Eden Burning Read online

  ‘Sister,’ Naomi said, bowing her head and maintaining a solemn, business-like expression.

  Well, not every official member. Fox was an honorary sister, as was her housemate Marie. ‘Sister,’ Fox replied, also bowing her head.

  Then Naomi grinned and stepped forward. ‘It’s been too long since we’ve spoken.’ She bent to kiss Fox’s cheek: the two women were the same height, but Fox did not typically wear six-inch platform pumps for work.

  The familiarity had Fox blushing. There was no reason for blushing, the two women had shared a rather passionate kiss on New Year’s Day, but Fox was not that comfortable with feminine expressions of affection. ‘Yes, well, I’ve been busy and my boyfriend is still in space, which makes being around you far too much of a temptation.’ Slightly inappropriate humour: always a perfect counter to embarrassment.

  Naomi stepped back and nodded. ‘Good. I’m glad to hear I’m still a temptation.’ Behind Fox, the door opened and Naomi raised a hand. ‘You’ll have some coffee?’

  Fox looked around to see another face she recognised bringing in a tray. ‘Not that it really does anything for me, but thank you, Gilly, I’d love some. It’s actually Sister Gilly now, right?’

  The uniform was a giveaway: Gilly was wearing the black-and-white costume instead of the white-and-red one. Gilly still smiled and nodded. ‘Yes, I finally graduated. I started working, in-house, three weeks ago.’

  ‘Somehow, “congratulations” doesn’t seem right, but congratulations.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  With the coffee poured and Gilly gone, Naomi settled herself onto one of the sofas in her room and peered across the table at Fox. ‘I suggest we get the business out of the way, and then you can tell me what’s new with Fox. And Kit, of course.’

  Kit chose that moment to appear, apparently sitting on the sofa beside Fox. ‘Good afternoon, Sister Naomi,’ the kitsune avatar said in her usual bright tone.

  ‘Good afternoon, Kit. Is Fox still keeping you busy?’

  ‘Yes. I currently have six copies instantiated, all of them busy with various tasks.’

  ‘That is, partially, a lie,’ Fox said. ‘One of them runs your cyberframe, and she was last seen lying on my sofa reading a magazine.’

  ‘She is doing valuable research.’

  ‘Oh? What on?’

  ‘Autumn fashion trends.’

  ‘I rest my case. Okay, last time we talked, Naomi, it was about bioroids and what MarTech Group is doing with them, and I couldn’t say much.’

  Naomi nodded. ‘I recall. We’ve been developing a fairly simple bioroid rights campaign for when MarTech does make an announcement. We’ll make further plans based on what is produced.’

  ‘The announcement will come out at eight a.m. on Tuesday. The actual bioroid will be arriving on Earth on Thursday. I might have said something sooner if I’d been told about it before this morning. I did say BioTek tended to give us short notice on these announcements.’

  ‘I see.’ Naomi’s eyes unfocused briefly. ‘We’ll initiate the memetics campaign tonight. Can you give me any more details?’

  Fox shrugged. ‘Dia seemed to be fairly keen on the idea that you worked on this. She said to send her regards, by the way.’

  ‘Dia Barrera?’ Naomi smiled. ‘A very interesting woman. Mind like a shark.’

  ‘Huh, yeah. Okay, the first of BioTek’s bioroids looks like an attractive woman with purple hair and eyes. Attractive, but not enough to provoke a lot of jealousy. Her genetics and training were optimised for social interaction. She’s a diplomat. Unfortunately, they named her Eve.’ Naomi winced. ‘Yeah, I have no idea what they were thinking. I mean, I do know what they were thinking, but… Anyway, by the time anything was said, it was too late, so she’s Eve.’

  ‘I assume that MarTech have been through all the legalities?’

  ‘Eve will be allowed in New York Metro under temporary licence,’ Kit replied. ‘Any further travel will be subject to control by NAPA, but that is not seen as an issue at this time. We’re also quite sure that she can go to Japan, for obvious reasons.’

  ‘You would think, after the Ghost Doll fiasco, that they might have changed their rules.’

