Arrival in Olympia
***
Track 1
My first memory was of the white ceiling, the smell of antiseptic and the slow and steady beep of the machines plugged into me.
I had no idea how I got there, when I had started laying there… or who I was.
It took exactly 5.4 seconds for a woman to open the door and gasp in surprise.
3 minutes and 14 seconds after I woke up, a man was at my bedside, his fingers probing my head and neck.
Twenty six hours, five minutes and thirty seconds later, two people visited me, a man and a woman. They called me their son. I had not seen them before, and I did not know what they meant when they called me son.
Words and concepts were jumbled in my mind.
For example, I knew that the wiry necklace the man wore around his neck was a stethoscope, but I did not know what it did. I knew that there was some sort of tool used to measure heartbeats by auditory means, but I did not know what it was called. The man was called a doctor. What did you call a person that treated the sick?
I knew that he was a man. But what was a man? What was a son? A father? A mother? A sister?
Whenever a word floated into my mind, its concept eluded me.
Whenever a concept flitted across my consciousness, the word for it escaped my grasp.
The only concept I retained was that of time. I remembered numbers, and how to count them, and how they marked the passage of time. I could count every second that passed without looking at the pale white clock that hung on the wall.
Gradually, I learnt to re-associate words with concepts again. The two who called themselves my father and mother stayed by my side every day. A girl who called herself my sister joined them one week later. They showed me pictures with words. My father told me about computers. My mother taught me about food. My sister tried to get me to understand fashion. She claimed it was a Reeducation Project to turn me into an outstanding boy that could sway the hearts of girls.
It was fun for me, but not at all easy. If I thought about something too hard, I would vomit and black out. Thankfully, they were patient with me; my family, the nurses, and doctors did not blame me for failing, but encouraged me to try again.
One month later, I took my first step. My muscles were weak; they said that I had been sleeping for far too long. I could barely lift a pen when I first woke up. The first thing my sister did when I could walk was to guide me outside.
For the first time, I saw where I was.
A field of golden flowers shone brilliantly against the pitch black sky. A brilliant blue marble gleamed gently above it, surrounded by a ring of mirrors.
It was the most beautiful sight that I had ever seen.
***
“Next stop, Olympia. Next stop, Olympia. Please check your luggage before disembarking.”
Track 2
I open my eyes, my mind still groggy. I haven’t dreamt about the lunar hospital in a while. It wasn’t a bad dream, though. Perhaps it was a good omen for my new life and fresh start here in Olympia. All around me, people begin to get up from their seats and check the overhead compartment for their bags. Most of them were young; they were probably students at the numerous schools in Olympia. I remain seated, looking out of the window as the scenery flashes by. My belongings should already be at the house by now, if the Imperial Shinar Corporation had kept their word.
As if right on cue, my phone flashes, indicating an incoming conversation.
“We’re all set up, Master!” A cheerful voice that only I could hear appeared in my head. “My server is plugged in and online.”
I exhale a sigh of relief and chuckle.
“Thank goodness. I wasn’t sure the ISC would let me keep you, Yua. They were threatening to destroy everything I had. You were at the top of the list. To be honest, I thought I would never see you again.”
A panicked yelp comes from the other side of the conversation. “Master! Don’t say things like that. If that happened, I…”
“Well, everything should be in order if you’re talking like this,” I continue. Yua was a very useful assistant, but at times she could be a bit clingy. I didn’t recall that being part of my design, but when it came to behavioural programming there was always some uncertainty. “Have you run a full diagnostics scan? I want to know if they changed anything besides the monitoring programs they told me would be there.”
It was part of the deal I had made with them. In exchange for keeping Yua, I would agree to the installation of some monitoring software in her server so that they could keep track of my activities. I wouldn’t put it past the ISC to try and sneak something extra past me, though. As the train slows down to a crawl, I get up from my seat.
“Ah, about that, Master… they did do something.”
“Is it serious?”
“I’m afraid my abilities have been restricted.” Yua sounded extremely sorry that this had happened. That was worthy of a big sigh. There were only a few people in the ISC that could bypass my security and adjust Yua’s capabilities without killing her outright, and
she was the only one who would do something that could jeopardize the deal with impunity.
“I’ll look into it when I get there. It should take me about… sixteen minutes and fifty two seconds. I’ll see you in a while.” I finish, looking up the map on my phone. It was a brand new, top of the line personal communicator device courtesy of the Imperial Shinar Corporation, probably bugged from top to bottom with spyware. I hadn’t been allowed to keep my old phone or my old contacts. The train stops and the doors open. I step onto the platform quickly, pushing my way past the rush of people trying to get back onto the train.
The air here was different. Just two hours ago I had been in New Ankida, six hundred kilometers down south. The summer heat in Olympia was less fiery, and a subtle fragrance was in the air. Looking at the map again, I head towards my new home for the next three years.
***
Apparently it would take sixteen minutes and fifty two seconds for a normal, healthy male teenager. Twenty two minutes and four seconds after I left the train station, I huffed and puffed my way up the last of the steep stairs that the map had conveniently left out. The sun was already setting. Ever since I woke up in the hospital, my body had always been physically weak, and no amount of rehabilitation or exercise seemed to help.
At my old school I was known as the Legendary Ten Seconds Boy.
…I don’t want to think about that right now.
Leaning against a pillar to catch my breath, I look at the house. It is a normal looking house built with modern architecture, an elegant mixture of straight lines and swooping curves. Most of the house is made of reinforced photo-sensitive plastics that could change their transparency. I didn’t know that the material was still in use in Olympia; back in Higashi it had been banned after someone figured out how to hack into the house’s central computer and force it to full transparency whenever he wished.
