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Wise found himself working for Belobog Heavy Industries, it seemed Koleda managed to secure the construction business, a quite profitable deal managing the extraction of a newly discovered rich ether-material site inside an old Hollow that was about to disappear.
Business was as usual, using Eous he guided Koleda and her team inside and through the hollow while their personnel extracted the materials.
At the moment Wise was sitting on one of Grace’s “children” while he waited for Fairy to finish running her analysis on the ever changing geography of the hollows, until an intense gaze focused on him, pulled him out of his thoughts.
He was familiar with that gaze, it was intense, full of curiosity and excitement. Even though Eous’ body was synthetic, a chill ran through his back.
Usually that stare was reserved for complex circuitry and machinery, unfortunately as long as he was possessing Eous’ body, Wise was both.
A little scared for his Bangboos’ life, Wise turned around and found himself under the scrutiny of The Iron Witch.
“G-Grace! I didn’t see you. H-How can I help you?”
“Phaethon!” Grace jumped beside him with a notepad in hand and flashed him a wide smile not usually reserved for humans.
“I was wondering if you could answer some questions about your impressive little Bangboo.”
All previous fear and awkwardness in Wise was instantly replaced by silent seriousness, it was good that his current contractor could not see the expression he was making behind his Bangboo.
Maybe due to being overly familiar with machines or drawing the correct interpretation from his silence Grace frantically waved her hands in front of him.
“Ah, don’t worry. I know this child has some secrets you don’t want to share, I promise there are going to be just standard questions.”
After a couple silent seconds a heavy sigh came out of Eous.
“Sure Grace, ask away.”
Grace then proceeded with questions regarding the neural mapping logic behind Eous’ behavior module and Wise carefully explained what he could, without giving away critical information about Eous only he and his sister knew.
When they finished, Wise could tell that Grace left unsatisfied from their exchange. After all, in order to keep some of the most important features he had to decline from answering Grace’s more complex questions.
He didn’t want to lie to her, but she was getting awfully close to asking how they were able to communicate with Eous from outside the Hollows and that was a secret that his sister and him were ready to take to the grave. So, every time she asked something related to that, he gave the most standard useless answer possible.
It was really disappointing though, being able to talk with someone at this level was an incredibly rare occurrence and he was happy to talk with Grace about Eous.
As days went by and Belobog’s project was nearing its end, Wise noted that Grace’s questions started getting a little convoluted. She was asking things in a way that even if she didn’t ask directly about Eous secrets, if he were to answer them honestly, he would probably end up giving some of the key features away if he wasn’t careful.
“Wise!”
Not long ago Grace finally started calling him by name instead of talking directly to the Bangboo and waiting for him to answer, now she was running towards him, definitely with a new wave of questions at hand.
“Hi Grace, I hope you had a good day.” His smile was lost on the expressionless Bangboo.
“Hehehe, sure did! My children did wonderfully today! We are practically wrapping everything up to finally take everything back home tomorrow morning.”
“That’s great news!” Wise said in a cheery voice. “So tomorrow will probably be our last day working together for a while.”
Grace’s face clouded for a moment while an unknown pressure could be felt inside her chest, but she quickly brushed it aside.
“Haha, yeah. Ben has been losing his fur over our budget, sadly if we keep having you on deck any longer, our finances will take a hit.”
They both laughed at the idea of a hairless bear thiren and Grace pulled Eous between her arms in a hug.
“I’m gonna miss seeing this little one around…” She gently squeezed him and the sensation of being embraced was instantly transmitted to Wise.
He kept silent since he was keeping a secret how much he shared with Eous through his senses. All they knew was that Phaethon communicated from outside the hollow through Eous, not that he was mentally synched with it.
Grace had been pretty close to asking the right questions to unveil that secret but his carefully picked answers kept her suspicions at bay.
“But…”
When she started talking again Wise looked up to find an emotion he thought was impossible for Grace.
“But I think, I’m gonna miss talking to you the most…”
Before he could form an answer, she continued.
“Before you go… I was wondering if you could give more thought about my last question…”
He saw how important that question was to her, her face was a mix of several emotions and the guilt of not being able to answer honestly to all her questions was eating at him.
Wise knew she was asking him out of academic curiosity, he knew Grace was a good person who cared little about profit. If he shared Eous’ secrets with her, she would probably end up fitting her heavy machinery with the same technology just to benefit Belobog.
It wasn’t really a bad idea, honestly. Having the ability to communicate from outside the hollows and sync with Artificial constructs would revolutionize Hollow exploration and make everything easier for everyone. He knew not sharing this technology with everyone would only extend people’s suffering.
