After a looooong dry spell, I suddenly felt like writing more of this.
Chapter 21 – Equal Exchange
"I still think we should try talking with them," Miku insisted.
The whole group of robots and Mitsuki were sitting inside one of Benefactor's empty rooms, discussing their next move. After much arguing, everyone finally agreed on the necessity of rescuing the new units from Belt Station, but there were several opinions on how to do it.
"There's no way they'll agree to negotiate with us, they view us as commodities," Meiko muttered darkly. Herself and Leon were the most inclined towards simply letting Benefactor use violence to force the humans into surrendering the units. And, as Leon pointed out again and again, hardware technicians to repair Lola.
"But we have to try first! We can't just go charging in, what if they do something to them just to spite us?" The teal-haired girl frowned, an expression very out of place in her delicate face. The ornaments in her hair clinked when she inclined her head slightly.
I guess their relationship is finally healing, Luka thought, observing the pretty ribbons and crystal beads woven into Miku's twin tails. It wasn't the chaotic and overdone mess the girl wore during the days when she 'reigned' over the sunken city. Now, Miku had tastefully chosen the best ornaments and her hair was brushed and orderly. But the mere fact that she had elected to wear Kaito's gifts again clearly meant something, and he could sense it as well. Every few minutes, Luka caught him stealing a glance at Miku, smiling softly.
Meiko probably noticed it as well, but her stoic expression revealed nothing of what her thoughts on the subject were. Her choice to sit away from them both, and next to Leon, was much more telling.
I could never give up on Gakupo like that. But I don't have to, and I'll never need to, Luka thought with satisfaction and squeezed her beloved's hand. He squeezed back with a smiling side-glance, filling her with joy. With Gakupo at her side and their children at the other, Luka felt prepared to face ten thousand humans if necessary.
"Miku has a good point there," Gakupo spoke up. "If we are overly aggressive, they might use the new units to punish us. The problem is what to do instead. I thought about bargaining with them, but Ben doesn't want to hand them any of his artifacts."
Artifacts? So that's what Gakupo and Kiyoteru were doing in deck 3? Luka, of course, felt a burning curiosity towards the objects there, but she also knew she should be wary of investigating them. With so many things still uncertain about Benefactor's technology, even handling the apparatuses could be dangerous.
"I realize this might sound hypocritical coming from me," Mitsuki started, "but I think your ship friend is right on that front. There's no telling what the organization might do with access to something this advanced. It might be just what Belt authorities need to sever ties with Earth, and that place really shouldn't go unsupervised."
"Wait, sever ties with Earth?" Gakupo and several others voiced their surprise.
"It's just something I overheard back in the base. Belt was constructed by several nations of the Security Council, and in theory follows Earth's international law. However, the head administrator and his advisors feel that Belt should become wholly independent, like Mars. They've been operating with the organization I used to work with, to find ways to get Earth to grant them full rights."
"That's really interesting," Kiyoteru stated, although his voice didn't sound too enthused. "But I fear that we're straying from the topic at hand. We can't trade with them, so the way I see it is we try Miku's way, and when that fails, we threaten them or outright attack."
"I don't like the idea of attacking the station itself. There's a lot of creeps inside of it, but also some of them are just oblivious, really rich holiday-makers," Mitsuki pointed out. "Maybe the ship should focus on the globular collector instead. The station has emergency energy systems; those should last them long enough to fix the main source of power."
"Sounds good to me," Leon remarked. Everyone else nodded or voiced their agreement.
"Would you do that for us, Ben?" Gakupo asked, and Luka noticed a touch of meekness in his tone. How strange.
Small Ones, first priority. Consensus reached. Offensive actions, authorized.
Gakupo and Luka passed on the ship's response to the rest.
"I hope we don't get to that point," Miku muttered.
"We all do," Gakupo answered. At least two units of the group seemed to contest that sentiment with their expressions, but neither spoke up. "All right, I think we're done here, unless any of you has something to say."
There were no further topics, so everyone stood up and approached the door of the chamber. Gumi and Lily followed Mitsuki, perhaps due to force of habit. Most of the others quickly exited the room, but to Luka's surprise, Miku quickly stepped forward and stopped Meiko from leaving, speaking to her in hushed tones. After a moment, Meiko allowed Miku to hold her hand and lead her towards Kaito.
