Hikaru Aisahara's Story

"Change. It is the single only thing that is constant in this world. It is pointless to resist. Nothing lasts forever; not you nor I. A plunge into immortality--would it make it worth abandoning all shreds of humanity? No one can really say don't you think?"

BEEP!!! BEEP!!!

The shrill sound of a digital alarm clock resonated throughout the small confines of the bedroom. As the sound continued all throughout, a slight moving of a pile covered by a blanket moved slightly. Unable to bear with the sound any longer, the girl got up angrily and pressed the button to shut it off. Efforts were futile as the alarm continued ringing. Instead of forcing it all the more, she tugged on the plug, knocking the alarm on the floor.

"There's got to be a better way to start your first summer morning..."

Hikaru trudged down the stairs inside her small, studio type apartment and headed straight for the showers which was just past the living room area, flipping the TV on along the way. The weather forecast predicted clear skies all afternoon. With the recent advancements, the forecast's accuracy has risen steadily over the past years, which she found as a good thing.

"I'm guessing...there's no need to bring an umbrella then?" She glanced at her watch as she rode the elevator downstairs. Upon disembarking, she immediately ran out the front door, heading straight to her place of work: A shop that deals with various parts for android conversion. Passing a street that still bore remnants of the Old Century, she spotted a cyborg that apparently had a malfunction in some of his parts. Some bystanders managed to call help and he was now being hauled to the nearest maintenance service provider. Throughout the commotion, Hikaru looked on.

"The price of immortality..." Random thoughts flooded her mind but another ringing sound brought her out of her delusions and back to reality.

"Oh shit! I better get going--!" Brushing these thoughts aside, Hikaru ran on, continuing to her destination.

Arriving at the shop, Hikaru was immediately called on by her manager regarding her chronic lateness. Hikaru tries to explain, providing makeshift alibis which only served to anger him even more.

"Anyway, the reason why I don't fire you is because you get the job done well. So, here's the thing: Someone ordered some high-end maintenance parts from us. And I'm not talking about a couple of them. The amount that he's ordered are enough to make a full-flown cyborg body, complete with munitions and everything. Shady deal but, we need the money. You getting at what I'm trying to--"

"Okay, Hikaru Aisahara taking off!!!" Before he can even finish his sermon, Hikaru got on the parts hauler, which resembled some sort of bicycle and drove off.

"Hey! Do you even know where it is? Oh well..." The manager walked back inside and saw that the order form was missing. "She probably took it as well..."

Despite having the coordinates already, Hikaru still cannot decipher which part of town do the parts go to. She tried asking but, people usually just ignore her or didn't know what she was talking about.

"Maybe it's upside-down--Oh!" She stepped on the brakes after seeing that she was about to collide with a man on the street. Good thing that the vehicles safety mechanism stopped her before she can even come close within twelve inches.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! But--anyway, do you know where this place is Mister?" Hikaru shows him the map, which has a spot encircled in red ink named Cygen.

Arc looked over just as a girl was about to run into him. Luckily, she stopped a few feet from him. He was about to apologize for being in the way, but she showed him a map and asked where a place was.

The seventeen year-old thought for a few seconds while looking at the place encircled in red with a label. Cygen sounded familiar... Wait, wasn't that the place a few doors down from the abandoned building? It probably was. Arc remembered the sign on the place. He nodded after thinking. "Yes ma'am. Be careful, though, it's in a fairly rough part of town. You want to go straight three blocks, then at the intersection before the fourth one, you'll want to turn left. It's past an abandoned apartment complex with a sign that says 'Sunny Suites'. It's pretty big, so you probably won't miss the building. After you get to Sunny Suites, it's next door."

"Anything else?" He asked politely. Typically he wasn't up for talking, but something made his feel obligated to talk right now.

"Anything else?"

Hikaru snapped out of her daydreaming and thanked the man, repeating her apology again. "A-ah! That would be all! Thank you! And--sorry for almost running you over!" Hikaru sped away at full throttle, fully prepared to meet the deadline for once, instead of almost always coming in late. Still, with her sense of direction, it maybe something a bit more difficult for her.

"L-let's see... next to Sunny Suites...Aha! There it is!" Hikaru enters the huge building, hauling the delivery via a trolley. She was immensely mesmerized by the components, upgrades and the various cyborgs that were walking around. Being mostly human, she began to wonder how she fit in within this institution.

