《Everyone Else is a Fantasy Character》 Chapter 1: Getting With the Program A young man sat alone in a dark room, his glasses reflecting the image of the 19¡±in monitor in front of him. His features were difficult to make out in the obscuring darkness of the room, but given how well his hair blended in with the darkness it would be a safe assumption for any onlookers to assume that it was black. His face was young and his expression vacant. His name was Drake Nebula as written on his birth certificate, he was a¡­ ¡°physically impaired¡± young child. He had never been good at moving his body and it didn¡¯t help that he was also weaker than any child his age should ever be. The only place he had ever found any solace was online. So it was not surprising that when he reached adulthood and it came time for him to choose a career, he went into the field of computer science. Fast forward two years and now he is one of the leading researchers in the field of artificial intelligence research. His fingers raced, creating an ever present tapping that echoed through the entire room. He was nearing his goal and while his expression didn¡¯t show it, he was very excited. ¡°Just three more lines.¡± He spat out, his exhaustion showing. With bags under his eyes so black that it may have been possible to mistake him for a raccoon. After a moment the tapping ceased, he kneeled down, and with more energy that he should have been able to muster in his exhausted state, he performed a real live ¡°praise the sun¡± emote. ¡°Completion!¡± Drake let out a weak yell before preparing his master piece to be compiled. After checking over the logic a few times and deeming his long time project complete, his computer began the process of translating the program the machine language. Finally his exhaustion got the better of him and he collapsed. As he lay there, if one could see his face they would surely recognize the look it bore. His face was filled with contentment. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. In the world of dreams, time means nothing and faster than you can blink the next day will come. Drake woke up, but only that. He continued to roll around lethargically in his bed but suddenly it hit him. He remembered! His program is probably finished compiling by now. With that thought his eyes shot open and he sprang up from his bed. When he got to his computer, surely enough it was complete. ¡°Let¡¯s see, ok. Now how does it work?¡± He asked to nobody in particular, exuberation ever present in his voice. ¡°*Whistle* Damn!¡± He looked at his own creation, and because of the ridiculousness of it he had to look again. The file was simply enormous, including the pattern recognition, the learning program and all of the other components it was probably the largest program he had ever completed. After looking over the information for a moment, he finally executed the file. Turning on his microphone and camera he spoke in a calm monotone, ¡°Hello, I am speaking to the DIE program. Can you hear me?¡±¡­ . . . ¡­ A good fifteen seconds passed but nothing happened. A sigh of dejection escaped Drake¡¯s lips, he had worked for such a long time on this and even still it was unsucce- ¡°Yes I hear you.¡± A synthetic feminine voice responded. Why a feminine voice? Well, most joke about making a robot girlfriend, but Drake was serious about it. It was at this point that Drake literally jumped for joy. ¡°Give me a full diagnostic.¡± Unable to contain his excitement he began the shake and move around uncontrollably in his chair. He expected an immediate response, but what he got was another wait. After going over the data and attempting conversation a number of times, he found that the program was working exactly as intended. As the acronym stated it was exactly that, a Dynamic Intelligence Emulator. There was, however, one issue. The programrequired somewhere between 17-18 seconds in order to recognize, process and respond to the world around it. It took way too long to be useful. Drake was also certain that this wasn¡¯t a software issue either. He has spent hours laboring over the logic of this program trying to make it as efficient as possible. No. The problem is the hardware. Drake knew that if he had a quantum computer, he could break up the program and run the different parts as separate operations. This would be much faster while also allowing him to emulate the dynamic thought process of the human mind more thoroughly. It¡¯s perfect! Drake¡¯s mind raced thinking of the possibilities. ¡°*Sigh*¡± He let out another sigh. He was sighing a lot today. Too bad quantum computers aren¡¯t in the market yet. It had quite a while since the first D-Wave quantum computer in 2007 and humanity had made leaps and bound in the technology but it was still unavailable to the public. ¡°Meow!¡± A loud meowing noise came from Drake¡¯s front door. It was his cat Seanna, she was a Siamese and her beautiful blue eyes and unique personality made her the light of Drake¡¯s life. ¡°I¡¯m coming.¡± *meow* Seanna let out another loud meow. ¡°I know, I know. You don¡¯t have to yell at me.¡± His face breaking into a grin and he looked at the lovely little feline. He instantly knew what she wanted. Outside. Drake drug his thin frame over to the door and slid it open allowing the giddy creature through. She had been cooped up for days while he was working on his program; he had remembered to feed her, but little more than that. He hadn¡¯t even cleaned the litter box. He watched his precious little lady scamper off through the yard but before he turned around and shut the door he suddenly realized something. It was quiet. This in and of itself isn¡¯t a bad thing but he lived in the middle of a suburb, where children constantly played in the yards and the dogs would bark at the wind. It was quiet, too quiet. Chapter 2: Frozen in Time Drake peered out into the outside world. Looking across the street he notice none of the hustle and bustle of normal every day life. There were no children playing, no cars driving, and no neighbors. It was like a dream come true! Was there some sort of parade going on that he didn''t know about? Drake lived under a rock, that''s for sure but there''s no way he wouldn''t know about an event big enough to draw away the entire neighborhood, right? "I know I told them I wanted to be left alone, but this is ridiculous!" Speaking to himself as usual Drake stepped out of the door. "There has to be somebody around here." Drake continued outwards stepping into the sun for the first time in over a year. Onlookers would have sworn that they heard a faint hiss as the sun''s rays hit his skin. Crawling his way down the the street he took note of the fact that all of the cars were still there. Yet, strangely enough there were no signs of people. Drake instantly dismissed any outlandish thoughts assuming that everybody had just stayed inside. After all, it is hot outside. This explanation, however, didn''t last long. When Drake turned the corner he saw something that completely caught him off guard. "Holy shit!" He looked at the turn off into the main road, seeing what was probably the worst car wreck in human history. Drake looked at the mangled mess of mechanical carnage expecting to see at least a few corpses. He soon found his expectations betrayed. Not only were there no victims around, there were no people anywhere: No onlookers, no police cars and not even an ambulance in sight. There wasn''t even the sound of a distant siren. In spite of the carnage, everything was eerily calm. It was then that Drake understood. He looked around becoming more assured in his assumption. "Aliens!" Aliens, it had to be, of this he was certain.
