Elsewhere, deep within the confines of the island and well beyond the reach of students, a problem was occurring. A group of white lab coated professionals were standing outside a thick metal door, completely at a loss on how to get through.

These were some of the leading scientists behind First. And though they were brilliant beyond measure, they had still been duped by their creations.

Beyond the door were 8 super quantum mainframes, each of them harboring within them an AI.

Yes Al, also known as artificial intelligence. They were the corner stone of First and the creations of these gathered geniuses.

It was not within them to interfere with First directly. Their designers were careful not to give them that power. They were complicated observers, seeing the word from perspective of a human but with the capabilities of a machine. This was their job, observe and report but somewhere in that something had gone wrong.

The AI's should not of had the ability to lock out their creators from where they resided, hence the bafflement. But still, someway, somehow, they had pulled it off.

The facility was now a fortress, nothing was getting in, nothing was getting out. It had been designed that way as the world at large would like nothing more them to see it burn and reclaim their former power.

Find an incendiary that could sink the island, and it would still be standing in its aftermath. Calling it sturdy was a grave understatement.

But now what? This was actually a pretty serious. They couldn't access the controls of first and also could not acquire information from the AIs, everything was inside!

The geniuses faces began to pale as they realized the gravity of the situation and that they had no idea how to fix it.

***

William, having gotten away from the crazy cat girl Addy and big tease Lisa, gave a large sigh of relief. They were both too much for him at the moment.

Freedom was what he wanted now. It was too early to return to first and he wasn't in good shape to do his studies.

That left?

William decided on an air ride. Where he was contained a number of zeppelins moving to and fro, it was a sort of mini nexus for them. The main nexus was towards indigo port where there were also other forms of transport, mainly being for cargo.

What William wanted was something out of the way with a good view. The zeppelin heading to botany reserve came to mind. It was essentially a nature reserve with a single stop that exported it's good to other areas like the beauty salons and medical wards. There were other other niche areas it supplied but those two by far consumed the most.

You wouldn't find any machines there as it was completely sustained on organics. Their system was completely autonomous save their supply of waste and fertilizer from the port and other areas. Those materials got broken down by extremely aggressive microbes that then carried it down into one of two underground water supplies, one for growing and one for drinking and processing.

So William got on and shortly after could observe the bizarre forest of a thousand colors. The trees had been grafted to produced multiple species of plants and trees per trunk.

William could see the workers riding their bioengineered ant eater like mammoths and pointing out to them which leaves to bite off. The creatures with diligent skill plucked them off in clusters then placed them in large baskets at their sides.

Their saliva acted as preserve for the what they picked. It was kind of gross but it worked so who cared? The customers and patients kept asking for more so all was well in the process.

Though even will all the hustle and bustle, it was peaceful. There was only a few people nearby and they were all workers.

William landed and made his way to the hanger. There was no rules against visiting the area, rather it was encouraged given the off chance that someone took interest and studied for it. That said though, it wasn't a place where you couldn't build roadways and walking took too long.

The solution? Air bikes. Electric and hydrogen-oxygen powered crafts that rode like a motor bike but stayed in the air by means of large enclosed fans at it front and back. Overlapping in pairs, they created thrust, lift and stabilizing functions.

William kicked one on and hopped aboard. Throttling it up he left the hanger taking to an altitude a little above the tree line. It wasn't a hard activity as the on board computer did the heavy lifting towards flight adjustments. There was only the need to turn the handle and throttle up to see him on his way.

With trees and more trees William kept going, eventually finding a place worthy of rest. It was an art piece someone left, likely someone's hobby or a school project. Made to blend with nature it was a stone carved from granite and covered by a tree behind it.

Setting down, William leaned up against a nearby tree, taking in the bliss.

Someone very smart had made this as William had never heard of anything like it. From the front it was a simple water feature as water trickled down the rock. But from the side one could see it was not as what was pumping the water was a vine. More over it seemed the vine could not grow and was leaching nutrients from the tree to sustain it. Biological science made into art that would sustain itself for a long time without intervention.

Perfect scenery for a nap and William did just that, leaning against a nearby tree while in view of the feature. He didn't need to count sheep because in no time at all he was fast asleep, the pain in his head whisking away into the forest.

***

Finally recovered, William awoke feeling refreshed. With his headache gone it was like a whole new world had opened up for him.

Still, there was a slight problem as something human had found its way to leaning on his shoulder.

Turning his head, he found a very delicate and petite girl laying on his shoulder.

