Chapter 3 – Inner life

"How about this one, Luka? You'd look so cute in this!" His Master held a vaporous pink dress in front of Luka's chest, studying the effect. Luka managed to look even less impressed than usual.

The scientist had stated that she wanted to buy a few things in the trendy fashion district: an unusual proposition, since she tended to feel intimidated by the types of human that frequented that zone. However, once there, it became clear she wanted to play dress-up with them, and had no need for clothes herself. For his part, Gakupo didn't mind trying out the suits she picked out for him, since she enjoyed it so much. On the other hand, they were in their fifth store by now, and Luka had yet to show any interest in even a single article of clothing.

His Master sighed, then signaled one of the assistant bots rolling through the aisles of the store.

"Can you give this back to the lady at the counter?" She dumped the pink dress into the basket over its compact square body. It was already rather full with discarded clothes. The bot chirped inquisitively.

"Yes, that's all for now. Thank you," his Master replied kindly.

The bot made a parting beep and continued its patrol, expertly zigzagging its way through the crowded space.

Gakupo's eyes wandered upwards. Near the ceiling, the store had a series of balconies with animated mannequins showing off various looks, changing positions every few minutes. They didn't have true AI, of course, they just cycled through a series of programmed sequences. One of the mannequins was wearing an eye-catching aquamarine dress. The fabric hugged the bosom tightly, and then fell loosely in asymmetrical waves, the different layers iridescent like the wings of a dragonfly.

"Maybe that one?" He pointed.

"It's like the sea…" Luka muttered with wistfulness. His Master almost exploded with joy. Luka quickly added: "Uh- Miss Torii, I don't think it would look good on me."

"I think it matches your eyes," Gakupo commented.

"Yes-yes-yes! I'll get one right away, ok? Wait here!" His Master bounced enthusiastically, almost skipping as she set out to get the precious dress. Soon, she disappeared behind the wall of women and colorful clothing.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"I don't know what you mean," Gakupo said innocently.

"Don't encourage her. I don't need anything here." Luka's voice was acrid.

"Do you think your dress is going to remain in good condition if you use it day after day? You and I have the potential to exist for hundreds and hundreds of years. I assume you want to keep it with you for as long as possible."

Luka lowered her face, studying the dark weave of her dress. "I hadn't considered that before…" she trailed off. "Yes, I want to be wearing it when I deactivate. It needs to last until then," she said as she caressed the fabric.

She met his eyes solemnly. "Thanks for mentioning it."

"Perhaps in return you could show some enthusiasm for that pretty dress up there? Just a tiny smile," Gakupo winked at her.

"Perhaps."

A woman carrying a small mountain of clothes pushed past them, eyeing them with curiosity. Admittedly, seeing two humanoid synthetics like themselves together, especially without their human masters, was an uncommon sight.

"Honestly, when was the last time you smiled?" Gakupo asked in a hushed tone.

"12263117 seconds and 45 milliseconds ago."

Over four months. Gakupo's eyes widened. It seemed ludicrous, considering smiling was part of their range of automated responses. In their efforts to mimic human behavior, their makers developed systems that automatically responded with the proper facial expression to stimuli, without the guidance of the higher hierarchy functions that simulated conscious thought. Of course, the initial work of designing and coding a system that accurately selected a proper response had taken years of trial-and-error. Also, third-wave synthetics such as them depended so much in a continuous process of assessment, compilation and re-contextualization of data that recently activated units functioned much less efficiently than the older ones. They simply didn't have enough life experience to react correctly to complicated situations.

But Luka had been active for months, even longer than Gakupo. Even if her personality didn't lend itself to many displays of emotion, by now she must have developed the reflex to react with a smile whenever it was appropriate. The chances of such an event not coming up in four months was astronomical.

"You're staring," Luka said with amusement in her voice.

It was hard to choose a proper response. Lately, whenever the topic of maintenance or modding came up, Luka tended to dodge the issue. Come to think of it, Mister Smith had not yet asked his Master to tinker with Luka's systems yet. Did Luka ever discuss the issue with him?

"Smile for me."

"Hm?"

"Right now, smile for me. Please."

Luka gave him a blank stare. Finally, she looked away. "…No," her voice almost seemed fearful.

Something was wrong, wasn't it? His Master's theory, that Luka's quirks were a product of her personality constructs, simply didn't add up.

"Is everything alright?" his Master had approached the pair without him even noticing it. Another small bot trailed behind her, carrying not one but several different blue and turquoise dresses in its basket.

