Saturday, April 15, 1995
The two weeks that followed Valentine's Day, Mangle did everything she possibly could to help Evan out and make him comfortable while his foot healed. Thankfully, she hadn't actually broken anything, but the injury was still pretty severe.
During that time, and in the weeks that followed, Mangle continued her studies, Evan kept working on the V.A.N.N. architecture, and both of them did the occasional interview with whatever media organization that reached out to them.
At the end of March, Mr. Rivera took Evan and Mangle to the regional science fair, where they won first place in the category of Engineering, qualifying them for the International Science and Engineering Fair. Much to Mangle's disappointment, however, she had to spend the entire time in the exhibit hall and never got to go sightseeing. However, both Evan and Mr. Rivera assured her that she'd get plenty of opportunities to take in the sights at the next fair.
Their fame grew, and while Mangle greatly enjoyed being in the limelight and saw every interview and every outing as yet another opportunity to prove her personhood, she ended up being disappointed more often than not. Still, even the smallest of victories made it all worth it.
However, with this fame came new dangers. Evan began to receive calls from companies and millionaires who wished to buy Mangle from him. Naturally, he rejected every offer made to him, no matter how substantial, but both he and Mangle were smart enough to realize that the possibility of her being stolen was increasing dramatically. As such, Evan began to write down the names of every person and every company that expressed this kind of interest, and he fine-tuned Mangle's body to make her better able to defend herself should the need arise.
True to his word, William taught Evan and Mangle how to dance properly, and how to do it in such a way that they could avoid hurting each other. As time passed, their practice sessions gradually turned into a purely recreational activity that the vixen and the sixteen-year-old would indulge in every so often.
In addition to working on the V.A.N.N. architecture, Evan also began to take driving lessons. While Michael offered to teach him, the sixteen-year-old opted for a more qualified driving instructor.
The month of March would also see Evan take the SAT and get a perfect score. Between this, his victory in the regional science fair, and his newfound fame, colleges started coming out of the woodwork to recruit him and offer him scholarships. While he knew this presented him with many great opportunities, Evan couldn't help but feel like the innumerable college representatives were ultimately just wasting time that he would have much rather spent working on the V.A.N.N. architecture.
That is, until a representative from MIT called him. While Evan spoke with him in his typical aloof manner, anyone who knew the sixteen-year-old could tell that he was beyond excited. MIT was his dream school, after all.
And so, Evan and the MIT representative scheduled an in-person meeting later that week.
As they made their way to the Sandstone Grill on foot, Mangle did her best to prepare Evan for the meeting, while occasionally stopping to have her picture taken by random admirers.
"Make sure to hide your enthusiasm," the vixen advised. "Remember, they want you, and as long as we can make them think that you're considering other schools, we're going to have an incredible amount of leverage over them."
"Understood," Evan replied with a nod. "I will admit that I'm a bit unsure of my ability to feign disinterest."
"Just embrace your inner pessimist and misanthrope," Mangle suggested. "And focus on all of the negatives of attending MIT."
"That would make for a rather short list," the sixteen-year-old said dryly.
The vixen rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."
"Of course, of course," Evan replied, stifling a laugh. "Don't worry, I'll try my best."
They walked across the diner's parking lot and then stopped in front of the entrance.
The vixen turned to the sixteen-year-old with a lopsided smile. "Are you ready?"
Evan took a deep breath. "As ready as I'll ever be."
With that, they entered the diner and looked around. There were quite a few people in there, but only a small handful of them were sitting alone. One of them—a short, elderly man who looked like a beardless and hatless garden gnome in a well-worn suit and tie—got out of his booth and welcomed the two with a jovial smile and a wave.
"Hello!" He greeted them. "I've been greatly looking forward to meeting the two of you!"
Mangle's tail wagged behind her as she and Evan approached the old man. She was absolutely loving the fame and admiration that she was accumulating.
"I'm Doctor Wallace Stanek. I'm the Director of the MIT A.I. Laboratory and a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science," the old man introduced himself with a slight lisp as he shook their hands.
"Nice to meet you, Doctor Stanek," Evan greeted the professor in an almost overly professional manner.
"A pleasure to meet you, Doctor Stanek," Mangle greeted him with a courteous smile.
"Oh please, call me Wallace," Dr. Stanek said with a chuckle and then gestured to his booth. "Come. Let's sit down."
They all took a seat, with Evan and Mangle sitting next to each other on the opposite side of the table as Dr. Stanek.
"Normally, we have our alumni conduct these interviews, but I simply had to meet you two in person," Dr. Stanek explained with a jovial smile. "I've been obsessed with robots ever since I was a child, and it's been a lifelong dream of mine to one day create, or at the very least meet, a fully sentient robot." He then added with a chortle, "And now I have!"
Mangle couldn't help but to giggle at that. "I'm glad I could help fulfill your dream. And I have to ask—do you really consider me to be as sentient as anyone else?"
"Why, certainly," Dr. Stanek replied. "Most of my colleagues may dismiss it as anthropomorphization, but I truly believe that if an artificial being consistently acts like a human, and talks like a human, then they should be treated as if they are human."
The vixen smiled. She liked this professor.
Dr. Stanek continued. "Anyway, I also want to personally thank you both for single-handedly ending the AI winter. Quite an impressive feat, I must say."
Mangle looked at Evan and then at the professor with a puzzled look on her face. "The AI winter?"
"Between the havoc wrought by Fazbear Entertainment's new animatronics, the collapse of the LISP machine market, and DARPA cutting most of its funding to the Strategic Computing Initiative, things have been looking pretty grim in the field of AI research since the late eighties. Donors, investors, and the public at large simply lost interest in it," Dr. Stanek explained. "And then you two showed up, demonstrated to the world what the cutting edge of AI and robotics is capable of, and captured the public's imagination. Thanks to you, my department has seen a substantial increase in funding, along with countless other research organizations specializing in AI and robotics."
