“Are you sure that’s the body you want?” Emperor Goto asked, standing at the control center to the Phoenix Machine.
An AR projection of Lilian nodded her head at the aging ruler. “Of course. I’ve lived that way almost all of my life, it would feel complete if we did it that way.”
Goto sighed and looked at me. “Are you sure about this? Once she goes in that direction, it’ll be difficult for her mind to adjust if she so desires a change.”
“I don’t care too much. Hell, even I thought that she was a man when I first met her. If that’s what she wants, then do it.” I turned and looked at Lilian. “So long as it doesn’t impede your work for me.”
Lilian nodded eagerly, her attitude towards me having done a complete 180 since she learned of her impending revival. “Of course, Joshua. No amount of hormonal imbalance will stop me from carrying out orders.”
She saluted, causing me to roll my eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Just stay still and let Emperor Goto upload your likeness into the machine so it can actually make you a body. Ok?”
“Understood!” She stopped her movement and stayed still. Goto sighed, and returned to his work.
After getting the emperor to agree to resurrecting Lilian, Reya and Goto both thankfully allowed for a recess in their negotiations in order to carry out this procedure. I was hoping that Goto would teach me how to operate the machine, but a swift refusal came the moment I asked.
Fortunately, the side-effect of having an autonomous AI was the fact that it could do almost anything you asked. As such, X was currently analyzing the structure of the system, and what exactly made it tick.
Speaking of… “By the way, Gotoshi.” The aging emperor smiled at the familiar name, and smiled while still concentrating on his task.
“Yes, lad? What is it?” His fingers moved dexterously along the keyboard, and a visual 3D model of Lilian’s new body was projected into an empty pod in front of the stand.
“Where do you get all the materials to make these bodies?” Goto stopped moving, and turned to face me.
“Joshua, some things are better left to the imagination, if you understand.” I nodded and shrugged. I wasn’t about to have a falling out with the emperor over something as fluid and inconsequential as ethics.
“Point taken. When will you be ready to create the body?” The pod moved backwards from the control center and then back onto the wall.
“Oh… maybe in five minutes? Right now…” Goto took a pause as a loud, ringing sound resounded throughout the chamber, and a clunk came from the pod on the wall. “The components are being flooded into the pod, and it will take a moment or two to shape it into the form that we’ve designed.”
“Oh cool! I’m gonna go look!” I was taken aback by just how much of a child Lilian was acting like. X, there wasn’t any brain damage done to Lilian through her death, was there?
“Only the kind that depression causes, Master.” X came into existence next to me. She was starting to differ from the form of Lucina, which both worried and intrigued me. She did tell me how she chose her form, after all, so of course I would be interested to see what the features I found most attractive were.
I couldn’t tell most of the exact differences, but looking at her was like looking at some, ‘spot the differences’ pictures. The one big difference that stood out was X’s hair. It was now a deep emerald green.
“However, I think that she is still experiencing a rush of simulated dopamine. Even though her body has died, Three is keeping her neural-signals running by acting as a ‘brain,’ for Lilian. She is stimulating every sense of Lilian, so she doesn’t lose her mind being just unfeeling data.”
Huh, I guess I never really thought about that. I continued to stare at Lilian observing the creation of her new body. She was watching with morbid interest as blood, organs, and lumps of flesh were dumped into the chamber. Just out of curiosity, do you know what happens when we die?
“Well, Master, I know not of what happens to those who refuse to use Judgment Panels, but when your brain signals cease functioning while wearing one, the mainframe scans and makes a copy of your personality to keep living in an automated world that Judgment created.”
My eyes widened. So you basically stay in purgatory for an eternity? “Not an eternity. There is only so much space that Judgment will relegate to that purpose, so as soon as the server fills up, the entire thing is deleted to make room for the next batch.”
Doesn’t that mean that some people will only get to experience a second of the afterlife before being sent to darkness?
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“So lad, where are you headed after this?” Goto interrupted my conversation, and I looked up at him in confusion.
“What do you mean? After this whole ordeal in Asahi is over, or immediately following this idiot’s revival?”
I pointed to Lilian, who still had her vision glued to the pod on the wall. “Ha ha! After Asahi. What are you going to do from now on?”
That question gave me pause. What was I going to do from now on? I initially came to Asahi to hunt down the organization that the scientist Teramoto was working for and investigate them, but having annihilated the gang and placed their leader into indentured servitude, that was all said and done with.
What should I do? I do still have that out-of-jail free card to escape my role as a Paladin…
“Become a King, Master.” X said, orbiting around me in midair. “You don’t have anything you want to do, right? Just progress in the Trials of Damocles if you have nothing better to do.”
