The Lear Library

Tomoe caressed her love’s flawless side with a hand, giving a heartfelt sigh. Lutz always seemed so peaceful when he was resting… it was a shame to disturb him. To put off the inevitable rude awakening, she slipped from what she called “their room” to get some breakfast.

Her feet struck the metal floor as she strode, her comfortable trainers making small squeaking sounds as the rubber gripped the polished surface with difficulty.

Tomoe brushed her short, dark hair away from her face. Unsurprisingly, she’d let it become lank and unwashed again. How long had it been since she’d taken a break for a shower? Too long, obviously. She set her face in a reprimanding aspect. Seems she could delay a little longer for a shower… after all, she owed it to Lutz to look her best. Especially today of all days.

A small smile played across her face. Today, their long period of work would be at an end. And Tomoe could barely wait.

She passed two laboratories to the small canteen, where she purchased lukewarm coffee and a round of stale-tasting toast. Then, as soon as she finished breakfast, she headed to the dormitory for a shower.

“Hello, gorgeous…” Ash was standing in front of her, she realised. She looked up from her plate and gave the tall American a slight smile.
“Morning.”
Ash laughed aloud, and drew a chair out for himself before sitting down. This irked the Asian woman slightly. After all, it’s only polite to ask permission… besides, what was he laughing at?
“Morning? Babe, it’s the middle of the night… You’ve been working unpaid overtime again or something?”

Tomoe blinked. Midnight? Really? She must’ve fallen asleep in their room, next to her beautiful Lutz… no matter. She’d rather be there than anywhere else. She shrugged.
“I guess I must’ve.” she said non-committally. It was never work with Lutz. That would imply it was something she felt obliged to do. She finished her toast and stood. “I’d best go freshen up.”

Ash stood with her. “Hey, d’you wanna go see a film t’night? You could do with a break from this place… or a meal, maybe?” he smiled charmingly. Tomoe smiled in return.

“No, thank you. I’m otherwise engaged, tonight.”

It wasn’t that Ash wasn’t handsome… in a quirky sort of way… and he was usually polite and amusing, but there was no question of Tomoe even entertaining the notion of anyone else but Lutz. She turned and walked to her dormitory.

The shower was brief, but refreshing… Tomoe’s mind had only half been there however. She was incredibly excited. Tonight… In a few hours… the young technician and her love were to be together forever. Her stomach churned with nervous anticipation.

Dry and redressed, she began the walk back to their room. It was all she could do to keep herself from breaking into a run. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she locked it. This was to be private… intimate. To that end, she brought the lights up slowly to a suitable brightness. The dim illumination picked out the outline of her still-sleeping sweet.

She slipped across the room, sitting in the chair. The chair was large, comfortable black leather. She carefully pulled the delicate headpiece over her crown and flipped the visor over her eyes, then began tapping at keys on the armrests.

“Wake up, darling…” she whispered lovingly.

The sounds of life began. Quiet diagnostic beeps, the soft hum of cooling fans… the visor lit up into a beautiful vision. Soft white light leaked onto her cheeks, and she smiled as she recognised the image he always greeted her with… a pale, cloudless blue sky over a single tall building.

My perfect Tomoe…

***

It was never quite certain, afterwards, who had designed Lutz.

The Liffield Foundation had assembled some of the best minds in the world to create the giant computer. Sir Thomas Liffield himself had commissioned the project. His reasoning was that information was fast becoming the most sought after commodity, so a system that monitors and records the flow of information, even on an international-nee-interdimensional level would be invaluable. Since that original idea, Lutz had shifted almost organically from a giant information recorder to an incredibly advanced AI driving the thing. No-one knew why it was called Lutz. If it had been an acronym, the individual words to the letters were long lost to posterity.

Tomoe’s meeting with Lutz had been very strange indeed. As a mere technician, she had never expected to become involved with a project of such magnitude… she hadn’t even expected to be working for Liffield directly, that’s for sure.

She’d been working in a subsidiary company, Fiche Microcosm; a relatively miniscule Japanese offshoot of Liffield specialising in affordable but reliable cybernetics. They created the kind of cybernetic arm that may look like someone’s strung wire hangers together into a working limb that may fall apart at any given second, but would keep plugging away for years on end. She’d actually found that work quite rewarding. Many people who’d been injured in accidents weren’t the wealthiest people in the world, so she had a real sense of doing good. In fact, even England’s National Health Service had been in negotiations with Fiche for supplies. It had been then, however, that she’d got the e-mail from her Line Manager.

In short, she’d been offered a place in the central Liffield building in Prague. Higher pay, beautiful city… it had been hard to say goodbye to her old life in Tokyo, but she’d have been a fool not to leap at the chance. She never really thought about why the transfer came. After all, she did very good work for not much expenditure. That’d been why she was perfect for Fiche. Still, promotion beckoned and she soon found herself one of the assisting technicians in several high-level Liffield projects. The work had been challenging in the extreme, and she sometimes found herself physically drained to the point of exhaustion after work. It must’ve been… two months after moving to the central building that her life had changed again.

