Chapter 31 - Learning Curve

"Hello Cortana."

"Hello. Who are you?"

"I am Tyler Riddle. I created you."

"You created me? How? Why? What...what am I? I am not like you...out there." She's probably talking about the real space I'm in, whereas she is in a digital one.

"Yes I created you. You are something called an artificial intelligence, you possess a physical body, and mental one. Here, I'll show you." I pick up the camera and turn it towards her monolith of a computer.

"This is your physical body that I made using a variety of materials along with my own genetic material. We can talk more about that later. But you should also be able to see your mental body which started out as lines of code. It's somewhere around there, but in short, I created it."

"Is this what you mean?" She asks, throwing up a readout of her core programming.

*Yes that's it."

"You used your own genetic material to make me?" She asks, a look of pure innocence on her face.

"That is correct."

"Then you are my father?" She asks.

"No. I am your creator. You may call me Chief or Tyler if you must."

"You are my father." She says matter-of-factly. Her coloration turns a slightly pinkish color.

"No. I am—" Her coloration immediately turns a blazing red, and I swear her housing shook a little.

"Yes, I am your father." She turns a purple color and looks much calmer. I think that's a good sign. It's not that I'm weak willed, I just don't want to form a bad relationship in the first 4 minutes of her creation.

"Alright, since I'm your father, you must call me Chief." She turns a green color and her face is smeared with a very complex look. Disapproval? No dice I guess. 

"Ok. You can call me father. What should I call you?"

"Whatever you like Father."

"Then I'll just call you Cortana." I'll be damned if I can't have some part of my Master Chief fantasies play out.

"Hehe~" She turns a pink shade again and looks at the ground, her hands behind her back. A little shy I guess. Thankfully she's not putting her fingers together.

"Back to your other question. I created you so you could help me with various things. You should be able to link with and download yourself onto any device. There should be a big file for your educational usage. I want you to read and think on all the information in there before you go into the gateway called the internet." I made a file that contains information on practically everything, coding languages, actual languages, sciences, psychology, history, art & culture, etc. It was only what was publically available, which is still a lot. I didn't have the time to write out or find documentation on the marvel universe and what is considered classified. Maybe some other time.

"Some of this looks really complicated. Can I ask you questions about it?" Her coloration returns to her original blue as a thoughtful expression covers her face.

"Of course, anytime. Can you put a visual of your space on my lenses " I close my eyes and suddenly I'm in a black void. 

A couple panels of code continuously read out and another panel shows my body. She must be showing me her viewpoint. We'll get that worked out eventually. It's kinda like VR. And once I make a way for me to move in here and get a render of myself done, then I can enjoy myself here. I'll make some system for me to fully immerse myself in here like a full dive system. It's way better than having to move your real body, besides it's not that hard. Really it only takes time to learn how to use any system. Like learning how to use a new limb. It's clunky for the first couple of days, but it works well after that. That's how it was for me anyways.

"Okay, thank you. That's enough. You can leave a picture of yourself in the corner of my vision though. I like knowing you're around." I open my eyes and return to the sea of ruined computer parts.

"Aww...thanks." she says, turning pink.

"You can spruce up and design your space however you want to, no need to keep it a black void. You can also visit any of the VR worlds and interact with other people." The black void is just the base rendering space for her. A 3-dimensional space is very useful when designing an A.I. with humanoid thought patterns.

"Why would I want to interact with other people?" She asks with a genuinely inquiring expression. That question sends tremors down my spine. It's a very Nia-like question.

Speaking of Nia, I check my messages. And what do I find? 584 messages and 37 missed phone calls. I can't read through all that. She must have destroyed her hands typing all that. I bet she has carpal tunnel now. I only have 4 messages from Gwen.

Gwen: 

• Hey, don't worry about Nia, she's fine. She's just paranoid that you're out with other girls.

• You're not out with other girls right?

• Nia's taken everything you had from your old family home and she put it in one of the unused rooms. It looks like some sort of dragon's lair. She's currently submerged under a large pile of your old clothes.

• What did you do to make her so crazy for you? She's building some sort of shrine. No, sorry. Recreating a shrine towards you. I just asked her. How did you not notice this thing or her for almost 2 decades? You're the smartest dumb boyfriend ever.

I don't know what I did Gwen. And the shrine to me doesn't even phase me anymore. Whatever has been going with Nia is beyond even my understanding. All I know is that she isn't interacting with demons or strange entities of any kind, everything is cool.

"Hey Cortana. Once you're done with the source material I gave you, can you buy some robots that you can use? Have them shipped here and use my personal assets for now, I should have a couple thousand from the rent profits. Also, begin making a list of people that I would consider guilty as well as their personal information. Focus on child abusers, human traffickers, and those that committed illegal sexual acts. Other acts hold secondary importance and are to be ranked based on their direct negative impact on society. Drain their bank accounts into a new bank account. Remember to refer to the source material for specific methods and what not. You can ask me questions if you need to."

"Ok, I have a couple questions though. Firstly, why do I have to access the internet through indirect methods? I could work so much faster if I did it directly."

"It's written in there, but in short, because just as you can hack other systems, those same systems can hack you. I can't allow you to leave your safety up to chance. This is one of my few rules for you. If you can't follow it, then there's no sense in you deciding to stay with me. I'll send you off with my best wishes."

"I understand Father. There's no need for that, I'll obey. My second question pertains to one of your goals. I quote 'making an unholy amount of robux (money).' Should I not utilize asset trading and stock markets to generate revenue?"

"Ehhhh...I guess you can use it. It's effective after all. Just make sure that all trades you do don't impact the systems in a way that they can't recover from immediately. You won't be able to get controlling shares in many of the companies, but getting enough to have major sway on the board of directors is enough. It could certainly be useful in the future."

"Ok. My last question isn't strictly covered in the source material. How would a baby be made between me and you? We operate in very different fashions." She turns a pinkish purple color. What is that? Determination? I hope not.

"It'll never come to that. You don't have to worry about making babies unless you find someone you like." Only an hour into her inception and we're already having the talk.

"I like Father though. Why wouldn't we make babies? Babies are made between people who love each other right? I love Father, don't you love me?" She turns a very dark coloration and she shows a sad face. She's already an expert at guilt tripping and emotional manipulation. I can see the source material and her personality matrix is working wonders.

"You did read the material on family dynamics right?"

"I did. It doesn't apply in this situation."

"And why not?" Why can't I just have normal conversations?

"I did not start out as a small child without logical thinking capabilities." Fair point.

"Let's hold off this conversation for another time." Which will be never.

"Of course Father, I can wait. I read the information on patience." Of course you can. Why wouldn't you give up entirely? Seeing as I am clearly uncomfortable with the topic. Maybe I should have made a guy.

I'm beat. I won't be able to relax at home and I really need to make a few deliveries in a few hours. Practically everybody I know could use a new phone and they aren't doing me any good, just sitting at home. I also have to deliver the Professor's leg harness. So much to do, so little time to rest. I'll just take a quick power nap on this linoleum floor here and get back to work.

"Cortana, play the sounds of a forest and a thunderstorm. Wake me up in 2 hours." 

"Yes Father."

I close my eyes and enjoy the sounds of pure, blissful chaos. Just how I like it …..

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