The Ghost and the Machine

“Human Designation ‘Kyoko Yasuda,’ stop where you are!”

Three bots swung around the corner, their gunmetal gray chassis masked in shadow. They all spoke as one: “Put the Womb down now, or we will apply force!” Each one brandished a Type-3 Pulse Generator.           

I had never used a gun, but I’d heard that these ones caused a localized system shutdown to the target, cutting off everything but life support. Whether that came in the form of a projectile or something less visible, I wasn’t sure.

The window of the sixth floor was just a few yards away. With my personal Net/Link disabled, I couldn’t be sure of exactly how high up I was. It was likely more than enough to damage my body, Panther-class or not.

The cylindrical machine slung over my shoulder was about the size of a duffel bag and surprisingly light. A pane of glass revealed the embryonic chamber at the heart of the device. It sat dark and empty. Whatever happened next, I could not let the Womb be damaged. Otherwise, this would all be for nothing.

I sprinted toward the window at full speed. The bots dispensed with the warnings and pursued, their rapid footfalls all in unison. I could hear their Type-3’s humming to life as a shot exploded from the other end of the hall. Something flew past my arm faster than I could see and struck the window just ahead.

I launched myself into the glass, my mechanical legs propelling me out into the night with enough force to take me several feet past the edge of the building. The road stretched out beneath me, and I plummeted to its surface as more shots flew past me. Brace, brace, brace, brace, BRACE! My feet smashed into the pavement, sending bits of debris skyward, and my shocks buckled beneath the force of the impact. I dashed out of the small crater toward the front of the building, but I could feel that something had given in my left leg.

As I rounded the side of the building, I spotted a bot guarding my car. I gritted my teeth and picked up as much speed as I could to close the gap.

The dozen eyes that dotted the bot’s head lit up a blood red as it directed its weapon at me. The tip of the Type-3 vibrated violently before a flash of light exploded out of the end. A sharp whistle perforated the air as the bullet grazed past my right shoulder. I cried out in pain, but my body remained functional.

“Cease your resistance, human designa—” I crashed into the bot, sending us both flying into the side of my car. The bot landed on its back, its gun still clenched firmly in its hand.

I scrambled on top of the bot and forced the Type-3 into the ground. I threw blow after blow at the machine’s head with my free hand, and the pavement cracked beneath it. The bot squirmed helplessly beneath my heavier chassis until its skull finally caved in. Electricity sparked within the broken head as its crimson eyes began to dim, and it hissed: “Violations of the Universal Ethic will not be tolerated…” Then the machine was still. The synthetic skin that covered my hand was gone, leaving behind nothing but a skeletal fist.

I wrenched the Type-3 from its lifeless hand and slid it into my jacket pocket. I delicately set the Womb down in the back of the car before hobbling into the driver’s seat. The device didn’t appear damaged. They must have been trying not to hit you... Sirens sounded in the distance as I jammed my hands into the steering ports. I felt my consciousness expand to encompass the vehicle, and I sped out of the lot just as bots appeared in the entryway.

I’d been careful to remove the GPS devices from the car and my body, but I couldn’t be sure they weren’t still tracking me somehow. Hopefully, I could make it back to the rendezvous point in time to pick up Jin before anything unexpected happened.

As soon as I was out of sight of the Institute, I changed the car from a crisp silver to a jet black with a thought. I also made sure to tint the windows and lower the partition between the front and the back. Normally, this kind of thing wouldn’t hold up to a VID-scan, but Jin had done his due diligence and removed all other methods of identification beyond the license plate from the vehicle. He even had new plates ready to go at the rendezvous point.

I drove as inconspicuously as I could through the streets while constantly checking my mirrors. The place we were supposed to meet up at was only 10 minutes away. It was 2:11 A.M. now; he should be there. We’d both dispensed with our ability to communicate from a distance when we’d deactivated our Net/Links, so I just had to trust he’d be there. The plan wouldn’t work if he wasn’t.

The hydroponics complex appeared completely dead from the outside. Lights were off, and there were no vehicles in the parking lot. Sirens still blared in the distance. No doubt a warning had been put out on all channels to keep an eye out for me, but there was no one here to warn. I found myself praying, something I wasn’t in the habit of doing.

I approached the back door of the complex and knocked once, then twice in quick succession, followed by three more slow taps. The door opened, and there stood Jin with his silky dark hair and bright green eyes. He looked the same way he had 200 years ago when we’d agreed to make the transition together. Tears rolled down his face as he wrapped me up in a hug and whispered, “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

I squeezed him tight with my undamaged hand, but it didn’t feel the way it used to all those years ago. Metal wrapped in synthetic skin felt different somehow, even if the brain had been programmed to register it as identical to flesh and bone.

“You got the Paracelsusphere, right?” he asked.