"Amazing! You can come in a human and emerge as a Cyborg? This is quite awesome! If only dad--" Hikaru's voice go cut off once she recalled the incident she witnessed a while ago. Is full conversion an advancement--a milestone for mankind? Or is it a form of regression? A regression to a more primitive form of human who lacks any empathy for any life that they deem insignificant compared to theirs.

More confusion.

The price for immortality...

Hikaru walked up to the front desk, carrying the paperwork and showed it to the person in charge. "Umm...I've brought the ordered parts so, if the client would be so kind to fill it out, then the parts are all his? Hers?" Hikaru was obviously nervous. She had never been summoned to negotiate with corporations before.

"So, what now?" Sandra asked. Delia then replied: "Just a quick orientation and the payment." Delia then took a seat. "As said in the paperwork before, you have a lifetime guarantee meaning that if something breaks from normal use, repairs are free of cost unless you chose an upgrade as a replacement part instead. Negligence and dangerous activities are excluded from the guarantee. If you for example decide to test your limits and jump off a building and suffer damage from it, then you have to pay for the full repair. If you tamper with dangerous elements like fire and end up burning the artificial skin off your body out of sheer negligence, then you have to pay for the replacement. Only accidents beyond your control can be included in the guarantee. In case of an accident, you have a GPS tracker in your head of which your location is only visible to me in case of an emergency. Only two people can use that tracker, you and me. You can use it for personal reasons and I use it for purposes already mentioned."

Delia then grabbed a small device. "This is the kind of phone you got implanted. It is directly connected to your hardwiring for your use. To use it, you just need to say "open interface", you can even just whisper it as long as a signal is send out. To avoid that phrase accidentally opening the interface, it will only open when that phrase is not included in a sentence. Once the interface is open, which will transparently be viewable in your eyesight, your willpower will allow you to scroll through the options. Your current options are: "Messenger", "Phone", "Internet", "Tethering", "GPS", "Plugin assistant", "memory manager", "eye assistant", "music player", "video player", "cygen shopping center" and "cygen parts store". Now if you open phone, you will already have my number saved in it. It works similar to a normal mobile phone but just isnt handheld. Now to explain options that may need explaining. The plugin assistant is to manage devices that you plug in to yourself through a port behind your ear that is usually covered by your hair. So if you would like to transfer videos or photos you have made from a separate device to you or vice versa, you can do that with that option. The memory manager only manages downloaded and digitally acquired data. The eye assistant allows you to put in custom settings for your eyes including sharpness and how vivid you can see. The Cygen shopping center is where you can buy clothes, supplies or pretty much anything through Cygen. Electronic products from the center are customized to ease the use by cyborgs. It even includes cars. Lastly the Cygen parts store is where you can request upgrades and can see the discount board. All ordered parts will end up being delivered here. Now you can go ahead and play around a bit. If you have questions please let me know. Now all I am require to do is notify you of the chance to become a Cygen partner which means that you can invest in Cygen or gain jobs with Cygen easier." She explained.

"So it was a lot but standard procedure." Delia added. She then noticed someone at the from desk and said: "Give me just a moment." Delia then walked over to the desk and saw that new parts were being delivered. "Ahh, perfect." She signed the form and then said: "I was told about you and your... legs. Would you like to sign up for first class service in case you get issues with those legs?"

As Hikaru waited, she observed how the other full cyborgs moved about. They don't seem different from ordinary humans yet, she somehow feels something different? Like, despite their upgrades, they seem to be lacking something. She remembers her father's words.

"I will not stand for this! Do you really want to throw away your humanity just so you can keep up with the new trends imposed by this society?"

The words carved like a knife. Her hesitation was always due to this. Of failing her father's wishes. It just seems so odd that someone whose spent their life surrounded by machines would say these kind of things about them.

"Ahh, perfect."

She heard a voice call out. Turning around, she saw a woman emerge and sign the form she brought, acknowledging the order. "U-umm...! I hope you avail of our services again!" Hikaru bowed as she took the form. Yet, the woman didn't go away yet. She seemed to have taken a great deal of curiosity on her legs.

"I was told about you and your... legs. Would you like to sign up for first class service in case you get issues with those legs?"

"A-ah! There's no need! When they break down, I can usually fix them myself. Hehehe..." Hikaru giggled. She may be far from being an adept designer and builder but, she can at least do some maintenance. Though, her curious senses were tingling again. "If I'm not intruding too much--do you think it's possible for me to watch how you do your maintenance works? I'm quite curious regarding machines see?" Hikaru leaned in. She was about to cross another line again.

