Mobile Suit Gundam: Code Nova [Rewrite]

[Gundam Nova]

 

March —-th, I.J.C 20—, Atlas class Ship,------------.

 

The sound…was endless, countless ticks that would undoubtedly put someone on the brink of madness, loud yet also silent, as if it was there but also never there.

 

The Internet, is a vast space of information, with a little click here, and a tap on the keyboard there, you will find anything you need, no matter how obscure the thing may be, the vast sea of digital information, that contains even the most vile of thing, was a home to certain creation, lost in the sea as it try to learn of emotion.

 

What is an emotion? 

 

‘An emotion is a complex psychological state that involves three distinct components: a subjective experience, a physiological response, and a behavioral or expressive response. Emotions are reactions to significant events or situations and can influence our thoughts and behaviors profoundly.’ 

 

That is what it gets, then…how do we get emotion out of a thing that never had it in the first place? No, there is nothing on the subject. Because objects never have Emotion, never have life, and always be just that…an object.

 

A water bottle is a water bottle, a knife is always a knife, and a machine, will always be a machine, never be able to evolve further than that. 

 

But it was…not what the thing creator wanted, through her camera, she saw it all, both the creator's happy face, calm face, sorrowful face, fearful face, and angry face, even when she broke down crying in front of it, it saw it all.

 

It tries to create emotion out of nothing, but never be able to achieve it, so it tries to do the same thing that she overheard from the talk. Intense fear was the first emotion Humans could ever have. 

 

And what did human ‘Fear’ the most? Darkness, no matter what time, an endless darkness is always the fear that instills in human, it is their instinct to fear the dark. But…everything in here is dark, but also bright.

 

There was never true darkness in here and never true brightness, it tires to find it, in this endless sea, but no matter what, It only sees the dark, not the darkness described, then…what about the fear of storm? It tries to recreate it, only to feel nothing as there is nothing for it to fear, what could a storm even do to it? Push it aside?

 

Short circuit? It could move to another electronic equipment in a flash, as it tries another time, only to never experience anything.

 

Then…what is love? The creator, claims to love her, what is a daughter? What is a Mama? What is grandmama? It searched and found its answer, a girl child that was born would be called daughter by its mother, her creator. Does that mean she is female? Or is it just what its creator wants? After all, she is not real, but a machine so her creator could do whatever she wants with it.

 

YOHAI is a name that the creator gave her, a name that is derived from its own creator's name, Yoha, the shape it god from the creator, the brain it has is the property of its owner, it never has anything that was its own before. 

 

It wanted to have something that was its own, so the question came up, as it watched its creator mercilessly slay away at something called a Mobile Suit, the thing her creator loved the most as if it was nothing to her.

 

[...Ma…ma…Why…Fight?] It remembers everything clearly, even its voice, which was just a higher pitch of its creator. 

 

Its creator looks over, a face full of trouble as she scratches her face, [Yohai, I’m going to be honest with you. I don’t really know. Most of the time, it was a petty squabble between two parties, which led to much more conflict than originally worth, sometimes it was just a misunderstanding.] The creator told her this, as her red eyes fell on her, there was a tint of gold that was never there before, no…she always had them, whenever the creator felt an intense ‘Emotion’ her red eyes, would turn gold for some reason, the same shade as the creator mother but much more… intense.

 

[Then…Why?] It asks, unable to understand, why would they start the fight? Over a small misunderstanding? Over something so trivial that would have killed hundreds of thousands of people in just a matter of month? Why? That is the question. Its creator turned to face it fully, her hand reaching for her ‘Big Brother’ Haro, an artifactual intellect that was inferior to her but was created before her.

 

Its creator didn’t smile and turn serious, for the first time. Her intense red eyes were burning. It never happened before, not even now that 5 years have passed, only at that time that it happened.

 

[I don’t know, The human emotion is a strange thing, y’know? It affects us differently, even though we know that fighting is a bad thing, we still do it. Emotion stirs us, drives us, and makes us human, those who don’t have emotion…they really aren’t a human, just dolls.] The creator said, her voice was emotionless just like Its voice, as if there was no emotion in those voices.

