Saturday, May 13, 1995
Although their private prom night wasn't meant to change anything about Evan and Mangle's relationship, neither of them could help but to feel closer to one another in the days that followed. They felt even more devoted to each other and enjoyed all of the little instances of physical intimacy they shared even more than they had before.
As the International Science and Engineering Fair drew closer, everyone started to make preparations for the big trip. Unlike the previous fairs, which only lasted a day, the International Science and Engineering Fair—or simply 'ISEF' for short—was a weeklong event, and at first it seemed as if Mangle was going to have to be stuck in the exhibit hall for the entirety of it. Fortunately, Ramón was able to convince the organizers to let her leave during the designated lunch break and at the end of each day, much to the vixen's relief.
Even so, Mangle would have to spend a lot of time in the exhibit hall during the day and the hotel room at night, during which she would have little to do. As such, everyone—the Aftons, Michael's friends, and Ramón—all pitched in to get her a large collection of books to take with her. They borrowed books from libraries, bought them from bookstores, borrowed them from friends and family, and lent the vixen books from their own private collection. Eventually, Mangle had enough books to fill a small suitcase.
Mangle's tail was wagging so fast that it was practically a blur as she stuffed her bags into the trunk of Michael's dark grey 1992 Ford Explorer. Given that the fair was going to be a weeklong event, she had packed a suitcase with various amenities, such as a Walkman with headphones that had been modified to fit her head, a number of music cassettes, a hairbrush and a handheld mirror, as well as a Nokia 1011 mobile phone, which William had lent her. And of course, she had a second bag filled with clothes and various personal care products, as well as her suitcase filled with books.
"Are you sure that's everything?" Evan asked ironically with an amused smile as he placed his own two bags inside the SUV.
"Now that you mention it, I suppose I could use another suitcase of books," Mangle replied with a playful smile.
The sixteen-year-old huffed a laugh as he closed the trunk. "Oh, I do not doubt that at all."
"You guys ready?" Michael asked with a smile as he walked over to the two.
"That should be fairly evident," Evan replied as if it had been the stupidest question in the world.
"Thank you so much for driving us to the airport," Mangle said in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"No problem," Michael replied with a shrug. "That's what family's for, right?"
The vixen's tail wagged even faster and she had to suppress the urge to let out a squeal of absolute joy. She was so incredibly happy that Michael and William had truly accepted her as part of the family.
The three got into the car, with Evan and Mangle sitting in the back seats. As Michael turned on the ignition, the vixen turned to look at the sixteen-year-old, who was watching his older brother with a frown. She took his hand and squeezed it affectionately, and he looked at her and smiled. She smiled back at him.
After picking up Ramón, they began the two-hour drive to the airport in Las Vegas. As they drove, Michael and Ramón engaged in small talk while Evan and Mangle kept themselves occupied by reading. The sixteen-year-old was enjoying 'Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology' by K. Eric Drexler, while the vixen was reading 'Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times' by Donald T. Phillips.
As engrossed as Mangle was with her book, the scenery outside would occasionally draw her attention—the cityscape of St. George, the many varied and striking rocky formations in the desert, and the flashy cityscape of Las Vegas—all of them made for such lovely sights.
When they finally reached the airport, Michael helped them load their bags onto baggage carts and then accompanied them to the check-in counter. As they approached, the woman manning the counter stared bewilderedly at Mangle.
"Hi!" Ramón greeted her with a courteous smile. "We've booked a flight for Hamilton, Ontario."
Unable to look away from the vixen, the woman behind the counter gestured at her and asked, "Uh… is that someone in a suit, or is that an actual robot?"
Ramón glanced at Mangle and then back at the woman. "Yes, she's a robot. Is there a problem?"
"Uh, yeah… You can't just bring something like that with you on the plane, you have to pack it up and check it in as baggage," the woman explained as if that should've been obvious.
Mangle's ears pinned back against her head and she looked absolutely distraught at what she had just heard. Things had gone so well up until now, and once again she was treated like she was just some thing without thoughts or feelings of her own.
"Excuse me?!" Evan almost shouted, barely able to contain his anger.
