Tayana held up the spherical device that held Jade's eyes in front of the console display that showed the Jade Emperor, and asked, "Can you see him?"
The Jade Emperor looked puzzled, and Tayana knew that it was because the console was showing him her character Kit Tay asking the same question. He wouldn't be able to see the device she held, but Jade replied positively, "Yes, I can see the Emperor."
Tayana disconnected, and then turned and looked questioningly at Lin Hao, who was frowning at a screen full of text. "Lin Hao?" she questioned after a bit.
"I cannot see Lin Hao," Jade informed her promptly.
Tayana didn't correct him or ask him to look more carefully, she just waited. Lin Hao finally looked up and grinned at her, and Jade announced, "I see Lin Hao now."
Lin Hao laughed, but Tayana patted the sphere, even though it had no touch sensors, and told Jade, "Well done. Eventually you will be able to recognize the back of his head too."
"We are making progress," Lin Hao agreed. "And actually, I think that this is good enough to try it again."
Tayana hugged the sphere and asked, "Wouldn't it be better to wait until we have a full body constructed?"
"Not really, since we have a sensor set for each of the five senses, and babies aren't really that mobile anyway," Lin Hao argued casually. "Besides, I'm sure that we still have plenty of restarts to go before Jade has a stable avatar system built."
Tayana was reluctant to admit that despite all of the studying she'd been doing since moving to the Starcraft Technologies game headquarters, she didn't really understand a lot of what Lin Hao had told her about the system that Jade was trying to build himself. ZipZing could usually explain things more clearly, but she had just summarized it as a "mobile instance of himself".
Tayana did understand that until the system was operational, Jade could only access the sensors remotely, he wasn't really "here". At first she hadn't understood why that was a problem, after all, everyone else accessed 'Living Jade Empire' remotely. But apparently humans processed a lot more than they were ever consciously aware of, and only minimal information was being sent out for them, even in the full VR systems.
Lin Hao had explained it as, "Everything is already sorted before it goes out, but if Jade has a sorting system that's not connected to him to send filtered data back, then he will never be able to develop it differently. I guess what we are really trying to do is simulate a nervous system, and a remote connection just isn't fast enough."
--
Two years later:
--
Life never seemed to slow down. Improvements in cybernetics and medical implants had made it possible for Jade to have a 'complete' body, with all five senses and a basically human structure, but it was still too limited to function outside of the lab. Until he finally perfected his split identity system, he would remain tied to his network connection.
Even after that hurdle was conquered, there were still many physical challenges to deal with. With current technology Jade still had to take "naps" to recharge and resynchronize himself every couple of hours. Tayana thought that the technical process Lin Hao described for it sounded very much like what she knew about sleep. Jade's experiences during his wireless connection time were uploaded and processed in detail, and modifications to his reactions were made and reloaded into his mobile system.
Danika claimed that the process reminded her of walking one of the old virtual pets in its step counting device. The experience accumulated, but wasn't assigned until the pet was reconnected to the main game console.
Tayana was a little disappointed that Jade wasn't going to be able to attend Danika and Shinichi's wedding, but both Danika and Lin Hao only laughed when she admitted to that. Tayana's assistant dragon announced, "The honorable celestial servant of the sixth class, Danika Belova, third among her rank, serving the Jade Emperor in the construction of the Living Jade Empire, requests your presence in her workspace."
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Tayana met Danika in VR almost as often as Kit met up with ZipZing in the game these days. Despite the fact that Danika had moved up the ranks in the sixth division, she still spent quite a bit of time in the Jade System.
As soon as Kit logged in, Danika announced, "We have fixed it so that Jade can attend too! We're already having a high-speed data link for the broadcasting, so we can give him eyes and ears onsite."
Jade, who no longer looked like an adult, appeared beside Kit and agreed, "It is only a little slower than my connection to the lab."
Kit ruffled his dark hair so that it stuck up in a messy fashion that resembled Lin Hao's. "I'm so glad!" she told them both.