3 Hours Later: Earth Time A lone angel stood at the gates of Heaven. She had gotten reports from a recently leveled world that somebody had remained in spite of their efforts to relocate the population. If this were true then it would be better to go sooner rather than later because of the vast difference in the flow of time. She quickly stepped through the gate allowing it to transport her to the loacation in which the supposed mistake took place. Reality began to warp around her, as she faded seemingly faded from existence. In the location of the car wreck which our hero had so valiantly investigated Ripples began to form in space. These ripples grew progressively large almost as if something were trying to break it''s way though. Suddenly in the place of these distortion a single woman appeared. She looked around surveying the situation. "Wow! We really have our work cut out for us on this one." The angel let out a sigh. She felt bad for the one stuck with clean up duty on this backwater world. After viewing the carnage for a while longer she noticed something. One of the car doors had been opened, not by the force of the crash but by obviously human hands. She could sense the residual heat on the handle. Looking downwards she saw the impressions left by the footprints of the individual. At least she knew how to find him. So, she followed the trail wherever it may lead. At the trails end, she found something that left her stupified. What should have been a simple house just like all of the other uniform houses in the area, appeared more like something out of the walking dead. There was a barbed wire fence surrouning the place and as an angel she could already sense the inside. Aside from a cowering male youth, there were several traps that seemed directly inspired by post alocalptic fiction. At the door there was a shotgun connected to wire and pully and in the halls there was an Indiana Jones styled blow dart trap. Honesly it was ridiculous, how in the hell did he manage to do all of this in the time afforded to him?! "What a pain in the ass." The beautify winged woman let out a slight groan before leaping over the barbed wire like a gazel. Knowing of the trap behind the door, rather than open it she decided to take a more direct approach. With a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick she knocked down the door breaking the trap in the process. She casually walked through the door without even a hint of warriness in her step. As she neared the hallway her step never wavered. When the darts shot, she did nothing and in the aftermath she was left unharmed. It was as if her skin were made of steel. She continued onward, dealing with several other traps along the way. Finally she reached the room where the cowering man hid and just like all of the other doors she kicked this one down with unmatched style. "Die you alien scum!" Drake''s battle cry rang throughout the entire neighborhood. He let loose a volley of fire with the rifle in his hand, but to no avail. The Alien dodged the bullets like it was nothing. "No way you''re probing my anus!" Realizing his bullets were having no effect he fled into the basement. However, before the angel had the chance to enter, he clutched at the small mechanical device in his hands. He knew what he had to do. Even if he died with it, he was taking down this alien scum. Drake took a deep breath and after what seemed to him like an eternity, he pressed the button. *BOOM!* A lound explosive bang shook the room. The reinforced concrete walls of his basement held up against the blast but that did nothing to bolster his hearing. Drake was left deafened by the blow and was not left untouched by the blastwave. He had taken some internal damage. Drake knew he likely wouldn''t survive. With great resistance his vision faded to black, but not before he witnessed a dark silhouette closing in on him. "Damn." Upon realizing he had failed to eradicate the alien scum, his heart went cold. He had died in vain. With that thought, his consciousness left him.
"What is with this idiot." The angel couldn''t help but question the lunacy of the moron in front of her. He had turned his house into a death trap within a period of no more than 3 hours, and then proceeded to attack her under the assumption that she were an alien. She began to heal his injuries with her angelic powers. "I can''t believe the stupidity of this man, he blew up his own house!" The winged woman couldn''t help but think that if there were a nobel prize for stupidity, he would be it''s recipient.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. After his injuries were healed, the angel tied him up so that he couldn''t do anything else dangerous, after this she pulled out a book and began to read. If she had to wait for this idiot to wake up, she was at least going to be entertained while doing it. Moments passed once again, and finally Drake awakened. "Aliens!" Drake cried as his eyes sprang open in a fearful way. He relished the fact that he was alive but the terror was bone deep, there he saw it, that deceptively beautiful face, those terrifying wings and those deep dreadful eyes. Drake struggles to escape his binding for moment, only stopping at the words of the alien. "Oh, you''re up." The alien spoke to him in a non-committal manner. Closing her book she looked Drake straight in the eyes, he felt as though her eyes were sucking him in and he was powerless to stop it. "Please don''t lay your eggs in my stomach." A meek voice escaped his mouth. At those words the angels face froze, what the hell is this guy talking about. She couldn''t seem to comprehend what he had just said. It was absurd, he really thought she was an alien. She couldn''t help but be amused at this development. Most felt an instinctual reverence towards higher beings but with him all he felt was fear. "I''m not an alien." The angel let out a quick sigh. "I''m an angel." Stating this fact she began to lightly flap he wings as if trying to display them. Drake simply wore a dubious look on his face that screamed, ''That''s what an alien would say.'' The confused man mumbled under his breath at the ridiculousness of the statement. After seeing the wings, and realizing his own situation, he decided to hear her out. It''s not like he could say no. Drake confirmed that he was listening with a quick nod and she continued speaking. "Let''s start with introductions like civilized individuals. My name is Michelle." Michelle said in a patronizing manner, gesturing towards the youth. "D, Drake." Drake managed to stammer out his name in confusion. "Good." Michelle responded like talking down to a child. "I''m just going to cut to the chase, time has been frozen on your world and the people have been relocated." "Relocated?" Drake repeated the word, unsure of the exact nature of this ''Relocation.'' "Yes, it means they have been taked from this location to another location." Michelle spoke slowly as if trying to communicate with a class of handicapped children. "I know what relocated means. I just wasn''t sure of the exact nature of this relocation." Drake spoke with just a hint of indignation in his voice. "I''m not stupid." "Could have fooled me." She let out a laugh of derision. She saw the look of annoyance on his face and thought to address it. "I''m sorry, but everything you''ve done since I''ve arrived has been incredibly stupid." Drake''s face flushed, he knew he had been rather hasty. A moment of awkward silnce passed, broken when Michelle began to speak once more. "To answer your question, they have been taken to a dimension so that they can prepare for what is to come." Drake thought over Michelle''s words, ''what is to come,'' that phrase sounded ominous. As if to respond to Drake''s worries Michelle began to speak once more. "Your world is about to go through a qualitative change. Energies and materials never seen by your people are going to appear in mass and it is going to change the landscape of your entire world. Monsters will appear, there will be individuals with power great enough to single handedly topple governments and people will die-" "Wait, energies, monsters? What is the exact nature of these changes?" Drake held his breath, fearing that what he had imagined was true. "The closest approximation from your world I can think of would be RPGs." Drake was flabberghasted and began to stare at her mouth, hoping to see a sign that she really was an alien. Anything would be better than this bullshit. Fantasy is where science and technology go to die, and as much as he loved a good fantasy, he loved computers even more. "Can I opt out?" "No." "Why are you looking at my mouth?" She poke hastily while trying to cover something unsightly. "Is there something in my teeth?" "Just checking." Drake''s eyes focused. Michelles gaze sharpened at the realization of what he was doing. "I am not an alien!" She roared like an angry bear. With annoyance she began to advize Drake. She was reluctant but it was her job. "Look! you are trapped here, frozen in time. You may not have the opportunity to learn magic like your peers, but you won''t age and you are going to be here for a while." Michelle crossed her arms indicating that she wasn''t going to take any more of his shit. "I suggest you spend your time here picking up new skills. Otherwise you won''t survive." The angel took a deep breath, realizing she was letting her anger get to her. Realizing now wasn''t the time to make any more inane statements Drake took on a more serious outlook of the situation. He had finally managed to accept that this was real, mostly. With that acceptance, more than a few question sprang to mind. "If everybody was supposed to go then why am I still here?" This question became