[Fic] Dreaming of Electric Sheep
Title: Dreaming of Electric Sheep
Rating/Genre: PG-13. Human-AU/Steampunk-Sci-fi/ Friendship.
Character(s)/Pairing(s): fem!Greece/Japan, Sealand
Warnings: None really, unless you’re bothered by genderbends and robots.
Summary: "So he wished then, as he secretly always did - for something new, something different." Written for the Giripan Winter Exchange, for ty1407's three prompts: ‘sky’, ‘kitchen’ and ‘dark’.
Notes: Immeasurable thanks to my bro tinywhitekitty for the beta ♥ Title comes from Philip K. Dick’s awesome sci-fi novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
~.*.~
i.
hello sir, good day; I seem to have lost my way
At the single moment when their eyes met - the sounds of roaring vehicles and blaring horns rushing through their ears - Honda Kiku knew his life had taken a turn from its usual course.
Traffic was sluggish that morning. A large crawler-tank had crashed into the pole of one of the utility boxes, cutting off power to the aerial signs and causing a cacophony of confusion up in Level Two Air Lane. Accidents weren’t uncommon, especially on busy week day mornings. Kiku hoped it would clear soon however. It wouldn’t do for him to be late to work on the start of the new college semester.
A flash caught his eye; he looked up to see a sliver of light streaking across the bright azure of the morning sky. A shooting star, Kiku thought as he watched it disappear over the horizon.
As a child, he enjoyed making wishes, whether on a falling star or while tossing coins into a well. It offered a sense of hope, of better things for the future, even if most of the wishes were seldom granted. Perhaps it was just his cynicism that didn’t believe in them anymore (he was far too old for this). But then again, there never was any harm wishing for the unthinkable, was there?
So he wished then, as he secretly always did - for something new, something different.
There was another flash, closer this time, almost too close. Kiku jerked in his seat, swerving the hovercar sharply to his right, narrowly avoiding a collision with a dark smudge of a blur.
For a heart-clenching moment, he feared the worst - that he’d accidentally ran someone over. But no, that would be absurd. They were several feet above the ground in mid-air, a safe distance away from the Pedestrian Walkway. He looked about him and saw other vehicles whizzing by him, some blaring their horns indignantly at him.
He sighed, leaning back into the car seat. He must have imagined it… yes that must be it it (no more late nights playing eroge for you, Mister Honda).
He was about to accelerate again when there was a loud -WHUMP! - and something crashed against his windscreen.
Kiku saw the face of a young woman through the cracked glass - eyes flashing fire, her hair a wave of chestnut curls - before she kicked the drop open, scrambling into the passenger seat with him.
He had wanted to yell, wanted to stop her but their eyes met for a split second and he saw in them the silent plea for help. All around them, neon lights flashed wildly as sirens blared angrily. Through all the chaos, he could see the dark, navy-blue shapes of Traffic Speeders gradually approaching his hovercar…
Without thinking, Kiku slammed the door shut, and kicking the engines into overdrive, he zoomed one Traffic level up and sped off as fast as he could.
~.*.~
ii.
introductions are best done over coffee and sometimes watermelon
Now that the initial adrenaline rush was gone and they were in the quiet that was Kiku’s linoleum-tiled kitchen, Kiku began to feel the slight tug of regret and anxiety within his gut.
Artemis however - Artemis, it was the only word (a name?) the girl had spoken since they met - was curiously looking over the things in the kitchen. Eventually she helped herself to Kiku’s fridge, opening up bottles of sauces and cautiously tasting them.
“What is your name?” he asked again.
“Elli̱nikí̱ Di̱mokratía,” she said without looking up. “A name I liked. But he said, too long.” She spared a quick glance at Kiku over the top of the fridge door, only to be met by his confused gaze. “So... Artemis. Short name.”
“Do you… have a family name? Maybe I can help you contact your parents. Or perhaps a sibling..?”
Artemis made a face at the bottle of lime sauce she’d just tasted. “Family... none. Only myself.” She wrinkled her nose, picking her way through the rest of the fridge before settling on a slice of watermelon.
“Karpoúzi,” she said, biting into the sweet red flesh of the fruit. “I like karpoúzi. You can call me Karpoúzi too.”
Karpoúzi. Watermelon in Greek. Kiku blinked at her, before he let out a soft laugh.
