Supercute Second Future, page 22
‘We’ll just have to hope the writer’s illness doesn’t raise suspicions. We have everything in place. Cutie’s team have improved their neural blocker. She’s sure it will work. Xiàngrìkuí has found the test gate.’
Xiàngrìkuí smiled triumphantly at Eupraxia. ‘See? I’m brilliant.’
‘You’re a ridiculous child, Xiàngrìkuí.’
‘And you still can’t pronounce my name properly.’
They scowled at each other. Though Kadri-Liis was still amused at how badly the artificial intelligences got on she didn’t want their hostility to spoil things now they were so close to success. She pacified Xiàngrìkuí by complimenting her again, both on her advanced intellect and the outfit she’d chosen to go dancing in Cambodian Supatok. After she’d left, Eupraxia was still critical. ‘She’s so ridiculously vain. And impulsive. I still think she’ll ruin everything.’
‘She’s young. Only a few years old, when you think about it. A teenage AI, you might say.’
‘I was never young. Or foolish.’
‘No, you never were, Eupraxia. She’s right about her work. Finding the test gate was brilliant. She forced Welcat to lead her to it. Now we have some payments to make for the operation in England so let’s get on with that.’
Xiàngrìkuí had already forgotten the argument. Minutes after leaving the meeting she was joining in the vibrant dance scene in Cambodian Supatok. There she met her friend Meihui on the beach at dusk, one of their favourite times. They danced joyfully among the crowd as the sun set on a warm, fresh night, the sort of night that used to happen for real in Cambodia but never did any more.
—
Mitsu’s visor appeared over her eyes. ‘I dread to think where this is going to take us.’
‘It can’t be worse than the destruction of Beijing.’
‘Wasn’t it rumoured Sadanumi were making a simulation of the last biodome on Mars?’ She shuddered. ‘I hope it’s not that.’
‘One of saddest episodes in a long list of human disasters. When the rescue failed a collective depression descended on the entire world.’
Supercute had been involved in efforts to ease the serious distress suffered by the world’s children after they’d all heard the final hopeless messages from the last survivors of the Martian colony, transmitted only minutes before they died.
‘We gave away so many free Virtual Happy Boxes.’
‘And we gave free access to the Super-Kitty Childhood Therapy Pack.’ Mitsu shook her head at the memory. ‘After that, we ended up with millions of new Supercute paying customers. It’s the only time I’ve ever felt slightly awkward about that happening.’
‘Dr Ishikawa still believes we did it deliberately to get more business.’
Mox sighed. ‘I really hope Sadanumi don’t send us to Mars.’
‘Why do we play these things?’
‘Because we don’t know why we play them. If we ever find out, we might stop.’
‘Right. Well, here goes.’
There was a brief moment of disorientation as they travelled into the simulation. They emerged into muted daylight. ‘Where are we?’
‘Are we wearing duffle coats?’
‘It’s raining. There’s a red phone box over there. Is this London?’
They looked around suspiciously, imagining that if Sadanumi had set something in London it was bound to be at an inauspicious moment.
‘We’re probably going to get washed away in a flood.’
They were standing at the foot of a small staircase in front of an elegant Victorian terrace, four stories tall. Mox walked up the steps to peer at the small brass plaque on the door. ‘Apple Corps.‘ She looked around. ‘This is Savile Row. We’re at the Beatles headquarters.’
‘I’m wearing a mini skirt under this duffel coat. This must be the 1960s.’ Mitsu looked around her. ‘This doesn’t seem so bad by Sadanumi’s standards. It’s cold and rainy but nothing terrible is going to happen in 1960s London. No floods or radiation.’
Two young women appeared. They greeted Mox and Mitsu affably then sat on the stairs. Almost immediately another two young women joined them. All had warm coats though none of them looked new. Mox whispered to Mitsu. ‘I know what this is. We’re Apple Scruffs.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Young female fans who wait on these stairs in case the Beatles appear.’
Mitsu digested this, then whispered back. ‘Do they appear?’
‘Hardly ever. But sometimes.’