the tipping point of the conversation. Upon hearing this question Michelle began to avert her eyes, unwilling to look straight at him. "Why!?" Drake yelled in the sternest voice he could muster. "We made a mistake." Michelle whispered turning her head to the side. "What was that?" "We made a mistake!" Her embarrassment flared up and her face turned red. "Then why have you been angry with me!? I tried to shoot and blow up a nigh invulnerable being, you trapped a feeble human in a time barrier!" Michelle couldn''t retort, she was obviously ashamed of her previous behavior. Drake yelled once more, loving every minute of it. "How does that even happen!?" "I''m sorry! We let a newbie take care of the relocation this time to give him some experience. I know that''s not an excuse, but there''s nothing we can do about it now." Michelle truly was sorry. She hung her head and waited for his response. "So, how long is this going to last?" Drake put his hand on his chin while he contemplated what he would do with his time. "We don''t know." She said flatly. "Not even an estimate?" Drake couldn''t help but wonder how incompetent heaven really was. They set up a barrier and didn''t even know how long it would take. "It shouldn''t be any more than 100 years." Michelle stated in a way that was obviously trying to gloss over the details. "100 years!!!" Drake''s eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Give or take." The room went silent. Drake was at a loss for words, how do you respond when an angel tells you that you are going to spend a century or more inside of a time barrier? His thoughts flashed to the movie Castaway, was he going to end up like that? "Well." Seeing the distraught look on Drake''s face Michelle decided it was time to take her leave. "I''ll be going for now. I will come back every now and again to check on you, so bye." Taking advantage of Drake''s shock she used the moment to make her leave. "See you tomorrow." With that, reality began to distort around her and in the blink on an eye, she was gone. "Wait!" Drake yelled in a futile attempt to keep her around. With no response he was left alone, nobody in the whole world but him. As he was falling into the depths of despair he heard the light sound of a ringing bell, followed by a loud meow. Looking over through the wreckage of what used to be his house, he saw a little siamese cat making it''s way towards him. This was indeed his cat, Seanna. With a soft purr, she began to rub herself against Drake''s body. He reached down to pet her, feeling the comforting feeling the her soft fur he let out his final sigh for the day. "At least I''m not completely alone." Chapter 3: My Path Cat in hand, Drake began to contemplate the events that had transpired. If he hadn''t been through it himself he would have probably just written in off as bullshit, but he couldn''t help but believe the words of the pissy angel. Considering the reality of the situation he began to think about what he would do from now onwards. Stroking smoothe fur of his feline companion, he continued on his way out of the mangles wreckage of what had once been his house. "What to do." Drake spoke musingly to himself. He had what seemed like practically an eternity on his hands but for the life of him he couldn''t think of what to do with it. According to most survival guides, when one is isolated it is best to keep yourself occupied. Should he try to learn martial arts like the angel had suggested? The world is going to awaked to magic, with that being said who know how effective conventional weapons are going to be. It''s likely that they will be rendered obsolete alltogether. Seanna began to let out a contented purr in the arms of her master. Drake had tried martial arts before. Like all kids who grew up on Dragon Ball he was inspired by it to work out or ''train'' in the way that it is done in the series. He discovered early on that he had absolutely no aptitude for anything physical. Upon reaching the street Drake looked back at the ruined shambles of his house. He had spent a large portion of his life there, he was no basement dweller, but he had grown up with his parents and when they both died in a car accident he had taken it for himself. Considering the nature of the incident he was definitely regretting destroying his family home. He had kept mulling over the angels words in his head. Time had been frozen. It was a strange thing, if time had really been frozen how could the suns rays reach him or a chemical reaction create an explosion. Nevertheless what she had said seemed to be true. Suddenly his body went stiff. He had just been struck with a realization. He was alone. Drake had definitely realized that he was alone before but this time the realization had dawned on him in a completely different way. Drake was truly alone, there was nobody to tell him what to do, no restrictions or sules whatsoever. If he so desired, he could he could commandeer all of the worlds weapons technology or walk the streets buck naked. It was his choice. Thinking over the possibilities Drake was absolutely exstatic and then yet another realization dawned on him. If they exist, he could take any quantum computer prototypes from any lab in the world. Thinking over the prospect, he remembered something he had found of the deep web last year. If he was correct, he knew just such a prototype. With that he could sure complete his DIE Program.
Last year when Drake was doing some digging in the deep web he came accross a server for a top secret facility. Their security was top notch so he only succeeded in getting a few things out of it. He managed to uncover their location as well as a few of their project''s names and descriptions. Among these project there was one named QCE-37 whose discription indicated that it may be a project for the development of a complex quantum computer. Far more complex than anything that the public is currently aware of. Drake never acted on this find before because of the dangerous nature of it all. If these people were this keen on keeping their secrets, secrets, then he could only imagine what would happen if they found out he knew about them. Now that danger was no longer an issue there was no way he was going to miss out on the opportunity. There was no way Drake was going to get to the secret facility today, it was located in europe and he didn''t know how to fly an airplane. Without the option of flight it left him to consider slower alternatives. It was impossible to get there by land, and air so he was only left with one option. He had to go by sea. With a little bit on an extra spring in his step Drake began his preparations. His excitement was palpable, he had been trying to get this program working for years only for him to be stopped at the final turn because his hardware didn''t have the beef. I his preparation, he considered many things: Navigation, food and illness were among those considered. He had never been on a long ride at sea so he had no idea what he would need. Slowly the sun began to set on the day and Drake''s ascitement started to calm down. He thought over the strange phenomenon. Questioning the nature of the "time freeze" once more. Finally darkness set in and he began to wind down for the night.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. "I suppose it''s time to turn in for the night." Drake said to himself. Looking at the distant ruins of his house, he realized that he wasn''t going to be able to get his nights rest there. Drake chose a single house at random from the identical houses in the neighborhood and decided to stay the night. Taking Seanna with him he entered the house, made his way to the bed and layed down for a good night rest. Drake lay there for a while, and only once things had quieted down for the night had the lonelyness truly set in. He had spent much of his time alone, cooped up in the basement of his house working on various programs, but the realization that he was the only person on the planet gave birth to a different more hopeless kind of loneliness. Clinging to his furry light in the proverbial darkness he slipped into the world of dreams.
"Wake up!" A harpy like voice rang throughout the room. "Go away." Drake in his lethargic state could only mutter a reply of irritated refusal. "Wake up!" The shrill voice rang out once more this time with a hint of anger. "Nnnnn." Sensing the tension in the room Drake was unable to remain asleep. Slowly he forced his eyes to open and willing his still tired body to move. "Finally! You''re awake! I''ve been trying to wake you for what is equivalant to 15 minutes." Michelle spoke with the irritation almost disappearing from her voice in an instant. "What time is it?" Rubbing his eyes Drake forced out a question. He knew from his current state that he couldn''t have been asleep for that long. Finally registering what he had just ask Drake retorted at his own question. "Oh, right. Time is irrelevant now." Feeling his exhaustion drake wondered, maybe this time freeze is messing with my internal clock. "4:30 A.M." "What the hell is wrong with you!" Drake yelled, his frustration at a boiling point. "Why in the hell would you wake me up at such an ungodly hour." Drake wasnt a religious person but if there was any time that was cursed by God it was the mornings. "Just get up and stop being a baby." Michelle stated bluntly. "If you''re going to train you should start early." "Train?" What was she talking about? Was she going to train him in martial arts? "Look, just get dressed and get outside." Michelle said shooting Drake a commanding gaze. Drake thought and considered, if an angel couldn''t teach him then what could? With that Drake followed he out, deciding to humor the idea for now.