“Artemis Karpoúzi, huh,” he said. “Please to meet you then, Miss Karpoúzi. My name is Kiku Honda.”
Artemis smacked her lips, finishing the last of the fruit. She licked off the seeds stuck to her arm.
“Kiku,” she repeated the name, rolling her tongue slowly, tasting the feel of the name as she spoke it once, twice.
Kiku started in slight surprise when she reached out to gently brush his cheek with her juiced-stained fingers.
“A pretty name.” She tilted her head sideways, regarding him with those bright green eyes. “It suits you.”
~.*.~
iii.
we always remember things that matter the least
The days passed and yet, no one came for them.
No imposing, authoritative figure banged at Kiku’s door, requesting to be let in. No abrupt calls on the vidphone with a demanding voice that said Mister Honda, sir, you’ve been found guilty of evading the Law and for driving your vehicle up into Level One Traffic Lanes which are strictly off-limits to hovercars and hoverbikes.
“Are you okay?”
Kiku shook his head, recalling that he had been in the midst of preparing notes for his next lecture on Derivatives. He looked up to see Artemis’ concerned gaze upon him.
“Yes,” he lied, or at least tried to. Artemis didn’t seem convinced by his reply.
“Something… bothers you,” she said, speaking again in those short, fragmented sentences, as if she had to think of the correct words to use before she spoke. She was still fixing him with that contemplative gaze. “Worried. You feel it.”
Kiku could not read the tone in which she said it; whether she was upset or merely stating the obvious, he wasn’t sure.
Sighing, he said, “Yes, I do have some concerns. I did break traffic rules and that would surely amount to some demerit points on my part.”
“But that’s not the only thing.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Is it… me?” Artemis asked again, dejected.
Kiku tried to find another way to answer - an indirect, polite way - but couldn’t. “Yes. But only because I know next to nothing about you,” he added, offering her a tiny smile.
Artemis said nothing for a long time, choosing instead to pet the cats which were nuzzled up around her ankles. They meowed piteously to be scratched behind their ears and under their bellies. Lying next to the cats was a large male dog, ears pricked forwards attentively.
They were strays that had showed up on his doorstep right after he’d brought Artemis home with him. Artemis had taken a liking to them and tried to feed them every day with milk and leftovers.
“I don’t remember anything,” she finally said, still crouched on the ground, running her fingers gently through the dog’s faded rust-brown fur. Unlike the other strays which looked healthy enough, the dog had one prosthetic robotic foreleg - Kiku could hear the soft creaks and squeaks of the joints each time the dog moved
“Every time I try, I see only dark and fuzzy images. Like I was looking through a broken hologram set. I hear sounds, clicks and static but…” Artemis frowned, shaking her head. “Nothing comes to mind.”
“You were running from something-”
Or someone.
“-before you crashed into my car.”
“Yes. They were chasing me. Trying to shoot me with a stun blaster… but I don’t remember why.”
There was a pregnant pause; the more she spoke, the more distressed Artemis seemed. Kiku tried to find the words to reassure her. He settled on brewing some tea for both of them instead.
“Can I… stay here?” she asked, lifting her gaze to meet his once again.
But I don’t know anything about you, Kiku thought as he scooped a tablespoon of leaves into the pot
“Please?”
And I don’t know if I can trust you.
He sighed, setting the spoon back down on the kitchen counter, his mind in a whirl.
“All right,” he finally said. “At least, until you start remembering some things.”
Artemis smiled brightly, leaning forward to embrace him. Kiku blushed and would have protested about the hug. But Artemis only hugged him tighter and he was left wondering if he might regret his decision on another day.
She looked happy when she smiled though.
~.*.~
iv.
there’s a hero not necessarily in everyone, but in every comic strip
Things went on as usual for the next week or so. Artemis slowly grew accustomed to living with Kiku. She was almost as curious as the cats themselves, exploring everything in sight, reading and watching things she would come across in Kiku’s tiny apartment, from the lecture notes he prepared for school to the news articles he received daily on his vidphone. She even read the junk fliers the ad-bots scanned into the electronic mailbox every morning (by the end of the fourth day, she could recite the week’s bargains and promotions for almost every retail shop located in the vicinity).
She was prone to dozing off several times in the day, falling asleep in strange corners of the house, in odd sleeping positions. When she wasn’t napping - curled mid-way under the coffee table or crouched in a corner of the laundry room - she would play with the strays, brushing away at their fur with an old comb she’d discovered in the bathroom.
