Changing Winds

"The first law states that a machine cannot do harm to man. This was absolute and unbreakable, thus it was the first law. It protected man from murder by the machines and ensured that even another man could not order the machine to do harm to man. There was no turning it off or way around it, no back door.”

Herbert Stein, Machine Historian - 

There was a sudden dull pain in his head, but all around him was darkness. He was still trapped, but the pinging in his head was causing him to stir. Satoru was laying on the ground suddenly becoming aware of that fact when a distant voice knocked on him. It was muffled in his groggy head making it unintelligible. The voice repeated again louder, this time starting to crack the fog that was wrapped tightly around him. "Sir! Sir!" the voice said clearly now jerking Satoru up.

"Huh?" Satoru looked up with the reality around him brought back to him immediately. It was day again, by the looks of it being late morning almost. He was lying on the sidewalk where he had collapsed the night before. When he pulled himself back up enough to be sitting properly on the sidewalk he could see who it was before him. It was a soldier from the military and he had his gun slung over his shoulder staring down at Satoru. Satoru didn’t know what to make of seeing a soldier in the city.

"You are ordered to move now! All civilians must evacuate this street immediately," the young soldier said, explaining himself to Satoru, but holding the glare of annoyance. The soldier was still keeping a distance between Satoru though his presence was enough to wake Satoru completely.

"What are you talking about?" Satoru sat on the ground confused. He wanted a better answer than being ordered around. This was still the city and he was a citizen, there should be a reasonable explanation for this act. It was bordering on martial law, the feeling that he was receiving. 'The military? What are they doing out here?'

It was enough to be talked back to that the soldier lost any patience he had for Satoru. He quickly grabbed his weapon in both hands and aimed the muzzled end of the rifle in his face. "Move now before you are forcibly moved."

"Alright, alright." Satoru wasn’t about to stare down a rifle or a soldier with one that was ready to use it on him. There was some doubt that the soldier would have fired on him, but at gunpoint reasons were no longer necessary. He didn’t waste anymore time getting up or pretending to be tired. It wasn’t the time to be provoking the military, especially when he needed answers. 'What's going on? This doesn't make any sense.' Satoru walked away from the area watching the soldier move on to someone else now. As he looked forward again he could see more soldiers walking. They were marching through the street. 'The military shouldn’t be deployed in the city.'

As he walked through the empty street it looked more like a battlefield almost. However, as he continued to walk his thoughts became consumed again by what had happened with Asami. He was going over the evening trying to figure out how he had ended up where he was lost in some strange part of the city. Her images haunted his mind again, bringing his walk to a run as he needed to continue his search for her even though he knew it was a pointless effort now. 'Asami…I have to find her!'

Satoru reached one of the major street corners and rejoined the crowd of the city. Even in the morning there were still people out. However, he was suddenly distracted by a broadcast on the large screen monitor set up in the building nearby. There was a newscast already in progress talking about what was happening. "…military has been called in to handle this escalating emergency that the police have been unable to handle. The public has taken matters into their hands and begun assaulting and destroying property in the city. So far the only targets have been computers and machines, but it is urged that if you are in the area to stay inside…"

'What has happened to the world? Have they all lost their minds? It's begun, just like before hasn't it?' It was a familiar image that he was recalling from the past. The streets were becoming a war zone with the public nearly going into anarchy. The private citizens were taking things in their own hands. That was how it had been before and it was happening again.

He began to push through the crowd of people when his phone rang. Satoru pulled out the communication device from his pocket, though it was more of a multi-purpose hand-computing device. It just happened to be his phone as well, a common tool. "Hello? Natsuko, why are you calling me?" He had barely looked at the screen to see whom it was that was calling him. It had been his hope that it was Asami, but he disguised his disappointment with honest confusion. She almost never called him.

"Satoru, are you alright?" Natsuko sounded worried, but it seemed almost typical lately for her to be concerned over something. However, if she was calling him there must be something wrong that she needed to talk to him specifically about.

"Huh? Yeah…what's wrong?"

"We haven't seen you at work today it's already ten. The news started showing what was going on and we feared that you were caught in it."

It seemed a little strange that she was calling him just to remind him to come to work. He was late, but it was nothing to be getting worried about. Satoru wasn’t convinced that she was finished with her call. There was something more that he was detecting in her voice. "No, I'm fine. I'll be in today."

"Hurry, something is going on."

"What do you mean?" His thought was now confirmed by her. There was something happening at the company. If the military was moving out it could mean that they were trying to force Sakura into service early. Or the public had gone crazy and was attacking employees. Satoru didn’t like what the city was turning into anymore. The war was no longer outside.

"I can't talk about it," she said, holding back on what she wanted to really say. The hint of her breaking down could be heard over the phone.

Satoru wanted to know what was making her so upset and now she was refusing to tell him. He didn’t want to wait until getting to the office to know what was happening. If there was a minefield set up he didn’t want to be walking into it without knowing that the ground was going to drop out from under him. "Natsuko, tell me! What's wrong?"

"Just hurry, you need to see this."

"Natsuko!" The line went dead immediately afterward, cutting him off. He wasn’t going to have his answers. Something was happening and he was developing a sour feeling in his stomach just thinking about what could be happening. 'What's going on? The military and now her…something is wrong and I'm getting a bad feeling about it. Asami…I-I…I'll find you.'

Satoru turned away from where he had been looking with the intent to search for Asami. It was going to have to wait. She was probably back at her apartment or at work now. He wasn’t going to find her. It would only be a miracle and he already had used his up. Satoru rushed to the train station worried about what had Natsuko so upset. He didn’t know what he was going to be walking into when he arrived, but he would know soon enough.