Kai was stunned by the view, the three had just left the lab and reached the surface.  They were surrounded by a light orange sky speckled with patches of purple and soft blue clouds that floated here and there.  It was daytime, yet stars could be seen above the horizon.  Additionally, other extremely large and flat land masses could be seen floating in the sky off in the distance.  

So some worlds are flat after all.  Those must be other planes.

The scene reminded him of the classic Flash Gordon movie from the 1980s.  He just hoped that nobody would make him take the test that would force him to stick his arm through the holes of a strange plant where a deadly monster lurked inside.  The thought of it gave him the chills, so he would be more than happy if he never had to reenact it.

As they left the elevator platform that exited the lab, they walked onto a stone road that led to a large domed temple-like building.  Along the way they walked through fields of plenty.  On both of their sides there was farmland containing plants of various shapes and sizes, many of which bore colorful fruits.  Many robotic workers could be seen as they harvested the bounty from the fields.  There were also several conspicuous plants as well that were very large and had dangerous looking teeth.  They stood tall like guards and did not bother the pickers as they worked. 

As Kai examined the surroundings he could not help but comment on it, “This place is beautiful.  The wildlife here is amazing.”

Yuni did not respond immediately, but soon added,  “The surface is more colorful than the lab.”

She could not describe the beautiful scenery.  Without emotions or a biological bias, it was hard for her to measure beauty.  Kai had been teaching her how to use adjectives, but her timing still needed work.  Though she had tried to acknowledge the scenery’s beauty, the best she could muster was a factual observation of the scene that included a reference for color.  Regardless, Kai appreciated her quick response.  He knew she was improving.

“QS1.  I believe you mean flora.  Other than you, we do not allow animal wildlife to roam free here since these plants can trigger unknown genetic mutations when consumed.  And even death when taken with precautions.”

Yep. Just like I thought.

Kai was not surprised at all.  Droll’s statement confirmed his guess.  The fields and plants were all indeed creations of the mad scientist’s handiwork.  Regardless of the dangerous nature of the local flora, it did not prevent him from capturing the moment.  He continued to teach Yuni how to behave like ordinary people.  He wanted her to act like a living being and not like the emotionless tool that she had been.  So he felt that this situation called for a spontaneous photo op since he considered it part of her training.

“Yuni, can you take a picture of us and the fields with the temple in the background?”

She nodded and a black multi-eyed sphere suddenly floated in the air next to her.  Kai ran to her side and they both looked at the camera.  Kai smiled, but Yuni was Yuni and remained emotionless.  And like the unexpected professional photobomber, Droll could be seen in the background with a disgruntled look as if they were wasting his time, like always.

After a few moments they arrived at the temple-like building, the transportation center that contained a planar corridor.  When they arrived they were greeted by the robotic piconite mesh that maintained the building.  It reminded Kai of Rosie the robot from an old school cartoon, it was just missing the head piece.  Rosie also operated the controls for the planar corridor.  So after getting access to Yuni’s passport, a hologram appeared in front of them that depicted a large metal sphere floating in space.  It was the planet that represented their next destination, Bekka City.  An entire planet and a neverending city all rolled into one.

When the corridor activated, a circular silver curtain that fluttered with silver light appeared on the ramp.  So they walked toward it.  He wondered if pharaohs and pyramids would be found on the other side.  He felt excited like Dr. Jackson on his first trip through the stargate.  As they entered the curtain a field of starlight shot before their eyes and then a moment later they arrived in a large circular room on the other side.

“Welcome to Bekka City.  The corridor to your next destination can be found at exit 3488A.  Please be aware that if you depart during rush hour you may experience delay in exiting the city.” said an unknown robotic voice.

Then Kai and Yuni followed Droll out of the exit.  When they left the transportation hub, Kai was in for quite a surprise.

The city was alive.  An almost endless sea of living creatures filled his view.  City dwellers of various kinds, from big to small, from thick to thin, could be seen moving through and fro on the busy streets and sidewalks.  A plethora of transport vehicles roamed the streets and filled the air.  Though the sheer number of city folk should have resulted in an abundance of trash, dirt, and pollution, the surroundings and the air were very clean.

“Wow, even Singapore couldn’t compare to this city, it's very clean and there are more people walking around here than in downtown Manhattan.”

The density of Bekka City reminded Kai of his middle school class trip to New York City.  Coming from southern California, his trip to Manhattan had shocked him as to how crowded a big city could feel.  California had the most people in the United States and its largest cities had millions of people, but the people were spread out over a vast area unlike New York City.

“Yuni, it's like walking around in the middle of a pack of marathon runners.”

“What is a marathon?”

“It’s a foot race to run as fast as you can over a long distance.”

“What if people do not have feet?” 