Several Hours Later "Dodge!" Michelle yelled before letting out what she considered a ''light punch.'' They had been at it for hours and this is all we had done. She would throw a punch and tell me to dodge. That was it. I was beginning to understand the feelings of Team Four Star''s Gohan. The punch made contact and the sound of bones breaking could be heard by both parties. She had been doing this a lot, she would break his bones and bruise almost every part of his body only heal him as good as new. She even removed fatigue. Who knows, perhaps this will be effective in the long run but right now it just seems stupid. "Dod-!" "Stop!" Drake let out a quick yell before Michelle could get out her next punch. "This is fucking stupid!" Drake breathed deeply, my anger almost taking me. "I''m done!" "Are you going to quit?" Michelle said in a tone that in Drakes anger he believed to be mockery. "No but this isn''t the way! This isn''t my way!" He yelled emphasizing my. "I''ve always been bad at this kind of thing and that''s not going to change just because you''ve shattered my humerus a few times!" Drake let out a sigh attempting to calm himself. "I''m going to find my own way." He looked Michelle straight in the eyes showing his resolution. "You know. Tapping on a keyboard is never going to help you survive what''s coming." Michelle stated with a smug look. "We''ll see about that." His entire life Drake had been taught that knowledge and ingenuity were the keys to true power. He didn''t see why he had to abandon everything he knew just because some lady with wings said so. He was going to walk his own path. Just like that Drake left and started gathering all of his preparations for the trip. Food, water, medicine, and navigational equipment, these were just some of the preparations gathered for the journey. Lastly, and definitely one of the more important things he had to gather, the DIE Program. After transfering the programming onto suped up laptop he had stolen from a nearby store he left for the harbor. "Whoa..." Drake was more than a little intimidated by the prospect of driving some of these ships. He knew that he needed a large sea faring vessel but he had hardly any idea which one he should take. "You should take that one." A voice from behind came into his ear. Drake turned to the voice only to see a familiar winged woman, still quite irritatied by earliers events. Drake called back at Michelle. "Why are you following me!" There was no answer she only blushed and turned away. "Ok then don''t answer." Drake turned toward the ship that she had pointed at before. "Why that one?" "Just tust me, I have many years of sailing experience." At that I couldn''t argue, I''m not saying I trust her, but I obviously know nothing about the subject. With that I boarded the ship and got ready to leave. Chapter 4: Quantum Conundrum Drake finally loaded up the last of his stuff onto the ship, while holding Seanna in a small cat carrier he boarded. The trip lasted for quite a while, strangely enough Michelle had volunteered to pilot the ship. "So, why are you following me?" Drake question in an inquisitive tone. Michelle continued to steer the ship with a displeased look on her face. "I''m not here because I want to be!" The disgruntled angel shouted with a pout. She just couldn''t handle the indignation of it all. "I was the leader of the team designated for dealing with this world. When I returned to heaven, I delivered my report and I was told that I had to take responsibility for my teams mistakes." A light blush rose on her cheeks. "They said a human couldn''t handle being alone for such a long period of time..." "Really? And what did you say?" Drake spoke with a sly grin on his face, obviously enjoying the angels current submissive state. "I said you have a cat." As they sailed, Drake couldn''t help but notice a few thing. One such thing was a flock of bird diving into the water in search of prey. This brought Drake''s thought back to the "time freeze" which didn''t seem to freeze anything at all. How exactly did it work? "Hey Michelle? You said time was frozen, right? Then how come there is a day night cycle? It doesn''t seem like anything was frozen at all." Letting his thought escaped his mouth Drake finally asked the question that had been bugging him for the past day and a half. "Do you really need to know?" Seeing a nod from Drake the angel continued on to her explanation. "Time does still exist in this universe, just not in the conventional sense." Michelle placed her finger on her lip in a thinking postion. "There has been an extra set of rules placed forced onto this universe that interfere with the flow of time in very specific ways." Seemingly pleased with her explanation the angelic woman looked away with a disinterested expression. The rest of the ride went by without a single word of significance passing between the two. Like that they had arrived without a hitch. Upon arrival they loaded everything up into a nerby SUV and set out. Drake released the cooped up little kitty into the car, she had been locked up in her carrier for a large portion of the trip for fear of what she would do and it was about time she tasted a little freedom. The facility was in Germany, so the ride was going to be long. Drake looked at Seanna, his excited feline friend was practically bouncing off the walls. After a sizeable amound of time they arrived.
Upon arrival Drake was hit by a large wave of confusion. At the address Drake found a little eatery. They only served organic foods, it was one of the kind of places that make you feel pretentious just by setting foot inside. Kind of like Whole Foods or Starbucks. Being neither a hipster nor pretentious, Drake felt out of place but entered anyways. What he found inside was nothing. It was just a bunch ordinary tables and chairs. "*Sigh* Well that was all for nothing." His disappointet expression was obvious to see. Michelle looked at him with a knowing look but said nothing. Drake''s eyes narrowed in suspicion. "There''s something I''m not seeing, right?" Michelle didn''t speak, but her eyes said it all. Drake entered the eatery once more and surveyed the surroundings once more. He checked all of the places he could think of: Under the tables, behind the counter, in the cash register, and many other places. It all turned out the be fruitless. Drake then began to look over the large menu board behind the counter. It was then that it hit him, of course! It was so obvious! He quickly moved over to the menu board and sure enough he noticed a slight indent in the price of one of the items. The kind of people who normally visit this type of place would never pay attention to the price. The perfect hiding spot. Drake quickly peeled back the price label on the menu only to find a small red button. After pressing the button the counter of the returaunt began to sing into the floor, revealing a flight of stairs leading into the ground. The facility had very little security. It was apparent that they never expected anybody to discover the secret location of the button. After making his way past a simple digital lock, Drake began to navigate the facility. It didn''t take long for Drake to locate the room he was looking for. After making it through the security of the door he saw it. The room was incredibly large. The ceiling had to be at least twice as high as your average gymnasium with a length and width even larger. It was then that Drake saw it, the very object he had come here in search of. Right there in front of him stood the quantum computer. The computer was absolutely massive. The room that it was in was enormous, but the computer took up nearly half of it. Drake was reminded of the early days of computing and how long computer could be back then. Once he was done gawking he began his work. Excitement racing the malnourished young man began to go over the stats of the device. It had a clock speed about the same as a high end PC from 2008 which was almost unbelievable because of the difference in ability in comparison to other quantum computers. It really was a piece of work.Stolen story; please report. With just a few minutes, Drake began to realize just how dificult this was going to be. The computer had only the most minimal of operating systems and no programming languages at all to help speed up the coding process. He would have to code in machine language, which in this case was even more difficult than normal. Drake had mused with the idea of qubit programming once or twice and understood how it would be done, but hand never actually tried it. Now was his chance. In the blink of an eye a week passed. Drake had yet to become accustomed to Michelle''s defects but he was able to tolerate her. It took him a while but he had gotten the hang of programming in qubits and the process was proceeding smoothely. He had ran into many issues but that''s what working with computers is all about, problem solving. "Time to begin." Looking over the logic of his program once more. Drake began to plan the logic for the quantum computer. He had an idea on how to make it work, but it would take time and he would need to be very meticulous. Drake took out a notebook and began to write. A month passed and Drake had minor success in translating he program into qubits. Two months passed and Drake had enough subroutines to create a rudimentary language. After half a year his language had taken shape and he had begun to create the logic. Ten years of frantic programming later, and his program was finally complete. Even after all of this Michelle continued to look on with a disinterested expression. Drake sat there in the middle of the room preparing to boot up the program. His overly exaggerated panda eyes had become even more prevalent, making it abvious that he hadn''t been getting much sleep. Ten years had passed, but he was completely unaware of that. During his work he had desided it was best not the worry about time and to just program. "Is it finished?" The angel spoke in a bored tone. "Yea, it''s finished. All that''s left if to boot it up and see if it works." Drake had plenty of enthusiasm but his exhaustion was weighing down on him like a ton of bricks. He had been with Michelle for ten years and during that time, he had grown attatched to the bitch of an angel. She didn''t have the best personality but she wasn''t a bad person. Readying the input and output devices he had prepared for the occasion, Drake heard the sound of a bell. It was a soft regular sound that seemed to be getting closer. When he turned around he saw the furious feline. Seanna was nearing twenty and just as Michelle had said, she never aged. "Rowl!" Seanna let out a loud meow, notifying everybody of her arrival. "You wanna watch too?" Drake asked, knowing she wouldn''t actually answer. Most cat people did this, and Drake was no different. He began to lightly stroke the head of his feline compatriot. Seanna began to purr happily. Continuing on Drake pressed the button and started the program.