"Hold on, I'll handle this," Ramón reassured them both. He returned his attention to the woman behind the counter and said, "Look, I spoke to Velma Larson from customer service, and she assured me that our mechanical friend here would be allowed to be seated with us as a passenger."
The woman blinked in confusion for a second before finally responding with, "P-please hold on for a minute! I need to make a call!"
Mangle's thoughts raced as the woman spoke with customer service. She knew that things were most likely going to work out, but she couldn't help but worry that they weren't. And to top it off, she now felt awful and absolutely degraded.
She then felt someone take her hand and squeeze it affectionately. She turned to Evan, who gave her a look of sympathy and understanding, almost as if he could read her mind and knew exactly how she felt.
"If you're not permitted to sit with us, then we're not going at all," he reassured her.
With a grateful smile, the vixen squeezed his hand. She knew she could always count on him being there for her.
After almost ten minutes, the woman ended the phone call and printed out a document. "I've spoken to customer service, and they have confirmed your statement." She handed Ramón the three plane tickets and the document she had just printed out. "Keep this certificate on you at all times and make sure that you show it to security and the flight attendant."
"Thanks!" Ramón said as he pocketed the document and handed Evan and Mangle their tickets.
The vixen felt a wave of relief wash over her as things seemed to have been resolved.
They checked in their baggage and then went through security. Thankfully, Ramón's certificate allowed Mangle to not have to go through the metal detector.
Once they finally reached their gate, passengers were already boarding the plane.
"Well, I guess this is it," Michael said and smiled at the other three. "Have a fun week, and good luck!"
"We don't need luck," Evan replied coldly.
Mangle, on the other hand, smiled back at the twenty-two-year-old and gave him a hug. "Thanks, Michael."
"Yes, thank you!" Ramón concurred.
Michael broke the hug, then gave them all a small wave and said, "See you in a week!"
Both Mangle and Ramón said their farewells to the twenty-two-year-old before he finally took his leave. They, along with Evan, then walked up to the flight attendant standing by the gate. She stared owlishly at the vixen before Ramón presented her with the certificate. Then, after handing her the tickets, they all boarded the plane.
As was expected, the other passengers stared at Mangle as she and the others walked along the plane. While part of her enjoyed the attention she was getting, she couldn't help but to feel objectified—as if she was just a simulacrum of a real person.
In order to help the vixen feel like she had some more privacy, Evan and Ramón let her sit next to the window, while they claimed the seats closer to the walkway.
After checking in on them, Ramón put on a set of headphones and started listening to an audiobook on his Walkman, while Evan and Mangle—like the bookworms they were—pulled out the books they had been reading on the drive here and went back to reading them.
It wasn't until Mangle felt the slight hum and vibration of the plane's engine coming to life that she looked away from her book. The flight attendants were securing the doors and overhead bins, and reminded everyone to remain seated with their seatbelts fastened. Then, the plane began to move.
The vixen looked out through the window with curious eyes. Given that she had never flown before, she was quite interested to see the takeoff.
Slowly but surely, the airport passed out of view as the plane made its way to the runway. Mangle then heard the roar of the engines and felt herself being pressed back into her seat as the plane accelerated faster and faster.
Then, suddenly, it felt as if the plane and her herself somehow became lighter and were lifted off of the ground. Through the window, Mangle could see the runway quickly disappear beneath them. She watched in absolute awe as everything on the ground became smaller and smaller as they continued to climb.
As she watched the ground grow ever more distant, transforming the mundane landscape into a vast, awe-inspiring panorama, Mangle couldn't help but to think back to when she first learned about the true size of the world. At the time, it had frightened her because she was scared of getting lost or losing Evan in all that vastness. But now, that same vastness filled her with a kind of reverence—the world was so enormous and filled with such a great variety of different people, and she was a part of it! Truly a part of it! Not just someone to be kept hidden away, but a person with true agency, whose influence could potentially reach far and wide.
Mangle smiled to herself. The world was so beautiful, and she felt such an overwhelming desire to play an important part in it. It was as if destiny itself was calling to her.
