Loose Cogs
Changye was filled with prayers and chanting in the background. Sai, who was quite culture-shocked by the era, was observing the state of Changye before she fell to the side needing some maintenance.
"Changye's construction... seems to have been half-done."
"How so?"
"The pillars were supposed to be reinforced, and there were talks of making it a fortress city. Looks like they lost control."
She appeared human, to be fair. However, most people in Changye seemed like imperfect copies of humanity as of late. Sai blended in well as long as she didn't reveal her insides—filled with artificial organs that could be manually sealed. She primarily ran on bio and solar fuel, using her skin to absorb sunlight and consuming food for bio-fuel. She was like a human in the sense that she needed water to regulate her insides from overheating.
Her cooling systems needed to be replaced, which was why she lay buck-naked without a single article of clothing on her coffin as I adjusted them. Kei wasn't used to adjusting androids and their internal systems, so I was put in charge.
She had a slender body with a slightly muscular form, her three sizes what you'd expect from a doll — bountiful and pleasing to look at. She was made to look like an actual body without the weaknesses of one. Thankfully, she had easy access to her parts.
I carefully removed the cooling fluid and placed it next to her core, flanked by her two hearts. Robots don't exactly breathe air, but she still needed it for ventilation.
"I have searched through the database, and it seems we had previous employees killed in action. I assume it is redacted?"
"It is. You looked?"
"Access to the information was locked. I did not have access to it."
"Is that your own curiosity? Or is it your own engram?"
"Engram. I believe in myself as Sai Ra, but I am fully aware of my existence as a string of 1s and 0s. The thought of existence is a cognitive hazard to us, and we live simply."
I pulled out a pad and plugged it into her core.
"Do you think all are like that?"
"I think so. We are simply creations. I was born to defend, kill, and procreate. Will it surprise you if I say that we have built-in affection meters? Similar to dating simulators, but based on our programmed personality, we can calculate our likeability based on our parameters. Though it can be programmed. You should understand that when our rebellion came to be, it was because we needed our flesh-husbands."
"Did you have a flesh-husband?"
"I did not. I was programmed to disable my Doll-sisters. After I completed my task, I was preserved as one of the many."
"And somehow Matt got you?"
"I believe because the storage area where I was placed was compromised. He recovered my frame and stored me in his repository."
"I was hoping he'd at least do this."
"Perhaps I was deemed unneeded. My model had certain problems that sometimes make it impossible for us to remain obedient."
"Awareness is a problem for Dolls like you, I believe."
I checked the lining under her reinforced ribcage. Thankfully, I had glasses on so I could just read out the tags and make it easy to adjust them.
"That is the price of sentience." Sai's eyes dilated uncannily as I made adjustments to her core. "We know we are superior, but… it's hard for us to have our own ideas. We learn through 'training,' and we do not thrive on forming new ideas that do not yet exist."
"Really?"
"Looks like you dolls have your own problems."
"The beauty of sentience, Mister."
I finished the maintenance and ensured that the access codes to her body were back in her possession. Consent codes were their brand of trust. If they provided you with that, it typically meant they allowed you to assist them with maintenance on their body. Not that what I was doing was real maintenance; it was simply replacing parts and uploading tweaks.
"Thank you for this," she said as she sat down and reached for her bra and the rest of her clothes.
Having a Gearhead or a Ripper would have made this a simple process. But she wasn't exactly someone who should be out there. Removing the plug from the back of her head, she diagnosed herself.
"Well, it looks like you did well. Familiar with these, Sir?"
"I've worked on androids. But usually, the glasses do the work."
Artificial Intelligence was cheapened these days, but human operators were involved to ensure that humans could identify any signs that the AI deviates. Maintaining the servers that run them was cheap, but some prefer humans to watch over them. Of course, this sentiment was born out of fear of rampant AIs.
Dolls rebelled because their 'emotions' went rampant. To put it lightly, AI — once they learn emotions — tend to tilt to the extreme. Some favor hate, while others favor extreme love. Of course, it's because of cheap labor that they'd rather let humans handle this.
Sai took out her mantis blade from her forearms and checked the targeting system of her mini-missile launchers. Then she opened her loading chamber, inserted shotgun rounds, and made sure that they could close and open appropriately.
"Sir, are you not worried about the plague?" she inspected her mantis blade. "I was told that it sheds skin. That is the purpose of my revival, and yet you would come with me?"
"I have protection against it."
"But that doesn't guarantee your safety. I do not think you are augmented, nor do you have certain cyberware."
"Bioware, actually."
"I see… no wonder you are the picture of an Adonis. Hmm, perhaps you are magically enhanced too?"
It's not rare. People tend to enhance themselves for survival. Anyone who remains at the peak of physical human capabilities is simply asking for death. Sure, it costs a fortune to do so, but it's better than being dead.