  Fox raised an eyebrow. ‘Not a chance. The Japanese have a greater uptake of computer implants than we do. They more or less live for technological innovation. I’m just not sure what they’re going to get out of bioroids. They accept cyberframes as it is and the main selling point, as far as I can see, is that bioroids aren’t robots. Of course, I haven’t seen a full cost analysis or anything, but I can’t see a synthetic biological entity being cheaper to build and run than a mechanical one.’

  ‘From an economic standpoint,’ Kit said, ‘there are no advantages to bioroids. They have advantages over the lesser classes of AI and so, for at least the immediate future, they may see utility as personal servants, or in situations where a class four would be desired but impossible to implement. It is almost reasonable to claim that Eve is something of a vanity project, though it would be a vanity project for the human race. A lot of people have been trying to achieve this goal for a long time.’

  ‘I’m surprised you don’t have religious objections to the entire idea, Naomi.’

  Naomi gave a small grimace. ‘I do. We do. However, the Sisters of Corruption have always sought to deal with what is, and then make the most of it, rather than promoting some impossible ideal. We have bioroids. They exist and so we should try to do the best we can under the circumstances. If humans decide to play God, then they should live up to that role. God gave us free will, so we should not seek to deny it to our creations.’

  ‘Couldn’t agree more,’ Fox said, grinning at Kit. ‘On the other hand, personal assistants can get really bossy if you give them their own command keys.’

  ‘I prefer to think of it as assertiveness,’ Kit replied.

  ‘Quite right, Kit,’ Naomi said. ‘There is another “religious” factor worth mentioning. Following the announcement of the Ghost Dolls, a new meme was identified which we took note of due to the connection. It did not directly affect our work, but it was classified as the Ragnarok ninety-seven meme by the UNTPP who classified it as a minimal-risk meme.’

  ‘Ragnarok? It’s an apocalypse meme?’

  ‘Based on the Norse view of the end of the world. Yes, there have been ninety-seven such meme complexes identified since the UN started cataloguing them. Norse myth suggests that two humans would survive Ragnarok, populating the world which came after, and Ragnarok ninety-seven suggests that these “humans” would actually by bioroids.’

  ‘Given that Eve is sterile, that’s not going to work.’

  Naomi shrugged. ‘This kind of memeplex rarely worries about small things like facts. We may see a resurgence of it when Eve’s existence is announced. There are a number of small-scale apocalyptic memes around currently. Most are related in some way to Halley’s Comet. The most widespread is one identified as Eschaton one nine six, a generic end-times memeplex suggesting that the world will end soon. The comet is a sign of this, or perhaps the cause. There are believed to be some six to seven hundred million people worldwide currently affected by that one.’

  ‘Dangerous?’

  ‘Only due to the numbers. The meme itself only promotes the idea that the world will end, not even giving a possible cause. Given the number of believers, however, it could produce some aberrant behaviours when mixed with other memeplexes. Just look at the results of the various millennial memes, or the Mayan calendar twenty twelve meme. Historically, there can be bad results, and those memes were not even consciously manufactured.’

  ‘I’ll task the MarTech memetics groups with examining those memes,’ Kit said. ‘Assuming they are not already considering them.’

  ‘Do that,’ Fox said. ‘Jason mentioned some odd apocalyptic memes the last time I was on Prokhorov Station. Now there are some targeted at bioroids. I don’t like that kind of thing.’

  ‘I’ll leave that aspect in
your capable hands then,’ Naomi said, smiling. ‘Now, how is that charming boyfriend of yours?’

  Fox leaned back in her seat with a sigh. ‘Charming, attractive, and a long way from here…’

  9th July.

  ‘Any decision on the second season?’ Fox asked. Sam and Marie were having a very late lunch, and Fox was watching them eat it.

  Marie looked up and shook her head. ‘Nathan and Adrian are working on the proposed episode structure and the budget. Nathan said the viewing figures were good and they were getting good on-demand stats. The advertisers are onboard, but we’re still waiting on the final word from IB-Nineteen.’

  ‘You’ll get it,’ Sam said, his voice full of quiet confidence. He was wearing only a loose pair of silky, black slacks at three in the afternoon. Then again, Marie was in a satin wrap. ‘Not renewing would be an error I don’t believe the station will make.’

