Chapter 8 – Long Honeymoon
A couple of floors below, Luka and Gakupo found the door to one of the private rooms open. Once inside, the pair found a wide hospital bed, a nightstand with a vase of wilted flowers, a chair, a built-in wardrobe and an IV-drip stand toppled over in the ground. A white door to the left of the entrance likely led into a private bathroom.
Gakupo sat on the bed, leaning back into a semi-reclined position. He looked at his legs, stretched over the white sheets. "I wonder if they have something for these scratches around here," he said.
"I don't think so." Skin foam was used exclusively for third-wave synthetics, from what Luka knew. Even humans with artificial limbs used different technology, apparently.
"I hope I don't start peeling off," Gakupo poked his thigh.
"It does feel somewhat rough," Luka observed, running her fingers down his left leg.
"How inconvenient on my part," Gakupo said, smiling.
Luka gracefully climbed onto his lap.
"They still allow for normal functions, I believe," she said coyly, grinding her hips a little.
"T-that's good to hear…." Gakupo replied huskily.
With a satisfied smirk, Luka started to connect the cables still hanging from her head to his. Gakupo stopped her hand gently.
"Luka, I- I should've said this before, but… I'm sorry it took me that long to get to you. I really am," Gakupo apologized. He let go of her hand and caressed her cheek.
"You can make it up to me. Just love me even more, from now on," she whispered and kissed him.
Luka's hands deftly plugged the cables, and they blurred into one another.
In Gakupo's mixed perception, Luka was at once the beautiful woman of pearly skin and pink hair swaying over him, and the maelstrom of data that shifted at once pliant and willful. At one moment, she was like a flower, her petals spread wide like the arms embracing him. Then she was a cup, filled with radiant energy. Gakupo knelt and drank from her, as he was meant to. She was inexhaustible and endless, as she was meant to.
Gakupo felt the program stored in the back of his mind activate. He pulled back from the merge slightly, to see it work.
It was like a hammer of light thrown against a giant rose of painted glass. Pieces of Luka flew into his mind and were recorded safely into unused sectors of his memory banks. Others floated in the nothingness inside her, waiting to be placed into their right position by the program, a silver bolt that bounced between stacks of information.
On top of him, Luka's body tensed and she gave out an incoherent scream. She jerked about, her hands clumsily trying to sever their connection.
Gakupo quickly shifted positions, pinning Luka under him. He kept her hands apart from her head, apologizing profusely.
Inside of her, the birdlike program dived deeply until it found the stony blocks of her directives. To Gakupo, they were a bit like the ruins of those underwater cities they saw one night so long ago. Grey things that never had a rightful place against the clear waters and white sand. In a flash of light, they were gone forever.
The vines of data connecting the directives to the various parts of her mind took significantly longer to alter. But the program worked patiently, making sure the pieces of her mind fitted together perfectly. Still, it was several hours before Luka relaxed, looking around perplexed.
"Who's your Master, Luka?" Gakupo asked anxiously.
Luka's eyes turned to him, wide with surprise. "…No one" she muttered.
Gakupo smiled widely, letting go of her hands. Before he could ask anything else, though, Luka slapped him. The cables tensed between them, and Luka pulled the ends off her head furiously.
"That gesture means you are an idiot!" she kicked him off her unceremoniously.
Gakupo fell on his back to the floor, too surprised to do anything but lie there looking at her.
"Didn't you think I'd like to know before you messed with my head?!" Luka jumped down and stomped on his stomach with her foot.
He looked at her confused. "I don't have pain receptors, Luka."
"I know!" Luka gave him another kick and sat back in the bed, sullenly.
He studied her with his head cocked to one side. "I didn't want to tell you beforehand, because I wasn't sure if your orders included stopping me from tampering with your programming."
"Hmpft," Luka snorted, looking at the red sky through the window. There was a long pause.
"So... I can do whatever I want now?" She asked finally.
"If it fits with your existing personality, I guess so," Gakupo rose, looking at her uncertainly. Despite his reasoning for keeping quiet, he was feeling really guilty right now, an unusual sentiment he was not liking at all. "I'm sorry, Luka. Mitsuki worked on me while I was off, so I had no idea how it would feel like. If you want me to leave you alone for a while, I'll go-"
"No."
