Chapter 20: Dr. Chaolove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
By No Limit
Well, I, uh, don't think it's quite fair to condemn a whole program because of a single slip-up, sir.
– General Buck Turgidson
Evangeline sighed. It almost seemed like an eternity since the creation of the second robotic love child between Chao and Hakase, and yet nothing of note was really accomplished. Her cottage had been destroyed numerous times, a dead pony was found on Mahora's premises, one of Chao's many husbands attempted a hostile attack, and there were reports of two of her classmates were perfecting decadent acts with three slime beings. It was as if her life had become an embodiment of the deranged brainchild of a group made up of man-children that devote their free time to coming up with the stupidest stories ever.
She dropped an Alka-Seltzer into her glass of water; the calming sizzle it emitted already soothing the chronic migraine she had developed ever since Amalthea was born. She made a mental note reminding herself that she still never wants kids. Nagi's smexiness be damned! "All this nonsense was getting to me," she muttered. "Perhaps a little me time in the old resort will cool my nerves…"
Evangeline only took one step into her personal resort when she saw it had become a colossal pile of destroyed marble pillars and assorted walls and ceilings. From a single glance, she recognized the machine gun shells and plasma residue everywhere that could only belong to two people – two robotic people. She swung her seven-inch-long glass into her mouth and swallowed the pain reliever in a single gulp.
"That's it."
She whipped out her cell phone and hit speed dial nine. "Hello? Yes, this is client Evangeline A.K. McDowell. I placed a special order fifteen years ago? Yes, I would like it carried out now. Yes, I am sure. Mercury speed delivery, please. Thank you."
She flicked her phone close as the unmistakably distinct whistling sound of a bomb rang from the sky above. She closed her eyes, held her arms out for embrace, and awaited the inevitable destruction of Mahora Academy…
BAD END
CONTINUE?
or
QUIT?
Evangeline opened her eyes, ending her imagined scenario. "I really have to cut down on the visual novels."
Chao, meanwhile, wasn't far off from Evangeline's mental state. Project X's growth has slowed considerably. She wasn't growing at a satisfactory rate for her. In fact, it seemed as if Project X has been regressing. She hit various, seemingly random keys into her needlessly giant keyboard that was connected her equally as needlessly large computer monitor that displayed several windows of complicated equations and blueprints.
She took a swig of coffee; her eyes bloodshot as they zipped right to left across the screen and hair a tangled mess from lack of proper grooming. She had searched through every single file, every single detail, every single digit to understand why Project X was not progressing as planned. She ignored the cooing sounds that Project X was making in the room next door; it only reminded her more of her failure.
Her failure. This was her failure. Chao Lingshen's failure. Her left brow twitched. That did not compute. She failed? No. She couldn't have. There was no possible way that she did. It had to be something else.
A mistake in the programming of Project X's brain, perhaps? Maybe a virus had infected it? A forgotten carried one? Whatever it was, it had to be fault in the project itself. She and Hakase had set out to create the world's first artificially created human being. Could it have been the project was a failure to begin with? That they were playing with forces beyond their understanding? Who were they, as mere questioners of the universe's nature, to play God?
Chao snorted. That was a good one. But the problem remained. Why was Project X not advancing at a proper rate? She gave her eyes a break from the numbers and rested her chin upon a clenched hand. Maybe she had failed and was simply refusing to accept the fact. It had been a stressful couple of days leading up to the activation of Project X. She probably did make an error in the math. Being wrong for once isn't so bad, right?
Chao felt a tug on her lab coat's sleeve, and turned to see Amalthea standing by her side. She held out a framed photo to her, which Chao took. She saw that it was a picture taken when her classmates had thrown a baby shower for her, Hakase and Amalthea. The three were surrounded by the rest of 3-A; the banner reading IT'S A GIRL hanging above them all. Hakase held their creation with a proud grin while Chao was looking away awkwardly. Chao lowered the framed photo, seeing the most nauseatingly big smile on Amalthea's face.
Being wrong about being wrong isn't so bad either.
A/N: I thought it was about time we took advantage of that Family subgenre that we listed for this.