(Kiku quickly resigned himself to living with cat-hair stuck to all of his clothing and furniture after Day Four of Living with Artemis and Her Strays)
The most peculiar habit she probably picked up was to always read the daily serialized comics featured in the morning papers. He’d even found some cut-out strips kept neatly folded in a shoe box under the makeshift bunk Artemis slept in - her personal favourites, he’d presumed.
“Why is Akane always in each comic?” she’d asked aloud once.
“She’s the main character of the story.”
“Main… character?”
“Yes, this is her story, about her life and the things that happen to her and around her.”
Artemis frowned, brows furrowed as she tried to understand. “Why does she chase people with a gun?”
“She’s an Inspector and it’s her duty to uphold the law and to protect the civilians.”
“She protects people?”
“Yes,” Kiku pointed to one of the panels, with Akane standing over an injured colleague, her partner Ko, and wielding her gun at a mob of menacing shadows. “She’s the hero of the story.”
“A hero,” Artemis repeated. “So… those people chasing me. Are they heroes? They had guns. Maybe they had to protect someone.”
“I… I don’t know. Not everyone who carries a gun is a hero, though.”
And not everyone can be a hero.
“You didn’t have a gun, but you helped me. That day in your car. Are you a hero?”
“A-ah?” Kiku blinked, and Artemis only chuckled, her nose crinkling with amusement at his expression. “No, no, I’m not. I just didn’t know what else to do. I thought I had to help you then because you looked hurt.”
And afraid.
Artemis didn’t look like she understood what he meant, but she nodded anyway and went back to reading the rest of the comics.
~.*.~
v.
if you ask no questions, I tell no lies
Kiku fretted at first - he always did, whenever he was faced with something different. It was his way of dealing with the new and the unknown. He pondered quietly over it as he sipped his tea over breakfast, thinking of hows and whys and what-ifs. He worried and he fretted silently by himself, but after two weeks, he received no calls and no one came knocking on his door, asking any questions.
Maybe he was really over-thinking everything.
He’d been observing the overcast clouds through his study window one Wednesday afternoon, lost in his thoughts, when the doorbell chimed. He glanced over at Artemis, who was typing away rather enthusiastically at his holo-com (she informed him the night before how she’d joined a group of confabulators on a Commu-site devoted to all things feline).
The bell chimed a second time.
“Hello,” Kiku began as he tentatively slid the door open. “Can I help you-?”
A young boy, teetering about the edges of teenage-hood, stood at the doorway. A bright blue beret and a pair of oversized bike-goggles was perched upon his mess of short blond hair. He was dressed in faded blue jumpsuit, with patches sewn over the knees and one trouser-leg rolled up to his calf. Kiku saw he had on black-and-grey-striped socks.
The boy peered past Kiku, his freckled face breaking into a huge grin when he finally found what, or rather who, he was looking for.
“Artemis!”
Before Kiku could respond, the boy bounded past the door and into the living room, right up to where Artemis was busy clicking away at the holo-com. At the sound of his delighted squeals, Artemis glanced up in mild surprise.
“Peter,” she said, her lips curved into a smile. “How did you find…?”
“Artemis, I was so worried! If it hadn’t been for Cogs, I don’t think I would have found you at all. I’m so glad you’re all right!”
Cogs? iku wondered if the boy - Peter - had another companion with him. He felt a soft brush against his shin and saw the rust-coloured dog with the robotic leg waving his tail, nuzzling at his knees, and it clicked. The dog had been Artemis’ all along.
As he knelt down to pat Cogs over the head, Kiku said, “You must be Artemis’ brother. I’m sorry to have caused you unnecessary worry about her whereabouts.”
“Whoa, whoa, hang on a minute,” Peter cut in, a bemused expression scrunched upon his face. “I’m not Artemis’ brother.”
“Ah, my apologies. I only assumed so because you seemed familiar with her.”
“Of course I’m familiar with her, or however it is you want to put it. She’s my android.”
A lesser man might have gaped awkwardly at such at statement, but politeness had been ingrained in Kiku since as a child, so all he managed was to raise his eyebrows incredulously at Peter.
“An… android?” he echoed.
