Fukusha Model Eight – Chapter 30

Twenty-four hours later and I’m tired of the hospital. I’m tired of the needles. I’m tired of the scans. Rin and I were going to get away from everything. We were going to lie low until we could figure out what to do next. This is not what I had in mind.

At least I’m not worried about the yakuza for this moment. Though Masato is dead, the last anyone saw Haku he was limping away from the fight scene. He’ll be off licking his wounds before he’s able to fight again. In the meantime, Mara is an amiable companion, and she’s always around. She doesn’t share stories of home. She doesn’t talk of hot men. She doesn’t want to steal away to go drink at the bar. I remember her punching that yakuza’s lights out, and my respect for her grows deeper. I can respect anyone who has that much power in her fist.

Most of the time, she stands at the window, her sword on her back, her eyes directed at the streets below. The hospital is in the hills on the outskirts of Susami, and we have a great view of the town all the way to the wharf.

When a nurse comes to remove my catheter and prompt me to stand up, Mara hovers nearby.

“Maybe you should stay in bed longer, Yumi,” she says, concern wrinkling her brow. “You look like shit.”

I burst into a short laugh as I put my shaky feet on the ground. “Thanks for being honest.”

“Honest. Well, I’ll take that.” Her voice is full of sarcasm, and I suddenly like her even more.

My legs hold my weight pretty easily, and my balance feels good too. I take a few tentative steps and nod with satisfaction.

“At least you can walk,” Mara quips, and my sardonic laugh in return makes her smile.

“I need to be able to run, jump, and climb too, not to mention fight.”

She folds her arms across her chest. “You just had surgery, and you’ve lost the use of one eye. I think you’re expecting too much.”

“I think I’m expecting too little of my enemies.” I walk another loop of the room. The nurse keeps her eagle-eyes on me the entire time.

“That may be so. But I could just give you a leash, and you could beat them all into submission.”

And now Mara has become my favorite person ever.

“Speaking of which, what have you done with Gen?” Last I saw him, Mara had him in the alley after I fought him with Ninjin’s leash.

“He’s Kengo’s guest for the time being.” Translation: they’re holding him nearby. Hopefully away from my dog.

When I cross the room again, I pause and examine myself in the window’s reflection. Ugh. My hair is a disaster. It’s time to deal with this mess finally.

“Bring me the hair clippers,” I say to the nurse and add on, “please.”

Both women pause. “Are you sure you want to do that?” the nurse asks, heading for the door.

“There’s only one place to go from here. I hated having brown hair, anyway.”

I’m able to handle buzzing most of my hair off, and the nurse handles the rest while Mara hovers in the doorway to the bathroom.

“Dear god, I look like a tiny bug without any hair.” My one eye fills with tears when I see my hair on the floor.

The nurse purses her lips and tips her head to the side. As usual, she’s quite stunning all on her own. People at every level of society here have a beauty that’ll go on for years. “I don’t know. This could be a good look for you,” she says, and I thank the gods for small favors. “That man who’s here and asks about you all the time, he’s bald too. You’d make a stunning pair.”

I wipe away the tears from my one good eye. “Yeah. Though I think he’s going to be a little shocked.”

Mara takes in my new appearance, nods, and leaves the room to do whatever it is she’s supposed to be doing. I don’t ask. I have enough of my own shit to worry about.

Leaving the nurse in the bathroom to clean up the mess, I hobble through the hospital room, getting back my strength in my legs. There’s not a lot I can do right now to bring myself back to one-hundred percent. I don’t believe, after hearing what the doctor had to say about my concussions, I will ever be one-hundred percent again, but I have to be ready to flee at any moment.

I stop at the window where Mara stood earlier. Things out in the streets of Susami look normal except for movement along the horizon, closer to the sea. I sigh as I realize my eyesight is total crap now that I’m relying on only one eye to give me data about my surroundings.

Pushing my one eye to the limit, I concentrate on a spot far off on the other side of town. Several large ships approach the harbor and flying cars zip over the buildings. They look like flies from here, but that’s the only thing they could be.

“Yumi, you should come see this.”

Out at the nurses’ station, several people stand and gape at a wall screen streaming live footage from the Aoi Uma News Network. Happy citizens of Shin-Osaka exit Aoi Uma exchanges with their new Fukusha Model Eight androids, stopping to be interviewed or continuing on their way home.

“How will you be employing your new Model Eight?” a faceless person on the street asks. Aoi Uma hasn’t employed journalists either now that they have control of the news networks.

The man smiles as he glances at the young woman android. “My wife and I work long hours, and we couldn’t find a reliable nanny. We hope this… young woman will become a permanent member of our home.”