She’d been working late, very late. The sky was dark outside, the lights of the city casting a diffuse light into the sky. Tomoe had been working on a revision of a standard piece of arms-cybernetics, re-kitting it for nonlethal riot use. The original hadn’t been Liffield’s design, but Sir Liffield had bought out the rather shady company and gutted it, expanding on his more philanthropic urges. The monitor had been straining her eyes at that point, so much that she’d had to remove her glasses and sit back.

With a frustrated snort, she pinched the bridge of her nose and willed the tight sensation behind her eyeballs away before sitting forward again.

The design had gone. In its place, there were three simple words.

You are divine.

Tomoe, understandably, found this a little disturbing.

“Ash?” She called out, irritation easing into her voice. “What are you trying to pull?”

Ashley Keller, twenty-three, Technician fifth class Bio-kinetics subdivision – is not in the building.

Tomoe frowned, and slipped her glasses on again.

“Who’s messing with my computer then?” she asked the screen, feeling a little foolish.

Lutz.

A popup window appeared, showing an image of a shadowed room. Tiny lights winked in the black expanse of the far wall. A sudden brightness in the centre of the wall and a monitor screen lit up, showing a spire-like tower overlaid on a pale blue sky.

I have watched you for the longest time, dear Tomoe.

What is this? Tomoe was in awe. What was this Lutz? Some sort of incredibly advanced artificial intelligence… she was fascinated, instantly fascinated.

“Where are you?” She asked boldly. “I want to talk to you.” from her tone, she made it seem that she was not best pleased, and indeed she wasn’t. This would set back her work a great deal. Still, a little thrill of excitement ran through her.

A room and floor number appeared.

I am heavily guarded, but if you take this route; A map with a bright red line leading from her position to the elevators appeared, then a second map, similar to the first printed out from her computer. On the second map, the line led from the lifts to some unknown destination.

You will not be spotted. I have altered the guard rota accordingly.

Her footsteps were slow and soft as she made her way around the darkened corridors.

Up on her level, there were no guards. She was aware, however, of the paranoid feeling of being watched. Cameras followed her closely, charting her every move. When she reached the elevator, it was already waiting for her. The small area was eerily quiet. She stabbed the correct button and the doors closed. A tiny monitor lit up in the elevator cubicle, displaying the towering spire again.

I will see you soon, Tomoe. Be careful of the guards.

The doors opened silently, and Tomoe crept out into the corridor. A moment to check her map, and then she was off. Every so often, she would have to freeze at an intersection as she heard patrolling footsteps. Every time she did, however, they would approach until her heart was hammering in her mouth and sweat broke out on her brow… and then they would turn away. In fifteen minutes that seemed like a lifetime, she had reached a blank security door. She stood outside, staring at the keypad in front of her.

“He never mentioned…” the door opened with an oily swish that didn’t mask the whir of a tracking camera. Of course… she walked in, trying not to feel too scared when the door swished shut behind her and left her in total darkness.

Almost total darkness, rather.

The far wall was beginning to light up with a series of tiny, tiny lights. They spread upwards, growing in number and intensity, brightening until Tomoe was staring at a brilliant miniature galaxy. She could feel the movement of air by hundreds of small fans, hear the soft hum of machinery. This room was alive with light, sound and motion. And when the monitor snapped on in the centre of the far wall, it was enough to make Tomoe smile in wonder.

I have you at last. You are here.

And then suddenly the lights snapped on, causing Tomoe to yelp in surprise and cover her eyes.

“Welcome to Lutz’ antechamber…” The voice was pleasant, but Tomoe knew she wasn’t meant to be here and spun around in fear to face the speaker. He was tanned, thin and wiry like a greyhound. His hair was also turning grey, with just a few hints of rich chestnut colour left. His placid eyes were a light brown, and his lightly lined face was creased in a gentle smile. “What do you think of him?”

“He’s amazing…” Tomoe had blurted out before she even realised she’d spoken. That caused the man to laugh quietly.

“Yes, he is isn’t he? But he’s not complete yet…” he smiled at Tomoe. “I hope you can rectify the situation. Lutz picked you out of our employment files especially… though I must admit I’m surprised we found someone so talented at Fiche Microcosm. Such a lapse in our promotion officer’s vigilance to miss such a promising young employee.”

Tomoe coloured slightly at the flattery and adjusted her glasses modestly. “Thank you, mister…” she left the sentence hang, keeping her eyes on the man.