“Yes,” Peter must have heard the disbelief in his tone because he said, rather firmly, “Yes, an android! And with A.I. programming too.” He paused, gazing pointedly at Kiku. “You don’t believe me, do you? You think I’m just joking.”
“Well,” Kiku said, considering his words carefully. “If I may be honest, I don’t quite know what to believe. A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks…”
Since Artemis came crashing into my car.
“You’re just like the other adults.” Peter didn’t seem to have heard him. “Always thinking they are right just because they are older. ‘He hardly knows what he’s doing! He’s far too young!’ Well, you’ll know if you lot actually listened to me for once.” He threw his hands up in a show of frustration.
“Mister Peter, sir,” Kiku tried again. “It’s not that I don’t believe you. I just don’t know what to make of .. well, of all of this.”
But Peter was already moving towards Artemis, who had been sitting quietly on the sofa, listening. Before Kiku could say more, he reached for the back of Artemis’ shirt, lifting it up to partially reveal smooth, olive skin underneath-
“Mister Peter,” Kiku hissed, his cheeks flushing red now. “You can’t just go lifting up people’s shirts in publi- oh.”
He stopped, gaping in awe at the scene before him. Peter smirked triumphantly, letting Kiku to approach closer for a better view. Where it should be only flesh and skin, there was a mass of blinking lights and multi-coloured wires embedded underneath a small flap of artificial flesh on Artemis’ back (which Peter had popped open, like the lid to a battery compartment of a machine). Kiku could hear the soft click and whirr of mechanical parts deep within the wires.
“Do you believe me now?” Peter asked, the grin still etched upon his face.
At this point, Kiku wasn’t too sure what to believe anymore.
~.*.~
vi.
it doesn’t matter who we are as long as we believe in ourselves
Right after he’d appeared on Kiku’s doorstep, Peter declared he was going to stay with Artemis in the apartment. Kiku had objected of course; it was bad enough that he’d let Artemis stay for two weeks, but to let a child move in as well? He was quite certain Peter’s family would never approve of it and might even report Kiku to the authorities for ‘kidnapping.’
But when questioned about his family, Peter only scowled and shook his head stubbornly.
“It has always been only me and Artemis,” he said, scuffing the floor with his foot. “Well, there’s Father too, but he doesn’t care about me. He never did. It’s always about work."
Peter paused, reaching for a glass jar on the kitchen counter and helping himself to a biscuit.
“So I’m free to do whatever I want. Besides, he’s away on some bloody research or what-not and he’ll probably be gone for the next five months.”
And so it was that there were now three of them living together in Kiku’s apartment. Well, four if they counted Cogs the rust-coloured dog. The cats came and went freely, but Cogs stayed in the house day and night constantly.
Kiku still didn’t know what to make of Peter and Artem-
No, the android, he corrected himself. She- it is an android, and one that that seems to be equipped with highly-developed A.I.
Peter told him that Artemis belonged to him and that she was the first prototype of androids with artificial intelligence created by his father, the famed inventor and gizmologist, Sir Arthur Kirkland.
“The media tend to leave out his other title in their articles,” Peter said.
“Which is…?”
“The biggest git anyone could have as a father.”
Kiku couldn’t quite suppress a laugh at that.
“I helped too, with developing her personality for the A.I.” Peter chirruped happily as he and Artemis rubbed oil into Cogs’ squeaky joints in his single mechanical leg. “Of course Father never mentions that bit to the others. It was always his ‘greatest invention, a real android and not just mindless house-bots’ and less about Artemis herself.” Peter huffed in indignation, folding his arms. “It’s as if Artemis was just another possession to him, you know?”
“Your father did create her from scratch, so technically she does belong to the creator.” Kiku reasoned carefully.
“Well yes, but with A.I. she’s like a real person! What’s the point of working so hard to create something nearly as human as us, with the ability to learn and think on its own, only to treat it like a simple object?”
Kiku didn’t know the answer to that, but when he glanced over at Artemis - who was now giving Cogs a belly rub, that smile accentuating the soft features of her face - he couldn’t help but think that maybe there was some truth in those words.
“Peter, it’s all right” Artemis said. “Kiku… he helped me. Even though it might have been safer for him to leave me, he didn’t.” She gazed over at Kiku now, with the same soft expression she had in her eyes when she was playing with Cogs and the cats. “He’s… kind.”