The android smiles at the man, and a wave of nausea crests in my stomach. She’s so lifelike that I can understand why the man called her a young woman. “I love children,” the android says. A nurse at the station covers her mouth with her hand. “I’m looking forward to this new job.”

So that’s it. The Fukusha Model Eights are out there, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

“Have there been any riots or backlash against the Model Eights?” I ask a woman standing next to me.

She shakes her head. “Not as far as I know.”

The scene on the news changes to Narumi Ogawa, resplendent in a blue kimono, her hair upswept and her makeup perfect, standing at a podium before a large crowd.

“Today is a momentous day for Aoi Uma. My corporation has worked tirelessly for many months to bring this line of androids to fruition, and I’m so grateful you’re all here today to celebrate.” She smiles at the crowd and bows. “In the past, our Fukusha line of androids had their bugs, and we lost the trust of the population for a brief time, but today I’m here to show you that we have changed.” The crowd cheers and waves tiny flags with the Aoi Uma crest on them. “Not only did we produce enough early models to facilitate a smooth transition in Shin-Osaka, Amagasaki, and several other cities on the Northern Continent, but we also have another important place to bring the Fukusha Model Eights — The Southern Continent.”

“No,” one of the nurses gasps out. He turns to his coworkers, his face losing all its color.

“As of an hour ago, Hikari High Court has reversed Shiroi Nami’s legislation to restrict androids only to the Northern Continent. The cries of those from the Southern Continent — to be released from the drudgery of repetitive work, to be set free of the restrictions of unreliable workers, to have their own android helpers — have been answered.”

Mara’s jaw is set as she watches Narumi’s speech.

This is not good.

“Let me assure you, this was an inevitable step in our evolution, and Shiroi Nami is not happy with the court’s decision. Nevertheless, Aoi Uma is excited to be heading in this direction. We expect a short period of unrest on the Southern Continent until our presence is established, but soon, the Fukusha Model Eights will be everywhere, and your lives will be made easier for their efforts. Thank you, everyone!”

She waves to the crowd like a reigning monarch, and my body grows cold with hatred. The only thing she cares about is profits, pushing down the weak or poor, and propping herself up for immortality. She doesn’t want peace. She wants an adoring populace.

I don’t want her to have it.

“Yumi,” Mara whispers, grabbing my upper arm. “Look.”

Wanted posters now dominate the wall screens. My face zooms out and reveals me as I looked when I first came to Hikari, long hair and in relatively good health. The likeness rotates, showing me from all angles, before splitting into two to show how I look now… Or how I looked a few days ago before I was attacked.

Wanted for a bounty of one million credits, I’m considered at large and dangerous. The wanted poster minimizes, and my videos from the underground forums play before a voiceover kicks in.

“Yumi Minamoto, also going by the alias of Yumi Oda, and last seen in Susami on the Southern Continent, is wanted for grand larceny, the unlawful possession of highly classified government data, and kidnapping a senior Aoi Uma employee. She is to be turned in immediately to any Aoi Uma office or exchange. Please be careful as this suspect is considered to be armed and dangerous.”

All of the nursing staff turn to look at me. Mara pulls me back a step.

One of the male nurses who had been helping me earlier steps forward to break the trance. “You need to get dressed and leave immediately,” he says, concern blanketing his face.

Another nurse jumps up from her station. “I’ll gather painkillers and extra bandages.”

“You’ll need food and water too.” Another runs off toward the pantry.

Tears fill my good eye. I expected them to turn on me. One million credits is a lot of money, more than these people will make in a decade of work.

“Don’t worry,” the male nurse says as he approaches Mara and me. “We saw the kind of shape you were in when you came here.”

“This is all lies,” I tell him, waving at the screens.

“I know. You should get dressed, and I’ll help you escape out the service entrance. Wait here.” He runs off into the dispensary for a moment and returns with a syringe. “You’re going to need a dose of stimulants if you want to stay conscious for the next few hours.”

“Okay, fine.” I turn and present my upper arm to him. I’m not a fan of being drugged, and I’m not sure what effect these will also have on my migraines, but I need to make it out of this alive.

Back in the room, Mara is packing the few things I arrived at the hospital with. There are clothes laid out on the bed.

“We don’t have much time. We should get out of here and get to our safe house immediately.”

I peel off the hospital gown and wince at my injuries. I’m still in pain, and I need weeks to recover from these new injuries. “Do you really think they’re going to invade that quickly?”

Mara zips up my bag and walks over to the window. “Yeah,” she says, pointing.

The scene I witnessed earlier has morphed into chaos. Multiple ships have taken over the harbor docks, and the vehicles in the sky have doubled. But it’s the explosions, balls of fire blooming over the rooftops, and the packed streets of people panicking that put a stranglehold around my throat.

Aoi Uma is here, and it’s time to leave.