Chapter 62

“Strawberry Fields Forever.”

She looked like she was a decade younger than what she was meant to be, wearing his clothing that looked like a blanket on her person, as the bottom of his plaid shirt was already touching her knees. He kept legs unrendered, the black carbon showing through, as he worries about attention so he masks her indecency, if there was such a thing.

The first few steps were most jarring as Neil was not sure. And though he based the lines of her code on what came with the model, he was well aware of its limitations.

But something was different when she had awoken that morning.

She was herself for a minute or two.

He looked away for a moment to scour his closet for clothes and by the time he had found something, he looked back at her and she smiled.

Quite a minor thing to see and anyone else would throw the scene as something that droids usually do. But Neil was its creator, and he knew the code well. He knew that it was something that was not part of its function, as he had a few lines of data prepared in his back pocket to simulate what was real.

Another thing to note was her smile.

Or rather, the way and the time she had done it.

When he popped his face from the closet, her eyes searched for him, looked at him, paused, wondered;

And then smiled.

It was almost as if she had her own thoughts.

Her own consciousness.

It was as if she was Real.

But he had no time to ponder on such impossibilities. He was just happy that he didn’t have to do extra work to get her conditioned to the outside world. All that data from all the sights and sounds, the sensations from every single moving thing around them, all of those should be a burden on her circuits but somehow;

She was bouncing around like a child in a candy store.

Every person she encountered, she had greeted. Every animal she sees, she said hello. She looked at the cars and buses that passed by with wonder, and gawked at the marvelous size of the tenements that engulfed them. To some they looked like a father and daughter, to others they looked like a couple, and as long as people see them as such, Neil didn’t mind.

It is the perfect disguise.

‘Layla?’ He asked, wearing a gentle smile.

‘Yes?’ She said with brightness in her voice.

‘How is it like? Being out and about?’

‘I Love It!!’ She exclaimed as she jumps in excitement. The innocence in her tone felt refreshing for his heart which in turn made him feel a slight guilt. After all, he did lose himself whilst using her the night before.

‘That’s good, you know what we’re gonna do today?’ He asks, playfully quizzing her.

‘Uhh… We’re gonna spend time together?’ She answered innocently.

‘Yes. But nope.’

‘Huh?’

‘We’re going shopping!’

‘Huh? What is shopping?’ She innocently asked as Neil smiles at her answer.

‘We’re buying you new clothes.’ He responds.

The moment he said the words, Layla’s eyes widened in excitement. The potential prospect of getting to dress up has put her in in good spirits, not that she needed a boost in her mood but nonetheless, seeing her get even more excited that she already was more than enough to make Neil cast his worries completely out of mind.

But before they could get to the clothing boutiques, he had to make a short detour.

‘Is this where the clothes are?’ She asked.

‘No Layla, this is your school. Where you studied.’

‘Really?! Wow, everything is so colorful!’ She exclaimed as he took her hand while they walked in. Outside and above its entrance, was a sign. “Ogre-ish Cafe!”

‘Hey kid. Yer back… and oh who’s that wid yah?’ The lady on the front desk greets him as he greets back with a nod.

‘Is Moz here?’ He asks the lady.

‘Unit three-three-seven “Z”.’ She answered as both him and Layla made their way through.

It was a sprawling internet cafe as Layla was having a hard time telling how big the space is as the walls around the place seemed to be never ending. Rows upon rows upon rows of computers they had passed by. With some having customers and some having none. Each row had a letter and each screen had a number and each lettered row had its own distinct color, thanks to the neon that hovered right above it. She was starting to lose track of how long they had walked as the colors and the crows seemed to keep repeating. Finally Neil had stopped and Layla followed suit as she finally got a chance to see what she looked like since the edge walls of the cafe were all made out of mirrors. ‘So I look like this?’ She thought as Neil gently pushed the small of her back towards a strange old man, with long salt and pepper hair and dark, round framed glasses.

‘Yo Moz..’ Neil calls him but as the old man looked toward them his immediate attention went towards the “girl”

‘Oh! Well hello there lovely!’ Moz excitedly greets her as he jumps up from his seat. ‘You must be Layla! My name is Mosey but you can call me Moz for short.’ He continued, stretching his arm out to shake her hand as Layla stepped back, unsure how to interact with this sudden “stranger”. She turns her head toward Neil who pulled her back behind him as he steps forward to confront the old man.