Sandra walked carefully to where her personal belongings were and grabbed her wallet. She'd gotten the job done and now she needed to pay them for the excellent work they'd done for her. She started to play around with the settings on her eyes a little. She'd never realized how poor her vision was before, at least by comparison with the amazing clarity bestowed by her new eyes. The settings went from "so sharp you could cut yourself on the clarity" to "normal" but she decided on something in between that. No need to hurt herself but if she didn't want fantastic vision what was she about to pay all this money for?

She then checked her email, in her head. She really didn't care what anyone thought, but that was some really tight stuff right there. After another minute of playing around on the internet she put on some Bon Jovi and started taking a video. She'd never felt so alive, though there were some sensations that one didn't miss until they weren't there anymore. For example, not only was she no longer breathing, but she didn't seem to have a pulse anymore either.

It felt incredibly strange, but she supposed that it was just one more thing she'd have to get used to.

"Sure thing. If it's an internship then I can offer that to you. However if you are seeking a part time job, you would have to formally apply first. You seem interested in cyborgs and such. At your age, I am surprised you didn't take advantage of the full body conversion with as much interest as you have. If you do decide to actually do it, I can offer you the choice of down payment or if you get a job at Cygen, it even is half price."

"S-she even has a better sales pitch than I do..." Hikaru thought as she chuckled nervously and shook her head. "A-ah! Never mind. I'm not old enough to take internships without my parents consent and...I don't think I can handle another job." Hikaru politely refused. As she was to head out, she noticed the woman who got converted earlier.

"Is she alright? Does any part of her body feel strange? She's not going to suddenly start attacking people with laser beams and machine guns would she?" She wondered. Since it is clear that it wasn't going to be easy watching it at the place where all "the magic happens", she decided to stake it out and wait for the woman to finish up.

When Sandra asked for a mirror, Delia grabbed into a shelf and pulled out a mirror from it. "Here you go. I modeled your appearance just like you asked. if you notice like hair thin lines across certain parts of your body such as the neck or where joints meet, that is because otherwise I would have to replace the skin each time maintenance is done and that would cost money. So it sort of makes it easier. It goes unnoticed to the human eye unless someone actually has a good eye for detail."

Then the delivery girl asked a question that made Delia chuckle: "You really watch to many movies. Military grade modifications are illegal for civilian use and Cygen has a policy to not alter the state of mind of clients, plus it is against the law to do so. She might feel a bit different at first however, she will get used to it. The only thing that she may have to watch out for is that she will possess a bit more strength than normal. If you have questions for her, why dont you ask her yourself?"

Sandra looked at herself in the mirror. It was exactly like she'd imagined it, her new, ideal self in the technicolor reality that was her life now. She smiled energetically and beamed at Delia, "It's amazing." she says, not quiet identifying her new body as herself yet, but entirely sure that after a week of getting used to it she would be 100% on top of being this new person.

It was kinda like being high. She wondered to herself if she would still be at all addicted or even capable of enjoying her favorite enemy, but gleefully thought that the less she had to deal with that kind of thing in the future the better, and having wifi in her head would probably more than make up for not being able to do drugs anymore. She waited for her card back and toyed with herself absently.

Hikaru laughed. It was a rather silly assumption but then again--

"--The only thing that she may have to watch out for is that she will possess a bit more strength than normal. If you have questions for her, why dont you ask her yourself?"

"As a matter of fact, I think I will." Hikaru walked towards the newly converted Cyborg and asked. "Ummm...you don't feel odd or anything right? There are no weird sensations permeating all over your body is there?"

Hikaru observed her as she waited for a reply. "So this is a full cyborg...Due to being below 18 meters high, her humanoid frame is rather stable, as her center of gravity isn't too far from the ground. Proportions are just right--" Hikaru glanced up and chuckled. From the woman's point of view, being inspected this thoroughly by an outsider must be annoying. "Too perfect actually. Skeleton's still human though, I wonder what kind of metal did they use in the other parts. Titanium seems plausible but, it isn't a perfect metal, not to mention the costs. Well, I guess with improved abilities to mine for titanium ore on the moon, its price has diminished significantly. Oh, and it seems her legs are much more advanced than mine."

Hikaru wondered about the components though. Turning over to the woman on the counter, Hikaru raised a question. "Excuse me? Can I just ask? Are all your parts mass-produced in this facility? Or do you import them elsewhere?" Hikaru remembers the parts she just delivered.

"--The amount that he's ordered are enough to make a full-flown cyborg body, complete with munitions and everything."