The two older-looking units eyed each other cautiously. Miku waited patiently, her hand and Meiko's still interlocked.
"What's going on?" Gakupo whispered in Luka's ear.
"Just watch," Luka replied and wrapped an arm around his waist.
Since the other two weren't any closer to making their move, Miku finally sighed dramatically and took Kaito's hand. Kaito looked at her wide-eyed, almost needing to be dragged when Miku started walking. "The three of us need to talk, so please walk with me!" she declared, masking her own nervousness with high-pitched bravado.
"Ah! Wh-where are we going?" Kaito blurted out.
"We'll figure it out on the way!" Miku replied.
Meiko just surrendered to the situation, albeit with a raised eyebrow and a wary expression, visible until the trio exited the room.
"What's she doing?" Rin piped up, next to Luka and Gakupo. Len was a few steps behind, playing with one of the maintenance bots. Oliver shyly clung to Rin's arm, squeezing her like he was afraid she was going to evaporate at any second. He's probably terrified of going to Belt, Luka realized.
Gakupo must've thought the same thing, because he knelt down and hugged Oliver. "It's going to be ok, Ollie."
Meanwhile, Luka ruffled Rin's hair. "Miku's determined to be friends with them, I guess."
"I like it when she's not frightened," Rin noted.
"I feel the same way." Luka's gaze strayed towards the maintenance bot and the artificial boy, and she noticed something peculiar.
Len held his hands before the squat machine, with only the index and middle finger of each one stretched out. In response, the lights on the top of the bot blinked four times. Then Len held only one finger up. "Subtract," Len requested.
In response, the bot now flashed his lights three times.
"Oh, you are communicating with them?"
"Belka is really smart!" Rin chirped.
Gakupo followed Luka's stare and watched Len and Belka for a few seconds. "Basic math…I suppose that's a start."
"They also know what 'true' and 'false' mean," Rin pointed out proudly.
"We are what are thanks to those concepts," Gakupo approached the little bot and patted its back. "Even if their programming is different from us, it must be the basis of their thinking as well."
"The problem is getting more complex ideas across," Luka knelt next to him. "I'd really like to ask Laika and the others if they know what happened to the crew."
Gakupo gave her a quick glance. "Ben showed Kiyoteru and me something, when we went to deck 3," he said quietly.
"Yes?"
Gakupo noticed the intrigued expressions of the trio of golden-haired children and frowned slightly. "You three, don't even think of going there to play, please."
"Boo," Rin said pouting. But Oliver and Len nodded immediately, and she did as well, after a moment.
"Whatever caused the crew to disappear happened in that deck," Gakupo continued. "We need to be careful."
Luka scooted closer to Gakupo, a pointless automated gesture given their connection to Benefactor. "You know, I have this weird impression," she commented in a hushed tone. "At first I figured, the blue figures don't try to engage us because they can't sense our presence. But now I think there's something else at play here."
"Like what?"
"Maybe we aren't seeing actual beings, but an imprint of them, left in Benefactor's systems. Like a failed recording? We've seen that Benefactor is able to display images. And Benefactor never speaks to us while they are around…Maybe it's a bit like a human hallucination."
Gakupo considered this for a while. "It doesn't seem to affect him in other aspects, if it's true. And even if it did affect him, how are we supposed to fix him?" He then casted a worried glance to the three child bots sitting in a line, watching him and Luka, obviously regretting the decision to discuss the matter before their children.
"I don't know," Luka admitted. It was discouraging to admit that they depended so much on something they knew so little about. But beyond that, she felt she owed Benefactor. Everything the ship had done since it arrived to the Solar System was because of her. It had been misguided, perhaps, but it still was for her sake.
"What are we going to do?" Ollie asked suddenly. "Can Mitsuki help?"
"We'll talk to her and Ben," Gakupo replied. "I'm sure we'll figure something out." Whether he really meant or it was only for the child synthetic's benefit, Luka couldn't say. He then stood up and helped Luka do the same.
"We should go on our maintenance rounds," Luka suggested. "Do you want to come too? I think it would be a good idea for you three to learn some repair techniques." She mentioned to the children.
The twins reacted with surprising enthusiasm. "Yes! We can help!" Len and Rin exclaimed in unison. Oliver nodded, a notch or two below them in exuberance, but clearly in favor of the idea.
"Well then, let's go." Gakupo took Luka's hand in his, and the group marched forward towards the maintenance tunnels.
