ǒu tù

Raym sits in a small office across from a Terran Freeland administrator. Yes, a Terran. An Aboriginal female, to be precise. Aside from the Freeland flag hanging on the wall behind the administrator, who keeps a well organized and sterile room without any personal items.

“You’re fortunate to have accumulated the minimum qualification points to satisfy registration,” the Freeland administrator concedes. “Would’ve been a shame to squander this opportunity.”

“Grats,” a smiling Raym replies.

Clearly agitated, the Freeland administrator leans toward Raym and growls, “What was that?”

Raym clears her throat and replies, “Most gratitudes, ma’am.”

The Freeland administrator squints and leans back in her chair.

“Your attitude is still common among my species,” she says. “Even after everything that’s happened. You think your kind are an improvement?”

“With all due respect, I believe we’re better equipped for this new environment.”

The Freeland administrator smiles and digitally confirms Raym’s passing grade into the registration system.

“We believed that, too. Yet, here we are.”

Raym exits the Freeland administrator’s office as another stray enters. The door slides shut as she walks toward Kanzu, who’s sitting on a hallway bench with other hominoid registrants. Kanzu stands as Raym approaches her.

“Looks like we both made it,” Raym replies. “Barely.”

“If not for that simulation, my scores would be perfect.”

They walk down the hall.

“I’m sure you’ll remind me again. In the meantime, let’s celebrate.”

“We still have the written exam to study, Raym.”

They stop at the lift. Kanzu presses the down button.

“Just a few ticks,” Raym pleads. “I score better after rejuvenation.”

“Most unfortunate you don’t smell better,” Kanzu jokes.

The lift door opens and the two squeeze into the packed transparent cube as the door shuts. The lift makes its way to the ground floor and opens. They exit with the remaining passengers, ignoring the building hologram greeting new arrivals a few yards away. Kanzu and Raym pass by CoCo, a twentieth-century café, as they exit the building.

They take the walkway to the Free-Tainan autotram station and board a train into the city. Kanzu and Raym find two empty seats as the train departs. Raym allows Kanzu to take the the window seat and they sit. Raym studies the various ads playing on the autotram window displays. A Freeland Corps recruiting ad simultaneously plays on all of the window displays. Kanzu focuses her attention on a couple of hominoids standing in the aisle. Although they are clothed, their head and hands feature transparent skin that exposes their muscles, bones, and blood vessels underneath. Kanzu elbows Raym who turns to see them.

“You never seen a ghost before?” Raym whispers.

“I don’t see them now,” Kanzu quips.

They quietly giggle, spying on the transparent couple enjoying each other’s company. Kanzu spots the implants behind their skin.

“So, that’s what our implants look like.”

“I hear they have smaller ones now,” Raym laments.

“My procreators never spoke of these ghosts.”

“My master brought one home one. He seemed to enjoy it.”

Kanzu turns to Raym and says, “I thought they only ate archaics.”

“You thought wrong, Kanzu. One master’s pet is another’s dish.”

“How much have you seen?”

“Far too much, sister. Far too much.”

The displays above each car door show a map of Freeland with a red dot signifying this autotram’s northern trajectory along Freeland’s western coast.

Looking out at the calm sea, Kanzu studies the faint, red sun setting behind a hazy sky. She touches her window display, pressing her elongated fingers across the screen. Using an index finger and thumb, she magnifies the display, zooming in on the busy maritime traffic between Freeland and the former Chinese mainland, populated by a large coastal community that stretches inland for miles.

Kanzu then zooms out to see virtually all of the boats in the area avoiding a small but heavily guarded island between the former Chinese mainland communities and Freeland. She presses on the display over the island, prompting her window display to show:

PENGHU CORRECTIONAL ISLAND

As the autotram enters an underground tunnel, the digital face of Trayne, the autotram guide, appears on the displays.

“Approaching Free-Chiayi Station,” the autotram guide warns, winking at Raym.

“That’s us,” Raym says.

The autotram enters the station and stops. Kanzu and Raym exit their car with a group of passengers. Appearing on all window displays, the autotram guide waves as the autotram departs. Kanzu and Raym take an escalator from the platform up to the ground level and exit the station. They navigate a sidewalk packed with hominoid pedestrians, some of whom are accompanied by subservient Terrans wearing discreet collars. A male Terran subordinate becomes distracted by a passing female subordinate following her hominoid master in the opposite direction. A pulsating shock forces the Terran male to ignore his desires and keep up with his own master. Raym turns and stares at the Terran male as he walks away. Kanzu stops and looks back at Raym.

“Raym, what’s wrong?” Kanzu asks.

Smiling, Raym turns and catches up to Kanzu.

“I thought I saw something familiar,” she replies. “Let’s go.”