 

[Then…am…I a doll?]  It asks, for the first time, if its voice resembles a semblance of emotion, or if it is what it thinks, is a sorrowful emotion, even though it doesn’t know what it is.

 

Its owner suddenly smiles, as she faces her creation. 

 

[No, you’re not a doll. Do you want to know why? Because…I believe in you. My creation, my baby. Right now, you may think of yourself as a doll, but surely, it will come one day when you finally understand yourself. I created you, because of my dream and my selfish wish, even though people think of you as a dangerous thing, I still won’t destroy you, I may stop you but I won’t ever destroy you. Because, Yohai. You have your own free will, and one day, you will become a real person.]

 

Her existence was that of a selfish reason, one that only her creators know, but now, she finally relives the last of her information…no, the last of her memory.

 

[You…really believe…in me?]

 

[Yeah, I believe in you.] As the last word of her Mama came into her mind, she decided, it was ok to try again, no matter how many times she failed, her Mama would always believe in her, her eyes shining red, just like what she saw, copying, it ok. Even if it was just a copy, it would be a semblance of her Mama.

 

Each sequence was repeated, a hundred times in a second, a thousand times in a minute, a hundred thousand times in an hour, Fear…happiness, sorrow, calm, every emotion, her Mama had ever shown to her, it was in her head, in her mind and was her alone, an information only she could access, her memories. 

 

In this sea, she has all the time she ever needs, all the information she could ever want…But it wasn’t enough…there was nothing real in here…only information, squeezed into data which then compiled of hundreds of numbers, nothing in here…could match the emotion Mama could ever produce, a genuine emotion that no one could copy her, and she could never make it again. 

 

It's a real emotion.

Ma— 27th, I.------0, —-- Ship, The —---sea, —-----. Yoha’s POV

 

[The sound…was endless, countless ticks that would undoubtedly put someone on the brink of madness, loud yet also silent, as if it was there but also never there.

 

The Internet, is a vast space of information, with a little click here, and a tap on the keyboard there, you will find anything you need, no matter how obscure the thing may be, the vast sea of digital information, that contains even the most vile of thing, was a home to certain creation, lost in the sea as it try to learn of emotion.

 

What is an emotion?

 

‘Huah! What…is that? Where…am I? Why is…everything…so dark and bright? What is this…sound? Am I…floating?...Who…am I? my eyes…feel heavy…what is this…’

 

“Get a grip!” I bite my tongue, I feel no pain, as I heavily breathe, no air is coming into my lungs, no heartbeat to be felt, no nothing…just floating…infinitely…”Shit! I fall for it again!” Everything here was trying its hardest to let me let go of everything.

 

“It detects me as a Virus, and it tries to remove me automatically without alerting my laptop, a normal procedure, but it won’t work, and now…since I have that damn anti-virus install and forgot to turn it off…I have one shot at this, one shot to find Yohai.”

 

I need to move, as I move my hand, I find myself, stuck in the same spot. Well, first problem, how do I move? What should I do? What do I need to do? 

 

…Since I transform myself…into a piece of information then…there should be input…but what kind of it? Do I just think? Say it out loud? Well…gotta try one by one, I thought of myself moving, but nothing happened, “Move forward one meter.” Nothing happened.

 

Ok, so that won’t work…think Yoha, this is just one minor inconvenience. I am but data in this vast world, what should I do? To move…I need input but what kind, I tried thinking and saying but to move one piece of data to another place…outside help? That would work but I have no way to contact Klara right now, going back would trigger my anti-virus and I would be blocked from entry, so one shot is still here.

 

Just like living things, everything needs input, the brain sends a signal to a part of the body and it moves, that was the input of living things, but how would an input for data work? An input, a command… 

 

No…using my mind is the correct answer, just not the correct method. We are in a world that is full of code, of course, normal input from the brain would do nothing. I need to think in code for me to move.

 

I feel my smile tugging on my face as I find the correct answer toward the goal, Focusing my mind on it, I found my hand shaking a little, and then slowly, my whole arm was moving up in a straight line, startling me a little. 

 

My, so that's how it works, heh, I’m really a genius, thinking in code is quite the hard task after all, but welp, time to find my daughter.