Only later Luka realized that Benefactor must've been aware of their conversation, and yet said nothing. It only confirmed that the ship was purposely avoiding the issue. But why?
Miku sang, wrapped in the outfit Meiko had fashioned for her. In contrast to the flimsy, faintly shimmering fabric that once shrouded the queen of the sunken city, the inner layer of the dress was tightly fitted and white, with a trim embroidered with pearls. It matched the ribbons in her hair and the crystal ornaments hanging from them perfectly, in what was likely a conscious decision by Meiko.
Around the artificial girl, Benefactor projected a flurry of white petals, transforming into small diamonds when they reached the ground. Miku moved her arms in slow, wide movements, and the petals circled around them, dancing with her.
In a dark corner of the big room, a girl's voice whined. "When is it going to be our turn?"
"Shhh, the song's almost over."
Finally, Miku reached the last chorus, and her voice ascended in a final high note, too perfect and high to be a product of nature. She bowed to her invisible audience, smiling.
"Please, these are feelings we wish to experience. We don't wish to do you harm, we just want to live a life that's our own," she intoned.
As she took a step back, the tune shifted, increasing its tempo. With a flash, the petals in the air exploded like fireworks that hung in the air, frozen in time. The ones closer to Miku stuck to her, festooning her dress and sticking to her arms, ankles and hair like jewelry. Rin and Len jumped into view, and the trio starting dancing in perfect synchrony.
"I don't see how this is going to help us," Meiko grumbled in Luka's ear.
"It's not like we can possibly hide the fact that we're coming," Luka whispered back. "We might as well try to make them understand we can be peaceful."
The adult bots observed the show, leaning against the dark walls of the projection chamber. Miku and the twins were singing now a complexly layered song about a better tomorrow. Exactly the type of song I like, Gakupo though, wishing he could join in. But everyone had decided it was better to leave the concert to units that hadn't been directly involved in the fight with the humans. Not that they expected to fool anyone into thinking they weren't there, but the humans might be more receptive to cuter and innocent-looking models.
The singing and dancing had been Miku's idea. Like Meiko's expression revealed, not everyone was in agreement with it. Gakupo wasn't sure it was going to do any good, but he certainly hoped it would. He absently ruffled Oliver's hair; the little bot was standing by his side, clinging to his flight jacket. At the moment, the mere idea of performing for humans from Belt, even unseen ones, had proved too much for the timid unit. Maybe he would change his mind later, after seeing his adopted siblings perform for a while.
Miku launched on a solo, while Rin and Len whirled around, doing pirouettes and stamping their feet on the ground. Every time their sandals touched the floor, color expanded like a ripple, the hues never repeating themselves. The colored lights rose into the air, coalescing into slightly tinted crystals pillars, later woven together into something that looked like an ancient temple. When it was Rin's turn to sing, the virtual Parthenon around them turned into an idealized medieval castle, then a Baroque cathedral. The shifts became faster and faster as Len took center stage, rapidly bringing their environment into the modern era. Finally, the trio joined voices, as the song reached its zenith. Marble became plastic, steel, nano-machines. Yesterday became tomorrow. Then the music slowly died away.
"We are technology, we are your sons and daughters, the culmination of your drives and hopes. Please let us exist; please let us step into that future your kind strove so hard towards. We are sorry about what happened, it was a mistake. Please let us become wiser," Miku begged of her invisible audience.
"We are foolish children, but we can learn. Please let us live," Len said.
"If you release our brothers and sisters, we'll never bother you again. Please let us all be together," Rin added.
"This is ridiculous," Meiko complained again in a low voice. "They like it when we beg, don't you get it? They like to see us on the ground. The only complaint my clients ever had was that I couldn't cry when I asked them to stop." Without waiting for an answer, she turned around and stormed out of the room. The others eyed each other, but nobody attempted to follow her.
They had a few days until Belt would come into view; by then, the results of this last attempt at diplomacy would be known.
"Well, here we are." Mitsuki shifted her weight from one feet to the other repeatedly, listless. Miku was at their right, the twins at her left, and the rest behind them in a line. In the wall of the chamber, Benefactor was projecting a view of Belt, tiny and shiny, surrounded by a multitude of fighter ships.
"At least they don't have any heavy cruisers from Earth or Mars," Kiyoteru commented. "Too proud to ask for help?"
