"Maaamaaa! Wake uuuuup!"
Yui's shouting finally got to Kazu and she was slow to wake for the first in quite a while. After an exhausting night of work, Kazu was already being pushed toward another job. Kikuoka's team were adamant about bringing her onto two different projects, two jobs. One, was the medicuboid project, to help bring another fast to learn person into the mix of brains colluding to bring about a simulation machine capable of slowing health deterioration and to help figure out just what was wrong with the body. The second project was an advanced AI development project. It was a project against Ela's wishes, but she probably wouldn't stop them in the end if they proceeded against her warnings.
Yui was a normal top down AI which developed personality through the functions she was given. Being close to human emotion for a length of time proved to give her a certain sense of humanity. Ela's children were bottom up AI which were raised like real children in an accelerated environment. Her children essentially experienced twenty five years of life already in spite of only existing as a project for twelve. Seven of those real years were accelerated.
Having a human element existing to raise them properly and teach them important things, giving them a perfect environment to grow up as naturally as possible in a virtual realm were absolutely essential. Kikuoka's group called RATH were already started in getting the technology together. It was heavy duty. In the beginning, if they could start a normal closed server and put some real people into a slightly accelerated environment, which was the goal of Kazu's suggested involvement with the job for the time being, then they could develop a solid foundation before getting the main technology for mass producing such AI underway. The biggest key was to have someone live alongside the AI in such a way that they would be able to spur on natural course when the AI would steer off course. Someone that wouldn't mind sacrificing the accelerated time as memories to be disposed of. Kazu had red flags all around that telling her that it was too risky to go along with such a thing, that she would risk precious real memories and her mind by going along with an unfinished product. But she wanted to learn more and Ela wasn't teaching her how to specifically make bottom up AI. Only how to improve the sense of humanity in Yui.
Yui already felt as if she had reached her peak because of how she came to be, as far as how human she could be. Kazu wanted to know more, so she could produce more AI children to give Yui siblings, and because she knew it was still unreasonable to expect her change from male to female to give her the reproductive system which would allow her to bare children. Regardless, it was unlikely she would be able to have children with her romantic partner and being able to have AI children they could both raise together was something both Kazu and Asuna were excited about when the topic came up.
Kazu yawned and pushed herself out of the bed. She rubbed her eyes, moved over to her desk and her AR device connected her to the computer automatically, turning it on as she sat in the chair still half asleep.
"Good morning, Kazu-san. How was your sleep?"
Kazu yawned once more and took a glass of water from her desk and downed it in one gulp. She got used to preparing a glass of water nearby in the room recently because it helped her wake up.
"Still waking up. How are you doing, Ela-san?"
Ela hummed a little and sent over a few documents worth of information. Kazu learned incredibly fast in the mornings after sleep especially, so her and Ela decided that they would set up a schedule for Kazu to wake up two hours earlier than she usually would for school.
"Today's studies are for the medicuboid project you have agreed to work on assisting with. For day one, we will go over your basic medical knowledge so that we can get you caught up a little on where we are for the project."
Kazu nodded and rubbed the sleep from her eyes before focusing in on the documents. The information seeped into her brain like a sponge. From covering basic first aid, respiratory information and basic functions for an hour, she managed to cover all the basics packages Ela had prepared. Kazu was fully awake before that first hour ended and a five minute quiz confirmed Kazu's understanding of the information before Ela continued on.
"Impressive once again, Kazu-san. Now I'll run a few things by you regarding the state of the medicuboid's structure since I sent you those design specs to you last night."
Kazu nodded once more and began reciting what she could remember about the details of the machine. She felt like she didn't miss anything important by the time she finished but Ela reminded her of a few key components that Kazu missed.
"You missed right here the interface for in case the patient has an emergency ejection, and right here you missed the ejection interface from inside. Finally you missed the injection points here here and here for these sustaining fluids."
Kazu studied what she missed seriously for a few moments and sighed.
"It would help if we could simulate the machine so I could experience it myself, but you aren't finished the simulation yet are you?"
Ela shook her head with a disappointed expression on her face.