They took a seat on the cold stairs close to the other girls. ‘I saw George Harrison last week,’ said one of their new companions. ‘He was going into a shop in Carnaby Street. I rushed after him but then a lot of other people got in the way. You’re new here, aren’t you?’
‘Yes, we haven’t been here before.’
‘I’ve been coming here for almost a year. I’m Mavis.’
‘Do you come every day?’
‘Yes. Except when we get a tip-off the Beatles might be going to Abbey Road. Then we go there. If that happens we have to run to the tube station. I’ll show you the best route.’
—
Ben Castle and Ms Lesuuda sat in the operations room, studying a detailed holographic map of the area surrounding the Opera House. ‘We can’t do any more.’ From Ms Lesuuda’s expression she still wished they could. ‘We’ve got as much drone support as the authorities will let us get away with and as many armed agents in the area as we can muster.’
‘Not nearly enough armed agents.’
‘We can’t flood the countryside. There will be other members of C19 there who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by Supercute troops.’
‘Let’s hope they don’t come to regret that.’
Ms Lesuuda was no more keen that Castle on Mox and Mitsu’s planned excursion. ‘I still don’t see why Pharma Xeng Port can’t bring the damned box here.’
‘They’re scared of AimYa finding out. Also it’s a fabulous social gathering and Mox and Mitsu want to attend.’
It was obvious how little Castle thought of fabulous social gatherings. Ms Lesuuda agreed. ‘No such gathering is worth the risk. Is it that important to be seen in fashionable company?’
‘That’s only part of it. It’s also stubbornness. They don’t want their enemies to think they’re intimidated.’
‘Taking unnecessary risks for the sake of pride is verging on Greek tragedy. Which I’ve never enjoyed, since one of my employers was shot in the back at a performance of Oedipus Rex.’
Castle wasn’t sure if Ms Lesuuda was being serious though he’d never known her to joke. ‘Tragedy or not, Mox and Mitsu will not be told. At least Ruosteenoja won’t be there. Med Lab checked the DNA sample, it was definitely him you killed.’
Ms Lesuuda was pleased to hear it. Like Mox, Ms Lesuuda had been neither willing nor able to forgive anyone who’d attacked her.
—
Amowie welcomed Meihui, Birgit and Raquel into her Supatok. Her friends smiled when they saw what she was wearing. She’d put on the complete Supercute camouflage outfit from the Extra Huge Supercute Galactic Fun Box she’d been awarded on becoming a SuperSuperFan. This outfit, in the distinctive four shades of pink, comprised a military-style jacket, trousers, action boots, T-shirt, bandana, earrings, medical mask, visor and bag.
‘Feeling military?’
‘Yes! We’ve had trucks going through the village and planes flying over.’
‘Still fighting the locusts?’ asked Raquel.
‘We learned at school that locusts weren’t a problem any more,’ said Meihui. ‘Weren’t they eradicated?’
‘They came back. A new bigger type or something. There was a joint government agency to deal with them but it collapsed.’
‘We’ll come and help if they attack your village.’
They all smiled at the thought. The four girls, such good friends and so familiar with each other in Supatok and the Space Warriors Galaxy, had never met in real life and didn’t seem that likely to.
Their attention turned to the important matter of the day, choosing their next mission. They were now better armed and had better defensive capabilities. They were ready to move up to more difficult tasks. There were a lot of suggestions but Raquel’s idea gained their attention. ‘I’d like to see what’s going on with Jax and Roota. Remember people were saying he’d been writing poetry? That was never really cleared up.’
Amowie checked her mission control module to see which Jax and Roota missions were available to them. ‘Help Jax rescue Roota’s sister from the underground city of Seropolis.‘ She shook her head. ‘That’s no good. You have to be a much higher level than we are to get out of Seropolis alive. How about this one? Bring flowers for Jax to give to Roota on Planet Azure 9.’
‘Ooh yes, let’s do that!’ enthused Birgit. ‘It’s really romantic. Jax has flowers for Roota but they wither when the bio-cabinet on his spaceship breaks down. You have to get more flowers to him quickly. Some mercenaries try and stop you but it’s not too difficult.’