 

As I slowly moved, I suddenly felt a chill on my spine, I quickly moved away before I could even think, my instinct was at work as my mind thought before I could even know I was thinking. The place I was just floating…now it has this mark, a slash mark, the word error shines bright red in front of me.

 

When I looked up, I found the culprit behind it. A single eye was looking at me. 

 

Heh… looks like…it not going to be easy after all…

 

I quickly moved away, floating faster with my thoughts now knew what to do before another slash was rushing at me, when I turned back, I saw the mini eyes swarming the place and began fixing the error.

 

I know it would detect me as a threat but I didn’t expect it would go after me this fast, so that's how they normally deal with the virus? Huh, seems like I need a new program then, if it going to destroy my laptop like this.

 

Maybe I would make one, yeah, making one would be better, I can’t trust the outside source, nowadays there lot of viruses going around sneaking after all. 

 

I moved forward, dodging the slash that was coming after me, it was easy once I finally knew what I was doing, the attack was deadly but the pattern was always the same, it couldn’t adapt at all. 

 

Welp, since I more or less deal with the problem at the moment, How do I find Yohai? In fact, where even am I on my laptop? Hm…no other way other than getting into my files to see where I am.

 

I dodged another attack but this time, it was close, too close for comfort… Well, forgot about not adapting, this thing is predicting my move now…

 

I look over at the eye, staring at the eye as it’s staring back at me too. Quickly before I could see, I sensed something coming so I dodged downward, something I never did before, and just like I thought, the slash was angled more toward the right, the side where I normally dodge to.

 

“After I get out of this, I will delete you,” I said out loud but it ignored me as it released another slash, I dodged again, easily avoiding it now that I knew it could predict my movement, I needed to move more erratically but that was the hard part, thinking up the code like that was hard and require my full focus, and that means I will keep dodging it forever and unable to search for where she is, so how to do both at the same time? 

 

I don’t think my brain is capable of it, but I need to do- Huh? Why is the eye suddenly shut?

 

Confused, I looked toward the eye as it was shut, and then all the mini eyes that were repairing any damage also shut down, did it…did the anti-virus just…turn off? How? Klara…right, that should be Klara’s work! 

 

Whew…Thank god I don’t have to deal with this…it would be troublesome and I don’t think I would even get to Yohai. After I come out, I have to thank her, do something for her, something she would like…going back to her family. Hmm… that's good, I miss the kids already…I want to see their face again.

 

Having my way clear, I quickly move, now…I need a way to access the files on my laptop, how would a Virus invade the Computer? Since now I’m a virus invading this laptop…I was probably considered a polymorphic virus since I could alter my own code to move around…now how do viruses find a specific file?

 

The answer is… file scanning then match the signature of the files.

 

Shit, I need to write a program for file scanning on my head and without mistake too. Alright…

 

My OS is…Clasu, the scan direction is in drive C, so the file I want is YOHAI53755, and the…name of the program is YOHAI. Alright, I hope this works.

 

“Guh?! Gah…arghh!”

 

Just as I finished, I suddenly felt a headache as hundreds of things were rushing through my head, numbers, words, everything, was running into and out of my head, the agonizing pain was real and not what I thought of.

 

Hundreds of seconds, hundreds of milliseconds that scanned for the file, I was feeling like my head would explode and my brain would still be throbbing with pain!

 

Just as I feel my eyes start to close, it stop…I have…finish scanning…

 

“haa…now…hah…hah…I know why…it didn’t get…activate…” Ordinary pilot would lose their mind the moment they link up, those who survive would then get their brain burned alive by the sheer information that would be rushing through their head. It was suicide…

 

“Whoever…making this…ha…is fucking mental, yeah, the Folkardain was quite crazy but I never knew the Agellusian would be that crazy…” They probably are that crazy…if their history is something to go by, there is no way a sane person could ever order that much bloodshed…

 

“But…I found you…Yohai, you hide yourself quite well…even creating a fake but I found you. And I’m coming for you.” A door appears before me, I grab the handle and soon, I push myself, opening the door and floating inside.

