Returning Days

"War ended again with the utter annihilation of the machines, but how easy it was to forget. And the public opinion had turned against the war. It had to be finished quickly, messily. Now ten years after the last conflict people have forgotten again, but those that lost family from the terrorist attacks could never forget. The powder key set decades ago had been primed and the world would never be the same again…"

Herbert Stein, Machine Historian - 

Morning's light crept into Satoru's bedroom waking him up with his alarm. After a quick shower and breakfast, he left the apartment dressed for work. This time he was in better spirits and a clear head, plus his apartment was clean and orderly again. He had promised himself never to do that again to his place. Though he figured that would only last until the next time, but it got him out the door.

The morning train was on time and as normal it was crowded with the morning commuters. As the train pushed forward the city grew in size, the skyline began to divide into separate buildings. The train hovered at the third story level of the buildings, leaving the people below to walk peacefully away from the train. The train stations that were built were the only markers for where the trains would come in, as a hover train didn’t require tracks to follow. It made the view clearer as well as opening up the streets.

The train stopped at his work, it had always been convenient for him. It made for less travel, especially on a day like today. There were the ever present images of the explosion in his mind still that made him think of what happened. He didn’t want to have another reminder by walking outside. It had been difficult to sleep with the images constantly appearing in his head without warning. The unsettling presence of the city left him off balance thinking that there was something nearby waiting to happen, another explosion perhaps. He just hoped that it was his paranoia from the incident and nothing more.

Satoru entered the offices of Qintech that required about half of the building's space for its research, development and computer labs. He walked up to the receptionist at the desk greeting her politely as he did every morning. "Good morning, Mr. Korumura," she said as he slowly approached. There was another man at the desk signing in that Satoru had pulled her away from. He didn’t stop, but simply slowed down his pace a little to allow a short conversation.

"Good morning, how are you today?"

"I'm good, thank you, you feeling okay?" She had a genuine concerned expression undoubtedly knowing what had happened to him. More than likely most of the company knew, at the very least his team did.

"Much better," Satoru said, smiling to reassure her. He continued down the hall to his room where the Sakura Project was held. It was his project, though being the head didn’t mean that he still didn’t have someone that he had to report to. Being the head just left him with the unsavory task of meeting with the top brass, like his meeting a week ago. However, someone had to do it he realized, but being the head gave him the control to make things the way he envisioned. It was the only consolation that he had at the moment.

He opened the door to a flurry of voices. The room held ten computer stations in the lab, but almost twenty people filled the room currently. Most of them were grouped together talking around and over each other. There were too many voices to know what they were talking about as he approached them. However, they all became silent when Satoru walked in. It wasn’t because he was boss and commanded such respect, but the atmosphere that he brought. He was a reminder of what was happening in the world and the attack. Satoru was a survivor and they were glad, but it left them unable to speak. "Good morning, everyone!" he said, trying to rekindle the talkative mood.

"Morning, Satoru," they said quietly with distant voices.

"You guys all sound like you're at a funeral." A poor attempt, but he didn’t want them feeling strangely with him around. He preferred that they moved on past it and focused on the project. It was difficult enough for him to concentrate with what happened, he didn’t need his entire team distracted. "So how is Sakura doing?" Maybe a new subject would improve the mood.

"Still a few bugs, but we have been working them out since you have been away."

"Great, I would like to see what I have missed."

People started to leave the room, as work began to resume. Satoru's boss came into the room, Kiyoshi Nakahoshi, though he was one of Satoru's best friends as well. He was a thin man, just a little taller than Satoru, short orderly hair and clean-shaven. His suit showed him to be serious looking the part of management, but a pink striped tie with little bears across it set his lighter, more humorous nature. "Satoru, glad to see you back at work! How are you doing?"

"Hey, Kiyoshi, yeah I'm glad too. I couldn't stand the hospital for one more day. Nice tie."

"Yeah, my daughter picked it out for me." Kiyoshi lifted his tie up looking at it, a little embarrassed by it. He let his hand rub the back of his head trying to brush it off. He played it off like he wasn’t fond of it, but Satoru could tell that he enjoyed it.

"How's the family?"

"Good."

"Good, good…so…seeing as I have been gone for a week, what I have missed."

"They tell me Sakura is coming along quite well. She'll be ready for trials a week early, they think. I think that they are being a little premature, but one can only hope."

It was a thought that he wasn’t pleased by. He knew that it was their contract to make this thing for the military, but he still didn’t enjoy it. The name was even disarming, such a seemingly innocent name for something you think that everyone put their heart and soul into cherishing each discovery. That wasn’t the case at all; there were few of them that actually wanted to do this work. However, they all knew too well that it was a necessary evil. There were few jobs left in the world for software programmers with a specialty in artificial intelligence. Though one could hardly call it intelligence at this point. They were nothing like the masterpieces of thirty years ago. "So the logic protocols have been corrected?" Satoru said, trying to get himself back into his role.

