Wow. I really like how this turned out! Thanks to Bloo-96 for the slight inspiration (in the form of 'I miss writing the tachikomas. I think I'll do a drabble!')
Hm. This is set loosely in the second gig, after Batou's little to-do with Kuze (ow).
"Major! Major! You're back!"
"Is Mr. Batou all right?"
"We heard he was in a fight!"
"Did he win? Will he be back soon?"
Motoko sighed, waiting for the onslaught of questions to die down before addressing her AI subordinates. Finally, the seven Tachikomas that had been left at section nine quieted enough for her voice to be heard. "He'll be fine, he just had to go to the doctor."
"But why!"
"Yeah! Don't leave us out just because we weren't there!"
Rolling her eyes from across the hanger, the major turned back to face them. "Kuze took out his leg and damaged his shoulder," she said, only a fraction of the exasperation she actually felt bleeding into her voice, "but it's just a matter of replacing the parts."
There was a collective squawk among the think tanks, arms waving in distress at the plight of their chosen idol. "Just replacing parts!" one squealed, "but even we feel a little weird when our parts get changed out, and they're perfect copies! What happens with something as specialized as a limb!"
"Yeah! Doesn't the ghost spread to fill the body, which makes one's limbs irreplaceable?" one asked.
Another turned, rotating its claw and eye turret as if in thought. "Well, that depends on whether one believes the body and soul are inseparable. If one does, then yes, the loss of a limb could result in a partial loss of the ghost…"
"Hey!" another chimed in, "maybe that's part of phantom limb syndrome! Even people who get cyberized prosthetic limbs still feel the loss! Maybe they're feeling the partial loss of the ghost as well as the limb!"
"Well, that would be plausible, I suppose," the thinker replied, nodding, "but for people such as Mr. Batou, who's ghosts are already liberated of their body, it shouldn't be the same."
"But doesn't that disprove that theory of a soul being inseparable from the body?"
"Well, yes. I guess it does…" with a roll of it's 'eye' the Tachikoma crossed it's arms, appearing to be in deep thought.
"Hey… where'd the major go?" one asked after a moment of collective contemplation.
The uproar began again, all of them wondering when she had left and at the same time worrying over Batou's state.
Once in the elevator, Motoko leaned against the white walls, trying very hard not to think of what the Tachikoma's had thought of. Despite her cool demeanor towards them, and occasional slight fondness, she sometimes hated it when they became fixated on an idea. Their way of looking at the world was totally different than hers; ghostless AIs, curious of the world that they had been… born… into.
At times, it did seem like they were children; very intelligent children. And just as children seemed to have the uncanny ability to point of the most obvious of truths, sometimes they hit upon philosophical ideas that haunted her, much as she hated to admit it, even to herself.
She knew that her soul was impervious to molding and shaping by outside sources; having spent time as a mere entity in cyberspace. As far as she could tell, she was still herself from body change to body change. But if the Tachikoma's line of thinking had been correct, and the soul was inseparable from the body… then that small, small part of her mind that constantly whined that she was lacking something… was right.
She was missing a piece of her ghost.
The elevator stopped, and she got off quickly, leaving the thoughts behind the closing doors as she went to meet Aramaki in his office.
Reviewsappreciated. Have a good weekend!