Chapter Nine

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It was swift, really, so smoothly done that later on they wondered why they hadn't started with that in the first place.

Under the excuse of an update, a bug was slipped in Elsa's system. Since it came from Ishiguro, her protection settings did not block it. The moment she authorized it, the bug took over her system and shut it down. When Anna got home, she found Elsa on the floor, collapsed as if she'd fainted, unresponsive to any cry or call from her.

And so, Anna did the only thing anyone would have thought of in those circumstances. She called the Ishiguro help line. Her call, expected already, was redirected to a very kind assistant who immediately offered unconditional support to get her element up and running in no time.

However, after a checkup and thorough revision of the element, it was found that the repairing process could not take place within the current location; instead, the element would have to be taken to the Japan Monitoring Centre. It wouldn't take long, so Miss Solskinn could just relax and wait at home, and perhaps she'd like a temporary element to be sent to her house, to keep up the work in the meantime.

Anna, of course, refused to let Elsa go without her.

They were taken to the Monitoring Centre the very next day. Under any other circumstances, Anna would have been fascinated by the place –it was huge, dazzlingly white and clean, surrounded by green spaces, flowers, and fountains. Crystal walls allowed her to see much of the activity going on, scientific research carried out with the best possible equipment. Anna couldn't help but wonder about all the work she could accomplish with those tools.

Elsa, still unconscious, was taken to the Repair Station. Anna asked if she could go in with her, but instead she was greeted by an overly courteous man everyone seemed to be afraid of. Mr. H introduced himself as Head Engineer and immediately began to work on winning Anna's trust.

"Miss Solskinn, please be very welcome. We hope your trip was pleasant, despite the circumstances that bring you here. Allow me to tell you that there's nothing to be worried about, what happened to your element is probably a temporary issue and it will be given the very best care. I'll see to it personally. Would you like us to help you find accommodation during your stay?"

"I'll be staying at the Harumi Hotel. The owner is friends with my father."

Of course she'd be staying at the finest, most luxurious hotel in Japan. Mr. H remembered the Solskinns were a powerful family and cursed his luck.

"Ah, Miss Solskinn, then surely you'll be more comfortable in your hotel. One of our drivers will gladly take you there.

"I'd rather stay here until I get some news about her, if you don't mind."

Mr. H. looked at her and saw the stubborn eyes of a rich child who's always had everything her way. He realized he'd be unable to persuade her, and so he left her to pace up and down the hallway and went to see Mr. Yu to update him.

"The Solskinn girl is here, with her element. Everything went as planned."

Mr. Yu peeked from behind the curtain.

"That's her? The redhead? You've got to be kidding me. Please tell me we're not making all this fuss over a child and her toy. Just send them back to their nursery and they'll be fine."

But Mr. H. shook his head. "Believe me, it's much more than that. There are a thousand girls like this one out there, but the android… that's one of a kind."

"What makes it so important, anyway? Everyone's so altered and worried about it…"

"It can think for itself. Make its own choices, go against given orders, feel a lot of stuff, that kind of thing."

Mr. Yu burst in laughter. "But that's impossible! It's a machine, and a machine we built here! There can be nothing wrong about it. Come on! Send them home already, it's almost their bedtime. Machines don't think! Our androids are perfect."

"Too perfect, it seems. Look at these. They're early results from what we could monitor remotely, but do they tell a few things about its system and how it works around it."

Mr. Yu began to leaf through the papers, dismissively at first, but the data soon made him pause.

"This can't be right… It cannot override the company settings."

"Except that it did."

"Where is it now?"

"With the engineers. I called the best ones, they're trying to figure it out."

Elsa had been taken to a room that resembled that of a hospital, with beeping machines, cables, and pristine cleanliness. The bug that had shut her down has immediately deactivated and she was conscious again.

She waited with some attendants who talked a lot between them but barely seemed to notice her other than to answer her questions as curtly as they could, until a man walked in. He was relatively young, slender, and looked at her through his glasses with cold eyes that tried to be friendly.