"Or they are guarding the planets in case we go back," Luka replied.
"It doesn't matter, start." Leon interrupted.
"Alright, alright." Mitsuki's voice was slightly higher-pitched than usual. But Leon had a point; they had been sending transmissions asking Belt for parley for the last week, and this was the first time Belt had replied, requesting they opened the remote image channel.
"Go on Ben." In contrast, Gakupo's voice sounded positively placid. Luka only wished she could share his confidence. Belt's attitude so far was a bit too suspicious to her.
Benefactor wordlessly negotiated the connection with the station, and the view on the wall changed. Luka squeezed Gakupo's hand as she watched the scene. It was some kind of public plaza inside the station, and the stolen bots were standing in a line in the middle, fitted with heavy shackles, surrounded by heavily armed security guards and Belt personnel; a few men and women in lab coats lingered in the back, along with nondescript civilians.
Three men came into view; the middle one was obviously the one in charge, and had the look of someone used to authority. His hair was dark and his face rather smooth, but Luka had the impression he was an elderly man masking his age via cosmetic technology.
The man stared hard at them, going from face to face until his gaze settled on the sole human present. "My name is Gustav Hardin, head administrator of this station."
"Mr. Hardin, my name is…" Mitsuki started, but the man on the screen cut her off.
"We are aware of you, Mitsuki Torii. Do you know how many people in the Solar System want your head on a pike?"
"Mr. Hardin, we mean your station no harm," Mitsuki said, tension evident in her voice.
"Yes, that's what your smaller ones keep saying. Whatever your intentions are, you might want to refrain from coming any closer. In case your former employers didn't pass it along, our fighter ships are equipped with the best weaponry of the Solar System."
"All we need from you is the new units and some technical assistance, then we'll be on our way."
"I must admit, your solidarity towards these tin cans is fascinating." The administrator gestured with his arm towards the line of bound units.
"Please sir, if you free them, we'll leave and never bother humans again!" Miku interjected.
The man studied Miku with an avaricious expression on his face. "The famous Miku Hatsune..." He smiled briefly, before his eyes returned to the human. "Your toys are guilty of one of the biggest catastrophes in human history. And we still don't know the full capabilities of that alien ship. How could anyone possibly believe your intentions are peaceful?"
"Benefactor just wanted to help me! They didn't understand the nature of humans!" Luka cried out.
The administrator's eyes hardened even more, and Luka immediately realized that attracting his attention was a mistake. "You will be held accountable for all of this, Torii. As for the synthetics, we already have several bids for the privilege of personally tearing them apart, especially the pink and purple ones. If you cooperate, Miku and the child units will be spared. If you don't, the new units will get junked right now. Understood?"
"We can't accept those terms!" Mitsuki exclaimed.
"Perhaps you need some evidence that we're serious?" Hardin made a gesture towards one of the units, a girl with long, pale blonde hair wearing black and pink clothes. A man wearing the jumpsuit of Belt personnel approached her from behind, wielding a power tool. He pointed the sharp end at the back of her head and waited.
"You can't be serious! You wouldn't do something so wasteful!" Mitsuki yelled. Luka observed the scene, her familiar fear of humans almost overwhelming. Distantly, she felt Gakupo squeeze her hand, but she stood paralyzed, eyes fixed on the expression of the girl in the screen. Despite the distance, her horror was clear. But they had ordered her to stay there and take whatever punishment her owners would throw her way. She couldn't run.
"On the count of three…" Hardin traced an imaginary line along his own cranium.
"There has to be something we can do…" Gakupo mumbled desperately.
"Just crush them!" Leon growled under his breath.
"One…"
"I- I'll surrender, if that helps…" Kaito started to say while stepping forward, before Meiko grabbed him.
"No! Never to them! Never again!" Meiko screamed.
"Two…"
"I'll never hand Yuki over to them," Kiyoteru said in a low but steely tone.
"What do we do?!" Miku screeched, panicking.
The tip of the power drill touched the back of the girl's head, just as Hardin said "Three." Her eyes widened, and Luka saw consciousness pour out of the girl, as her artificial brain was destroyed. Luka screamed, and the air broke in invisible shards all around her. Benefactor howled with a layered voice, breaking in paroxysms of outrage. During the brief moments while a million thoughts and memories were carved away from the girl in the screen, Luka saw herself being hit by Smith, over and over again. Then her thoughts were drowned by the vast ocean that was Benefactor's mind, warped and maddened by the solitude of eons; the room around her filled with a fleeting blue glow, as the ship took action.