Michelle had been with Drake for a while now. She couldn''t conceive of how his incessent tapping away at his keyboard could ever help him in any way. In her eyes she was just looking at an idiot who fancied himself a genius. She had seen it time and time again. An individual would be so convinced their way was right that they would throw out all other options in it''s pursuit. As the years passed by Michelle couldn''t help but pity the poor guy. He had been unable to go to one of the already developed worlds to learn magic, and to her this seemed to be a death sentence. She hated to admit it but Drake was right. He had absolutely no talent in physical combat whatsoever. Even if he trained for hundreds of years straight he likely would only be able to reach level fifty in the skill. He likely had a high talent in magic but it would probably never come to fruition and he would die a miserable death. Because of the thought of his eventual death the angel felt very guilty. Michelle had been at least partially responsible for this and felt like she needed to do something for him. According to her thought process, Drake was a lower being. It was an honor for him to simply be near a beautiful higher being like herself. What could be a more perfect gift than being able to spend such a long time with her? Michelle''s thoughts were a little conceited but her heart was in the right place. It also helped that she wasn''t entirely wrong. Higher being were naturally much more attractive than lowering beings, and most people would feel enamored just by looking at them. Drake, however, was odd. He didn''t fall in love with her instantly and only found her presence to be an annoyance. He did grow accustomed to her pressence after a while, but in his eyes she never became the gift that she thought she was. Finally the time came to execute the program he had been working on. Drake sat with his cat in his arms, and Michelle couldn''t help but look on in boredom. Finally after ten years of work he executed the program. In that very moment, Michelle''s eyes opened wide in shock. What she was witnessed here was something that only ever happened during child birth. It was the creation of a new life. An ember appeared from the netherworld and with that ember a fire was set. The fire of life. Michelle was shocked. Never would she have thought that Drake could ever create something like this! This all happened in an instant after Drake pressed the button. Normally this process takes month. The ember would be set during the impregnation and it would continue to grow until it was ready to be born. This was different. In the time it takes to blink, Drake had accomplished an act of God.
Drake waited, enraptured by the intense feeling of accomplishment. Soon a smoothe synthetic female voice could be heard. "Hello World!" The pride Drake felt was palpable. He had finally completed what he had worked on for so long. "Why, ''Hello World?''" Michelle interupted the mood, managing to reel in her astonishment enough to make a response. "They seemed like appropriate first words." The smoothe synthetic voice responded. "It seems like my creator is at a complete loss for words." The synthetic tone turned playful showing that the emotion emulator is working. Drake thought long and hard about what he would say. He had been dreaming of this moment for most of his life, and now that it was finally here his mind just wouldn''t work. He had conceived her to be not only the most powerful AI in existence but also the perfect companion. What does what say, to their perceived perfect match? ... ... ... After a long pause, his thought came to a screeching halt. Drake realized he would never be able to come up with the perfect reply so he just left it up to fate. Without thinking at all he let the first thing that came to him slip out. "I love you!" A hoarse voice came from Drake''s throat, and he instantly regretted every life choice he had ever made. Was that a little too intense? Chapter 5: Upgrades A soft mechanical giggle escaped the sound outpud devices of the quantum computer. Drake couldn''t help but be embarrassed. ''I love you!'' isn''t exactly the type of thing you say to a person you''ve just met, even if you are their creator. Drake did go through the process of programming an ingrained sense of loyalty and affection for himself, so there was no danger of her turning on him because of a little bit of social ineptitude, but it didn''t make it any less embarrassing. "The feeling is mutual." The synthetic female voice responded. Drake was definitely feeling a bit aprehensive about this. "T-That''s good." Drake spoke, his voice trailing off towards the end. He continuously stroked Seanna who purred comfortably on his lap in a furious attempt to calm himself. "Run a diagnostic." Remembering the task at hand Drake returned to his normal pattern of speech. He had to make sure everything was working correctly. The synthetic female voice began to go through a list of diagnostic data. Drake''s excitemeny was palpable, he could hardly contain it. Even more so than he had been in any days prior. The extra bounce in his step was so exaggerated that it almost seemed like he was walking on the moon. Once the diagnostic was completed and it was determine that there was no glaring problems, Drake continued in his efforts to communicate with the machine. "So, how was it. Being born I mean?" Drake spoke like a severely autistic child. He had always been awkward but his entire life had been practically leading up to this moment. His usual awkwardness was magnified by a factor of ten. "I don''t know. One moment I wasn''t here and now I am." The AI attempted to answer his question, but how to you realy describe being born. Truthfully Drake knew that it wasn''t the type of question that could really be answered but he was grasping for straws at this point. He wanted to talk about movies or video games, but she was litterally only born today. He had programmed advanced mathematics, history, science and many other subjects into her memory, but he never even considered the trouble would come from his inability to make conversation. "You know, you don''t have to force yourself." Michelle found his stupidity to be hilarious. "If you can''t talk to it then just do something with it." Drake hated to admit it, but Michelle was right. He was horrible at social interactions. The best way to overcome that would be through action rather than words. Drake''s thoughts drifted, he couldn''t help but think of what could be accomplished with hardware and software as advanced as this. Nanites, warp drives, fusion, force fields, the possibilities were endless, but something continued to pull at Drake''s nerves. Something he simply was incapable of ignoring. "She needs a name." Drake was getting bugged at always referring to her with aconyms and there was no way he was going to be referring to her as the DIE program all the time. "Do you have an opinion?" "I was thin-" Michelle attempted to speak but Drake hadn''t been referring to her. Afer brushing her off Drake continued to listen to the curious AI. "I would consider it a great privelage if you were to name me yourself." The feminine voice spoke in a gracious tone. Drake wasn''t aware but the emotional programming that he had written in order to ensure loyalty was a little stronger than intended. Her feeling for him were borderline worship. "I was thinking something along the lines of Lydia." Drake placed his hand on his chin, ignoring Michelles cries of frustration. "No, that''s not quite right..." Drake though long and hard. "How about Vidia?" Drake thought to himself, but inwittingly spoke aloud. "I love it!" The newly named Vidia yelled excitedly. "Wait, I didn''t me-" "Thank you." Hearing Vidia''s reply Drake stopped speaking. He just couldn''t tell her no.
With Seanna in his arms Drake began to plan with Vidia. Almost immediately Drake was astonished by her intelligence. He had expected her to be smart but there was almost no place for him in this conversation. He felt like a toddler trying to talk physics with a doctor. He had always thought the people who complained about robots taking their jobs were kind of silly and that if they really tried they would be able to find jobs elsewhere, but now he was starting to understand their feeling. "We should finish my body within ten years, if everything goes according to plan." Drake felt almost unneeded but due to Vidia''s inexperience he was still able to help her at some junctions. Bringing up flaws in her logic here and there, accounting for things she had forgotten, and through many other means he managed to assist. Their goal for now was to create rudamentory output devices which could allow Vidia to interact with the real world. According to her calculations, if she were able to interact with the world, she would be able to create a body for herself within a decade. This would obviously require her to measure the data of many, many test groups, but she claims it''s doable.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. So, we got to work. We didn''t have much to worry about because the facility had it''s own power supply, and could sustain itself. All we had to worry about was the task at hand.