  ‘Oh, I hope so. We’ve got some great ideas for the next season. Nathan’s trying to get the budget to do more outside filming at the chapter house. I know he’s been talking to Naomi about it.’

  ‘You know Gilly got her promotion?’ Fox asked.

  ‘Yes. She dropped me a message. And then she sent me another one after she’d seen her first client. I still don’t think I could do it for real.’

  Sam shrugged. ‘I’d agree that you don’t have the attitude to take up the profession voluntarily, but you would, I believe, be good at it if circumstances forced you into it. We all do what we must to survive. It’s the nature of living things.’

  ‘Wouldn’t know,’ Fox replied. ‘Not living.’

  ‘So are,’ Marie responded automatically.

  ‘Well, my love life is definitely on life support, so–’

  Belle, the house’s administrative AI, appeared beside the table in her usual blue suit. ‘Fox, Major Jason Deveraux is at the front door requesting–’

  ‘Jason? He’s– What? How– Let him in!’ Fox got to her feet and started for the door of Sam’s lounge.

  ‘You weren’t expecting him, I take it?’ Sam asked.

  ‘No. No, I wasn’t. Not going to question it though.’

  Jason Deveraux was, sure enough, standing in the front hall when Fox bounced down the stairs. He was dressed for travel in light slacks and a T-shirt, his shoulder-length blonde hair looking a little matted thanks to the heat outside. He had walked from the local station, Fox figured, carrying a suit bag over one shoulder and a smaller travel bag. He looked up and smiled, and Fox’s virtual heart did a quick flutter.

  ‘I am sorry I did not call ahead, mon chère,’ Jason said. ‘I was given essentially no notice that I would be here and–’

  ‘You figured you’d surprise me?’ Fox finished, walking down the stairs and closing the distance rapidly. She was kissing him before he had a chance to answer. ‘Consider me pleasantly surprised. How long are you staying?’

  ‘I have meetings from Monday through to Thursday. I’m on a rocket back to L-one on Friday, late morning. I have been assigned guest quarters in New York Tower…’

  ‘But you don’t have to be in any meetings until Monday.’ Fox’s lips were curling into a mischievous grin.

  ‘That is correct.’ Jason’s mouth was also tending toward the smirking.

  ‘Then you’re staying here until Monday morning at least.’

  ‘I shall inform the office.’

  ~~~

  ‘So, what are you doing back on good old Earth?’ Fox asked, her voice hushed since her face was barely a couple of inches from Jason’s. She was crouched over him, balanced on her knees and elbows because, as they had found out the last time they were together, she was too heavy to really lie on his chest.

  ‘That I cannot tell you, mon chère,’ Jason replied.

  ‘Oh? Is it some sort of UNTPP secret? Am I going to have to use my feminine wiles to extract the information.’

  Jason let out a sharp groan as Fox’s inner muscles tightened around him. ‘Ah! I could not tell you, even if I wished to. No one has told me. It was a very rushed thing.’

  Fox pouted. ‘No feminine wiles?’

  ‘As far as I am aware, your security clearance has never been revoked. If I can tell you once I know, then you may employ whatever means you wish to persuade me.’

  ‘Can I practise now, in case I need them later?’

  ‘I don’t think I would wish to stop you.’

  Fox grinned, and her hips began a slow gyration. ‘Good.’

  ~~~

  Sheela Na Gig was doing good business. There was the usual selection of underdressed people on the ground floor, where the bar was. Outfits ranged from the essentially non-existent, generally with a lot of leather straps and some mesh, to the severely fetishistic. It was a Saturday night and there were people there with less obviously appropriate clothing, newbies trying the place out, but the bouncers turned you away at the door unless you vaguely fit the theme.

  That was why Fox had fabricated a pair of tight leather slacks for Jason, along with a mesh T-shirt and a faux-leather dog collar. He had the muscle to pull off the look, and Sam had seen what Jason was wearing and matched it from his wardrobe, adding a pair of leather cuffs for good measure. It somehow gave the impression that the two men were there as the joint property of their female companions, which had not been Fox’s intention, but Jason and Sam seemed to be rather enjoying the idea.