Wise understood from Grace’s questions that she was pretty close to reaching that conclusion, he could see in her face the frantic curiosity of being just one step away from a breakthrough. But, he couldn’t share it with the world just yet.
“Grace…”
Excited, Grace perked up at the thought of finally getting an answer that could lead her to connecting all the mess in her head regarding the mystery that was Eous and Phaethon. Only to realize that Wise’s voice was filled with regret and resolution.
“I’m sorry Grace, I really want to talk about it with you. You of all people would get it, I just know it. But I can’t, not now.” The little Bangboo jumped out of Grace’s arms and landed a little far away, creating some distance between them.
She let her head hang in frustration, battling between pushing forward and keep insisting for answers or respecting Wise’s wishes and leaving the topic for good.
She racked her brain looking for the most efficient course of action, but every time she came up with something, she discarded the idea due to a single new variable that she never cared about before.
For someone who only cared about machines and her inventions, the idea of hurting Wise’s feelings by trampling over his privacy hurt her deeply.
“I…I’m sorry, I understand. I won’t ask again.”
…
It will probably be the stupidest thing he’s ever going to do, and Belle will most likely kick his butt, but seeing Grace so dejected made him feel horrible. He didn’t have to explain it, he wasn’t technically telling her the answer… But maybe, a little hint?
Stressed by the Proxy’s silence, Grace felt the urge to apologize again, feeling that she had crossed a line she should never have crossed, but before she could say sorry, she was interrupted by Wise’s voice.
“Grace, I’m sorry I can’t tell you yet, but let me tell you something.”
Her eyes opened wide and focused all her attention on his next words.
“Your focus is wrong, you assume the secret is inside Eous.”
Eous’ little hand moved from its side to point at the screen that functioned as its face just a little above its right eye.
“You are looking in the wrong place.”
Eous turned around and walked away from Grace, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
-
The following day she got so busy with post-hollow maintenance for her children that she missed the chance to speak with the proxy one last time before their deal was officially over.
Normally, a good day tweaking her children’s artificial intelligence modules was all she needed to stay happy and unbothered, but since her last exchange with Wise she had even more questions than before he gave her the “hint”.
She couldn’t stop thinking about Eous and its ability to communicate with Wise outside of the Hollow.
After talking with Wise, she drew her own hypothesis about the little Bangboo and its differences from other mass produced ones.
First, he was completely custom made. Not a single piece of its machinery or circuitry could be traced to any manufacturer.
Second, Eous’ artificial intelligence was one of a kind, he was able to react to the proxy’s orders and intentions without delay, which meant that whatever kind of processing power he was hiding, was able to draw information through its sensors from the environment, transmit them in real time to Wise and receive and act on his orders instantly.
The thought robbed her of her sleep, that was impossible with their current technology.
She knew it better than anyone else, the effort she put on the artificial intelligence of her children could be called inhuman by most, yet she couldn’t see herself achieving that level of synchronization between Phaethon and his Bangboo.
“The secret is not inside Eous…” Grace whispered while recording her thoughts in her video diary.
“Wise said focusing on Eous to solve the equation was the wrong approach. Then Eous pointed at his optical sensors.”
“Is it visual? Was he trying to say that Eous acts according to the environment? No, if that were the case it would not be different from the technology my children use.”
“There must be something inherently different between Eous and other intelligent machines.”
Grace racked her brain looking for memories of Eous’ behavior, it was extremely difficult since she had to leave out every time it was acting according to Wise’s instructions.
“Something out of the ordinary…Out of the ordinary…”
The memory of the little Bangboo squirming out of her arms the first time she hugged it accompanied by Wise’s sudden squeak came to her mind.
“...”
“!!??”
“Could it be possible?”
She wasn’t imagining things, right? What reason could a Bangboo with no concept of shame or embarrassment be able to process and interpret the signals in such a way that it became embarrassed by physical contact? Even more, why would Wise react to it if he was supposedly just giving instructions from afar?.
“Unless.”
--------------------------------
It was just a regular night at Random Play, the last customer had just left and Wise was organizing the newer tapes on the shelves when various knocks on the door could be heard.
Last minute customers were not rare, but he had already put the “closed” sign outside.
It seemed that the client did not care since they kept knocking on the door.
A little annoyed opened the front door ready to shush the person away but instead was met by a Grace Howard with heavy eye bags practically pouncing on him.
The next thing he knew was that she was straddling him and shaking him by the shirt.