So this was an android - a highly-developed machine capable of mimicking human facial expressions and human thought. Kiku had seen and worked with machines, drones and bots that were programmed with cognitive functions, but they had mostly been limited to menial things such as understanding and memorizing instructions punched into their system. Having no will of their own, they did not act on their own but simply on the tasks they were programmed to do.
They did not think, they did not reason, they did not question.
They did not feel.
Artemis however, was different and was capable of much more. At least, that was what Peter claimed she was.
Kiku didn’t quite believe it yet, but sometimes, if he studied her long enough, it did seem that her expressions were genuine, that her smile was true. She seemed almost human.
… No, she had been programmed that way; to mimic and to respond to human reactions. She... It wasn’t real.
But she had a favourite comic… could an android develop preference in such things? Was that pre-programmed?
Kiku didn’t know.
The quiet days didn’t last. It was a rare morning which Kiku had all by himself. Artemis, on her own accord, offered to do the grocery shopping. Peter, who was ever ready to take on the world outside (Kiku never quite understood what he meant by that) decided to accompany her.
He was in the middle of typing out a writing assignment, absent-mindedly petting Cogs who’d been nuzzling at his knees again, when Peter burst through the front door, all flustered and red in the face. Kiku felt a sense of dread rising within his gut.
“-Kiku!” Peter said, panting heavily, as if he’d just run a mile. “Help… They took her!”
“Calm down, Peter.” Kiku said, the feeling dread increasing tenfold now. “What happened? Where’s Artemis?”
“I told you! They took her, they took Artemis away!”
“Who?”
“Bandits! We were walking down this alley few blocks away from the Market and then they jumped us. I think they wanted money at first, but Artemis protected me… one of them hit her with a crowbar and she injured her arm.” Peter flinched, recalling the incident. “They found out she was an android and they took her! They would have done me in as well, if I hadn’t bitten and kicked them off.”
“Wha… but why would they take her?” Kiku asked.
Peter stamped his foot in frustration. “They are scrap-metal bandits, Kiku! They’ll either sell her whole or dissemble her and sell her in parts!” He paused, his face pale with distress and agitation. Then, as if he’d suddenly made up his mind about something, he grabbed Kiku by the arm and dragged him towards the door. “We have to go save her, Kiku. We can take them down together, I’m sure of it. Cogs can help too!”
Cogs barked and wagged his tail fervently, already standing poised and ready.
“Peter, wait,” Kiku said, gently trying to pry his arm free from the boy’s grip. “These are armed bandits. It wouldn’t be wise for us to rush in like that. We should get help from the authorities.”
“No,” Peter said, still tugging stubbornly at Kiku’s arm. “It’ll be too late if we do that - they will take her away someplace and we’ll never ever find them. We have to help her now!.”
He would have, he really would. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t understand Peter’s attachment to the android, to Artemis. Even so, Kiku knew it would be unwise to act recklessly, to rush head-along in this. He should know better; he was far older, after all.
“I understand your concern, Peter,” Kiku said. “But it’s too dangerous, so we should really just contact the police. They’ll see to it just fine and-”
“Ugh, forget it.” Peter snapped, releasing Kiku’s hand angrily and turning to make his way towards the door. “I came back here because I thought I could get some help. Apparently I was wrong.”
“Peter, please wait.” Kiku tried to reason with the boy, reaching out for him, but Peter only shrugged his hand away.
He paused in his steps, as if steeling himself for something before he said tersely, “Artemis said you were kind and that you cared. I guess she was wrong about that too.”
And he stormed off, never looking back and slamming the door shut after him.
Kiku dropped his gaze, a heavy weight settling upon his shoulders. Did he care? Of course he did; he cared enough to not want to see any of them come to any real harm. But this was out of his hands - he wasn’t a hero, he was only a college lecturer, working hard and living a normal, everyday life. It was expected of him.
And Artemis, she… no, it was just an android. A machine programmed much like any other to serve a task. Nothing more, nothing less.
Even if she laughed just like how Peter laughed.
Even if she smiled just like how Kiku smiled.
He cursed silently, before leaning against the door and sighing tiredly, a finger tugging away at a stray thread at the hem of his shirt as he tried to compose himself. He heard a soft whine behind him and felt warm wetness on the back of his right hand. Cogs licked gently at his hand and whined again.
He sighed again.
He was not a hero.
~.*.~
vii.
the heart understands much more than the mind does
“Let her go!”