There was general agreement that this sounded like a good mission to undertake. There was a modest reward, some experience points were awarded for advancing your level, and if it went well you got to see Jax handing the flowers to Roota under the pale purple moon.
‘What happens when he gives her the flowers?’ asked Meihui.
‘Nothing conclusive so far. But who knows, one of these times she might kiss him.’
That was also an attractive thought. For all the millions of unsatisfactory romantic entanglements Jax and Roota had found themselves in, players were still hopeful that just once, it might go right. Amowie read a paragraph on a Fab 306 forum. ‘A lot of people are saying that their Jax and Roota missions have been worse than ever. They keep arguing.’
‘Obviously they just need the right people to bring them flowers,’ suggested Birgit. ‘Having us around will probably melt their hearts.’ They all laughed at the thought as they connected to the game, heading for Lundra where they’d acquire the mission at an information seller then take a flight to Azure 9, known throughout the galaxy as a romantic place where good things often happened.
—
Mox and Mitsu’s visors vanished from their faces. They sat in silence for a few moments in one of their private rooms. On one wall were two landscapes by Jan van der Heyden, carefully positioned. Another wall was plastered with covers taken from old Japanese teen fashion magazines.
‘That really wasn’t so bad,’ said Mox. ‘We had to sit on cold rainy stairs for hours, but the girls were friendly.’
‘Especially Mavis. It was nice of her to share her luncheon meat sandwiches.’
‘They were really keen to meet the Beatles. Even though that didn’t seem to happen very often.’ From what they’d been able to learn, weeks could go by with no sign of any members of the band.
‘Though they do appear at the Apple building sometimes. That was probably very exciting for them.’
‘Mavis actually got Ringo’s autograph when they met him at Abbey Road.’
‘Patricia was nice too. Sitting on the steps was sort of like having friends.’ Mox and Mitsu were aware that they’d rarely had friends in real life. Mostly that wasn’t a problem. They’d always been so involved with each other it hadn’t felt like anything was missing. Occasionally it seemed like something was.
‘Things weren’t so bad in London back then. It rained a lot but you didn’t need bio-engineered skin to avoid radiation poisoning.’
‘Do you think we could pay Sadanumi to make us a simulation? I’d like to walk up and down Carnaby Street in 1966 wearing a mini skirt and Mary Quant make-up.’
‘And white vinyl boots.’
‘We might meet Twiggy.’
‘I’d like to meet Twiggy.’ A discreet alert chimed on Mitsu’s wrist. ‘Twelve hours till you leave for the opera.’
‘Time to start getting ready.’ Immediately her communicator sounded an alert. Igraine was calling.
‘I’m starting the Victoria Decoris integration tests in preparation for joining it to the Supercute Galaxy.’
‘All right Igraine, you can tell us how it’s going later. We’re into our opera preparation time now.’
‘No, you’re not.’
‘We’re not?’
‘No. You set your alarm ten minutes early, somehow imagining that gains you an extra ten minutes. A peculiarly human affectation.’
Mitsu was amused. ‘Well, we are peculiar humans. Still, we do need a lot of time. Don’t carry out the tests for too long, you need to get ready for tonight too.’
‘I estimate it will take me twenty minutes. The dress you procured for me is satisfactory and I have everything else prepared.’
As soon as they stopped talking to Igraine, Mox’s communicator sounded. She scowled as she answered it. ‘Please make it brief Mr Castle, we asked not to be disturbed while we’re getting ready.’
‘Is your twelve-hour preparation time more important than a report on our security measures?’
‘Yes.’
‘Fine. I’ll be brief. We have high security moving into position and everything appears to be in order. Don’t blame me if we all get killed. I hope you have your succession plans in order.’
It was unknown to anyone what Supercute’s succession plans were or even if they had any. They didn’t encourage anyone to talk about it. ‘I’m sure we won’t get killed. We’ll see you on the rooftop valocopter pad in eleven hours and fifty-eight minutes.’
Mox disconnected. Immediately Mitsu received a call from Marlene, one of their favourite in-house designers. ‘Hi, Marlene.’