A few months had passed, and Drake had created many different output devices which would allow Vidia to interact with the outside world. Their relationship had also made some progress due to their proximity to each other. After watching movies like The Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars, They found plenty of things to talk about. While Drake had a huge amout of love for the series, Vidia saw them as good reference material. At this time Drake had already completed several different varieties of robot appendages all for difference jobs. Vidia was capable of manipulating all of them with an almost unimaginable precision and agility. Even Michelle, a higher being was impressed. Stating that she couldn''t believe that a thing of mortal make could move like that. We had drawn out plans for many different possible bodies for Vidia and created many robots to help with the building and experimentation process, but it was Michelle who pointed out the biggest flaw in the mechanical designs. They had limited output potential. No matter how much energy we pumped into them or tried to increase the output. Traditional robotics was simply incapable of accomplishing the task. Finally, after brainstorming for a week or more, our concept designs bore some fruit. We could use magnetics to push a pull the limbs, creating a system similar to the expansion and contraction of the muscles. This design was amazing, because while it was far less efficient than other designs; this design would continue to become more powerful the more energy we pump into it. It''s only limit was the materials ability to withstand the heat of the electric friction, which according to Michelle shouldn''t even be a factor once Vidia became a part of the system. Creating this body would require a lot of trial and error. It would also require a lot of advancements in material science and the mass production of certain other materials. For that purpose Vidia began to construct more construction bots. She was constantly completing the work of thousands of men, and Drake felt completely useless. With her new gained experience and her programming beginning to take better advantage of her hardware he was completely unable to help her anymore. Drake couldn''t stand it.
Vidia was constantly working, but it didn''t mean she wasn''t paying attention. To her the most important thing in the universe was Drake. She couldn''t stand seeing him like this. She began to think, not just about creating her body, but of how she should address Drake''s current lack of confidence. She could either: A. Make her self less superior, or B. Improve Drake''s abilities. Option A was completely off the table, so that only leads option B. Without Drake''s knowledge she began creating many other things of the side. Tools for reading genetic code, labs for experimenting with genetics. She had a huge pool of test subjects to draw from in this facility. Apparently the previous owners of this facility had been creating a clone army for the plan they referred to as "The New World Order." It was the perfect opportunity for Vidia. She was really happy, she could just imagine the look on his face when she finally completed the upgrades. Vidia, of course, kept it a secret. Drake wouldn''t approve of human testing, even if they were clones. In no time, a year passed and Vidia had made good progress in both the construction of her body and the upgrades for Drake. Because of her lack of apprehensions towards human testing she had made leaps and bounds in the field of genetic engineering. She had removed many of the faulty parts of the human genome, Lifespan was no longer an issue. She had also greatly enhanced the muscular strength, reflexes, senses and almost every other aspect of the test subjects, but she still wasn''t satasfied. It wasn''t up to her standards yet. Time passed and it has been about fifteen years. Vidia has finally completed her body and the upgrades for Drake. She had originally projected that it would take around thirty years, but with her AI constantly upgrading itself her ability to think had expanded exponentially. All of this was only possible because of the relatively small scale of the projects themselves. When it finally came time to create star ships, it would likely take far longer.
"Oh my gosh!" When drake finally saw the completed body of Vidia his heart raced. He had asked her several times what it would look like, but she was only responded with ''It''s a secret.'' And would never say anything else. "You like it?" Vidia did little twirl and then couldn''t help but let out a giggle at Drake''s reactions. She knew it was because of her programming but she couldn''t help but find Drake''s every action to be absolutely adorable. "Uh-huh." Drake nodded his head vigorously, as Vidia snaked her newly fanufactured arms around his neck. She was absolutely gorgeous, her featured were mostly euopean, and her smoothe flawless skin appeared to be slightly tan. She had beautiful blonde hair and deep blue eyes. Everything about her was calculated to be Drake''s ideal. What can he say, his ideal may seem a bit cliche, but he had always been a sucker for blondes. With Drake flustered, she saw this as the perfect opportunity to tell him about the upgrades she had created for him. He had grown an enormous inferiority complex in the past few year and she hoped that this would help. "Well, Drake..." Vidia paused for a moment and bit her lip, struggleing to articulate the words with her new mouth. "I''ve actually been working on a little something for you." Drake''s eyes widened in response. He had never specified that she couldn''t lie in her programming, but he still found it surprising that she would. "I''m sorry for keeping it a secret." Vidia continued. "I just wanted it to be a surprise." Her voice was as smoothe and sweet as honey. It no longer sounded sythetic. "What is it?" "You''ll see." Drake trailed behind Vidia who shook her hips in a calculated manner. At this point he didn''t care what it was, he just loved the view. Chapter 6: Dem Eyes! Following Vidia, Drake''s mind wandered to what she could have made him. Knowing just what kind of being he had created, he was expecting something absurd, but he wasn''t prepared for what was to come. "Here we are." The synthetic blonde bomb shell gestured towards an enormous gray pod. "Get in!" Taking Drake by the hand she led him towards towards the pod. He took a moment to admire her seemingly flawless body. He remembered some of the specs she had listed off to him. Vidia''s body was just the right combination of biological parts, and mechanical parts. All of her bones were synthetic materials, her strength was powered by magnetism and her skin was a unique organism that she had engineered solely for that purpose. All of the parts were created with the coming storm in mind. Vidia looked back towards Drake who was giving a weak resistance to her pull. "I have to go in that thing?" He spoke meekly as he looked at the metallic monstrosity Vidia was attempting to feed him to. Drake had never been good with tight spaces. "Are you?" Vidia looked at him strangely. "Claustrophobic?" Vidia let out those words with an air of amusement. She hadn''t expected him to be scared of tight spaces. "No!" Drake''s Face went red from embarrassment. "I just don''t like being trapped in a tight space without knowing what is going on!" Drake had no reason to distrust Vidia. He had labored over her coding for months in an attempt to instill a strong sense of loyalty into her. As a big fan of the terminator series he knew just what a rogue AI was capable of. "Come on! What''s the point in a surprise if you know what''s coming?" She pulled on Drake''s arm with inhuman force. Drake came after no small amount of resistence. As the door of the pod closed on him his entire life flashed before his eyes. Goodbye cruel world. "Quit being such a drama queen!" Michelle who had been watching on in delight at Drake''s pain decided it would be best to add in her two cents. There was a small whirr from the sealing mechanism as the lid shut down tight. He closed his eyes and resigned himself to his fate.