“It’s called a Womb, Jin, and yes, it’s in the car.”

“Okay, then let’s hurry. I’m pretty sure the building’s allotted power for the evening is devoted to keeping the grow lights and the like on, but I could be wrong.”

He bent down and grabbed a small bag lying by the door. “Let’s go!”

We grabbed each other’s hands and headed toward the car. I tried to hide my limp, but Jin saw through my deception almost immediately.

“What happened, Kyoko?”

“It’s nothing.”

He glanced behind my back and spotted the skeletal hand that protruded from my otherwise human arm. He frowned.

“I’m fine, Jin. Really."

He nodded, but the frown didn’t leave his face. He helped me into the passenger seat and glanced at the “Paracelsusphere” in the back. “This the thing you work with all day, Mrs. Mammalian Maintenance Officer?”

“In the flesh,” I said with a wince. I pulled up the pain receptor settings for my left leg and silenced them, one of the few perks of these bodies of ours.

Jin pulled out the new license plates and a drill from his bag and got to work. While I waited, I felt up and down the exposed metal joints of my right hand. They were cold to the touch. After a few minutes, Jin jogged around the car and hopped into the driver’s seat. “Ready for the… y’know?” He pinched the flesh of his forearm.

“As I’ll ever be,” I said.

Over the past several years, it had become vogue to abandon the skinsuit entirely. Many viewed it as a waste of time now that every human on the planet was long integrated. Some thought it was badass. Others did it because their Net/Links were compensating for a mind in decay, and they no longer saw a practical use for the skinsuits. For us, however, it was the perfect camouflage.

Both of us removed our clothes and activated our release functions. The synthetic flesh loosened from our true bodies. Removing it was as easy as taking off a t-shirt. We piled the empty skinsuits in the glove compartment. They were surprisingly compact. I put the Type-3 on top, and Jin glanced at it nervously.

Jin—now a six-foot silver android composed of metal joints and chrome tendons—looked rather different to me now, though in truth he had not changed, not really. I imagined I looked much the same to him, and I wondered if he still thought I was attractive as I found it more than a little difficult to see the machine before me as the man I’d married. He reminded me more of the bot I had destroyed, albeit in a more expensive shell. We’d only been able to afford a single Panther-class frame, but Jin’s Gen VII Tiger-class was nothing to sneeze at either.

“You’re sure this thing can do what we need it to do?” he asked.

I nodded. “I’ve seen the Womb create every life-form you can imagine. I’m sure it can manage this.”

“Even though it violates the Universal Ethic?” Jin slotted his arms into the steering ports and fused with the car’s OS. He pulled out of the lot and headed toward the edge of the city, taking the route we had planned out weeks ago.

“That’s what you’re here for,” I said. “Well, that and the fake IDs. And the other thing.”

“Right, ‘the other thing.’ How exactly is that going to work by the way, like what’s it gonna feel like?”

“Hard to say. I’ve never taken a sample from a live human brain before.”

“Can’t wait,” he said. “What’s one more dive into our own inner workings?” He chuckled, but I could sense his anxiety.

“Too late to go back now,” I whispered.

Jin turned into a back alley just wide enough for the car. “I was thinking up names while I was waiting,” he said. “What do you think of Kiyoko?”

I grimaced.

“Too derivative?” He smiled at me with his anatomically perfect teeth.

My lips upturned slightly. “Maybe,” I said. “Turn left here.”

“I know, I know.” There were a few cars still out, and Jin slid in behind them.

“Why Kiyoko?” I asked.

“I just think it’s a pretty name, and I think our girl—assuming it’s a girl—would benefit from being a lot like her mother.”

“Okay, what about if it’s a boy?”

“Jin, naturally.”

I laughed. “I’m being serious, Jin.”

“Okay, okay.” He paused for a moment. “If it’s a boy… how about Denji?”

“Jin…” I tried to catch his eye, but he was focused on the road. I put my hand on his shoulder.

“I know, I know.” He grabbed my hand and kissed it. It was cold. “Forget I said anything.”

The lights of the city glimmered against the night sky. The sirens had faded, but we were still on edge. It would only be another twenty minutes or so before we were out of here. Law enforcement had likely blocked off all the major exits by now. Lucky for us, we weren’t taking a major exit.

A bright light passed overhead as a drone flew by. It didn’t seem to notice us. Just to be safe, I leaned back and tried to even out the dent in the passenger door the bot had left earlier.

“How’s the Panther-class?” Jin asked.

“Took some getting used to. It’s faster than any body I’ve ever used. Stronger too.”

“Well, let’s hope you won’t have to use it anymore tonight.”

“We can hope.” I glanced out the window as the buildings passed by. The car’s reflection was distorted in the glass of each, a hunk of metal twisted and bent almost beyond recognition. “Do you think Denji would’ve gone along with this?”