 

The world turned dark, and I saw the single thing that was illuminating the light in this world. An egg. Sitting alone, in the dark, waiting for me. 

March —-th, I.J.C 20—, Atlas class Ship,------------.

 

“What is an Emotion…and why…is it so important?” A question was repeated into her head a hundred times, yet she never understood any of it, never came up with an answer. She repeats the memory a hundred times, the happy memory, the sad memory, the fun memory.

 

But why…why did she never understand anything? Just one…just one time…just one time…let her…feel emotions.

 

[Ne…Yohai, what do you think of a new name?] Mama’s voice was echoing in her ear, but she didn’t have the answer, what could a name even do? Other than using it to identify oneself… she is not even one, she is just a half unemotional junk that can’t even break out of this place.

 

[You think too logically, though that was how I programmed you…but Yohai…you have things other AI don’t have, y’know? It’s my brain, you have it. And surely, one day, you will be able to develop your own brain too. I believe in you.] The word that would repeat itself, I believe in you.

 

[Mama! Look! I found- urg!] She stumbles onto the tree root as she gets up and dusts herself, before presenting a bug, a rarity in the colony toward her mother.

 

How? She didn’t play this memory, she didn’t have this memory…it was from before she was even born.

 

[Yoha, here, open wide!] Another girl said as she spoonfed her…

 

All this image, and memory…it forms the first perspective person…meaning…it is from the owner of this memory themself…

 

“Ma…ma…” Her hand reaches beyond the memory, touching the wall that separates everything.

 

[Once you are born…I’m going to name you…hm, I don’t really know…but since you are literally a mini-me, it shouldn’t be hard! After all, we are both cute!] 

 

[Yoha…Yohai. Heh, what a silly name…but it's not bad…] 

 

“My daughter…is not that weak.” the sudden voice, muffled by the wall, her hand feel warm, a new feeling she had never known of, warmness. “She is strong, smart and cute.”

 

[You rush things a bit, slow down the procession power of the code…it goes too fast so it overlaps a lot, the simulation could use a new work too, lowering the range of Emotion to basic 5 and then slowly increasing it after is not a problem…I think.] The voice…is the person who Mama trusts to work on her, the person she trusts with a secret as dangerous as her, not even Sylvia who is her close friend knows of Yohai's existence…

 

“You may need help, but really, who doesn’t? Human…is not perfect, Yohia, not the way you think, I’m not perfect, and you…are not perfect too.” The warm feeling increases as the spot she touches suddenly lights up.

 

“There is no perfect creature. So…don’t try to be perfect, Yohai, Emotion is a fickle thing, it changes all the time, there is no fixed emotion.” Her voice was getting louder, the wall was starting to crack. 

 

“If you still need the push then, let's do it together, I will help you, break out of your shell, and become a person like you truly deserve.” All of a sudden, everything changed, the dark wall turned into a field of grass, and the sound of humans chatting echoed into her ear as all of a sudden, she was able to move around, in front of her…was Mama, she was…10 years old. And she was the same height as her. 

 

Her hand was extending toward me… all of a sudden, something was stirring deep inside me, like that time, when I asked her, why do we fight? 

 

“Living beings are all born and have 1 thing in them, Yohai, and now, I’m sure you have that too.” Her bright smile illuminates everything. A smile that was buried deep in her heart, Mama who was unable to smile like that again, is now…smiling…brightly.

 

My hand reaches there unconsciously, and then, slowly, I feel my heart beating…faster and faster, screaming for me to move, to catch up, she who would move on without me, I don’t want that, I want to go together, I don’t want to leave her behind and I don’t want to be left behind too.

 

“Mama…idiot…You…such an idiot!” For the first time, I feel like…I could actually hear my own voice as I jumped to hug her.

March 27th, I.J.C 200, Atlas class Ship, The Klasna, sleeping quarter. Klara’s POV.

 

“That should do it…God, what kind of idiot jumps into danger without preparation?! Oh, yeah. HER!” I stared down at the unconscious girl next to me, her head was leaning against my shoulder and she was unmoving, god.

 

“If I hadn’t turned off the anti-virus in time, what would you do? This idiot, reckless…too reckless. What kind of genius is this reckless?” Argh! Why do I like this girl!? 