‘I’m waiting for you! Dressing rooms one to six are all ready. We’ll be going through skin tone, lingerie, hair style, hair colour, eye colour, make-up in sub-sections lips, eyes, lashes, brows and cheek bones, facial stickers, nail shape, nail length and nail art, dresses, jewellery, shoes, accessories, perfume and coats in that order. The make-up drones have all been programmed as per instructions and I’ve tested the new Super V-hair to Realworld program on our models.’
‘We’ll be right there.’ Mitsu smiled at Mox. ‘Marlene’s a good team leader. She’s got five assistants, eight mini-drones and one AI down there and they’re all working together smoothly.’
Keoma Bishōjo land on Planet Azure 9.
They buy flowers in the market. Suddenly mercenaries attack!
Keoma Bishōjo fight them off. All the stallholders cheer and give them more flowers.
Now they’re rushing to take the flowers to Jax!
Raquel piloted the small shuttle through the upper atmosphere on their way to the Crystalline Pillars, a notable landmark on the Tranquil Steppes where Jax the Astronomer Poet was due to meet Roota Space Warrior. Raquel wasn’t the best pilot in the group but it was her turn to fly. Behind her the others fretted in silence as she accidentally braked instead of accelerating, causing them to stall and plummet downwards.
‘Sorry,’ muttered Raquel, as the shuttle’s automatic systems brought them level again. ‘Pressed the wrong lever. Not quite got the hang of this new shuttle.’
‘It’s fine,’ said Amowie, with confidence she didn’t feel. ‘We’ve got twenty minutes, plenty of time.’
Given Raquel’s lack of piloting skills it seemed just as likely they’d crash in a desolate region of the Tranquil Steppes as land successfully at the Crystalline Pillars, but they just had to hope for the best. It was Raquel’s turn to fly and Keoma Bishōjo always supported each other.
Meihui and Birgit each carried a large bunch of flowers. ‘It’s definitely the right gift in the circumstances,’ said Birgit. They knew that in this storyline Jax had been planning to take Roota something more expensive, but his friend Kittisak had persuaded him Roota would appreciate flowers more than anything else because they’d remind her of her late father’s tulip fields. Also, she was a romantic at heart. Her affections could not be bought but they could be influenced.
‘Definitely,’ agreed Meihui. ‘If someone brought me flowers at the Crystalline Pillars I’d just fall into their arms.’
‘Wouldn’t it be great if Roota did that? Think how famous we’d be if we were the ones doing a Jax and Roota mission and they finally got together!’ Birgit was again wearing her pink Silvex and His Supercute Boyfriend T-shirt because she deemed it appropriate as the most romantic piece of clothing she owned.
‘It might happen!’ Amowie joined in with their enthusiasm. ‘We’ve got loads of great flowers here.’
They lurched alarmingly in the sky as Raquel pressed the wrong booster button. ‘Sorry! Still not quite used to these controls.’ The other three exchanged a look, and wondered if they’d ever get there to give Jax the flowers.
—
‘You’ve had an interesting time recently. Looking after you has cost my research unit at AimYa a lot of money. Particularly the last part. Disguising the DNA profile of a clone so it doesn’t appear to be a clone is an expensive business.’
Ruosteenoja didn’t react. It meant nothing to him how much money had been spent.
‘Ivo CC have contributed, but nowhere near enough. I had to make up the difference myself.’ Cutie looked pained. ‘I hope it was all worth it.’
‘It will be.’
‘I was concerned that your clone’s fake DNA wouldn’t fool Supercute but Xiàngrìkuí reports they’re not suspicious. Ms Inamura and Ms Bennett believe they’re safe to visit the opera. Xiàngrìkuí’s managed to get hold of some details of their defence plans. I’ll share them with you.’ Cutie glanced down at her blue Sweetie GoGo jersey and smiled. She’d have liked Ruosteenoja to compliment it but he’d never shown any interest in clothes. It made it hard for Cutie to really warm to him.
‘I brought you this.’ Cutie reached into her bag and took out a sealed plastic container. She opened it and handed the contents to Ruosteenoja. ‘Pulla. Finnish bread from the little cafe at the Finnish church in Rotherhithe. They did a nice rebuilding job after the floods.’