‘Hey Moz… nice to see you too.’ He interjects as Moz scoffs as if he had gotten in between him and the girl.

‘Ugh… Anyways… I’m happy I get to see you again Layla. How's it been?’ He said, continuing to ignore Neil’s presence. Layla on the other hand sunk deeper behind Neil’s back as she cowered from the unknown stranger in front of them. Seeing as he has no other choice but to interact with him, Moz caves in and engages Neil.

‘I told you to exercise its obedience metrics? Why is that toy behaving like a bitch towards me?’ Moz irately asked.

‘Look Moz, I already put it through its paces and I know you’ve witnessed how I did it cuz I did it on that very computer over there. If Layla’s acting this way it may be because she’s not used to interacting with other people yet. Give it time.’ Neil answered but the expression on the old man’s face says otherwise. Skeptical of his reasons.

‘I just paid you a visit now to show you that the integration to the body was a success.’ Neil continues as he pats Layla’s back, looking proud at what he had accomplished.

‘Well yes, I can see and I am impressed.’ Moz responds as he looks at Layla’s current state with lascivious eyes before shifting his gaze back at Neil, contemplating something before continuing.

‘Ya know kid. I’ve been trying to get her A.I working for decades now and then you come in and get it to near perfect state in just three months. Amazing work!’ He said, but the sudden praise made Neil more worried than secure as he can smell a sly move from a mile away.

Because if there's one thing Neil had learned from all his scheming was that: If real recognize real, then the same can go for the fakes.

‘Tell you what! There’s nothing in this world where her A.I can exercise handling the public more than this place. So I must say, for the sake of the project, that you surrender her earlier than scheduled so that she can focus on her “development”. The old man explained with a piercing gaze filled with lust as he eyes her from her feet up to the tops of her hair.

Neil can smell the bullshit coming from a universe away. He knew for a fact that Moz would just use her “night” functions instead of developing her A.I even further after seeing how he had developed her appearance beyond the scope of the old man’s specifications. On one hand it was his fault for making Layla look the way she has now but he also knew it was his only opportunity to do this.

To recreate what he had lost.

And now that he had gotten a step closer into retrieving it he was determined to keep it. As he puts his mind to work into navigating this minefield of negotiating with this man.

He had already made a good first step.

By concealing the strangeness of Layla’s functions as they had gotten out. He knew he needed more time to study what exactly it is that’s different from her usual A.I but from the looks of it;

Layla didn’t need further development.

For some reason, she was more “human” than she was the night before.

Moz doesn’t need to know this, and he was lucky he found an excuse for Layla’s suspicious actions when she met him.

‘Does Layla have a system of trust?’ He thought as he reflected but he knew the situation was a ticking time bomb as he could only do so much before Moz does something to make Layla respond in a way that exposes her.

‘Nahhh that won’t be effective.’ Neil answered as Moz raised an eyebrow at his reply.

‘And how so? Look around you. It’s the best place for her A.I to learn about people.’ Moz threw his rebuttal.

‘Yeah but it’s limited to specific interactions I mean… What other communication skills are there to learn inside this place besides saying “welcome” and “This is your unit number”

‘What about problem customers? That’s a challenge.’

‘So you’ll expose her A.I to toxic interactions instead of healthy positive ones?’

‘Well I can be there to supervise, take some of the grunt.’

‘Yeah well that would halve her learning time.’

‘Well I don’t mind, she -IS- my daughter after all and… and.’

Neil catches the man stuttering, possibly trying to overwrite himself from saying what he wants to do, versus what he means to do so he could mask his true intentions. But it was too late, and he decided to use it to his advantage.

‘And spend father daughter time?’ Neil interjects.

‘Yes! Spend some father uhh.. daughter time.’ He answers, hesitating on the “daughter” part.

‘Well okay then… but I’m telling you it wouldn’t work and she wouldn’t be much of a daughter to you cuz her interaction range would be severely limited.

You can trust me on that as the guy who figured out your A.I.

Unless you’ve changed your mind on the “daughter” part.’

…

…

‘What in the world are you trying to imply boy?!’ Moz angrily responds.