Interestingly, the surrounding houses are not made of the same material. If this is the ISC’s idea of irony, I gratefully accept the challenge.
I open the door and Yua’s hologram greets me cheerfully. “Welcome to our new home, Master!” The changes that had been made were evident at first sight. When I first activated Yua, she had performed a thorough check of my ‘search history’ beyond my capabilities to hide it and taken the form of my ideal girl – a short ponytail, cheerful demeanour, pretty eyes and a nice body that was just rightly proportioned.
Now she looked like a ten year old version of herself.
“So, the restrictions you were talking about…”
“Yes, Master. I can’t please you anymore.” Yua fidgeted shyly.
“I… people are going to get the wrong impression if you say things like that!”
“We're all alone here so it's okay, Master!” she grins as she floats about me.
“I bet she is.” I mutter.
Track 6
“That’s right, Hoshikawa Senya! How do you like my modifications?” The brash, familiar voice came from my phone… it looks like they could access it at will. I remind myself to be more careful while using it. A sulk passed across Yua's face at the presence of the intruder.
“Please act your age, Ms. Anna.” I sigh. All I knew about her was her first name and her age, which I had tricked her into revealing shortly before my capture.
“Oh? I thought you liked little girls, Senya.”
“Just because I called you an old hag doesn’t mean I like them young.”
“I’m only 23. You just can’t appreciate the charms of a mature woman.” I had met her quite frequently while at ISC headquarters in Ankida, and she really was different from the girls I usually met at school, with her well-permed long brunette hair and revealing outfits. I don’t think I would ever be comfortable around her, though.
“Yes, yes.” If I let this go on I’d never get to settle in. “Anyway, what do you want?”
“Just wanted to let you know not to try anything funny with Yua, since we’re always watching.”
Yua blushed and started swaying about in a worrying manner.
“Wha- she’s a hologram, and what do you mean, always watching? Did you rig the entire house with cameras?”
“Yup.”
“This is an invasion of privacy!”
“You signed that away. Clause 16.11, page 13. Don’t worry, I won’t watch while you’re jerking off.”
“You… you sexual harassment auntie!” Somehow, this always happened. Her greatest pleasure in life seemed to be teasing me, and somehow she had ended up as my supervisor for the next three years. I wasn’t sure which the worst thing about my exile was between this and getting separated from my family.
“Ahaha, how cute. How red are you right now? Well, you’re kinda mature for your age, and your looks are really my type…”
“I’m hanging up.”
“Wait, wait, wait. There’s actually something I need to tell you about.”
“Which is?”
“I’ve secured the latest flagship blueprints from the Indus Confederation, I need you to analyze and submit a report about its capabilities.”
“Even the almighty super hacker can’t do everything, huh? Anyway, I’m not an expert in robot engineering.” I briefly recall seeing some mention of that in the ISC files I leaked. It seems that the various nations were starting to repurpose the construction and labour-orientated robots for combat. It seemed pointless to me, and another piece of evidence that this world was not very sane.
“You’re smart enough to make sense of it, at least. The higher ups are convinced you can perform the analysis faster than their best teams. After all, you made Yua, didn’t you?”
Yua beamed at the mention of her name and hopped over. “Master is the greatest!” she chirped, affirming my greatness with all her heart. I resist the urge to pat her on the head. Even as a ten year old she was cute… no, down that path lies a terrible end. I must not think that.
“Well, send it to me and I’ll see what I can do. It’s not like I have a choice.” I sit myself down in front of the multiple projections in my server room. It was a large, sparse room; previously I’d had to cram all my things into the small room of the apartment I shared with my family. Yua’s central server was located in the center of the room, a small black orb with pulsing blue lights. It was no bigger than a child’s ball, but the modifications and optimizations that I had made ensured it was more than powerful enough for Yua to outperform the best artificial intelligences in the world. Even now, most AI were just not very smart or lifelike, and notable only for their ability to slowly improve themselves. The human-like AIs I had read about in stories had always remained a pipe dream for many years. Well, until I took it upon myself to create Yua. She wasn’t perfect - there were a great many bugs in particular when it came to her behaviour towards me, but she was a great step forward from the current design paradigm.
Track 2
“Right-o. It’s done.” I checked and confirmed with Anna that I had received the blueprints, and she disconnected after teasing me again for another ten minutes. Next, I tried to contact my family. The call went unanswered. I let it ring twice, and then try again. On the third time, I decide to leave a short message instead.
“Dad, Mum, I made it to Olympia safely and I’ll start school tomorrow. Drop me a message when you get this. Remind Chinatsu
not to call me at school., she was threatening to do that if I didn’t call today.”
“I’ve gotten the bath ready, Master, and dinner will be cooked in an hour.” Yua came over to me as I turn away from the computer projections, her feet passing through the ground. It seems like the holo-projectors of the house weren’t calibrated properly. I’d have to take a look at that, but at least the remote controls had been properly set up under Yua’s command. Time to take a rest…
***
The bath and dinner were perfectly set up to my liking. The water’s temperature and level was just right. The food tasted just like how it did back home. If this is how life is going to be here, it should be manageable despite Anna’s antics. I look at the clock; it was 9 pm. In my rush to get to the house I hadn’t really paid attention to the surroundings. Perhaps I should go for a walk…
***
A. I take a walk around the neighbourhood, confirming the layout with the map I have and keeping alert for any oddities. One can never be too safe.
B. My new life starts tomorrow at school. There’s no longer any need to be paranoid; the ISC have an eye (maybe many eyes) on me anyway. Best to turn in early so I’m not late the next day.
), but it would be awfully nice to have a world map eventually.
