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I looked down at daddy, and he glanced up at me.

You did a good job making that forest outside daddy!

Glad you approve kiddo. Here, let me show you my research...

Lukas wandered away with me on his shoulders, leaving just Eva, Odessa, and Isabella. Odessa looked around, and Isabella noticed the noticeable lack of work. She cleared her throat.

*ahem* BACK TO WORK! She shouted at a surprising volume for such a little woman.

Everyone went back to work.

Isabella then turned back to Eva and Odessa.

Odessa, before you return to your duties, please show Eva to a room. We can give her a tour of the HQ when it's not so stormy, and when it's not quite so cramped in here.

Odessa nodded.

Yes mother.

Isabella headed back to the jeep, and Odessa nodded to Eva before leading the way to one of tunnels that branched off from the main cave.

"Well, I heard about Nemesis going berserk and trying to off someone without authorization. Know anything about that?" Virgil asked simply, loving juicy news, especially with the Caretakers.

"Ah," Raowan nodded, "Yes... I analyzed the unit's data after the fact. It was odd, to say the least." He rubbed the back of his head, "I'm unsure of the trigger, but Nemesis somehow managed to deviate from the logical algorithms, forgoing efficiency and orders for personal desires. Almost as if the AI developed emotions and a soul. I've only ever seen all but small hints of this phenomena in Genesis, as he occasionally escapes directives involving human death. But we have enough safeguards installed in his pathways that I doubt such a thing could repeat itself."
He glanced out of the tall window, watching the two Caretakers fixing the void off in the distance, "They're currently trying to recreate the Nemesis AI. Adding more safeguards and stricter rules this time, of course. They're also switching from the portable unit to a stationary server, something that can be shut down manually if the need arises. I'm not yet sure whether this plan is beneficial or detrimental to us... If she defies the coding again, god knows what could come of it."




Eva listened, and tried to imagine each of these situations in her head. The forest being expanded, chasing away the grayness. The world a few years ago, how tough it must have been. Odessa's last statement was what intrigued her; the ability to separate oneself from the virtual existence. Her eyes were wide with wonder, "Wow...this place is responsible for lots of important developments. Do the other factions ever fight over your resources and inventions?"

[[ I know I'm probably bugging you guys but does anyone have any suggestions on how I should jump in with Abe? XD should I start in the real world or the VR? ]]

"Well, knowing how greedy people are, I wouldn't doubt the possibility..." Eva said in a saddened tone, suddenly thinking of the commercialism in the VR. How ruthlessly competitive people were in the workplace for money and recognition. She hated that side of humanity, and to a degree, had also fallen to temptation. Her mood picked up slightly with the second half of the conversation, "Then...if all of your members are trained, this faction could also double as an army if the need arose, right? I mean, I doubt anything will happen, but..."

((Thank you. ^_^ Yeah, I was trying to get an idea of what kinda thing she'd create for herself in the VR later on. She's not gonna be a damsel in distress for too much longer... ninja And awesome! biggrin ))



Eva found herself enticed by that idea, of one's own body being the greatest weapon. She was about to say something, but then the small man came, and Odessa was led away. She started to follow, but stopped in her tracks. It occurred to her who it probably was in the programming.
She calmly sat down against the cavern wall, pouring all of her focus into the microchip. It felt heavy in her head, until all weight was lifted in the transition.



She heard voices and TV static. One of the voices was Raowan;
"The only problem with removing its administrative rights is the AI's own purpose... The whole reason they exist is to correct anomalies in the programming, and how else would Nemesis be able to achieve such without the right to edit?"
Eva winced at the robot's name. She opened her eyes to find herself in the living room, and Raowan out in the foyer with another guardian. She stood up silently, trying not to attract their attention. How would she sneak out, if they were near the closest door? Eva crouched down behind the sofa, concentrated. She would need to use the microchip, somehow. She remembered early that morning, when Genesis was there, when she felt herself sinking downward. She needed to replicate that.
The furniture began to rise, or rather, she began to fall through the floor. Eva panicked at first, almost canceling the action, but realized that she'd succeeded in the replication. She sunk just low enough to be in between the first floor and the basement, keeping up the intangibility long enough to crawl out of the mansion's boundaries. She rose again, a small distance away from the house, hidden behind a spherical shrub. Eva looked up to the pitch-black sky, to the shrinking gray void with the two glowing Caretakers. That was where she needed to go.





The beta layer was seemingly infinite. Nothing but gray emptiness and flowing data streams. Devon had created himself a computer terminal, and typed feverishly to decipher the 5,000,000 digit code. Occasionally he would glance over to a human-shaped glowing recess in the wall, where data streams were flowing into and gradually solidifying as the being's body. It was the recreation of Nemesis, being coded by people outside of the virtual world. He didn't have much time; in a few hours, the AI would be complete.

Eva saw a brief glimpse of someone ahead, before they vanished altogether. She didn't dwell on the thought, however, and started to run. She focused on the microchip again, feeling for it with her conscience. The scenery suddenly sped up around her into a colorless blur, until she halted, exiting warp. She had stopped not quite underneath the hole, but close enough. When she looked up, Metamorphosis was already descending upon her, armed with a blade. The robot slashed, Eva's arms shot up in defense, and a pinkish-purple barrier blocked off the attack just in time. She fell back onto the ground in surprise, then rolled off to the side to avoid another attack. Meta halted suddenly, her head whipped back in the direction of the void. She had sensed something.
As the robot leapt back into the air toward the unseen intruder, Eva tried to shape her barrier into something else. It shifted, transferring to her arm, then extended into something reminiscent of a whip. She lashed out, hooking it around the robot's bladed arm, then used all of her minuscule strength to throw the enemy into a hillside. Eva took the chance to jump upward, then entered warp in mid-air. She shot straight up, the world a blur until her eyes briefly met with Genesis's. He did not appear hostile, yet not friendly, either. Just...disappointed. Soon, even he left her sight, as she passed through the void.


Devon whipped around to face the new arrival, readied for a battle. It started as just a gray blob, then refined into Eva's details. She fell to her knees on the floor, eyes wide as she stared at the man, "You would not believe what I just did..."
He relaxed immediately, "Eva~! You came~!" He chimed out happily, "Annnnd...I'm guessing it has something to do with those 'bots out there. Yeah, they're not nice. I tried to hack 'em earlier, but apparently they're running on a separate server. Sneaky bastards..."

Devon grew serious as Odessa arrived. He nodded, "Yes, I figured out the pattern months ago. Each new set begins with a multiple of 53, keeps increasing, then goes inverse every 100,000th digit. After 5 million numbers, it should unlock... that's when I can eject the PAs and shut it down. My only problem is time..." He gestured over to the forming robot, "That thing's gonna be done in the matter of an hour or two, and I'm only on the 877,956th digit. Can't delete it, either — I've tried."

Eva walked over to the glowing mass, curiosity piqued as the lines of numbers shaped into its armor. She examined her own hand, 'Is this really all we are? Hardened rows of text?' Her eyes fell upon the machine's semi-formed chestplate, where the word 'NEMESIS' was being etched. Something flared inside of her, a combination of disgust and hatred. Her scar burned as if freshly carved.