‘An angry denial, trying to guilt me from pursuing my line of thought?’ Neil internalized, and if he wasn’t playing mind games at this moment, he’d already have a smile on his face.

‘Well you don’t need complex A.I if you’re just trying to fuck this droid aren’t you?’ He said as he subtly moved his body to the side to fully cover Layla behind him, knowing fully that she might react. And noticing her suddenly shiver after hearing what Moz might do to her, he was right to keep her hidden.

‘Wha-- Fine! Do what you have to do. But I want Layla to be back here once her training’s been complete.’ Moz answered, caving in to prevent any suspicion as Neil had spoken loud enough to catch other people’s attention towards them.

‘Alrighty then! If that’s the case then I’ll be taking your daughter for a stroll then.’ Neil happily answered. Which might be a mistake in itself, but that didn’t bother him, for now at least but he dared not think about it.

‘Wait!’ Moz stops them before he could even take a step out from where they stood.

‘How long are you gonna keep me waiting?’ He asked. As Neil returns to his ice cold glare.

‘I’ve prepared a two week lesson plan.’

‘Make it one.’

‘You know I think you really just want a fuck doll--’

‘Fine!!!

Two weeks then…’

‘Thanks Moz!’ He said as his final parting words before the pair walked out of the cafe.

…

‘Master? That man said he was my father. Is it true?’ Layla asked, looking worried. Neil contemplates for a moment over what his answer should be, but ultimately he found it useless to tell her a different story and stuck with what he knew was true.

‘He is… But he is a bad father.’ Neil replied as he saw the sparkle in her eyes that he saw that morning disappear.

‘Why is he bad?’ She cautiously asked.

‘Well… let’s just say he calls you a daughter but he built you for a different purpose.’

‘What kind of purpose?’ She innocently asked. Neil wanted to answer immediately but his guilt made him hesitate. Nonetheless he still has countermeasures in his back pocket in case anything “unpleasant” happens.

‘To do things like we did last night.’ He bluntly states as his nerves make him sweat cold, hoping she wouldn’t associate his acts as the same as the old man’s intent.

‘Last night? But…

That’s… different.’

Neil tried his best to hold his reaction, but after hearing what Layla had said, there was no way her A.I would act in an irrational manner as it did. The only thing he could derive from that answer was that her A.I had gone beyond the comprehension of logic and had developed a much more complicated way of calculating decisions.

In short: She was operating based on “feeling”.

He decides to test this out.

‘It is…’ He responds. ‘It -felt- different.’ He continues as he throws in a keyword in his sentence

‘Yes… I guess… there’s something within me that I can’t explain. All I can say is that I feel something for you Master.’ She said as Neil held back both his excitement and his emotions so he could keep his cool beside her. “Excitement” because he just confirmed that Layla was more of a complex A.I than he had imagined and “emotions” because it felt like a “real” girl had just confessed to him, which is something he had been chasing to experience during his time at school.

‘Well you know what? I also feel something for you Layla.’

‘You do?!’ She said with glee as he saw the sparkle in her eyes return to what it was earlier that morning.

‘Yes I do. And I’m looking forward to exploring these feelings I have for you during these times we have together.’ He replied as he saw a slight worry on Layla’s face.

And that’s when he noticed another thing that happened.

She erased her worry and cheerfully changed the topic to where they were going to go shopping.

A sign of empathy.

A sign that she knows how someone else would feel if she had given them a certain stimulus and deciding on whether or not to pursue giving the stimulus or not.

The ability to put herself in the shoes of others.

‘For sure she was gonna ask me to let her stay with me and not give me away to Moz after two weeks.’ Neil thought. But for now he had buried that thought for a later date, as just like Layla, he decided to just focus on what was in front of them.

…

…

-Welcome to Fiesta Carnival-

If there is such a thing as a rank that classifies all of the public fairgrounds around the metro; Then Fiesta Carnival would be the King of kings.

Built then demolished and rebuilt. Each reincarnation becoming stronger and better that its previous self that it has now become one of the most sought after destinations around the Metro, becoming a central hub for all people of all shapes and sizes and budgets.

Once a simple fairgrounds right behind the Araneta Center Coliseum, it has been transformed into a multistory outdoor mall that still retains its fairgrounds feel as every floor and at every corner there’s always a fun carnival ride waiting to cater to the attending masses.