Few streets allow for service, medical, law enforcement, and mass transit vehicles. The tall commercial and residential structures resemble a high-tech canyon filled with steel, concrete, plastic, and digital billboards. Kanzu and Raym walk past half a dozen guarded commercial establishments over two city blocks before stopping below a flashing holographic sign attached to a large megastructure.

KAI-SHEK’S HIDEOUT

The hominoid bouncer’s cybernetic eye scans Kanzu’s and Raym’s wristlets. Their registration data verified, Kanzu and Raym enter. The festive lounge features live performances of otherworldly hypnotic beats and vocals. They swim through the sea of patrons in search of a familiar face.

“Kanzu!” Brazin calls out. “Raym!”

Kanzu turns to see a uniformed Brazin, surrounded by Freeland administrative colleagues, waving at them. He grabs two metal shot cups and hands them to Kanzu and Raym upon their arrival. He picks up one of his own, and his associates follow suit.

“To freedom,” Brazin says with a raised cup. “It’s worth a shot!”

“Freedom!” the others parrot.

Everyone downs their drink.

“Well?” Brazin asks.

“Well, you sound like a Terran,” Raym replies.

“We passed,” Kanzu says.

“Tender, another round on me!” Brazin calls out.

A service robot glides to the bar and retrieves a round of shots for the group.

“You wish to kill us before we complete registration?” Kanzu deadpans.

“That would require a lot more than this,” Brazin replies. “To the warrior bitches!”

“Warrior bitches!” Brazin’s colleagues reply in unison.

Everyone downs their shot and places their empty metal cups on the table. The same service robot arrives to retrieve them.

“Oh, and two mai-tais for the ladies, please,” Brazin asks.

The service robot quickly collects all unwanted items from the table and takes off.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Grats,” Kanzu replies.

Raym makes eye contact with one of Brazin’s colleagues, a short, greenish hominoid, who smiles at her.

“So, what’s the nature of this joy?” Raym asks Brazin.

“Look around you, Raym. Is this life not better than we imagined?”

“I have a creative imagination,’ Raym answers.

She slyly glances over at Brazin’s colleague again. This time, a grinning Brazin catches on and throws an arm around his greenish friend.

“Raym, we call this one Forg.”

The greenish hominoid smiles and says, “I like your scent.”

“Like your flesh tone, Forgie,” Raym replies.

“And I like your tone, Raymie,” the greenish hominoid replies with a seductive smile.

He extends his arm, which Raym willingly latches on to. She winks at a smiling Kanzu, who nods back as the service robot returns with two drinks with tiny umbrellas in them. Raym grabs one from the tray and holds it up to Brazin.

“Grats for the beverages,” Raym says.

“In the light, my friends,” Brazin replies.

Raym disappears into the crowd with her new male friend. Kanzu’s attention diverts to one of the displays. The muted news report shows a dramatized animation of a Lorian hypershuttle wreckage when Brazin sticks another umbrella drink in front of Kanzu. Kanzu grabs the drink as the display switches over to another Freeland propaganda ad.

“I can’t believe it’s almost a rev,” Kanzu says.

Brazin nods.

“You still wish to leave?” he asks.

“I don’t wish to spoil your joy.”

“You can’t spoil anything, Kanzu.”

The service robot interrupts with a thick and colorful beverage it delivers to Brazin.

“What’s that?” Kanzu asks.

“Nothing you should consume. Trust me.”

Kanzu nods and holds up her drink.

“I do.”

They touch glasses and down their respective drinks.

“Another?” Brazin asks.

Kanzu burps and replies, “Agreed!”

Raym and Brazin’s colleagues cheer.

A couple of hours later, Brazin caresses a hunched-over Kanzu as she pukes below a sign for the Ow-Tu Alley, a public sanitation alley designed for hominoids to relieve themselves after hours. Kanzu looks over to see other night owls sharing her predicament. She dry heaves a few more times and then composes herself.

“I failed you, my brother.”

“You didn’t fail anyone, Kanzu.”

“It’s all my fault.”

“Let’s get you home.”

He helps her up and walks her to the Free-Chaiyi autotram station.

“And endless cloud over me,” she cries.

Inside a nearly empty autotram car, Brazin sits beside Kanzu while she leans her head against the window for support. Brazin stares straight ahead. Kanzu removes her head from against the window display and rests it on Brazin’s shoulder. He turns his head slightly toward her when a romantic ad playing on the window display catches his attention. As the commercial fades to black, he catches his reflection smiling back at him. A child’s cough grabs Kanzu’s attention. She opens her eyes to see a small, peach-colored hominoid toddler looking at her from the safety of his mother’s lap. The boy smiles. Kanzu smiles back, causing the hominoid toddler to blush and then cower in his mother’s arms. The boy’s mother looks over at her. Kanzu smiles at the hominoid mother. The hominoid toddler looks back at Kanzu and laughs. His mother smiles and nods at Kanzu, who returns the gesture.

