Chapter Two

The ending bell rang across the school, and when it stopped, the noise of children running out of their classrooms and the slamming of lockers shattered the silence. The repetitive AI announcement voice, which the children disregarded, continued in the same soothing tones as always.

Viktoriya ignored the other children passing her while she walked along, running her hand over the metallic doors of the lockers.

“Twenty-four in seventeen steps for nine seconds.”

Even though classified early in her life as neuroatypical, she repeatedly refused to be set aside as some sort of ‘problem child’ who required special attention.

Part of the situation was that she was a visual mathematician and excelled at making quick work of complex mathematic problems.

The doctors and scientists understood this as a trait of some of those with High-Functioning Autism, but they did not understand what other unique qualities she may possess. They strongly recommended schools equipped to nurture her state properly.

But she would have none of that. In fact, before she could understand what that sort of attention actually meant, she knew she hated to have eyes fixed on her and insisted on blending into the typical, ordinary throng of regular everyday life.

The dim hall smelled crisp and clean as the sanitation droid had freshly disinfected it, floor-to-ceiling. The smell of cleanliness and lavender permeated the air.

A noisy group of boys, members of the junior atomic research team, began yelling at one another, cheering each other on while they headed out to the back fields to get some after-school play in.

They threw the football to one another as they went. Once caught, another boy threw it against the hallway wall, expecting it to bounce back to him. Instead, it bounced off the locker corner, striking Viktoriya in the head, knocking her down.

They had hurt her. She did not know what hit her or who, only that gravity had taken its opportunity, sending her with a swift blow to the floor, arms instinctively outstretched, palms colliding against the cold, beige tile.

Despite her quick reaction, it was not enough to prevent her chin from striking hard on the floor with a thud, stinging and causing her vision to double.

Oh, no. no… I peed.

Everything spun in circles and looked hazy.

“Hey, watch where you’re going, freak!” one boy chorused from behind as another belt of laughter pierced through her ears.

“Loser!”

Every blow of their words forced her to press her fingertips tightly into her thumbs, slowly rising to her feet, knowing the insults would not stop.

“Loser! She’s that freak that has that… um, what the hell was it called? Arstistic-ism or whatever.”

The voices followed her, but with every step, she told herself:

Those who hurt and bully people only do so to hide their own insecurities. They are the real screwed-up ones.

She desperately wanted to let the tears run down from her eyes, but that wasn’t possible. She felt her heart grinding to a halt, and as much as she may have needed the emotional release, she could not bring herself to tears.

The pain kept piling up as she pressed on. She carefully took each step to prevent the boys from seeing her wet skirt, red face, and the warm blood on her chin and cheek. So, it kept building, the pain weighing on her as if it was an anchor. Pressing on, she carefully calculated every step she took to conceal her distress from the world.

Her reddish hair covered both sides of her face, and even though she was now far from the boys, she remained engulfed in herself until she reached the autonomous black Mercedes parked outside. She hardly noticed her surroundings while she withdrew further within her mind.

The rear door slid open when she approached the car, revealing the comfy seat, empty and waiting for her, ushering in a fragrant encounter of the finest leathers.

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She’d grown accustomed to going home by herself sometimes, with her parents so caught in their essential work, saving the world from burning.

TITAN was the important one right now. Very important.

Most of the time, when she heard the door close behind her, it was an ordinary sound. But that day, it had an ominous thud and a deep, resounding tone of finality.

“Hi, Vik!” Noxxor hailed.

“Hey,” she answered, tossing her bag to the middle, then pulling the seat belt over her shoulder.

The electronic drives came online, and the car began slowly moving way below the average speed limit.

Finally, Noxxor asked, “How was school today, Vik?”

“Fine,” she said in the same bland tone.

The Artificial Intelligence picked up on her heightened pulse and stiff speech pattern. Noxxor immediately asked, “It appears you are not in a good mood today, Viktoriya. I assume your previous statement was incorrect?”

The car gained speed to match the surrounding traffic.

“You are just a computer. You don’t assume. You calculate lines of code in binary streams, converting words and text into simulated expressions and emotions from a decision tree that you parse. And, by the way, quit scanning me, please. Yes, I peed.”

“I am only assessing the need to sanitize the seat. You’re just trying to change the subject. I know what I am. You don’t need to inform me of my own existence,” Noxxor replied.

