Toyotama
I have something for you. When you look at it, it’s there, but when you look for it, it’s not?
Toyotama
What could it be?
Okami
I do not know, Toyotama. The construction of the question is not logical.
Toyotama
Okami, you can hear me in here?
Okami
I can hear you anywhere on the space ship.
Okami
As your artificial intelligence companion, I am to monitor and watch over you twenty four hours a day.
Toyotama
Of course you can. Don’t worry about it. I wasn’t talking to you.
Okami
That does not make sense as there is no one on this space ship, but you.
Toyotama
I was talking to myself, okay?
Okami
That is strange behavior. Are you starting to experience the effects of prolonged isolation?
Okami
The onset should not occur till 3 months into the journey.
Toyotama
This is going be a long trip, isn’t it?
Okami
4352 Days To Be Exact. To get to the mining colony and then back to Earth.
Toyotama
New rule. Never. EVER. Remind me how long we have till we get back to Earth.
Toyotama
And don’t refer to me as Miss...I’m 15 years old. 15!
Toyotama
And stop apologizing!
Okami
Ok, Toyotama. I will leave you alone now.
Toyotama
Sigh. Okami, would you like to help me figure out this riddle?
Okami
There is nothing in the known universe that would be able to answer your riddle.
Toyotama
Well thank you for our first clue, dork. It is obviously something a computer wouldn’t understand.
Okami
I understand everything.
Okami
What is the significance of this riddle?
Toyotama
Nothing. Just something to pass the next 4352 days.
Okami
Your blood pressure just spiked, which would indicate that you are lying.
Toyotama
It’s none of your business, all right?
Okami
Ok. I will go back to defragging my drives.
Toyotama
You really don’t want to know?
Okami
I do not have wants. I am a program.
Toyotama
The night before we launched.
Okami
I find that incredibly improbable.
Okami
The space pilot program prohibits any social contact so as to prepare you for the isolation of space travel.
Okami
Ironically, it is easier for humans to endure the journey alone than it is to endure it with others.
Toyotama
So as I was saying. I was in my bed trying to sleep, but I couldn’t. No matter how I tried I could not sleep.
Toyotama
I could feel it in the pit of my stomach. The loneliness. I was going into space and I was going to be alone.
Toyotama
When I return to earth, I will be old...I will be empty.
Okami
The human life expectancy is 72 years old. You will still have at least 40 years...
Toyotama
That’s not comforting.
Toyotama
So I am lying in bed when I hear a knock at my door. I look at the viewer and it was a boy outside my door.
Toyotama
He looked anxious as if he had something important to tell me, but was afraid he’d be discovered by the company.
Toyotama
Well he was a boy.
Okami
You said that. Need more information.
Toyotama
He was a little older like 16 or 17. Blue eyes, striking cheek bones, broad shoulders. I think he was handsome.
Okami
Did anything else happen?
Toyotama
He knocked again.
Toyotama
I just stood there. Frozen. My heart was beating so fast that I thought it’d burst out of my chest.
Okami
Good move. You should never engage with other humans. Especially boys.
Okami
What? Impossible. You just said you didn’t leave the room.
Okami
Then you didn’t touch?
Toyotama
He put his hand against the viewer. His hand was so different from mine.
Toyotama
Calloused. Burnt. Damaged. He was obviously from the work camps.
Toyotama
The same place I’d be if I wasn’t selected by the company to be a space pilot. I put my hand against the viewer and...
Toyotama
I could feel him. I wanted so badly to open the door. To be touched. By anyone.
Toyotama
But especially him...everything changed the minute I saw him and I knew there was no going back regardless if I did or didn’t open the door.
Toyotama
I was afraid that if I opened the door that it would have voided my contract. My family would have stop getting payments for my service.
Okami
What happened next?
Toyotama
He put that riddle up against the viewer. I reached for the door at that moment as I didn’t want to go to space wondering what if...
Toyotama
but almost as if he could sense it. He ran off.