The muted window displays describe stories of increased Lorian sightings in the sky. The scene switches to a promotional teaser featuring bootleg footage of a Lorian hypershuttle crash approximately fifty miles northeast of a city known as Hirokuza on the former Japanese mainland. However, an oblivious Kanzu’s eyes are closed as she fights her hangover.

The autotram pulls into the Formosa Station, stops, and opens its doors. Holding hands, Kanzu and Brazin exit and make their way back to their building.

“Almost home now,” Brazin says.

“I could use a cold sprinkle,” Kanzu answers.

Brazin sniffs her and winces.

“Agreed,” he replies.

The two laugh.

“Do you miss your clan, Brazin?” Kanzu asks.

“I do. But I would miss you more.”

Kanzu stops and faces him.

“Meeting you was most fortunate for me, too,” she says.

“I know the love for your brother outweighs me.”

“No, Brazin. That’s a totally different lo-,” Kanzu catches herself.

Brazin’s eyes widen.

“Was that a confession?”

“Confession?” Kanzu asks. “You misunderstood my context.”

“Then please explain your cont-.”

Kanzu pulls Brazin toward her, passionately kisses him, then backs up.

“How was that?” she asks.

Brazin smiles.

“An acquired taste.”

Raiders of the Lost Mark

Brazin lays in Kanzu’s arms as they cuddle in his bottom bunk bed. Kanzu sits up.

“Despite the halos, I always considered our masters benevolent,” Kanzu laments. “But I never felt comfortable with that voice in my head.

“I was told the voices were merely an extension of our true thoughts. That the halos simply amplified what we already desired. But that was never true.”

“My procreators…Gunta…they dismissed my true thoughts. So, I…”

Brazin turns to her.

“What?”

Kanzu gets out of bed and grabs her clothes.

“He’ll be here soon.”

“Koral knows we’re here. So does Raym.”

Kanzu puts on her clothes. She jumps back onto the bed and kisses Brazin on the top of his head.

“I’ve got to study,” Kanzu says. “Not everyone recalls memories like you.”

“It’s been almost two revolutions, yet my Kanzu remains still a mystery.”

“There’s no mystery, my Brazin. What you see is all of me.”

Both get out of bed. Brazin walks over to the sink and fills a cup of water.

“Beverage?” he asks.

Kanzu grabs his cup, takes a big gulp of water, and returns the cup one-third full. Or two thirds empty.

“Grats,” she replies.

They kiss once more and he walks her to the door. They stop and lock eyes.

“In the light,” Brazin says.

“It’s already light.”

Brazin looks over to see a faint orange hue rising above the dark horizon. They passionately kiss until Kanzu finally opens the door.

“I’ll call you,” Brazin says.

“Agreed.”

He watches her quietly sprint down the hall. Another male hominoid exits the common restroom just in time to see her exit the male wing. He turns to see Brazin standing at his door, smiles, offer the Freeland salute, then heads back to his dorm room. Brazin smiles shuts the door.

Moments later, Kanzu enters her room to find Raym watching a hominoid remake of a twenty-first-century action movie.

“Late night?” Raym asks.

“Where’s Fog?” Kanzu asks.

“Forg.”

“Apologies.”

“He got me off, then I sent him off. Speaking of which…”

Kanzu sits on her bottom bunk bed.

“You always act as if it’s our first,” she says.

Raym smiles.

“Because you do.”

“I do?”

“Details, sister.”

“Not this time, sister. Apologies.”

“Don’t you want to hear mine?”

“No.”

Raym walks over to the counter and grabs a small pouch containing dried insect cubes. She snacks on a few while carrying the small pouch to the bottom bunk and sits next to Kanzu.

“So…you confessed?” Raym asks.

Kanzu turns to Raym.

“He told you?”

“No,” Raym replies. “You did!”

Kanzu hits Raym in the face with her pillow and pounces on her.

“You deceive,” Kanzu says while tickling Raym.

“You know that’s my weakness,” Raym cries out.

“Will you end this inquisition?”

“Yes!”

Kanzu relents. Raym retrieves a dried insect cubes from the small pouch and gently tosses a dried insect cube at Kanzu, who catches it with her mouth.

“I want to share something,” Raym says.

“Raym, you’ve offer enough mating details.”

Raym remotely mutes and minimizes the movie browser. She then opens a digital map of Freeland with a pinpoint of the current location and points to it.

“There we are,” Raym confirms.

“I can read a map.”

Raym turns to Kanzu.

“No need to be hostile.”

“Apologies.”

Raym expands the map to all of Southeast Asia. Triangles representing large Lorian population centers in what used to be northern Japan and eastern Russia blink. The map also identifies known areas of alien activity and Terran communities.