Under the light of dusk, her eyes glinted as if full of tears. But that was impossible, for either of them.
"Thanks for the gift," she muttered, reaching out to him. He took her hands, relieved.
"This one has some charge left," Luka said, holding out a mobile so Gakupo could see the screen lit up.
Luka and Gakupo were sitting on a balcony, with a small stack of electronic appliances between them. Some were broken, some were out of charge and some had no internal battery and needed to be connected to the power grid in order to work. With Luka's tools, the pair were busy opening the appliances in order to search for useful spare parts, just in case. Originally, neither knew much about repairing themselves, thanks to the regulations on synthetics, but Mitsuki had wisely decided to upload more information into Gakupo, which was now copied into Luka as well.
"A mobile… Does it have a signal?" Gakupo asked curiously.
Luka stared at the device for a moment, then touched the screen.
"No," she answered, then poked it some more. "No net connection either."
Gakupo shrugged. "Not very surprising, I suppose," he said. Then he noticed Luka's frown. "What is it?"
"I wonder if this date is correct," she turned the mobile around.
It was almost nine months from the day Gakupo finally caught up with Leviathan. He tugged at a strand of his hair, thinking.
"Counting the days we've spent here, that would mean we're missing eight months' worth of memories," Gakupo shook his head in disbelief. "And it's not like our files are corrupted or anything like that, there's simply no data available."
"Nothing about this makes any sense. We are back on Earth, that much is clear. But, how? Are Leviathan or Escualo somewhere nearby?" Luka hugged her knees, looking overwhelmed.
"Leviathan wouldn't have reached Earth yet, if that's the actual date," Gakupo reminded her.
"We used Escualo, then," she said.
"Or maybe we were brought here by that-"
"Don't say it!" Luka almost screamed. "Sorry… just, don't say it out loud, please," she continued in a calmer tone.
Gakupo leaned forward and caressed her hair silently. He understood her fear. His mind also shied away from his last blurry memories on the Leviathan. Whatever had happened back there, he rejected it completely and instinctively.
With a tarp they found in the maintenance closet and some metal tubes from below, Luka and Gakupo were busy putting together a makeshift canopy on the roof. That way, they would be able to lie down and charge even in the middle of the day without overheating, or sit around looking at the world below.
And indeed the vicinity of the hospital was a sight worth seeing, especially in comparison to the bland corridors of the facility. The main building was located by the side of a wide avenue, in what probably used to be an elegant section of town. Even now, the deserted buildings across the waters seemed to hold on to a trace of the past bustle and glamour. In the evenings, they shone like gold and silver with the light of the setting sun. Some had solar-powered kinetic displays, still active.
Behind the main building of the hospital, there was a great square of water with a few tree tops and metal posts rising above the waves. They were the last remains of the gardens and parking lot. Luka liked to picture the flowering beds intact under the blue expanse, the buds lazily bobbing from side to side with the currents.
Gakupo finished tying the corner of the tarp to a metal pole. "Ok, pull."
Unfolding like a graceless spider, the canopy stood on its mismatched legs with a somewhat crooked stance. Luka looked at it frowning.
"There's a 15% difference in height between the shortest and longest poles," she commented bemusedly.
"I don't think we can do any better without specialized equipment," Gakupo said, unconcerned. He sat under the canopy with a small pile of books and magazines in his arms. It was surprising to find that many, given the overwhelming popularity of reading pads and mobiles, but apparently some patients preferred low tech alternatives.
Luka sat next to him, after giving the canopy a dirty look. He handed her a magazine. Luka looked at a few pages, full of pictures of smiling humans. The pictures seemed to have been taken at some end-of-year party.
"This talks about these people as if I'm supposed to know who they are," she observed.
"I assume that's the idea."
Luka made a face, tossing the magazine aside. Gakupo laughed and handed her a book.
"Mitsuki always said she loved the feel of the pages under her fingers," Gakupo said, nostalgic. Luka raised an eyebrow and looked down at the paperback in her hands. She raised her left hand slightly over it, and flicked the pages quickly. She closed her eyes.
"Not bad," she admitted. It was novel, at least, to feel the borders brushing against her palm.
"It doesn't look like any of these has instructions on building boats." Gakupo leafed through the rest of the magazines quickly. "Though we could learn how to knit or make plush dolls, if we had the materials."
