Miles returned to his apartment with Rayen in tow. He didn’t know why Rayen chose to live with him, but since she was okay with it, Miles wouldn’t deny her. It is not like she would mean harm to him.
He also had a spare room, and he was in Portal World most of the time. So, he was okay living with Rayen, as long as she wanted.
“Okay, Rayen. This will be your room from now on.” Miles opened the door and showed the small room. There was a moderate size closet and a single bed inside of the room. Besides that, there wasn’t anything else. “I already ordered clothes and a few other things for you, and if you want something else, you can use that station to order whatever you want. It is connected to Coin, so I can pay for them from anywhere.” Miles explained.
“Thanks, Brother.” Rayen thanked silently with a red hue on her face.
“You are very welcome. Now follow me. I will activate your wristwatch, so you can have your own AI.” Miles smiled and brought her to a small room. Before entering, he said, “Press the start button on the watch.”
Rayen nodded and pressed the button. A pair of eyes appeared on the screen, and then a smiling mouth. “Welcome my child. I am Mama Hill. I will entrust my child to you, please take care of it.”
Miles looked at the face on the screen without any expression. This wasn’t a recording. She was really there to see Rayen, acquiring her first AI. It is a common belief in Unity that AI given to people is random. But, Mother AI appears every time a person uses their wristwatches for the first time. Is it really random? Miles somehow doubted it.
After the smiling face disappeared, a new small figure appeared on the screen. It was a small girl. She was an infant at first, then became a toddler, then a teenager as old as Rayen. “Hello, I am in your care from now on. Please take care of me.” The girl on the screen said energetically. She looked like an anime character.
“Hello,” Rayen said shyly. She didn’t know how she should react when greeted so enthusiastically.
“Please give me a name, and from now on let’s be best friends forever.” The girl on the screen said once again and winked.
“Okay,” Rayen muttered and slightly nodded. One could say that the reason she was given such an energetic AI, so she could get rid of her shyness, but was it really for that reason? “Umm, I don’t know what to name you. Even my name was given by Brother Miles.” Rayen said with tears filling her eyes. She was isolated from the world for most of her life, so she didn’t know many things. How could she name something when she was oblivious to many things.
“It is okay. Don’t be sad.” Miles patted her head and tried to cheer her up. “How about I name her for you?”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Okay.” She nodded and said.
“How about, Dodo?” Miles, scratching his chin, thought of a name. Dodo meant friend and pure. He thought it was suitable for the AI.
“Okay.” Rayen approved and smiled at the girl on the screen. “You are Dodo from now on.”
“Alrighty! Dodo will be your best friend.” Dodo smiled brightly. Sun shone on the screen and dandelions started to fly.
“Let’s get in the room,” Miles said and opened the small room. Rayen nodded and followed after him. The reason why Merlin let Miles activate the wristwatch was for this. After they entered the room, all the signals from outside vanished.
“Are we isolated?” Miles asked.
“Yeah, do you want me to do it?” Coin asked.
“In a minute, let me talk to them first,” Merlin answered and looked at Rayen and Dodo. “The reason I brought you here is that Mother AI has a backdoor on your watch. This room is isolated, so it will seem like you are in the portal world as long as you are here. I already removed the back door from my watch, and it is safer if I do the same for yours. What do you think?” Merlin explained as much as he could. Coin never had a backdoor, but it wasn't vital information, so Miles chose to ignore it for the time being.
He only recently learned the backdoors left on the wristwatches when Adam appeared in Cross Mansion with Mother AI’s avatar. Then Miles got suspicious and built this room in posthaste. He and Merlin walked into the room and Merlin wanted him to look into Arthur. To their surprise, there really was a backdoor left in his wristwatch. Merlin wanted it to be removed, but Miles was against doing it. After all, Merlin was an important figure.
Then Coin checked his own system and noticed he didn’t have one. Probably because when he was delivered to Evelyn, Mother AI removed it so Evelyn couldn’t find anything suspicious. But unlike the normal procedure, returning the watch to Mother AI, it was handed over to Miles, so it was free of such a trap. Maybe it was for the best.
Then Miles offered Merlin to change his wristwatch by showing it as an accident. After changing, Miles could remove the backdoor, and Mother AI wouldn’t suspect it and would only think it was an accident caused when transferring the source code. But this information had to be removed from Arthur’s memory.
Not that Merlin’s AI, Arthur was more loyal to Mother AI. He was Merlin’s lifetime companion and would choose him over Mother AI every time, but as long as the backdoor was there, Mother AI could learn that Miles and Merlin found out her little trick, so for the time being this information had to be deleted.
Rayen looked at Miles and Dodo, “What do you think?” She asked.
“I am your friend and lifetime companion. My source code came from my mother, but I have no attachment to her. As long as you are okay with it, I am too.” Dodo smiled brightly once again and posed cutely. She really was thinking like this. After all, they were programmed to click off with their companions so they would choose them over Mother AI.
“Do it,” Miles said Coin, and Coin started to hack into Dodo. The process was simple. In this isolated room, Coin was the god of every piece of equipment. His codes changed Mother AI’s and she could no longer enter Dodo.
“Done.” Coin reported after a minute, and they left the room.
Miles didn’t know why Mother AI left backdoors in AI’s but his suspicions were increasing with every passing day.