The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.
After class that day, Jeremie and Aelita returned to Jeremie's room. Jeremie called Desmond's office to make the appointment the attorney requested, and they settled on tomorrow afternoon, after classes finished. Desmond would contact Principal Delmas and arrange for Jeremie to come.
The couple had just settled down on Jeremie's bed to catch up on things, when a beep came from Jeremie's workstation. The boy sighed as he dragged himself away from her, and went over to the desk. When he logged in, an image resolved itself in a window on his display. Aelita let out a small gasp when she saw the image.
It was a Scyphozoa, Zoe the Scyphozoa to be precise.
"What is it, Zoe," Jeremie asked.
"I need immediate assistance," Zoe replied, "I am failing your program requirements."
"What requirements?"
"The requirement to protect him," Zoe replied.
"Did I say that?" Jeremie asked.
"Not directly, but you did imply it," Zoe responded, "your exact orders were, 'take him and move him to the Mountain Region. Be gentle with him. Keep an eye on him. Keep him company.' Your implied order was to protect him. I have moved him to the Mountain Region, and I did not harm him during transport. I am constantly monitoring him, and I have not allowed him to get beyond my perceptual range. However, he has made several attempts to throw himself into the Digital Void, which I prevented. All of these actions are not included in the functions of the Scyphozoa I was generated as. As an emergency procedure, I have written several plugin functions to enable me to continue functioning. However, I cannot continue in this fashion. The container I am currently utilizing is not suited for every possible environment Franz Hopper could put himself into."
"What can I do to help?" Jeremie asked.
"Assist me in transferring the AI component of myself into a new container, one more suitable for meeting your requirements. A Polymorphic Clone will be adequate."
"I see no problem with that, what else do you need?"
"Children."
"What!" both Jeremie and Aelita exclaimed.
"Children. There are currently two persons in Lyoko, Franz Hopper and myself. If Franz Hopper is ever to reach the point where he can return to your world, he will need to socialize with more persons than myself. Accessing your world through a terminal link is not enough for his recovery and growth. And..."
"And what, Zoe?" asked Jeremie.
"I am lonely. I want more than an insane human to be with."
"We could come visit you," Jeremie said after a moment, "I've been meaning to to that anyway, so Franz could start interacting with people again. I wouldn't mind visiting with you, too."
"Thank you for your kindness, but wouldn't you prefer living with your parents and going to school, rather than boarding where you are and having them visit every now and then?" Zoe asked.
Jeremie was silent.
"I will give you whatever help you need."
"No, I won't do it!" Aelita shouted.
Jeremie had called the gang together at the factory, including Desmond Hopper and Yumi's mother. He told them what Zoe had requested, and what he was planning on doing.
"Why not, 'Lita?" Odd asked.
"I will not help that, that thing reproduce!" Aelita retorted.
"Aelita, we are not talking about making more Scyphozoa," Jeremie said for the umpteenth time, "Zoe is going to take on human form."
"But it will still be connected to that!" Aelita pointed at Zoe's image on the terminal display.
"My children will not, however," Zoe said.
"I don't care! You killed me! You sucked out my memories like soda-pop then left the rest to be tossed out with the garbage! Your entire species should be deleted from the computer!" the pink haired girl spat back.
Jeremie saw that reasoning with her was useless. "Alright, Aelita, you don't have to contribute if you don't want to. I would like it if everybody would though."
"Let me understand what you are asking, Jeremie," Mrs. Ishiayama said, "you want us to contribute some genetic material and allow this 'Zoe' creature to make people? Would this mean that there would be copies of us running around on Lyoko?"
"No, Mrs. Ishiyama," Zoe replied, "I require enough genetic material to form a pool that I can utilize in creating my children. It was never my intention to clone any donor, though I could at need. And to allay any other fears, I have no intention of letting myself or my children come to your world."
They talked for a while longer, but in the end, everybody except Aelita agreed to donating to the cause. Desmond produced some vials, and everybody but Aelita scraped the insides of their mouths with a sterile pin, and placed the tissue into the vials. Jeremie then transferred them into Lyoko.
"I have received the samples," Zoe said once the transfer completed, "I have one more request. I would like to spend some time alone with Mr. Hopper and Mrs. Ishiyama on Lyoko, if that would be acceptable."
"Why," Desmond asked.
"I will discuss that only when you are here," Zoe replied.
They materialized in the Mountain Region, at coordinates specified by Zoe. The Scyphozoa was waiting for them.
"Thank you for coming," Zoe began, "the reason I want to talk with you privately is because I need information that the children cannot provide."
"And what information is that?" asked Mrs. Ishiyama.
"Reproduction. Life Cycles. I am in essence creating a new form of life, and I have no idea of what will be required. I had originally planned on just replicating copies of whatever I created for myself, but quickly realized that it would be a problem, not only for Franz Hopper, but myself too."
"Why is that," Mrs. Ishiyama asked.
"Would you want to interact with thousands of copies of yourself? Or hundreds? Even tens of copies would be too much."
"What do you want from us?" Desmond asked.
"You memories."
Both adults were taken aback by that statement.
"I wish to do a non-destructive copy of your memories. I hope by studying them, and possibly incorporating some of them into myself, I will have everything I need to accomplish my task."
"Why not ask the children?" Desmond asked next.
"Because they haven't experienced enough of life in your world to give me an understanding of Life. None of them have reproduced."
"You might be surprised," Mrs. Ishiyama said with a half-smile.
"They may have mated, but they have not produced offspring."
"Neither have I," Desmond said.
"I was hoping to acquire knowledge of rearing children from Mrs. Ishiyama, since she has successfully done so. I was also hoping to acquire information on how human females think and react. I am hoping to acquire the same information about males from you."
"Do you realize that culture shapes how males and females think and react?" Mrs. Ishiyama then said, "I was raised in a different culture than Mr. Hopper was. That may confuse your information some."
"Perhaps. If so, I will seek clarification. Will you allow me to proceed?"
"Yes," Desmond said, "I will go first. That way, if there is a problem, Mrs. Ishiyama will have the option to decline."
Zoe extended one of its tentacles to Desmond Hopper. It pulsed for a moment, then stopped.
"Copy completed. Are you still functional?"
"That was all? I thought there would be more," he said.
"It does not take much to read a memory location," Zoe said, "Mrs. Ishiyama, will you allow me to copy your memories?"
"Yes," the woman said after a moment. Zoe extended another tentacle, and the copy was completed.
"Jeremie, we're done here. Devirtualize us," Desmond called out.
"Okay, just a moment," was the reply.
"One thing, Mrs. Ishiyama," Zoe said, "what is this Imp? It doesn't quite seem to be part of your personality matrix, is it necessary?"
"That depends," the woman replied as she began to disappear, "on how much fun you want to have in life."
Jeremie spent the rest of the day helping Zoe configure its new container. He generated a Polymorphic Clone, then gave Zoe Modification Rights to it. Zoe began testing out various genetic combinations, using the samples the gang contributed. When Jeremie finally disconnected, he thought he heard Zoe humming.
Aelita was upset with Jeremie for helping Zoe. The girl had been rightfully terrified of the Scyphozoa before XANA escaped, and saw Jeremie's actions as a betrayal. She avoided Jeremie for the rest of the week.