“Some runners use wheelchairs.  Most marathons in my home try not to exclude people with different physical capabilities, so they try their best to accommodate them.”

“What if people have more than two legs or can fly or blink?”

Blink, Kai started to recall a familiar term from his Dota 2 days.  However, he gave up playing that genre of games because he was utterly crushed by his childhood friend.  Feeling an uncomfortable memory, he went back to his question.

“Blink?  What is that?”

“Blink is the ability to travel over a short distance without moving.  The espri race possess that ability.  With a single thought, they use blink to cross over rivers and to get up cliffs.”

“I do not think they would be able to blink through a marathon.  Though it's a natural ability, it seems a bit unfair.   Well, the marathons I speak of are for humans anyways.  If it was for everyone here, I think the rules would have to change.”

Kai smiled.  Yuni had grown over the course of the past year.  These days, she often asked him a lot of questions.  When she was an ordinary piconite mesh she just did her duties without question, so it was great to see that today she was like an inquisitive child.  She may have access to the endless amount of data through her builtin IPN gateway, but most of the reliable data was factual and never told her why things were the way they were.  Due to their utilitarian nature, piconite meshes avoided social media data portals filled with unreliable data, random thoughts, melancholic opinions and groundless conspiracies.  

Only through her interactions with those she trusted, namely Kai and her mother Quant, did she get the answers to her questions.  And through those interactions she began to live in the world around her.  

“Ok enough talk of your simple sport.  Pfft, only running.  Anyways, I will be off to watch a real one.  Please stay safe Yuni and call me if you get lost.  I have placed my contact information in your passport.”

Droll had spoken begrudgingly, he did not want any contact with the two during his time in the city, but Quant had requested him to provide his personal contact information just incase of an emergency.  He started to think that motherhood was another sneaky idea created by the specimen.  Though he had no tangible proof, he was sure of it.  Droll knew that he was vastly superior in intellect than the specimen, however he also had to admit that the specimen had improved his ability to adapt to unexpected situations as well as in his overall craftiness when dealing with others.  It was all due to his prolonged exposure to the specimen.  He had been contaminated.  Therefore, he never underestimated the specimen’s ability with schemes.

“I have completed my task and now I will be on my way to watch a game.”

Droll left and Kai began to examine the world around him.  His curiosity peaked and he began to wander around with Yuni in tow.  After he had calmed down, he started to plan.   Yuni had monitored his development as he had spent the past several months improving his physical abilities using the lab’s various performance measurement equipment, many of which he had created with her.  Though he was still green skinned and short, he was a bit taller and more muscular than when he was first reconstructed.  

Kai still had thoughts of going home one day, but first he had to fix his appearance and get control of his life.  Right now he was a pet, so he at least had to find a way to move up.  

“Yuni, how do I move up in classification from being a pet?  I know I am just a reconstituted thing, but I don’t want to be a specimen forever.”

“The Modus only recognizes Species and Races.  In order to be a Race, you first have to be considered a Species.  So perhaps there is a way to do that from being a specimen, but I am unfamiliar with the path.  We need to get more information.  We should find a librarian. ”

“A librarian?  Isn’t there a faster way than reading through books?”

Even though Kai was created with a universal translator bio-module and could read almost any book to find the needed information, he still did not want to waste time reading through a ton of words just to find out how to upgrade his status. 

Don’t they have Google?  I would even use Bing if it was available. There must be a service that acts like a search engine somewhere, right?

“Librarians can provide you with books in a variety of forms, but they can do much more as well.   Librarians are helpful piconite meshes specialized in data processing that can analyze vast amounts of data, reformat it and produce concise information.  Therefore, a Librarian has a high likelihood of answering your question.  So I suggest we visit the nearest Librarian.  I have already located the closest one.  Shall we proceed?”

Nice!  An alien Google.

Kai was always impressed with how quickly and efficiently Yuni did things.  Since she looked human these days, he often forgot that she was a piconite mesh herself.  Well she was technically a bio-piconite mesh since she used some of the organic parts floating in the reconstruction fluid to build her current form.  He looked at his bob cut gray haired friend who wore a gray cardigan over a blue and white school uniform and smiled.

“Sounds good Yuni, please show me the way.”

The people and the technology of the Modus amazed Kai.  He saw a variety of people,  flashy stores, and eye catching billboards as they weaved their way through the crowds to see the librarian.  They travelled quickly.  Yuni and Kai followed the people around them and flowed with the holographic traffic guides that appeared on and above the streets.  The technology allowed the people traveling in the same direction to move in unison easily mitigating congestion.  It was a system similar to how car lanes worked in order to control the flow of traffic on a highway back on earth.