“Brazin and Forg helped me create this map.”

“So many islands,” Kanzu says.

“Even if we knew exactly where to start, you could not do this journey alone.”

“My brother is out there because of me. I cannot ask anyone to share this burden.”

“I’m not asking.”

“Raym.”

“These will not be your procreator’s archaics, Kanzu. They are as cunning and ruthless as our former masters. Often worse.”

“Tino has promised me guidance. And transport.”

“But, I’m a better fighter.”

“I don’t have any credits to spare,” Kanzu says.

“Whether you accept my help or not, Kanzu, my time here is limited.”

“Then we barter.”

“Terms?”

“Help find my brother, and I’ll help find your mate.”

“But I have no clues to his whereabouts.”

“Perhaps we’ll find some along the way.”

Raym extends her hand, but Kanzu hugs her instead.

“It’s settled then,” Raym says.

She nods and maximizes the movie browser as the end credits roll. Raym switches to another channel that shows a follow-up news report on the Lorian crash.

“Sound,” Kanzu says.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Raym unmutes the volume. They watch video footage of a lifebox wreckage somewhere on the former Japanese mainland.

“Witnesses tell Hiro News that Grandma’s Militia were first to this crash site nearly a year ago,” the journalist announces.

“Year?” Kanzu asks.

“Rev,” Raym answers.

“Although stray drops typically occur near the coast or in desolate areas, this marks the closest encounter to date.”

“Apparently, these archaic transmissions generate significant ratings,” Raym says. “They show more of these with each rotation.”

Kanzu stares at the display, which cuts to year-old-footage of armed Yakuza officers inspecting an empty lifebox. She spots the mark of her clan etched into the lifebox, stands and stares at the screen. Raym stands and stares as well. She then turns to Kanzu.

“That’s your mark,” Raym says.

Kanzu nods.

“That’s my brother!”

Electric Sheep

Genji jolts up from his nap in a cold sweat, haunted by his wife and son’s screams. He cocks his right fist at Shinzo, who’s holding a cup of water.

“Same one?” Shinzo asks.

Genji lowers his guard, nods, and sighs.

“I oversleep?”

“I thought you could use the extra thirty minutes.”

Shinzo extends the cup of water to Genji, who sits at the side of the bed, takes the cup, and downs the water in two gulps.

“The power couple?” Genji asks.

“Celebrating our new account.”

“Minnie?”

“A little TLC, she’ll be ready for Naga in no time.”

Genji stands.

“To be honest, I didn’t think they’d pull it off,” he says.

Genji extends the empty cup out to Shinzo, who refuses to take it.

“The account?” Shinzo asks. “Or bringing Minnie back in one piece?”

Genji retracts his arm with the cup.

“Both,” he answers.

Shinzo heads for the door.

“You’re up, sleeping beauty,” he says.

Shinzo exits the room. Cup in hand, Genji follows. They walk past an unoccupied bedroom with the bed still made and female items on a small table. They pass another bedroom that’s locked and quiet inside.

“Guess I did need those thirty minutes,” Genji says.

“You could’ve slept through Man Fall,” Shinzo responds.

They continue past a secured botanical room. Genji slows down to peer through the small window. Various familiar - and alien - vegetation grow under timed lighting that changes color. Genji keeps walking and catches up to Shinzo, passing the 3-D printers churning out ordinance for a mini submarine, as shown on their respective displays. Shinzo stops, causing Genji to bump into his metal back.

“Hey,” Genji says.

Shinzo turns around.

“Sorry,” he replies.

“Just because Sofi calls you a big teddy bear-”

“I believe I dreamt during my last two recharge cycles.”

“Dreamt? You?”

“Is your hearing impaired?”

“No. It’s probably just residual from-”

“The real Shinzo Tedeshi?”

“I’m just saying that your system is likely recalling old data. Like a diagnostic check.”

“But these feel as real as your dreams.”

Unable to find the words, Genji sighs.

“We’ve gone through this a million times, Shin.”

“Three times, to be exact.”

“It could be three million. But the fact is, the data is real. It’s just not yours.”

The two engage in an awkward staring contest. Shinzo gently taps Genji on his shoulder.

“Understood,” Shinzo says.

Shinzo leads Genji to the monitors, and Genji sits in the recliner. They review a current digital map of the former Japanese mainland where Lorian cities occupy the northern half of the country with thick lines serving as a de facto border. Construction on another Lorian city in the upper-middle part of the island appears underway.

Genji turns to Shinzo.

“Can you please go wake the lovebirds?” Genji asks.

The two engage in another awkward staring contest.

“Fine,” Shinzo mumbles as he walks down the hall.

Genji shakes his head.

“Maybe they are the same person,” he mumbles.

“I heard that!” Shinzo triumphantly yells.

Genji turns in Shinzo’s direction.