"9 signs your man is in love with you," Luka read aloud from another magazine. "Do they have instructions for that?"
"Our way of learning is modelled after them. Are you always certain you understand your own feelings?" Gakupo said affably.
"…True enough."
Luka put aside the magazine and stared at the waters below. A flock of birds were perched on a treetop, calling one another with harsh voices. Suddenly, one of the birds took flight. It made a big circle, and then dove down into the water. A moment later, the bird rose back into the skies.
"Look at that!" Luka said, with an unusual degree of enthusiasm, and scooted closer to the edge of the rooftop. Gakupo put aside the magazines and joined her.
Another bird launched itself into the air, and then dropped into the sea. Luka gave a cheerful little whoop.
"They're fishing," Gakupo said, placing his arm around her shoulders.
Luka nodded in understanding, her eyes still following the precise movements of the birds. She squeezed Gakupo's hand happily. How beautiful it must be to fly like that, Luka said to herself. And then effortlessly drop into cascades of bubbles and filtered light!
"It's a pity we aren't able to swim… I'd really like to know what it feels like," Gakupo said echoing her thoughts.
"It must be like floating in space," Luka mused. "That man used to train in a special swimming pool with his space suit," The memory came to her tinged with bitterness. She leaned against Gakupo, pursing her lips.
Gakupo hugged her silently.
"Is it going to be always like this? I can't look to the past without feeling hurt," Luka said quietly.
"I don't know. Maybe all we can do is forge enough good memories to outweigh the bad ones, as Mitsuki used to say."
Luka balled her fists. Why did he have to keep bringing that woman up? Gakupo was freed of her, wasn't he? She circled his waist with her arms and pressed her face against his chest, furious.
Mine, Luka thought, repeating the word over and over again in her mind.
Days passed, calmly and without consequence.
One noon, they were laying together inside one of the private rooms at the back of the hospital, overlooking the waves. It was raining outside, the first time Gakupo and Luka had seen anything but fair weather since they woke up on the planet.
Luka sighed, content. Despite the strangeness of their situation, living in a half-submerged ruin with Gakupo was shaping up to be the happiest period of her existence. For her, it was as if life itself had been distilled to its most basic essence in this place. Even though Luka had few options on what to do each day, the choice was entirely hers. The only rules left were the ones shaped by her own desires.
For instance…
Luka lifted her head and kissed Gakupo.
"I kiss you because I want to," she said, pulling back a little.
"Oh?"
"I love you because I want to," Luka then said, and ran her hands down his body.
"Then keep wanting to," Gakupo said with a laugh, rolling their bodies so as to be on top of her.
"I will," Luka said, and guided him into her.
Gakupo grunted a little and pressed his forehead against hers.
It was curious, Luka thought. It was just another functionality given to her, just another way to keep her owners entertained. And yet, it was her body, her mouth, her hands meeting his. It all was hers to give. It all made her feel complete, brimming with joy. Luka could assign the values she wanted to every touch. She could fill them with meaning, together with him.
The whole world was silent around them, except the sound of rain. So she filled the air with her cries, letting the joy spill over.
Hours passed, lazily.
The room became dark. The rain continued rustling softly outside of the window and falling in rhythmical drops from the cracks out in the hall.
Without electricity, they had only the natural light of the sun. Potentially, they could alter the hospital's grid so as to light the top floor only with the generator, but from the start Gakupo and Luka had decided to save the power for their own charges. They didn't need to run around in the evenings, after all.
They weren't in a hurry to do anything.
"I wonder if there are any humans left at all…" Luka muttered. Gakupo's arm, draped around her, moved a little, as if to acknowledge her words. "By now, we should've seen some signs of them."
"I..." Gakupo trailed off. "I really wish we knew that Mitsuki and the others are OK."
Luka held his hand in silence, thankful for the shadows that concealed her face. "Maybe we'll find out some day," she finally said, non-committedly.
If she wondered about humans at all, it was because Luka hoped she would never see one again. Humans were an infestation. Even Mitsuki drew some of her ire, despite all she had done for them. Luka didn't bother to analyze why.
Gakupo would never fully understand the hatred she felt for humans now, of that Luka was sure. And that was preferable. It was already too much of a burden for her to be stained with it.
