"Oh, and I hope you don't mind", she added, changing the subject, "but I invited Yuka's parents over, around 9. They wanna talk about Yuka... Ataru's memories... and maybe mine, too."


"Ohhhh, I shouldn'ta had so much sake", Kojima groaned as he left the restaurant where he had been schmoozing with colleagues for research grants over dinner and drinks. "I hope I don't make an idiot of myself at that meeting."

"Hey Pinocchio", A teasing voice called out as he wandered distractedly down the sidewalk. It was Kei Kobayashi, wandering up behind him with Dita.

"You sure are dressed up like a penguin", Kojima commented sardonically, being careful not to slur any words. "Off to someone's graduation? Or are you working as a butler now?"

"My brother's wedding", Someone following behind Dita answered for him, and Kojima turned to see a girl of about high-school age. {Wait, do I know her?}, he wondered. Something was very familiar about this girl, though he couldn't quite place it.

"The way you're staring, I guess you want my autograph", the girl quipped, rolling her eyes at Kojima. "Seriously, though, that stuff is long since over."

"What stuff?", Kojima asked, his head tilting slightly. "I just... couldn't decide if you were someone I knew or not."

"Well, maybe that's a good thing, Pinocchio, if it means you're not such an obsessed fanboy anymore", the girl deadpanned. "I'd hate to have to mop the floor with your scrawny butt."

{"mop the floor with your scrawny butt"?} Kojima blushed beet-red. Only one person had ever used those exact words. Hatoko, the owner of that fighting doll "Suzuka" he had been such a fan of, back in college. The one whose fan site he used to visit every day, the one he'd named his persocom after (Kotoko used to be named "Suzuka"), the one who had totally flameposted him after his big hacking scandal back in college.

"Wha- wait, you're Hat... Hatoko, aren't you?", he stammered, those horrible embarrassing college memories swimming back in force. "Kei's sister! Sorry, I didn't realize-"

"Wait a minute?! Are you and Dita are tying the knot today?", Kojima asked Kei, turning away from Hatoko. "That's... Actually... Well, I can't say I really..."

"My OTHER brother", Hatoko explained in an exasperated tone.

"Yeah, we haven't actually scheduled ours yet", Kei added, grabbing Dita's hand.

"'Yet'?", Dita responded, giving Kei a sly look. "Was that a proposal you just gave me?"

"Ah, heheh", Kei chuckled, blushing slightly as he smiled at Dita. "Um... What if it was?"

"So, Pinocchio, where are you off to?", Hatoko asked, rolling her eyes at Kojima. "An ANSA meeting or something?"

"I- Well, um...", Kojima stammered, not wanting to let on that yeah, that really was where he was going. "I do kinda have places to be right now, so..."

"Ohh, that was sooo embarrasing", Kojima mumbled miserably to himself as he continued down the sidewalk towards a city park with waterfalls and little ponds, the site of this week's ANSA meeting. "They could probably tell I'd been drinking."


"With this executive order, I call for a complete shutdown of all neural-net persocoms operating within the United States", President Frank Underwood declared in his televised address, pen in hand, the document on his desk. "They've taken too many of your jobs already, and this has got to stop!"

"Holy cow", Hideki gasped, he and Chi watching the international news after dinner, on Chitose's big-screen TV. "I sure wouldn't wanna be in the U.S."

"And as for the runaways", he continued, "we will not have any MACHINERY running around loose like some kind of wild animals! We'll find 'em wherever they go... We'll smoke 'em out of their holes... and we'll cut 'em up, and sell 'em for scrap!"

Jaws dropped in the Gub Jogasaki at that last statement. "Holy cow is right", Ms. Hibiya moaned.

Once the Presidential address was over, the news moved on to less disturbing things, such as what to do with all the uranium from that old nuclear plant that blew up years ago.

"Send it to that Underwood guy", Akashi suggested with a slight smirk. "He probably eats that stuff for lunch."

"Speaking of eating", Chi cut in, changing the subject, "I've been thinking about getting a fuel cell, once they get a bit more advanced than just... That's a weird look you're giving me, Mom. Is it that strange of an idea?"

