Sign of the Dragon (Tatsu Yamada Book 1) by Niall Teasdale (e reader TXT) 📕

‘I think it’ll be interesting,’ Mika said. ‘You’re right, it will be informative to see what I’m going to go through if I make the change. I mean, I know what will happen if I don’t, but maybe I won’t be able to cope with being a brain in a robot once I see it.’

‘Some people can’t,’ Tatsu admitted. ‘Personally, I don’t think you’ll have a problem, but you never know.’

‘Mm.’ Mika returned her gaze to the skyscrapers outside. Some of the effect was lost on a day when the sky was a mass of cloud and frequent showers blasted down from above. But the water made everything shimmer a little and did not detract from the massive, white-clad, windowless structures which towered over them. ‘And all of this is really Izanami.’

‘Well, Izanami isn’t this any more than you are a collection of skin, bones, and organs. All the buildings house massive computers. Izanami is the software that runs on that cluster. Except, she’s not really that either. She’s…’

‘Unique,’ Sachiko supplied. ‘Just as we all are.’

‘Very philosophical.’

Sachiko shrugged. ‘I try.’

The conveyor pulled off the road toward a large shutter-door in the side of one of the buildings. That rolled up ahead of them, lights began to switch on as they approached, and the shutter rolled down again once the vehicle was inside. The tunnel opened out suddenly into a large, white room which looked like some sort of space-age laboratory, and the conveyor came to a stop, its doors opening. Tatsu was first out with Sachiko behind her. Then Tatsu helped Nakano to lift Mika’s chair out.

And then Izanami appeared. Something like a cloud of dust emerged from an opening in the ceiling, rapidly descending until the bottom of it touched the floor and there was a column of silvery particles visible. Then the column lit up, projecting an image of the AI’s avatar as though Izanami was standing there in all her glory. ‘Welcome to the inside of my brain,’ she said, smiling. ‘I must admit I was surprised to hear that Tatsu wished others to witness this procedure, but I am glad to have you here. It’s always nice to meet new people.’

Three people spent a second or so gawking. Nakano broke free first. ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.’

‘In awe of the great artificial intelligence, Sergeant Nakano?’

‘I– Well, yes.’

‘You don’t see Tatsu acting starstruck around me.’

‘To be fair,’ Tatsu said, ‘they’ve only ever heard of you as the brilliant AI who revolutionised modern science and technology. Nakano, for example, doesn’t have you dropping in to micromanage his love life on a Sunday evening.’

‘She does that?!’ Sachiko squeaked.

‘Not that often,’ Izanami countered. ‘Not every Sunday. Shall we get on with the dramatic reveals?’

Tatsu smirked. ‘Please do.’ The column containing Izanami’s projection moved further into the room while her image appeared to walk at just the right pace. ‘Why are you using that instead of projecting yourself into our sensoria?’ Tatsu asked.

‘This is a little easier than managing four models of myself in different heads, and I get to show off my nanoswarm technology.’ Tatsu rolled her eyes. ‘Now, on to the main show.’

The room was fairly blank. White walls which looked as though they had been scrubbed to total sterility. Light came from overhead LED panels. Even the floor was a glossy white. Within the room were three things. One was a small table with a data chip sitting on it. The second was a cylindrical something or other wrapped in a white curtain. And there was a large, white tank, the purpose of which was currently unknown. Izanami moved to the cloth-wrapped cylinder.

‘When Tatsu requested a replacement arm having broken the last one,’ Izanami said. ‘This would not be the first replacement, I might add. She treats her equipment very poorly.’

‘I haven’t needed a replacement limb since leaving the army,’ Tatsu said, sounding grouchy.

Izanami ignored her. ‘Since she needed a new arm and I have some new technology which needs testing, I decided it was time for her to upgrade her whole chassis.’ She raised an arm to the cylinder, the column she was in flowing out to give her projected limb room to move. The curtain fell away to reveal a transparent cylinder mounted atop an opaque one, and a figure standing within.

If you squinted, you could tell it was probably Tatsu. The bone structure was there, formed of silvery-grey metal. There were bundles of muscle fibres laid out and attached to the bones, but they were grey instead of red, and clearly artificial. The rib cage was a solid sheet of metal rather than an actual cage, and various pieces of armoured technology could be seen in the space where a human would have abdominal organs. The most noticeably different part was the head. The face was there, minus the skin, of course, and the eyes were in place in their sockets. But that was a sort of façade; there was an empty space where the skull and brain should be.

‘Let’s call this the mark three Tatsu Yamada,’ Izanami said. ‘The first of its type. A fully self-repairing cybernetic chassis. The skeleton is composed of a nanobot-infused metal which will repair damage to the structural members. Nanobots can also repair all the non-organic components within. This machine can heal itself, not unlike a human body, though rather more swiftly and effectively. Actually severing a limb would require replacement, but short of that, this body can operate without a mechanic for extended periods.’

‘Pauletta’s not going to like that,’ Tatsu commented.

‘You’ll need yearly check-ups, and prior to the first of those, I would like Pauletta to run monthly diagnostic tests to be sure everything is operating correctly. This is not exactly a prototype, but it is