Chapter 34: Chapter 33 – Learning

“Incredible…” Lizzy said, placing down the collective report of the previous week’s experiments. She was sitting at an oval table, with all of her team present, reading the same material that she did.

“His growth is stunning to watch!” Fizzy added, also putting down his datapad. “Only a week has passed since he was born and he already looks like someone who is 3 years old!” 

“Well… he was in that thing for 20 years!” Another scientist joked but his laughter was hollow. It was weird to watch someone grow years in only a few days. 

“His accelerated growth is one thing.” Fizzy continued. “I am more interested in his brain activity! We can’t scan it correctly! Any machine or AI we hook up onto him gets fried! He already killed four AI cores!”

“Something is not right…” A female scientist murmured and many agreed with her.

“We just have to find out what causes it!” Fizzy laughed, fidgeting in his seat. Even though he was already 110 years old, he looked like someone only in their 60s. But if he remained this fidgety, his remaining 10 or 20 years, that a human usually had, would be cut much shorter. “He has an eidetic memory!”

“Not just that.” Lizzy interjected, “He can remember everything since coming out of the vat. He recounted EVERYTHING since I held him.” She explained it to the rest. “He could speak after a day and write on the second.”

“The brass has already approved for us to continue.” Fizzy spoke again. “We got access to any and all information available in the Hegemony!” He grinned.

“The Alpha Project’s next stage is going to be focused on education.” Lizzy stood up, looking around the scientists. “Alpha shows great interest towards learning so we are to start feeding that exceptional brain of his with our collective knowledge!”

…

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…..

It was 2 years after they started ‘educating’ him. By Lizzy calling him Alpha, it quickly stuck and everybody forgot the previous name they gave him, while he was still in the vat. Experiencing his capabilities was just as stunning after two years than seeing it for the first time. Whatever information they gave him, he read it through quickly, mulled over it for a day or two, then he started to question them. His questions were always direct and to the point. He outlined not just why he was asking them but they also pointed out mistakes in what he read previously. 

It didn’t take long for them to start giving him schematics of ships. Small crafts and shuttles at first. A few days later they received improved versions of the same schematics from him. When they asked Alpha about it, he only had one answer for them; ‘It felt better like this’. 

After the Hegemony’s top brass received the upgraded schematics and they went ahead and built them, the whole team was told to feed him with more data. Give him as much schematics as possible. There were no questions asked. The team could ask for the plans of a coffee machine just the same as for the plans for the most advanced warship in their navy. Alpha never flinched. No matter if it was about a laser weapon, the reactor of a destroyer or the main gun of a battleship. He read through it, memorized it and drew it up perfectly. Then he started to modify it to his own likings. 

The years never stopped advancing and they went faster than any of the scientists expected. After 5 years have passed by, Alpha was looking like someone at 10 years of age. Lizzy was in her own office, drinking a steaming hot coffee, reading the daily reports with a furrowed brow. 

“Hey!” Fizzy came in, bringing another stack of paper with him. “He finished with his newest modification! Hell! I would call it a completely new machine at this point!” He laughed, putting the stacks down on Lizzy’s sturdy, mahogany table. 

“Hm?” She glanced at it. “Suit of Ares?” She chuckled at the name.

“He said he liked the names from ancient mythology.” He murmured, patting the top of the documents. “It was the first time I heard something like that from his mouth. That he likes something… Anyway! I already sent the digital copy to the brass but I thought you would want to see his handwritings for yourself~”

“Mmm, thanks!” She nodded silently, mulling on his previous words. That Alpha said he was liking something.

“Something is bothering you, isn’t it?” Fizzy asked, noticing the black bags under her eyes.

“Yeah!” She moaned, putting her cup down on the table. “None of you bothered by how… dry he is?”

“Dry?” He asked back, tilting his head, playing with his nest-like mess of hair.

“He shows barely any emotions!” Lizzy said, looking into his eyes. “No wonder, because he only knows the room he is in all the time! He has not been let out since he was born! He had no interaction with anybody else besides us!”

“Of course not! He is a top secret project! The brass wouldn’t let him just… out! Wandering the surface of the Moon! Lizzy, he is not human!”

“That is the problem! None of you look at him as a human!” She groaned, rubbing her forehead. “It is still not too late to socialize him!” She stood up, fixing her lab coat.

“What do you mean?” Fizzy asked, now much more serious in tone. He knew that look in her eyes. She most definitely did not tell this to the higher ups. At least, not yet. And he knew he should not do that either.

“I was thinking about how to go about it… I can’t bring him out, yes. Even when WE go up to the surface, it is done with the secret service people keeping an eye on us! I always guessed that when I take my daughter to the park, the stand where I buy some sweets for her is also operated by one of their agents.” She chuckled but she did not mind it in reality. It gave her a sense of security.

“Then…? What are you going to do?”

“I am going to bring Marin down to meet him!” She said with a smile.

“Huh?” Fizzy flinched at the idea.

“She is already 10 years old and has no friends! I am also worried about her!” She sighed, walking up and down in her office. “I guessed it should be a good idea to let the two meet. Maybe he would open up a little. For now, he is nothing but a way more capable AI in a fleshy body! I don’t want to see him ruined! A human needs emotions, Fizzy!” She explained, looking into his eyes.

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“Sure!” He sighed, shaking his head with a smile. “I am going to inform the rest and make sure the brass only learns about this… after you already did it. I don’t think they are in a position to scold us or kick us out by now! Ahahaha~”

“I totally agree with you on that!” Lizzy grinned, patting his shoulder. “Thanks.”