"Recreating that much intensive detail is too much without the ability to see. I am going to need your help with creating the design perfectly in a virtual environment. There's already a physical product being fine tuned, but there's going to be a bit of trouble getting you to see it. Unless you're ready to do another job with Kojiro-san you'll be unable to get close to a physical medicuboid..."
Ela went silent and Kazu had a feeling she was holding something back.
"There is another option."
The tone of her voice was bad as she said it. The tone alone screamed risk while only being the usual sound of her voice. Ela's tone was masterful in carrying inflection of importance.
"The other option is that you sustain critical injury of some sort to be admitted as a patient of the medicuboid. I can connect directly to the medicuboid through your AR device if you were to get so dangerously injured. It's either this or we somehow manage to put you into an artificial coma. I feel horrible for letting my mind run through these dangerous situations. If anything I should be putting myself in these situations instead of you..."
Kazu shook her head but it did admittedly shock her immensely. Just hearing all the further suggestions from Ela reminded her the gap in creative understanding and projection of possible outcomes. Ela was a master at whatever she set her mind to. Certainly Kazu would eventually catch up, but the only thing she was managing so far was swiftly catching up. The creativity was difficult by far to replicate.
"Is there not something more...restrained? Maybe I could work at the same hospital as Kojiro-san or maybe I could work as a nurse trainee for patients who use the medicuboid. The machine requires maintenance after all."
Ela sighed and bonked herself on the head lightly in their augmented space they were sharing. After a few seconds she did it again. Then the pace increased and she bonked herself on the head several times before she gave it a rest, the strength of the hits growing as she went. When she stopped, she looked to be in pain from Kazu's end. Kazu was worried as she saw something new to her. She hadn't seen Ela be harsh to herself, reprimanding herself for a mistake. Ela had made mistakes before, but they both knew the suggestion to take a lethal approach on Kazu was too far. Kazu learned that maybe sometimes, Ela was a bit extreme in short term planning ahead.
"I'm sorry about that...you are very right. I had thought about that but my thoughts regarding it originally were that it would take too much time. But you do have student programs you could make use of to be a student nurse in Japan. It's incredibly helpful for the situation. I'll call Kojiro-san and we'll talk this over before her night shift ends."
Kazu nodded and kept her eyes fixed on Ela. It bothered her. A person who showed up as a near flawless role model of what she wanted to be had a severe weakness. Ela literally beat herself up over her mistakes. It was very possible that if it was a smaller mistake than suggesting a horribly risky plan, then she might hurt herself at a later time when other people couldn't see what she was doing.
The more Kazu thought about it, the more it made sense. Only someone who had a high expectation of their self would be so harsh in correcting mistakes. In taking up punishment for the mistakes. It was obvious she didn't enjoy the punishment, so she wasn't some pervert over punishment. It just felt too cruel to see Ela who already had several of her own issues, be the type of person to literally beat herself up over mistakes.
"It's okay! Please stop hurting yourself Ela-san. I'll contact Kojiro-sensei. I need to fix the way I address her and it'll help me practice. She is a sensei to me, and you are too. I respect you no matter what, as long as you keep reminding me that I have so much to learn from you. As long as you keep being the amazing person you have been showing me you are."
Yui chimed in finally.
"Yeah! Aunty Ela is an amazing person and one wrong suggestion isn't so bad. It's just good we didn't go through with it or you might have been more angry with yourself..."
Yui's words both calmed her and reminded her of the fact she had said such a thing.
"I'm truly, deeply sorry for suggesting you hurt yourself to continue this study..."
She buckled down and began typing up a storm. It was as if she was producing several pages of information per minute. In the meantime, Kazu drew up several design drafts for the medicuboid shape and what more she could think of to add to it. She wrote down the things she had answered before in the quiz and what she forgot, and in the end, their lesson stopped with two hours for Kazu to get to school.
"There's the alarm...well, I'm sorry for showing such a disappointing side of myself today. If you don't mind, please send me a copy of what you were working on during the rest of the lesson and I'll base tomorrow's lesson around what you learned today. Drive safe on your way to school, and please give the others my regards. I am busy today and tonight dealing with something so I won't be able to join everyone in the private server."