Artemis glanced up sharply at the voice, watching as the bandits turned to face the boy who was running back down into the darkened alley.
“Peter, what are you doing? Stay away!” Artemis hissed, struggling against the restraining bolt fastened over her wrists.
“I’m sorry, Artemis,” Peter said, brandishing a wrench bravely before him, even though she could hear the slight tremble of fear in his voice. “But I’m not letting them take you away without my permission!”
He charged into the fray, swinging the wrench out before him at the bandits. Luck had been on his side for a handful of seconds- he’d managed to hit the man closest to him, catching him on the side on the head, before he spun around to kick the other in the shins.
His victory was short-lived however. After much swearing and yelling, the men grabbed him easily, kicking him down into the dirt and laughing at his angry cries of pain.
“You’ve got a lot of guts coming back here, ya punk!” One of them growled at him, gnashing his teeth menacingly.
“Maybe we can sell ‘im off too, on the Schwarzmarkt,” said the second bandit with a robotic-eye, which blinked red and yellow at periodic intervals. “Sky People pay a good price for kid-slaves, don’t they? Human pets are like the fad these days with ‘em, especially with the Chir’fa and Vistnukk.”
Artemis struggled again, desperately trying to break the restraining bolt, to no avail. She couldn’t get free, but still… she couldn’t stop now. She had to help Peter; she had to keep him safe because she knew that Peter was afraid, that the men would hurt him.
She wanted to protect him.
Was this how Kiku felt then?
There was flickering of light and suddenly a shadow falling over her-
Artemis looked up to see the fuzzy shape of a rust-coloured dog leaping over her. Cogs threw himself at the man holding Peter, and growling menacingly, closed his jaws around the man’s arm.
“Arrgghh!!” The man yelped in pain, releasing his hold while the others scattered about in a frenzy. In the confusion that ensued, Peter managed to break free, running to where Artemis was. With the wrench, he broke the restraining bolt easily from her wrists.
“Don’t let them escape!” Before the bandits could attack again, there was a loud crashing sound from behind them. A scooter-bike zoomed through the alley, ramming into the bandits and knocking them back onto the ground again.
Artemis could hear Peter wheezing as dirt and debris flew about them, before he was abruptly pulled away, grabbed by someone behind them.
“Peter!” Artemis cried, whirling around and ready to lash at the bandit who’d appeared.
“Artemis, Peter… come on!” Artemis recognized the voice, looking up to see Kiku seated in the scooter bike. He was pulling Peter up unto the seat behind him. There was a small gash across his forehead - he must have cut himself when he crashed into the bandits.
Artemis jumped up easily, sitting herself on the bike right behind Peter.
“You came back,” Peter said to Kiku, grinning widely. “Didn’t think you had it in you! And who said you could drive my scooter?”
“The house seemed strangely quiet without everyone,” Kiku said softly, as he re-adjusted the bike goggles he wore, blinking dust and blood out of his eyes. Then, glancing over his shoulder to meet Peter’s grin with a smile of his own, he added, “I didn’t realise this was yours - it was parked on the roof of my apartment, so I took the liberty of having a free ride.”
“Thank you,” Artemis said. “You saved me again. And you saved Peter too. Just like what Akane would have done.”
Kiku laughed softly at that. “I still don’t have a gun. And I’m not quite sure about this whole rescuing business. ”
“You’re still a git though,” Peter cut in, though not unkindly. “Uh wait, who is Akane again?”
Kiku never got to answer him, because a small piece of broken wood came flying at him then, hitting him against the side of his head and cracking one side of his goggles. He hissed in pain, almost falling off the scooter had Artemis not hold onto him tightly.
“You fucking runts!” The bandit with the robotic-eye yelled at them, stumbling unsteadily back to his feet. “Forget about keeping ‘em alive, we’ll kill you and then sell your organs on the Schwarzmarkt and…. Arghh!! Get off, you stupid mutt!” He yelped in pain, flailing helplessly when Cogs bit into his leg a second time.
Kiku saw his chance, and took it. “Everybody, hang on!” Gunning the afterburners alive with a loud roar, he zoomed away out of the alley and to safety.
Cogs gave the bandit one last bite and scampered gleefully after the fast-disappearing scooter.
~.*.~
viii.
staying awake to chase a dream
“Hey, Kiku… Kiku, wake up, or you’ll miss it!”
