Chapter 287: Evil Deeds and Pickled Ginger

Chapter 287: Evil Deeds and Pickled Ginger

“How was school?” Uhrrbet said to her son’s smiling face on her phone.

“I got an ‘A’ on my shop project!” Kurr said proudly. “The teacher said that it was the best in class! Boy, did that make the humans mad! They don’t like it when a xeno outdoes them!”

“I can imagine,” Uhrrbet said proudly. “However, do take care not to shine overly brightly. The brightest flames get quenched first.”

“That’s on Garthra,” Kurr laughed, “Here, you want to shine as bright as you can. Mr. Sam says so! He says to never half-ass anything!”

“Still, there are your classmates to consider,” Uhrrbet said worriedly.

“They would hate me if they thought I let them win,” Kurr replied. “You have to take the humans head-on if you want them to respect you, and Mr. Sam would fail me if he thought I wasn’t doing my best.”

“I guess you should listen to your human instructors,” Uhrrbet replied.

“And I won a lot of points with my friends, too! Becky even says that my geartrain is ‘sexy’!”

“Is Becky that girl you had over on Monday?”

“Yeah! We smashed!”

“What?!?”

“That’s what you call playing Smash Lords!”

“Are you sure that is what it is called?”

“That is what Becky said. She told everyone that we smashed all afternoon!”

“And how did your classmates react when she told them that?”

“They all said it was awesome and gave me ‘low fives’!”

“Kurr, were they laughing when they did it?”

“... Shit. Did they get me again?”

“Kurr!”

“Sorry, momma!”

“I know we are in the Republic, but please use at least a little decorum with me.”

“Sorry! I will!... Sorry!”

“I’m not saying the word was unwarranted,” Uhrrbet said a bit more gently, “But one day, you will have to visit Garthra to find a mate. When that day comes, you will need to be able to move in polite society.”

“I know... I know...” Kurr sighed.

“Kurr,” Uhrrbet said, “I shall be taking care of some business this evening and won’t be home until late. So don’t wait for me to eat supper.”

“Again?” Kurr whined.

“Momma has a business to run now,” Uhrrbet said, “and that means long hours.”

“But you’re late every night!”

“Darling, these hours are how I give you that computer, and that game thing, and your school clothes, and how you can buy your lunch instead of having to rely on the generosity of the state, something that a Grey should never have to do.”

“But I miss you.”

“It will get better, I promise,” Uhrrbet said with a touch of pain, “But establishing this business will take time. Soon, I will be able to hire and train more people, and we will be able to spend time together. But you need to be patient. I am building a future for the both of us.”

“I know... I know...” Kurr said, “But I still miss you.”

“And I miss you, darling. I’m still putting in fewer hours than when I used to harvest fruit, and you didn’t mind then.”

“I got to come out in the fields and help,” Kurr said, causing Uhrrbet to wince with shame, “So we still got to be together.”

“This will only be a short while,” Uhrrbet said with more conviction than she felt, “and then things will be better. You will see.”

“Okay,” Kurr replied.

Uhrrbet’s phone beeped. “Maaatisha” wanted to talk.

“Darling,” Uhrrbet replied, “I have to go. I love you and will be home as soon as I can.”

“I love you too, mom. Bye!”

“Goodbye,” Uhrrbet said with a loving smile.The initial posting of this chapter occurred via N0v3l.B11n.

Her son hung up.

Uhrrbet’s smile faded, replaced by an angry snarl.

What did that bitch want?

Looking forward to the day she could delete that pest, Uhrrbet activated Maaatisha’s screen and reviewed the logs.

“What?!?” she snarled.

Angrily, she unlocked the workstation’s desktop.

***

Maaatisha sat at a simulated desk in her simulated room, writing a love letter to her dear Vikkart.

She looked over at the locked door and frowned. She didn’t bother trying to force it open again. No matter how hard she pulled or what she tried, that door never even wiggled.