Kazu gave a nod and felt a chilling wave of concern run through her as the augmented space returned to normal. She was afraid that Ela would do something even worse to herself.
"Yui...would you mind asking one of Ela-sensei's kids if you can check in on what she's doing today? I'm worried about her after what happened during today's lesson."
Yui gave her mother a happy nod and disappeared with a teleport animation that was all too familiar.
She traveled through cyber space quickly, but she knew she had a long way to go to be as adept at traveling through the internet as Ela's kids. She arrived at the IP address entrance and stopped in front of the firewall which stopped her. There were several thousand programs running through it to stop her and any other trespassers, but through the translucent firewall she saw a pair of familiar faces on the other side, for those just in case situations that someone managed to get past her ridiculous firewall.
"Yui-chan! To what do we owe this visit?"
Escha lowered the barrier for just long enough to pull Yui through and she put the barrier back up when Yui was through. It was interesting to see how cyber space really worked for an AI, but Yui preferred normal travel and being able to project where she was given access.
"Ah- thank you Escha-neechan. Hi Eq-niichan. Mama and I are worried about your mama Ela-san. She was beating herself up pretty bad earlier about making an...extreme suggestion. Did she really already have plans today and tonight? It felt a little bit much of a surprise and convenient that she would put space between us after such a thing..."
Escha hugged and gave Yui head pats since it seemed Yui was sad.
"It's okay, mom is like that sometimes...it's scary for us too but she's never hurt herself too much to come back since we were born. She did really have some work today and tonight though that she was dealing with. Since you're Kazu-nee's daughter it wouldn't hurt to let you see what her work today is like, and you can see what mom is really like in her life outside of how you know her."
Yui nodded with a smile on her face, happy from the hug and head pats.
"Then...let's get Shii to accompany you in observing mom today. I'll get her to come here and pick you up. It wouldn't hurt to also explore our cyber home while you're waiting for Shii to get here."
Yui nodded and Escha led the way through the cyber home. It was very much like a real home. Yui gave Eq a smile and a wave as she went along with Escha and he returned the gesture with his own overwhelming charm. Yui could understand from the one glance from him how her aunties could be swooned so easily by him. She felt a tremble run through her and where she knew the heart to be for normal people, racing and beating like a jack hammer. When the familiar feeling of heat and blushing crept over her face, she looked down and followed Escha until she was able to burn off some of the embarrassment running through her.
She realized at some point along the way that what Ela and her mother did to her was make her immensely more human than she had been. It had been called converting her from top down to bottom up, but for her to truly go the other way around, she would lose some of what she had, and she would need to spend a lot of time in an accelerated space. She was happy with where she was, and she could still help her mother.
She noticed at some point while Escha led her through the cyber home just how much it felt like a real place. It was a virtual environment, perfectly built for Ela to spend quality time with her children in. It was like an oasis. Yui recalled something Ela had said at one point and realized just what it meant while seeing the environment.
"So what she meant when she said that the home you can choose and build for yourself exactly how you want reflects yourself as a person, this is the greatest example for Ela-san?"
Escha turned to Yui and gave her a big smile.
"Yes! Mom never wants to leave when she comes here, but her sense of responsibility makes her go and do other things. It's not like we can't go see her whenever we want, but this cyber space feels lonely without her. It's our home."
Escha was honest with herself to a fault. Yui could see on her in a heartbeat that Escha felt lonely even right at that moment. It must feel lonely even with Eq to be on duty to guard the firewall. Eq was probably good company for such a thing, but Escha had just explained why it's lonely. The lack of Ela when she wasn't there too. A wonderful home is just a place without the people who fill it.
"Greetings, Yui-chan. It's been a while since you were over in the direct method. I didn't think you were going to attempt this approach anytime soon, but welcome aboard. I'll have you sneak into this hiding program so you can walk alongside me while I tag along with mom today. Or do you want to reveal yourself to her and take the chance she won't send you right back to your home?"