“G-Grace!? What are you doing? Why are you here?
“Wise! I’ve been thinking about what you said!”
Wise held her arms and adjusted his position, looking worriedly outside of his door. He couldn’t let anyone see them in that kind of position, even less let anyone hear Grace talking excitedly about confidential information.
“Okay, Okay! I get it, hurry up, let me stand. I need to close the door.”
When the excitement of the storm of questions filling her head settled down, Grace found herself on top of an embarrassed Wise.
“O-Ohh…Sorry, of course. Let me help you stand up.”
After making sure the shop was properly closed, he asked Grace to follow him upstairs to his room.
Wise’s room looked like a combination of a living space and his workplace, the computer on his desk seemed to run an unknown code 24/7. There was a Bangboo charging station, a couple of sofas and a television.
He walked to the small couch and invited Grace to sit down.
“Please, take a seat Grace. Can I offer you anything? Water, tea, coffee?”
“Haha, don’t be so serious Proxy, I’m okay, plus I have like 4 shots of espresso in my system right now.”
A quick thought about how this was the first time in her life inside the room of another person not from Belobog industries disappeared from her mind as soon as it appeared.
“So, I wanted to ask more about your little Bangboo! I know I can’t ask overly complex questions but I feel that I’m pretty close!”
“Hahaha…” Wise’s awkwardness was lost on Grace’s enthusiasm.
“I was thinking about what you said the other day, you mentioned that focusing on Eous was the wrong approach, after thinking about it I feel kinda stupid for not getting it straight away!”
She took out her notepad and started reading her notes.
“If you think about it, the Bangboo is just the receptor! The signal has to come from somewhere else! No one but you can communicate from outside the Hollow!”
“...Grace.”
“If focusing on Eous is the wrong approach that would mean that the key aspect for that technology lies wherever the Proxy is!”
“Grace…”
“Is it a special code? An encryption? How do you manage to keep the signal alive considering the ever changing geography of the Hollows? Is it the code that is running on your computer over there!?”
Just when Grace was about to stand up his voice echoed with a sternness she didn’t think could be possible to him.
“Grace!”
The Iron witch snapped her head back to Phaethon, barely able to see how a serious look quickly turned into a business-like smile.
“Before we continue Grace, I’d like to ask you some questions.”
“Eh? Umm, sure.” Wasn’t she the one there to ask questions?
Wise stood up and sat beside her on the couch.
“The days I worked with you guys were really fun. During that time, what impressed me the most was you Grace.”
“W-What do you mean?”
“I spent the most time watching you work on your machines, I can see that you are very proud of them.”
“Of course I am! They are my children!” She answered the compliment with a smile.
“I could also see how much effort you put into their maintenance, and after observing their behaviour I can confidently say that their artificial intelligence is pretty unique.”
Grace remembered all the all-nighters she took to finally develop a semi-autonomous artificial intelligence that could work well with Belobog’s machinery. “Yeah, it took me a lot of time to get it just right.”
“So, Grace…”
“Hmmm?” Grace tilted her head expecting Wise to get to the point so they could keep talking about the technology behind his extraordinary Bangboo.
“Grace, have you shared your children with other companies?”
“…”
“O-Oh…” Grace frowned her brows and hung her head dejectedly in disappointment.
“You get it right? No matter how much I enjoy talking about technology with you, no matter how much I want to share the secrets of hollow communication with the world…”
“Wise…”
“This technology has a purpose, I can’t share it with you or anyone. Not until Phaethon achieves its objective.”
Grace grasped the fabric of her pants tightly.
“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t think about it properly. I was so excited, talking about it with you and thinking of ways for you to give me more hints was really fun. For the past few days, all I could think of was finding time to talk with you. I didn’t realize I was causing you so much trouble.”
Wise closed the distance between them and wiped a tear about to fall from her eye.
“No, it’s okay, I had a lot of fun talking with you, but as you might have guessed, you have gotten incredibly close to the answer, so I can’t tell you yet.”
“…”
A silence lasted what it felt like an eternity, and for the first time ever, someone saw The Iron Witch heavily struggling between her curiosity and a meat and bone person.
After watching Grace not knowing what to do with herself, Wise took a deep breath.
“Belle is going to kill me.”
“I can’t tell you yet, but I promise there will be a day when we will be able to talk about it freely. In the meantime, I’ll give you a final hint.”
Grace immediately snapped back to look at him with wide eyes.
“A-Are you sure? You don’t have to do it, I understand what you said.”
“Haha, don’t worry, I trust that even if you do come to the correct conclusion, you’ll respect my wishes… Are you ready?”
