A Bio-Weapon’s Rhapsody

The next part of the class started more like the previous one, only…This wasn’t as hard as she had expected; unlike what she thought would happen, this one was easier to deal with, as it was some simple operations to resolve. She had enough processing power to solve most of these in an instant. So the next couple of hours were spent quite easily.

 

“And for the last of today, Alexandra. Can you solve 3*23?” The [Teacher] said sending the operation to Alexa’s Desk.

 

Alexa of course had already written the answer (69) before the problem arrived, wich meant that her answer was lodged before the problem had fully arrived.

 

“And correct again.” The [Teacher] nodded at her, “You all should try to be more like her, even though she just arrived she has studied enough to be able to solve two digit multiplications.”

 

Some of the other kids around her grumbled, and one even claimed she had used a [Calculator] to cheat, but Alexa didn’t have any such [Calculators] around; she had merely used her [AI Core] to do the calculations for her!

 

She hadn’t cheated!

 

“What is your opinion on this Blackthorn?” The [Teacher] suddenly said pointing at Glory.

 

“It is understandable, some of us have a knack for other things, like history, geography, social studies, ethics, politics….” Glory went on and on, giving examples of multiple information genres, most of which Alexa didn’t know, “And other people are good at Math.”

 

Alexa nodded at that; she was very good at [Math].

 

“Alexandra? Would you like to add something to this answer?” The [Teacher] said turning the attention back to Alexa.

 

Did she? Not really.

 

Well, she could clarify some of that?

 

“I am not only good at [Math].” That made most of the giggles stop, “I am also good at [Biology] and [Chemistry].”

 

And sure enough, the giggles resumed after that, with a silent sigh from Glory and Alan.

 

“I see, well. That is all we have a looted for today,” The [Teacher] said, snapping his fingers; the [Whiteboard] showed new data on it, and that, in turn, was transmitted to Alexa’s [Desk]. “That will be your homework, please insert your DataBanks into the slot to download your homework and upload the previous one. Alexa, please take the DataBank from the slot, yours only has homework. You must do your homework and turn it in at the next class.”

 

Alexa saw a small slit open on her [Desk] and a slim square device was ejected, it was smooth at the touch and sure enough, her [Nanites] returned the rough blueprint of it, it was a [Data Storage] unit, it had some data already there and a few tracking programs ready to try and latch into her.

 

Most of those got thwarted when Alexa simply self-destructed the [Nanite Units] that had been corrupted, but that meant that she really would need to find an intermediary to do most of her interactions with foreign devices. Unless she fully deconstructed them and built them anew, but if these had the [Virus] from the beginning, then it was a moot point, wasn’t it?

 

“Okay,” Even so, Alexa nodded and placed the [DataBank] into her [Backpack], she would see about asking [Eleanore] or [Fan Girl] about some device to interact with it later.

 

“Okay then, Class Dismiss!” The [Teacher] said in a strong voice; Alexa could almost taste the Mana Wavelength as his voice spread all around the classroom. Some of the kids that hadn’t moved after taking out their [DataBanks] started moving quickly as to make sure everything on their desks was moved into their [Backpacks]. “Alexandra, please stay for a few seconds, everyone else can leave.”

 

Alexa stopped her attempt at running away as the [Teacher] spoke, she noticed Glory and Alan look at her for a second and then leave. No one else seemed to pay attention to her as the classroom emptied.

 

“Any opinions on your first day here Alexandra? I was made to believe that your first day at our Elementary School was less than optimal.” The [Teacher] said as he sat on the [Desk] that was set up on his raised platform.

 

He was no longer speaking in a [Loud] voice, so Alexa walked toward the raised platform.

 

“It was educative, I learned plenty today.” Alexa answered that she had learned plenty. Some information about the world she lived in. The rough state of the locations around her area of activities.

 

The size comparison between what she had explored compared to the whole size of this place, and then compared against the other [Cities] in this [Nation].

