CHAPTER 3: THE BIG PICTURE

Images rush through my mind as they flicker in and out of existence. It’s strange; I figured out a while ago that I must be stuck in some trance or coma. Sometimes I even hear the voices of my family talking about me, but…  I feel so attached to the blinking images that I can’t look away.

The weirdest thing of all though, is that Simbrain seems completely unresponsive. I shouldn’t even be able to think without Simbrain since my two-year-old brain's simply not developed enough to hold my consciousness. Yet, here I am... thinking.

That probably means one thing though. Simbrain/I is still working; it’s just using every q-bit it has available to do something other than run me.

* ‘Download complete.'

Oh, that explains it. Wait, Download? But how? From where?  The images in front of me suddenly stop flashing, only to be replaced by a single large image, seemingly stretching towards infinity in every d

Ok…well, this is weird. The image is completely nonsensical; it’s just a scattering of dots and lines facing in nowhere in particular. What the hell is this thing? Corrupted data?’s just a scattering of dots and lines facing in nowhere in particular. What the hell is this thing? Corrupted data?

“Dad! Lucy’s hands are moving” Evan’s voice echo in my ears. Oh, am I waking up?

I feel someone holding my right arm as my vision becomes increasingly bright. My body feels stiff, how long have I been out? focusing my vision I manage to make out a pair of blue eyes above my head.

 “Welcome back old man, I thought you finally died of old age,"  says dad as he lifts my head up while making me drink some water.

“I’m two now remember… how long was I out?” my voice was dry so I guess awhile. “About a week, your mother has has been taking care of you most of the time.” A whole week!? Wow. That’s even longer than I thought.

“Hey Lucy! What happened?  We just found you lying on the floor screaming outside my room!” excitedly shouted Evan as he leant over my bedside. Way to active for me right now.

“Evan. Why don’t you go find your mother in the village, she’ll want to know Lucy’s awake.” Says dad probably realising that I don’t feel up to talking to Evan. “fine”

After Evan left dad went to the kitchen and grabbed me small slice of cake. I took a while to eat, but I couldn’t help but notice the look of worry on my dad’s face. “I’m fine dad, at least physically anyway” dad looked a little relieved after hearing my words but still uneasy.

“…and what about up hear” dad said while pointing towards his head. “I know you said you can’t become physically sick because of ‘Nano bots’ but then, what happened? I checked everything you know. There wasn’t any magic to be found, no toxins, no physical damage what so ever. I even asked the minister to check for demons. Well, he refused of course given your last encounter, but still...”

“I honestly don’t know what happened. I’ll tell you more when I feel better, but for now, I think someone sent me a message” dad looked even more concerned. “A message? A message that makes you scream and knocks you out for a week!?” dad almost starts to yell but soon holds himself back.

 “I thought lost you. I know our relationship can be a bit odd sometimes, but you are my daughter... so how am I supposed to feel when I see you screaming in pain? I couldn’t do anything… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry” A single tear drips from my dad’s face onto my hand.

I’m a little startled for a moment, I’ve never been good with handling emotions. I do have them of course; it’s just that expressing them is rather difficult. I don’t want him to blame himself though.

“It’s ok dad, it’s not your fault” I try to hug him but just sort of awkwardly hug his arm with my tiny body. “I can only imagine how strange it must be to have a daughter that is mentally older than you. But you should probably know that I never had children in my past life. I could have of course… but, I was always afraid I wasn’t good enough to be a father” oh god this is going to be so hard to say.

“What I mean to say is that… you are the father I always wished I could be. Even when I told you who I really was, you still cared and worried for me… and I-I…love you.” I suddenly felt dad pull me in towards his chest.

“Thanks, I love you too. My sweet, caring daughter.” this is why I hate emotions, so complicated.

…

It’s been two weeks since I woke up and I still haven’t figured out what that image was. At first I thought it was a message, but then again, why would a message be so convoluted. A map perhaps… But of what? Sigh. I guess it’s going to take a while.