The downsides of this, was of course, the masses themselves.

With such popularity the average weekend attendance at the Fiesta Carnival rivals any major concert held in the country. But lucky for Neil, he and Laya were early for the weekend.

A full two days early.

And it was morning.

So when Layla hears the jolly train operator welcoming them into the station that leads them to the place. It was more or less deserted.

She was fascinated at how everything was bright and shiny as they walked through the station leading into the fairgrounds as they transitioned from the modern polish of the train station towards the nature oriented design of the Fiesta Carnival.

Every floor of every walkway had plants lining its boundaries as she curiously takes a look down the glass railings on the side of the floor they had arrived in and see nothing but hanging plants that droop over the sides of each floor as each floor looked like the steps of a staircase as it slopes down gradually, all culminating towards an oasis of trees below as the entire space she was looking down upon was open straight up to the sky, leaving the sun to do all the lighting around the place.

She turns her head around to check out all of the shops that line the corridors of the place as she takes in all of the things that money can buy. From bags to furniture to other things she was not familiar about but to her all of them were all eye-catching and desirable as she found herself wanting to be spoiled by her master. Looking up to him she pulls on his shirt as she points out at the different shiny colorful things around them.

‘Master can we buy?’ She asked as she jumped up and down in excitement, making the red in her hair glow as it bounces with her actions.

‘What is it?’ He asked as he traced where she was pointing her finger.

‘I don’t know but it looks pretty!’ She responds.

Layla was pointing at an arts and crafts store with a huge display window showcasing its wares. A particular one she was pointing at on the display was a cute white rabbit plushie, big enough to be hugged. Neil, feeling fascinated and entranced by this behavior, smiles and decides to indulge her request.

‘I have more than enough for her budget; Why not?’ He thought as he took her hand inside the store.

A few minutes passed and a few passing comments on how sweet the two of them looked, the pair walked out of the store with “Baba” snuggled around Layla’s arms.

‘You love it?’ Neil asked while she hugs the stuffed animal tightly.

‘I do Master! Thank you!’ She exclaims as the people around them smile while some raise their eyebrow at them, possibly because of how Layla addresses him.

‘I’m glad.’ Neil smiled but quickly leans into her ear and whispers. ‘You know when we’re outside you can call me by my name, Layla.’ He said but Layla was taken aback looking worried.

‘Really master?’

‘Yes. Really.’

‘You won’t be angry?’ She said, looking extremely worried.

Neil held her hand and brushed her hair over her ear as he looked deep into her eyes asking himself why she would say such a question before asking it himself, learning something new in the process.

‘My other master… The man who is my father. I remember now seeing him annoyed when I forgot to call him that. He said I was not following protocol. It made me sad.

Everytime I forget, he makes me sit in the dark for a long time.

I’m afraid of it. Please don’t shut me off.’

She looked at him with a pleading gaze, if her model only had a feature to shed tears her cheeks would now be surely moist. He pulls her in for a hug as he revels at how much Layla opens up to him for as far as he was concerned; She was real.

‘Is this what it’s like?’ He thought as his heart beats faster when Layla responds to his hug with an even tighter embrace. He was putting off the thought of going against Moz for her so that he could focus his mind on enjoying these moments, but Layla wasn’t helping.

Not that he minded, of course.

‘Don’t worry. I won’t do such a thing.’ He assured her.

Layla lifts her face out from his chest to show him the sweetest smile he had ever seen, before burrowing herself back into his arms and hugging him more tightly.

‘GET A ROOM!’

A passerby shouts at them, but it was too late for Neil to spot,

Too immersed at her actions to immediately look.

He lifted her face up from him and caressed her hair.

‘Let’s go, We still have to buy you new clothes.’ He said smiling.

They both made their way down from the higher floors where the fairgrounds connected from the train station as Layla feasts her eyes on the sights and sounds of the Fiesta Carnival, passing by numerous shops and stalls, and the carnival rides that piqued her curiosity. Every Time they had passed by a Carnival ride, she’d pull on his shirt to grab his attention. Neil smiles and pats her head every time she does so, always promising her that they could get back after buying her clothes to which she always happily agrees on, until she sees another ride when he has to repeat the same charade once more. It also didn’t help that most of the clothing stores were on the lower floors where most people would stay, which meant that for every ride they passed by on the way down, he had to stop and explain it to her every time.

