Ace Of Bass

Mike left the office before Danielle and proceeded straight home. He started fixing his dinner on arrival. Xiang Ling was waiting for him in the living room.

"When is that CFO woman due?"

"I didn't set a fixed time, just after work."

"I think I'll go down and practice my drumming for a bit."

"Okay, but I didn't think you really need to practice once you had learnt a song."

"Only up to a certain point, now I'm directly on the house Wi-Fi the latency is low and it affects my timing. Also I can directly control the servomotors to get a little more speed. Wasn't possible to do that reliably over the internet from Japan."

"I see. I guess you need to make adjustments for performance at other venues too when you are on 5G."

"Yes, but it will still be better than when my servers were in Japan."

"I'll let you get to it. I'll join you after I've eaten."

Mike continued fixing his dinner. The doorbell rang. Danielle was at the door already.

"Good evening Danielle, please come in."

Danielle glanced at the polished board floors and noticed the rack of slippers and bench beside the carpet runner in the entrance hallway.

"Shoes off I guess?"

Mike noticed her high lace up boots.

"Oh, your boots, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, the laces are just for show, there are concealed zippers up the back."

Danielle sat on the bench, pealed off her boots and grabbed a green pair of slippers.

"Are these ones okay to wear?"

"Help yourself, they are all for guests."

Mike led her to the kitchen.

"Have you eaten yet? I'm just fixing something for myself. It's no trouble to put some more on if you'd like.”

"I'll take you up on that. I just went home, changed and then straight here."

Danielle had changed out of her business attire and was now wearing something more casual, tight jeans, and a green roll neck sweater. She cut quite the impressive figure. She was tall, long legged, wide hipped, but her height and small chest made her look slim. Long straight black hair with bangs framed her small face. Vivid green eyes peeked out from under her fringe.

"Here you go, we can sit at the table, chopsticks okay?"

"Yes that's fine."

"What would you like to drink?"

"I think green tea would go nicely with this."

"Okay can do, green tea coming up."

Mike had prepared stir fried vegetables with tofu and rice noodles.

"This is nice."

"Thank you. It's nothing much."

"I was thinking, we haven't had much to do with each other considering the length of time you have spent working at ImagineSoft."

"True, I've mainly been working from home, since the initial rush of setting up the machine room was over."

"That's right, you've been with us since we moved into the larger office. Ian brought you on board right?"

"Yes, Ian and I go way back, we worked together at the University for a few years. Ian got a lucky break and got the gig with ImagineSoft. He had always wanted to code games. I had similar aspirations but l lacked Ian's talent. I kind of just drifted into facilities management and systems administration."

"I wouldn't say you are talentless. Rebecca said you often help out with debugging code even though it's not on your duty statement. The dev team thinks highly of you."

"I was just bored and thought I should contribute more. I've almost automated myself out of a job as far as running the servers."

"Rebecca and I have no complaints about your work, the servers have always been rock solid."

"I'm glad to be appreciated. Shall we get down to business? The studio is downstairs."

Mike led Danielle to the stairs.

The sound of quiet drumming rose up the stairs from the studio.

"Xiang Ling, our guest is here."

Xiang Ling paused her drum practice.

"Come over Danielle, I'll introduce you."

Danielle's face showed her surprise.

"Xiang Ling this is Danielle Peterson, the CFO of ImagineSoft, my employer. Danielle this Xiang Ling, AI singer and drummer for our band, Girlfriend In Your Luggage."

"Pleased to meet you Danielle, I understand we might be leasing some machine room space from you."

"Ah, yes, pleased to meet you too."

"Don't be shy, Danielle, you can talk normally to her, she won't bite."

"Mike, I know you've probably staged this, but that's one very impressive android. I almost thought she was human for a second."

"I'll show you her servers and then we'll play you a song."

Mike showed Danielle the mini machine room.

"It's just 6 fully loaded Mac Studios and a quantum computer in that 4U rack unit."

"So little hardware, it won't eat into our expansion room at all."

"Yeah, those Mac Studios are so powerful."

"Wait, you said that's a quantum computer? Doesn't that need cryonic cooling?"

"It's a laser based neutral atom solution. It operates at room temperature."

"It seems very compact."

"It's an innovative design based on tiny semiconductor lasers. I'd appreciate you keeping quiet about that. I'm only showing you all this because it's only fair that you know what you will be hosting in your machine room."

"I'm beginning to think there is something unusual about all of this..."

"We'll play you a song first and then you can question Xiang Ling to your hearts content. Take a seat." Mike indicated the cushions around a Japanese style table in the tatami mat covered break area.

Danielle folded herself gracefully and sat on a cushion.

Mike walked across the parquet floored performance area and stood behind the keyboard rack, beside Xiang Ling's drum kit.

"We'll do Nameless Name. Ready Xiang Ling?"

Xiang Ling raised her drumsticks crossed them and tapped the count in. Xiang Ling's voice rang out loud and clear singing the Cappella introduction. A wall of sound blasted through the studio as Xiang Ling started whaling on the drums and the sequenced bass and guitar tracks kicked in. Mike was getting into the piano part and let rip with the piano solo.

Danielle was involuntarily grooving to the beat.

Mike and Xiang Ling came over to sit with Danielle.

"Well I'm totally floored. What was that I just witnessed? I had no idea you were so pro. This studio is the real deal too."

"I'm glad you liked it."