"Yeah, they found the problem a few days ago." Kiyoshi looked down at his watch realizing he had somewhere else he needed to be. He cut off their conversation quickly after that. "Well it is good to see you, I have a couple meetings I need to get to before lunch. Say, how about dinner, we can discuss Sakura in more detail then."

"Yeah, that would be great, The Blue Rain?"

"Six."

"Sounds good."

"I'll have my assistant make the arrangements. See you then. Bye." Kiyoshi walked out of the labs leaving Satoru to his work. Satoru sat down at his desk against the wall; each computer station was like that going around the room in a wide uneven circle. Everyone else was already working hard listening to the TV in the background with it turned to the news. It seemed that everyone was watching the news these days.

Satoru went to work, looking over the progress of Sakura. But he was having trouble concentrating, images of the explosion kept appearing in his mind. The sight of the missing building echoed. He could feel the vibrations through muscles and the scrapping across his skin. His screensaver would snap him out of his daze frequently. Hours passed slowly as he fought through his mind to concentrate.

"That’s correct, reports of the sixth attack this week have been confirmed by authorities…"

Satoru was snapped out of his delusions by the news broadcast. "Sixth attack?!"

"Yeah, those damn machines are resuming their terrorist ways like ten years ago," Tadashi said from his computer terminal. He turned around to address Satoru directly, clearly unable to focus on his work.

"…with the attacks in Tokyo, New York City, Washington, London, Moscow and now Los Angeles, there seems to be no specific target. United Nations and national security organizations still refuse to report beyond what we already know. No one knows where the next attack will be, but the world is on highest alert. Governments are warning people to be cautious of public landmarks and buildings with a large number of people as it seems the more deaths that are possible have been the prime tactic…"

"I can't believe this…" The images of the destruction on the news laid over his memories. It left him barely able to move his body realizing that it was no longer just a single strike. The machines were returning suddenly to strike against the world.

"Yeah, the damn machines, they just waited out long enough for us to drop our guard."

"But you can't blame them for all of this…" Chiyoko said.

"I sure as hell can."

"But it’s as much the people who programmed them fault. It's those people that you should be angry at." Satoru had thought about joining the debate or silencing it so that they would get back to work, but he was distracted by it as well.

"Don't give me that crap, AI's…"

The voices faded out from Satoru's mind as the images of the bombing haunted him again. They continued to persist until he couldn’t stand being in the room any longer. 'I need some air.' Satoru walked out of the office unable to shake his mind free. He walked down the hall and took the elevator out of the building. The suffocating building disappeared as he walked down the street, people passing him by without much of a clue. Everyone seemed to be continuing to go about their business even with the announcement that the machines had made against humankind. The images of the explosion flashed in his mind, they wouldn’t leave him alone.

'Will I ever be free of this…' Satoru clasped his hands around his head hoping to shake free his mind. However, it was no help either, his mind only twisted further. His body began to empathize with his memories again causing him to relive the moment over again. It was a cycle that he couldn’t break. Satoru was afraid that it would never end; he would never be rid of these haunting visions left to torment him for the rest of his life. He was allowed to live, but he didn’t feel like he wanted to be alive if he was going to be in this state forever.

Before he knew it he was at the site of the Kamihara Building, the ruins that was the building. Now just burnt metal and cement debris everywhere. The fires had finally been put out and now the place was taped off by the police. He looked up to the sky, where the building had stood. He could imagine the building where it was, and then collapsing from the inside as the supports were destroyed one by one. It was an instant regret in his heart as he could witness the horror replaying in full effect. For him to be in front now where it stood only went to amplify the delusions he was already receiving. His body began to lose balance as the illusion took over.

Satoru could see the flames bursting from the ground floor, glass shattered across the ground. 'I don't want to remember this…' Then the building collapsed, but how, he was unconscious then. '…wait I was out…then I came to again...' It had been several minutes later; the building began to collapse as the internal supports broke. 'Why don't I remember?' It fell in upon itself; metal was sent flying outward from the base and along the building. Then a woman came and dragged him from the place he laid. "A woman? She saved me…that's why I survived!"

Satoru looked out at the rubble of the building. He felt some relief to know what happened to him. However, who was the woman, who was she to risk her life like that? He wanted to thank her, meet her. But that would be impossible; he didn’t know her name or barely what she looked like. Satoru continued to walk around the building, letting the images come to him. His heart was still pounding from the experience, but he had become calm again. Though something still seemed to leave him unsettled, he couldn’t place his finger on it.

'I spent enough time daydreaming, I should get back to work, they are probably…oh my… it’s her! It can't be!' Satoru's vision had turned just at the moment he saw her as though it was set up just perfectly for him. He stared for a minute at her; she was standing at the site where people had built a small memorial for the fallen. The woman was placing something down with the numerous other flowers and pictures that were gathered. Satoru couldn’t move, his heart recovered from its pause at the surprising coincidence before him.

'She's beautiful…'