Her thoughts earlier weren't baseless. Their shop was operating for a long time and, so far, her boss hasn't been the type to tell a lie. He explicitly stated that armaments and munitions were part of the bundle but for what? "A-ah well, I just thought that, with your advanced facilities, you could've cut costs by having your manufacturing plant in this location as well." Hikaru glanced at the cyborg girl again.

"The next phase of human evolution huh?"

After processing the payment, Delia handed the card back to Sandra. "One more thing, most of the parts in your body including your skeleton are made of a lightweight titanium alloy. If you ever get mugged and someone stabs or shoots you. It will only result in skin damage, no parts should be damaged in such cases." Delia explained.

She then began unpacking the boxes revealing weapons and ammo in the first box. "Perfect. The guns for the cybernetic police with rubber bullets and tranquilizers. Cygen was given a contract to supply the cyborgs at the police department with non-lethal weaponry. The only thing is that the police must gain permission from Cygen to even be able to use them. Same will go for soldiers once we get that up and running, however it is more strict with them and unauthorized access to integrated weapons results in punishment through agonizing pain. Cygen is the only supplier of cybernetics in the city and the main supplier in the nation. Politicians aren't so worried about conditions and consequences as long as they get their supersoldiers. Luckily, Cygen would never allow such to be used against civilians in case a government is so malevolent to even consider taking arms against its own citizens. And what are they going to do against us anyways? Most cyborg employees are equipped with hardened skin that sort of acts like kevlar. We also offer it for civilians but it is expensive. Only downside is that you are more visibly cyborg. Look at me for instance, my skin shines and you can see where joints meet and that the facial skin is in two sections." Delia said.

The fact that she could say this so easily was because no one could really provide proof in case they were to tell anyone and secondly, Delia was a somewhat important person in Cygen, owning a branch and having a decision making position at HQ.

Delia listened to Hikaru's question and then answered: "Well I got a machine that builds the body and makes most of the parts. I just have to manually build in any parts that aren't produced here." Delia found it to be a shame that the girl was so dependent on her parents to decide whether she could become a full cyborg or not. Maybe I could do something to convince her parents. I will have her become a full body cyborg. Delia thought.

Sandra poked herself a couple times, practically sarcastic, being somewhat hurt by the way she said the last bit, "Nope, still feels relatively normal. And if this is the next step in human evolution I'm all for it." she says a bit defensively, "I've been waiting years for this." She crossed her arms over her chest a little awkwardly after taking her card from Delia, still not used to being the shape that she now was, "Just gotta get used to it. I'm still a person."

She then really had no reason to stick around, unless she wanted to keep talking to these two, and she wasn't sure she wanted to do that, between Hikaru's silent judging and Delia getting on with her business, which she couldn't begrudge, "If you'll excuse me I think I'll be leaving now." she says a bit quietly, still being rather shy about herself, the energy having gone into the previous outburst having taken all of the boldness she could muster for the day.

She turned carefully and started to make her way out, relearning how to walk every step.

"Well I got a machine that builds the body and makes most of the parts. I just have to manually build in any parts that aren't produced here."

"Manual assembly? Won't that typically cost more considering the fact that the process will take longer and quality control will become tighter?" Hikaru asked. She found it strange that Cygen offers such a cheap service considering mechanical processes and manufacturing and, as the woman pointed out, manual construction means they'll have to pay more for labor and maintenance.

She glanced at the newly converted Cyborg, who had just started to leave the shop. "Most likely...she got annoyed by my constant ramblings. Terribly sorry!" Hikaru issued an apology in her head. As with some of her friends, it would seem none would last her for long.

"Well, if all your components are standardized like these--" Hikaru picks up one inventory piece from her delivery. It was a 15 gauge stainless steel pipe, probably to be used as part of maintenance service to the factory's pipelines. "A fully automated, injection molding process can produce the same kind, with the same properties by the hundred per minute. Still, for you guys to make them on the spot--" Hikaru felt her phone vibrating. It was her boss, telling her to head back.

"A-ah! S-so sorry for rambling on! I'll be taking my leave now!" Hikaru ran out after collecting her payment. Hopping on her transporter, she rode out to return to her place of work. Along the way, she still kept thinking. The words the new cyborg let slip resonated in her mind.

"--still feels relatively normal. And if this is the next step in human evolution I'm all for it."