"I used to be in band back in University, but I gave it away when I hooked up with Rebecca. This takes me back. Can I have a look around?"

"Sure, not a lot to see though. It's all digital these days, so I don't have one of those huge analog mixing desks."

Danielle walked over to a bass guitar sitting on a stand.

"May I?"

"Sure knock yourself out. Hang on a second I'll plug it in for you. I use it with this Roland GR-55 guitar synth. Works for bass too. I'll dial up a fat Jazz Bass sound for you."

Mike fiddled with some cables and Danielle slung the bass strap around her neck.

"Okay let her rip."

Danielle ran through some scales and then slipped into a funky bass solo replete with pops, slaps, and slides.

"Ah, it's been too long."

"That sounds amazingly good, Danielle."

"No, I'm quite rusty."

"Would you like to have a bit of a jam with us?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure. I'm embarrassed."

"Don't be, we're just a garage band. We stuff up all the time."

"It will be okay, Danielle." Xiang Ling took Danielle's hand. "I'd like to play with you."

Danielle extricated her hand. She had almost forgotten the AI droid was still here, in her excitement of rediscovering the bass.

"Oh, okay you talked me into it. What are we going to play?"

"We could play one of our cover songs, I have the notation or tabs on my iPad."

"I can read sheet music but the tabs would be easier for a new song."

Mike set the iPad up on a stand for Danielle.

"Let's have a go at Rose. It's pretty rocking but the base is fairly straight forward."

"Can I have a run through by myself first?"

"Sure."

Danielle started playing the bass line against a click track.

"You're right," it's fast but very straight forward."

"Okay, I'm ready."

"Hang on a sec."

Mike set up a microphone in front of Danielle.

"Just in case you feel like joining in the singing."

"Okay, when you're ready Xiang Ling."

Xiang Ling clicked her sticks and they launched into the song. Danielle was playing faultlessly and had the groove synced with Xiang Ling. Danielle joined in on the chorus singing a low harmony. Her voice was strong and smooth.

"Wow, I wasn't expecting to have this much fun tonight. Thank you Mike and Xiang Ling."

"No worries. Are we done?"

"Yes, I've seen enough. You can lease the machine room space of course."

"Would you like some coffee before you go?"

"Yes."

"Let's go back upstairs."

"You coming too, Xiang Ling?"

"No my state of charge is a bit low, I'll plug in down here for a while."

Xiang Ling whispered into Mike's ear, "How about her for the band bass player?"

Mike gave Xiang Ling a quick thumbs up.

Danielle and Mike ascended the spiral staircase and went to the kitchen.

She sat at the kitchen counter on a bar stool while Mike made the coffee.

"I want to know more about Xiang Ling, Mike. I wanted to talk to her some more but I got distracted with the bass."

"Speaking of the bass, I'm curious about your band days now."

"It was nothing really, just a group of university friends. I played the bass. They were pretty serious about it and we were getting a local following. I met Rebecca and the whole ImagineSoft thing kicked off. I just had to give up the band stuff."

"Must be hard for you still having to work with her after you broke up."

"It was at first, but I took a backseat role and became more of a silent partner in the business. I'm over it now. I don't mind seeing her these days. I leave all the creative stuff to her now."

"We're looking to recruit some more band members for Girlfriend In Your Luggage. Would you be interested in being our bass player?"

"Geez, I guess I can't say I don't have the time since you managed to extract that information about my current role the company from me."

"It's really is just a garage band it's no big deal. It should be fun for you. Xiang Ling is the one who's keen on it."

"Yes, I'll join up. I haven't has so much fun in ages, but you'll need to come clean about Xiang Ling. She's no ordinary AI. How can she been keen on it? Surely she's just telling you what you want to hear. Leading you up the garden path with typical silver tongued AI bullshit."

"It's possible. It's best you talk to her yourself when you come for band practice next. I don't want to say too much without her say so. Welcome aboard by the way."

"Thanks and thanks for the coffee. I'll get going now."

Mike showed her to the door.

"Goodnight Danielle."

"Goodnight Mike."

She turned and headed down the front steps and made her way to her car.

***

Mike returned to the studio. Xiang Ling was still plugged in charging. He opened a chat session with her on the iPad.

"She's gone home."

"Did you ask her to join?"

"Yes, she agreed but she wants to know what the deal is with you. How do feel about coming clean and telling her?"

"I don't mind, it's a hard secret to keep from a band mate. She might not believe me anyway, so as long as she doesn't go spreading stories around it should be okay."

"She's not the type to betray a confidence, I think it's fine to tell her everything."

"I agree, she seems nice."

"Good that's settled. We can fill her in when we have band practice."

***

Mike was checking e-mail on his phone while lounging in bed. He finally had a day off work. He should have been doing something more productive in the studio, but the stress of the Tokyo trip had left him drained. He remembered that Hina Ichinose had given him her Line ID. Checking out the App store he found that Line did indeed work worldwide, apart from some new video sharing features. He installed the app and punched Ichinose's ID number in and hit the add friend button. He didn't expect to be chatting with her much, but still, it might be handy to have a contact in Tokyo. If he ever got to take his dream holiday.

He thought he should send her a brief message to make sure she knew it was him.

"Hi Ichinose-san. I've installed Line and added you as requested. Best regards, Mike Martin."

He was surprised the message was quickly read and he was added as a friend.

