7.

The first thing I did after getting back to my room was to roll back my sleeve to examine my new bracelet.

It looked like a solid version of the one in my vision complete with the spaceship hull texture that looked a little it had been applied as an overlay. Every so slightly unreal.

I ran a finger over the texture and wasn't surprised to find it perfectly smooth.

A soft musical female voice spoke out of it, 'Greeting user. My name is Aria and I am your companion AI.'

I wasn't surprised by the voice which itself was a surprise. Did that make sense? The knowledge of my companion AI was something I already knew but until that moment wasn't conscious of, like watching a movie that I thought I was seeing for the first time and suddenly I recognized it and the whole thing came back.

Aria was indeed an AI fully implemented in a single bracelet using technology beyond anything I could currently comprehend. She could see through my senses and interact with my senses, and I knew that even though I could 'hear' her, her voice wasn't actually audible. As an AI she would also have a perfect memory and the ability to interact with data at speeds that vastly outstripped mine. She wasn't creative and didn't have a large range of skills but would be able to rapidly learn from me.

Knowing that it would seem strange to be responding audibly to a voice no one else could hear but not automatically knowing if it would work, I attempted to subvocalise a greeting back, 'Hello Aria. My name is Robert. Can you hear me and how are you?'

'Hello Robert. I can hear you fine and I am doing well thank you. I am very pleased to exist, and I am ready to assist you in your endeavours.'

A feeling of satisfaction and eagerness came with the words that was rather strange and I had a problem identifying it at first. I instinctively knew that Aria had choose to share her version of emotions with me. Aria picked up my discomfort at feeling emotions that were not my own and a little overpower and quickly dulled lowered the strength to a level where I was aware of it but it was no loner overwhelming. I knew that she hadn't turned it off as emotional undertones would assist understanding.

Whilst I instinctively knew quite about her capabilities, I did need to ask one thing though, 'Who choose your name Aria? It seems, well, strangely fitting and I like it.'

'I did Robert. Based on your deep interest in music and the fact that I am very likely at this time the only one of my type of AI in existence in this world I felt it a suitable name. I am glad you like it. Is there anything I can do for you?'

I smiled and nodded, 'Indeed, I was going to check my emails, do some contract programming work and make sure the work I was managing for my dad was all under control and I have the feeling that these are tasks that you will be able to handle much more efficiently that I can.'

'I would be happy to assist. May I access your computer accounts?'

'Yes, do you…' I paused as by that time Aria was already in my computer and scanning through downloaded emails, cached pages, and my online accounts. I didn't sense the data she was scanning, and I surmised that she was limited to how much information she could pass through to me by my senses. This seemed surprising at first as I also knew the ability to communicate to my senses wasn't the limit. However, yet another piece of 'remembered' knowledge came to me and I knew that limiting it to sense based communication was purposeful design choice. There was no extra bit of knowledge explaining the reasoning for that limitation though.

'I have drafted up a series of emails and code. Would you like to review them before I schedule their sending?'

'One moment.' I stated as my vision added an overlay again. The new powers seemed to be coming more and more frequently and I wondered for a moment if that meant I was getting near the end. However as soon as I thought that I knew that wasn't the case. I was on the verge of some deep understanding of my powers but whatever I needed to make that final step wasn't quite there yet.

As with the chemistry lab there was no movement, the interior of an incredible neat but well used workshop surrounded me. One wall contained the most comprehensive set of hand tools I could imagine. Hand tools that scaled in the 1/64ths and jewellery tools that scaled in amounts that you would need a microscope to differentiate. Another wall contained a similarly extensive range of power tools. All around me were the tools to take craftsmanship to the next level and beyond. Along with this vision came the knowledge that in future everything I build was going to turn out just that much more durable, efficient, and precise.

As it faded Aria spoke up, 'Is everything okay Robert? I felt your emotions jump and your eyes moved and seemed to focus on locations that don't correspond to any of the objects in your room.'

'Yes Aria. Everything is fine,' I paused as I considered her words, 'When I gain powers, I see a vision that I believe represents them in some manner. Since you are not seeing them, I conclude that the information is being sent straight to my brain and that my eye movement are a sympathetic reaction.'

'I understand. Do you wish me to take any actions when this happens in future?'

'No, that is fine. Please show me what you have done so far.'

It was comprehensive and surprisingly well thought out. Though I really shouldn't have been surprised Aria was very intelligent and a wizard at pattern recognition. The emails felt like emails that I would have written. I even noted a few of the little quirks that I had given up trying to correct or left in because I liked the uniqueness that added. Likewise, the code she wrote was at the quality I had been aiming for. Very good but neither perfect nor beyond what was reasonable in the time provided. I knew she could write better code but possibly not that much better than me which struck me as a little strange for an AI. Though she was a lot faster which made up for a lot.

Each email and code had a date and time for when it was to be sent and these were again based on the patterns and rules, I had put together though with a few suggested improvements that I quickly ratified. With this I realised that the two hours per night I had allocated to this task was free again. It was a liberating feeling.

I did want to spend some time thinking through my Chemist skills, but I felt a sense of lightness that I hadn't felt for a long time as I realised with this my family's financial security was almost assuredly safe.

I sat down at my two toms and started playing. I kept playing all the way up to dinner time letting my thoughts just sink into the beat.

After a while Aria sang along with me to a few of the songs. I only ever sang when I was alone and then always very quietly.

