Chapter VI
"Some things are in our power, others are not."
-- the philosopher Epictetus, as quoted in
The Diary of Samuel Pepys, January 17, 1663
At the back of a maze of corridors two stories below the underground parking garage of Tachibana Tower was a room that didn't exist. The room had probably had more visitors than any other in the Tower, for this was where those that Tachibana considered to be threats were "interviewed". This involved not just extracting information from human brains, but also re-writing it. Those visitors that were allowed to leave this room were guaranteed to have Tachibana's best interests at heart for the rest of their usually-short lives.
Sometime after 22:00 this un-room was graced with the presence of Mika Iwakawa, President of Tachibana Research and Development, public representative/press agent of Tachibana Networks, and secret head of Central Security Services, otherwise known as the Men in Black. The two technicians manning the brain-scanning Navi control units turned as the door opened and their boss and her ubiquitous secretary entered, catching only the tail end of their conversation.
"Factory defaults! That was definitely the best part. And here I was thinking no one was stupid enough to install a web server without changing something. He probably didn't even know about the maintenance account."
Mika had changed her jacket for a lab coat and was carrying a clipboard under one arm. She was a strong believer in the motto "the right clothes for the right occasion", and felt that a scientist's attire was only proper for overseeing the sciences of hacking and interrogating. She had just come from the Covert Computer Center, where MIB hackers had easily broken into Professor Okada's server and found everything of value about the most perfect mark Mika had ever come across.
Upon seeing the pair enter, the technician at the further seat popped up and approached. "I've got the results of the scans, Ms. Iwakura."
Mika slowly swiveled her head from the secretary to the technician. "Wait your turn," she stated in a voice that was equal parts calm and terrifying. The young man fairly whimpered as he ran back to his seat.
God! Mika muttered under her breath, save me from the new hire sycophants!
She turned back to continue where she left off. "Anyway, R&D should be examining that 5-F program about now." News of the 5-P algorithm had traveled throughout the complex, but not even New Hire was stupid enough to correct Mika on the correct name. Mika chuckled to herself derisively. "I don't trust the lot of them to blow their noses without a fifteen page manual, so could you go up there and see they don't screw up? Oh, and be sure to schedule me an extra session alone with Subject A here," pointing over her shoulder at one of the two captives strapped to twin platforms mounted at a forty-five degree angle at the back of the room. "I hear she's just come from China and I thought I'd get a first-hand account."
The secretary took her hand and kissed it while bowing low. "It would be my honor, Madame," he said, before turning with military precision and exiting the room.
Mika allowed herself a single sigh of lust before getting back to the business at hand. "Alright," she said without turning to face the technicians, "what have you learned so far about Ms. Kato's contacts?"
"Nothing, really," stated the nearer tech.
Mika immediately turned and bashed the man unconscious to the floor with a backhanded smack of the clipboard. "WRONG ANSWER!" she screamed at the prone body. She then looked up at the survivor. "You!" she demanded. With a gesture he was quivering by her side.
Instantly she was calm again. "I believe you had a report for me."
The man would later wonder why he didn't mentally disintegrate at that point. "Both subjects have clear memories of their years with Juri Kato prior to their graduation from college. Subject A knew nothing further, while Subject B was aware that Kato had lost her job at Triangle, but not of her activities after that point."
Mika smiled coldly. "Concise and to the point. Very good. Is that all?"
The technician nodded, uncertain if it would be his fatal mistake.
"Too bad," she replied, still calm. New Hire needed a chance to learn how to conduct a proper interrogation, but this would be the only chance she would give him.
"First of all, it should be obvious that the two subjects themselves are not a threat to Tachibana. Therefore, you can conclude that they were brought here for the data they can provide on Ms. Kato's contacts. Kato grew up right here in Shibuya, where a lot of hackers tend to gather. For your sake, I'll assume you're not from around here and didn't know that. The next step is to see if either subject is aware of any hacker acquaintances of Ms. Kato that she may have met during their mutual childhood."
The technician jumped to his seat.
"Stop!" declared Mika in only a slightly elevated tone of voice. "Imaging comes later. First, why don't we ask them?"
Mika Iwakura was proud of the many innovations she had brought to Central Security under her administration. She had never committed entirely to technology, and was fond of unearthing old pre-technological solutions to the problems of a modern instrument of corporate terror. The use of elaborate memory-extracting machines was now complemented by cheap sodium pentathol and a variety of related century-old pharmaceuticals.
The two captives lay still on their platforms. Both were completely relaxed, their heads lolled to one side. Mika walked up to the second one and pushed the head back against the pillow. She then referred to her clipboard to see which one this was.
"Reika Yamamoto?" she asked quietly.
"Yyeeeessssss?" came the slurred response.
Mika looked over the shoulder at the technician. "You used too much," she stated, in a cold tone that carried the promise of retribution to come.
The technician silently glanced several times at his prone partner, his body rigid.
Mika suddenly laughed to herself at the pathetic display. God that felt good! She then turned back to her subject. "Reika Yamamoto."
"Yyeee..."
"None of that. I need you to tell me about where you and Juri used to go. Did you go to Cyberia?"
"Yyee..."