“Lucy, do you want flying bacon, or just bread for breakfast,” asks mum like it’s even a question. “bread please.” I honestly can’t eat floating bacon, even if I ate plenty of food in space; It’s just weird when you can feel gravity. Not to mention, I kind of feel sorry for those majestic flying pigs.

Mum spreads jam onto a slice of bread before neatly cutting it into four pieces; I feel like a little kid again…

Hearing my brother coming down the stairs mum quickly rushes over to him to checks him over. “Good enough. Now remember what I said about asking Ms Sainsbury for a meeting next week?”

“Yes, mum. How could I possibly forget”? Evan replies while sighing.

“good, that means it worked” retorts mum as she passes Evan his school lunch. I wish I could go to school already; I’m desperate to learn magic. I was thinking about trying to find books on the subject. But apparently, the town book shop doesn’t sell them to minors either. Maybe I can convince dad?

Anyway, I have other matters today.

“Mum, can we go to the blacksmith today? I can give you a list of requirements if you don’t want me to ask him” I know mum doesn’t want anyone else to know how abnormal I am. It’s understandable really, the views by some people here, are shall we say…. Superstitious, with a tendency to name things as evil.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Personally, I don’t think people would worry too much now that I’m at least two. But then again...

Mum stared at me for a moment. “you absolutely promise not to say a word that a normal two-year-old wouldn’t?”

“yes”

Thankfully mum looked satisfied. “Then it’s fine, bring me your list down in a minute. Also, we need to stop at Dr Valgor’s place” Not again, she still thinks that something's wrong with me.

“I told you, Simbrain can’t find any damage to my body. There’s absolutely no point in seeing Dr Valgor” I would just be taking up his time anyway.

“I know, but there is one thing your forgetting. Magic. I want to make sure that you have several protective wards around you at all times.” Oh, well I guess that’s reasonable.

I really hope the blacksmith can make what I want, no, of course they can it’s just going to be hard getting the accuracy I need. Unfortunately, it’s going to take me far too long to bring about standardised units, since I would need the support of far more than a small-town blacksmith, but then again I do have a very long lifespan.

I go to fetch the list of questions and orders for the back smith, but I stop at the stairs. “Umm, mum can you come with me….” Mum comes over and holds my hand as we climb the stairs. I really hate this, I really do. But every time I enter the second-floor hallway since I woke up, I panic about being trapped.

“Lucy, how precise does this need to be," asks mum as she looks over my list. "As accurate as absolutely possible. At maximum, ±0.1%. Make sure he knows not to add anything extra to the design. It must be exact” I say design, but it’s really just a ruler.

Unfortunately, I don’t have an exact reference to a metre from my old world. I can still approximate one with reasonable accuracy though, so it’s not too big a deal provided I always use that length.

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to ask him what he can do” replies mum as she sorts through what clothes she wants me to wear. She always takes this so seriously, If I had my way I would probably just grab the closest thing and run with it. Actually, that’s exactly why mum doesn’t let me choose my own clothes.

Still, it takes so long for her to choose them. I mean think about it. For every minute you spend choosing clothes each day, the time adds up drastically. Let’s assume you spend five minutes more than needed on average, and live for one hundred years; that ends up being 5*365*100 = 182,500 minutes, or ≈127 days of your life wasted. Although, on this world a year is 372.5 days.

Even though I plan far outlasting one hundred years, it still adds up. “Lucy, why do you have that scowl on your face again?”

“sorry”

Eventually, mum settled on long-sleeved red top with a below knee red and brown chequered dress. After that she did my hair and dressed herself. Now after an hour of waisted time we finally left towards the blacksmith’s place.

Our house is a little outside the main centre of town so we needed to walk several streets in the rain to get to the blacksmith. Passing through I couldn’t help but notice that everyone we pass seemed to be in a somber mood. One person was even openly crying in the middle of the street. What the hell happened?

I think mum noticed my confusion since I wasn’t asking as many questions as normal. “News reached this morning that the king died last night. Not to mention it’s also the third anniversary for the vixen survivors” oh… kind of sad I guess. I don’t really care about the king but I know this body originally had vixen.