After the plane landed in the outskirts of Hamilton, Ontario, the trio took a cab to the city center. While it wasn't the biggest city that Evan and Mangle had seen, it was by far the nicest looking, and the vixen was incredibly excited to take in the sights. There were so many interesting shops, cafés, and restaurants everywhere, and the sixteen-year-old could tell that if she got her way, Mangle would want to visit all of them.
Before long, they arrived at the Sheraton Hamilton Hotel, which was just across the street of the Hamilton Convention Centre, where ISEF was hosted. Judging by the number of teenagers who were either in or around the hotel, they were far from the only contestants who would be staying there.
As Evan, Mangle, and Ramón got out of the cab and grabbed their bags, the other ISEF contestants stared at the vixen in awe. They were the kind of stares that Mangle quite enjoyed, because the ones staring could understand and appreciate what she was and what she represented—an inevitable victory in the upcoming contest and a miracle of technology that had once been relegated to the realm of science fiction.
Keeping her head held high with a confident smile on her face, Mangle accompanied Evan and Ramón to the hotel lobby while carrying her heavy bags as if they were nothing.
Once they had checked in at reception, the three took the elevator to the sixth floor, where Ramón accompanied Evan and Mangle to their room.
"Here we are—Room 612," Evan noted as they approached the door.
The sixteen-year-old pulled out the key he had been given at reception and used it to unlock the door. Opening, he and the vixen were greeted to the sight of a room that looked significantly more luxurious than what they were used to—the king size bed, in particular, looked quite inviting, especially in comparison to the makeshift futon they slept on at home.
"Oh my!" Mangle exclaimed. It was almost a little embarrassing how much she was looking forward to trying the bed.
"I'll let you get settled in," Ramón said. "And then we'll go have lunch in, say, an hour. Sounds good?"
"That'll be fine, Ramón," Evan replied with a grateful smile. "Thank you."
"Alright, if either of you need me, I'll be at Room 619," Ramón said before taking his leave.
"Okay, see you later, Ramón," Mangle replied with a smile.
"Yes. See you later," Evan added.
"See ya," Ramón said back and then took his leave.
The sixteen-year-old and the vixen entered their room and closed the door behind them as they looked around. It was going to be so cozy to live here for a whole week!
After putting away her bags, Mangle made a beeline to the bed and sat down on it.
"Oooh! So comfy!" She cooed, and with an excited grin said, "Evan, you simply have to try this!"
"Very well," the sixteen-year-old replied as he put away his bags. He then made his way over to the vixen and sat down next to her. "Oh! That is quite nice."
With a giggle, Mangle pulled him into a hug. She nuzzled his cheek oh so tenderly and whispered, "Want to read and cuddle?"
Evan huffed a laugh and, with a crooked smile, replied, "I'd be delighted to, but… would you mind if I work on the architecture while we cuddle?"
Mangle chuckled in response. She couldn't help but to admire how devoted he was to his work. "Not at all," she cooed.
The sixteen-year-old took off his shoes before he fetched his IBM ThinkPad 700C notebook—a gift his father had given him on his birthday last year, knowing all too well that the teenager would want to keep working on his projects while away from home. Mangle, meanwhile, looked through her bag of books for a few seconds before finally deciding to take 'The Gallic Wars' by Julius Caesar and Aulus Hirtius.
The two then climbed into bed and snuggled up until they were resting their heads against each other—Evan being engrossed with his work, while Mangle was spellbound by Caesar's tales of intrigue and conquest.
After enjoying a good lunch at a local burger joint, the trio went to the ISEF registration desk to confirm their participation, received their contestant badges, and were assigned a spot in the exhibit hall. With that done, they then went to a grocery store to buy water, beverages, snacks, and other necessities that they were going to need during their stay at the hotel.
Once they returned, they found that many more ISEF contestants had arrived at the hotel, and while Evan wanted nothing more than to get back to his and Mangle's room so that he could resume his work, the vixen was quite insistent on mingling with them. He couldn't blame her, though—it wasn't often that other people showed such admiration and awe towards her, and she seemed to be craving it.
