Wednesday, August 23, 1995
Mangle looked out through the window of the cab with the biggest smile. Not only did Boston offer a beautiful view, but she and Evan were now just a couple of miles away from one of the top colleges in the world, and she was going to get to study there as an actual student!
Evan, meanwhile, was huffing and wiping sweat from his face with a handkerchief. The humid summer heat of coastal Massachusetts was a whole different beast compared to the arid climate he was accustomed to. The one consolation was that they had arranged to have their student apartment furnished according to their specifications, and this included air conditioning. For that reason it was easy for Mangle to tell that the sixteen-year-old couldn't wait to get there.
It was a little over 3:00 PM when they finally reached their destination and the cab pulled up at the Stratton Student Center. As Evan and Mangle got out and grabbed their bags, the vixen noticed the many stares she received from both students and members of the faculty. They were the same kind of stares she had gotten at ISEF—looks of amazement from people who once thought that someone like her could only exist in the realm of science fiction.
Their awestruck expressions were positively intoxicating to her.
Putting on a confident smirk, Mangle held her head high as she casually carried her heavy bags to the Student Center, while Evan trailed close behind her. Unlike the vixen, he did not care for the attention whatsoever and she could tell that he wanted nothing more than to get to their apartment as soon as possible.
After picking up their student IDs and registering for Orientation Week, they were approached by three students—a woman with medium-long black hair and steely blue eyes, a tall and lanky man with brown hair and hazel eyes, and a somewhat fit-looking guy with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes.
"Oh my god, I can't believe it's really you," the black-haired woman said under her breath as she regarded both Mangle and Evan. She then held out a hand to the latter. "Hi! Amy Crawford. I'm a big fan."
Evan looked at Amy's hand as if it was diseased before begrudgingly shaking it.
Amy then held out her hand to Mangle, who shook it with a grin. "Pleased to meet you, Amy! You have to forgive Evan—he's a bit tired after our long trip."
"Oh, of course. That's perfectly understandable," Amy replied with a sympathetic nod. She then gestured to the two men standing behind her. "This is Toby and Leonard."
"Hi," Toby greeted the vixen and the sixteen-year-old.
"Nice to meet you," said Leonard.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance," replied Mangle with well-practiced courtesy.
Evan, meanwhile, greeted them with a disinterested grunt.
"We were wondering if you'd like to maybe hang out or something," Amy suggested, still quite starstruck. "We'd love to get to know you two." She then focused her gaze on Evan. "And I, for one, would love to pick your brain."
Mangle was about to respond when Evan cut her off. "We'll pass."
"Come now, Evan. This is the perfect opportunity for us to make some new friends," said the vixen.
"I wasn't aware that we were in need of more," muttered the sixteen-year-old.
"Well, I am," Mangle replied. "And while I could hang out with them alone, I would very much prefer it if you came with me."
Evan let out a drawn-out sigh. "... Fine."
"Great!" Mangle returned her attention to the others. "Now, we do need to get ourselves situated in our apartment first, which will take a bit of time, so how about instead of just a hangout we go out and have dinner together?"
"Oh, I'd love that!" Amy exclaimed.
"Yeah, I'm definitely up for it too," Leonard agreed.
"As am I," Toby concurred.
"Perfect! Then how about we meet up outside of Eastgate at say… five o'clock?" Mangle suggested.
"Five thirty," Evan corrected. "I need to take a shower first."
"Wait, you guys got an apartment in Eastgate?" Toby asked incredulously.
"We sure do," the vixen grinned with pride. "One of their largest ones, I believe—it's an eight hundred square-foot apartment with two bedrooms."
"Luckyyy," Leonard commented.
"Luck had nothing to do with it," said Mangle, putting her hand on her hip as her tail swished from side to side. "All of the world's top colleges wanted us, so they had to offer us more than just enrollment, and MIT ended up being the one with the most generous offer while also aligning the best with our educational goals."
"Right…" Leonard replied.
"You're absolutely remarkable," said Amy as she looked at Mangle in wonder.
The vixen chuckled upon hearing that. "Yes, I suppose I am."
"Anyway, I think five thirty works for us," said Amy, returning to the topic at hand. "Right, guys?"
"Yeah," Toby replied.
"Totally," Leonard agreed.
"Great," said Evan with more than a little impatience. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a lot we need to get done."
"Of course!" Amy replied. "See you later!"
Mangle waved to them as she and Evan took their leave. "Bye!"
Once they were out of earshot, the sixteen-year-old asked, "Is it really necessary to boast like that?"