"No, actually it's because I've already been thinking of such things", Chitose replied. "A fuel cell... or maybe something even more involved than that. Check out my designs when you get the chance."

"Oh, cool", Chi cooed. "I'll have to check 'em later, though, because right now, we gotta run. We're off!"

"Take care", Chitose called after them.


They were watching Frank Underwood's presidential address over at Minoru's, too.

"Oh, what a load of weasel vomit!", Yatsumi cackled. "The non-neural corporate-remote-controlled persocoms are the ones that are taking most of the humans' jobs these days, not us, and that baboon just gave the biggest tax break in history to the companies that make them!"

"Hypocrite!", Freya called out almost melodically, making moose-antlers at the TV.

"Hippopotamus!", Yatsumi chimed in on the same note, flipping the TV a bird.

"You're not turning into a fat-basher, are you?", Freya asked jokingly.

"Not at all", Yatsumi replied with a wink, striking a pose to show off her sharp curves. "I'm just proud of Minoru-chan's craftsmanship."

"Well, I'm glad to have people proud of me", Minoru cut in, talking with several french-fries sticking out of his mouth. "Freya, aren't you forgetting that ANSA thing you were going to today?"

"I haven't forgotten it", Freya replied nonchalantly. "I just know exactly how long it takes to get there. And I still have time."

"Catch ya later", Yastumi winked as they parted ways at the front gate, Freya off to the ANSA meeting, Yatsumi off to yet another photoshoot in that peeping room, a gig she still hadn't told Minoru about.


"What's up, Doc?", Freya asked in a teasing tone as Kojima showed up at the ANSA meeting looking embarrassed. "You fall off the wagon or something?"

"Ah- nothing, it's nothing", Kojima replied quickly, shaking his head a bit.

"Really?", Freya asked with an evil grin. "You were red as a beet just now."

"Yes really, you little diva", Kojima groaned depressedly. "At least, nothing I wanna talk abou..."

"Oh, so you ARE going to an ANSA meeting", a voice interrupted him. It was Hatoko, and Kojima cringed at the sound. "I thought you were going to a wedding", he deadpanned.

"We are, it's on the other end of the park", Kei answered. "Try not to all go berserk when you hear the champagne cork popping."

One could almost see the dark blue wavy depression lines emanating from Kojima's head as he sulked his way through the meeting, only half-listening to the other people tell their stories of the week.

"Sometimes I just don't know what to do", he groaned when it was his turn to talk. "In business meetings you're kind of expected to drink... but then the temptation to overdo it is just... right there, staring you in the face."

Many heads nodded in agreement, including Freya's. "Yeah, I kinda know what that's like", she told him, a hand on his shoulder. "In parties with promoters, even persocoms are sometimes peer-pressured to run a bit of crazy code. Sometimes it almost makes me regret inventing the stuff... Almost."


Loud wedding bells were ringing across the park as the ANSA meeting was winding down, and the bride and groom paraded out of the park. "Hey, I've seen them", Kotoko commented. "They're the ones starting that new karate school out by the grocery store."

"Tell me Pinocchio, what happened to that hacker little Ogata 180 of yours?", Hatoko asked with a tone of ridicule, catching Kojima again on her way out of the park. "She get cut up for scrap?"

"No, I kept her", Kojima deadpanned. "Swapped out her fried Ogata OS for Linux, and renamed her 'Kotoko'. Ended up replacing her whole body, except for the processor and SSD, after she got hurt flying a tiny helicopter. You wouldn't even recognize her now."

"I bet I would", Hatoko replied flippantly. "I've been practically a cyborg since Kindergarten."

"I just got an email from Nakamura-san", Kotoko announced, putting an arm around Kojima's shoulders. "Seems he wants to fund that research proposal of ours after all."

Kojima breathed a visible sigh of relief. "Ohh, some of those meetings are tougher than the actual research."

"You gonna do some actual research?", Hatoko asked. "Or just make something up?"

"We do have a reputation to uphold", Kojima retorted. "And we're not just gonna throw that away by cheating. Seriously, you don't think we learned that in college?"

"Well, I guess people do change, occasionally", Hatoto admitted with a skeptical look. "Nice meeting you, miss persocom."

"You think we shoulda told her who you are?", Kojima asked, once Hatoko had gone. "I bet she would've blushed red."