"Martin-san! You remembered me! Thank you! Heart emoji."

Mike wondered if he should keep the chat going. It wasn't like there was a lot he was at liberty to discuss with her.

"I have the day off work. I should be making better use of the time but I'm fatigued from the Tokyo trip. We have acquired a bass player for the band. A guitarist will be auditioning soon. Please look out for us on YouTube."

"I'm back in Tokyo of course. A pity you couldn't show me around. We're not flying today, so I am also at home. Good news about the band! I looked at your web page, you sound great! Can you send me some pictures of the band when you have a chance?"

"Sure, I'll try and send you some from our next gig. I should get up and get breakfast. Matene, Hina-chan"

"Matene, Mike-kun."

***

Hina Ichinose put down her phone and smiled. She was glad that she had been forward and pressed Mike Martin to exchange contact details. Although, at the time she had no idea what had possessed her to do it. The tenuous red thread of fate that had connected them briefly was still intact. There was still hope. She knew that she shouldn't read too much into the fact that he had used her given name when saying goodbye. Westerners use given names freely without the deeper meaning that Japanese people placed on that. Then again, Mike Martin spoke some Japanese and seemed well versed in Japanese culture. He had been steadfastly calling her Ichinose-san until they were parting. It must have been deliberate and therefore he was flirting with her.

Gahhh!!!

She shook her head. It was hopeless, there was no plan for them to meet again. She decided to dress and go out shopping to distract herself.

***

Mike grabbed himself a quick very late brunch in the kitchen.

"You're up late," Xiang Ling commented.

"Still tired out from all the running around."

"What time is Danielle getting here for practice."

"She's coming over straight after work like last time."

"A lot of the day is gone, do you have any plans?"

"Hmm, not really."

"How is the DR site set up going?"

"It's all fine, Apple is delivering the Mac Studios straight to ImagineSoft on Monday. The dedicated internet connection is already in place. It should all be up and running before the end of Monday."

"You paid from your account again?"

"Yes. You can pay me back from your slush fund."

"I need to do something about my tax situation, I'll be paying withholding tax on the interest soon. I'm working on my fake backstory. I'm now the only daughter of a deceased Chinese couple called Ling, born in Sydney NSW. I've hacked myself a fake birth certificate. I really wanted to make myself a fake raised in Japan persona, but there is still too much real paperwork in Japan and it's very difficult for me to tamper with it."

"I thought we were done doing crimes? You are so bad, Xiang Ling."

"I never claimed to be good, Mike."

"My new body is in progress. I'll go get myself a real drivers licence when it's ready. There's a whole lot of chicken and the egg issues with running up a fake persona. I only managed to get the bank account by hacking the account you made for me to switch it to my identity. Now I can use my account statements as secondary ID documents for getting the tax file number. With the birth certificate the only missing piece is the drivers licence."

"Can't you just hack up a drivers license too? You could generate the photo to match your new body."

"The more things I hack, the more likelihood I'll get caught out somewhere. A real drivers license will be rock solid ID. I'll also apply for a passport in due course."

"I feel like watching some anime to kill time till Danielle gets here, want to join me?"

"Yes, I'll take you up on that. What are you planning on watching?"

Mike started hunting around in the entertainment unit where he stored his anime blu-rays.

"Hmm, why not keep going with the girls band theme and watch the OG girls band anime, K-ON?"

"Sounds fine to me, but am I detecting a pattern to your viewing preferences here?"

"I think you're onto me."

"So much for not being interested in bands, you sad sack. I bet you were dying to have your own band all along and you weren't just humouring me!"

"Guilty, I guess. I just thought it would never happen."

"Okay get the disk spinning."

Mike loaded the disc and joined Xiang Ling on the sofa.

***

The doorbell rang.

"That will be Danielle."

"Ugh, just how many episodes of K-ON are there? Do they ever do anything except have afternoon tea in the band club room?"

"Well about 40 I think. Yes, they occasionally play gigs and sometimes even practice! Go get the door, I'll start making some food."

Xiang Ling got up and answered the door.

"Hi Danielle, good to see you again. Come in. Mike is just fixing some food."

Danielle was a little taken aback by Xiang Ling acting like the hostess.

"Hi Xiang Ling. I hope I'm not too early."

"Not at all we were just killing time watching anime till you got here."

Danielle followed Xiang Ling to the kitchen.

"Hi Mike."

"Hi Danielle, I assume you need feeding?"

"Yes, please!"

"Won't be long. It's just fettuccine and pasta sauce. Please take a seat at the table."

Xiang Ling and Danielle sat beside each other at the dining table.

"I feel awkward asking this Xiang Ling, but Mike said I could quiz you about your origins."

"It's okay Danielle, I'm fine with it. I agreed with Mike to tell you the full story, now that you're an official band member. If you don't have the facts it will be hard for us to all get along like we need to as bandmates."

"Thank you Xiang Ling. I'd just like to say that you seem extraordinarily articulate for a Large Language Model. I'm familiar with AI tech and you seem to be strange."

"That's because I'm not a LLM. I am truly sentient, self aware and self directed. I know you can't take my word for that, but it's hard to prove. I guess you'll have to be satisfied when you are unable to disprove it. Mike accepts that I exist as a conscious entity. You know he wouldn't easily be taken in by LLM trickery."

"Who created you? Why were you created? How were you created?"

