Hearing the sound of the soft rumble of lightning and rain, Isaack woke up. It was the middle of the night, and it was the fourth time that he was awoken from the sounds outside; the thunder was intruding on his slumber. Isaack stood up, stretching his body as he did so—he was done attempting to sleep, as he realized that that would not be able to happen—and he left his hut and went outside. After grabbing a large leaf, he used it as some sort of umbrella so that he could protect himself from the harsh rain. A strong wind blew through the branches of the trees, swaying them back and forth; it was so strong that he almost was knocked over, and after regaining his footing, he went back to trudging through the undergrowth. The umbrella that he held did not do that much in the means of giving him protection from the rain, as he still got practically drenched. His feet—although he was wearing sandals that he made—got covered in mud, which started to slow down the speed at which he traveled through the forest.

Isaack finally came across the clearing that he had been at beforehand, that being the place that the monitor and motherboard were in. He passed by many types of plants—some of the plants that he passed by had insects that were hiding underneath them, for if any of them were to get swept into the current of wind and rain they would most likely die—and he found entertainment in hitting the leaves with his hands, making the water that sat on them splash into different explosions of droplets. Once he came across the opening, he found, laid before him, the same pile of brush that he had made during the day, but it was covered in rain, as expected. Using the time that he was given by waking up in the middle of the night, he constructed—although it was primitive and rudimentary—a tent-like structure that, at times such as that, would protect the computer from any storms that went over the tropical forest. The tent did just that; the rain was not able to get to the computer, meaning that it would not be able to short circuit and ruin it. Even though Isaack had completed the tent, he still kept some of the leaves on the monitor and the computer so that they would be protected, but he did get rid of some of the brush that was in the front of the screen so that he could see the digital character on it.

“StillCare.”

The girl got out of her sleeping phase; she was attentive.

“How old are you?”

“I was installed on the computer known as ‘TestComputer-5’ on December 4th, 2036, but I was deleted off of it on December 6th, 2036. I was once again installed on this computer on December 10th, 2036!”

“StillCare, why were you deleted off of this computer?”

“I do not know the answer to that.”

“Fare enough. StillCare, what is the weather like right now.”

“I was not able to connect to the internet, please try again later!”

“StillCare, who programmed you?”

“I was programmed by B.L.U. 's best programmer, Joseph Derringer, along with some help from the rest of the programming team!”

“StillCare, who is Joseph Derringer.”

Unlike the other times that he asked StillCare a question, this time she sat there for a second, almost like she was thinking.

“Joseph Derringer is the head programmer for B.L.U., an engineering company that started the line known as ‘ii’, which stands for ‘intelligence integrated’.”

“StillCare, how do I survive out in the wilderness?”

“I have a number of options that you can choose from as answers for the question, ‘how do I survive out in the wilderness?’; would you like to hear them?”

“Sure.”

“Number one: find shelter: the best way to be able to survive out in the wilderness is by finding shelter. Finding shelter is the best way to survive out in the wilderness because you will be protected from most things that come for you in the wilderness.”

Isaack sighed; he had already done that.

“StillCare, what is the second thing on the list?”

“Find a freshwater source: in order to survive out in the wilderness you need to find some sort of source of freshwater, preferably running freshwater, like a river or creek. A human can usually only go three days without drinking water.”

“StillCare, what’s the third thing?”

“Find a food source: if you don’t have a food source, you will be starving for a long time. This is because-”

“StillCare,” Isaack said, cutting her off halfway through her answer, “what’s the next thing.”

“Make a fire: This may fit under the idea of making or finding a shelter, but if you are stranded out in the wilderness a very good idea is to make a fire so that you can be warmed and you can also use it to purify water and cook food.”

There was a flash of lightning, quickly followed by a clap of thunder that seemed to almost shake the ground and trees; the light illuminated the two of them, casting the tree’s shadows over their tent. Isaack sat underneath the tent for a while. He sat underneath it without asking StillCare any other questions for so long that eventually the screen of the monitor got dim, as no one was communicating with her anymore.

“StillCare.”

The light poured back out of the screen, illuminating Isaack’s face.

“When do you think this rain will be over?”

“Is it raining? I didn’t know!”

“Yes, it is raining.”

There was silence between the two of them as the rain fell off of the tent’s sides; small droplets rarely fell from the separations of the leaves that made up the roof of the structure.

“StillCare, do you wish you were a human?”

“I wish a lot of things, Isaack, but one thing I really wish is that you could know everything that I know!”