"Hello. I'm Engineer De Vil. You must be Element J-769. I'm one of the engineers for the J-line here at Ishiguro and I'll be working with you today."

Elsa held out her hand. "Hello. I'm Elsa." She attempted to smile.

The engineer observed her for a moment, then took her hand.

"Elsa. Right. Well, then, let's get started. Ready?"

Elsa nodded, while the engineer began writing and waving people around.

"Please lie down here, elem- Elsa. We're just going to run a few tests, make sure everything works as it should."

She did as told, and stopped herself from protesting when sensors were attached to her temples. The tests began quite normally, a few questions here and there, copious notes from what a screen showed in beeps and coloured lines.

"Your system appears to be working just fine," Engineer De Vil began. "But Elsa, it is said that you can feel certain emotions and sensations. Have you ever felt, say, hunger or thirst?"

"No."

"Tiredness?"

"No."

"Okay. Now, you have engaged in sexual intercourse with your owner, right?"

Elsa looked down, embarrassed. She hesitated for a moment, while the engineer ticked boxes on his papers and made more notes, his eyes always on her. Eventually, she nodded.

"There's no shame in it. It's quite normal. But tell me, Elsa, during these encounters, have you experienced any kind of pleasure?"

Elsa looked down again.

"Elsa?"

"Please, I'd rather not answer."

But Engineer De Vil insisted. "Have you come to enjoy these encounters? To desire them? To desire her?"

"I don't want to give details about that."

"Whatever you prefer," the engineer replied, his eyes on the screen as he made more notes. "While looking at your activity patterns we found something quite interesting. I'm looking at some records of your sexual activity, and there are high peaks in your sensors. Extremely high peaks. There's also overheating and a partial shutdown when these peaks occur. I want you to think very carefully about this and answer as honestly as possible. Elsa, can you orgasm?"

Elsa fixed her eyes on the engineer, her words growing more confident with her anger.

"I see no reason why I should answer any of that. Whatever data you need, it's all on the screen."

Engineer De Vil chuckled. "Fine, fine, whatever. We'll have plenty of time to verify that information. Moving on… pain. The first report made on you, at the Service Center, indicates that you showed signals of distress when the external sensors were attached, is that correct?"

Elsa nodded once.

"Did it happen again with these sensors?"

"Yes."

"What's the feeling?"

"It stings. Not much, but it's uncomfortable."

"Has it happened in any other situation?"

"Once I held a cup of coffee that was too hot, and my fingers hurt a little bit. But only that time, I've held other hot materials since then and felt nothing."

"I see."

Engineer De Vil made more notes and watched Elsa attentively. Then, he slapped her across the face. The blow echoed dryly around the lab. The beeping of the machine grew louder and faster.

"Why did you do that?" murmured Elsa, pressing her fingertips to her cheek.

"What did you feel?" asked Engineer De Vil, ignoring her question.

"It hurt. Why did you do it?"

"What do you mean it hurt? Did it sting?"

"It hurts, like blows hurt, and if I were human it would probably leave a bruise."

"Are you sure it hurts? Remember not to confuse a feeling you have information about with something you're actually experiencing yourself. You know what pain is, and you might be mistaking that knowledge with feeling real pain."

"I know what I feel. It hurt. Why are you doing this?"

The door opened. Mr. Yu walked in, and Engineer De Vil immediately stepped back to allow him access to Elsa.

"So, Element J-769," Mr. Yu greeted her.

"Elsa," she corrected softly.

"How's it going, element?"

Elsa regarded him with mistrust.

"Are you going to hit me, too?"

Mr. Yu looked at Engineer De Vil.

"It was just to measure its reactions to different stimuli, sir. Just like you ordered."

Mr. Yu rolled his eyes and turned back to Elsa.

"Don't worry, I promise no one will hit you again as long as you help us. This is in everyone's interest, element, including yours."

Engineer De Vil handed Mr. Yu the papers he'd been working on. Mr. Yu read them, his eyes traveling between the data and Elsa with growing intensity.