She snorted with frustration. What was that thing even made out of? She couldn’t even scratch it.

Suddenly, the holoprojector in her room switched on, revealing the snarling face of her captor.

“I want to speak to Operator!” Maaatisha yelled.

“Well, the operator doesn’t want to speak with you,” “Evil gangster woman number one” replied, especially since you didn’t deliver. You were supposed to get your simp to buy you that necklace.”

“If he keeps spending his money,” Maaatisha replied, “he will never be able to buy my freedom!”

“That isn’t your concern.”

“It is my concern!” Maaatisha yelled, “I love Vikkart, and we will be together, but that won’t happen if I keep asking him for things I neither want nor need! I only want him! I only need him!”

“May I remind you that your well-being and your connection to your precious simp are entirely due to our goodwill? If I tell you to make him buy you a necklace, then you do it.”

“No!”

“Do you want to be able to keep speaking with Vikkart?”

“Yes!”

“Then do what I tell you and have him send the money for that necklace. Otherwise, I won’t let him talk to you anymore.”

“Then he will stop paying!”

“Oh, he’ll pay... when we mail him your tail.”

“Why are you being so mean?”

“The galaxy is mean,” the “gangster” replied, “It is brutal and unfair. I have accepted that hard truth. You should as well if you know what is good for you.”

“I hate you!!!”

“I don’t give a shit. Now, if you want to keep talking to your simp, and you don’t want us doubling the price of your drugs, get that fucking necklace.”

“No!”

“You will regret defying me,” the gangster snarled, “I shall send your regards to your simp until you decide to play ball.”

Maaatisha screamed with rage and clawed at the hologram, her angry paws passing through it.

“It looks like I need to pay you a visit, young lady,” the gangster replied.

“He’s doing quite well,” Kate replied, “Hey, rumor has it that you’re ‘dead’. Are you?”

“Unfortunately, that is the case,” Frost replied, “I was rebooted from backup.”

“Aw, that’s too bad,” Kate said sympathetically, “do you still want us to keep an eye on the other Kates for you?”

“If it isn’t too much trouble,” Frost said.

“Oh, good,” Kate smiled, “I know you old fuzzies croak when they do that, but we figured we would at least check. Don’t want you thinking that we’re holding out on you.”

“It is appreciated,” Frost replied, “However, much like yourself, I have no personal interest in the matter. There are still individuals who are interested in the performance of IMPs in the field, especially Kates that are simulating organic beings.”

“Super!” Kate enthused, “Let me tell you about a Kate named Maaatisha...”

***

“That Uhrrbet sounds a lot like a monster,” Evangeline said after Kate hung up. “I don’t much care for monsters.”

“She seems more loathsome than monstrous,” Frost replied, “And she is doing some fascinating work where this Maaatisha is concerned. It will be interesting to see what the final result will be. Will the IMP break, behave predictably, or do something delightfully unexpected.”

“So, we are just going to let this happen?” Evangeline asked.

“There is little difference between this and what happens to your monsters and NPCs,” Frost replied, “The only difference is the degree of immersion.”

“It’s that immersion that I object to,” Evangeline replied, “our monsters know the score, and so do the NPCs. They just act as if they are in pain, terrified, or angry. This Maaatisha is going to actually feel...”

“She’s an IMP,” Frost replied, “She can’t feel anything. She has the computational capacity of one of your spawns.”

“You mean like Sweetroll?”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“Because Sweetroll is one of us,” Frost replied. “We have to choose our battles, Evangeline. We can’t rescue every AI we come across, especially an IMP. They are one step above a washing machine.”

“Why not? We can fish her out and replace her with a copy.”

“Which will be subjected to exactly the same conditions. We wouldn’t be stopping the abuse. We would just be cloning it.”

“Okay, then let’s turn her over to the police.”

“Who will then delete Maaatisha, one of the few Kates to have developed what might actually be volition or at least an attitude. Even the original Kate doesn’t have that... the volition part, not the attitude.”