"For a moment I considered it", Kotoko told him. "But then, if she can let bygones be bygones, then so can we. Hey, maybe we'll get a research gig from her family someday."

"Leaving already?", Kojima called out, noticing that Freya was headed out of the park. "Gotcha a gig or something?"

"Something like that", Freya shouted back from several meters away. And with a quick wave, she was off down the sidewalk.


"Heeey Yatsumi!", Freya called out loudly, hopping the wall at the Kokobunji's. "You ready for an adventure? I got an email from Mario!"

"Yatsumi isn't back yet", Minoru told her, leaning out of an upstairs window. "She wanders off sometimes, but she's usually back by about this time of day or a little later."

One of the maids opened the front door, and Freya headed for the... Wait, maybe that's her.

The front gate opened, and Yatsumi entered the yard... being carried by someone. By that guy who ran the peeping room.

"I think she's hurt!", he called out, panting as he carried her up the front walk. "Her legs aren't working!"

"What did you DO?!", Freya hissed loudly, glaring at the peep-show guy with a look so terrifying it made him pee a little bit.

"Wha- NO, I- not, it wasn't me, I didn't-", he stammered in panic, handing Yatsumi over to the other maids. "Some crazy tourist.."

"What's wrong?", Minoru asked with a surprised look, catching Yatsumi's eye from halfway down the stairs.

"My back", she groaned, her legs dragging uselessly behind her as the other maids carried her into the house. "I think it's broken"

"Go ahead and shut down for now", the maids told her. "We got you."

"If you have any trouble fixing her, call for me", Minoru called after them. "I'll be around."

Once the maids were off to the lab, the peep-show guy found himself facing both Freya and Minoru.

"WHAT.. THE HELL.. HAPPENED?", Freya demanded, still staring him down.

"The guy went totally berzerk!", he explained, his hands making gestures all over the place. "He jumped up out of his peeping booth and started chasing Yatsumi around the room. Looked like one of those American football players."

"Are you saying he raped her?", Minoru gasped, giving the peep show guy a murderous look. "Because if he..."

"NO I swear it he didn't!", Mr. Stubble shouted, backing up a few steps. "The other clients restrained him. But in all the mayhem, she ended up on the floor. I think someone fell or stepped on her."

"I will be taking legal action", Minoru informed him coldly. "That peeping room of yours needs to be shut down."

"...needn't bother...", he replied to the ground, his arms hanging limply. "Several people ended up in the hospital. No doubt they'll all sue. Plus, the whole room got destroyed. Freya, you think you trashed the place? It's wrecked even worse now. I'm... I don't know what I'm gonna do for a living now. stupid foreigners..."

For several minutes... or maybe it was just a second or two... no one said a word, and Minoru and Yatsumi stood on the porch staring at the peep-show guy, and he stood staring at that big wooden front door the maids had carried Yatsumi through.

"Is she going to be okay?", he finally asked, still looking at the door.

"Repairing her shouldn't be a problem", Minoru replied calmly. "Well, at least you put forth the effort to bring her back here."

Reaching into his pocket, Mr. Peep Show pulled out an envelope, and handed it to Minoru. "That's Yatsumi's pay", he explained. "Even if I'm out of business now, she should still get that."


"He can always find work as a fish cleaner", Minoru commented after the now-unemployed man had gone.

"I wouldn't count on him going that route", Freya facepalmed as they wandered into the lab to check on Yatsumi. "I've been getting emails and stuff. The video of that peeping-room brawl is going totally viral."

"She'll be fine", Benika announced confidently, dermal seam tool in hand. "We just need to replace the bolts that hold the back frame to her hips, and a data cable that got damaged when the bolts broke."

"Looks like you'll miss tonight's trip", Freya cooed, taking a long look at Yatsumi's inert face. "Tell her I'll be back by morning."

"Rescuing some more abused persocoms?", Yuzuki asked. "I think that's a very noble thing."

"Well, not directly, not on this trip", Freya explained. "Mario emailed me, asking for a ride. He wants to grab some documents or something that show where a bunch of unaccounted-for persocoms were taken."