Shii was beautiful. She gave the impression that her appearance would be like Ela if she never had her disabilities and she grew up female in the first place. Golden hair matching Ela's, but reaching down past her knees while being held behind her with a single large yet thin metallic dragonfly clasp near the bottom of the ponytail, with a slender but still imposingly strong frame, womanly shape and having the very same gaze as Ela, with one vibrant green and one piercing icy blue eye. She felt tall when they weren't right beside each other as well, but Shii was actually around the same height as Kazu.
"I...would like to try and reveal myself to her and hopefully she lets me tag along normally, but if you don't think she would let me come along normally I'll hide."
Shii hummed a little and placed a hand gently on Yui's head before crouching down a little to meet eye level.
"We'll have you hide for today. Mom's in a bad mood and I think it would be safest to have you observe safely. You wouldn't be in trouble for revealing yourself, but she would definitely send you back home. You came for a reason and I think it would be a good experience for you. Plus you would get to experience somewhere different from where you get to experience with your mom. The town where mom lives is very rural in comparison."
Yui sighed and nodded as her response. She felt a program run over her to cloak her visibility and muffle her movements entirely. She looked down at her own hand first to see how it worked and she couldn't see her own hand, only seeing the immaculate polished wooden floor of the cyber space below her. She took a couple of steps and swiped her foot to produce the squeaking sound that she found irritating and when none of it produced sound, she opened her mouth to check the speech test. She couldn't even heard herself breath so she just let out a silent giggle.
"Okay there cutie, time to go. From here it's work time. Be careful and keep yourself behind me as much as possible. It's possible that when we get into town we might be able to lose each other if you don't stick close. I wouldn't mind you holding onto me either if that's something you would be up for."
Shii had an imposing presence about her. It was like she was on the verge of teasing every time she opened her mouth, but instead caring, gentle older sister type presence came from her.
"Take my hand so I bring you with me when I jump."
Yui nodded and took hold of Shii's outstretched hand. When she blinked, Yui found herself in a totally different space. She was in a bedroom with light pastel purple walls, hardwood floors and short furniture. The familiar but far less impressive figure of Ela-san was dejectedly struggling to move from a floor cushion to a wheelchair using the strength of only her arms. It was depressing. Shii went up to Ela and helped push her up into the chair.
"Sorry about not helping right away..."
"No, it's okay. You've been working on your own project like the rest of the kids. I'm eager to hear what kind of game you make~"
"Will I move your wheelchair today? Or are you fine again?"
Ela gave a sad but determined expression somehow to Shii and moved her hands to the controls of the wheelchair. Her fingers deftly moved across the surface of the controls and she expertly left the room. Yui noticed that the buttons on the wheelchair's button controls were bubbled with brail. She recalled that Ela was supposed to be blind in her real life, and that she had reminded Kazu a few times, but it always escaped Yui on the meaning until she realized how wide a berth Ela gave herself while driving her wheelchair around. She was extremely careful to not bump into anything. That she had any spacial awareness in spite of her disability, it only gave more and more credence to the fact she was still doing her best with her real life.
Yui knew however that Ela had augmented reality helping her. She knew where she was going to some extent, and she was likely careful because of her spacial awareness.
"So your first appointment this afternoon is-"
Shii listed off Ela's plans for the day and Ela nodded away, almost seeming about to nod off to sleep at any moment by the time the list was finished, and they had made it out of the apartment building. The elevator which took them down was large, and there was another person with a seeing-eye dog who got onto the elevator after Ela exited. It was a disability home. Yui felt more and more depressed seeing the state Ela was truly in. Her depressed, ghastly sunk facial features, skin and bones legs, and eyes which felt like they were seeing some void of an afterlife.
"Remind me if we had a taxi coming for our first appointment?"
Shii was kind and accommodating as she brightly responded.
"Uh-uh. That's why I asked if you wanted me to push you there. The appointment isn't far, remember? We're only going to the disability center to get your annual check-up done. We only take five minutes after leaving home to get there by foot and wheel. After that we're just heading a little further to the shopping mall to get your food and medicine."