“Yes!”
“Ohh? Suddenly you are quite lively again. Okay listen, you were focused on Eous but even considering the tech inside of him at the end of the day he is just a receiver.”
“If there is a receiver, then there must be a transmitter.”
Wise showed her a wide grin. “Exactly! Sadly, no matter what, I can’t give you access to the transmitter, do you know why?”
“Umm, is it a delicate piece of equipment? Is it at a secret location? Is it inside a Hollow!? That’s why you can communicate inside them? You send the signal from a second location inside the hollow!??”
“Hehe, your imagination sure runs wild.”
Wise wasn’t completely used to doing it without the HDD system, but it was something that he could activate on his own if he tried.
He issued to his room’s artificial intelligence assistant the command and the brightness of the light dimmed until there was just enough to see a little farther than their faces.
“W-Wise? W-What are you doing?”
“Just trust me, there is something I want you to see.”
“Ehh!?” For a moment, Grace remembered all the times these past weeks in which Koleda teased her about her long chats with the Proxy, how her sister had told her that she could not call Grace -single as hell- anymore.
At the beginning, she just wanted to get all the information possible out of Phaethon so she could improve her own tech, but after spending time talking with him, she found herself more and more engrossed in their talks. The way he beat around the bush and gave her convoluted answers stimulated her brain in ways she had never experienced before talking with other people.
Grace shifted in her seat awkwardly and tried to look at everything but his face, her face was heating, and she became extremely aware of his movements.
Meanwhile, Wise pictured the process in his brain, and as if flipping a switch, he began closing his eyes and Grace looked at him in confusion.
W-Wa-Wa-Wait, is he closing his eyes!? Shouldn’t he be the one to take the initiative!? I don’t know what to do! When was the last time I did something like this? He’s standing very still. Is he waiting for me? Is it too late now? Sometime has already passed, will he think I dislike him!? Should I just go for it?
Wise took a deep breath and opened his eyes slowly, the first thing he noticed was Grace’s face getting closer and closer, he locked his eyes into hers and she stopped completely on her tracks, her eyes opened wide as the room started to glow on a faint green light.
“Of course…” Grace whispered almost inaudibly as she crawled slowly on top of him.
“!?”
“Grace?”
She gently cradled his face with both hands and came even closer looking directly into his eyes.
“Of course I couldn’t figure it out, Eous’ body is not the only one with its secrets, right?”
Wise showed her a thin smile.
“Heh, you catch on quickly.”
Wise’s eyes were shining in a green hue the same way they shone when he was in sync with Eous. That was all it took for Grace to figure out part of Phaethon’s secret for communicating inside the hollows.
“You are the transmitter, your eyes…Is it an optical implant? No, it would just allow you to see through its eyes. Wait! Is it your brain? All the times Eous moved in a way no Bangboo is capable of, was it you?”
Grace ignored the fact that she was practically straddling him and shot her questions in a rapid fire.
Wise tried to sit straight and let out an awkward laugh.
“Haha, so, Grace. You get it now, don’t you? This is as far as hints as I can go.”
“Ahhh, I have so many questions!” Grace grabbed him from his shirt and started shaking him.
“But I understand…”
“Awww, I’d love to pull you apart to see what makes you tick!”
“Don’t worry though, I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“Glad to hear it…”
She spent some seconds in silence and then she realized her current position on top of him.
“It’s not a question about it anymore…It’s just me talking to myself but…”
Still on top of him, she started sliding her fingers along the features of his arm.
“If…If you got a biomechanical augmentation in your head, could that mean you might also have another one…somewhere…in your body.”
Slowly and without breaking eye contact, Wise slipped his hands towards her waist and held her tightly.
“Sorry to disappoint you, but most of my body is completely human.”
Grace leaned on him until her lips were practically touching his ear.
“What if I don’t believe you? Would you let me check?”
-
One or two hours later Wise woke up in his bed tired as if he hadn't slept at all and his body was sweaty and warm.
He then perceived movement next to him and removed the sheets from his guest’s body.
What he found were a pair of legs slowly kicking back and forth while a naked Grace scribbled furiously on her notes.
…
*Click*
*Snap*
The sound of the shutter made her turn her head and found him holding his camera towards her.
“Huh, I didn’t know you were into that.” Grace smiled while maintaining that pose.
Wise adjusted his position and snapped another picture, making sure to capture her smile.
“There will be a lot more opportunities to find out even more about each other…If you are willing…”
“Haha, I wonder what the guys at home will say when they find out.”