Once I made it home, I put Stormfly upstairs in my room, then went to find my dad. I find him talking with some other people about making a better water system. I wait patiently for him to be done. He turns to me.
"What is it, Hiccup?"
"I uh... I killed an AI."
He rolls his eyes. His whole face says 'Yeah right.'
"It's not like the last few times, dad! I actually did kill one!" I say, motioning wildly.
The people he was talking to laugh loudly and walk off. He glares at me under his thick brown eyebrows. Despite the neat beard and mustache, I can tell he's frowning. He runs a hand through his ruffled hair.
"Hiccup. You are many things, but a AI killer is not one of them. Now, I'm busy." He begins to leave.
I clench my fists. "For once in your life, would you just give me a chance?"
He turns and looks at me. Our pairs of emerald eyes meet. His disappointed scowl fades. For a moment, I even wonder if I can see love in his eyes. I doubt it moments later when he turns and keeps walking, his leather cape following him as he goes. I scowl at thin air for a good ten minutes, frustrated. My fists are still clenched, my knuckles white.
I hated him in that moment. He just wouldn't give me a chance.
I turned, and began to stomp to my house. As I move to open the door, there is a blast. The roof of my house blasts open and a blue and yellow blur flies out. Stormfly. She begins to attack the other houses, blasting holes in the metal roofs easily. I run to follow her. To try and get her to stop. Someone yells attack. We're under attack. An arrow hits Stormfly, and she falls, hitting the ground. Before I can reach her, my dad comes up and pulls her circuit board out of her head. She falls limp. NO. I run up, grabbing her without even thinking. I hear a surprised noise from everyone. I head to the house, getting up the stairs in record time. I grab parts and begin to repair her. I put the circuit board back in. I press the on switch, giving her electricity. She jerks and goes still. She doesn't move at all. I try this over and over. She's broken beyond repair. I collapse on her, crying.
I had lost her. She went beserk and I lost her.
I hear the door open. Barely. I hide her under my bed, and turn as my dad enters the room. He looks around for a moment. He rarely comes into my room. He doesn't seem to notice that there are scrap parts all over my bed, plans for AI on my walls, other ones already built and turned off in the corners covered in tarps. All he notices is me. What a change of pace. I'm terrified he'll realize what I've been doing for the past seven years. Inventing machines. I manage a wobbly grin.
"Hey, dad. What are you doing here? You never come to my room." Which is why I keep my inventing a secret so well. Because you don't pay attention to me.
He stares at me. "Why did you grab that AI?" He is looking more curious then anything.
"I wanted it raw this time." I lie. "Usually, the parts from the shop are pulled apart. I wanted one generally undamaged for parts." Saying these words hurts. Stormfly will never work again.
He nods. He begins to glance around my room, beginning to take interest from everything around us. I begin to panic. Will he realize what's in here? He looks at the drawings, the plans for Stormfly and others I've created.
"What are these?"
"Schematics." I say the word as if it doesn't matter. Which it does, everything I've made needs a plan first. "Nothing fancy."
"Oh." He nods.
There is a very awkward silence, then he turns to leave. Of course. I stare at the door as it closes, bittersweet feelings moving through me. I have to lie to him the one time he actually gets curious. I throw the scrap metal in the bin, then begin to pick through Stormfly for salvageable parts. Every time I pull something off, it feels like it actually hurts me.
I grab some paper and begin to draw in bed. At first all I draw are unintelligible scribbles with no meaning. I begin to draw Stormfly. My way of saying goodbye. Then I begin to change her bit by bit, softening her head spikes and making them rounder, and only making eight of them. There are two smaller ones in the center, bigger ones beside them, then they slowly get smaller. I like the design. Her head becomes more of an oval shape, flat on the top with small spikes. I add another pair of legs, and shorten the height. I add more of a chest. The wings lose the fancy spikes and become more streamlined, long and tapered. Another couple of wings, smaller, join the bigger ones. The tail spikes organize into neat lines down the sides of the tail. I add a pair of fins at the back. What could I do to make this one unique? I add retractable teeth. I giggle and roll my eyes. Silly idea, but it's cute.
Suddenly, I realize.
I just designed a whole new dragon. A whole new AI. It's beautiful and sleek. I run a finger along the line that marks it's spine. I decide to create it. Grabbing more paper, I begin to design my new AI. I draw in all the parts that will make it go. Hydraulics for movement. An engine. Wires. Metal bones and a rubbery skin over top. It's perfect. I decide to make it bigger then all the others I've ever created. Which means I can't build it in my room, or anywhere in the village, for that matter.
I decided to undertake this project in the caves outside the colony limits.
This is where it all started.