"Master, can you do maintenance on us when we return home?" Gakupo said quickly. Luka took a shaky step back, almost as if fighting the impulse to move.

"Eh? Of course I can." His Master answered, looking worried. "I told Warren we were going to drop by the Golden Skies after this, but if you feel it's serious…"

"It isn't." Luka suddenly interjected, balling her fists.

"Yes, it is!" Gakupo shot back and grabbed Luka's right arm. His Master stared at them, bewildered. A small crowd of customers began to form around the trio.

Luka was trembling under his fingers. There were little mechanical tremors running through her body, a symptom that seemed awfully familiar. Gakupo had that happen to him only a couple of times, but it had been so unpleasant as to leave a permanent impression.

Luka was wrestling with conflicting orders. Most likely, part of her mind was ordering her body to run away, while another was telling it to stay put. And that meant her basic directives, standing orders and personal initiative were clashing somehow.

With strangely choppy movements, she raised her left hand and placed it over the fingers gripping her. Maybe she was trying to ground herself in something solid, he thought. Eight long seconds passed while she sorted through whatever was going on in her head. Suddenly, the tremors stopped.

"It would be beneficial for my overall performance to undergo routine maintenance," Luka said carefully choosing her words. "Gakupo is worried that I have some issues with zygomaticus regulation. However, I'm not currently suffering any critical malfunctions, so it can wait until tonight. Please don't abandon your current schedule on my accord, Miss Torii."

"Oh- good, that should be easy to check." His Master looked relieved.

"I appreciate your concern for me, Gakupo" Luka said, gently removing his hand from her arm. "But it's going to be ok." With that, she went to check the dresses in the bot's basket.

"I hope so," he whispered.

The Golden Skies was a busy establishment in Gibson Street, the unofficial border between the restaurant and entertainment district, and the zone filled with warehouses and shops selling the latest in electronics. They offered live performances with a teashop and a bar at the top floor, with the added bonus of welcoming all sorts of synthetics inside its doors.

It made sense, given who the main stars of the in-house performing troupe were.

Luka looked upwards at the huge billboards covering the front of the building, with a small frown. "Rin and Len in Midnight Clash under the Cherry Trees…?"

"It's a theater play, they are entertainers," his Master explained with a smile.

Luka studied the pair posing in complicated costumes, their impossibly bright hair and eyes outing them as synthetics.

"I didn't know child synthetics existed."

"They are very uncommon. I wouldn't be surprised if these two were the only active ones in the continent. I feel very lucky to have met Len. Perhaps we'll have the chance to talk to Rin today." Through common friends, Rin and Len's master, Mister Warren, had known of his Master's interest in synthetics. So one day, after Len injured his wrist during a performance, he requested her help in fixing him.

Both Rin and Len were modded, he confessed, so he couldn't take him to the official repair shop. But the modder was now requesting an unreasonable sum for his help, which probably was his plan all along.

For his Master, it was like a surprise present. A chance to examine another synthetic, and a child to boot! What wonderful things she could learn from comparing Gakupo's neural net to Len's! She quickly repaired the boy's wrist and promised to lend a hand whenever the twins needed maintenance. In exchange, Warren and Ariadne, his wife, had gifted her with a lifetime VIP pass to the Golden Skies.

The man himself stood by the entrance doors, welcoming his customers with a booming greeting and a tip of his top hat.

"He looks old," Luka whispered to Gakupo. He understood what she meant. In developed countries, the majority of people had access to anti-aging treatments that masked their true age. It didn't prolong their natural life expectancy, in most cases, but it meant that pure white hair and wrinkles such as his were an extremely odd sight.

"It's all part of his stage persona, I think," he replied. With his old-fashioned suit, an elegant clock hanging from a gold chain, a flower in his lapel and his carefully groomed moustache and beard, he looked like the quintessential grandfather from a fairytale. He let out a hearty laugh when he saw the trio approaching.

"My dear Mitsuki, and Gakupo too! Welcome, welcome! And who's this beautiful rose?"

"This is Luka. Say hello to Mister Warren Goldstein, Luka."

Luka gave her usual muted greeting. Warren shook his head, with mock consternation. "No-no-no, that won't do at all! Young women should be confident, and shine like the sun! Look at my Rin up there! Do you think she's ever daunted by anything? No, sir! How about you try that again?"

Luka hid behind Gakupo's back, burying her face in his hair. Gakupo blinked.

"Please Mister Warren, Luka isn't good with strangers." He wasn't sure that was exactly right, but it was something his Master had said at one point. The scientist nodded, clearly gushing at Luka's cuteness.