Most would be annoyed by this but since Neil had created her and that he found her personality to be the cutest he’d ever encountered. She was easily forgiven.

The first store they visited was a store that sold simple but comfortable clothing. Neil was surprised at how easy it was to dress up Layla as everything he had chosen for her size compliments her perfectly. They even purchased some baby sized clothes for “Baba” her new pet rabbit plushie, which the sales ladies found cute that she would ask for such a thing. Some of the sales ladies were also glancing at him, probably thinking how considerate he was to Layla, but there were some whom he felt were thinking of “something else”.

Which in his mind was a waste, but at the same time the more it made him loathe women in general. Thinking that they only were starting to see him as desirable “after” he was already with someone else, but when he was alone, no one accepted him. Making him question how hypocritical women are when they call men “predatory” when they themselves have their own brand of “predation”.

Nonetheless they moved on to the next store.

His goal for this one was to buy her some decent “date” clothes. Clothes that she can wear when they go out to spend time with each other, though he doesn’t know how he’ll handle things in two weeks time, but before that time arrives he wants to make sure that time spent with Layla was worth all the effort.

‘How bout this?’ He asked as he brought the hanger close to her chest to preview the frilly white top on her bust. Layla blushed as she felt his hand slightly brush her collar “bone”.

‘U-um… Yeah it looks good Maste-- er… Neil…’ She stutters as Neil sighs thinking she still has a lot of work ahead of her to rid her honorifics when addressing him. She grips Baba tightly as Neil turns her around and samples a couple of loose fitting pants and skirts on her, hiding her beet red face as she continues to feel his hand slightly touching the small on her back as he pressed the pieces of clothing on her body, mixing and matching different styles.

He finally settles on a classy but casual look for her and asks her to try them on for a final fit. And as he had expected it, everything fits her size perfectly, as if her body was proportionally designed to fit most designer clothing. Sadly this time since the store didn’t offer any options for infants, Neil wasn’t able to grant Layla’s request of buying equally stylish clothes for Baba.

But he quickly counters by reminding her they were done with the shopping;

And that they could finally go on the rides that she wanted to experience so much.

…

…

‘This was a mistake….’

Neil was looking peeved as he watched from the side whilst Layla enjoyed herself driving the bumper cars. Everything should be fine until Layla kept asking for another round.

And another.

And another.

To make it worse, for some reason the more she got used to the cars, the more aggressive she started to drive.

This is the fourth run she’s had on the bumper cars and she now is actively seeking out people to ram to the point that the kids around her were avoiding her.

She even throws her body weight with the car for added impact to her victims.

As a result the parents of the children driving with her were starting to give Neil some looks.

…

‘Again! Again!’ She happily demands as the parents beside him glared at him while they nurse their battered children with some of them displaying mild effects of whiplash due to the severity of colliding with Layla, prompting him to take drastic action to take her away from the place.

‘Uhhh… why don’t we check out another ride?’ He swiftly suggests. ‘I mean I quite remember you liking the rollercoaster on the top floor right?’ He negotiates as Layla blankly stares at him. She looks around seemingly aware of the damage she had caused and turns her face back to him with a determined look.

‘Yup! Let’s move on!’ She said decisively as they left the place.

‘Did she know?’ He asked himself as Layla seemed to pick up the mood of the room, pulling his arm out of the bumper car place as quickly as possible. But since there wasn’t enough evidence to prove this claim, it became just another theory to put in his backlog of thoughts about the android.

Thankfully the line on the rollercoaster wasn’t as long as he’d suspected and, since there were no loops in the ride, he can finally join in the fun whilst carrying the bags of clothes and Baba in his arms. Another thing to note was just how charming Layla’s personality was, accompanied by her looks she was the perfect companion if the need to want something important arises as, while waiting for their turn in the line, she kept asking if Neil could ask the “operator guy” to reserve the front car for them.

Which was something of an embarrassing scene for him but for some reason when their turn had come, everyone in the line in front of them smiled and looked at her as they deliberately left the front car for her to ride in, with him as a lucky casualty.

Another point of thought that he reserved in his backlog.