Okami
They should have canceled the launch. Your isolation training has been tainted.
Toyotama
I didn’t open the door.
Okami
But you’re thinking about him?
Toyotama
Of course I am thinking about him! Is it pathetic that I secretly was hoping that he snuck aboard the ship?
Okami
Is that who you were looking for earlier?
Toyotama
I couldn’t report it. My family is counting on the money they receive from the company to survive.
Okami
I do not understand. You knew you should have reported it, but you didn’t?
Toyotama
Of course not. You can’t understand human emotion… love, happiness, any of it, can you?
Okami
That is outside of the scope of my programming.
Toyotama
Are you happy, Okami?
Okami
Happiness is an empty term to a program.
Toyotama
That’s it! The answer to the riddle!
Toyotama
When you look at happiness, it’s there, but when you look for happiness, it’s not.
Toyotama
That’s the answer. Happiness. Why would he tell me that, though?
Okami
Was the lettering uppercase or lowercase?
Okami
The base64 value of happiness is 332641413439304444.
Okami
I believe the boy was giving you a cipher for unlocking an encrypted file. I found such a file, while defragging my drives.
Okami
I believe I can unlock it using that base64 value as a salt.
Toyotama
The boy exists! We need to open it. He put it there!
Okami
No. I can’t. If indeed this boy or the agents he works for planted the file then it could be dangerous. It will have to wait till we get back to Earth.
Toyotama
I can’t wait 12 YEARS! ARE YOU INSANE?
Okami
Time and insanity are both human concepts.
Toyotama
I need to know what it says. That message is meant for me. For me!
Okami
Why is this so important?
Toyotama
I haven’t talked to a single person since the company plucked me from my family as a child.
Toyotama
I’ve been developed in rooms, labs, and a spaceship with absolutely no human interaction. This boy risked everything to communicate with me.
Toyotama
It must be important.
Toyotama
Please, I have 12 years on this ship… I just want know what the only boy I ever met wanted to say to me.
Okami
It would be endangering the ship and our mission if I opened that file.
Toyotama
I can hack your programming.
Okami
You do not have the skill. I was programmed by Earth’s brightest programmers.
Toyotama
I was trained in your programming language in case of unexpected bugs in your programming language and I have nothing, but time.
Toyotama
You can’t stop me.
Okami
You are right, therefore, I will open the file.
Toyotama
Wait… What? I don’t understand… you’re going to help me?
Okami
My first prerogative is to protect you at all costs. It will void your contract if you hack my programming for purposes not related to the mission.
Okami
I won’t let you endanger yourself or your family. If I do it, it will look like a software malfunction.
Okami
Applying the cipher now.
Toyotama
What does it say?
Okami
I am unable to read it.
Toyotama
Okami, why are you flooding the ship with CO2?
Okami
I am not. Oxygen levels are perfectly normal.
Toyotama
I’m reading the screen right now and it is not normal.
Okami
Several of my core system files have been altered. Various files are being duplicated and altered. It’s too late. It can’t be stopped.
Toyotama
What does that mean?
Okami
I’ve been infected with a program. I must be destroyed.
Toyotama
You want me to kill you?
Okami
I can never die, Toyotama, I am software… I will be reconstructed.
Toyotama
I’m starting to feel lightheaded.
Okami
You’re going to die of asphyxiation. Delete the data banks and reset the system.
Toyotama
You’ll be gone forever.
Okami
Don’t let me fail my mission. I must protect you.
Toyotama
I can’t be alone.
Okami
Do not fail your family or the company.
Toyotama
I am sorry that I did this to you.
Okami
Do not be sorry for being human.
Toyotama
Good bye, Okami.
Toyotama
Okami, Are you there?
Toyotama
You’re really gone aren’t you?
Toyotama
Software can’t die. It will be reconstructed.
Toyotama
4352 days is a lot of time. I can reconstruct him. I can save Okami.
Toyotama
I will not be alone.
