AREA: DORM TD-19

[awakeningwill]

[The video feed turns on. A somewhat familiar face came onscreen, though most would only recognize him as 'that broken robot that Knuckles was keeping on his couch.' Looks like he's fully functional again, and possessing the same emotive range as he did while offline.]

I'm Zero. Starting now, I'll be on security detail.

[There was a pause. It seemed like he was more or less finished with introductions, but there was something else on his mind kept him from turning off the camera. After a beat, he continued.]

The database tells me that Knuckles is no longer here.

...

There's someone else... There was a blue reploid that called himself X. I need to know what happened to him.

...Thanks.

[End transmission.]

Comments

[cplusplus]

I'm happy to be of help.

I'm sorry to ask but is Croire a reploid as well?

[Of course he's just drawing a conclusion judging from Zero's appearance and him knowing X, well that and he couldn't recall any listing of Croire in the records.]

[awakeningwill]

No. She's a cyber-elf I'm taking care of.

[Zero seemed to glance over his shoulder at... the empty air?] I'm told most humans can't see them.

[cplusplus]

No, I didn't even knew she was there the whole time! This is the first time I have heard of cyber-elves as well, are they some form of assisting AIs?

[awakeningwill]

They're living programs with the power to alter aspects of reality. Most die when they expend their power, but Croire is more advanced. She's helped me out on many missions.

[He paused, as though listening to this invisible presence say something - and then nodded. Zero focused his gaze back on the camera, but it wasn't his voice that spoke to Chihiro next.]

Hello!

[cplusplus]

Oh, hello Croire! Pardon me for not greeting you before.

That's amazing though- no, she's amazing on her own right. I'm always fascinated what difference every time and space has in terms of technology, I still can't believe how much advance quite some of the students and faculty are used to, I'm actually pretty jealous.

[awakeningwill]

Every advance comes with its own problems...

[Zero looked thoughtful for a moment, as though remembering something. But rather than bring up 22XX, he opted to ask something else instead.]

What was your world like?

[cplusplus]

I agree with that, every achievement has it's own ups and downs.

[He should have expected that question to come up, but it had surprise him nonetheless. He frowned as he thinks though the right answer, Zero probably didn't saw the footages of Hope's Peak but even with most of it being known, he rather not explicitly say anything about it.]

Where I come from, technology that response to touch and motion have started becoming something of a common household item, mostly from smartphones and social networking is pretty popular if not almost a necessity. AIs, on the other hand, are not as advance beyond doing simple programming like generating based on string commands it was input in it's data.

I've actually contribute a couple of things as best as I could though. I think I've made a breakthrough with Alter Ego, have you met him before? He was a student here until recently.

[Until a certain classmate who shall not be name started creeping on him.]

[awakeningwill]

No, I haven't. I wasn't at the school very long last time. The only people I got to know were Knuckles and Goombella.

...X, I knew from before.

[And they were all gone - but that went without saying.

Anyway. Back on topic.]

So, you made an A.I. capable of functioning as a student? That's impressive.

[cplusplus]

His basic function was learning but he grew on his own before I came back. Honestly, I feel more at ease to consider myself a father than simply his creator, I'm really proud of him.

[And he doesn't feel that he's 'just' an A.I., AE's living in every sense no matter what naysayers may say.]

[awakeningwill]

...You sound like a good father.

[If only Zero could say the same about his own - whoever it was. All the same, it felt validating to hear a human speak so proudly of an A.I.]

[cplusplus]

I hope so! I feel responsible of him and I want to see him grow as much as he could.

[awakeningwill]

...I'd like to see that too.

[Having a creator that cared about the well-being of their creation and wanted to do good in the world - that positive influence would probably be the defining difference between A.I.s being able to shape a better future, and the endless wars that they fought in his.]

[cplusplus]

Would you like to meet him?

[Zero seems like a nice person, and it wouldn't hurt for AE to meet new people, he could imagine him being rather eager in fact. Well, meeting people while monitored, he couldn't help it, Kiyotaka's... incident still makes him rather wary.]

[awakeningwill]

...Sure.

[Zero really wasn't sure if he could be classified as 'nice,' exactly, but if Chihiro thought it was okay, he wasn't going to object.]

[cplusplus]

[A popup screen shows up on the screen, revealing a person that can be no other but the aforementioned Alter Ego. But it could just be Chihiro in green filter, we may never know. The other A.I. smiled rather cheerfully with a polite however equally cheerful introduction follows.]

This is Alter Ego!

[awakeningwill]

...Hello.

[There was an awkward pause as Zero tried to think of what he wanted to say. What was there to say? He'd never been terribly good at small talk.]

Do you... like it at this school?