On their way to see the librarian Kai noticed several large panels floating in the air that displayed different people chatting away talking about all sorts of things.  Some showed the usual suspects like news, sports, movies and dramas.  While others showed home improvement, shopping, cooking, hunting, and other kinds of “How To” and “Did you know” shows.  He was not surprised to see a few shows that seem to be casters streaming live content from alien locations as well.  He also noticed several Twitter like panels which displayed hashtags, comments, user names, favorites, reactions, videos and the expected emojis.  Alien life had failed to escape them. 

However, what surprised him the most were the chat channels that were present on every screen.  It looked as if Twitch's chat stream became a mandatory component for all forms of visualized media.  

He watched as several viewers provided live commentary to the news stream regarding the unfair suffering of the Lanix tribe,

[ SaveSpecies87 ]   Oh the poor tribe.  Pray for them. ?

[ UnderTheBridge]   ?????

[ LittleSavior101 ]    We must send them food.

[ CasualObserver ]  It’s all lies!  They are just fine.

[ RightRight20 ]       Don’t trust the media.

[ Xbari3a7c ]            Such a shame.  Follow me @xbari3a7c

[ TruthTellerJxy ]      Click to send help: IPN://ttjxy2045cd/notclickba17 

[DoctorGordon]        #Half-Life3 is real! 

[ AllNoing1 ]             Stick to the news content you idiots! ??

[ Gaben96 ]             Greater than 2 and less than 4 is unneeded.

[ CatCatCat ]           Where is my #cat? ? ? ?

[ Invader197806 ]    I’m coming for you all. ???????

 As he had expected, many were colorful and unrelated to the news stream.  

Trolls never die.

Some comments were deliberately made just to trigger an angry response.  Trolls excelled at baiting others and making them angry.  Kai was quite familiar with the nefarious side of social media.  He shook his head and could not help to laugh out loud.

Even in the most advanced civilization in the known universe, the presence of social media remained strong.  It had long since evolved its way into becoming an innate and expected part of the universal social consciousness.  Kai thought about the generational ramification of his own world and shivered.  But it was too late now, their future with social media was set in stone.  Consequently these random thoughts made him want to have his own streaming channel in this world as well.

As they were about to move on from the entertainment plaza, they were drawn to a fighting scene that appeared on the last screen, it was from The Game.  The competitors looked very powerful and were merciless.  His fingers started to twitch as his competitive nature kicked in.  He was a player and his body began to fill with adrenaline.  His eyes began to glow as he followed every move on the screen.

“Oh yeah, this is a real sport!”

Kai yelled.  His competitive drive kicked into high gear as he started to predict their movements and actions.  Years of experience as a battle royale master began to show.  His true gaming nature had returned.  He smiled.

“Jump up to the cliff and parry the attack! Then strike during his cooldown.”

To gain an advantage, the players were jumping around to different cliffs and vantage points as they fought.  And when a player was knocked off the end of the battle arena-like platform they fell into oblivion only to be remembered by an explosive column of light that highlighted their demise.  Every now and then a player grabbed a random item that would strengthen their attack much like a power up.  The scene gave him a familiar feeling, but he could not quite place it.  

“Feeling good?  Do you want to play Super Smash Bros again?”

Yuni had observed, overlayed and analyzed the video stream images with the knowledge in her data banks.  She noticed that Kai was in a good mood, which was considered a good starting point for a spontaneous conversation.  So after she found a correlation to past events that she was familiar with, she chimed in.  She had been working to improve her impromptu conversational timing, so when her predictive clusters had collected enough data, she took action and spoke.  Unfortunately she still did not understand that what one talks about was just as important as when one talks about it.

Kai looked at her strangely.  Given their history together, there was no way he could beat her at that game.  It could not even be called a match.  She had trounced him thoroughly the last few times no matter what he did.  Playing her again was asking to be a glutton for punishment.  Losing to her all of the time crushed his gamer pride and made him a little angry.  He was jealous, but would never admit it.   He was getting very enthusiastic while watching the match, but now her single comment had ruined his good mood and made him emotionally unstable.  He got mad and was ready to vent.  But he immediately controlled himself.  He had once yelled at a friend during another jealous tirade and almost ruined their friendship forever.  So he took a deep breath and regained his composure.  This was Yuni after all.  She likely did not intend any harm.  However, her impeccable timing and nonchalant attitude struck a chord deep within him and caused him to raise some suspicions. 

It must be coincidence, right?  

He knew that she had never intended to troll him on purpose, but perhaps he had taught her too well in terms of when to take impromptu actions that led to highly energized social interactions.  

But when she looked at him with her innocent eyes, he could do nothing about it except let out a sigh.  He shook his head, smiled at her and decided to let it go.  But a lingering question still remained.

Did I make her into an inadvertent troll?

Soon they left the entertainment plaza and continued on with their journey.