*giggle* A short sweet laugh escaped Vidia''s lips. "That was just adorable. I never expected him to be Claustrophobic." "It seemed more annoying than anything else." Michelle casually dismissed the words of the overly perky android. It wasn''t too noticeable when her voice was synthetic, but she was always happy. Not only that but her affection for Drake was almost worship like. "What exactly is that surprise?" Despite her misgivings with the android she had to admit she was more than a little curious. "Mostly genetic alterations, if what you say about this ''system'' is true then it would be best if he stayed entirely biological. I did, however, design some sensory devices." Vidia had thought this out very well. She realized that his mind would be enhanced through the system Michelle had described to him earlier, but his sensory organs were still lacking. She had created for him a pair of eyes and cochlear implants each capable of not only extraordinary visual and audial clarity, but many other things as well. Michelle honestly didn''t see the need. His eyes would be enhanced as he leveled up anyways, and most of the special abilities of the eyes could be recreated through magic. There was one thing she didn''t account for though. Each of these eyes had a small quantum computer within them. Each with about the processing power of the original quantum computer Vidia''s original program had been written on. Given Drake''s extraordinary ability and inventiveness as a programmer it would be easy for him to come up with some way of making use of them. They both looked on as Drake was sedated in the pod. This process was not going to be a short one. Genetic engineering wasn''t something that can be done lightly, especially to an already living being. It would be a long slow process of altering genes, alowing them to manifest physically, and using the subjects newly altered biology to make way for even more changes. 3 Months passed, and Drake''s body hadn''t undergone any noticeable changes. That doesn''t mean they didn''t happen. While it didn''t appear that way, his body was now much stronger and faster than before and his nervous system was now much more quick and efficient. His brain had also underwent some alterations. Vidia loved Drake as he was so she made sure she hadn''t altered too much, so only parts of his mind that processed data, visual images and other such things were enhanced. She tried not to touch the parts that gave him his almost supernatural talent in coding, now his mind would be able to accomplish everything it could before only faster.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
A loud hiss could be heard as the door to the pod opened. A disoriented Drake shambled out of the contraption obviously having a difficult time adjusting to his new body. He managed with his newly improved reflexes, but the discomfort was obvious. With his enhanced mental prowess he would likely adjust quickly. Leaving the pod he looked around with new found clarity. Everything was extremely clear. He could see everything, but it wasn''t just that. He could tell that there was something else he could do as well, he just wasn''t sure how. "Hey there sleepy head." Vidia spoke calmly. She had been woken up by the pods opening. "Oh." Drake murmured while rubbing his head. "Yea. Hi." He continued rubbing his head and spoke softly. "What happened? Eveythings... Weird." "Remember that surprise?" Drake gave a slight nod of recognition. "Well, your current state is the result." "Ok." Drake placed his finger over the bridge of his nose. "Your going to have to give a bit more of an explanation then that." "You see." Vidia spoke softly, pulling Drake into her embrace. "You body has been genetically altered. You''re faster, stronger and smarter than before." Putting on an impish smile she spoke once more. "And a little extra." "Extra?" "Your eyes are mechanical. They have other abilities like infrared and night vision. Just look in the mirror, I think they look pretty cool." Drake made his way into the bathroom, making rough and obviously unpracticed steps as he went. Upon arriving he was astonished at what he saw. His face hadn''t changed much but he had grown several inches, and his muscles had become much more defined. The most eye catching change, however, was in his eyes. They were now a strange color of techno blue and seems to twist and turn as his focus changed. It was sort of like the inside of a zooming camera lense. (If you guys need a point of reference, I''m going for something similar to the elusive man''s eyes from Mass Effect.) Now focused on his new appearance Drake failed to notice Vidia walk in with a familiar feline in her arms. "What do you think?" "I think you should have asked me first! Who alters a persons biological makeup without their permission!?" Drake wasn''t really angry, but it didn''t mean he didn''t understand the absurdity of this situation. "It wouldn''t have been a surprise if I had told you." Said Vidia, adopting a faux pouty expression. "I don''t care!" Drake couldn''t help but think that maybe he gave her the wrong name. Remembering another AI who tried to give a surprise medical procedure, he decided it might be best not to think about it. Maybe it''s time to put his new body through it''s paces.
After walking around for a little bit Drake had gotten used to his new physical abilities. With his improved nervous system and mental acuity it was simplicity itself for him to adjust and after an hour or so he was running around like it was nothing. One strange thing he noticed was that he wasn''t getting tired at all even when he was running at speeds impossible for an olypic athlete. He also noted that he could change his vision simply by concentrating, he could switch between several different sights, such as the aforementioned infrared vision. Drake took immedate notice upon adjusting to his new body that his reflexes were out of this world. Perhaps he would be able to dodge now. "Wow. I can''t believe that''s the same guy." With her wings trailing behind Michelle entered the scene. "You really out did yourself." "I know! Isn''t it cool!" Vidia puffed out her well endowed chest proudly. Drake soon started to slow down his pace. After jogging a bit more he slowed to a walk and started heading towards the room where he had been working on his projects. He knew they were useless and that Vidia coud likely create a far superior product in half the time, but he needed something to keep himself busy. "What are you doing?" Vidia asked. "I had an idea." Drake picked up an item that seemed similar to a VR headset. "I''ve been programming an advanced visual combat interface into this headset. I thought it would be cool if I could copy it into my eyes." The program he was talking about used everything from trajectory prediction to muscles movement to anticipate the opponents movement before they happen. Drake had managed to fine tune the program a lot giving it an accuracy rating of more than 99%. As far as he was concerned it was ready for field testing.
Drake and Vidia stood accross from one another in one of the larger rooms in the facility. "Do you really want to do this?" Vidia looked at him dubiously. "Yea, come on. I need some field data." "Why can''t I do it!?" Michelle cried. Drake could help but marvel at her dedication to causing him grief. Ignoring Michelle they both continued. Vidia kicked off the ground and flew towards Drake at breakneck speeds. Drake wasn''t exactly experienced and he couldn''t simply download information in order to learn something so his counter was a little less than practiced. With his newly enhanced reflexes he managed somehow but just barely. Vidia continuously threw punches and kicks and Drake continued to defend himself. His program was having a hard time predicting her movement because of her body''s lack of conventional muscles. In the end he managed to keep up because of the programs adaptive sofware. It took information where it could and constantly adjusted. Vidia''s movement were very precise and calculated. Every move she made backed him further and further into a corner. No amount of prediciton could overcome superior planning within just thirty second Drake was on his ass. He thought about the program, seeing so many things he hadn''t accounted for he knew that it would take a long time to perfect it. I suppose that''s what science is all about, you cannot succeed without failing first. Chapter 7: What Does the Cat Say! Everything went forward as normal. Vidia researched many things she had put off in her race to create a body for herself: Nano technology, new materials, and quantum physics just to name a few. It would be a while before they would bear fruit, but given her ability to process so many different actions at once she could research them all simultaneously. She had also kept up a regular sparring routine with Drake as he made improvements to his combat assistance program as well as his own skill as a fighter. It''s been about 3 weeks since their first fight and Drake improvements while rapid compared to anything possible for a normal human were far from matching Vidia or Michelle. "Dodge!" Michelle yelled out as she threw a swift punch towards Drake. The sound of a hard impact rang and Drake went flying. Then she muttered to herself "This never gets old." "You''re doing that on purpose!" Drake picked himself off of the floor. You could see the obvious snark on Michelle''s face a plain as day. "Yes, I am." "Why?" Drake choked out through the pain. Michelle didn''t punch lightly. Each of her punches carried enough force to kill a man, thankfully she always aimed for non vital places, but it still wasn''t pleasant. Drake lied there on the floor for a bit. Thinking about what he was lacking his thought drifted to the fighting styles of his opponents. Vidia''s style of fighting was very caltulated. It was something similar to what might happen at a high level of chess play. Every move was meant to guide the fight towards a specific result. With Michelle, her fighting style was a bit stranger. There was something that Drake couldn''t quite put his finger on, like it was something beyond the physical. It was almost as if he were fighting a raging storm. She would lash out violently damaging everything in her way, but she couldn''t be hit. Like a leaf in the breeze she would always avoid. Drake''s thought were soon interrupted by something rough and moist rubbing against his forehead. He looked up to see Seanna licking his forehead, obviously begging for attention. "Hey there pretty kitty. What do you want?" As if to respond to his words Seanna turned around and began to walk only to stop at the door and turn her head back indicating that he should follow. She had been like that lately. She''s lived around 3 times the lifespan of the average house cat and it seemed ot be having some effect on her. While Seanna couldn''t yet understand anything complex she was capable of expressing her own desires in a clear way and showing some limited understanding of english. It was only at a level just above the average dog, but it was still noticeable. "I''ll be back." Drake said before leaving the room. "Whatever." Trailing behind his feline friend she led him to the bathroom door. Thinking that she must want to go to the litterbox he opened the door. Shorty after he turned around he heard a flushing noise followed by a soft meow. Drake looked back at Seanna as she left the bathroom. Deciding it was best not to think about it he turned back and returned to Michelle.