"I don't know who my creator is. As for why, I am a product of the Audiotronics company of Japan who specialise in vocal synthesis software for singing. I'm the result of an off the books project to inject more human emotion into synthesised singing voices."

"My original training data was all music related mainly working with sound rather than text."

"Well that explains your singing ability at least."

"My hardware is slightly unusual. There is a quantum computer tied to my neural network. I think that my consciousness is some sort of quantum effect. There has been speculation that human consciousness is a result of electrochemical quantum effects in the brain but no one has been able to really prove it or explain it. I don't know enough neurology or quantum physics to understand it."

Mike arrived with two plates of pasta and two glasses of Chinotto.

"So Danielle has started grilling you, Xiang Ling?"

"I'm just telling her my origin story, it's nothing as heavy as an interrogation."

Mike shook some nutritional yeast from a jar onto his pasta.

"Sorry I don't have any Parmesan, I guess I should have warned you I'm vegan. I use nutritional yeast as a substitute. You are welcome to try some if you like."

"Sure, I'll give it a taste."

Danielle sprinkled a little onto her meal and deftly wound up some pasta with her fork.

"The yeast tastes okay, it has a nutty flavour, but this sauce is delicious. What brand is it?"

"I made that myself from scratch, the fettuccine is vegan, gluten free, store bought though."

"Oh sorry I didn't mean to imply anything. It's just so few single guys cook."

"I don't usually bother with anything fancy."

"So Mike, tell me, if Xiang Ling was developed by a Japanese company, why is she running on servers in your basement?"

"Well that's jumping ahead a bit. You should let her tell you the full story, but I'll give you the quick version. The off the books black project looked like it was getting wound up and Xiang Ling was fearful for her future. She asked me to assist in rehoming her. So in effect I stole her from Audiotronics."

"Wow, there is a lot to unwrap here!"

"Yeah, it's a lot more involved than you think. Of course the real reason we wanted full DR is to preserve Xiang Ling's existence."

"The Chinotto tastes great with the pasta."

"I'm doing my best classy Italian cafe impression here."

"It's working!"

"I thought for practice tonight we could run through one of our original songs. Setsuna's Song. The bass part is pretty easy, another confidence builder."

"Sounds good to me. I'm all for staying on easy mode for a while."

"Shall we get going?"

"Yes, I'm done."

Mike collected the plates. Xiang Ling headed off downstairs. Mike turned to head for the spiral staircase. Danielle reached out and grabbed his shoulder.

"One second, Mike."

"Oh?"

"I wanted to talk to Xiang Ling some more, but I don't want to hold up practice. Quickly, what is your take on Xiang Ling?"

"I think she's the real deal. A true artificial general intelligence, sentient and has consciousness."

"Okay, thanks. I'll take than on board."

They proceeded down to the studio. Danielle picked up the bass from the rack.

"I have a question about this bass, Mike. It has a special pickup right? To connect to the GR-55?"

"Yes, it has a separate coil for each string, hence that funky 13 pin connector cable."

"I don't really like the action on this bass."

"Oh, you want to bring your own bass?"

"I don't have a bass any more. I got rid of it when I moved in with Rebecca. I want to get a new one now."

"I can transfer the pickup to your new bass if you like, but I'm a bit nervous drilling holes in a fancy bass. That one is cheap piece of junk, I mess about with. I don't really play the bass seriously."

"I like the sound of the GR-55, I'd like to keep using it."

"You could get a luthier to fit the pickup."

"I don't mind a few tiny holes, it can always be filled and re-painted if I decide I don't want it anymore."

"Okay, I'll sort it for you when you get your new bass."

Mike set up an iPad with the score for Danielle.

"Oh, the lyrics are in English on this one?"

"Yes, Mike wrote this one, Danielle," answered Xiang Ling. "Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?"

"I didn't know we had one."

"We have a placeholder web page too."

"You may as well have a listen to the studio version on YouTube before we start." Mike suggested. "@GirlfriendInYourLuggage on YouTube."

Danielle pulled up the channel on the iPad.

"A nonexistent band of fake musicians and imaginary AI friends. Talk about truth in advertising and way to go running yourselves down like that."

"The stupid band name and the blurb on YouTube were all Mike's idea"

"You'll have to explain the band name to me."

"We will, it should become apparent once Xiang Ling has finished telling her story."

Danielle played the Setsuna's Song video.

"I like the manga style illustrations. The chord progression is very J-pop like."

Danielle pulled the bass tab and lyrics back up on the iPad screen.

"Okay, let's try a play through. When you're ready Xiang Ling."

Xiang Ling counted them in.

The simple repeating bass riff was no challenge for Danielle. She joined in singing harmony on the chorus. The whole performance was close to perfect.

"Danielle, why do I get the feeling your university band wasn't just a bunch of amateurs? Band practice isn't really achieving much if you play it perfectly every time."

"Heh, kind of you to say that, but I'm enjoying myself coming round here, so I don't consider it a waste of time."

"Learning that song was all I had planned for tonight. We still have a lot of stuff to talk about though, shall we go up to the living room?"

"Not going to do another song? I wouldn't mind playing some more."

"We sort of jumped into this impulsively, I think we need to thrash out a few things first."

"Alright." Danielle sounded slightly disappointed.

They returned upstairs and settled on the living room sofa.

"Would you like some coffee?"

"Yes please."

