Mechanical Gods (lgbtq+)

Chapter Twenty-Two (Part 2): Entangled in a Cage

     There were a total of five hundred video files in the folder Gideon Reese had sent, all stemming from the moment Itsuki Nakamura bought Himari from a SynTech store. Tyler and Aiden had only seen the first video file of Himari's purchase with Harry Gray, and although short, Tyler and Aiden could both tell when and where the two were.

     Tyler didn't know that Itsuki bought Himari in the United States. It made sense once he thought about it. Twelve years ago, SynTech stores were only stateside, and wannabe Android owners had to fly into the U.S. to buy their own Androids just if their countries legalized Android ownership. It wasn't until five years ago that they opened their international branches after the American-Russo-Chinese Economic Treaty of 2045 allowed big companies like SynTech to burst through the industry of many countries, which overwhelmingly skyrocketed their merchandise of Androids, and making SynTech the second company in history to be a trillion dollar corporation only behind Amazon.

     "This is time-stamped on November 23rd, 2036. Two years before the incident," Aiden said. "Most of the video files are raw footage of Himari's databank and the incident through drone cameras and street cams. The acquisition of these files must be astounding alone! Must have taken them months!" Aiden giddily browsed through them with excitement. It was the first time Tyler had seen Aiden glowing-like the past couple of days since he moved into his new room.

     "After the incident, all the evidence were littered all over the streets of San Francisco, so, I wouldn't be surprised if they collected everything before scavengers and wannabe trophy hunters piled into the area for historical scraps!" Tyler said.

     "It is one of the defining moments of Human-Android history."

     "Then, I'm glad I decided to share this with you. You seem excited," Tyler said, smiling.

     "Of course. Himari is the only known true sentient artificial intelligence around the world. Because of her, All corners of the government around the world prohibited A.I. research, with the penalty of at least twenty years in prison. Maybe even life. It's like meeting Adam from the Bible for the first time."

     "Well, I was not raised in a religious household, but I get what you're getting at. Himari is your Adam."

     "Or Eve. Himari is—or was—a woman," Aiden corrected.

     In the video, Harry asked Itsuki the same thing he asked Tyler in preparation of their androids like the initial user recognition and voice activation among others. Itsuki seemed excited in the video, nervously shuffling on the spot as he stared dumbfounded right on the camera lenses, which was Himari's eyes.

     The same excitement in Harry's voice was still ever present as the last time Tyler had spoken to him, enthusiastically showing Itsuki the features of a 400 model, which by Tyler's standards, were now outdated.

     "I am going to name you, Himari," said Itsuki.

     "Would you prefer a primary language?" Harry asked.

     "Yes. Japanese. I am flying her back with me to Tokyo tomorrow," answered Itsuki.

     "Ah. The packaging will take a couple of days to reach the city due to certain applications that must be met, but it's a good thing your country was one of the few that allows Android import."

     Itsuki smiled sheepishly. "Yes, yes. I wouldn't be here in America if they didn't."

     "A good point, Mr. Nakamura. Very well. Let me show you to the lounge while we tinker with your very new personalized Android, Himari."

     It was the first time Tyler had seen the video of Mr. Nakamura purchasing Himari. Granted, probably most of the video files inside Himari's and what happened during the incident was locked-up in some government vault or something. It was hardly written in the history books, nor was it put into detail how Itsuki acquired her.