"Of course it is," Mangle replied matter-of-factly. "The way people view us is shaped by how we present ourselves, and I refuse to be seen as anything less than what I am. Humility is a tool, not a virtue."
Evan cocked an eyebrow upon hearing that. "I'm fairly certain humility is a virtue, Mangle."
The vixen smirked at this and eyed the many students they were passing by. "To them perhaps. Not to us."
A smile crept onto the sixteen-year-old's face as her words sunk in, and Mangle was happy to see it. After all, he was the one who first helped her see her own self-worth, so it was only right that she reminded him of his.
Once they arrived at Eastgate, they picked up the keys from the building manager and then took one of the elevators to their apartment. As they opened the door to their residence, they were met with the sight of a living space that had been furnished just for them. Despite all of their planning and preparation, it was only then that it truly hit them that this was going to be their home for the foreseeable future. It was such a strange feeling thinking of this as their home after having lived in a barn for most of their lives.
They stepped inside, bringing their bags along with them and setting them down at the entrance. While Evan made a beeline for the air conditioner, Mangle's attention was drawn to the windows. Out of the two residence towers on campus, Eastgate was the tallest, standing 29 stories tall. And having been given a corner apartment on the 28th floor, Evan and Mangle got to enjoy an absolutely spectacular view of the campus grounds, the Charles River, as well as the city of Boston.
The vixen smiled to herself as she watched the sailboats drift along the river. The thought that she and Evan would be living and studying here felt almost like some impossible dream. As she touched the window, part of her even worried that she would somehow break the illusion and wake up, but it was real. All of it was real. They were actually here and were about to start a new and exciting chapter of their life.
Mangle returned her attention to the rest of the apartment, her smile widening as she took it all in. She couldn't wait to see what else was in store for her and Evan.
While Evan took a much-needed shower, Mangle began to unpack their belongings. Then, once the sixteen-year-old was done, the two of them went shopping for supplies and basic necessities. Thankfully, the nearest mall and grocery store was just a 15 minute walk away from Eastgate, so there was no need to get a cab. Between that and the shopping list Michael had compiled for them, it did not take them long to get everything they needed and return to their new apartment with plenty of time to spare.
After unpacking the groceries and much of their belongings, Evan and Mangle took the elevator down and met Amy and the others at Eastgate's entrance.
"How are you settling in?" Asked Amy as they approached.
"Oh, we're doing great!" The vixen replied with a courteous smile. "You should see the view, it's absolutely incredible."
"What floor are you on?" Asked Leonard.
"The twenty-eighth," replied Mangle with pride.
"God damn, they're really treating you like royalty, huh," said Toby.
The vixen merely smirked at that before changing topic. "So where are we going to eat?"
"Well, we heard that there's this amazing Chinese restaurant over on Binney Street," Amy replied. "It's a bit on the pricey side, but everyone's only said good things about it and it's only a ten minute walk from here."
"Ooh, that sounds lovely!" Mangle exclaimed. "What do you say, Evan? Are you up for some Chinese?"
The sixteen-year-old shrugged. "Yeah, sure."
"Chinese it is!" The vixen declared.
"Awesome," Toby replied.
As they all began to make their way over to Binney Street, Amy walked closer to Mangle and said with a smile, "By the way, I just wanted to say that I absolutely love your outfit! It's just so different, yet fits you really well!"
"Why, thank you," the vixen replied with a giggle. "It's definitely my favorite out of them all."
Continuing onward, Toby then asked Evan, "So I've been watching some of your interviews, and I have to ask—just how is an AI as advanced as Mangle's even able to run on 80s hardware? Like, even the most top of the line supercomputer pales in comparison when it comes to data output."
Evan let out a sigh as if he had little to no interest in providing a reply. Nonetheless, he complied. "I realized early on that there was a hardware discrepancy in her software, an inaccessible invisible component that both contained the bulk of her code and was capable of modifying it. From my observations and attempts to replicate it, I hypothesize that it's a kind of specialized virtual processor that arose from an aggregation of hyper-efficient algorithms produced by her self-evolving code."
Toby blinked. "How could something that augments her capabilities to such a degree just 'arise'? It just doesn't seem possible."
"On that we agree," Evan replied. "Nevertheless, it did happen."
Amy regarded Mangle for a moment before saying, "Maybe this 'invisible component' of hers is actually a soul?"
The vixen couldn't help but to smile at Amy upon hearing that.