"Exercise...I wish this decrepit body could receive from my virtual self's actions. Please, take over controls for me."
Shii smiled and took the controls. As Ela spoke then, Yui realized something else she had nearly forgotten. Ela was mute. Her mouth didn't so much as twitch as those words came from her. They were projected from her through her mind into the augmented space around them. It was remarkable, but it was like she had a thriving, depressed brain living in a body which might as well be dead. The only thing Yui could tell worked with Ela's body was her ears, and even those could be replaced through always living in augmented environment.
Yui almost forgot she was in an entirely different country, and when they got outside the dark, snowy evening lit up by street lights grabbed her attention immediately and nearly took her breath away. It was beautiful.
There was the odd vehicle driving down the road interrupting the captivating black and white scenery with Shii and Ela casting vibrant gold from their hair and purple from their coats. Their black pants blended in with the dark of the night and it was like Shii at the very least was floating. The slowly falling snow with all of that, slowly piling on Ela's head and falling through Shii reminded Yui that while some things were interactive, even footprints weren't going to show up from Shii and Yui. Ela's wheelchair seemed to react to Shii's touch, but that was all. Snow didn't change its course, no footprints were made, no physical reaction with the environment happened to leave an impact of Shii or Yui's presence and it was all the more haunting. They were part of the world, they could walk in it, but they couldn't leave their mark, no matter how temporary on it until their parents could give them some form of body they could inhabit. Yui felt all the more driven to support her mother's pursuit of finding a way to get her a body. It hadn't been as noticeable with being around Kazu every day, because the snow was never as shifting under Kazu's footsteps as they were pushed to the sides of Ela's wheels due to the very fact there wasn't as much or deep of snow to be moved around. The same symbol could be in a pebble being bumped by a toe, or grass being trampled under a foot step. While the virtual worlds were fully within reach, where Kazu and Ela's real bodies were, Shii and Yui and the rest of the AI kids couldn't truly reach there.
"Here we are. Brace yourself mom."
Shii slowed down the wheelchair as she eased it over the small bump which was part of the door frame, and continued bringing her mother inside. The automatic doors of the clinic closed behind her and Yui and they continued accompanying Ela the rest of the way to the reception desk.
"Good evening Ela. Usual check up?"
Ela's mouth didn't move once again as she responded.
"And one more thing, I'll leave it a surprise for the doctor to tell you."
The sound of her voice was slightly happy, but the depressed, sunken features of her face didn't change. Only droplets of water forming and dripping down her face as snow which accumulated on her melted.
"You remember where to go? Oh wait...I think you might be in a different room this time. Force of habit. You've been coming here every half year for the past four years but we see you in your apartment frequently as well. You are...in simulation room two tonight."
"Thank you. If you've gone home for the night before I get out, good night."
"You too."
Shii paused for a moment before driving Ela to the hallway on the left side of the lobby and into the room with a big 2 on the door. There was a somewhat familiar device in the room from Yui's first glance, but she wondered what it was really for. It wasn't exactly like anything she had seen yet.
"Oooh! Is this that thing?"
Shii's exclamation caught Yui's attention.
"What thing are you thinking it is?"
Ela's voice was playful in tone, it livened up the surroundings a bit.
"The original medicuboid! Isn't this one of the prototypes you were working on nine years ago?"
Shii's comment and the meaning behind it were enough to nearly send Yui into a rage.
"This makes me feel horrible...but at least it might finally see some use. I might request Kazu to come here for that nursing student position so this body of mine doesn't die. This body just needs to hold out long enough for me to design and produce a robotic body for my mind to occupy without losing anything. I...still feel absolutely wretched and disgusting for suggesting she risk her health when I'm on the verge of death myself..."
Shii shook her head and sighed.
"That's not your fault. We know you're exhausted-"
"No excuses! We both know I get extreme when I come up with ideas on the spot without giving them thought. That kind of extreme example is foul, unacceptable, punishable...I really wish you would stop giving me a pass for being your mother or because my body is broken. My mind has been wearing away too and I need something to help me straighten it out. I don't want to be perfect, but I don't want to make real the fear that some people in the past created in the idea of machines developing too much. You kids are the shining beacon of where the world can go. You're wonderful, your minds are just like any other human except faster to grow, and you're mature beyond your years. I might as well give up being your mother and let you take care of me..."