 

Then she had learnt more about the local non spoken laws and the optics about Ethics, besides she got some [Blueprints] and also a promise for a more effective way to store calories and energy. She was looking forward to those [Mind MRE] snacks.

 

“Good, school is for learning.” The [Teacher] said, nodding his head, “I am an acquaintance of Eloise’s Friend, so you have my gratitude for saving her.”

 

The what now?

 

If he was an [Acquitance] of [Eloise’s Friend]...Then that meant….”You know [Eleanore]?” Alexa…wasn’t quite sure if that was the correct answer, but she felt as if the [Teacher] was leading her to that question.

 

“I know who sometimes goes by that name yes.” The [Teacher] answered with a weird smile, it seemed as if that smile wanted to climb all the way to his ears. “Either way, she didn’t ask me to look after you or anything, so go on. Carry on, Alexandra, I am serious about the homework, and yours is quite a special one.”

 

Alexa nodded and turned to look towards the exit, she feelt a shiver on her back so in turn she grew a [Camera] at the back of her head to keep track of him. She wished that she hadn’t done it.

 

What she saw was the [Teacher] removing his glasses and his crazed-like eyes staring at her while he [Smiled], it was ominous, Alexa almost could see reality break as he seemed to laugh without any sound being made.

 

Alexa could see two superimposed images of [Teacher], in one he seemed to be laughing like a [Crazed] person, while on the other he was standing there stoic, looking at her leave while reading something on his [Notepad].

 

Alexa decided not to question it and move faster.

 

“[Notice, detected a rise in adrenaline and stress hormones within the host. No evidence of hostile actors within detectable area.]”

 

“It doesn’t need to be hostile to be dangerous!” Alexa screeched back at Main Core.

 

She didn’t like that, that feeling, it was bad! It was very bad!

 

It made Alexa shiver, it made Alexa fear, reality shouldn’t act like that!

 

Reality bending like that was bad! Only bad girls played with reality like that! Alexa was not a bad girl! Alexa would not play with reality like that!

 

Alex-

---------------------------------------------------------

“Alexa? Everything okay?” [Fan Girl] asked her as Alexa walked into her. What? What happened? “Are you…crying?”

 

What?

 

“....No?” Alexa answered as she touched her face, she did indeed have tears across her face and some snot on her nose.

 

“[Error,Error,Error,Error,Error,Error, Consciousness Stream diverted, Memory Failure, Reading Corrupted Memory Log…Error,Error,Error,Error….]”

 

“Main Core?”

 

“[.........Hard Reset finished, Memory compromised. Do you wish to purge the last thirty minutes? Y/N.]”

 

“No.” Alexa shook her head, “Was…Was Alexa crying when you found her big sis?”

 

[Big Sis] seemed to be struggling as how to answer Alexa.

 

“...Yes.” But in the end she answered as such, “I found you crying under a tree and brought you here.”

 

Alexa looked around and…sure enough she was at the park, hadn’t she just left the School? She remembered…Talking with her Teacher, he was…laughing? No, he was staring at her weirdly…but also laughing? Something…wasn’t quite right there. She had seen something, something that she wasn’t supposed to?

 

Or was it something she shouldn’t know?

 

“And?” Alexa asked, she didn’t understood how she had thirty minutes of memories that didn’t read correctly, it was as if her memories had been…codified? No, encripted. Yes. It was as if her memories had been encrypted using an algorithm different from the one she used.

 

“And well, you were crying while hugging a tree saying you would be good. Asking for your mom to forgive you, asking your Brother to not leave you alone…” [Big Sis] seemed to want to cry too, “Asking them to come back.”

 

…Alexa…did not remember anything of that.

 

“Where are they?” So she asked, and as her words left her mouth she noticed [Big Sis] closing her eyes and after a few seconds she hugged Alexa close to her chest.

 

“It’s okay Alexa.” Said [Big Sis] as she silently cried, “We will not leave you, okay? Not me, not Golem, not Eleanore or Billy. No one in Haephestus’ Forge will leave you, hell. If they leave you, I will return for you, and we can kick their assess, Okay?”