“Ah, my apologies. My name is Samuel Liffield, Sir Thomas’ brother.” He extended a hand, which she shook with a small amount of awe. His hand was dry, slightly calloused and warm. “I handle some of the more esoteric work that my brother funds.” He released her hand and waved at Lutz. “Like this fine fellow…”

May I tell her, Sam?

Samuel laughed again. “Now, now, Lutz, all in good time. I allowed you your impatience earlier as I thought the time was right. Now; let an old man indulge in his exposition?” Samuel smiled easily at the magnificent machine, and the pale blue sky around the single white spire deepened in shade slightly. Presumably this meant something to Samuel, as he smiled all the wider. “Thank you.”

“As I said, Tomoe… you don’t mind me calling you Tomoe, do you..? As I said, he picked you out personally. He was a great admirer of your work even then. I have to say, I’m very surprised the amount of good you could do with such limited resources.” He placed a fatherly hand on her shoulder. “I’m proud to give you the opportunity to work with Lutz every day. He and I, and hopefully you, are working on some projects, and we’d very much like your help. With your knack for efficiency and economy, I’m sure we’ll be done with half the projected expenditure.

I greatly desire to work with you, Tomoe.

How could she refuse? She was entranced.

***

But back to the present… Tomoe was speaking to Lutz. “Is project AH-01E ready for initialisation, Lutz?”

Of course, my darling.

Tomoe smiled softly and pressed a few more buttons on the chair-keypads. A small hypodermic syringe with clear fluid was deposited from a compartment in the chair, and Tomoe picked it up in one hand. She pressed the needle to a vein in her arm and injected what she knew to be a general anaesthetic.

Count backwards from ten, Tomoe.

She could feel the anaesthetic begin its work already. Her head lolled to the side, her eyes drooping. Her arms relaxed on the keyboards.

“Ten… nine… eight… I trust you, my darling Lutz… five…. fo’… t’rhh…”

***

She remembered snippets of her dream, afterwards; Dreams of a marble white city with a towering spire in the centre. The sky there was always blue and cloudless. And somewhere in the spire lived her beloved, who she would be with soon.

Then, as if a switch was flipped, she was awake.

What is your operational status, my love?

There was a mirror before her. She couldn’t help but stare. She was naked, and not at the same time. She could see she wore no clothes… but that was alright. There was no-one here but herself and Lutz. And who in their right mind would be ashamed to be naked in front of the person they love? No, the strange part was the results of the procedure.

She hadn’t really wondered what she would look like after taking her place in project AH-01E. What she did look like was quite wonderful. On every inch of her skin, beautifully intricate little lattice-works of circuit-track or microbe-thin wiring stretched here and there. She felt energised, fresh and new. She sat up from the chair, feeling wires trailing from her back into the leather surface.

Do not move yet, my darling.

Obediently, she froze. Even so, she wanted to dance for joy. Surely the project had been a success!

Commencing uplink.

In a flash, she was not seeing the outside world – Before her stood the spire, dwarfing her completely with its majesty. Then, from the surface of the spire, little golden filaments spread outward and brushed against her. Wherever they touched, Tomoe felt a thrill of sensation and a sense of belonging. When the filaments bore under her skin and connected her to the spire, she almost cried out with happiness.

Linking process complete. You may move again, my sweetest Tomoe.

Suddenly, she was seeing for real again. Their room. Clumsily, she detached the cables attached to her spine and neck, and stood stiffly. She took a few experimental strides up and down in her altered body. It felt lithe, powerful. She hadn’t been unfit before, but now… she felt positively athletic.

“Gracious…” she grinned, springing up and down on her heels, “I feel so light…”

Execute programme 09-delta, precious one.

“Programme zero-ni-” she began, but suddenly a diffuse red light began to glow around her hands. “Wha..?” she looked to Lutz, asking him to explain with her eyes.

A defence mechanism, Tomoe. Enemies struck with this field will experience a mild electric shock, much like a taser.

She nodded, swiping a hand through the air in a surprisingly competent attempt at a punch.

Self defence techniques most appropriate to the use of defence mechanism 09-delta have been uploaded.

“You’ve thought of everything, darling…” smiled Tomoe, “So I presume I’m not meant to fight in the nude…”

A section of the wall slid back, revealing a blue spandex suit with odd holes in it, and a selection of wiring and devices.

Put on the suit first. Then we shall integrate your other systems piece by piece.

_________________

This was originally meant to be a rather sinister piece, but I never got around to completing it. Tomoe would struggle to remain human, and Lutz would become more and more obsessed. Eventually, it’d be revealed that Lutz had gone through several female counterparts already, eventually killing them all in fits of jealousy or passion. Samuel was complicit in all this because of the dividends Lutz gave the Foundation. My final plan was for to leave Tomoe as having survived her ordeal, but always feel that she was missing something. A rather sad tale, all in all, but it has most likely been told before, and better, by someone else.