The dull throbbing his head was the first thing he felt when he woke. He winced slightly, before opening his eyes to see Peter peering over him.
“Wake up, the meteor shower’s about to start any moment now.” Peter said, barely able to keep the excitement out of his voice. Kiku nodded, sitting up from where he’d dozed off on the mat.
They sat outside on the roof of their apartment now, the four of them - Kiku, Artemis, Peter and Cogs. The stray cats weren’t far off either, stalking crickets and possibly a mouse or two in the dark.
“Does your head still hurt badly?” Artemis asked. She was sitting beside him, a small and plump calico kitten curled in her lap. It purred lazily as she scratched its ears. Beside her, she had a few pages of the day’s newspaper opened to her favourite comic spread.
“It aches a little at times,” Kiku admitted. He winced slightly as he felt the bandages wrapped around the side of his temples, before turning to watch Peter and Cogs chase each other in a game of tag. “It mostly happens when Peter’s running about like that in the house though.”
Artemis chuckled softly at his words, her eyes bright with amusement. For a moment, there was only silence between them, their gazes meeting one another gingerly, tentatively. It was but a single glance, but enough to set off a tiny spark - a gentle ripple that Kiku hadn’t felt in years coursing through his veins, into the very core of his being.
He blushed slightly, and apologising softly, averted his gaze.
Artemis glanced back at her shoebox of collected cut-out comics and rummaging through it, her fingers searching through the cream-coloured pages.
“I think I know how to tell now,” she said at length, pulling out a familiar piece and laying it out before her. “If you have someone or something you wish to protect… even for just for a single moment, or even if you have no gun and you’re actually afraid deep down inside, then you’re Akane.”
She smiled, tracing a finger around the panel of Akane and her gun, before lifting her gaze to meet Kiku’s. “You’re a hero.”
He’d wanted to disagree, to explain that it certainly wasn’t as simple as that in reality. But Artemis was smiling and Kiku thought that maybe, for now, it didn’t really matter.
“Artemis! Kiku! It’s starting now, look!” Peter’s voice rang out from where he stood, hopping excitedly around Cogs.
He turned his gaze upwards. The stars were falling now; slowly at first in twos and threes and then in several fiery streaks, until they resembled the scattering snow.
Kiku watched as they fell, gazing at a single shooting star - a bright silver streak dashing across the inky velvet of the midnight sky.
And he wished, not as he always did, for some things to remain.
-End-
_____
….obviously I’ve been reading too much Shounen Jump when I was working on this /lolsobs. But ahh, the plot wouldn’t leave my mind and somehow it grew into this?? It was still written with much love though, so I hope you’ll enjoy it. If I was a much better artist, I would have drawn this fic out as a comic ^^;
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Some terms, according to the steampunk lexicon:
confabulator - con-fab-you-laet-or noun. A participant in online discussions.
gizmologist - giz-mol-o-jist noun. One who is expert in several technical fields.
Some notes about the verse:
The story is set in an futuristic-AU, in the year 2795. In this world, robots and drones are commonly used in everyday tasks. However A.I. and human-like androids are still in experimental stages.
Artemis is the first android to be created with an A.I.personality, with the ability to observe and learn from her surroundings, and to make her decisions based on what she sees and learns. This makes her seem much more human than a normal robot. She also has the capability, at some point, to develop something close to empathy and emotions.
Because Peter helped to develop her A.I. personality, he’s quite attached to her, subconsciously viewing her as an older-sister of sorts and a companion (since he’s the only child and often has to find ways to amuse himself when his father is away for work).
The introduction scene in Part ii. was inspired by this scene from the movie, The Fifth Element.
Akane and Ko are the main characters of the anime PSYCHO-PASS the MOST AWESOME anime airing right now
Schwarzmarkt is German for Black Market where illegal trades/purchases take place.
‘Sky People' is a catch-all term/slang used by Earthlings to refer to the Aliens who visit and reside on Earth (kudos to anyone who knows where I got this term from X’D) In this AU, trade has been established between Earth and the other planets, and yes, some Aliens (such as the Chir'fa and Vistnukk) would want to keep a human boy or girl as a pet and/or slave. By Intergalactic Law, it is illegal to keep and trade sentient, intelligent and cultured beings as pets or slaves… but well, not everyone follows the rules.