Thankfully, Mangle noticed Evan's discomfort with socializing with people he couldn't care less about, and once she had gotten her fill of attention, they both retreated to their room, where they resumed their cuddle-study-work session.
Around 7:00 PM, they and Ramón went out for dinner. Given that Hamilton had a lot of different types of cuisine to choose from compared to Hurricane, they decided to try something new and went to an Indian restaurant. The food there was certainly interesting, though Mangle and Ramón both seemed to enjoy it quite a lot.
When they returned to the hotel, Evan and Mangle spent the next couple of hours practicing for their presentation. After that, they got back into bed and cuddled while she studied and he worked. As much as the sixteen-year-old missed his computer and workshop at home, he had to admit that he quite enjoyed these extended periods of intimacy they shared.
As the day drew to a close, Evan and Mangle got ready for bed by brushing their teeth and changing into their sleepwear—the sixteen-year-old changing into his plaid pajamas while the vixen changed into her pink slip dress nightgown. They then turned off the lights and slipped into bed, and now without any distractions, they were able to give each other their full attention as they cuddled before they both fell asleep.
Evan woke up feeling a persistent pain in his lower abdomen. It very much seemed like the Indian food was not agreeing with him. As he opened his eyes, he saw that Mangle's bedside lamp was on, with the vixen herself being engrossed with yet another book.
The sixteen-year-old groaned in pain, which was enough to draw Mangle's attention. With a concerned look on her face, she asked, "You okay?"
"Yeah…" Evan replied as he got out of the bed, clutching his lower abdomen. "Suffice it to say that I'm not going to be too keen to have Indian again…"
He then made his way to the bathroom with great haste.
After a little over thirty minutes, Evan emerged from the bathroom with a relieved look on his face. With a contented sigh, he walked over to the bed. However, as he did, he noticed the title of the book the vixen was reading—'Awaken the Giant Within' by Tony Robbins.
"Is it a good read?" The sixteen-year-old asked as he climbed into bed.
"I'd say so, yes," the vixen replied, her eyes remaining fixed on the book. However, as Evan slipped under the covers, she turned to him and said, "Hey, Evan? I've been thinking and… there is something I think we need to discuss."
Evan furrowed his brows. From the sounds of it, it seemed quite serious. Turning to the vixen, he replied, "What is it?"
"Well, given that you've been so focused on working on my body and now on the VANN architecture, and given how preoccupied I've been with bettering myself and becoming more familiar with the outside world, I realized that we haven't really discussed our future all that much," Mangle said as she put her book away.
"I'm… fairly certain we have, Mangle," Evan replied, feeling somewhat perplexed at what the vixen was getting at.
"Okay, granted, but the things we have discussed have been vague at best," the vixen pointed out. "I'm talking about more concrete plans—you know, the kind of things we want to ultimately accomplish. I mean, sure, we've agreed that I should run the business end of the company while you handle the technical side, but aside from that, what do we want to do?"
"Well… I want to build a life with you," Evan replied. He then thought for a moment before he continued, "And as should be evident with my work on the VANN architecture, I want to create more animatronics like you. More than that, though, I'd want to ensure that you and the others have a haven of sorts—a place where you'll be safe from the evils of humanity."
Mangle smiled at him and stroked his cheek with great affection. "That's an incredibly laudable goal, Evan."
He smiled back at her as he imagined how good of a life they could lead without humanity's interference.
"But I want so much more than that," the vixen added with a fervor that almost frightened him.
"... What do you mean?" Evan asked, feeling a little taken aback.
"I mean that I don't want to live in some secluded haven for the rest of my life," Mangle clarified. "I want to be a part of this great and wonderful world we live in, and I want to have an impact on it—to change it for the better."
"In what way?"
"I want to create a world where people like me can live alongside humanity as equals," she explained as her smile widened.
Evan regarded her with some skepticism. "Mangle… while I share your dream, I have serious doubts that it could ever be made a reality. As much as I hate to say it, I don't believe humanity would ever accept you as an equal."
The vixen nodded somberly. "Believe me, I'm well aware of that possibility, and that's why I think setting up this haven of yours is still worth doing," she admitted. "But even if we can't sway the public to see things our way, I still want to try, because I genuinely believe that it can be done."