"Check its internal memory," he instructed. "Get the internal chip and review all the data. Revise its programming down to the last bit of coding, and look for physical abnormalities, too. Keep us informed of everything it does and all the information you gather."

"Of course, sir. A digital version of the scans we just performed is already available on your platforms."

When Mr. Yu headed for the door, Elsa intercepted him.

"Where is Anna?"

"She's fine."

"What did you do to her?"

"I've told you she's fine."

"Can I see her?"

"I doubt she's here anymore, she was offered the best accommodations in the city. We'll keep her informed."

He reached for the door again. Elsa put a hand on his arm and pulled him back.

"Why are you doing this to us? What did we ever do to you?"

Mr. Yu fixed his eyes on Elsa' hand. He freed himself and addressed the Engineer.

"Turn it off, I can't stand its blabber."

Once Elsa lay unconscious again, Mr. You seemed to relax.

"Someone should definitely program the next batch to be less annoying," he huffed.

The staff celebrated his joke. On his way out, he ran a hand over Elsa's body.

"Exquisite work of design and craft, though."

Papers in hand, Mr. Yu headed straight to Mr. H.'s office.

"Well, you've seen for yourself," said Mr. H., beaming with the excitement of having been right. "What do you think?"

"It's worse than I thought. Never seen anything similar. It puzzles me so much how the element has been able to override every single of its settings. It's almost as if it had free will. There doesn't seem to be any alterations on it, yet…"

"Has its internal memory been checked?"

"I gave orders to do so. The team is probably doing it as we speak."

"Excellent," beamed Mr. H. "Tons of good memories, if it's that close to its owner. It will be interesting to watch what it's got."

Mr. Yu made a face. "I don't want to keep it around for too long. Who knows what's going on with it, maybe it's got a virus and having it under our network damages the other element. I say we get rid of it. Wipe its system, wipe its hard drives, destroy everything, even the thing itself. We'll give its girl another one that looks exactly the same and that won't make such a mess. The girl won't be able to tell the difference."

But Mr. H. hesitated. "Maybe we shouldn't hurry and make a decision we'll later regret."

"What are you saying?"

"That we shouldn't get rid of it just yet. It's one of a kind, and might be useful for further research. Imagine the possibilities, the science of it all! That little robot will be a great lesson for all of us, in terms of electronics and robotic development. And hey, it's gorgeous."

Mr. Yu rolled his eyes. "You know I don't use them for that. It's pretty, yes, but nothing compares to a real woman's warmth. Anyway, I guess you're right. It's under our control now, it can't do much for itself. We'll at least learn what happened with it, and how never to have one like it again. But let me send the girl on her way. A child like her has nothing to do with men's business. We'll call her back when we need her."

Mr. Yu went to the hallway, where Anna was still pacing anxiously. She ran to him as soon as she spotted him.

"How is Elsa?"

"There appears to be a bug and some sort of virus affecting your element. We're doing everything we can to figure it out and decode it. Perhaps you would like to go home, and your element will be sent to you as soon as possible."

"I'd rather stay here with her."

"Miss, I assure you that won't be at all necessary-"

"I'm staying."

"Miss, for security and protocol reasons it would be better if you tried to get some rest. There's no point in you being here, worrying. Everything is being taken care of. You're staying at the Harumi, right? We'll make sure to send complimentary services and products to your room. Enjoy the city, Miss Solskinn. We'll stay in touch."

Anna realized there wasn't much she could do. She knew about machine bugs, and how difficult it was to get rid of them sometimes. Grudgingly, she accepted Mr. Yu's offers and courtesies.

He offered to walk her to the door, but Anna was suddenly in desperate need to be alone. She walked through the garden that led to the main gate, purposefully ignoring the beauty of the flowers that surrounded her. That's when she heard the voice behind her.

"Hello, gorgeous. I told you we'd meet again."

She didn't need to look to know exactly who it was. He'd always loved sneaking behind her, literally and metaphorically. Still, she turned around slowly, giving him time to evaporate before she had to face him. But he didn't, and Anna found herself looking at his mocking eyes.

"Hans."