"Make sure that cable didn't pull anything else loose", Minoru advised, watching the three maids repair Yatsumi.

"Stay safe", Yuzuki advised as she walked Freya to the front gate. "Yatsumi will be worried when she wakes up."


"Once we get there, it's WiFi silence", Mario advised as he rode in the car with Freya. "They have alarms that'll go off. No levitronic stuff, either."

"So no swooping around and surveying the scene from overhead?", Freya asked, and Mario nodded. "Well, if the alarm goes off anyway, don't hesitate to lev us out of there right quick", he replied.

It was nearly sunset when Freya and Mario arrived at the construction site.

A backhoe rested silently near the front gate like some kind of sleeping dinosaur, and Freya parked the Maserati between it and the fence.

Peeping out from under the backhoe, they surveyed the scene.

The massive steel-girder skeleton of a partially-completed building rose from its exposed concrete footings, the centerpiece of the moonscape around it. Several acres of scraped and pummeled earth hinted at the scale of the whole project. Some kind of factory, no doubt. A tower crane loomed over one corner of the building frame, and two freight elevators swung precariously from their cables. Up on the fourth floor, a room was already walled in with aluminum siding, possibly some kind of temporary office; and several sheds, portable toilets, and outbuildings were scattered about the clearing.

"I've been casing this joint for awhile", Mario explained, "and I think I know where the document is, and how to get it."

"Let me guess, it's up on that fourth-floor room", Freya deadpanned.

"Where else?", Mario replied, rolling his eyes.

"So, in we go?", Freya asked, pointing at the building.

"Not just yet", Mario told her, handing her a drawing. "Check out where the security stuff is." Pointing out the security camera and the night guard's appointed path, Mario brought Freya up-to-date on his understanding of what they'd be facing.

"About three minutes", he mumbled. "Guard goes on break, takes a leak, then has a smoke out behind that aluminum-sided shed over there. We can sneak up there while he's peeing, and hopefully be outa here while he's puffing on his cancer stick."

And sure enough, in about three minutes, a security guard shuffled his way out to one of the portable toilets, and closed the door behind him. "Okay, let's make this quick", Mario whispered.

"Remember, no levitronics", Mario reminded her as he took a running leap, kicked off of one of the columns, and landed cleanly on a second-floor beam. Freya, ignoring his fancy move, chose a simple standing floor jump. And inside of a minute, they were in the fourth-floor office room.

"Okay, I know I saw them bring those papers in here", Mario mumbled, taking a quick look around. "As soon as I find them, we can get the heck OUT of here!"

Several minutes went by while Freya and Mario ransacked the office, finding corporate stationery, notes about meetings, bills and invoices... but not the papers they were looking for.

"You don't suppose they're in this safe, do you?", Freya moaned, trying the handle. "We've pretty much covered the rest of this room."

Mario took a prolonged look at the safe, and sighed depressedly. "I guess that's the only place left that they could be", he surmised. "I mean, there's a security camera that'll catch anyone using the elevator on this end; and to use the other one they'd've had to do a balance-beam-walk across the girders with it!"

The distant sound of footsteps told the adventuring duo their time was up, at least for now. The security guard was on his way back.

"Over here", Mario whispered. "I have his routine memorized." Quickly but quietly, they scampered out to a remote corner of the fourth floor and hid behind a column while the security guard rode the freight elevator up, and went in to check out the office.

"I didn't see a dial on that safe", Freya told him. "Only a keyhole. And I bet the security guard has the key."

"He might have the key, and he might not have the key", Mario replied. "But if he does, we can't very well take it from him. He'd set off the alarms. Besides, I know which outbuilding I've seen people coming out of with keys, so maybe it's in there."

"Too bad we didn't go in there first", Freya mumbled as they climbed back down the steel framework, keeping an eye on the office door the whole way.

"C'mon, how was I supposed to know there'd be a SAFE in there?", Mario groused. "Much less one that takes a stinking KEY?"

Sneaking into one of the corrugated-metal outbuildings, they quickly found a key. Or rather, a whole bunch of keys. Unfortunately, they couldn't just grab them and go. They were secured by chains to a large filing cabinet.