The sixteen-year-old furrowed his brow as he considered Mangle's words. A world where humans and sentient robots lived alongside one another as equals… As beautiful as that thought was, it just didn't seem possible to him. But he could see how passionately the vixen believed in this dream, and it made him want to at least try to bring it into reality.
Finally, he said, "I'm still not entirely convinced that it is possible… That said, if there's even a remote possibility of making this dream of yours come true, then I would be remiss if I didn't do everything in my power to help you achieve it."
Mangle smiled at him, then took his hands and squeezed them with such tenderness. "That's all I ask."
For the next six days, Ramón, Evan, and Mangle would begin their day by getting out of bed bright and early before having breakfast at one of the nearby cafés. The vixen and the sixteen-year-old would then make their way to the exhibit hall to present their project to the various judges, fellow contestants, and other onlookers, as well as get interviewed by journalists. Thankfully, the schedule allowed for a lunch break in-between all of the presentations, which provided Evan with some much needed relief from all of the human interaction. Then, in the evening, Evan and Mangle would either eat dinner with Ramón at one of the countless restaurants in the city or attend an ISEF mixer event. While Evan would have preferred not to go to the latter, Mangle thoroughly enjoyed all of the attention she got at those events and used them as an opportunity to network. Then, at the end of the day, they retreated to their hotel room where they would spend the rest of the evening cuddling while Mangle read and Evan worked.
However, while the vixen thoroughly enjoyed her time at the fair, finding it to be both incredibly stimulating and rewarding, the sixteen-year-old grew increasingly bored and restless as the days passed. As much as the vixen had encouraged him to socialize with the many intellectually gifted and academically successful teenagers attending the fair, he found all of them to be profoundly disappointing, and by the time ISEF drew to a close, he regarded them with a similar level of disdain as he held for the rest of humanity. However, Mangle suspected that it had more to do with him having to be around a large number of people for extended periods of time than anything else.
Friday, May 19, 1995
The conference hall was absolutely filled to the brim with people—consisting mainly of ISEF contestants and their adult sponsors—as the Grand Awards Ceremony was in full swing. Practically everyone there, including Mangle and Ramón, were having an absolute blast at this final ISEF event. The one person who did not seem to be enjoying himself, however, was Evan. As the first one and a half hours of the Grand Awards Ceremony had passed, the sixteen-year-old had grown increasingly impatient as he tapped his fingers against his kneecaps and jiggled his feet restlessly.
The speaker on the stage then announced, "And the first place award winner in the category of Robotics is… Evan Afton!"
"Finally," the sixteen-year-old grumbled to himself.
"Hey, don't be such a downer," Mangle said as she took his hand and squeezed it. She offered him a sympathetic smile. "I know how much you hate this, but please… smile. If nothing else, do it for me."
He let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine. I'll do it for you."
With a very forced smile on his face, Evan got up and was accompanied by Mangle to the stage. While she genuinely felt bad that he wasn't enjoying himself, the vixen took a great deal of pleasure from all of the attention they were getting. As they made their way towards the stage, with the audience cheering and applauding them, Mangle held her head high and exuded so much pride and gravitas that one could almost be forgiven to think that she was about to be coronated.
Once they got up on the stage, Evan accepted the first place ribbon from the speaker before he and Mangle joined the other first place award winners further back on the stage.
As they waited for the remaining category award winners to be called on stage, Evan kept forcing a smile while the vixen did her best to keep his spirits as high as possible.
Finally, the speaker announced, "And the winner of the International Science and Engineering Fair's grand prize, the Distinguished Young Scientist Award, is… Evan Afton!"
The audience erupted in cheers and applause that far exceeded what had come before. As she and Evan stepped forward to accept the award, Mangle practically lost herself in the incredible level of exaltation being directed towards them. It was beyond intoxicating, and while she would later feel a little guilty about it, for a moment it felt as if all of it was directed at her alone, as if she was the center of the universe.
By the time the cheers and applause had subsided, Mangle knew that she wanted to feel that way again.