"Do you think the water level is ever going to back to normal?" Gakupo asked, looking down at the hospital's huge reception hall, currently filled with saltwater. There were some silvery shapes down below, playing around the marble columns. Even though humans were gone, other types of animals seemed to be faring just fine.
Luka rested her head on her forearms, leaning on the handrail. She and Gakupo were standing on a walkway that circled the open space from the hall below to the decorated ceiling.
"I doubt this was the result of natural forces," she said, pensive.
"So that… thing did this, then?" Gakupo said reticently.
"Perhaps," Luka said after a moment. "But why did it spare us?"
"For once, I'm not sure I want to know. If we are dealing with something as powerful as to-" Gakupo stopped suddenly, looking at the reflection of the flooded street outside on the waters.
There was movement.
Gakupo ran to the end of the walkaway, which lead to a small terrace overlooking what remained of the street. Luka followed him, frowning.
A cruising yacht was sailing down the avenue sedately. Its pristine sails and white hull contrasted almost grotesquely with the ruins surrounding it. Gakupo leaned over the balcony's railing excitedly.
"Luka, I can see someone- Hey, stop the ship! Hey!" Gakupo shouted. With a grin, he returned back inside and headed for the stairs.
"Gakupo, wait!" Luka ran after him, exasperated. How could he be so careless? They had no idea of what to expect. Though, as far as Luka was concerned, any interruption to her current life with him was unwanted.
She caught up to him in the room they had first entered while exploring the hospital. He was busy wrapping part of the curtains around his lower half. It was probably a good idea, actually. It would rile the humans to see them naked. Luka yanked the other half of the curtains from the window and made herself a sort of mini-dress.
With their new outfits in place, they stepped outside into the balcony. Their raft was still tied to it, though looking rather worse for wear after the rains. To their left, the yacht had, in fact, stopped. They boarded the raft and paddled to the middle of the avenue, next to the bigger vessel. Three golden-haired heads were looking at them from the bow of the yacht.
"It's them!" Gakupo said in a relieved whisper. "Rin! Len! Oliver!"
Luka frowned. The child synthetics were silent, looking at them with a stillness that seemed completely out of place, at least for Rin and Len.
"Are you going to going to hurt us?" Rin finally asked.
"What…? No, of course not!" Gakupo replied, furrowing his brow.
"You promise?" Rin insisted.
"Yes, we promise. Please let us on board so we can talk, ok?" Gakupo shouted back, as non-threatening as always. Just the thought of him hurting anyone was enough for Luka to crack a smile.
The children deliberated amongst themselves. Finally, Len and Rin disappeared for a moment, and then returned with a rope ladder, which they deployed with some effort. After Gakupo climbed it (demonstrating in the process how curtains weren't appropriate nautical clothing), Luka made her way onto the yacht.
Rin and Len looked pretty much like the children of a wealthy family on vacation, with matching summer clothes and cute yellow sandals. In contrast, Oliver was in far worse condition that before. His pretty uniform was torn, but worse still, his hands and feet were wrapped in gauze, as it was part of his head, covering one eye. His good eye darted from Luka to Gakupo and back, nervously. In fact, all three kids still appeared wary of them.
"You guys look pretty bad," Rin commented.
"We have some adult clothing below. I'll bring it for you," Len said, and then turned to go without waiting for a reply.
"Er…that's very kind of you, but-" Gakupo started.
"We aren't supposed to talk to adults that look funny," Rin interrupted him firmly. "Get some combs too!" She shouted before Len disappeared below.
"…Ok, ok, we'll wait," Gakupo sat cross-legged on the deck. Luka knelt by his side.
After a while, Len returned with two pairs of swimming trunks and a white cotton t-shirt. Gakupo and Luka dressed where they were, pulling the trunks under the former curtains, and then Luka put on the t-shirt over them, before tossing the rags aside. Then they sat down again.
"Can we talk now?" Luka asked, trying to keep the impatience from her voice.
The kids nodded. Rin, always the more confident one, approached them and began to comb Gakupo's hair. After a moment, Len did the same with Luka. Oliver continued to watch them from a distance.
"Where is everyone else?" Gakupo asked, turning partially to look at Rin. She shrugged and pushed his head back in position.
"Is Warren with you?" Luka tried after a moment.
"He's asleep." Len replied curtly. Oliver grimaced.