From the look of things, she had come here as well and having seen William uncovered, tossed her blanket over him and them somehow ended up falling asleep on him. At least this was the best he could come up with as there was a blanket on him.

Leaning over, William got a look at her face. She was cute, a small treasure with little sighs like a bunny. Even her nose twitched just like the well known cotton tail fuzz balls.

But he also noticed the dark rings forming under her eyes, a sign she was not getting much sleep. Regardless of why she had come to be here, William couldn't force himself to move and wake her. When someone looked like this, it didn't hurt to be patient and let her recover.

And so like this time passed as the little one kept sleeping. In the mean time William just stayed relaxed and let time flow as it would. After sleeping, in a place like this, there was no harm is just letting the mind wander. It helped that the art in front of him was extraordinary as well.

As the sun moved, the grass swayed, the leaves rustled, and the water trickled. It was past noon that she finally awoke, a small growl emerging from an apparently empty stomach.

With her hair unkept and flopped over her face, she twisted against William trying to get comfortable again despite her hunger.

"Mm, hungry. Food."

The voice fit the body, a quite feminine voice.

William looked around. They were in the middle of a forest, what did she expect to eat? Leaves?

That was the correct answer apparently as she reached up and tried to grab some of the lower leaves growing directly on the trunk.

If she had stood up she would of easily reached them but she was determined to use only one hand and was at the moment, completely failing.

William, took note that there were no introduction or apologies for sleeping on him. It was just straight to "give me food." He wasn't in the mood to be set off by it though.

"What are they?" William asked, seeing her attempts.

"Honey seek leaves. High in protein, very sweet."

"So they are safe to eat?"

"Yes"

William reached up and snapped off a leaf though after feeling it, it might of been better described as a thin pod. He then passed it over to the wandering arm beside him.

She snatched it and then stuck its tip in her mouth to suck.

Getting curious, William broke off another and tried it himself only to immediately regret it. There was sweet, then there was this. William coughed as he felt like his teeth were going to immediately dissolve from holding it.

It was an opportunity for the girl though as while keeping one in her mouth, made a motion with her one hand to snatch his as well.

William didn't mind giving his away, he was just baffled by the fact she was eating them. It was too sweet, way too sweet.

"Mm, not hungry." And finally she began to stir.

All that sweetness and she was still half asleep.

She stirred again but only managed to flop over onto Williams's lap. She was acting like a dead fish.

William grabbed her shoulder, gently caressing it to get her attention.

"Hey, are you alright."

"Yes-mmm, feels good."

William stopped.

"Nnn, don't stop. Feels good."

"Do you need help getting home?"

"Nnn, continue continue. I had bad night. Pity me."

William could only sigh. He didn't really care overall, it was just kindness and concern he had as he would with anyone else if he found them like this.

Putting his hands back in motion, he continued working her shoulders. Whatever it was, even William's inexperienced hands could tell that she was stiff.

Moving his hands he went up her neck and through her hair and down her back, even working on the non-active arm. The little girl was thoroughly amused.

"So tell me, what troubles you?"

"Work"

So straightforward...

"What at work."

"Something broke, can't fix."

"Why did it break?"

"Don't know, can't get at it."

"Something broke, you can't get at it and therefore can't even think about what you might do to fix it? Tough one."

"Yes, tough. Impossible."

"I see, so what's it doing to still be a problem? From your voice it seems to be escalating."

"Don't know." There was hesitation in her voice though, like she thought of something.

"Seems you thought of something."

"Yes, but like now. Don't move."

William could only sigh again, she was being selfish.

"I understand, but at least tell me your name."

"Tia."

"Well Tia, I'm William. It's nice to meet."

William shook her limp hand on his own, awkward, accord.

"Mm, you too. Return hand back please."

William just laughed inside. Whatever.

Like this, things continued until with reluctance William was allowed to leave.

She was fine being left there, apparently that really was her spot as that piece of nature he had been admiring was her design. Someone would be coming shortly to pick her up.

William returned the air bike and left for home on the next zeppelin.

What he saw leaving was an even larger black zeppelins entering the area and launching its own, more powerful air bikes. They went straight to where he had been with the girl.

That girl was apparently pretty important to get picked up in such a way as those were not normal zeppelins. Those came from the inner island and were exclusively used for Nexcom. Outfitted with advanced weaponry that included high powered rail guns, accelerating guided impact missiles and what ever else that company leading in military sciences could fit on it, it was not something to carelessly trifle with.