“Where you going?”
“You’re hungry, right? Might as well have a nice last meal before Earle’s little ball kills us both.”
“Seems reasonable.”
Marine had tried to be chipper but as we got to walking, she focused more and more on the box. I let her sulk for a block and a half before the sounds of the city around us got boring.
“You want to talk about it now?”
“I… I mean, I guess I should.”
“Well, I gave up my hand for you, so yeah. Even a hint would be fun for me. I can guess whatever this is runs pretty deep if you’re going to maybe blow up a building for it.”
“It’s… my dad.”
“So they stole a vacuum cleaner.”
She hit me instantly but laughed after she had. “No, it’s not a fucking vacuum cleaner.” She shook her head and forced herself to cheer up a bit. “My dad. He built me. It was after his wife died. He always called her my mom, but that never really felt right.”
There were maybe three people capable of doing that work on their own in the history of robots and AI. One of them was a Japanese scientist, notoriously obsessed with old robot cartoons, Tommy Hakua. The half-Asian thing seemed to narrow it down but I decided to let her say it, not wanting to be a smarmy, trivia spouting ass. Or to be wrong.
“Hakua Tsutomu. I read a lot about him after he died. He’d asked me not to while he was alive. He said he didn’t want his child to think of him that way.”
“So, he died, but… they took him? Marine, you didn’t keep his brain in a jar or some shit, right? Please tell me we’re not recovering pickled brain. Pickled brains are decidedly not AI.”
“No shit.” She shoved me, probably for ruining the somber mood. I couldn’t help myself. It was either that or let the missing hand and the rest of the past day and a half get into my head. “He scanned his brain at some point before he built me. Really old tech. I found it a few years ago behind a shelf and I’ve been working on reverse engineering it. So…” She took a deep breath. “Okay, it’s going to sound stupid. But so I can talk to him again.”
“I don’t really think the premise is stupid. Maybe it’s a little… I don’t know. I mean, you’ve got questions right?”
She looked at the box in her hands. “I do. Too many, really. But I know it’s him before he built me. I’ve got file dates and it’s stored on old NAND and I know I won’t necessarily hear whatever it is I want to hear…”
“Eh, even then, I get it. I mean, Vircore basically robbed a grave to dig the brain out of a genius. Even if he wasn’t your dad, I’d be all for burning the place down just to fuck them over for it. I mean, can you imagine how much they’re gonna want my brain? There’ll probably be a bidding war. But I’m leaving my brain bits to you, Marine. I know you won’t let them go cheap and that’s the important thing.”
She chuckled. “I’ll plant bidders in the audience. Fraud all the way to the end.”
“That’s basically my motto.”
We arrived in front of the pizza shop. The pizza shop.
“Pizza?” She turned with a little hop that was incredibly cute so I got confused.
“Yeah, sure.”
Shit, no. Not yeah, sure. Definitely not. She’d already gone in and I had already followed her, meaning to complain. At least, maybe the guy—
“Hey, bud! Back for more, eh? Two days in a row. Must be doing something right. Ha ha.”
That space is intentional. He didn’t laugh. He said ha twice. Like a fucking creep. Like a fucking grease terrorist creep. Now was my chance.
“Haha, yeah. Yeah I guess. It’s… you guys make a good slice. Heh.”
I was already thinking about the various lengths of extension cord I had back at the apartment. I wasn’t sure there was a door knob strong enough, that was the real hang-up. Maybe I could get the finger laser to work.
I was so distracted that we’d sat down and the guy was on us, asking for an order without me having thought about it.
“So, what can I get for the cute couple?”
Fuck you, fuck you, fuck, fuck, fuck.
“What do you want on this thing, Laze?”
“Huh?” I looked up from the table at Marine, who was staring across at the menu on the wall above the counter. The waiter, though… he was staring straight at me. “I don’t know. Whatever you want is fine.”
Marine turned to face me. “Bullshit. Nobody wants what other people want on a pizza.”
“A few minutes then? I’ll grab some waters.” He clapped his hands together before he turned. Who even…
“So what do you want on the pizza?” She leaned in and whispered the rest. “That guy’s fucking weird and I don’t want to have to deal with him any more than we have to.”
“I don’t know. We’ve only got like… thirty seconds, maybe? What do you want?”
“I dunno. Some kind of meat, I guess. Meatball?”
“That can go real wrong.”
“Whatever, he’s fucking coming. Meatball?”
“Fine, fine.”
He was upon us, sitting water down like he wasn’t a lizard person. “So, you two decide?”
“Yeah, half cheese, half meatball.”
“That sounds great. Might have to do that myself sometime.” He turned and left.
What the fuck did that even mean? Try it himself? A pizza with half one topping? What the fuck was he talking about? He works at a goddamn pizza place.
I leaned in to Marine. “What the fuck was that?”
She whispered back, frantic. “I know. Try that sometime? What the hell is he going to try?”
He was coming again. Oh god. Luckily, he stopped when my eyes met his.
“Sorry, did either of you want drinks besides water?”
“No, I don’t think…” I looked at Marine, she shook her head. “Nah, water.” Is fine, say is fine. “You know, it’s…” It’s