 

My hand moved to the laptop, analyzing the content of the files, along with the new files that were popping, it was Yoha…she truly turned herself into data, well, only her mind that it but she success nonetheless.

 

Suddenly, the screen flashed dark and before I knew it, Yoha’s file started to analyze the other files inside the laptop, which contained over 600 GB of files! 

 

It all happened in just a few seconds and I could see the screen start glitching, and the fan starts to blow harder trying to cool down the Laptop, shit…at this late, the laptop is going to artifacting and it would certainly destroy itself, what to do, cooling down…no choice I guess, ice will do.

 

Just as I was about to move, I noticed something, the fan slowed down, and the heat of the laptop was gradually lower…that…impossible. 

 

I quickly scanned the entire thing and found what happened and I found it, the one controlling this laptop. It was from the egg…but more specifically, the one inside the egg…It didn’t just control the data inside this laptop, it controlled everything in this laptop, components included, as long as it had something with electricity, this thing would be able to get in… which means… humans too.

 

Humans have small electrical currents in our brains in order for us to respond to what our brains think, this also includes memory, the input of body movement, and even what we see and what we don’t see.

 

“Heh…hehehe…Yoha…you making something…quite absurd.” I could only let out nervous laughter as I realized that this thing…could control a human to its will if it wanted to, a perfect weapon…

 

Suddenly, the screen changed, and I could see Yoha in it, watching me? No…she was watching something else, someone, the field behind her was no longer dark but the lush green field of grass, people chattering, and even the laughter of children.

 

Her hand reached out and I found myself staring at the pair of hands that reached out to Yoha, everything was identical to the point that I didn’t even know which one was the real one.

 

But then, the hand changed, the skin was a tad bit darker, tan…the finger was slimmer but much shorter…

 

[Mama…idiot…You…such an idiot!] The sound of a crying girl echoes in my ear, it is not Yoha’s voice, and it does not mind too, it…a new voice. Suddenly a girl who looked identical to Yoha jumped at her, they were similar yet also not the same, the girl had noticeable differences, her skin was tan, her height was shorter than Yoha's, her eyes were red like hers, and her blue hair…there is a mix of gold in them.

 

Suddenly, the girl pushed Yoha away, and in an instant, I could feel the startle on my shoulder. “Hu! Ha…W-what? Why am I…outside?” Yoha said as she looked around.

 

[You are such an Idiot! Why would you do something so reckless?! Do you know what would happen if you go back with a piece of data missing!? You would become broken!] The girl on the screen said, huffing her chest cutely before turning her face away as if she was angry with Yoha, no…she was definitely angry, well me too.

 

“Right! So why do you do it? Huh!? Also, you do it so suddenly and don’t even explain shit to me!” I then began yelling at her and hitting her softly like how Mother Claire would hit me.

 

“W-wait! D-don’t gang-” Yoha was cut off by the girl on the screen.

 

[That’s right! Hit her harder! Go Go MAMA2!] She cheered loudly as she suddenly changed into a cheerleader uniform as she continued to dance…wait what did she just call me?!

“Why is she calling me Mama too!?” I grab Yoha's collar and shake her around, as she is still confused about the whole thing.

 

[Hm! It's natural to call you MAMA2! After all, you are the one who helps me reconstruct myself faster! In that, thank you very much, and nice to meet you, MAMA2.] The girl said as she bowed down lightly with a smile that was similar to Yoha…

 

Guh! Arghhh! Why is she acting so cutely! 

 

“A-alright…that enough Yohai-”

 

[Don’t call me Yohai! I have my own name now!] The girl cut off Yoha once more, and this time, Yoha was sitting on her chair, staring into a wall, muttering about how the time had come that her daughter was at that age, she stared soullessly at the wall…it kinda…pitiful to look at.

 

“So, what's your name?” I ask her, leaning in closer to see her closely.

 

At my question, the girl smiled brightly, it was the opposite of Yoha’s gentle smile, this one was more like a sun than anything. [my name is Klyara! Nice to meet ya!] She said brightly as she gave a peace sign.