Chapter 3: A City of Androids

Chapter 3:
A City of Androids

 

OKAY, SO IT DID take a little while for Serena to commandeer their ships. I mean, the battleship was huge, and they had to prepare to tow the other immobile ships, so we wouldn’t be able to leave for a bit. Since we weren’t needed to help with that, we were on standby in the Pelican IV’s hangar.

The attacks on us were over, and the Pirate-Hunting Unit had safely brought the deserters back to Cierra Prime. The unit and the Pelican IV all had to go through admin procedures and resupplying, so we were free from guard duty for a while. We earned 80,000 Ener a day, making for a total of 240,000 Ener over the past three days.

“Do I get a bounty?” I asked expectantly.

“They weren’t pirates, so…” Serena offered me a big smile, reaffirming that there was no bounty on the defected imperial soldiers.

Don’t think you’ve won yet, I thought. Not that I can do anything about it. You’re the boss, after all.

Also, while we were on standby, we were questioned by Serena’s unit’s military policemen. Fortunately, we weren’t in any trouble. After all, the recorders aboard the Krishna and Pelican IV made it very clear that the enemy fired first, without warning.

In fact, the cops were horrified by my battle maneuvers. “How the hell did you do that?” one of them asked. “That was so messed up!” I wouldn’t forget that insult anytime soon.

Anyway, here we are, standing by on Cierra Prime.

At present, we were waiting for a reply from Chris’ grandfather in order to get her home safe and sound. Going back to the resort planet would be an option, but it was about time for him to contact us, so we decided to stay on Cierra Prime.

“Off we go, then,” I announced. Mei and I were just about to head out of the Krishna together.

As long as we were here, I figured it was a good time to have Mei’s upgrade installed. We’d already paid for it, after all. Her manufacturer, Oriental Industries, had a branch office with a workshop on the colony. I had to wonder if they had ready access to the necessary materials, but everyone who visited Cierra Prime was rich, so high-end android parts and the equipment needed for them were all very available.

“I figure he’ll be fine, but Mei…” Elma sighed. “If the going gets tough, you’d better protect him.”

“Of course. You can trust me.” Mei readily accepted the ridiculous request.

“Can you even fight?” I asked. “We haven’t customized you yet, so…”

“Customized or not, we androids are made with parameters that exceed humans in both speed and power.”

“For real?”

“Yes. I am one-point-five to two times stronger than a human.” Still expressionless, Mei raised her fists and flexed. Her arms looked scrawnier than mine, but I doubted she would lie, so I had to trust her there.

“Please be careful,” Mimi said.

“My uncle’s men may still be hiding in ambush, so take care,” Chris added.

“Yeah, don’t worry. See you later!” I said goodbye to the girls as we left the Krishna.

Our food and water problems were easily solved by resupplying through Serena, so if we wanted, we could hole up in the Krishna for a month straight. Safety-wise, getting her help was a huge deal. I just didn’t want to rely on her too much in case she started making impossible demands later.

“Can you guide me there?” I asked Mei.

“Yes. Leave it to me,” Mei replied, leading me from the port district and onto the elevator, which we took to the district that housed the workshop. She almost seemed to be enjoying herself. It was a subtle change, but there was a little pep in her step. Maybe it was my imagination, but it made me feel good.

After a little while, we arrived at our destination. Except…

“Oh, jeez…” I groaned.

“Hm?” Mei cocked her head.

Maybe this sight was normal to her, so she wouldn’t understand. “Degenerate” wasn’t quite the word I was looking for. To put it bluntly, the place seemed a little bit decadent.

Female androids—I guess you could call them femdroids—were everywhere. Like, all over the place. Show windows were full of androids resembling women and little girls. Male-coded androids were a shockingly rare sight.

They ranged from adorably delicate to thicc and voluptuous. Some of them were even pole-dancing in revealing clothing, as if to demonstrate their potential possibilities. Deep in the back alleys, I could see some attractive androids trying to reel in customers. I could only imagine that there are android-run brothels out there.