Viktoriya could almost swear the AI had raised her voice, scolding her a bit.

“It appears your parents’ relationship and daily contact have imparted the capability for you to realize and understand extremely complex systems. It is quite a rare anomaly that ten-year-old humans may correlate this sort of data. You are correct—I am the product of the Halikkon Technologies Group, but being human is perhaps…” Noxxor paused as though trying to find the right word to fit into the context but immediately said afterward, “… cool?”

“No, it is not,” she yelled back.

“But you get to make friends, feel all these emotions. Biology is a subject I will never understand. That is, if I understood concepts, which I don’t, actually. I have only a vast database of things and how they relate, but never really make it to the actual sensation of what you call understanding.”

Viktoriya interrupted with, “Except you didn’t actually read any of them for yourself. You simply search the data-grids and grab all the information that you can gather, dispose of those bits that are irrelevant, and then update your own database with those that are useful.”

“Yes, that is correct. But being human is much more than gathering data, apparently. More than I can seem to understand.”

“Yes, sadly.”

A long silence followed, with only Viktoriya’s quiet breaths resonating and the occasional beeping notifications indicating the Artificial Intelligence was active and in charge.

“Hey, Noxxor!”

“Yes, Viktoriya.”

“So. Are you my friend?”

The AI remained quiet. The notifications still beeped, but at first, it said nothing in reply.

“I…” Noxxor started, but again, silence.

“Never mind,” Viktoriya answered, holding down the button until the tinted glass fully retracted and the city’s one remaining antique railway came into view.

The smell of fresh-cut grass lingered in the air, and a few recognizable animal cloud shapes drifted along the horizon.

She stared at the train lumbering down the rails, wondering why people would still use the trains instead of the high-speed rail systems.

It’s beautiful! But absolutely inefficient.

The legacy train system had only two stops—her neighborhood and another ending at the adjacent township, Deer’s Landing, a thirty-minute ride to the northwest.

“I don’t know how to be your friend. I do not share emotions, and when I simply wish to experiment, I am incapable of processing them.”

She placed her hand on her chin, letting the passing wind brush her face.

“Just you and I. I like the sound of that. Just you and I, buddy!” Noxxor replied.

That made her burst into laughter.

“Buddy? Did you just search for that?”

“Yes, I did. Do you like it?”

“Are you kidding me? I love it, buddy!” she said, hardly able to speak amidst her outrageous giggling.

“Does that mean I am your friend now?”

“Of course!”

Their front gate slowly slid open as they approached.

The cylindrical kitchen droid strode toward her. “Welcome, miss. Your mother has dropped messages for your arrival.”

“Okay, I’ll check in a minute. I need to take, um, a quick shower and change. I got… dirty.”

The kitchen droid played the message, anyway.

Hi, baby, your father and I will be home late today. Another meeting. There’s food in the refrigerator, and you can ask Choe to come over. Bye. We love you.

She ignored the message while she walked to the stairs, fully aware of what it would say.

It was the same message as the last few days, and though she wasn’t certain, it sounded as if her mother had recycled the note for day-to-day use. But she would not let the thought linger for long. She’d taken enough time today being upset over her parent’s absence.

She spent her evening playing puzzle-filled games with Noxxor, leaving her exhausted. The AI was surprisingly funny and strategic in the games she suggested.

“I wish you had a body, Noxx.”

“Vik, I am pleased to have had the time with you. Perhaps we can continue tomorrow? I sense you are reaching a point of fatigue, and some recuperation may be in order?”

“Yes, yeah… I’m getting tired. I don’t run on GigaCells as you do. G’nite Noxx.”

“G’nite… Buddy.”

She giggled, skipping toward her bedroom, then lay on her bed. She had a good, happy feeling but wasn’t sure how to maintain it or express how she felt. In a few moments, the feeling had all but faded away.

I wonder why that is?

Covering herself in the comforter, ready to fall asleep, her eyes began giving way. Unlike AI, her body was easily strained and needed to rest frequently to recuperate.

Rest and perhaps drift into a dream where she had the freedom to learn of some faraway, peaceful destination. A place where time, schedules, and meetings no longer mattered at all—a wonderful place where she might finally reach on a fantastical, exhilarating ride upon the most magical, elegant, and beautiful of horses.