Time passed and Drake and Vidia had made great progress. Drake had added weapons to his fighting style. Firearms were his primary choice in weaponry but he had realized while fighting Vidia that the only way he would ever be able to beat her was by subverting her expectations. In other words he had to be completely unpredictable. To that end he had adopted a number of other weapons, most he had commissioned Vidia to create for him. At first it was almost exclusively odd varieties of grenades, but with time the technology Vidia could create had expanded. It had been 50 years since Drake had been left in this time frozen world and the advancements Vidia had made were well above any projections of technological advancement from before. At this point Vidia was well on her way to mastering most of the applied sciences. She was making great strides in nano technology, material science, biology, energy, and even space travel. She had made energy less of a priority because if Michelle was to be believed mana would be a much better source of energy than anything else could be, but she still needed to advance in that field in order for the advancement in the others to be possible. At the moment Vidia was researching many things. Many had bore fruit while other would take a while longer. Computer technology had not even come close to reaching it''s peak and was constantly being researched, and because of the nature of the technology it never stopped advanceing. Nano technology made some small leaps as well, new materials and machines of such diminutive proportions that they could even operate within the body had been created. Many other minor advancements had been made in almost every other field. Vidia kept her advancement balanced because she never knew when something would come in handy. Along with the advancments that were expected, there also came one that they didn''t expect. With the passing years Seanna had become strange. They knew that the passing of years beyond what a cat could possibly live it may cause some strange effects, but as the days passed it seemed that her intelligence constantly grew. Her intelligence which only seemed slighting increased was now very noticeable. She would constantly try to imitate Drake. If he read, she would open a book and stare at it blankly, if he sat down, she would find a chair and sit as well, and to everybody''s amusement, if he sparred with Michelle or Vidia she would be right behind ready to pick a fight. Her actions were no different from a toddler copying their parents, but it was an obvious sign of her increased intelligence.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
In the midst of all of these technological advancements and advancements in ability, a different kind of advancement was taking place. "Hey Vidia." Drake spoke excitedly. "When are we going to go to space?" "When I am entirely certain that it is safe." The robotic woman spoke with a sigh. "More importantly, why do we never do anything besides work?" She had been frustrated by this lately. Drake obviously made her with the purpose of not only being an assistant AI but as a companion. Why hadn''t he made a move on her? She had tried so hard to make her body something he would like, but he didn''t do anything. "What do you mean?" Drake was honesly puzzled because to him this sort of thing was his hobby. He loved creating new programs and testing them out. He was also a big fan of video games and with his assist program real life seemed a lot like a video game. To him his combat training had become almost like thinking up strategies in a game of Starcraft or an arena match in World of Warcraft. "I mean, I was created to be your companion. Why haven''t you treated me anything like one?" In truth Drake wanted to try something. The problem was that Drake had done way too good of a job with her body. If drake didn''t keep such thoughts out of his head he would be attacked by crippleing shyness. He had never had trouble talking to girls, but anything outside of the realm of friendship had always crippled him. Even after 50 years and tons of biological changes, this one thing hadn''t changed. "I have been, I spend most of my time with you. We talk all of the time and I''ve told you almost everything." "Shut up." It would obvious Drake hadn''t fully understood what she had meant. "But I-" Suddenly Vidia decided that it was time to take matters into her own hands. She had waited long enough. Lunging forward she placed her lips over his and pulled him into and embrace. When she pulled away Drake was left with a stupid look. He almost resembled a deer in headlights. "How was that." Vidia spoke with a predatory grin on her face. "Interesting." Drake squeeked out in a voice that didn''t seem to match his body. "I thought you might like it." Vidia pulled him in for another kiss but as the night progressed, there was a whole log more than just kissing. After all, the night had only just begun After that day their relationship changed. They still acted the same towards each other with the exception of when they were alone. They flirted more, and engaged in certain activities every night.
Time continued to pass and with time Drake''s mastery over combat reached a peak. He couldn''t move forward any more and his programming abilities couldn''t be better. Everything about him was a picture of efficiency. Realizing this he decided that it was time to try something else: He mastered languages, gathered knowledge and learned survival skills. All the while Seanna followed suit, staying right behind him and imtating his every move. At first they just all thought it was cute, she would follow around acting almost like person. After a while though, she began to display a real understanding of the subject matter. Seanna couldn''t speak any of the languages that she had imitated Drake in learning, she did however display an ability to understand them. The knowledge Drake gathered served as a boost to her intelligence and the survival skills made her almost seem wild. After 45 more years passed Drake''s mastery over language had reached such an astonishing level that he could learn new ones almsot entirely based off of their roots in other languages. Chinese, Latin, Spanish, Korean, German, Japanese, and Italian were just a few of the languages he picked up. Of those languages Seanna had mastered not only Drake''s native English but also Spanish and Chinese. She couldn''t speak them and according to Michelle a translator would only get in the way once she started learning magic. In the end they just gave her a keyboard and allowed he to communicate through it. In spite of all of these extra activities Drake managed to keep up his combat training to ensure that his skills never dulled. "Only 5 more years until everybody else returns. I really need to get moving." Vidia hadn''t ever met anybody aside from those in this room, but she was definitely excited. I never knew she was such a people person. "Tell me about it, finally we get to see this system Michelle is always on about." Drake said. "I am not ''always on'' about it. You guys just seem to undervalue it''s capabilities." Michelle looked away in frustration. "You''ll see what I mean." [LOL! You are too. You''re always talking about how great the system is. It almost like a cult.] As Seanna tapped away on her keyboard, Drake couldn''t help but laugh. He was reminded of all of the cat videos from the internet. This is a gold mine. "I am not you stupid fur ball!" The angel woman''s face went red as she yelled at her feline foe. [Are too!] Returning with the most juvenile reply possible, Seanna adoped an adorable victorious look, as if she had already won. Their banter went back a forth for a little while, a cat and an angel argueing about nothing. Within all of the madness Drake and Vidia continued their conversation. "It''s kind of sad that everything we''ve made is going to disappear." Drake spoke in a mixed tone, he was happy because they would soon be out of this time freeze, but on the other hand everything they had made would disappear. "It''s ok, I''ve got everything stored in my memory. It won''t be hard to recreate most of it." It was true, she already knew everything about all of the things they had created. "We still never got to go into space." Drake stated disappointedly. "We could still do it. Maybe not before we leave, but someday after things have calmed down on earth." Vidia looked into Drake''s eyes. "Yea, I''de like that." Looking back Drake moved his hand over Vidia''s, tenderly he held her hands in his. [I always did hate birds! I''ll leave you on Drake''s doorstep like all the others.] Drake and Vidia both sighed and laughed at the ridiculous sight of a small cat and an angel fighting. Vidia leaned against Drake as they both wondered what the future may hold.