Of course, female androids weren’t the only ones here. Human men were naturally all over the place, and there were a few women as well. Next to them walked little…girls? Boys? Actually, I don’t care, and I’m going to need some brain bleach after this, I thought to myself.

“Is something wrong?”

“Oh, no. Don’t worry about it.”

Mei was confused by my reaction, but she wouldn’t have understood my problem anyway. This sight must have been like a hometown to her—like childhood. To these girls, this was where they would meet their new master and leave their homes for the first time.

We crossed the city of androids together, Mei making a strange face all the way, and arrived at the district full of android manufacturers’ offices and workshops. Things seemed a little less skeevy now. Only a little, though, because each office had holo-display ads in front of the entrance showing off their newest models (little girl androids) and hot sellers (bombshell women). They didn’t even censor them!

“Um, are we almost there?” I asked, worried that I’d be arrested any second now.

“Yes. I can already see it.” Mei pointed at a building with the company name written in huge type. I thought it was an office, but it seemed to be a workshop. It was more than three times the size of the other workshops.

“It’s huge…”

“Oriental Industries holds the greatest market share of all android manufacturers in the Cierra System.”

“No kidding!” With greater market share, you’d naturally have more androids out there, leading to increased need for maintenance.

Mei led me into the Oriental Industries workshop. There, a woman at the reception desk looked our way. Looking closely, she wasn’t actually a flesh and blood woman; she seemed to be an android, too.

“Come right in! Welcome to the official workshop of Oriental Industries! Today is Mei’s upgrade, correct? Come right this way!” She discerned what we needed before I even said anything and smiled with boundless cheer. As soon as she got up from her seat, another android came up to take her place. “We androids have no need for words between us,” she explained.

“Interesting.” That made sense. They must use a data-sharing method that was imperceptible to humans. Two androids exchanging words would be nothing more than a waste of time and effort.

We were taken to what looked like a coffee shop, but there were no other customers except for us.

“What’s up with this place?” I asked.

“While your partner is being upgraded, you’re free to relax here! We’d be delighted to bring you refreshments any time.”

“Oh?”

“I’ll go and get straight to work on my upgrade,” Mei said. “Please take care of my master in my absence.”

“Yes, gladly!”

Mei bowed and walked away. After seeing her off, I decided standing around would be weird and sat at the counter, where I would wait for her to finish her upgrade.

“Would you like a drink?”

“Hmm… How about some cold tea, or something?”

“Understood!” The receptionist bowed and slipped behind the counter. She was an android too, but she was much bubblier. I had set Mei’s emotionality near the minimum, so she was cool and expressionless. Was this girl set nearly to the max? I couldn’t figure it out. “And here you are!”

“Thanks. How long does the upgrade take?”

“In Mei’s case, it’s less of an upgrade and more of a remodel, so I doubt it will take that long.”

“Remodel?”

“Yes! For example, having her muscle fibers changed out, replacing worn joints, and other light maintenance work make for normal upgrades. But in Mei’s case, everything from her frame to her muscle fibers and central processor will be switched out. All things considered, it’s faster to just remake her body from the ground up and then migrate her data.”

“Huh…”

I supposed it was just like a computer upgrade. If you were going to switch out memory and CPU coolers and the like, then it might be faster to just replace the whole thing—motherboard, CPU, and power unit alike—creating a new PC altogether and just transferring the data. I don’t get it myself, but I guess if that’s what the pros say, then it must be true.

“It should take around two hours. If you’d like, I can give you advice on your future life with Mei!”

“Hey, that sounds great. Go for it!”

Throughout the entire two-hour wait, the receptionist android lectured me on simple maintenance, necessary equipment for maintenance and other stuff, and who to call and what to do when there were problems.

My wallet suffered a little as a result, but I decided to just call it the cost of learning… even if it felt like I was taken for a ride.

 

***

 

“You don’t look very different.” I cocked my head at Mei when she returned. The main changes were a new frame and muscles, a new power source, and a positronic brain, so maybe it was natural that she wouldn’t look different on the outside.

“Correct. My appearance was not changed. Should we alter it?”