 

…That was the premise under which she was working with [Haephestus’ Forge].

 

“[.........Starting debugging of memory fragments. Isolating into an individual server, asking for authorization for the creation of sub-AI CORE.]”

 

 

“[Starting generation of Sub Core…achieved.]”

“[Moving Fragmented Memory.]”

“[Alexa14092020.mem as been isolated.]”

“[Starting independent analyzis.]”

 

“Okay!” Alexa nodded and returned the hug, she knew what to do in these situations!

 

Mom always said that when someone hugs you, you hug them back! Double the hugs, double the happy!

 

“[Starting depuring, starting diagnosis, starting search for foreign code within host.]”

 

“Okay, remember Alexa. If you ever feel lonely or sad, you can come to my room, okay? My door is always open, and if you find it closed, just break it.” [Big Sis] said seriously, so Alexa couldn’t help but nod her head. “The same applies to your other sides, okay? You all are welcome in my apartment. Should I move with you? I will ask Eleanore about that.”

 

Eleanore? No wait, she was moving in with her? Did they have enough room?

 

The Treehouse was big, but would it be big enough?

 

“[Found divergence within Memory, preparing countermeasures…Warning, guarantee of success not found. Searching for core memory divergence.]”

 

Well, Aunty never used her room, so that could be an option…She would feel bad for Aunty, but [Big Sis] was better at hugging Alexa!

 

“We will need to ask Mom.” Alexa said, getting a weird look from [Big Sis].

 

“Alexa…you… do know who your mom is? Where is she? You said you didn’t have parents..:” [Big Sis] asked, and a look of worry took over her face, “Alexa, listen to me…I need you to focus, within you is this weird fluffy-like weird feeling right? When you use your Core Powers, you feel it.”

 

Alexa nodded, she of course knew that fluffy feeling, it was what let her make everyone happy!

 

“[Core divergence located, starting counter measures…Warning need authorization from host.]”

 

“I need you to focus that feeling into your head, you need to flood it from the center of your mind outwards…Focus Alexa, can you do that for me?” [Big Sis] was getting frantic.

 

“[Subject: Skye Venti, please request Host to say Yes to emergency procedures.]”

 

A weird voice sounded near Alexa…She felt as if she should know that voice…It sounded like how she imagined Granpa….

 

“Alexa? Who?” [Big Sis] didn’t know Granpa? She looked at her weirdly

 

“That was Granpa, I think? He hasn’t spoken to me before like that. Is he moving in with us to the Tree House?” Alexa asked confused, she had thought Granpa lived only in his weird blue box.

 

“Can you say ‘Yes to Emergency Procedure’ like Grandpa asked?” [Big sis] asked her, but she didn’t need to ask that!

 

Of course, she could say that! It was Grandpa!

 

“Yes to the Emergency procedure Grandpa!” So she smiled and nodded.

 

*CRACK*

 

And she felt as if the world cracked once more.

 

*BLEEEERG*

 

And something noxious flooded from her mouth; it tasted like tar and was sludgy black; it reeked terribly, and if not for [Main Core]’s help, she would have probably dirtied either her own clothes or [Fan Girl]’s clothes.

 

“Main Core? What…what happened?” Alexa said as she stared at the mysterious substance that she had just expelled from her mouth.

 

“[Host? Please confirm identity, name. Alternative name and current mission.]”

 

“Alexandra Saintsworths, Rhapsody. Current mission to finish school day and return home for a briefing about possible new mission with [Haephestus’ Forge].” Alexa said answering Main Core’s prompt.

 

“Alexa? Everything all right? Did you flood the fluffy energy?” [Fan Girl] was asking at the side, right. She had asked that, was that how she dealt with [Mind Cores]?

 

“[Identity confirmed, start subroutine to follow Human Subject: Skye Venti advice?]”

 

“Yes,” Alexa said, feeling the Mana Wavelength flood from within her Ai Core outward. “It felts fluffy.”

 

Alexa did understand why [Fan Girl] said it was a fluffy energy, it left her feeling all flutery.