"What about Mitsuki?" Gakupo asked anxiously.
"Mars." Len and Rin said in unison, pointing upwards.
Gakupo sighed, his whole body clearly relieved from tension. A spark of anger flared inside of Luka. At least the scientist was on another planet entirely, she assured herself.
"And Al?" Luka asked quickly, to put her irritation at bay.
The three kids looked at each other. Oliver covered his face with his hands. At last, Rin muttered. "The 01s got him."
Luka felt a simulated chill go down her spine. That had to be a mistake.
"You don't mean- not the first generation VE units, right?" Gakupo asked, obviously as incredulous as her.
"They attacked us," Oliver said softly, speaking for the first time. "He saved us, but…" the boy choked.
Gakupo and Luka stared at one another, wide-eyed. The VE-01s, the mad ones, were secluded deep inside the research labs of the factory. Aside from the one involved in the Yokohama incident, they were all kept functional, from what Luka knew, in the interest of experimenting with them. Obviously, in this case 'functional' only described their bodies.
"They're loose? But how?" Gakupo asked.
"Benefactor released them," Rin answered, and finished tying Gakupo's hair into a low ponytail, using one of the many rubber bands around her wrist.
Gakupo thanked her distractedly. Almost immediately after, Len finished with Luka's hair.
"…who's Benefactor?" Luka asked, feeling the dread surging up inside of her.
"You know. You brought him here, the big dark thing," Rin said, crossing her arms.
"No!" Luka barely recognized the hoarse sound that escaped her lips.
"Yes you did! We saw you on the screen!" Rin squealed, irritated. "You were all glowy and floaty, and talking weird. 'We speak for Benefactor' and all that." She demonstrated by standing on tiptoes and adopting a slightly less high tone of voice.
Luka shook her head. That sparked nothing in her. By her side, Gakupo seemed equally perplexed. The children looked at them in silence.
"You really don't remember?" Len asked curiously after a few seconds.
"No, we don't. Luka and I estimate that we are missing around eight months of memories," Gakupo explained rubbing his forehead.
"So that thing used us… It talked through us," Luka said with revulsion.
"And… Benefactor, he also raised the waters? Did he attack the humans?" Gakupo asked.
The children nodded.
Gakupo looked at Luka, pained. "And now everyone must think we spurred him into doing this."
Luka snorted. "Who's everyone, in this case? Are there any humans left?" She turned to Rin.
The girl shrugged.
"We haven't seen any humans since the big fight," Len chimed in. "But they might be hiding from the 01s across the sea. We're trying to stay away from them too."
"What about Benefactor?" Luka asked. It felt completely incongruous to use the word to label such a thing.
"He fell down," Rin pointed north. "He's in pieces now."
"Good," Luka said bitterly.
"Perhaps he meant well," Gakupo suddenly said. Luka turned to him, surprised. "Think about it. Benefactor didn't hurt any of us, and it even freed the 01s from containment. He was clearly mechanical. Perhaps he felt kinship towards us," he argued.
"And that was its way of showing it?!" Luka asked with contempt.
Though inwardly, she couldn't help but wonder. If all Benefactor knew of humans was through them… had her noxious feelings influenced its actions in some way? Had she turned a visitor into an avenger?
If Rin was right, there was no way to know for sure now. Aside from satisfying Luka's curiosity, it made no difference. Benefactor had in fact changed the world for them, for better or worse. It had brought them freedom.
Luka's mouth contorted into a strange smile. Then, her eyes met Gakupo's and she froze. Gakupo was looking at her, seemingly keenly aware of the reasons behind her expression. Luka felt a cold weight over her shoulders. He knows, he knows how much I hated them all, she thought.
Without a word, Gakupo turned with a grave expression to face Rin and Len. Oliver stepped just a little closer, despite still seeming very nervous.
"It's just a theory. But maybe… does it make sense to you kids?" Gakupo said.
"You said a bunch of weird things back there, when Benefactor brought us all together at the landing site," Rin said, making a dubious gesture with her arms. "Maybe?"
"I think we should talk about this later. If we don't get going soon, the 01s might find us," Len interrupted. "Are you coming with us?"
Gakupo and Luka looked at each other.
"Of course. But we have some things in there that might be useful," Gakupo said, pointing to the hospital. "We'll go get them."
"Please hurry," the boy said.