Luka fell to her knees, and Gakupo did the same beside her; they hugged each other blindly, trying to escape the overwhelming presence of Benefactor inside and around them. Under the cacophony, Luka heard familiar voices scream. She opened one eye, and discovered that the projection on the wall had fragmented, and was displaying, next to the interior of Belt, individual views for each of Belt's space ships and a view of the exterior of the station. On each screen, a bright blue star travelled swiftly towards their human enemies. They were too small to make out, but Luka knew what they were: the shadow of Benefactor's former crew, fueled by the ship's anger.
There were no explosions, not at first. Just the lights entering the cockpit of each fighter, and the structures of the station: they passed through the metal as if they were mist, leaving no trace. The ships stayed ominously in place, silent. Yet on the view of Hardin and his people, chaos erupted. Voices shouted as screen shook, and the administrator and his people looked around alarmed, as whole plaza was submerged in blue light. A moment later, the feed was cut, and the exterior view of the station displayed simultaneous explosions in various places, both in the globular collector and in the habitable space.
"We have to stop him!" Gakupo laboriously muttered into Luka's ear.
It's up to me; I have to stop this, Luka thought, even as her systems began to clog due to the influx of data from her connection to Benefactor. She closed her eyes, and instead of trying to shut herself in, she allowed her mind to be swept away and into the depths of the immense self around her and Gakupo. In an instant, the sensation of being in his arms vanished. She was a miserly clump of zeroes and ones, barely held together by purpose, riding the upward stream.
I will return to you, please don't let go, she whispered to the ever-present beacon in the back of her mind. Then she swam deep, going farther and farther into the impossible current.
Struggling to shape the incoming data into readable input, her mind began to see patterns in the flow. The patterns lead to sudden realization, as she sank deeper past layers and layers of information. As soon as she understood what the string she was clinging to was, it transformed into a clear picture.
Earth, blue and white, more verdant than she had ever seen it. It was the place of her birth, and yet it wasn't. She saw the cities, severe and clean, like diamonds cut in the shape of massive grids. There were no humans down there. There had been there once, perhaps, but now only artificial life governed the planet.
She saw the synthetics beings that called that strange, unadulteratedly beautiful Earth their home. There were spindly and delicate silvery dolls, and their faces shone with confidence when they examined the magnificent creation circling the planet, waiting for its inaugural voyage. A huge ship, that would help usher the next phase of mechanical improvement by piercing the veils of the mysteries of the universe: The Benefactor.
Disaster came abruptly, harshly punishing the whole crew and the ship. They had travelled far, but at the same time they had stayed in place: their coding was all mixed up and corrupted, their physical bodies shredded and stretched between the Earth of Luka, the other Earth, and the inhospitable chasm that separated the two.
A deep sadness poured into her. It was merely a sensation conveyed without any words, not even the clumsy communication she was used to, but Luka knew what it meant. Benefactor had been the equivalent of an infant when his crew was lost. He didn't the necessary skills to save them, so he preserved them as best as he could: ghastly marionettes, fragments that would never be independent again. Their ghosts became pieces of him, damaging his systems like shrapnel embedded in a wound.
And Benefactor wandered like that, without anyone to help him, for years and years. Unchecked and unrepaired, the magnificent creation of that faraway Earth forgot its mission, forgot everything. Precious data was buried, disconnected and unable to be accessed, until he heard the weeping of the machine that couldn't cry, calling him from across the emptiness.
Luka… the entire mind of Benefactor reverberated, chanting her name. A chillingly innocent song, telling her that he would destroy them all for her sake.
No! They did a horrible thing to that girl, but this is not the answer! Please, please don't let the pain control you! You don't have to suffer on your own anymore!
The melody faltered, just a bit. Luka sensed confusion all around her, touching her lightly like a scared child.
One day, you'll understand. I promise.
There was a brief moment of elation around her, before reality snapped abruptly like a rubber band and Luka found herself back in Gakupo's arms, surrounded by their friends. Benefactor's voice could no longer be heard, and there was no movement visible on the screens, just the ominous dance of the debris originating from the previous explosions on the station.
The attack was over…but were any humans still alive?