With a nervous tone, I greeted the person standing in front of me, "Hello there, Aunt June, long time no see," and there, ladies and gentlemen, is my aunt, an old lady in her late 40s, and a supposed distant relative of my mother. "What brings you here, Aunty, to this messy place of mine?" I asked with a nervous tone. "Is there anything wrong with me to enquire about the condition of my nephew?" She replied to me in a very monotonous tone with her arms folded. "Not going to invite me in?" She asked me with one eyebrow raised. I gestured with my hand to her to come in. "Obviously, you are. How can I let you, of all people, not be invited to this house?" I said. "Your tongue has become sweeter than the last time we met." She said to me while sitting on my sofa. "You are going to make me blush with your compliments," I said with an embarrassed tone, while rubbing the back of my head.
"So, have you organised your life yet, or is it still in that loophole?"She asked me, showing a little concern, but I stood up, showing her a thumbs up and said, "I am close to breaking free from this loop; if lucky, that may be today."
"Anyways, make yourself at home. I thought you would be out for at least one more month, but welcome back anyway. I have some work to attend to, so I will be taking my leave for now and may not come tonight." With that said, I left the house.
I took out my bicycle and looked at my watch, which seemed old to others. I began peddling the cycle towards Leo's lab. Halfway through, even taking the shortest route, it seemed a long distance to overcome for me. What kind of sadist is he, making me come to his lab, which is located far away from him, yet he can't come to my house in his car? I was cursing him mentally and was praying it better be worth the effort he was making me put into this. I can't deny that a part of me was secretly excited about what he wanted me to see. After all, we are kind of the same. After 30 minutes of riding in this scorching heat, I was completely exhausted. "Oops, looks like someone is late," Leo said tauntingly. "You are lucky I am exhausted right now, or else I would have flipped that smirk on your face upside down," I said, panting.
"What kind of mad scientist are you? Who does all his scientific research in a lab just beside his own home? Dont you think you will be robbed along with that research of yours?" I said, frustrated, and added, "Also, what kind of fetish is it to set a home on top of the mountain. Can't you be normal for once?"
"Oh, looks like you are worried very much about me. It has moved my heart and has left tears welling in my eyes. I am so glad you are worried about me. I am a scientist for a reason." He said the last line with a pump inside his chest, boasting about it while adjusting his spectacles. "About being normal, we both aren't, so let's get down to business now, shall we?" his tone transitioned from being cheerful to a little sad to seriousness.
We both went to his lab entrance, which was heavily protected, and he oversees the security system. A female mechanical system with a little emotion began to talk, "Hello, I am SARA, your Socially Aware Response Agent. I am here to assist you. So how can I help you today, Mr. Leon?"
"Today I am here with a friend of mine who has not been here for some time, so please scan him and classify him as a Habitant in my Lab and allow him," Leo ordered the system. "System scanning initiated," it began to scan me from up to below and then said, "No virus detected, no harmful intention, no harmful substance detected, you are welcome, Mr. Nathan. With that, the door began to open, allowing both of us to enter. I was a little shocked to witness these.
"Did you again change your AI?" I asked Leon, to which he only nodded in affirmation with a smile. Seeing that smile, I stopped in my tracks in shock and asked him, "Don't tell me you have opened the part of science you were researching about, and this is the product." he found my reaction hilarious and laughed a bit and said "Yes, my friend at last I opened but I was only able to scratch the surface of it."
"So you are saying you were successful in putting soul into AI? No wonder I sensed some emotions in that mechanical voice, which was a little bit natural, and you are telling me this is just the scratch?" He just nodded. "So how did you put the soul?" I asked with some interest, and he replied, "It took me a whole year to achieve it. There were many combinations, so I used some of my own methods to condense the combinations into one." He seemed happy and excited to explain it to me. "So do others in the field know about it?" I asked.
"Not right now. This is not the right time. First of all, I need to fulfill my promise, and last, this is a prototype, so some more finishing is needed." I was genuinely astonished at his initial achievements. "Forget about those things, let's look into that map matter, then we can discuss all about my genius." He said with a boasting smile. Seeing that, I thought to myself, "No wonder he is such a goofball, just like a kid, he really is a genius, but he needs to fix that attitude of his, always boasting about himself." I really looked at him, deadpanned while he was laughing out loud. I didn't see this coming at all.
"Whatever, man, let's get into work and show me what you have in for me that you made me come all the way here to your home," I said with a heavy sigh.