Mangle looked down at the table with a slight frown. She hated that she hadn't realized just how big of a difference they were making, especially given how extensively she had studied economics, history, politics, and sociology. But it then occurred to her how this could be used to their advantage.
Evan blinked. "I had no idea we were making such a big impact."
"Well, you are," Dr. Stanek replied. "And that's why MIT wants you. We believe you'd be a perfect fit for our university, and are confident that we can provide you with the education and research opportunities a brilliant young man such as yourself needs to flourish. And we're willing to make you quite a generous offer should you choose to enroll with us."
"Such as?" Evan asked.
Dr. Stanek smiled jovially at Mangle before returning his attention to Evan. "We've seen how adamant you've been about wanting Mangle here to get a college education, and we're fully willing to provide her with one. Should you choose to enroll with us, she will be provided with all of the classes, opportunities, and amenities available to all of our students, all free of charge."
The vixen's heart soared upon hearing that. Being allowed to study at such a prestigious college as an actual student would be a dream come true. However, she retained her composure, not showing so much of a hint of positive emotion.
"However, in exchange for that…," Dr. Stanek trailed off.
"Yes?" Evan replied, sounding more than a little skeptical.
"... we would like to study her," the professor continued.
Mangle felt a pit in her artificial stomach. She did not like the sound of that.
The sixteen-year-old furrowed his brow. "Study her how?"
Dr. Stanek held up his hands. "Nothing invasive, of course! All we ask is to receive a detailed log of Mangle's systems at the end of every week. You can even take it and send it to us yourself," he explained. "In addition to that, we would like to test the limits of her mental and physical capabilities. In regards to the former, given that Mangle has been trained to speak English, we would like her to try to learn a non-Germanic language. As for the latter, we would like her to join a sport and observe her while she takes part in it."
"What sports would be available to me?" The vixen asked, doing her best not to seem too curious.
"Well, given that we need it to be active enough for us to collect useful data, and safe for both you and the other students, we would suggest one of the following…" Dr. Stanek pulled out a small notepad and began to list its entries. "Gymnastics, badminton, figure skating, tennis, and fencing."
Mangle felt another surge of excitement at the prospect of getting to learn how to fight with a sword. Even so, she controlled herself so as to not show how she was feeling, and she prepared herself to go on the offensive.
"That is quite a generous offer. Of course, we have been given similar offers from other colleges," Mangle lied as she folded her hands.
The professor looked completely befuddled, unknowingly showing his own gullibility. "... You have?"
"Yes," the vixen replied matter-of-factly with a courteous smile. "And we would like to make a counteroffer."
Dr. Stanek blinked, seemingly unsure of himself now that she had caught him off guard. "Okay, well… let's hear it."
"Given that the media coverage of us alone has been enough to increase your funding as substantially as you say, then it's obvious that us going to MIT and allowing you to study me is going to result in another vast increase in funding," Mangle began.
"Oh… That had not even occurred to me," the professor admitted.
"And on top of that, you're going to similarly benefit from whatever technological advancements you make from your observations," she continued. "My point is that MIT stands to gain a lot from us taking your offer, and so it should be adjusted to account for that. So my counteroffer is this: in addition to your original offer, we want you to cover the entirety of Evan's tuition for his undergraduate education and half his tuition for his graduate education, and in addition to that he should be given full access to all research facilities and equipment on campus, and we want to be provided with the best, most spacious accommodations on campus for free for the entirety of our stay."
Dr. Stanek was quiet, seeming to consider the vixen's offer very carefully. Finally, he said, "Well… you drive a hard bargain, but… I think that should be doable. Though, I'm going to have to discuss it with President Garland." Then, as if a switch had been flipped, he suddenly laughed and said, "You know what? You'd be a great fit for Sloan!"
"Sloan?" Mangle asked, a little startled by what almost seemed like a mood swing.
"The Sloan School of Management. It's our business school," the professor clarified. "Given your impressive aptitude for negotiations, I'd say you'd fit right in with our Sloanies."
"Oh, well, thank you," the vixen replied with a smile.
"Anyway, I'll discuss this with President Garland and call you once he's made his decision. Now, with the negotiations out of the way, I'd like to give you two the course catalog for next year," Dr. Stanek said and then reached under the table and pulled out two books, each of which was about one and a half inch thick. He handed them to Evan and Mangle and continued, "Inside you'll find information about the different courses, our schools and department, student life, and our administration."
"Thank you," Evan said as he took one of the books.
"Yes, thank you," Mangle said as she took the other. She smiled at Evan before returning her gaze to the professor. "I think I speak for the both of us when I say that we look forward to seeing what kind of subjects are available to us."
Evan nodded. "Agreed."
"Well then, now that we're done with all of the formalities, would you two be willing to humor an old man and have some coffee with me while telling me more about yourselves?" Dr. Stanek asked with a jovial smile. "I just find you so incredibly fascinating."
Mangle looked to Evan, who nodded in assent, before turning back to the professor with a smile. "Sure! We'd be delighted to."
Having spent over an hour chatting with Dr. Stanek, Evan and Mangle finally bid him farewell and left the diner.
As they walked back home, Mangle noticed that Evan was regarding her with a big smile on his face.
"What?" She asked with a giggle.
"Mangle, that was incredibly impressive. I mean, the way you turned the tables on him was just stunning," Evan said as he regarded her with both admiration and deep affection. "I'm so incredibly proud of you, and it is truly a privilege to see you grow into such a formidable woman."
The vixen giggled in delight as her tail wagged behind her. "Thank you, Evan. Hearing that from you means the world to me."
He took her hand and squeezed it affectionately. "As you do to me."