When the next day came, Alpha was sitting on his bed, leaning against the wall. In his hands was a new datapad with a prototype weapon's schematics. He was reading it through the second time, already making mental modifications to its design. He was not doing it blindly, of course. He noticed it when he first opened his eyes. He could see weird lines converging, tangled up, resonating with each other wherever he looked. It was in everything, in everybody. He quickly noticed that it must be something that only he saw. Especially when they started showing him different schematics. They were… weird. Many lines on them were utterly tangled up. Uneven. Not in harmony with each other.

When he fixed and presented them to the scientists, they were always amazed by his works. It was the only proof he needed to be sure that nobody else saw the world as he did. He read about what scientists did in the past, and by instinct, he decided to not tell them about it. It was best to hide it before they opened him up. He did not want to… expire yet. Every time they tried to scan his brain, he made sure that those lines and strings connected to the machines were severed and their equipment failed. Be it computers or whole AI cores. As his mind wandered off, it was the moment when the door to his room opened up. He looked up from the datapad, watching Lizzy come in, holding the hands of a small little girl. She was dressed in a short, pink dress and looked around curiously. It was her first time coming to the place where her mother was working. Lizzy only told her that there was a young boy she could make friends with. She was immediately hooked as she didn't have friends besides their home's AI, Alice.

"Hi! My name is Marin!" She said immediately as soon as their eyes met. She was not afraid and just let go of her mother's hands, walking next to his bed. "What are you reading?"

"A theorem with schematics included. About a newly developed disruptor rifle. Designed to disable smaller crafts' shields." He said, giving it to her.

"Huh?" She tilted her head, taking away the datapad, looking at it but grimacing immediately. "This is sooooo booooooring!" She rolled her eyes, giving it back.

Seeing that her daughter was already taking the lead and not even bothering with the atmosphere, Lizzy smiled, silently leaving, not interrupting the two.

"It is still faulty." Alpha nodded. Agreeing with her, but differently.

"No, I mean reading something like this is boooooring! Why do you read it at all?" She asked, climbing up to his bed.

"Because they want me to."

"Who?"

"The scientists."

"My mom?" She mused, tilting her head to the left and then to the right. "I am going to ask her to not do it!"

"I like it."

"No way!" Marin laughed. "You are weird if you do!"

"Am I?" Alpha asked, slowly blinking his eyes, pointing at himself.

"Yes, you are! What is your name? It is rude not to tell it when others tell you theirs!"

"Alpha."

"That is not a name!" Marin shrugged, rolling her eyes at him. Again.

"That is what they call me. It was Omega before that." He remembered hearing it when he was still in his vat. He even remembered that Lizzy was furious at the other scientists, saying it was a bad omen to call somebody like that. He may be the last of the babies, but he will be the first of a new evolutionary step for the human race. So she started to call him Alpha. Simply out of spite of her colleagues' lousy joke.

"That is not a name either!" Marin raised her voice, placing her tiny hands on her hips.

"..." For the first time ever, Alpha was stunned. Before him, this new, more miniature human was not acting like anybody else. "That is my name. Professor Lizzy calls me that the most."

"That is a stupid name! I won't call you that!" She protested, crossing her arms. "Mmm… I am going to call you Alfy! Yep! That is cute and short! From now on, you are Alfy! Hehehehe!"

"..."

"Aren't you happy? At least it has a good feel to it!" Marin said proudly.

"Okay." He nodded in the end, thinking about it for a little. "What now?"

"What now?" Marin asked, looking around, noticing how empty his room was. "Good question! What kind of games do you like to play?"

"Games?" Alpha flinched, blinking his violet eyes rapidly for a brief moment.

"Duh! Games! I usually play with Alice when mom is not home! Last time she downloaded a new modification that lets her project different blocks into the room! I built many different castles! It was so much fun! I should have brought her along…." She murmured, scratching her chin.

"Oh." Alpha nodded, finding it helpful as he could recreate the schematics in 3D with something like that.

"Oh? What is that?" She pointed at the wooden board in the corner and the stack of papers and pencils. "No way, are those real?!" Marin jumped off the bed, rushing forward, and soon she was already drawing. "I never used real pencils before! I only have a digital drawing board! This is only one color… but hehe! This is fun! Look, this looks like you!" She held up a crude circle with googly eyes and a frown.

"That looks like nothing like me," Alpha answered calmly, walking up to her and kneeling on the carpet.

"Hah! Yes, he is! He has the same dumb look as you do now!" She grinned from ear to ear.

"Really?" He tilted his head, honestly considering it but couldn't see the resemblance in that drawing. "No. It doesn't look like me."

"Hmmm, you sure? Let me see how you think you look!" She nodded, giving him a piece of paper and a pencil as a challenge.

Alpha did not hesitate and just started to draw. It only took him a few minutes to finish a perfect sketch of not just himself but of Marin too.

"Woah… you can draw very fast!" She said with enlarged eyes, looking at him, honestly surprised. "Woah! Woaaaaah! That looks like me! So cool!" She exclaimed, seeing her own face appear on the paper.

"Done." He said, giving it to her. "This is what we look like."

"Can I keep it?" She asked, completely fired up, holding it with sparkling eyes.

"Yes."

"Awsooooome! You draw so well! You should become an artist and draw me my favorite shows! Ahahaha!"