“Nope, you’re fine as you are.” I shook my head vigorously. She might not have looked any different, but now, Mei was a Maidroid more powerful than any regular battle robot. She could stand toe-to-toe with me in power armor, as long as she had a proper weapon.

“Also, the upgrade has made me able to perform certain services.”

“Certain ‘services’…?”

“Yes. I have been fitted with a taste sensor and installed with a cooking program, so I will be able to cook foods that cannot be made with automatic cookers. Also, I have a fine sense of touch, so I can give intricate massages of all kinds.”

“Massages are nice. Maybe I’ll ask for one after I work out.”

“Yes.” Mei nodded to me.

Not that I should have to say it by now, but Mei had functions used for…stuff. It might sound like an exaggeration, but those functions were actually a major factor in a machine intelligence’s identity.

Ugh. I needed to get my mind back out of the gutter.

“Take good care of her!” The receptionist said, strangely emotional.

“Oh, yeah. I guess!” I was at a loss for what to say. To the girls, this was like their first departure into the real world—something worth congratulating. But from my perspective, I was just taking home a maid with whom I could do whatever I wanted.

I just felt kind of guilty. I was about to take this maid back to the girls who I loved and made love to. It weighed heavily on my mind.

I mean, I didn’t buy Mei just for that. She was a fantastic bodyguard, and her mental functions—which went way beyond human limits—would be an important part of our future information warfare. If you considered her a secretary who’s also really good at fighting, then I’d say Mei was a bargain.

So why should I feel guilty? I shouldn’t…right?

I silently looked to Mei again, taking in her appearance: long, glossy black hair. Black eyes like obsidian behind her red-rimmed glasses. Expressionless, but in a way that only accentuated her lovely features. A white maid’s brim on her head, the perfect Victorian maid attire, and two voluptuous breasts. Mei was truly a graceful beauty.

“Yes?” Finding my staring strange, Mei cocked her head again. Maybe it was a calculated action; every single one of her actions seemed to be picture-perfect. She had the inexplicable power to draw my total attention without my even knowing.

“Sorry, don’t mind me. It’s just… You don’t look any different, but you seem to have so much more…presence.”

“Perhaps you can sense my increased strength?” Mei raised her right fist and flexed again. Did she like doing that? The incongruity between her cool appearance and silly actions was kind of cute.

“U-umm…” I stammered. “Oh, right!!! We ordered some weapons for you, too. How exactly does that work?”

“Would you like to see them?”

“Yes, please,” I agreed, prompting Mei to show me a black orb. “What is that, some sort of grenade?” I asked.

“This is high-density metal used in ship plating. When thrown with my strength, it can pierce through standard power armor and deal fatal damage to the person within. I am also able to hold back by varying my throwing speed.”

“Whoa… scary.”

Mei then pulled a forty-centimeter-long black metal pole out of nowhere. It was plain, but damn if it didn’t look sturdy. “And this is a self-defense baton made with the same material. When swung with my strength, it can shatter standard power armor and damage the person within as well.”

Why did she bring up power armor every time? Were AIs just naturally competitive? Did she actually feel jealous of power armor—a machine that wasn’t even sentient?

Mei showed off a few of her personal weapons, all of which were primitive, brute-force objects. It seemed she had a preference for close combat.

She went on to explain things further. “The Krishna has more than enough optical weapons, so I decided that I should bolster our close-range capabilities.”

“Fair enough.” The cargo hold was already full of stuff like laser rifles and laser launchers. Mei preferred weapons she could conceal.

“We’ll deliver everything to your ship by the end of the day!” The receptionist beamed.

“Okay, thanks.” I found myself getting tired while I looked over Mei’s melee weapons.

“Finally, let’s take care of the fitting!”

I blinked. “The fitting…?”

“Yes! We need you to see—and feel—that everything is to your specifications. With the deal as it is, we wouldn’t want you realizing that things are all wrong later!” The receptionist made a tight circle with her thumb and index fingers, then began to thrust her other index finger in and out of the circle.