“I’m sorry… “

Mum looked at me for a moment before she let out a laugh. “you don’t need to apologise. I never cared much for that king, and I never lost anyone to vixen despite what you say. You're much too like your father you know?”

Heh... for some reason, I don’t mind being compared to my dad. Still, I wonder if my parents' point of view is right in some way. Did I ever really take over Lucy’s body, or did I, as Lucy simply take the memories and advanced cognitive functions of Simbrain that happened to be storing a recorded pattern of Jason’s brain?

According to Simbrain, more than half of cognitive functions are now running through Lucy’s/my brain. So, am I now Simbrain, Jason, or Lucy? Well… I guess it doesn’t really matter.

“We’re here” announces mum as we stand outside a large brick building with glass windows. “Mum, remember to absolutely make sure he spaces everything exactly. Not almost, but exactly” mum just gives me a smile and picks me up before heading inside.

…

“Good morning Ms Ellenvale, I haven’t seen you for a long time,” said Mr Smith said as he approached the back of the counter. Mr smith had a large build with several scars layered across his hands.

The shop is filled with household tools and cookware. I hope this man can actually make what I want, none of this stuff looks extremely precise. “yes, it has hasn’t it. Actually, I was wondering if you could make something for me today? It has to be absolutely precise” says mum as she holds out my list with a diagram and scale.

“I could, but what do you want it for though?” asks Mr Smith with a curious expression. “My husband has taken keen interest in creating a standardised measurement system. I have to say, I can certainly see the benefits” wait, I didn’t ask her to say that…

A smile suddenly appeared on the blacksmith’s face. “And what blacksmith doesn’t. I’ve always argued that it would be necessary, but I could never convince anyone in power to do anything…. But, perhaps if your husband was the one…” the blacksmith looked deep in thought before suddenly leaving out the back.

“Mum, I know you guys were supposed to be some sort of national hero’s, but would it really help convince anyone in power just by using dad’s name?” I honestly don’t know much about what happened during the vixen pandemic, I’ve asked of course but… every time I do, my parents they quickly change the subject. Particularly dad, I’ve never seen someone look so sad before.

“yes, he won’t do it but I will. He’s not going to like it though” I feel sorry for you dad. But If this speeds up my plans…

Mr Smith suddenly comes back holding a piece of parchment. “Give this to your husband. It’s a list of all the officials who have agreed to help us. I can’t say for certain, but with the king’s recent death, this probably the best time to try meeting some of them” I guess it’s good no one else was in the shop to hear that judging by the way he looked around first.

“Thank you, I will give it to him when he gets home. And can I confirm you will make the ‘ruler’ as my husband calls it?”

Mr Smith gives a small nod. “Of course, I will do it for free in fact” giving one last look at my list Mr Smith heads straight out the back again.

“huh, I guess other people were already getting started” Now that we are along I can’t help but wonder out loud. Mum gives a small nod “What I said about your father being interested wasn’t a lie. He’s actually talked out it with me many times before.” really? … and you failed to mention this why? Meh, less work for me I guess.

After visiting the blacksmith, we went to Mr Valgor’s place only to find he was out on call. After that, me and mum got some groceries but since it was raining we left for home pretty quick.

“Mum, is it not it possible to create a rain shield with magic?” I asked after mum had forced me to take a bath since I would ‘catch a cold’. First off I can’t get sick from such trivial viruses, but what good would a bath do in this case anyway? By the time the water heats up, your body will probably have warmed up anyway so there should be no difference. In fact, it’s probably best to dry yourself and sit in front of the fireplace.

Mum seems to think about it for a moment. “Probably, but wouldn’t even know where to start making one” Interesting, I guess that’s why I so rarely see people using magic. Is it that complex?  

“Not to mention I don’t have an affinity for water but fire, so I doubt I could even if I studied for a thousand years,” says mum now laughing at herself. “Wait, affinities? And what do you mean water magic? Why would magic care to only manipulate H2O rather than say oil?”

Mum looked at me strangely for a moment. “I don’t know, it’s just what we were taught” I’m suddenly not looking forward to this ‘school’ when I get older.