Warren laughed again, not unkindly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. What a sweetie you have there, boy. You are a lucky one, eh?" He gently pushed Gakupo inside, with Luka still clinging to him. "Go find a table for two while I talk to Mitsuki. Have yourselves a nice romantic date, order whatever you want."

Luka took his hand as they descended the carpeted stairs to the floor of the foyer. They could already hear music and cheering, drifting through one of the partially opened doors to the main stage area. A youthful, high-pitched voice broke into song.

"I think I'm a bit underdressed for a romantic date," Gakupo noted, pointing towards his t-shirt and jeans. Luka was wearing a long shimmering blue dress, one of the new outfits his Master had bought for her.

"How thoughtless. You'll have to make it up for me later, boy."

Gakupo laughed.

They stepped inside. Immediately, they were surrounded with confetti and balloons that disappeared as soon as they touched the ground or their bodies. The whole semicircular space, three stories tall, was filled with colorful shapes floating in mid-air. The stage, surrounded with packed tables, had a translucent carousel on top of it, and in its center, dancing wildly, was Rin. Her body left a trace of light as she moved, with the long ribbons around her head and waist floating weightlessly around her.

The patrons, a mix of humans and synthetics of the various models, were clapping along with the beat of the music. Those who could clap, in any case. Most of the synthetics present were second-wave models, humanoid in shape but with shiny metal skin and rough features. Some were robot-pets, mostly cats and dogs, but also birds, a couple of turtles and a white tiger. There were even some ancient first-wave types, boxy and mindless, watching the stage with photoelectric eyes. There was even a late third-wave model like them, a huge male with brown and white hair, sitting at a table with a tiny schoolboy.

Looking around, they noticed an empty table near the middle of the room. As soon as they sat down, the circular projector in the center lit up, presenting small holographic images of Rin and Len.

"Welcome to Golden Skies! Who do you wish to be your server today?" the twins asked in unison.

Gakupo looked at Luka, but she simply shrugged.

"Len, please."

Rin bowed and disappeared, replaced by Len. The blonde boy started to explain the specials for the day before Luka interrupted him

"I don't like eating all that much," Luka mentioned quickly.

"I don't either, to be honest," Gakupo said in response. "But they have alternatives for synthetics. Right, Len?"

Len's image flickered slightly as he nodded.

"Our systems detect that you are third-wave VE models," Len informed them. "As such, we can offer you the following serums, virtual treats and services." On cue, two menus appeared floating in mid-air before them. Luka tried to touch one of them, but her finger passed right through its simulated surface.

"Do you require a physical menu?" Len asked her.

"I didn't… No, no thanks." Luka looked up to Gakupo. "Virtual treats? If this is not food, what is it exactly? Summer Holiday, First Day at Class… the descriptions aren't really clear."

"They are randomized virtual experiences. You can pretend to be a human, and-"

"I don't want to be a human," Luka cut him off brusquely.

"It's just an opportunity to experiment with things we don't have access to" Gakupo said, trying to placate her. He had to admit, at first it had been somewhat hard to fathom of taking the role of a human, even if it was a simulation. But it was just an intellectual exercise, right?

Luka looked at the menu with narrowed eyes, as if she expected it to chomp on her face at any moment.

"Since this is a romantic date and all, maybe we could try a co-op treat. Please bring us a shared Honeymoon at the Asteroid Belt."

"Certainly," Len bowed and disappeared, replaced by a rotating logo of the Golden Skies.

"Honeymoon already? I think you're skipping a few steps in the process, there," Luka's voice indicated some amusement.

"At least I didn't go for Golden Wedding Anniversary."

"I don't know, I'd like to see how you look with a nice white beard like Mister Warren."

Five minutes later, a bot approached the table. It held a silver platter with two tubes emblazoned with the Golden Skies logo. A life-sized image of Len appeared next to it, thanks to the projector lens on its side.

"Thank you for your patience. Please allow the treats complete access to your external stimuli configuration to maximize your experience, and remain seated while engaged in the simulation. The emergency termination code for your simulation is 36367."

Gakupo picked up the tubes and uncorked the tip, showing Luka the connector under it.

"Time for lift-off!"

Whatever Warren wanted to say, it took long enough for them to complete the simulation. After that, they quickly dropped backstage to greet Len and Rin, and returned home.