I smiled and sighed. It was true that so far all I’d done was in the name of self-preservation, and I didn’t really have anything of my own I had wanted to do. It wasn’t so much that I didn’t have any motivation to do anything, but rather, it was quite the opposite.
I had so many options available to me that it was paralysis by analysis. Having so many things to think about and consider had left me in a state of devastating indecision. “Well, lad? Are you interested in joining me here full time?”
My smile disappeared at the emperor’s question, and I shot him a hard look. “No. I’m not against working with you from time to time, but staying here will kill me inside. I hope you understand.”
Goto gave me a defeated smile and a pat on the shoulder. “I thought you would say that, but really, I had to try anyway.” With a sigh he said, “Really, sometimes that daughter of mine is more trouble than she’s worth.”
“Why don’t you just disown her then? Or better yet, make her fend for herself, and this time, do it without access to the royal bank account.”
Goto gave me a wide-eyed look as though I had blasphemed right in front of him. “How could you say something like that? Despite what she’s done, and the mistakes she’s made, she’s still family, right?”
I rolled my eyes, but didn’t pursue the thought further. If only people could see when their ‘family,’ became cancerous to them. Unfortunately, most didn’t want the associated pain that came with excising a tumor from their lives.
Fortunately, our silence was ended by a squeal from Lilian’s apparition, “It’s finally done! Oh, I’m so excited. Quick, let’s get me in there!” Lilian came up to the control center, and Goto smiled at her childlike energy.
“Very well. Joshua, please upload her data into the base here.” Goto pointed to a small reflective surface, and Lilian dispersed as she was recalled back into my subspace.
Three took her place and gave me a smile. “Thank you for this. We will be in your debt for a while, I presume. Let’s work together, Joshua.”
I nodded and she disappeared, not leaving behind a single trace that she had even been there a moment before. But I guess that such was the way of virtual reality.
Be sure to eject Three, and any data she may have tried to leave behind in my subspace. X’s projection nodded, and a pale blue beam shot from the Judgment Panel on my forehead and onto the surface of the control center below.
“Here we go.” Goto said, and pushed a button. The Phoenix System made a low humming sound, and a red light pulsed inside the pod where Lilian’s new body was laying.
The pod moved forward and stopped in front of Goto and me. It opened, and Lilian fell out onto the floor. “Ugh, it’s good to be back.” Lilian said as she stood up.
“Well, I can never unsee that now.” I sighed and turned around, averting my gaze from Lilian’s new masculine body.
“Oh, come on, you know I’m hot.” Lilian said. His body had retained much of the same androgyny as before, only with male genitalia instead of the feminine variation now.
“That has little to do with the matter.” I shook my head and rebutted, while Goto clapped his hands to get our attention.
“Ok, that’s enough. Lilian, come with me. We need to do some tests on your new body.” Goto started to walk deeper into the lab, and Lilian followed eagerly.
“See you in a bit!” She- he waved goodbye and left me on my own to head back up by myself. That’s going to take some getting used to.
“The one thing you have plenty of is time, Master.” X dematerialized after commenting, and I rode the elevator up in silence.
---
“What do I owe this pleasure to?” I asked as I looked into the eyes of Lucina Metron. I had been intercepted on the way back to my quarters, and pulled into the room that Reya and Lucina were sharing.
“I’ve been worried about you. Reya told me what Akahime did to you, and I wanted to check up and make sure that you were ok.”
I raised my eyebrows at her. I had a hard time believing that someone as smart and as calculating as Lucina came to see me without any alternative goals. “Are you sure that’s all it was?”
The Metronian Princess gave me a very flat look and said, “Yes, that’s all it was. You need to stop being overly cautious of people who genuinely have your best interests at mind, or else you will drive them away.”
I took a deep breath, her words dredging up an event from back in Boston. I took a deep breath and allowed my mind to reset. “Sorry. I was told something similar before I became a Fallen, back in my old world.”
Only then, I didn’t heed the advice, and all my, ‘friends,’ really did leave me. Lucina smiled at my remorse, and drew closer to me. “That’s good. You know, I was hoping we could go out and make some memories tomorrow while Reya is finalizing her deal. What do you say?”
“A date, Master?” I rolled my eyes as X came into existence behind Reya. The program smiled and rested a nonexistent arm on Lucina’s shoulder. “It seems like it will be a good change of pace for you. In fact, I believe that it will help take your mind off of worrying about your condition.”
I leaned in and said, “Thanks, I think that will be wonderful.” Lucina smiled and we hugged, but I was glaring daggers at X.
So, your mental scan dug through those memories as well, huh? X nodded and gave me a reassuring smile. “Yes, but don’t worry. You have my word that no one will ever find out that you are a psychopath.”