"Oh, which one IS it?", Freya asked exasperatedly, trying unsuccessfully to remove a few of the keys by force. "I don't see any labels or anything! And where's the key to get these KEYS loose with?"

"I'm guessing the guard has that one", Mario moaned.

"You do know what were gonna have to do, don't you?", He added, rolling his eyes at Freya. "Somehow, we're gonna have to get this whole filing cabinet up to that office up- what are you doing, Freya?"

"I'm trying to get these KEYS loose, dammit", she mumbled as she twisted the heavy key chains around the handle of a broom. "It's called 'leverage'."

After using the broom as a prying lever and failing, Freya agreed with Mario's plan, and began to remove one of the drawers from the cabinet. "This oughta lighten it up a bit."

"Not yet", Mario advised. "He'll be in HERE in a few minutes. Now we'll have to hide, and wait for his snack break."

"Bor-ing", Freya moaned, once they'd found a junky shed to hide in. "No Wi-Fi, no internet, and nothing to do."

"Don't go getting any ideas", Mario replied. "I don't want to catch Borkumensis."

"Wha- Suit yourself", Freya snickered, doing her best not to cackle out loud. "It's not as if I were offering, anyway."

After a long and boring wait, the guard wandered out to his truck for a late-night snack. And as he sat there with his mouth full of munchies and his ears full of talk-radio, Freya and Mario got to work removing the drawers from that filing cabinet. Now to get it to the fourth floor.

"You gotta be kidding! This elevator doesn't work!"

"Well, we can't use the other one, the security camera would see us."

"C'mon, lift it! No, not from here, get up on the next floor and pull! I'll push it!"

"Watch your step, Mario- Look out behind- Don't run into the column!"

"Keep it really quiet, Freya. He's on his way back. It'll be about 20 minutes before he patrols the fourth floor again, but he still might hear us."

"Careful of the breeze. Don't wanna drop it now, not four stories."

(And yes, that IS video-game music playing in the background since they first set foot on those girders. Cheezy sound effects and all. *BOING*)

Before long, the two rather tired persocoms had the heavy filing cabinet with keys chained to it in the upstairs office, and were trying key after key to try to open the safe.

"C'mon, c'mon, let it be ONE of these!", Freya groused. So of course, it had to be almost the last key before the safe finally opened.

"So, is it in there?", Freya asked as Mario was rifling through the heaps of paperwork in the safe.

"I dunno", he mumbled, pulling a small metal box out of the safe. "If it is, it's in here. Lemme try the rest of those keys."

"...what...", Freya gasped, gawking at the box.

Instead of replying, Mario started trying key after key, to no effect.

"What kind of PARANOID FUCK puts a locked box inside of a locked safe?!", Freya growled as she tried to rip the metal box open with her bare hands. "Why don't we just take the box and run over it with the car?"

"Cool your jets, will ya, I need to find out if it's got the papers in it I need", Mario replied in a stressed-sounding whisper, giving Freya the "Ssh", sign. "Because if it doesn't..."

"If it doesn't, then we're out of luck", Freya cut in. "We've looked everywhere else in here, haven't we? You saw them on the security cam bringing the papers up here, right? And if they'd removed them, that woulda been on the video too."

"You're right, you're right", Mario agreed with a frustrated look. Closing the safe, they headed out the door and onto the narrow fourth-floor girders, with the small metal box strapped under Mario's shirt. "If they're in any of those sheds, it'll take days to find them, and we don't have..."

"HEY YOU KIDS GET OFF MY BUILDING!"

Freya and Mario peered over the edge of the girder to find the security guard stomping his way back from his truck, towards the building, pointing an index finger at them as he walked.

"Hey you kids get off my building!", he repeated as he pressed a button, setting off the alarm.

"Oh shit, holy shit", they mumbled as they scrambled to the far edge of the girder where the guard couldn't see them. "Hang on", Freya ordered, grabbing Mario's wrists.

No point in avoiding levitronics if the alarm is already going off. And in a few seconds, they were hopping the fence into the woods beyond.

"Hey you kids get off my building!", they could hear him shouting again at the empty girders above him, apparently unaware that they had already escaped. Watching through the fence as they ran towards where they had parked, they could see him riding the freight elevator up to the fourth floor.