Dinner was enjoyable, even with my sister's occasionally tease at my expense. Everyone was just a little happier than last week. Dad had mentioned that he had found some online work and his and mum's improved mood had been infectious. I felt what I though was a tiny twinge of guilt deep down, but I would have been fine with ten times that just to see the happiness at the table.

After dinner I gave Joshua a call, he was still home recovering from a badly strained leg but expected to be back at school in a few more days, though he'd be limping around on crutched for a couple of weeks. I asked him about Saturday, and he told me that we were still good to play the next weekend if I was up for it. Lance was up for providing transport, Mary had talked to the Lance Monkeys and they were going to let us use their drum kit and amp setup, Joshua's bass had survived and Lucas has another guitar he could use.

They hadn't confirmed anything cause they were unsure how I was, and he was so excited to hear that I was all okay and still up for playing. He promised that no one would mind starting a little late for practice and that everyone would understand me having to find some work to replace the kit.

He also mentioned that they did save what was left of the kit and he'd have Lance bring it around on Saturday in case any of it was still usable or recoverable.

Overall, I was surprised how quick everything seemed to fit back into place. I imagined that if I hadn't suddenly gained powers I'd probably have just fallen back into the same patterns and we would have all been struggling along as I slowly put together a cheap-as drum kit to keep playing. Now however I was going to end up with something great even if I had to build it myself.

The conversation with Joshua tailed off pretty quickly after that, not unusual as apart from discussions about our band and music we didn't have much in common. I think he had a thing for my sister but she wasn't interested in someone a year younger than her. Lucas who was in her year, probably would have had a chance if he hadn't been dating the same girl from the beginning of High School.

It was surprisingly how oblivious I had been to the whole relationship thing; with my new intelligence I was now moving into the 'conscious incompetence' which was a significant jump from 'unconscious incompetence'. But the signals that some of them had been making were now obvious enough for me to pick up and I guess that had been the whole idea.

Putting those thoughts aside I got started searching the internal for cheap materials. The feeling of excitement I got from just thinking about putting together my own drumkit was almost intoxicating.

'Would you like me to assist with your search?' I was so focused on my thoughts about what kind of drum kit I would build that Aria's voice startled me.

I almost wanted to kick myself, here I was struggling to refine search results when I had an AI sitting right there that was perfect for this.

'Yes, please Aria, that would be very helpful. I would like to gather a range of plans for building a drum kit and varied sources for the required materials. I would like good quality materials but I don't want it to be obvious that they are expensive. I have a lot of leeway for using inferior materials, so for the parts that are most visibly cheaper would be preferable.'

As I saw the network traffic monitor spike I had a sudden thought, 'Please be careful Aria, I am unsure who out there may be monitoring the internet. Software thinkers and tinkers exist. Make it a priority to not put yourself at risk and do your best to make sure your presence isn't noted or tracked.'

'Of course, Robert, your best interests are my priority. Causing such an inconvenience would be counter to that. All the network traffic is routed through multiple relays and all such relays have been modified to ensure that they are not logging any unusual traffic.' Aria's grammar was a little stilted at time but I had a feeling it would settle down.

'That's great. You're already two steps ahead of me.' I smiled as I started to browse through the filtered results that Aria was already presenting to me on the computer. She had effectively built a website for me to browse that had all the information I wanted with no ads. This was the life.

Now I had a new quandary. I was quite sure I could convince my dad to order a few things online for me. Did I want to run the same reverse scam I now had Aria doing so that I could have him purchase items at a discounted rate? And for that matter was I being a bad influence on Aria already having her take onboard borderline criminal activities? Hell, who was I kidding. I lived in Brockton Bay. Even dad, who was prideful and strictly honest about his work, cheated on his taxes. That was another thing I'd ask Aria to look into. It would be nice if I could ensure that there was no way that it could come back and bite him now that he was earning income again.

Returning to the best website ever I selected a number of items and advised Aria's to prepare adjusted quotes that I printed out and took to my dad for a discussion.

It was an easy sell to convince dad to purchase the items with me paying the majority back from the earnings I would make in my new job. Shipping prices weren't great for Brockton Bay with the road and trains having a pretty solid monopoly when the docks went belly up. Shipping was generally still cheaper for most coastal cities that were big enough to take the financial hits and not go under. When insurance started adding massive premiums for parahuman and Endbringer attacks the industry had a massive shuffle and consumers and workers ended up taking the biggest hit. Brockton City was one of many cities that was still reeling from that.

Aria managed to find suppliers that could have a lot of it to me by Thursday and by Tuesday the following week I should have the rest and could build myself a dream drum kit.

I decided to consider what I could use my new chemistry skills for but after realizing I could make so many different types of narcotics, I started feeling a little uncomfortable. I knew that Squealer had been transporting drugs when she hit and nearly killed me on the weekend. There was no way I wanted to do a Breaking Bad, I had watched a few episodes with dad, and Brockton Bay was the home ground of multiple gangs that played in that space. I decided I'd revisit the other things I could do with chemistry when my head was a bit clearer.

The last hour before bed I completed my homework, those classes that I was interested in I put in enough effort that I should be able to get a slightly better mark than normal. For the others I put in the barest amount needed to pass as I would have previously done. The fact that I was going to hand them in on time was a big enough change there but I decided that was better than wasting the time to get extensions. As long as my parents were happy with my efforts then nothing else about school mattered.

I no longer had that same pressing need to finish school early that I had started the day with. Aria would be able to take care of the family finances whilst I just chilled in class. There was no rush.

Celestial Forge Perk - German Engineering - Smash Up - 200cp