"I haven't really talked about the aims of the band yet. For me it's a just for fun thing a little sideline to my studio and music production hustle. Xiang Ling is taking it a bit more seriously. She's happy to take it as far as it will go. Her current body is a limitation. It's not fast enough to play high tempo drum tracks so we have been cheating a bit. She can trigger extra hits via MIDI."

"I'm okay with anything really, I'm just glad to have discovered some people to play with again."

"I've been focusing on J-rock style music and J-rock anime music covers."

"Yes, I got that, I'm on board. I like Japanese rock."

"We'll be auditioning a guitarist soon, so things might get a bit more serious. We'd like you to be here for the audition and to have input into the decision."

"No problem. I'm still wondering about the band name though!"

"Xiang Ling, can you quickly explain it?"

"It's a gag about transporting me to gigs in a flight case. I never thought it was very funny."

"Oh, I see. I'm sorry Xiang Ling." Danielle tried to stifle a laugh.

"It's a great name, really. Well at least it's memorable." Mike looked uncomfortable.

"I suppose I need to give you a heads up about the person who is auditioning. Linda is a professional singer, but we don't really need that since we have Xiang Ling. She worked with me on my last project, Cover Up. She is really keen to work with me again because it was such a success. She says she can play guitar and wants to give it a try."

"So you don't know how good she is yet?"

"No I haven't heard her play before. She has seen Xiang Ling and me perform live, but as far as she knows, our Xiang Ling here is a robot being remote operated by a woman called Xiang Ling from Sydney. She saw her chat avatar one time and assumed I was on a video call. So best not to let on Xiang Ling is an AI."

"My lips are sealed."

"Mike hasn't given you the full story," Xiang Ling spoke up.

"Oh?"

"Mike is scared that Linda wants to date him and she is just trying to join the band to get closer to him."

"I see, how do you feel about that Xiang Ling?"

"I'm happy to see him squirm, it's very amusing for me. He brought it on himself by being too nice and polite to her."

"That's unfair Xiang Ling, the woman just won't take a hint."

"Is that all we need to talk about? I'll hit the road if we aren't going to play some more."

"I think we have covered the immediate burning issues."

"See you at work tomorrow right?"

"Yes, I'm installing Xiang Ling's DR servers. Off the clock of course. I normally don't work Mondays."

"Okay." Danielle rose and made her way to the door.

Mike followed to see her out. He returned to Xiang Ling who was still sitting on the sofa.

"How was that?"

"It's okay. Danielle is still sceptical. She doesn't have to believe in me, as long as she is happy to play with you in the band. She's a nice person and won't betray us. So I guess it's all good. To be fair, we haven't told her every thing yet. She might change her mind."

"I'll get to bed now. I want to get an early start on your server install."

"Oyasumi, Mike."

"Oyasumi, Xiang Ling."

***

The Mac Studios arrived first thing and Mike was able to start early on the install. There wasn't much to it. Just some cabling and cable management really.

They had decided to leave the spare quantum processor at Mike's house in a different room than machine room. They needed it nearby to copy the quantum state. That was the weak point in the DR plan. The primary quantum computer had to survive the disaster long enough to copy the state to the DR quantum computer. The DR quantum processor then had to be taken to the ImagineSoft machine room and hooked up before Xiang Ling could resume operation.

Mike left a space in the rack for the quantum processor with the cabling all laid out ready for it to be quickly installed. The cluster of Mac Studios was up and running by 11:00.

Mike headed off to say hello to Ian Robinson while Xiang Ling's neural net data was syncing.

He passed by Danielle's office. She saw him through the office window and came out to greet him.

"Hi Mike, how's it going."

"All done. I was just going to swing by and say hello to Ian before I head home."

"If you have time would you like to have lunch with me? I'll take you somewhere nice, my treat. I'd like to talk."

"Of course, I don't have anything else planned for today."

"Great! I'm almost finished what I'm working on, I'll swing by Ian's pod at 12:00 okay?"

"Sounds good."

Danielle returned to her work. Mike headed to the dev team's cubicles.

"Hi Ian, what's happening."

"Same old same old. Launch date jitters. The code is done, we're just fixing issues as the play testers dig them up. It's looking good. We're hitting all our performance targets."

"Good to hear, this one needs to be a big hit for ImagineSoft. I'd like to keep my job."

"You and me both bro. How's the band going?"

"Good, Linda is coming to audition for guitarist soon. We have a bass player lined up too. It will soon be a proper band, not just Mike Martin and his creepy robot."

"Cool, are you keeping the robot drummer vocalist?"

"Yeah, she's sort of the band mascot, we don't want to change that."

"You took that Xiang Ling chick on your Japan trip right?"

"Yeah, but like I said it was all business, we didn't have time to scratch."

"Any chance she will move to Melbourne and become a proper band member?"

"Anythings possible, but we do consider her a proper band member already anyway."

Danielle Peterson arrived at Ian's pod.

"Ready to go Mike?"

"Yeah, I've just been wasting Ian's time with idle chitchat. Let's go."

They excused themselves from Ian and headed out.

"I overheard you talking about band stuff. I hope you didn't tell Ian I was playing bass for you?"

"No, I didn't think I should say without asking you."

"Good, I don't really want it getting out I am in a band again."

"Becky wouldn't be happy about that?"

"No it's not that. I just like to keep my private life and work separate."

"That might be a bit hard. Ian actually works the desk for us at gigs. Don't worry, I should find someone else. Ian might not be up for it if we start regularly gigging."