Jade pointed out logically, "I could have just watched the broadcast version."
Kit grinned at him. This childish version of him suited him so well sometimes. Her son in 'Living Jade Empire', the young God of Luck, was already older than Jade currently appeared to be, not to mention much more jaded. "Hopefully someday you will be able to understand why we celebrate together, but for now you can just experience it," Kit said cheerfully.
--
Tayana wanted to laugh when Lin Hao tried to take both of their bags off of the luggage carousel. Despite their frequent walks together, he wasn't very fit. She repressed her grin and lifted her own bag easily out of his arms.
Their relationship hadn't really changed, and that made Tayana happy in ways that she'd never expected. The fact that there was no reason that they couldn't have become more than friends, somehow made their continuing friendship more precious instead of less. Even though Jade, and the world around them, were constantly developing and changing, her life felt more comfortably predictable than it ever had before she started playing 'Living Jade Empire', and she was really happy with this "sameness".
Danika met them as soon as they cleared their last checkpoint. Tayana had been trying to prepare herself to see her friend bound to her wheelchair, but she was honestly startled to find that her main impression was that Danika was shorter in person. She maneuvered through the crowd in her chair more nimbly than Lin Hao did with his suitcase. And she alternated which hand was on the controls, but otherwise her gestures and expressions were exactly the same as the ones she used every day in VR.
Shinichi on the other hand, when they reached the apartment building where the two of them lived, was startlingly tall. He was still playing the tiny pixie character that he'd reincarnated as in 'Living Jade Empire', and even though he could transform into a human when a quest called for it, Tayana felt like she'd forgotten how large and scary Aishin had seemed to her at first.
When Ryuske dashed down the stairs to hug her, he took her breath away. Not because he was as beautiful as his character Ryullusion, but because his short white hair, and the wrinkles in his skin made it seem as though Ryullusion had suddenly aged overnight. She couldn't help the tears that sprang to her eyes when she looked at him.
It wasn't that she hadn't believed him when he told her that he was more than twice her age. His warm smile forgave her and told her that he understood. Like Danika, his expressions and gestures were the same. "I don't care!" she insisted, even if her tears spoiled it.
Ryuske laughed and then kissed her cheek. "I love you too," he agreed with amusement.
Danika gazed at them both with a slightly shocked expression and Tayana insisted quickly, "It's not like that!"
"What's not like what?" Lin Hao asked blankly.
Shinichi told him seriously, "Don't ask. We only have a few hours to prepare."
"What? I thought your wedding was the day after tomorrow?" Lin Hao protested.
"We lose a day, remember," Tayana reminded him.
"It's tomorrow," Danika agreed. "But Shinichi means for the concert."
"You're doing a concert the night before your wedding?" Lin Hao asked incredulously.
"The dictates of the publicity team," Shinichi replied with a helpless shrug.
"It's like a last fling for ten thousand fans," Danika explained laughingly.
--
Five years later:
--
Jade started school.
His body got tired easily and he had to sleep on his own bed in order to recharge, but the other children simply accepted this as a minor disability or individual trait that Jade had.
Jade quickly discovered that he wasn't the only one who had an over anxious mother. He also wasn't the only one who didn't have a father, or who had accidentally set food on fire in the microwave. He actually fit in rather well.
He even discovered that he had a best friend when he returned after one of his blank episodes. The girl announced it herself, and he didn't see any reason not to agree, even if he wasn't sure what a best friend was. His mother cried when he told her. Even though she insisted that she was very happy.
During his first summer vacation, she helped them both create their first characters in her favorite game, 'Living Jade Empire'.
When he told her, "You know a lot of things in this game don't make any sense?" his mother cried again. He was worried that she thought that he meant he didn't like it, so he added quickly, "But it's a lot of fun anyway! Especially since it's a place where everyone has their own quest lines just like I do!"
"Yeah," she agreed laughingly as she brushed away her tears. "Very much like you."