"'Yes'. Did you go to any of the other tech-cafes?"
"Nnnoooo..."
"Very well. Did you meet any hackers at Cyberia?"
"Nnnoo..."
"Did Juri meet any hackers at Cyberia?"
"Nnnoo..."
"Did Juri know any hackers at all?"
A pause here while Subject B's mind pondered the question. "Nnnoo..."
"Anyone that was good with computers?"
"....Nnnoooooooooooooo."
Mika allowed the woman to finish for once while she pondered a new mode of attack. "It might be possible," she mused out loud, "that the blockhead on the floor was on to something. This one is useless to a remarkable degree." She then turned back to the platform. "When was the last time you talked to Juri?"
This was asking for more than a single syllable in response, so Mika forced herself to wait. After nearly a minute, the subject opened her mouth to render her response. "Ttwoooooo.......mmmooooooooonnnnnnntthhhhhhhhssssssss..."
"And when was that, exactly?" Mika tossed over her shoulder as she walked around her to the other subject.
"Mmmmaaaaaaay..." Four months ago.
The interrogator snapped her head to stare suddenly at the near-comatose woman. As Subject B continued slowly outputting her answer, Mika addressed her next query to Subject A: "Arisu Mizuki, how old are you?"
"Ttwweeeeeeeeeennnnnntttyyyyyyy...."
Mika Iwakura turned with a lurch and began advancing on the terrified technician. "You didn't check if they were missing memories, did you? DID YOU?!"
New Guy was actually foolish enough to run. With an expert throw, Mika's clipboard laid him low just as he had opened the door, so his head and arms were out in the hallway. He had hit the doorknob on the way down, and a rivulet of blood made its way to the break room from under the man's broken nose.
Mika didn't bother to watch him fall. She was sitting at his computer. With a simple typed command she made the two subjects stop their protracted responses and drop into a dreamless unconscious state. As she methodically two-finger typed, a steady stream of invective poured from her mouth.
"Do I ask for them to be stupid? No. So why are they always dumber than a Peruvian toad licker, that's what I'd like to know! God knows I don't mind surrounding myself with my intellectual superiors. Weak-willed, yes of course, you've got to have that! But, stupid? That's just not PRACTICAL!" "Practical" was a favorite word of Mika Iwakura.
"Nothing," she said, addressing the unconscious women on the wall. "You two are nearly worthless to me, and I had high hopes in you, Mizuki, very high hopes indeed. You've also ruined what was a very good evening, and therefore, before I convert you into loyal minions, you're going to pay!" Mika was now making her way through the Memory Writer unit, one of the few programs she was really good at. "I think you two have had very miserable childhoods. Yes, that should do. Your mommies beat you until you were black and blue, and when your daddies came home..."
"The equipment is ready, master!" cried a young girl's voice in a fair Igor impersonation. "Shall I remove the bodies?"
Mika looked up with a start to see an eight year old girl with a hunchback leering at her from the doorway. The girl bore a fair resemblance to Mika when she was a child. A long strand of hair held with an X-shaped pin dangled away from her face. She was dressed in rags obviously borrowed from the Universal Studios wardrobe department.
Mika pointed in shock. "You!!" In response, the girl jumped up and down and waved her arms from side to side like an orangutan. Mika, in turn, ran full speed at the apparition; her head down like a charging bull. Lain waited until the last second to dodge, causing Mika to crash into the wall of the hallway right under a MAPU after leaping over the bleeding technician. She got up, only barely dazed. "Demon!" she cried. "Abomination!!" The girl waited for her to get up before scrambling down the halls, the crazed woman in fast pursuit.
With a small hologramatic part of herself leading her once-sister away, Lain broke into the interrogation room's computer and started the process of reviving Arisu and Reika. She had been lucky that the technician had opened the door: Mika was too clever to have an unrestricted recording device like a MAPU installed in an interrogation room. On the other hand, she wasn't clever enough to know a voice activated Navi made for a very good microphone, which was how Lain knew how imperative it was to intervene when she did.
A minute later, Mika's secretary stepped over the body to enter the room. "Ms. Iwakura?" he asked, picking up the clipboard. "Mika?" This last word almost whispered, as the man wasn't quite on a first-name basis with his employer despite over four years of fulfilling (and often exceeding) her every demand.
"I'm over here, Douglas," a voice addressed him from one of the twin Navis. The man walked over to talk to the face of his employer on the screen.
"You wanted me?" he replied with a hint of joy in his voice. She called me Douglas!
"Yes. The two subjects have been drained dry. Let them go."
"But I thought you were going to re-write..."
"Let them go, Douglas!"
Douglas bowed. "Yes, Madame."
"Oh, and Douglas?"
"Yes?"
"Could you get these two on the ground to the infirmary?"
"The infirmary?" From the angle of impact, Douglas had expected that his employer would want the two technicians sent for their "exit interviews".
The woman on the monitor shrugged. "I'm in a good mood tonight."
"Very well, Madame." He then turned and unstrapped the two captives before effortlessly picking them up and making his way down the hall. He did not see his employer on the computer monitor giggle childishly at his back.
Seven minutes later the air of the entire sub-basement was rent by an ear-shattering shriek of betrayal.