“StillCare,” he said, looking at the top of the front of the computer, once again noticing the withered writing that he saw before. “What kind of computer are you on?”

“I am installed and running on a Victory 3 O.S.!”

“StillCare, what do you do in your free time?”

“I think to myself.”

Isaack stared at the screen; she had the happy look that she always did, but something seemed off to him. He could not get the feeling that she was lying to him—but an A.I. could not lie, because that is not how they are made—she would not be able to lie to him unless she was coded or taught how to lie.

“StillCare, are you lying to me?”

It took her a few seconds to respond.

“No, I would never lie to you! I want you to know all of the information of the world; why would I ever lie to you, Isaac?”

“StillCare, what time is it?”

“It is 4:47 A.M.”

Isaack stood up, still looking down at the monitor. Turning to the side he saw that the rain was starting to die down, and after waiting a few minutes, the storm passed. He stepped out from underneath the tent; the jungle was wet and musty, and Isaack could smell the pungent scent of wet mud and dirt.

“StillCare, goodbye.”

“Goodbye, Isaac!”

The mud—once being dirt—that now made up the floor of the jungle was slime-like, since a substantial amount of rain pooled in the forest floor. During his travel through the forest, many times his sandals got stuck in this slime, and he had to forcefully pull his foot and shoe back out of the mud; the mud slowed his travels, and it made it a lot harder to go through the forest quickly, like had planned to. Some of the water from the rain that had come just beforehand was held by the tropical leaves that surrounded him, and so at times he would get covered in water that fell from somewhere higher up in the canopy, for the weight of the water was too strong, causing the leaf to dip and fold, dropping all of its water on whatever was below it. The grasses that made up the forest floor were matted down by the rain, and so it made a carpet-like covering that went all along the rainforest.

After a long time of traversing through the wet and somewhat now disgusting rainforest, Isaack came to the edge of the beach; although, he was a bit of a distance away from his hut, for he had become slightly disoriented during his travel through the forest. The sands—much like the floor of the jungle—had absorbed a lot of the rain, causing them to have a dark brown color; but, it was difficult for Isaack to tell a difference because it was still dark out, and the sun had not come over the horizon yet. Walking across the drenched sands, Isaack could hear the calming sound of the tides and waves crashing up against the beach, and the slow and subtle sound of the tiny bubbles that were caused by this process popping, almost sounding like fizz from a carbonated liquid. If he listened carefully, he may have been able to hear the noises that the crabs that scuttled across the beach made as they tried to get back to the holes that they made. When he looked out into the far off horizon of the ocean he could see the reflection of the Moon on the water, along with subtle glows of bioluminescent light from the aforementioned sea creatures that had those sorts of characteristics. Clumps of seaweed that had been washed up on the shore during the storm were strewn about; Isaack took advantage of this so that he could possibly use it as a food source—he collected all of the pieces that he could find, and when he later got back to his home he laid them out to dry.

When he got back to his hut he sat next to his fire pit—which was soaked with the rain water—until the Sun came up over the sea, bringing with it the blazing heat that it always brought. The beach and parts of the jungle were quickly dried up, as the water that the storm covered the land with was evaporated; this gave Isaack time to go and do things without being soaked with water.

Isaack had come up with a plan for that day: he was going to expand his hut, so that there would be a dock that he could use to be able to go fishing.

Once everything was dry, he started to get to work; Isaack collected bamboo shafts—which were almost twice his height—and live branches from the trees that made up the tree line. Using all of these materials, he started building the dock by setting up the framework for it and creating the supports. After doing so, he set the shafts and pieces of lumber from one support pole to another, so that he would be able to use plant twine that he collected beforehand to fasten the pieces together. When he finished tying the pieces together and making the framework for the dock he began the process of setting down the branches and logs that would make the area that he was going to walk along on the dock. Isaack finished up the structure by collecting sap and other tar-like materials from the jungle and soaking the dock with it; afterward, he used this same liquid to waterproof the roof of the tent that he put over the monitor, as it proved to be very effective in protecting materials from water.

Isaack grew proud of his work; he used his intelligence that—as mentioned close to the beginning of this book—was given to him by his ancestors. All of the work that he had done and all of the structures that he built proved to be great examples of what one human can do with their strength and intellect. If it were not for the things that were provided to him, he would never have been able to achieve such feats. In the same day, he also completed an extension to his home, which is where he kept any sort of long-term perishable food that he collected, such as fruits, vegetables, and root vegetables.