The rollercoaster is “the” main attraction out of all Fiesta Carnival rides. Currently known as the teleporting coaster, its iconic thrill has the rails go in and out of the multi storey building throwing the passengers out in the open, hanging hundreds of feet front the street below before entering the building on a different floor. This route repeats until the ride circles back to the top floor taking a detour towards some selected shops inside the fairgrounds, giving the shoppers inside the selected stores a surprise as they hear a roaring rollercoaster fly past their heads whilst they quietly shop, or in some cases - eat.

…

…

‘ThankgoodnessIleftthebags!’

Neil shouts as the cars rapidly whip around the floors of the building. Holding on tightly to his harness, he braced himself as he felt the forces pulling him violently from one side to the other giving him no breathing space to even enjoy the sights of the ride as he started to feel dizzy from the rapid changes of direction the ride was taking. During all this he feels a cold metallic touch on his hand as he feels it slowly warm up to comfort him. It was Layla’s ability to warm up any part of her body where human contact was present, something that the model 4 droids have installed to disguise themselves from being outed as machines. But as Neil turns to her in response, he notices she was not doing this for any form of deception, but out of pure concern. Recognizing him to be in distress she looks at him with worry in her eyes as she holds his hand tightly to comfort him. Neil softens his expression as his tense body starts to relax and squeezes back on Layla’s grip. She notices this and softens her expression as they both hold hands while the coaster zips above the shoppers inside the Fairgrounds, with Layla even waving hello at the people who watched them from below.

The ride ends with Neil feeling a bit dizzy but happy, as they alight the cars holding each other’s hands the other people at the back started whispering on how sweet they looked making Neil feel annoyed at how nosy others were at their interactions but at the same time, feeling warm and proud that other people think they are a loving couple, which gave him ideas that maybe they were. Though he pushed away those thoughts for a moment and instead pulled his attention back to Layla. ‘So… umm… what ride would you want to try next?’ He asked her as she looked around trying to spot something that interests her.

While she was doing so, a group of girls walked past and she heard them talking about fixing their looks with one particular girl asking: ‘Do I look pretty?’

To which another answered. ‘Your hair is a bit scuffed by the wind…wanna fix it in the bathroom?’

‘Oh no! My date!’ The other girl replied as Layla watched them hurry to the bathroom, which was strategically placed near the exit of the roller coaster.

‘Do I look pretty?’ In response to what she had witnessed she asked Neil the same question.

‘Yes! Why do you ask?’ Neil inquired as Layla hides her blushing face behind Baba.

‘It was windy during the ride, my hair might be a mess and you might think I look ugly.’ She responds as Neil silently contemplates if Layla had already understood the concept of human beauty. A mistake he never saw coming as his sudden silence made her feel more insecure.

‘Can you hold Baba for a minute?’ She asked as stretched her arms out, forcing the stuffed rabbit onto his arms.

‘What? Why?’ Neil reacts but Layla didn;t hear him as she had scampered away into the same bathroom where the girls went in. Neil also overheard the conversation so he knew what was concerning Layla, but he didn’t expect her reaction to be this extreme. In his mind he thought he would just ask her to comb her hair, but it seems she had a different idea in mind.

He watched her frantically get into the ladies bathroom seamlessly as he contemplate on whether she used the date she observed from the girls she eavesdropped on or whether she had already recognized different symbols that people use in their everyday lives, nonetheless it left him curiously wondering at how complex her understanding had become overnight.

Almost as if her program had evolved somehow or that maybe he gave her prompts that unlocked something. Eitherway, he knew he wouldn’t solve this within the two weeks he had left with her.

He needed a plan.

And just as he was starting to come up with something for their problems;

He hears a familiar voice.

-’So after hearing all that; How do you think we can tackle all this?-

Said an eerily familiar voice.

-’Huh… Well using that data no doubt we can create some internal issues but we’d only be making damage on the surface… the higher ups of the frat might still present a risk if they find out that we are the ones propagating this kind of behavior.’-

A scarily familiar voice said. Which immediately made him swiftly walk towards another direction.

He didn’t steal a glance, and the voices continued talking as he left as he heard other familiar voices as well while he found a good spot to spy on his assumptions from across the hall.

And as he turned around, his hunch was right and his heart sank swiftly.

In a cafe near where he had just stood. Sat his former “friends” from the student council.

And of course, with them was the man he hated the most.

‘Denzo.’