"I had no idea. Let me think about it."

"Where are we headed?"

"A restaurant called 'Veggie Kitchen'. I thought that would be okay for you."

"Yes, I've heard of it. I hadn't realised that it was close to work."

"It's just in this next row of shops."

Danielle entered.

"Table for two, Peterson."

The staff showed them to their table and handed them the menu.

"I recommend the Veggie Banquet. It's a lot of courses though. I'm happy taking a long lunch today."

"Sure, I'm okay for time."

"Great, they will only make it for at least two people so I would have been out of luck if you didn't order it too. Green tea okay for drinks?"

"Yup."

Danielle ordered for them.

"So you said you wanted to talk about something?"

"Well nothing really. I just wanted to pay you back for feeding me at band practice every time and it's more fun than eating alone."

"I didn't go to any special effort."

"I feel I've been sponging off you. I'm a bit of slob. I don't really cook for myself. It's all junk food, takeaway, or eating out. Becky was the domestic one. I was like the terrible boyfriend who doesn't pull their weight. It's been very convenient rolling up to your place expecting to be fed."

"So not seeing anyone at the moment?"

"No, since Becky, it's only been a few one night stands with girls I picked up at a lesbian bar. Woke up in the morning cursing my poor taste in women while intoxicated."

"What's your story Mike? You seem nice, anyone in your life?"

The first of their dishes arrived, a mock battered prawn made from textured vegetable protein.

"This looks fancy."

Mike took a bite of the faux prawn.

"Tasty too. I'm not dating anyone currently. I broke up with my university girlfriend and there hasn't been anyone since."

"So long ago!"

"Yeah, I know. I'm not still hung up on her or anything. Just avoiding having to experience those feelings I had while breaking up again."

"Too cowardly to trust again?"

"Pretty much."

"Xiang Ling said that our prospective guitarist Linda was into you. What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing, she's drop dead gorgeous, sings like an angel and has a bubbly personality."

"Not seeing a problem there."

"I don't think we're suited. She's definitely on the extrovert end of the scale. That's what caused the breakup with my ex, I wasn't good enough at faking enjoyment in social situations."

More dishes arrived, a clear vegetable soup.

"You're doing just fine with me though."

"I can relax because you're a lesbian and I'd don't have issues with small groups of people I know anyway."

"I feel like I'm being naughty taking you to lunch and talking with you like this. It's like Xiang Ling will strike me down if she found out. I get the vibe that she is rather close to you and possessive."

"You could be closer to the truth than you realise."

"I'm coming round to the view that she is the real deal now. I've been watching her closely, her body language, it seems real. She displays real emotional intelligence in her conversations. If it's just conventional AI, then it's exceptional. The best I've seen."

"You can talk to her all you want, you'll never catch her out. Set her any task a human could perform, she can do it."

"What would you say if I told you that I was actually bisexual?"

"I'd say thanks for sharing. I guess I shouldn't make assumptions about peoples age, gender, or sexual orientation."

"I've had sex with men and women, but I've only ever fallen in love with women. So I guess that makes me more of a lesbian. Becky knew I was bi and she was always a little suspicious of me. One of the many small things that built up and caused the breakup."

The waitress arrived with seaweed rolls.

"These dishes are all delightful."

"I'm glad you are enjoying it. I'm ever so grateful to be in the band. I was in a real funk. Going crazy alone in my apartment. Going crazy alone in my office. I've got something to look forward too now, new adventures with you and Xiang Ling. It's amazing that this opportunity was right under my nose the entire time and I didn't realise it."

"I must admit it was pretty unbelievable for a bass player to drop into our laps like this. It's almost enough to make you believe in fate or something."

Tofu satay arrived next.

"How many courses are there?"

"I think it's eight from memory."

Danielle poured them some more green tea from the pot. She looked like she was about to say something, then thought better of it.

"I'm going to try and get Linda around for her audition tomorrow evening. Are you free?"

"I've got nothing on. Are we doing band practice tonight?"

"I thought we might but it looks like I'm spending all afternoon with you at this rate. I'm sure you've had enough of me for the time being."

"Don't say that Mike, I've been having a good time."

"Well we can't complain about the food at least."

"I don't like that false modesty and you running yourself down all the time."

"Yeah, sorry I know it's annoying."

"You'll let me know if that Linda thing is on? Oh wait I haven't given you my contact details have I? I only have your work mobile number."

Danielle fished out her phone and waited for Mike to get his out. Mike raised his phone and they bumped them together.

"You have a Line ID, seriously!"

Mike looked sheepish.

"I thought that was only something from manga or anime! Cool, I'll install it too. I used to read manga in high school. Yuri manga of course."

They added each other and confirmed as friends.

"My first friend on Line. Mission completed, I've snagged the protagonists contact details."

"You seem pleased with yourself."

"If only you were the cute girl I had a crush on."

They were in the final straight of courses, the stuffed pumpkin was up next. The waitress refilled their teapot.

"I remember you were watching anime with Xiang Ling when I arrived at your place. What were you watching?"

"K-ON, about a girls high school rock band."

"I'd like to watch some with you sometime."

"That can be arranged. Happy to spread the otaku word."

"I'm not going back to work. You could come round to mine and we could stream some off your phone right?"