All in all, it had been a pretty good visit, Gakupo mused. After her initial reluctance, Luka seemed to really enjoy the simulation, especially the Race to Ceres sub-event. Interestingly enough, her face in the virtual environment was much more expressive than her real one. He was eager to see what his Master could find out with the diagnostics tests.

"Well, since you also want some maintenance done, how about we start with you?" His Master walked into the lab, turning on the lights with a wave of her hand.

"Yes, Master." Gakupo removed his 'earphones' and climbed onto the lab's stretcher. He laid face-down, exposing the ports on the back of his head, usually hidden by the band of the headpiece.

"It should take only a quarter hour, at most. Luka, can you go make me some snacks?"

"Yes, Miss Torii," Luka replied blandly and promptly retreated into the corridor, the blue skirt twirling around her legs.

His Master approached him with several cables and began to plug them into his head. Though wireless connection was possible with some of the apparatuses, the signal tended to be less reliable than desired. She then inserted the connectors at the other end into the machinery around the stretcher, including three monitors.

"Here we go! Think of something nice and relax."

Gakupo closed his eyes. Several minutes passed with only the humming of the equipment, and the tapping and clicking of keys. Sometimes, he felt spectral fingers probing inside his head, and at other points his body twitched without his control.

He heard footsteps approaching. They stopped at the threshold of the lab, and his Master chuckled.

"Well, now you know what he's been thinking about the entire time."

Gakupo leaned on his arms, and looked at the monitors. The first one showed a fragment of the many lines of coding that formed his mind. The third one reflected the object currently holding his attention, in this case the monitor itself.

But the middle one had a grid full of flickering images of Luka: resting on his lap, cleaning the house, examining a book, sitting on a chair and balancing her feet, combing her hair… all fragments of time he had carefully preserved inside his mind.

"You told me to think of something nice," he shrugged. What else could be better than to bring out those treasured memories?

"Indeed," his Master looked at him with something akin to fascination. "Could it be possible…?" she rubbed her chin, studying him and Luka in turns.

For her part, Luka stared at the screen with an unfathomable expression. She set down the tray of munchable goodies on a cluttered table, and turned to his Master.

"Miss Torii, could we speak in private for a minute?"

"Is this about the diagnostics equipment? It's perfectly safe, I've been using it on Gakupo since I bought him."

Luka shook her head. "I need your opinion as a woman."

"…Oh?" his Master approached Luka and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Let's go, then," she said with an enigmatic smile. "Don't try to eavesdrop, Gakupo."

"I can't unplug myself." For whatever reason, his makers had written into his mind a compulsion against touching his own ports or the small maintenance panel.

"All the better," she laughed a little.

They left the room. Gakupo closed his eyes again, resting his head on his left forearm.

What was going on? Was Luka trying to talk herself out of undergoing maintenance again? Her base directives had to be in favor of getting fixed, so the problem could only stem out of a currently active order from Mister Smith, or something her conscious mind had decided. The most likely source was Mister Smith, he imagined. His Master's archive was full of cases of robots engaging in bizarre behavior because of incorrectly phrased orders by their masters. The imprecise nature of human language was partly at fault there, as well as the complexity of social situations. Life outside of the factories and research institutes was seldom as straightforward as their programmers hoped.

78 seconds later, Luka entered the lab again. His Master wasn't with her. Strange. She calmly approached the desk next to the stretcher and removed her 'earphones', placing them next to his.

"Where's my Master?"

Luka didn't reply. Instead, she examined the cables connecting him to the diagnostics machines, and unplugged a couple of them from their ports.

Gakupo turned his body sideways, leaning on an elbow. He looked at her with puzzlement.

"Luka…?"

Still silent, she pushed him back down on the stretcher. The cables lumped uncomfortably under his head, but they were quickly forgotten when Luka climbed on top of him. She straddled Gakupo, the other end of the cables still in her hand.

"I asked her to give us some time alone."

"What? Why?"

Instead of answering, Luka plugged the cables into her own head. The world exploded in a billion points of light.

He was faintly aware that the stretcher was still under him, as he writhed involuntarily. And that Luka collapsed on top of him, moaning. Her hair tickled his chin, and her hands frantically grabbed at his t-shirt, tearing the fabric with ease. He held her tightly, with suddenly clumsy fingers.

But those external sensations were nothing compared to the influx of strange data flowing into him through their connection. He gave out a moan of his own as his mind struggled to allocate space to all the information suddenly pouring into it.