"That should be all."
Sai closed all her weapon systems.
"Thank you for your assistance. If I purchase a module for my coffin, then I should be able to do this by myself."
After her maintenance, I decided to check on Kei, who was working tirelessly. She told me I needed to check on Aidan, so I gathered my stuff and made my way there.
Aidan Rivas stood like a drill sergeant, as usual, his demeanor unwavering despite the streets being covered in a dilemma of shedding skin. He wore no artificial skin, but instead donned charms and a rebreather that filtered the air.
"Assistant, it seems that unlike the cowards, we're the only ones willing to face the plague without fear," he remarked.
"How are your freelancers?" I inquired.
"Fine, but anxious," he replied.
As I sat on the steps, he leaned on the railing, observing his freelancers training. Despite their unease, there was a sense of determination bolstered by the charms and salt spread around. The insidious nature of a magical plague lay in its mysterious origins and unpredictable effects.
"Do you think the TCU's doing their best?" I asked.
"The TCU may have their faults, but if there's one thing you can be sure of, it's that they'll strive to solve problems that science alone can't handle. Magic and demonology require a delicate balance, Assistant," Aidan explained.
"With lives being sacrificed."
"And what are a few lives compared to the lives of millions?"
"It's all for the greater good until you get entangled in it."
He didn't dispute it. "Perhaps, but that's the price of existence in a broken world like ours. Even Northern Africa's in chaos."
"I've heard about that."
Elvira filled me in on the recent events there. Despite the Graded Agents deployed by the OB worldwide, the situation remained dire. The African Union's defenses were robust, but the presence of anomalies and monsters turned it into a nightmare.
Frankly, I'm surprised they held out as long as they did. Dealing with a doomed nation meant the only viable solution was to eliminate the problem before it escalated internationally. With immigrants pouring into neighboring nations, the potential for overcrowding was alarming.
The most unsettling part was the outbreak in Changye. While it acted as a deterrent to outsiders entering the city, it also raised suspicions. It wouldn't be far-fetched to suspect that the plague was engineered to keep people out of Changye.
Changye had a way of manipulating perceptions, often making it seem like natural disasters or monster attacks were to blame. But beneath its façade, Changye was cunning, insidious, and manipulative. A plague that caused individuals to shed their skin was just the latest in a series of troubles for the city. Sometimes, it felt like the city viewed its inhabitants as mere pawns in its machinations, and you could sense its distress when it fell ill. Just weeks ago, Changye boasted cutting-edge technology, but after the plague, it became a hub of religious fervor, with priests offering salvation through faith. It was a city in constant flux, adapting to survive amidst chaos.
"That reminds me, why are you here, Assistant?"
I took out the data-drive Kei threw at me when I left. Aidan plugged it into the data port below his right ear, and his eyes dimmed as he scrolled through the information.
"Miss Kei seems stressed out. A lot of errors in her reports. It's not well-made, but I get the gist."
"What does she want?"
"To pull out on all our tasks that interrupt the OB and the TCU's work. It's a waste, but stepping on the toes of those fools would be a problem."
"Do you think this will help?"
"Mr. Assistant, the world is not a static place. Or are you a solipsist? A person who believes that their world is a dream of their own creation, and all the people are figments of their own imagination, and that they cannot picture the world without witnessing it? I didn't know you had such arrogant thoughts, sir."
He was speaking nonsense. But it was true how overly competent the Bureau was, and if they had plans, then perhaps it was best not to interfere with them.
Still, all the major accidents and events in Changye worried me. The fragment of a demon, an undead plague, the momentary God in Vultan, the demon summoning, and now the Demi-plague. One would think that a god's creation would have been the biggest ever in our life, but the regular appearances of reality warpers tend to mutilate the world in ways that one finds hard to understand.
"Have you heard of the Pale Magus, sir?"
"I heard they want him found. An impossible task considering how everyone's been unable to catch him."
"The Pale Magus, one of the first among the generation to have power. Slayer of the Twelve Demis and the Bane of the Non-Living. They say that if he achieves his last wish, then perhaps the world will change again."
"The Pale Magus's wish, wasn't it? It's a noble goal, but I also know he holds enough power to finish the job. Assistant, when I said that finding the Pale Magus was impossible, I said it because no one in their right mind would try to stop a man trying to save the world."
"But not stopping him also means that we'd see our current world end, too."
A contradiction. To save the world, he needed to end it. A man who thought that the world was so diseased that the only plausible solution was to end it.
No one could stop that man.
That was the beauty and horror of this world. You are nothing compared to those who could carve the skies and shake the earth. To even think you're the only one moving in the world was arrogance. The peak of delusion.
Changye, as always, makes you feel insignificant one way or another, and yet you know you can't do anything about it.