Chapter 13: Breakfast in the sky
Kodai disengages from his haptic chair, stands and looks out over the city.
His view, facing southeast towards Tokyo Bay and the Imperial Garden, is something he’s enjoyed ever since he moved into his current place. The view makes him feel larger than life, like he’s in charge of the entire country. It doesn’t quite beat the view he once had of Central Park, but it is equally stunning.
He steps to his walk-in closet, and selects his favorite black Kiton suit, which is freshly pressed and lightly scented with the floral fabric freshener the dry cleaner uses. With his thin black tie precisely knotted, he slips into the suit jacket and returns to the genkan, where he exchanges his house shoes for a pair of bespoke Italian leather shoes. From there, it’s to the coat rack where he dons a Kenzo parka that one of his personal shoppers purchased at the Opening Ceremony store in Harajuku.
Outside the front door to his penthouse, Gorira – the biggest escort that he employs – impassively awaits him.
No words pass between them as they walk to the elevator. They descend thirty floors, the doors open and they step into an immaculate lobby of polished marble, imported wood, and a single, decades-old bonsai tree that is lovingly maintained by an expert from the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum.
Two additional escorts join Gorira and the three accompany Kodai to an aerosSUV parked out front. Once he’s in the back, and has adjusted the heater to his liking, the vehicle lifts into its appropriate skylane.
Silence permeates the ten minutes or so that it takes to get from Shinjuku to Shinagawa, MercSecure’s Asia headquarters.
The American private security company’s new building is directly south of the JR Shinagawa Station and is connected to the station by a series of high pedestrian bridges. Outdoor escalators drop from the pedestrian bridge to lower platforms full of eateries, kissaten coffee bars, and designer clothing shops.
Japanese citizens, most clad in the darker clothes associated with business in Japan, weave in and out of the crowds coming from and going to the busy station, all focused on arriving at their destination on time.
As their vehicle lands, Kodai’s attention shifts from the bustling crowd to a white awning on top of the MercSecure tower. He receives a message from Lorem Ipsum, the executive manager of MercSecure Asia.
Lorem Ipsum: I hope you’re hungry.
Kodai doesn’t respond.
It was his late father who taught him of the power of silence at a business meeting. Other than a brief, professional greeting, little else is said as his security detail is met by their MercSecure counterparts. An older MercSecure team member with white hair catches Kodai’s eye. There’s something mechanical about his movement, which leads him to believe that the MercSecure agent may be a humandroid or a cyborg. As a general rule, humandroids aren’t manufactured to look old, so he assumes the latter.
Lorem Ipsum stands as Kodai approaches. Lorem is a big man, with dark eyebrows and light brown eyes. He’s in an Armani suit with an American flag pin on the lapel, and his thick blue tie sports a perfect Windsor knot.
“Glad you could make it for breakfast,” Lorem says with a slight bow. He offers Kodai a seat at the table. “I know, having it out here is bit of a security risk, but it was such a nice morning – cold, but nice – that I thought, hey, let’s go for it. You aren’t too cold are you? I have heaters ready if you are.”
“I’m fine.”
MercSecure’s men take their security posts around the white awning. Kodai’s guys hold back, ready if need be.
“Relax,” Lorem says, “we have the surrounding rooftops staked out too. Just think of this as one of the many things we can do. We are, after all, in the business of protecting people in any environment, and I do mean any.”
A waitress of singular beauty approaches the table bearing a covered silver platter. She places it in front of him and lifts its cover before he can figure out where he recognizes her from. He glances down at the plate. A perfectly-shaped omelet with a bit of garnish – his typical breakfast.
Another silver platter is placed in front of Lorem. The lid comes up to reveal a T-bone steak and a single egg, sunny side up with a dash of pepper on top. “Bon appetit.” Lorem slices into the steak, and a puddle of red liquid forms on his plate.
“You must really enjoy the Japanese winter to have your breakfast outside,” Kodai observes.
Lorem chews, swallows, and says, “It’s fine, aside from the constant drizzle that never seems to freeze. I was in Bogata before this and weather aside, it’s a lot nicer here. So yes, I’m really enjoying it.”
Kodai cuts into his omelet and notes the gentle ooze of melted cheddar cheese. The American company MercSecure and their parent company, ExEx, are the best in the business at gathering and collating data, as well as all aspects of private security and non-governmental military operations. Kodai reflects on this as the same lovely waitress from earlier pours him coffee and adds a single creamer to it.
“Thank you,” he says, first in Japanese then English. He returns his focus to Lorem Ipsum. “Why are meeting here on the rooftop? I assumed we’d meet inside.”
Lorem finishes chewing his steak. He wipes his mouth with his linen napkin, returns it to his lap and says, “I told you, fresh air, nice morning.”
“Open a window. That’s what most people do for fresh air.”
“The windows don’t open on the fifty-second floor.”
“Hon tarareta.”
“Yes,” Ipsum says with a smile, “touché.”
“Ah, so that is the English translation. I thought it would be something along the lines of, ‘you got me there.’”
“We use a French fencing term for that: touché.”
“Good to know.”
Both men finish their breakfasts in relative silence. Once Lorem has finished his steak and egg, the big man pushes back from the table and crosses one leg over another. “Is this about Hajime?”
Kodai glances left and right at the MercSecure men at the four points of the awning. His eyes stay on the cyborg a moment longer than the others. “No,” he finally says, “this isn’t about Hajime.”
“How is he performing?”
Instead of an answer Kodai says, “There is actually one thing I’d like to discuss with you, and it is reason I’ve asked to meet with you today.”
“Yes?”
“I’d like another one, another Hajime.”
Lorem wipes his mouth with a linen napkin and says, “Not to be rude, but I don’t normally deal with the day-to-day operations of leasing humandroids.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“However, your group was one of our first clients, and seeing how this is the case, I’ll gladly discuss humandroid leasing with you.”
“Good.”
“Hajime was a prototype, a working prototype, and the only one of his kind. He was designed by the Dr. Hewman, before Hewman’s tragic death. His reasoning capabilities were heightened to their maximum setting. Once Walliburton received the modified humandroid from Dr. Hewman, they tried to adjust the reasoning controls and were unable to do so.”
“Yet MercSecure still bought him from Walliburton?”
“We did. Our founder believes that there is much to learn about humandroid reasoning and Hajime passed all the field tests, even the most strenuous.”
Kodai nods. “Then what can you offer me of a similar nature?”
“Male or female?”
“Are they equally strong?”
Lorem Ipsum smiles.
“That’s a very common question, actually. Humandroids don’t share the same physical disparities as humans. The newest female and male models are equally strong. It will, however take some time to put a complete custom order in with Walliburton and finalize their training at our facilities in California. Combat and security detail humandroids do come preloaded with software, and the software is very good, but we like to field test them before they are distributed.”