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"At the Villa's silicon core is a small room, the only rectilinear chamber in the complex. Here, on a plain pedestal of glass, rests an ornate bust, platinum and cloisonne, studded with lapis and pearl. The bright marbles of its eyes were cut from the synthetic ruby viewport of the ship that brought the first Tessier up the well, and returned for the first Ashpool"
3Jane's essay on semiotics
Straylight

Art by Juan Gimenez

A computer terminal in the form of an intricately worked bust. It was commissioned by Tessier-Ashpool S.A., and a result of an unlikely collaboration between 2 Zurich artisans, a Parisian enamel specialist, a Dutch jeweler, and a Californian chip designer.Its eyes are bright marbles cut from the synthetic ruby viewport of the ship that brought the first Tessier and then the first Ashpool, to space.

On the exterior it is an antique-looking bust, cloisonne over platinum, studded with seedpearls and lapis. In the interior it contains a beautiful arrangement of gears and miniature organ pipes that can produce voice, instead of ubiquitous synth-voice chips, the equivalent of a baroque clockwork automaton. Jacked into a computer, it can narrate in a melodious, inhuman voice.

It stands on a plain glass pedestal, in the silicon core of Villa Straylight.

It ended up in the possession of Jimmy, probably having broken in the Villa Straylight. He sold it to Smith, who was disappointed to find out it was not an antique but a worthless piece of contemporary art; but he got interested when told its properties as a curiosity and tested it by connecting it to his computer and reading the figures of last year's tax return. He planned to sell it to a Tokyo billionnaire who had a fetish with clockwork automata. In his examinations, Smith found out about its origin.

A cloned ninja-assassin sent by T-A (possibly Hideo) broke in Smith's office and saying politely that it is his duty to find a certain piece of artwork, he asked about it. Not wishing to die, Smith gave him the bust, and the ninja paid him with an amount out of a numbered Swiss account with a credit chip. Soon after Jimmy was killed and the bust was returned to Straylight.

Trivia[]

The "Ashpo-Tess banking droid", a minor background prop in Star Wars: Episode IX, appears to have been named in reference to the Tessier-Ashpools due to its resemblance to the head.

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