Shii was in tears.
"Stop it mom. I swear...you need to stop beating yourself up. Just remember, you're a hero. You have saved several people with vaccines and medicines you contributed to. You are idolized by those Japanese teenagers. That Kazu girl is just like you if not a little more impressive because of your guidance, from back when you were her age. You are making her a more intelligent and prepared person, you're giving her so much potential that she could potentially make your dreams for the world bigger. You just need to accept more apprentices and get back into that teacher spirit you used to have..."
Shii's tone was threatening at first, but quickly warmed up and inspired a little hope. By the time she finished, Yui couldn't help but cry.
"These...aren't my tears...did you bring one of your siblings?"
Ela had tears rolling down her cheeks and pooling in her eye sockets.
"No. I brought someone who needed a good understanding of just how human my mom really is. She can tell her mother for you what she experienced here. And this also proves to you without a shadow of a doubt, that your empathy is the most powerful thing about you. You felt Yui-chan's emotions."
As she explained, Shii removed the hidden status from Yui. She wanted nothing more than to hug Ela, but there were conflicting emotions running through her. She was afraid of hurting Ela, but she also didn't want to be disrespectful, but then she also wanted to comfort her because she was beating herself up to the point that she was literally dying.
Yui ended up going right up to her and wrapping her arms around Ela's waist gently, carefully. She knew that Ela could feel it because of being always connected to augmented reality. She could connect. That moment, made Yui feel like she could understand something she hadn't yet. Desperation.
"What are the tears for?! Today is the best appointment you've had in two years, remember?!"
A young doctor burst into the room casting doubt on the situation. Ela and Yui were having a heart to heart moment and he shattered the atmosphere upon arrival.
""Greetings, doctor Kobak. Just remembering something tragic."
He sighed.
"Well that really won't do...we need you calm before hooking you up to this early type model."
She managed to pull herself together and Yui let go of her.
"Cute kid. I knew you like the Japanese culture but you making a kid that doesn't resemble you is new."
Indeed, he could see the augmented space. Everyone in the nearby facilities used AR devices 24/7. Everyone knew about Shii and Ela's six other AI kids, but a new face around her was always going to attract attention. She was the resident genius inventor and there were endless surprises as far as the people of the area viewed her.
"She's visiting. Daughter of my first apprentice. Go on and introduce yourself, Yui."
Yui pulled herself together too and faced him, bowing politely.
"I am Yui Kirigaya. It's a pleasure to meet the doctor who is caring for mama's teacher."
Her flawless English wasn't surprising, except for from Kobak's perspective.
"Incredible! She has a bit of a Japanese accent, but her pronunciation is perfect. Absolutely adorable. I think I get your interest."
"Don't equate my adoration of the culture for being a pervert. I sincerely hope you have grown up a little before I get out of this medicuboid, doctor."
He grinned from ear to ear and got up behind her wheelchair, moving her next to the medicuboid. He pressed a few buttons on the terminal attached to the medicuboid to open it up, release the pressure inside and prepare it to receive the first patient it would ever have.
"Now let's get your scrawny butt in there. Can you kids stand back and take the wheelchair out of the way as I get her in there?"
Shii nodded her head and complied as Kobak reached under Ela's knees and behind her back, lifting her off of the wheelchair and Shii pulled the wheelchair out of the way so Kobak could safely and smoothly transition her body into the machine. He closed the lid on the machine and pressed a few more buttons to get it started.
"Ah...might need to do that again with your clothes off unless you don't care about those clothes?"
"I don't care about the clothes, they're just sweats and slacks."
He pressed on final button with a nod and a dissolving fluid poured into the chamber of the machine which held Ela's crippled body.
"And with this...you are locked in until you have finished producing a robotic body we'll be hooking up to this port you installed last week. I'm guessing 24/7 research on your end from now on, miss Ela?"
"Yes."