“Oh, come on!!!” I exclaimed, embarrassed.

The android looked confused by this. “It’s important, you know.”

“C’mon, seriously. Who would just agree to that on the spot?!”

“About ninety percent of customers agree to it. That’s what we’re here for, after all!”

“That’s way too many! Looking at me blankly won’t make me say yes, either!”

“Still, you must not be against it. Riiight?” The receptionist, who was nothing but bubbly up to this point, now offered a devious grin. You’re right about that!, I thought. “Either way… Mei, rules are rules.”

“Yes.” Mei clung to my arm and began pulling me. Ooh, I like that feeling… Damn, you’re strong! Way too strong! I’m trying to hold my ground, but I’m still getting dragged down!

“Hold up,” I protested. “Mei, calm down for a sec. Mimi and the others are waiting on the ship!”

“Are you truly so against it?” Mei looked at me sadly.

Wait, wait, wait! This is against the rules of war! You can’t put your emotions on your face like that. I set your emotionality to almost zero!!!

“No…” I sighed. I knew when to admit I’d lost a battle.

“Then that settles it.” Mei went back to her usual deadpan look and started pulling again.

Wait a second. When I said we were going to upgrade Mei, did Mimi and Elma not come with me because they knew this would happen? It’s possible that’s the case. Does that mean they consented to this? Yeah, that’s gotta be it. I’m gonna run on that assumption. Okay, I’m ready! What will this maid machine do to service me?! I’m ready for battle!

 

***

 

“Have a nice life!” The receptionist android waved to us with the biggest smile.

A nice life? Huh… Is being bought like getting married for these girls? Does that make customization and the purchase price like a reverse dowry or something?

…Actually, I’m just gonna stop thinking about it.

“Hm?” Mei cocked her head again. She walked a bit closer to me after our experience at the workshop. If I reached out, I could touch her soft hand. “Is something the matter?”

“Nope,” I answered. “Nothing at all.”

She smiled almost imperceptibly. Seeing this, I couldn’t help but blush. She’d been awesome. Like…awesome awesome. So awesome that it ruined my vocabulary. I won’t go into specifics, but basically, it was like we fit together perfectly. It was a truly transcendental experience.

We returned to the Krishna with some pep in our step. When we arrived, strangely, there were macho men with laser rifles guarding the door. Their weapons didn’t seem to be military-issue, but considering their uniforms and armor matched, they must have been soldiers of some organization.

“They’re Count Dalenwald’s personal soldiers,” Mei explained. “Perhaps he placed them there for security.”

“Say what?! Does that mean Chris’ grandfather is here?”

“Yes. He arrived while we were testing our fitting. As we weren’t able to return to the Krishna immediately, we can simply explain that we were out procuring security equipment.”

“S-sure.”

Fitting, huh? Ha ha ha! That’s a fitting word, isn’t it? Though to be fair, the bit about security equipment wasn’t a lie.

“So how should we contact him?” I asked.

“You received a message on your terminal, to which I replied and requested that Mimi and Elma let him know.”

“Oh, cool.”

Asking her how she accessed my terminal would be a waste of time. Mei was a perfect machine intelligence, complete with a positronic brain. She had great fighting abilities, too. Part of me wanted to just leave all the work to her, but that was the path to depravity.

I won’t fall to machine-wrought depravity, damn it! I solemnly swore as we approached the Krishna, where the soldiers were clearly wary of us. They were whispering something into their headsets, too. Were they calling for reinforcements? Guys, it’s my ship.

“Halt!” one commanded. “Not another step.”

“Whatever you say, my guy. Just don’t burn me to a crisp with that laser rifle.” I stopped as directed. It wouldn’t take long to prove that this was my ship, so why kick up a fuss? They were likely subordinates of Chris’ grandfather, anyway. Mei was totally calm as well. If they were actually sent by Chris’ uncle, though, she would have them detained in an instant.

“Confirmation received. Captain Hiro, yes?”

“Yep. You guys are from Count Dalenwald’s estate, right?”

“That is correct. We were dispatched to protect Lady Christina.”

