A/N: Written for the Caesar's Palace "Life is Just One Huge Song" Challenge (Machines - EMD/Dance prompt). The song this is base on youtube dot com/watch?v=9PE-Ru2JZdg which is a remix of what I call the "Hymn of the Tachikoma."

"Every time Mr. Saito tells us the story about meeting the Major, it's different," the Tachicoma complained to Batou. "Is there something wrong with his cyber-brain?"

Batou laughed. "Which one is he telling this time? The sniper shoot out?"

"No, it was the drunken bender in Hong Kong," Pazu replied. "That man should have been a professional storyteller."

"He already is; he's the best con man I know," Batou said, taking a sip of his synthetic beer.

"What do you mean, Mr. Batou?" the curious Tachicoma asked.

"I believe every one of the stories he tells. For someone with an almost full natural body, that man has the best poker face I've ever seen."

"So, what's the real story?" the Tachicoma asked.

"No one knows but Saito and the Major," Pazu lamented.

"It wasn't the shootout then? When you were a ranger in Mexico?"

"Not unless they cyber-hacked my brain and erased the memory -"

"Not that I'd put it passed them," Pazu said, cutting him off. "Secrets are their bread and butter."

"True, at this point... we'll never know the truth."

The Tachicoma accessed cyberspace and knocked at the Major's lobby.

"What?" she asked as she divided her attention between the data and the A.I. unit.

"How did you meet Mr. Saito, Major?"

She sighed. "What yarn is he telling now?"

"That you met trying to defuse a bomb in Hong Kong," it answered.

"That's plausible enough," she told the curious A.I., dismissing the question.

"But is it the truth?"

"Truth is relative, Tachicoma. Memories are fluid and fleeting, even in a cyber-brain they are harder to access once they've been relegated to long-term memory."

"You don't remember meeting, Mr. Saito?"

"I didn't say that. What's wrong with your short-term recall? Report to maintenance."

The Tachicoma left her lobby and headed to the maintenance repair bay. On its way there, it came across the sniper in question.

"Mr. Saito?" it asked.

"What is it?" he replied, his voice lazy and indolent.

"Will you tell us another story tonight?"

"About what?"

"How you met the Major."

He laughed, "It's no fun when you know I'm spinning tales."

"No, it's lots of fun, Mr. Saito. We're trying to solve the mystery. We even created our own algorithm to figure out which is the most likely."

"Alright then," he laughed, "I'm off at 23:00 hours. I'll get something to eat and I'll tell you a story."

"Thank you, Mr. Saito."

"My pleasure," he said with a smile, then watched as the Tachicoma happily hummed as it sped off to maintenance.