"Evolution...In the first place, how can we even say that a species has "evolved"? Isn't that a word we use to describe things who have transcended their physical limitations and adapted into the changing society, onwards to a higher plane of existence? But, watching all these people walk by--it seems that nothing's changed at all." Hikaru passed into the more economic side of the city, where business was bustling and everyone's trying to get somewhere at some point. "No one's even trying to make new friends here. They say we're advanced but, it's practically the same Anno Domini where people only care about themselves---Arrgghhh!!! I'm starting to think like dad--Whoah!" Hikaru was surprised as a car suddenly careened dangerously to her side, forcing her off the road and knocking her down. The people inside stopped to look at her. They were a bunch of teenage boys.

"Excuse me but, do you require any assistance?" Hikaru thought she heard one of them speak but turns out, it was just an assisting robot. "No, I'm fine." Hikaru shook her head and petted the machine, if only for the reason that it was shaped like a dog.

"Hey, are you crazy? Talking to a machine--" One of the boys kicked the robot down, much to Hikaru's anger.

"What was that for?!" Hikaru shouted angrily. The boy checked her from head to toe and noticed her mechanical leg.

"Tch, useless machines. I'm off!" They boys sped away, leaving Hikaru in the dust. The passerby only shot them a glance but, none even bothered to help. "No one even bothered helping. Even as humans, they're no different than the machines--" Hikaru cut herself off at that. She turned to the damaged assisting robot. After lifting up her transporter, she carried the machine and placed it on the cargo hold. "Well, at least this little guy offered to help..." Determined to fix him, she started the transporter and went on her way.

"Right...nothing's changed at all..."

Arriving at her home later in the evening, Hikaru set to work repairing the small assistance bot she picked up on the street. The warranty was no longer valid and, judging from the wear on the parts, it must have been pretty old. Its identification codes are also off, meaning that it was a stray bot. Hikaru changed into more casual attire and set herself to work.

"Okay...first off, the main frame needs to be examined--" Hikaru had made it a habit to mutter the steps to herself as she worked, to ensure she remembers everything. Having taken the exoskeleton apart, she checked the circuitry to make sure everything was working properly.

"Components are okay. LEDs seems shorted out. No problems, I have some spares..." Hikaru took out replacement LEDs but found their connection to be loose. She soldered the pieces with tin to secure them. Old methods but, their effectiveness hasn't decreased at all. A few minutes later and her eyes were already red from the fumes from the soldering iron. She washed them on the sink and took a break for a while as she flipped on the news. It seems Cygen was being featured so she turned up the channel.

"--No. Depending on the circumstances, we will never replace brains as brains sustain consciousness and we currently do not view artificial brains as safe. We leave most of brains intact while only connecting them to hardware. In most cases only a small part of the brain can be removed without affecting the personality or well-being of the client. And if a part is removed then it is most commonly the part responsible for motor abilities as the body needs a different kind of input to function and signal converters can waste space and reaction time. By standard however, we leave the entire brain intact unless instructed otherwise by the client."

"Technically...the signal converters won't slow down the reaction time but, when used in its standard setting, the frequencies that will suddenly enter the brain might be too foreign for the nervous system to deal with, causing the user some degree of pain. It is for these reason that the reaction time is hampered...it's to act as filters. Well, it's not like they'll be revealing this to the general public. It might cause more malfunctions than benefits as it is now." Hikaru resumed work on the small machine. Another interesting question came up later as she was replacing the parts with chromium-infused stainless steel rods.

"Last question: Do you alter memories?"

"You should be aware of the fact that altering memories is illegal. The only time that it can be legal is if it is to suppress or eliminate severely traumatizing experiences such as childhood rape or triggers of PTSD. All our clients aren't altered in memory. We need to keep an experience that is as human as possible. Things like mind control or mind alteration are absolutely against our policies and if an employee is found guilty of these, we will personally bring this to attention with the officials and ensure that the employee will get prison time. We do not need mad scientists in our company."

"He...has a point. But, suppressing painful memories can be risky. On the off-chance the incident happens again, the body would've have lost all prior knowledge to deal with the encounter. Plus, some people might go to great lengths once their sense of pain is numbed down. Being unable to feel anything...means you cannot gain anything. In that case, it might be too difficult to feel that you're alive..." Hikaru finished repairing the robot. It jumped up and down happily like a dog, making her feel a bit happy.

"However, can machines really be called alive? Do they even fall under the concept of a living being? Urgh...I've been reading too much of the books on morality that dad instructed me to. I think I'll get some fresh air." Hikaru wandered outside, reasoning that it isn't really that late yet.