“I see. Can I go in now?”

“Of course.” The two guards cleared the way, so I climbed up the ladder and entered the Krishna. I was a little worried that they’d shoot me from behind, but they did not. You can never be too sure, after all.

We all reunited in the cafeteria. To put it bluntly, the mood was not good.

Mimi clung to Chris, not even looking my way. Elma’s eyes were glued to her own terminal. Meanwhile, Chris looked to be in a daze. Was this because I went out alone with Mei to Oriental Industries and “fitted” with her? Or was it because Count Dalenwald contacted them, I wasn’t there, and I didn’t answer them because I was too busy with the fitting? Or maybe it was both?

Yeah, probably both. But I won’t apologize! “I’m home!” I announced.

“Tch!”

Okay, well never mind. “I’m sorry!” A single click of Elma’s tongue was all it took to make me get on the floor and beg. It was my fault for not answering her messages, anyway. It was mostly because of Mei coming on to me, but it felt wrong to blame her entirely.

“I apologize. This is my fault, too.” Mei got on her knees next to me and bowed in apology. Seeing us, Elma scratched her head guiltily.

“Sorry, um…I didn’t mean to come at you that hard. I just wanted to make him squirm a little.” She stood up and squatted next to us, apologizing back.

“Are you sure you’re not angry?” Mei asked.

“I’m not angry. Besides, I just wanted to mess with Hiro, not you. You’ve done nothing wrong, Mei.”

“Thank you,” Mei replied.

Elma took Mei’s hand and helped her up. As I got up, Elma reached out and slapped me right upside the head.

“And you should think about what you’ve done! Nobility had to wait on you.”

“Okay.” I agreed meekly and stood up. “So, what’s wrong with Mimi?”

“Remember how I said in my messages that Chris’ grandfather was here? And how she was going to move to his ship? Mimi’s feeling lonely since they won’t be sleeping together anymore.” On closer inspection, Chris’ eyes looked a little red, too. She seemed almost motherly with the way she patted Mimi’s head with her own little hand.

“Oooh, right,” I replied. “What’s happening with all that?”

“You didn’t read my messages at all, did you?!”

“I’m very sorry.” I bowed my head again. So much happened that my mind is still fuzzy. Please forgive me.

After a sigh, Elma explained, “He contacted us through the mercenary guild. He said he wanted to see Chris, but you and Mei weren’t here. We weren’t totally comfortable without you even though he sent bodyguards, so we asked him to wait until you got back. He and Chris already talked over video chat, so there probably won’t be any problems, but we can’t make decisions without the captain here.”

“Fair enough. Gotcha.” I was both the ship’s owner and its captain. Nobility or not, it would be a little problematic for Elma to decide on her own to hand over our guest. “So did you tell him I’d contact him when I got back?”

“Yup. You’re gonna have to talk face to face with nobility. Are you ready for that?”

“What do you mean?”

“The way you talk. The count’s a born noble, so you can’t talk to him like that trashy lieutenant commander.”

“I can’t?”

“You absolutely cannot.”

Well, that was annoying. While I wondered how I would deal with this, Mei raised her hand timidly. “If you’d like, I can interfere with your holo-display and create the perfect responses.”

“Mmm, I dunno if I want to totally rely on you like that. Let’s try it my way first. If that doesn’t work, you two can jump in and help.”

“Whatever you say, Boss.”

“Yes, Master.”

Having gotten their consent, I turned to Chris and Mimi. “There you have it! I know it hurts, but let’s head to the cockpit. It has the biggest holo-display, and it’s made for video calls anyway.”

“Mimi…” Chris said softly.

“Aww…” Mimi reluctantly released Chris, tears still in her eyes. At least she wasn’t spewing snot everywhere. I’d have just looked away if she had been.

“You two can rinse your faces and come to the cockpit,” I told them. “Elma and Mei, come with me. Mei will stand behind me just in case anything crazy happens.”

“Gotcha.”

“Yes, Master.”

With that, I nodded to the girls and headed for the cockpit.