 

“Good….gave me a scare there. You may have experienced some sequels from that girl Melissandra, or you have a very bad luck and found yourself with another weird Core User.” [Fan Girl] said sighing, “We may need to ask Eleanore to move you to another school.”

 

“I…don’t think this was on Meli-Meli.” Alexa said turning her attention to Main Core, “Was it?”

 

“[Negative.]” Main Core answered from her shoulder, at what point had he made that speaker?

 

“...who is that?” [Fan Girl] asked poking at Alexa’s shoulder. “He was the one who helped you come back, right?”

 

“That is [Main Core], he helps me with some aspects of my [Core Powers].” Alexa answered.

 

“[Host’s problems were due to some Memory leakage from a corrupted data packet we interacted with. This problem will not occur in the future as we will take measures to prevent this from happening again. Our containment wasn’t enough.]” Main core said from her shoulder, it was somewhat funny to think about that stuck up voice coming from Alexa’s shoulder. “[Your help is appreciated Subject: Skye Venti.]”

 

And like that, Main Core’s speaker turned off, and Alexa noticed how it was deconstructed.

 

“Okay, that was weird.” [Fan Girl] said trembling just a little, “But glad it worked, so it was not a Mind core? You have serious issues then…It felt as if I was talking to…not another person, but still someone different.”

 

What? But that was Alexa!

 

Alexa was…somewhat sure it was Alexa, it felt like Alexa… But different? It was a weird Alexa, since that Alexa had a [Mom], [Brother], [Aunt] and…a [Big Sis]?

 

No wait, the last one was of this Alexa…So that Alexa wanted to steal her [Fan Girl]?

 

“Huh…that was weird.” Alexa said too, “I think it was because something I saw.”

 

But if she was to point the reason into something, it was probably that last Memory she had before the whole blackout thing where the weird Alexa started bleeding over to her.

 

“What did you see?” [Fan Girl] asked, too, so Alexa started to look at her memories.

 

“I saw [Teacher] as if he was breaking a wall within Reality and acting as two different people simultaneously.” So Alexa answered while preparing herself for another invasion of Weird-Alexa….

 

Only for nothing to happen.

 

“So….you saw your Teacher what…break something in the air? the walls? what?” [Fan Girl] asked once again, then out of nowhere, she extended her arm and punched into nothing. Only… “Like this?”

 

Only her punch hit [Something], as if the wind had been broken and Alexa could see cracks in the air.

 

“Something like that yes, but it felt more…weird, more…Real.” Alexa grumbled, the effect was similar, but the feeling she got from looking at it was different. “When [Teacher] did it, it was like…as if Alexa knew that she was seeing something different, not like on this that Alexa knows it is just wind.”

 

“Maybe he is a Miscellaneous Core user too, probably a mind adjacent. Those are always weird, there is this one Super Villain that works on this side of the country that does weird ass stunts, and people theorize what type of Core he is adjacent to.” [Fan Girl] said shaking her head. “He probably woke up some trauma sleeping within you or something, I will try to get your older self into therapy one fo these days.”

 

….Alexa only nodded, it was good if it wasn’t her the one to deal with that, even if it was Alexa the one to deal with that ultimately.

 

Well, it would be Alexandra and not Alexa, so that was a win for Alexa.

 

“Well….Now we can go home, we are almost two hours late now so Eleanore will be mad at us, but at least we will not need to go throught the whole boring meeting.” [Fan Girl] said extending her hand to Alexa, “And you can call me Big Sis even when we are alone, I was being honest before. I don’t mind being your family.”

 

….

 

“[Notice, use of social links will benefit host greatly, we advice for host to take this chance and-]”

 

“Sure, but Alexa will not give away her extra mango.” Alexa nodded at the extended hand, she…liked the feeling of having some of those [Human Links] that everyone spoke about.

 

Maybe it wasn’t the [Brother] that Weird-Alexa had, but at least she had now a [Sister]. So…perhaps next time she would have an easier time parsing through Weird-Alexa?