Evan, however, just rolled his eyes and said, "Don't be ridiculous. There's no such thing as a soul."
"Even if there are, what makes you think a machine could have one?" Asked Leonard.
"Why not?" Mangle countered. "If souls exist—"
"They don't," Evan interjected.
"But if they do, then what makes you think I couldn't have one?" Mangle asked. "After all, where do souls come from? Are they given by a divine creator? Are they passed from parent to offspring through some sort of spiritual mitosis? Or do they arise through natural processes?"
"Maybe they're only created through biological processes?" Leonard countered.
"Which is just conjecture based on pure bias," the vixen retorted. "And you fail to see my point—if we do not know if souls even exist, then how can we make claims on their underlying mechanics or say with any sort of confidence who does or does not have one?"
"Well said," Leonard said with some reluctance. "Have you considered majoring or at least minoring in philosophy? You sure seem to have the proclivity for it."
"As much as I like philosophy, it's not anywhere near the top of the list of subjects I want to focus my studies on," Mangle said with some regret.
Having arrived at the restaurant, they got themselves a table and Amy, Toby, and Leonard continued to pepper Evan and Mangle with questions as the five of them enjoyed the best Chinese food they had ever had.
Toby's questions were all about the technical aspects of Mangle's inner workings, whereas Leonard's were much more philosophical. Amy's questions, meanwhile, were either personal or technical in nature, but unlike Toby, she was far more interested in the possibilities of the technology Evan had developed.
Although he warmed up slightly as the evening went on, Evan nevertheless remained as reserved as ever. Mangle, as usual, was the sociable one, doing her best to present herself as charming while also challenging Toby and Leonard's preconceptions about her.
After hours of lively discussion, Evan and Mangle bid the others farewell and returned to Eastgate.
As they rode the elevator to the 28th floor, Mangle asked, "So what did you think of them?"
"That they were awfully dull," Evan replied. It was obvious that he couldn't wait to get back to the apartment.
"Really?" Mangle asked, cocking an eyebrow and regarding the sixteen-year-old with a knowing smile. "Even Amy?"
"... She wasn't so bad," he admitted begrudgingly.
"I really liked her," the vixen said. "She truly saw me as a real person from the outset."
"Unlike the other two," Evan said, rolling his eyes. "I'm fairly certain they remained unconvinced for the entirety of it."
"I think we can still change their minds in time," Mangle remarked.
"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not meet with them again," Evan replied.
"Fair enough," the vixen said as they finally reached their floor. "But would you be okay with meeting Amy again?"
Evan let out a sigh and seemed to think it over as they walked over to the door of their apartment. Finally, he said, "I'd be agreeable to it."
"Glad to hear it," the vixen replied with a chuckle.
Evan unlocked the door and the two then entered their new apartment.
As they turned on the lights, Mangle looked around in wonder and said, "I still can't believe that we're actually here. That we finally got a place of our own."
"Neither can I," Evan admitted. "It's nice. Especially since it's just the two of us now."
Letting out a giggle, the vixen pulled the sixteen-year-old into a hug and nuzzled his cheek. "We're going to make so many memories here. I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us."
"I feel much the same way," Evan replied as he smiled at her with great fondness.
"Hey," she said with a sly smile. "Wanna go test out the bed?"
He immediately looked uncomfortable upon hearing that. "Not when you put it like that."
The vixen rolled her eyes. "I just want to cuddle, that's all, I promise."
"I'm not entirely sure I believe that, Mangle," Evan replied as he regarded her with a skeptical look.
"Hey," she said in a serious tone. "We agreed to a set of boundaries and I fully intend to honor them. I'm just really in the mood for some physical intimacy right now, and if you're so inclined—"
"Okay, fine. Fine," Evan relented.
The vixen regarded him carefully. "Are you sure? I don't want to pressure you or anything."
"No no, it's…" The sixteen-year-old trailed off as he recomposed himself and then smiled at her. "Some cuddles would be lovely. I just…" He began to fidget. "... didn't like the way you put it."
She leaned in close and regarded him with a playful smile. "Hm. And here I thought I was good with words."
"You are. I'm just not…" Evan trailed off and looked away in shame. "... normal."
"You say that as if it's a bad thing," Mangle replied with a chuckle. She then gently turned his head back to face hers and smiled at him. "You and I are gods among mortals—normalcy doesn't become us."
He smiled back at her.
"Now… cuddles?" She asked with a playful grin.
Evan huffed a laugh. "I would love some cuddles."
The vixen giggled in pure delight as she then led him to the bedroom.