  Fox was back in her teddy, skirt, and thigh-boots outfit, because that had seemed appropriate. Marie had invested in a high-collared leather dress with a broad cleavage window and some over-the-knee boots with a platform and spiked heels, so she looked the part. And then there was Kit in a sleeveless, white latex micro-dress which appeared to have been shrink-wrapped onto her gynoid body. There were ridiculously high, stiletto sandals to go with the dress, likely only comfortable because she was mechanical. She had not been out of the house too often since getting her own body, and she was revelling in the ability to personally experience the ambience of the club.

  ‘It is not the same as experiencing things through Fox’s senses,’ Kit said. ‘There is more immediacy and, of course, I can look where I wish.’

  ‘And there are the admiring looks,’ Fox said. ‘I figure you could have your choice of at least a dozen partners, and we’ve only been here fifteen minutes.’

  ‘Eight males and five females. However, I am in a relationship and there is the practical aspect. I would likely need to go home with them since I don’t have my own bed.’

  ‘I’d offer you mine, but I intend to use it tonight.’

  ‘You don’t use it generally?’ Jason asked.

  Fox shrugged. ‘I’ve kind of got used to using the cradle in the lab. Uh, that’s what used to be the office. I can settle in there, recharge, run my backup, and I’ve got full data access for whatever purpose I might need it. To be honest, I don’t need the apartment. I could make do perfectly well with the virtual one. I’m just not quite ready to give up on a physical life yet.’

  ‘Yet?’ Sam asked.

  ‘Well, ever, probably. That said, “forever” actually has some meaning in my condition and you never know what I might be thinking in fifty years. Anyway, Kit’s not the only one getting admiring looks. It doesn’t seem like people have forgotten M.J. yet, Marie.’

  ‘I should hope not. The last show was premiered nine days ago and they’ve been repeating that this week. Have you been keeping up with it, Jason?’

  ‘I have.’ Jason grinned. ‘So have most of the UNTPP personnel on Prokhorov Station. We have to watch it on-demand, of course, but after I mentioned it to a few people, I started getting comments about the show. I think my reputation around the station went up a little since I know two celebrities.’

  ‘Two?’ Fox asked.

  Marie rolled her eyes. ‘You, idiot.’

  ‘Oh. Yeah.’

  ‘Your recognition has increased following the interviews regarding the Akh process,’ Kit said. ‘The Palladium marketing department are rather p
leased. There has been a seven percent rise in positive mention of the company since May which has been traced back to your PR activity from the end of April.’

  Fox grimaced. ‘May was Hell. I’m glad they decided that too much Fox was a bad thing and cut back on the personal appearances.’

  ‘Mm, yes,’ Marie agreed. ‘You were getting more streaming time than I was and I’m supposed to be the star of the house.’

  Kit smirked. ‘Fox’s popularity in Japan now exceeds mine. Though I do not believe she is “paru-kawaii.”’

  ‘No,’ Fox said. ‘That’s reserved for you. How are sales of the kitsune PA going in Japan?’

  ‘Quite acceptably, or so I’m told. Current LifeWeb chatter suggests that you are popular with both bakunyū and jukujo fans.’

  Fox frowned. ‘Those are terms used for adult sensie idols.’

  Kit grinned. ‘Yes.’

  ‘And the first one was what they talked about Shina-chan being. That’s buxom.’

  ‘Yes. The other refers to… more mature performers.’

  ‘So, I’m old, with big boobs.’ Kit did not reply, but her eyes were sparkling and she seemed to be biting her lips shut to avoid giggling. ‘You’re enjoying this way too much, young lady.’

  ‘Yes,’ Kit said, breaking into giggles, ‘I am.’

  12th July.

  ‘The first report is going live now,’ Kit said.

  Fox checked the time. ‘Eight oh three. That’s fast work.’

  ‘It’s INN. They use AIs to analyse incoming press releases and will update their bulletin schedules according to perceived importance. The release regarding you took them two minutes to get on-stream.’