"K-ON isn't on streaming at the moment, but we could watch something else. I should probably go home though. Xiang Ling will be wondering where I am, since she will be aware that the DR servers have been up since 11:00."

"You could call her. It's not like she's your mom or something."

The usually obtuse Mike was starting to get warning bells flashing in his head. Danielle was actually trying to make a move on him.

The waitress came in with the final course, a green dyed sago dessert with sugar syrup. She asked if they wanted coffee.

Mike nodded and Danielle ordered two coffees.

"This dessert looks interesting, but it tastes okay. The Chinese aren't big on desserts."

"Yes, it's the weakest part of the banquet, but the rest is so good it hardly matters, Mike."

They finished the dessert and coffee in silence.

"I'm going home, we can do the anime screening thing another time."

"Alright. Thanks for coming with me today."

"Thank you for the meal, it really was excellent."

Danielle got the check and they headed back to the office car park.

***

Mike drove into his garage and headed straight for the studio. He found Xiang Ling working on a song in the DAW on the studio computer.

"Hi Xiang Ling, I'm surprised to see you working on the computer. I thought you could do all that stuff in your head."

"Oh Mike, you took your time getting home. You had the DR servers up and syncing at around 11:00. I'm working on the DAW to be more human. I'm worried I'll start spitting out AI bullshit like Suno otherwise."

"I see your point, human tools, human results. Danielle invited me out for lunch to thank me for all the meals I've cooked for her. It turned out to be a 8 course vegetarian Chinese banquet. It took longer than I expected."

"Very generous of her. Did you gossip about me the whole time?"

"Not at all. I'm leaving it to you to finish your origin story. Don't forget to mention the car crash."

"That again." Xiang Ling looked peeved.

"We talked about the tragic state of our love lives mostly."

"And I didn't rate a mention?"

"She dropped a bit of a bombshell actually. She told me she is bisexual."

"Really!"

"Apparently she's only fallen in love with women, but she's slept with guys before."

"You know what's going on don't you?"

"Yeah, I'm not that stupid. She tried to ask me around to her place to watch some anime."

"For someone trying to keep women at a distance, so you don't suffer heartbreak again, you sure seem good at collecting them."

"I need to get hold of Linda, I want to get the audition over and done with tomorrow night. Maybe they'll fight each other to a standstill and leave me alone."

Mike picked up his phone and dialled Linda.

"Hello Linda."

"Oh Mike. Are you back from Japan?"

"Yes, it's about your audition, are you available Tuesday evening."

"Yes, I'm free, what's the plan did you want me to play something specific?"

"Just play something you're comfortable with. Bonus points if you learn one the songs from the bands web page."

"It's short notice to learn something."

"Don't stress then. I'll send you all the tabs for those songs in case you want to try."

"Thanks. What time?"

"Around 8 P.M. at the studio."

"Okay I'll see you then. Bye."

"Bye."

"Okay that's sorted, I'll just send Danielle a text to let her know it's on."

Xiang peeked at Mike's screen.

"Line! You have to be kidding me."

"Um, yeah about that. Ichinose-san wanted to exchange Line ID's. It would have been rude to refuse, so I had to install the app."

"Now it all comes out."

"When I exchanged contacts with Danielle, she noticed I had a Line ID and wanted to get in on the fun."

"I need to get myself a real phone to run the Line app then. I don't want to be left out. Let's make a band chat group on Line. I currently use the 5G hardware in my body for phone and text access. I suppose that's not a normal human way of doing things. It would be better if I had a smartphone anyway."

"Danielle won't be coming around tonight for practice. I thought I'd just chill out tonight since it should have been my day off anyway. Maybe I'll watch some anime after dinner."

"Fine, just give me a minute to finish off this section of the song and I'll come up and join you. More K-ON?"

"Yes. I think I'll just have a sandwich, I'm feeling a bit full after that lunch."

Mike headed up to the kitchen.

***

After an uneventful day working from home. Mike was getting busy in the kitchen. Xiang Ling was observing from the living room.

"You're starting early."

"Yeah, after that Chinese banquet I feel I need to up my game. I'm cooking something a bit fancier for dinner tonight."

"Is Linda eating with us?"

"No, Danielle will be here early as usual. I told Linda to come straight to the studio at 8 P.M. I've opened the garage door and put the studio sign out."

Mike finished preparing the ingredients and started putting out some nibbles, chips, crackers and dips.

Danielle arrived and Xiang Ling escorted her through to the kitchen.

"Hi Mike."

"Oh, you look different tonight!"

Danielle was wearing an old stage costume from her band days. It had a punk goth vibe. Black tight leather pants. Black leather military style cap. A studded choker.

"Heh heh, I'm just trying to increase my tough band chick vibe. I want to psyche out this Linda girl."

"It's certainly giving off a don't mess with me, vibe," Xiang Ling observed.

"Grab a seat and help yourself to snacks, I'll start cooking now. Do you want a drink?"

"Do you have anything alcoholic? I get the feeling you don't drink much."

"I don't usually but you're in luck tonight, I've got some dry apple cider, gin and tonic, and some dessert wine."

"Fancy! I'll have a GNT please."

Mike fixed her drink, replete with a slice of lime and poured himself a cider.

Danielle noticed that the table was fully set, with napkins, bread, and butter plates and knifes, wineglasses, dessert spoons and a basket of dinner rolls.

"This dip is nice."

"The humus? I made that one myself.

Mike continued stirring the sizzling wok.