“Hey! You are my boss! I am also old, I can shoulder some risks~ There are no threats that would make me flinch anymore, ahahahaha!”

…

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It was a simple, rectangle room. Maybe around 20 square meters. The walls were in an off-white color and the floor was fully covered by a soft, light-blue carpet. On one end, there was a small bed, with a big pillow and a fluffy, white duvet on it. Besides the bed, a huge bookshelf stretched alongside the wall, made out of dark oak wood. In this age, it was rare to see a real bookshelf as most reading materials were all digitized or read directly into the user’s implants. Yet Alpha’s first request was to have one, along with an infinite supply of pencils and paper. It was a weird request. The last time paper and pencil were ever made in the quantities he asked for was centuries ago. But they were not in a position to say no. 

Soon, the bookshelf was filled with stacks of papers, document folders, neatly organized, all written, drawn and edited by Alpha. Whenever he was given new materials, he liked to write it out for himself. Go through different iterations of it and draw his own version before organizing them. Everything Lizzy read through, was written or drawn by him personally. The Hegemony’s leaders only received the digitized versions. 

Right now, Alpha was sitting in the middle of his room, before a huge, wooden board, leaning over it as he was drawing precise schematics of one of the frigates that the Hegemony used on the frontiers. He was doing it with nothing but a pencil and the white paper, placed on the board. He didn’t use any rulers or special tools yet all of his lines were perfectly straight. He was doing it from memory and followed his personal feelings, making changes as he went along. 

He didn’t stop when the door to his room opened up and Lizzy walked in. She was not alone as she was followed by Fizzy, pushing in a cart that had multiple data-cartridges stacked upon each other, alongside a beefy holo-projector. It was around the size of a small dog, yet weighing nearly 100 kilos.

“Damn, even with the weight reducer, this thing is heavy!” He sighed, wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

“You just got old!” Lizzy chuckled, helping him unpack them all and set up the projector against one of the empty walls. 

“Yeah… you are right.” He smiled, sorting out the data-cartridges, placing them on the empty parts of the bookshelf. His action finally made Alpha raise his head and look over.

His violet eyes were looking at Lizzy at first, then moved onto the new device that they brought in. Scanning it he turned towards Fizzy once again. He was watching him as he placed the cartridges on the shelf. In the end, he just stood up, walking next to him, starting to rearrange them on the shelf, without saying a word to him.

“What?” Fizzy blinked his eyes, surprised but let the young boy quickly flip the cartridges around and sort them to his own likings. 

“He prefers them in alphabetical order.” Lizzy chuckled. She walked next to Alpha, gently patting his head, playing with his black hair that reached down to his shoulders.

“These data carriers look outdated.” Alpha spoke up, looking at them, taking over from Fizzy and putting them on the shelf by himself. His voice was young, innocent sounding, yet strangely empty and monotone.

“They are.” Lizzy explained it to him with a gentle smile, “They are 70 years old.”

“The tech is even older!” Fizzy sighed with nostalgia. “I remember watching my favorite moves on them when I was a kid! My grandparents had the same projector, back on Mars. But holo-technology advanced way too fast and they became obsolete in only a few decades!” 

“It has its charm.” Lizzy said. “Marin loves watching holo-movies and I grew to like them myself! Using implants and being in the movies are more immersive, yes, but… I don’t know, it is good to be a spectator for once and not the main hero or heroine!”

“These do not look like worthy materials for study.” Alpha said, putting up the last one, turning towards Lizzy. His violet eyes were calm, blinking them only when needed. They were almost devoid of any fluctuations that a real human should have in them. It was almost unnatural to look into his eyes, which is why many scientists couldn’t bear work with him personally. 

“Because they are not!” Lizzy said, crouching down, patting his face. “Tomorrow, I am going to introduce you to a new friend! She would be bored by reading the dry books we give to you… so, we need something that the two of you can do together!”

“Friend?” Alpha asked, tilting his head to the right, ever so slowly.

“You’ll see!” Lizzy smiled at him. “These are some of her favorite movies!”

“Movies.” He repeated as he turned back towards the shelf, reading their titles. Trek amongst the Stars. Star Warriors. Guardians of the Systems. Ocean of Stars. “Their titles are stupid.” He commented, looking back at her.

“Maybe~ But she likes them! It is going to be a good experience for you too! If you want, you can watch some of them right now! It is easy to handle the projector! You just pop it in and turn it on! From then on, it is voice controlled!” She explained, even though she knew, he did not need the instructions. Alpha would just look at it, maybe walk around it, pick it up and deduct it by himself.

“I see.” He nodded, walking back to his wooden board, kneeling down on the carpet and ignoring the two once again. He simply went back to work on the drawing of the frigate he was working on before.

“Haaah…” Lizzy sighed, feeling frustrated, seeing him acting like this.

“Come.” Fizzy patted her shoulders, leading her out of the room, leaving Alpha alone once again.

After around an hour or so, when he finished his drawing, he didn’t even check it. Simply rolled it up, placing it onto his bookshelf before walking to the newly opened section on his bookshelf, housing the holo-cartridges. In the end he just pulled out the one called the Star Warriors. He was looking at it a little more, maybe hesitating. In the end he turned towards the projector, putting it into it. When the room fell into complete darkness, he was sitting on the carpet, watching the yellow text, scrolling upwards before him in the air as loud music started to play. It was delivering the backstory of the movie for its audience and for Alpha for the first time ever.

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