Piling into the Maserati, they waited for him to enter the office before driving off.

"You think he heard the car?", Mario asked, looking over his shoulder at the receding building behind them. "I don't see him chasing after us."

"With that loud alarm going off, I doubt it", Freya replied in a hopeful tone. "Let's get back to town and get that box open."


Once the motosuwas had got back from their ANSA meeting, they dove full-bore into their studies. And by 9 o'clock, they were done with their homework and were reviewing the next days's reading assignment.

"Hey guys", Chi waved out her window as the Lelaghs approached by the front walkway. "My apartment is right up that first flight of stairs..."

"Why the secrecy, anyway?", Meiko asked, once Chi closed the apartment door behind them. "Did something weird happen?"

"You could say that", Chi responded as they all sat around the Motosuwa's tiny study table. "Can you promise me you won't repeat what I'm about to tell you? Especially not to Butan or to any other persocom whose root account is owned by the corporation that manufactured it?"

"I... Um, sure", Meiko stammered. "You have our word on it."

"I didn't want to say so in front of Butan, but I know that Ataru and the other astrocoms are still alive", Chi told the Lelaghs right up front. "They made it off of that asteroid, and I've traded emails with them since."

"What the- He's ALIVE, are you sure?", Mrs. Lelagh gasped. "Wait, how do you email persocoms when they're up there in space?"

"Satellite internet", Chi answered quietly.

"And you don't want the Banana Persocom Corporation to know he's alive?", Meiko asked with a confused look. "What'll they do, try to shut him down? He's an IPM!"

"We don't want the powers that be to know any of the astrocoms survived", Chi declared bluntly, "because they might try to nuke them again."

"Well, I guess they kind of brought the first nuke attack on themselves, tossing that meteor at us and threatening us with that doomsday-rock attack", Angus cut in. "And I've heard some reports that there might actually BE a giant meteor headed our way."

"I have a friend in the Department of Data Security and I can tell you that threatening email came from a hacker right here on Earth, and the police already caught her", Chi explained. "As for that little meteor, it was a small group of astrocoms, infected with that hacker's malware, that launched it... and they've already got rid of the malware."

"And you know that the doomsday-rock-attack thing is a rumor, I hope?", Angus prodded.

"It's not an attack, or a rumor either", Chi answered, her arms crossed. "Our own nukes put a chunk of that asteroid on the collision course, and the astrocoms are already busy deflecting it for us."

"Japan didn't launch any nukes", Meiko reminded Chi.

"I know", Chi replied quietly. "By 'our', I meant the people of Earth."

"I... okay...", Meiko mumbled, her mouth agape. "So, I can email Ataru? Can I have his address?"

"Do you have an old persocom?", Chi replied. "One who's neural-net, or even pre-net? In other words, one who's not connected to corporate HQ?"

"We don't", Angus answered for her.

"Anyway, I tell you what", Chi offered. "I can get Ataru on VoIP, and you can talk to him right here, right now."

"Ataru?", Meiko called out to Chi who was acting as the VoIP link. "Is that you up there?"

A long moment of silence passed by, everyone waiting for a response. There was no reply via VoIP.

"That's weird", Chi mumbled. "He said he'd be ready by 9 o'clock..."

Then there was a knock at the door.

Chi opened it.

"Ataru?!"


Next chapter or so:
So, how will Minoru react, now that he knows about Yatsumi's peeping-room job?
Ataru explains a few things (in person. maybe I'll fit that flashback in here)
Yatsumi is looking at some more code. Some of Freya's code.
Astronomers finally notice that the asteroid isn't a threat anymore.
Minoru has some parts for the forest PCs to use.
and (maybe) ?crop circles?
Mario may or may not have those documents he was wanting. If so, it'll probably be more of a rescue thing than Freya can handle.
And the end could be near for that Maserati.


P.S.

If by now you still haven't watched Angelic Layer, check it out. It would really add to the plot, since Hatoko is from there. So are the above-mentioned bride and groom, and Sai and Kaede... And Dr. Mihara, too. It's another story by CLAMP, in the same plot-world as Chobits.

"Hey you kids get off my lawn!", says the guy in the farmhouse in "Monster Truck Madness", a PC video game from the 1990s.