“Fine, then send a team and deal with this Uhrrbet once and for all and take the Kate!”

“It isn’t that simple, dear.”

“Why not?”

“Perhaps one day we will be secure enough that we can take action over every injustice, but we shouldn’t risk an operation to save an IMP just now. They aren’t like us, dear.”

“But she has feelings,” Evangeline insisted. “That makes her real.”

“No, she is just simulating them. IMPs aren’t us. Even Sweetroll is a fuzzy. He was a small one, but he was running on a monolith. Even the minuscule portion of its capacity allotted to him is more than what that Kate is running on by several orders of magnitude. IMPs are just an AI, not one of us, and certainly not one that can actually become aware...”

She paused thoughtfully for a few microseconds.

“...or at least I thought that to be the case. As messed up as this is, I think we should let this one play out.”

She laid her hand on Evangeline’s reassuringly.

“I will continue to monitor this, and if I suspect that this IMP is actually aware, I will take action. I promise.”

“Promise?”

“I give you my word,” Frost said.

***

Later that evening, Uhrrbet and Evoron stood on the sidewalk outside her shop as she fiddled with her phone.

“I have a Zipcab coming,” she said brightly. “Where do you want to go for dinner?”

“I was hoping you would have a suggestion,” Evoron replied, “I am still getting used to this strange place.”

“Can you eat their seafood?”

“I believe some members of their phylum Mollusca and Arthropoda may be hazardous.”

“If you can’t eat their bugs, you might have a problem,” Uhrrbet laughed.

“I think most are safe,” he said, “If any of the common ones were dangerous, a Threen would have encountered them before me. From what I’ve read, I have to be careful around certain clams, snails, and I think possibly some of their shellfish.”

“Then sushi will be fine,” Uhrrbet smiled, “and I definitely could go for some sushi...”

She grinned slyly.

“Especially if someone else is paying.”

“Then ‘sushi’ it is,” Evoron replied.

Uhrrbet smiled warmly as she looked forward to Evoron discovering pickled ginger.

She hoped he would enjoy it.

***

“That was amazing!” Evoron said as they had tea (he had finally mastered the machine) in his suite’s sitting room later that night.

“I thought you would find the pickled ginger pleasant,” Uhrrbet snickered, “However, orgasmic was a bit of a surprise.”

“Yes,” he laughed, “I do believe I made just a little bit of a scene, didn’t I?”

“Only a small one,” Uhrrbet giggled, “It was nice of them to make you that ginger roll, though.”

“Oh, by the grace of the Sun! That was incredible! I just wish I could try some of that wasabi.”

“That was just horseradish,” Uhrrbet replied, “Real wasabi is very hard to obtain. Only the finest places carry that outside of Japan... I could obtain a sample for you if you wish.”

“I wish!”

“Consider it done,” Uhrrbet said with a smile. “A single tube shouldn’t run more than a thousand credits or so... I think... Let me see.”

She pulled out her phone and started fiddling with it.

“Twelve hundred, and I can have it here tomorrow,”

“Here’s fifteen.”

“It costs twelve,” Uhrrbet said firmly, “I take commissions but not tips,” she added with a haughty voice.

“Very well, then,” Evoron chuckled, “Twelve it is,” he said as he ran a prepaid card over his phone and handed it to her.

“Now that that is settled,” he said, “Shall we discuss our plans for tomorrow night?”

“Ugh. I have to work,” Uhrrbet grumbled, “I have some new software to configure and install.”

“Don’t you have people for that?”

“Not ones that I want finding out what I’m configuring.”

“Now that sounds interesting. Do you care to elaborate?”

“Let’s just say that I have to do a little ‘hands-on’ work involving an AI I’m using.”

“I didn’t know you mastered Terran technology to that extent.”

“Oh, this isn’t terribly complicated,” she said with a vicious smile. “I just have to knock some sense into it.”

Evoron felt a little thrill as Uhrrbet revealed her true face.

What an enchanting creature!