It was more than simply numerical sequences. It was her presence, stronger than ever, colliding into him, the sum of everything she was and more, that emergent self… All that called herself Luka rushed to meet him, fusing into him…

Deep inside of them, in the profound layers of being, there was an ocean, dark and endless. Under the restless waves, brightly lit strands of data weaved together, freely forming figures that dissolved only a moment later. The separated threads gathered time and time again, forming fleeting figures that blossomed silently.

And then, there were trees, exploding in size with the swiftness of thought, each node a fragment of a cherished recollection of their months of existence. Binary tendrils tying together concepts that formed an ever-expanding web. Towering stacks of images, cross-referenced and annotated and beloved.

Finally, there was a man and a woman. The end result of so many delicate layers of miracles.

They explored each other under a sky with fixed, unblinking stars. But they were the sky and stars and the cold ground, as much as they were the bodies recreated under their hands. There were no walls left. Luka was the synthetic daughter of a woman abandoned in her old age, as much as she was the synthetic servant of a scientist with her eyes fixed on the stars. Gakupo was a wonderful invention, as much as he was an unwanted inheritance. They saw each other from the outside, and then inquisitively touched the processes within. Their craving for each other grew, the insistent prodding of their innate mandate to learn only increased by their union.

More, they cried out.

More.

More!

Gakupo slowly opened his eyes. He gazed lazily at the ceiling for a moment, while his mind tried to review his latest recorded activities. His logs were a mess. The dull throbbing in his head indicated that he was low on power, although he was being slowly charged through the cord plugged into his head. He should probably go to the charging alcove and expedite the process. But Luka was on top of him, her head resting on his chest. Their interlocked bodies were covered by a blanket, for some reason.

His Master cleared her throat. Gakupo turned his head to the right, and saw her flick off the switch of the auxiliary battery on the desk. The flow of current trickling into him stopped. She sat down next to the stretcher, her cheeks flushing red, and unplugged his end of the cord.

"I'm sorry to wake you, but I need some help to get the house ready for tomorrow. You remember our plans, right?"

Tomorrow? Gakupo checked his schedule. Nothing. But there was a fuzzy void in this thoughts, and he suddenly realized that his inner clock didn't match the display on the lab's wall.

His master followed his eyes. "You've been out of it for quite a while," she noted awkwardly. "You can imagine how surprised I was, when I came in here, and saw you two, err…" she trailed off, embarrassed. He couldn't, actually. He vaguely recalled being examined, and then... There was a jumble of data in his head that needed sorting, and he felt a strange tinge of pleasure at the idea of analyzing it all in detail while he charged at the alcove.

He caressed Luka's hair, calling her name softly, but she didn't stir.

"She's out of charge. You both were. At first, I thought you were going to stop on your own, but you, um, kept going," his Master shrugged. "Can you lift her? Maybe I should've charged her first…"

Gakupo tried untangling his limbs from hers. It took some effort, since without the flow of energy and their guiding consciousness, synthetic bodies were heavy and stiff. He slowly rose to a sitting position, cradling Luka tenderly. The blanket fell to the floor, and Gakupo noted with some confusion that their clothes were torn into ribbons. Perhaps that was the reason his Master had covered them with a blanket?

"And that dress was brand new…" His Master muttered. He turned to see her studiously staring at her own hands, folded in her lap.

"Take Luka to the guest bedroom. I'll see if I can change her clothes while you charge."

"Yes, Master."

He stood up, carefully carrying Luka in his arms. She was heavier than an organic woman of her size, but then again, he was stronger than an organic man. He took a few steps towards the door.

"Um, Gakupo?" his Master softly called out, still staring downwards.

"Yes?"

"I'm going to do all I can to make sure you two are happy, ok?"

"Thank you, Master." He wasn't sure what provoked her to say it, but Gakupo accepted her kindness gladly. She really was an extraordinary human, and he loved her almost as much as he loved Luka.

He stopped on his tracks as soon as the thought crossed his mind, shocked at himself. Was he even allowed to formulate such an aberrant idea?

He examined the words with care. He loved Luka. He loved Luka more than he loved Mitsuki Torii, his Master. He awaited the lash of his programming, the punishment for such disloyalty, but nothing came.

"I love Luka," he tried out loud.

Behind him, a little laugh erupted from his Master's lips. "I can see that. I was hoping your interactions would be interesting to watch, but this? " She laughed some more.

"Is it… is it ok? Do I have permission to?"

"Permission has nothing to do with it. A person's feelings can't be stopped by mere words," she intoned solemnly. Then she smiled at him, her face still brightly red. "Go."

He looked down at Luka's face, pondering.

"Yes, Master."

What was in the jumbled data in his files?