"Mmh?" Alpha tilted his head, thinking about it. Her words made him call up the previous day. The movie that he watched yesterday was… interesting. It was an unreal depiction of the world, yet also not giving him weird feelings. He couldn't help but start to imagine what they would be like if they were real. Lifted out from the movie's story and placed into reality. For a first step, he could draw them out… and go from there.

"What are you thinking about?" Marin asked, seeing him falling silent next to her.

"Nothing." He replied. "I can draw you again if you want it."

"Really? Ehehe, should I pose or something? Like in the movies? Can I become your… your… what is it called… Ummm… whatever, so, can you draw me like a princess?!"

"Sure." Alpha nodded again. "I don't need you to pose. I have a good memory."

"Mmmm, then next time, draw me like the Warrior Princess of Luxia!"

"What is Luxia? What is a warrior… princess?" Alpha asked, raising one of his eyebrows.

"Huh? You don't know the movie? Geez! It is one of the best movies! She is a strong and righteous warrior who saves innocents from demons in the world of Luxia!"

"Oh. So it is a movie." Alpha nodded, coming to the realization as he remembered that there was one cartridge that had the same title. "I have it."

"You do?" She stood up, scanning the room, noticing the right end of the bookshelf, filled with holo cartridges. She was already before them by the time Alpha managed to also stand up. "Oooooh! These are my favorites!" She laughed happily.

"..." He considered saying that it is no wonder as it was Lizzy who brought them here. But in the end, he remained silent about it.

"Here it is! Let's watch it!" She picked it up, searching for the holo-projector.

"Sure." Alpha nodded, not really seeing an option to refuse her wishes. Especially because she was like a whirlwind, already crouching down and putting it into the player.

"Come, come! Sit! This is a great movie! As some would say, it is a Crám de lu crám of fantasy movies!"

“It is Crème de la crème.”

"What?" She asked with an innocent smile.

"The expression. It is pronounced Crème de la crème. You said it completely wrong."

"I said it my way!" She rolled her eyes, not even bothering with it. "It is something mom used to say; it is her fault if she says it wrongly anyway!"

"Really…?" Alpha asked, but he already knew she was lying just to deflect her embarrassment onto her mother, who was not even here. The strings in her body changed colors when she was embarrassed, reflecting her feelings and thoughts.

"Yeah! Anyway! It does not matter! Sit!" She patted the carpet next to her. "It starts with an… um…." She thought about it before saying. "In… 'in medias res'!"

"That is the correct pronunciation." Alpha nodded when he saw her look at him with one eye.

"Of course it is! I am not stupid!" She said immediately, puffing up her chest. "Sssh! It's starting!"

"It is you who are still talking."

"Ssssh!"

"..."

"..."

For him, it was a bizarre movie. It was the first time he saw a fantasy epic. He couldn't help but think if the fantasy creatures were nothing but an undiscovered alien species… and magic was just some incredible, unexplained technology. Still, even though his brain was going in circles, theorizing throughout the movie, it was a weird experience. It was different from watching it alone. Not to mention Marin's constant chatter, explaining characters and events, spoiling the movie's ending, and adding her thoughts to even the most minor details. Yet it did not bother him at all… it was… a new experience. And he liked it.

…
….
…..

By the time Lizzy arrived to pick his daughter up, after a few hours, he had found the kids in a weird situation. Alpha was kneeling on the carpet, looking at Marin, walking up and down before him, lecturing severely.

"I also want to look pretty on the drawings! With the same armor, Feya was wearing when she turned into the Warrior Princess! I want the same rapier too! With flames on it! Also, draw me alone first, then with my flaming wings and amidst a battle, defeating the evil Lord of Skulls! Oh, and I also want images when surrounded by skeletons, but I defeat them too!"

"Um." Alpha nodded, mentally writing down everything she was asking from him.

"I assume you had a great time?" Lizzy chuckled, watching her daughter instructing Alpha like a teacher.

"Mom!" She grinned. "Can I come tomorrow too?"

"No, tomorrow you can't."

"Oh…" Said not just Marin but Alpha, too, right at the same time as she did. It surprised Lizzy but also drew a big smile onto her face.

"Don't worry, you can come again soon enough! Come, it is time to go home!"

"Um." Marin nodded, hesitating, but then she just turned and smiled at Alpha, who was still kneeling there. "See you then, Alfy!"

"Okay." He nodded in response while Lizzy led Marin out, leaving him alone in the room.

He watched the door slowly close, thinking about who knows what, before standing up. At first, he fixed his simple clothes on his body before placing the movie back on the bookshelf. He glanced at the datapads on his bed, but for the first time ever, he had no urge or feelings to reread them. Instead, he walked to his wooden board, sat down, and started to draw, using his imagination instead of following the lines. When the first image was done, and he looked at it, watching Marin, illustrated as the Warrior Princess, he frowned.

"The proportions are off. Her head on an adult body looks… weird." He murmured to himself before tearing it up and tossing it away, starting over again. The second version was also off as he looked at it. "No… this isn't good enough." Furrowed his brows, finally realizing something. He couldn't just replace human body parts as he did with the ships when he redesigned them. Metal was easy to work with; exchanging its features was like playing a puzzle. Yet, with human bodies, he couldn't do the same. It just didn't look real. Or good at all. He had to do much more, which was a challenge as he went at it again and again. He couldn't just follow the lines of strings; he couldn't just mix them; he had to come up with new ones by himself. If Lizzy were here, she would be surprised that a small smile was forming on Alpha's face as he was 'struggling' with drawing Marin as the Warrior Princess of Luxia.