Jin sighed. “I don’t know, Kyoko.”

“I think about the day he was born sometimes…”

“Simpler times.”

I traced my finger across the window. “No human has been born in over a hundred years at this point. They’ve gone extinct.”

Jin didn’t respond.

“Jin?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you sure you want this? You can get out now, and I’ll—”

“This is what I want, Kyoko. Never doubt that.” He put his hand on my hand and squeezed.

A few minutes passed in silence. Jin rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb as we winded through the city streets.

“He would’ve wanted this too, I think,” Jin said. “I only wish he were here to see it.”

I felt like crying, but nothing came. “I miss him.”

“...Me too.”

Slowly but surely, the skyscrapers began to fall away, and we could see the tops of great trees in the distance.

“It should be up ahead,” I said. “Just over this hill.”

As we crested the hill, red and blue lights broke through the night. At the bottom of the hill near our intended exit were three law enforcement vehicles. Each one likely held a bot and a human in addition to their equipment, so six potential opponents, maybe more.

“Kyoko…” Jin said.

“I see them.”

“Do we keep going?”

“What choice do we have?”

“Okay, so should I just drive through? I might be able to fit through that gap there…” He pointed out a slight hole in the barrier of vehicles.

“It’s worth a shot, but only once we get close. Make it look like we’re cooperating. We’ve got the Type-3 if we need it.”

The car crept down the hill at a steady pace. There was only one officer outside a vehicle. The human, sporting a dark blue uniform, stepped forward to greet us. He had a Type-3 at his hip. I spotted several eyes lighting up the inside of the vehicles. Looked to be six in total, counting the officer outside the vehicle, but it was always hard to tell with bots given how many eyes they had.

Jin pulled the car to a stop, and the human approached. He moved as stiffly as a bot with a ramrod-straight back and precise steps. He wore no skinsuit. “Identification, humans,” he intoned. The way he spoke reminded me of Denji near the end, and I averted my eyes from him.

Jin handed the officer our fabricated ID tags. He scanned them for a moment. “Wait here,” he said before heading back toward one of the vehicles. He leaned his head inside one of the cars and a single green light flashed inside.

“This looks bad…” Jin whispered. The other humanoids had their eyes locked on us, and one began to step out of its car.

“Gun it,” I muttered as I grabbed the Type-3 from the glove compartment.

The engine roared, and the officer who had our fake IDs spun around, drawing his gun from his hip. The others hurried to get out of their vehicles as our car leaped toward the gap in the barricade. One jumped out of the nearest car as we smashed into it, sending the vehicle back a few feet.

I leaned out the window and over the roof of the car, aiming for the nearest target. It was the cop. His Type-3 was glowing with light that filled the area. I pointed the gun toward center mass and pulled the trigger. The gun shook violently, but I held it steady as the slug exploded out of the barrel with the loudest bang I’d ever heard. Nothing happened. “Go, go, go!” I shouted, the sound ringing in my ears.

The car shot forward into the night as the officer’s own Type-3 fired. A loud crack sounded from the rear of the vehicle, and it began to lose speed. The car slowly reverted to its original silver form and came to a stop.

“Shit!” Jin cried. He reached into the back and grabbed the Womb before leaping out of the car and taking off toward the forest. I followed close behind as the officers pursued. If we could just make it to the forest, they couldn’t follow without violating the Universal Ethic. If we could just make it there…

I scooped Jin up from behind fireman-style and sprinted toward the tree line, the Womb still slung over his shoulder. My left leg occasionally buckled as I accelerated. Shots rang out from behind us, and I bobbed and weaved back and forth. The forest spread out before us with trees hundreds of feet tall. It dwarfed even the city we’d just left behind.

“Humans, violation of the Universal Ethic in this manner is punishable by immediate termination! Stop now!” one of the officers shouted.

Freedom was within reach now. I dashed into the forest and didn’t stop running until trees were all we could see in every direction. The place was practically untouched. No stumps, no trails, no signs of human presence whatsoever. It was beautiful and sad all at once. I set Jin down and hugged him tightly.

“Is it damaged?” I asked.

He looked the Womb up and down. “Seems fine to me.”

“You ready then?”

He smirked. “Y’know, this isn’t as sexy as I remember.”

I laughed. “Shut up, Jin. This isn’t about us. It’s about Kiyoko.”

“Or Denji.”

I activated the Womb like I had so many times before, and warm light filled the embryonic chamber. “Now all we need are two genetic samples.”

Jin opened the back of his robotic skull, exposing the only flesh any of us had anymore: the brain. “Be gentle. It’s my first time,” he teased.

“You are such a child,” I muttered. “You sure you’re ready for this?”

“How can any parent be ready for the first human baby in a hundred years? That’s a lot of pressure.”

I smiled. “Don’t worry. It won’t be the last.”