Neon Codex Sword Gospel: III - Lipstick IP-Switch

“I can explain,” Kenichi said. Then he realized that if he tried, he'd look like a lunatic or a liar. “Well,” he said, after trying to find a way to express the situation without having to navigate around quantum realities, steampunk angels, and library vampires, he gave up. “Actually, I can't. I'm not part of the CHURCH Syndicate, though,” he said. “In fact, I think I was sent here to destroy Shasira. See,” he gestured his hands, trying to indicate multiple realities, but it just looked like he was trying to grow wings and fly away. “I sort of killed her sister.”

M42UM1 narrowed her eyes.

“And, if I'm understanding things correctly, a lot of her friends.”

“I wasn't aware that Shasira had any sisters,” M42UM1 said.

Kenichi laughed. “Yeah,” he said. “Who knew. But I'm not working for Shasira. I have no desire to hurt or harm Tsunami, and to be honest, I think it's terrible that her band all died.” He looked over at Tsunami, still a lump on the floor. “I just want to help her, and if that means I have to follow her around and beat up anybody that wants to hurt her, I'll do that.”

“I still don't believe you,” she said.

“May I be of assistance,” said one of her computer terminals. Two purple zeroes appeared in the middle of the screen. For a moment, they were replaced by purple dashes, then purple zeroes again, almost as if they were eyes blinking.

M42UM1 looked at the terminal. “CAT?” she said. “What do you have to say?”

“I am convinced of Kenichi's story,” said the terminal. “Based on the latest intel leak from the Syndicate, there are no persons in Shasira's employ that resemble him. I have 99.999% confidence that he is genuine.”

M42UM1 frowned. Then she shuffled around in a bin under one of the desks. “I want that last 0.001%,” she said. She went over to Tsunami, who now held one of the rabbits in her lap, and opened up a hatch on the back of her neck. She plugged in a device somewhere in the recesses of Tsunami's internals, then closed the hatch. She walked over to Kenichi. “Hold out your hand,” she said.

He did. She jabbed a needle into his hand. A glowing blue substance flowed from the syringe she held into his hand. “Ow,” he said. “What is that?”

“That is my 0.001%,” M42UM1 said. She pulled out the needle and tossed it into a bin where it flashed and the room smelled of ozone. She pointed to Tsunami. “I put a lifesign monitor on her,” she said. “And it's linked to the nanobots I just injected into you.” She pointed at his palm. “If Tsunami dies, then so do you.”

“What?” Kenichi said.

“If Tsunami's process shuts down, you have ten seconds to either bring it back up, or put the rest of your affairs in order. After that, the nanobots will swarm and attack all the things that make you alive.”

Kenichi looked at his hand. The mark where M42UM1 had injected him was red, but it didn't hurt, and the redness was fading. He looked from M42UM1 to Tsunami. “Fine,” he said. “It should affect anything I was already planning on doing.”

M42UM1 looked at him.

“I'll keep her alive, no matter what,” he said.

“Good,” she said. She looked at Tsunami. “I'm going to see if the rabbits can find you a good backup solution. I'll call you when they have something.” One of the rabbits nodded, and hopped to a terminal, where its little paws clicked on the mechanical keyboard. The others did the same.

Tsunami looked up from her place on the floor. “Thank you, 42,” she said.

Kenichi held out her hand to help her up. She stood, then fell against him. He put his arm around her, and she blushed. “I'll keep you safe,” he said.

She nodded. “It's going to be dangerous,” she said. “I'm still going to put on the show.”

“Even with no band?” M42UM1 said.

“Yes,” she said. “I just need to find a good guitarist.”

M42UM1 looked like she was about to say something, but Kenichi spoke first. “I can play guitar,” he said.

“Oh?” Tsunami said. She looked up at him, still leaning against him.

“Yeah,” said Kenichi. He pointed at the electric guitar in the corner. “I can show you if you like.”

M42UM1 sighed. She went over to the guitar and picked it up.

“But don't you have a multi?” Tsunami said.

Kenichi looked at the device on his belt. “Yeah,” he said.

“Show me with that,” she said, stepping away from him.

M42UM1 slumped back down in her hoverchair, the guitar sitting across her lap.

Kenichi pulled the multi from his belt then shifted through its settings. He was still getting used to the interface, but it seemed intuitive as he found the guitar mode. Lights burst from the multi and bent to form the shape of a guitar. It looked like the neon wireframe of a Gibson Les Paul. He played a few chords on the neon strings to see how it was tuned, and then satisfied, started playing. He played a few pop and rock licks, unsure of what sort of music Tsunami was known for. He ended it with his own rendition of Lipstick IP-Switch from what he remembered on the ringtone.

When he was done, Tsunami hopped up and down on her feet and applauded. “Oh,” she said. “That will be perfect. I'll send you the setlist so you can get a feel for all of the songs.” She pointed a finger-gun at Kenichi, and with the lowering of her thumb and the rocking back of her hand, like she was some old-timey cowgirl, she beamed the setlist to Kenichi. His multi pulsed with each song, and he could start to feel them in the glowing collar of his shirt.

“Now,” said Tsunami with a flourish. “We have a show to play.”

“Good luck,” said M42UM1. “I'll let you know when the backup server is ready.”

“Arigato!” Tsunami said. She blew M42UM1 a kiss before grabbing Kenichi's hand and pulling him out through the room.

The night was dark. The full moon was out. Kenichi noticed that it had a large crater on it where the rabbit should have been. He wondered, briefly, if the worlds were linked in more ways than one, or if it was just a natural feature of the moon in this world.

The streets were wet, and it was lightly raining. Tsunami was now wearing a transparent raincoat over some fashionable street clothes. Her hair had glowing streaks of cyan and magenta running down the black.

Kenichi used the multi to turn back into a hoverbike. He climbed on, then held out his hand to help Tsunami on. She wrapped her arms around his chest and leaned into him. He pulled away from Umami Usagi Nami and into the street. “Where to?” he said over his shoulder.

“The venue we had planned to use will almost certainly be occupied,” Tsunami said. “But I have a different idea. This one will get everybody's attention.” She beamed him the directions, and the nav on the hoverbike showed him the most optimal route.

He nodded and sped down the streets, swerving around cars and trucks and other obstacles, Tsunami's head warm against his back, the rain flicking at his face. In the neon swirl of activity, they were just another couple on a hoverbike. They rode the hoverbike under the radar, staying mostly out of the attention of both the police and the Syndicate.

Once, a police drone turned its lights on, but ended up chasing after someone else. Kenichi tried to overcome the strangeness of this world by focusing on the music Tsunami had beamed to him. He shuffled through the setlist, listening intently on the guitar parts, but taking in the whole song, as he figured the synths and drums and bass would be absent from this performance.

The nav led him to a large black building with a large black cross on the face of it. White light outlined the cross so it was visible for kilometers all around. He parked his hoverbike outside, and after they both got off and it had folded back into the multi, he looked up at the building. “Here?” he said.

She nodded. “If we're going to put on my last show,” she said. “We might as well make it count.”

Kenichi's palm began to itch.