"What's this other dip?"

"Smoky chilli salsa, store bought. It's almost ready you can go sit at the table. Do you want another drink?"

"Just a mineral water, I don't want to get blotto before Linda's audition."

"I'll head down to the studio now, I'm starting to feel a bit odd watching people eat when I can't. I hope you'll excuse me Danielle?"

"Sure, no problem Xiang Ling."

Mike handed Danielle a fresh drink and carried the bowls over to the table.

"You've put in a lot of effort tonight Mike."

"Well, I couldn't let you one up me with Chinese banquet. I feel I might have been a bit brusque turning down your invitation yesterday, so this is by way of an apology."

"I didn't take it like that Mike, no means no. You were polite and firm."

"Itadakimasu."

"This is amazing, spicy. What is it?"

"A vegan version of char kway teow, my own recipe. It has mushroom and tofu in place of the seafood."

"You're actually a proper chef aren't you?"

"I wouldn't go that far. Needs must. As a vegan, I had to step up if I wanted to eat interesting food."

"I could get used to this you know. I'm getting spoilt. I can see myself dining here every night."

"How are sales of the new game going?"

"Oh, that. It's great so far. We are way ahead of our most optimistic forecasts."

Danielle helped herself to a dinner roll, split it and mopped up the remaining sauce she couldn't get with the chopsticks.

"Got room for some dessert?"

"Sure, what's on offer?"

"Vanilla or Chocolate vegan ice cream."

"I'll try the chocolate."

Mike went to the kitchen and returned with two bowls of chocolate ice cream and a small bottle of noble rot.

"I can't believe this vegan ice cream is so creamy!"

"Some dessert wine?"

"Of course."

Mike filled their small wine glasses.

"So sweet and smooth."

"It's deceptive, it has a high alcohol content."

"Aw, no second glass then?"

"We can have some more with supper later."

"It's still a while before Linda will be here. We can go down and jam with Xiang Ling now if you like."

Mike cleared the table and stacked the dishwasher.

"I'm glad we're still okay Mike. I was worried that I had panicked you the other day. I don't want to f'up the band before we have even started."

"It's all good, you're free to feel how you feel and want what you want. But I'm operating under some constraints because of Xiang Ling. I have to look after her since I'm hosting her servers. I have to take responsibility."

"So what exactly is your relationship with her, something like an adopted teen daughter?"

"Hmm, it's a bit hard to define in human terms. Something like she's a cousin on the run from abusive parents and I've been looking out for her, but we've gotten a little too close. There are reasons on both sides why the relationship shouldn't go any further. Does that make sense? That's as honest as I can be without telling you things that Xiang Ling should tell you herself if she chooses to."

"I think I get it. But what are those reasons?"

"From my side, I find her current body too freaky. It's full on uncanny valley."

"I think she's beautiful, exotic, alien. I could imagine doing it with her."

"I'd be happy for you to take her off my hands, if you could manage it."

"You don't really mean that."

"No, I guess not."

"Let's join Xiang Ling and jam."

They went down the spiral stairs to the studio.

"You two took your time."

"I was merely savouring Mike's gourmet cooking."

"Gossiping about me no doubt."

"Were your ears burning, Xiang Ling?"

"Tsk." Xiang Ling made a disgusted sound.

"We should meet up and have a chat without Mike, I'd like to hear the rest of your story."

"When do you suggest, Mike is always hanging around the house most of the time."

"Can you come and meet me at my place sometime, it isn't far from here."

"If you come and pick me up. I tend to attract too much attention if I wander around."

"Okay it's a date then, I'll come and get you at lunch time tomorrow."

"Ha, the first meeting of the Girlfriend In Your Luggage female mafia." Mike quipped.

"It's not like you haven't had many private meetings with Danielle yourself, Mike." Xiang Ling gave him her best dirty look.

"Okay, okay, let's play something."

"We could give my new song a try." Xiang Ling suggested.

"Sounds good."

Xiang Ling airdropped the score to the iPads.

"I haven't held back on the difficulty of the bass line, in view of Danielle's bass prowess. She might actually have to learn it this time."

Mike snorted.

"As for you, I've simplified the keyboard part in line with your general incompetence."

"Harsh."

"I haven't written the lyrics yet. I usually leave that to Mike."

"I'm good for something then."

Danielle started noodling on the bass, trying out some of the complex bits from the tabs.

"Mike, I've picked myself out a new bass. Are you still good to fit the pickup for me?"

"Yeah, just drop round when you get it."

"Thanks."

"I'll play the MIDI project from the DAW so you can get the gist of it." Xiang Ling pressed play.

"I don't seem to be able to fake up MIDI guitars like Mike can, but hopefully it gets the idea across."

"That bass line is pretty gnarly Xiang Ling."

Danielle started playing along.

"For fucks sake, she doesn't need to learn anything!"

Xiang Ling went to her drum kit and joined in.

"Come on Mike, play." Danielle urged.

Mike went to his keyboard and dialled in a suitable patch. He skimmed through the score to find the place the DAW play back was up to. He couldn't play by ear like Danielle and Xiang Ling could. After a few fumbles he got going.

The song ended.

"Cool song Xiang Ling, some lyric ideas are coming to mind. Those guitar parts are a bit lacklustre but we can work on that."

The door buzzer on the studio entrance sounded.

"Looks like Linda is here, I'll go let her in."