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It wasn’t a decision that either of them took lightly, and they knew it wasn’t going to be easy. It required hours of research on both of their parts, including Pixal going to her father with questions and Zane combing through his own father’s papers and blueprints for answers. They even got Jay and Nya involved. Jay was their source for materials, working with his parents to get discontinued or hard to find parts that Pixal’s father couldn’t supply. Nya was the practical consultant, working with Pixal to see what aspects of human life they could effectively simulate. Things like growing and learning in a way that wasn’t predetermined.
Zane and Pixal couldn’t, of course, do it the usual way as neither of them were particularly equipped for something like that, but they were determined to make it happen one way or another. They knew the end product would not be a traditional child, but nothing about either of them was ever traditional.
They’d been married for a few years now; joined together in a beautiful ceremony that Pixal had planned down to the minutiae. But when they’d said ‘Till death do us part’, an idea started. They couldn’t die in the traditional sense, even if Zane was constantly testing that theory, so the idea of forever stretching out before them didn’t feel…lonely per se, because they had each other, but they finally felt like the time was right to expand the family of ninja, and their own, smaller, family.
Pixal had actually been the one to bring it up, initially, but the idea soon grew into something that was much larger than the both of them.
After Cryptor, there had been a limit on the amount of Nindroids that could be produced within Ninjago. They had been excluded from that rule as both a member of the ninja and Samurai X, but it also meant there was a lot of red tape they had to cut through in addition to the particular challenge of actually building and programming a new, unique Nindroid child. It shouldn’t have been an uphill battle…but it had been proven to them time and time again that people were closed minded when it came to their existence.
The building and programming aspect should have been easy. They had both rebuilt their own bodies multiple times and were familiar with the process. They had to be. But building a Nindroid who couldn’t think, who could only follow orders and emote in certain ways was one thing. Pixal had initially been designed to simply be an AI assistant. It was only Zane’s intervention that led her to developing sentience and becoming who she was. Even Minipix Seven, who was capable of basic emotion, had been developed with Pixal’s code; being an extension of her creator. Making something new, someone new, was proving to be a challenge.
And all of it was starting to wear on Pixal.
Zane tried to assist wherever he could, but he could only help so much. Pixal had the mechanical and programming background, not him, and he felt a little helpless as he watched his wife work tirelessly every night on bringing their dream to life.
He entered the elevator down to the garage, a mug of hot tea in each hand. It was well past the time he and Pixal should have retired and shut down for the night, but Pixal was staying up late…again. He knew he couldn’t convince her to come to bed on nights like this, but he could be there for her anyway. She needed to sleep even less than he did, but he still wanted to provide her some level of comfort and company. She deserved it, and he loved her after all.
He watched the light at the top of the elevator ding from the monastery all the way down to the garage and the doors slid open soundlessly.
The garage was immaculate as always, spotless even as Pixal worked. She said she couldn’t think with clutter, and it was such a distinct difference from when Zane saw Jay work down here. He smiled to himself as he thought of their differences, and started walking up towards the main computer where he assumed his wife was working.
Concern shot through him when he noticed that she was indeed sitting in front of the computer…but she was slumped over the computer keyboard, shaking slightly with her face in her hands.
He started walking faster, making sure not to spill any of the hot tea he was carrying. He wouldn’t scald himself as he was pretty impervious to burns, but he didn’t want to upset her further by adding a mess to her workspace. Zane made enough noise to indicate to her audio sensors that he was coming, and she looked up at his approach.
“Oh, Pixal…” he murmured softly, noticing that her optics were indeed leaking water. He came over and set the two mugs down next to the large keyboard screen and crouched down in front of her. He took her hands in his own and rubbed his cool fingers over the backs of her palms. She wouldn’t look at him directly, but he couldn’t tell exactly why.
“What is it, my love?” He asked as gently as he could.
She sniffed, her sadness protocol simulating mucus in her nose. “I…I think she’s done. She’s ready to be turned online.”
Zane immediately brightened. Of course Pixal was emotional. This was a huge moment! She’d been working for months on this, and there must be some kind of relief knowing that all her efforts were about to pay off. “Oh! I’m so proud of you, Pixal!” He squeezed her hands, trying to get his support across without overwhelming her. “Then these are happy tears?”
“Not…” she sighed shakily. “Not precisely.”
He paused, letting her regain her composure even as all he felt was confusion. Was she having second thoughts? Did she not want this? That would be okay, it was her choice after all. It always had been. But the amount of work she’d put into this said otherwise… She had so wanted a child when she first brought it up to him; someone to teach, and grow, and love. Someone they had made of their love. They had fought so hard for this moment, together.
He waited for her to explain, as she always did.
“Zane what if…” Pixal took a deep breath. “What if I am not an adequate mother?”
Zane knew he didn’t have an organic heart, but the one he’d shared with Pixal willingly all those years ago ached at her pain and uncertainty. “Pixal…”
“Please let me finish,” she squeezed his hands back and he nodded. “You and I both have fathers. We have some kind of baseline understanding for what a father to a Nindroid should be, but there is no data as to what being a mother is like. At least not that I can access. I have no real information outside of what Nya has told me motherhood should be, and her relationship with her mother could stand to be improved. I have asked the other ninja, and Cole and Jay were able to provide me with some answers in certain regards but…” She looked over to the side, where a very small figure was laying on a padded table; a figure they both knew inside and out. “I find myself uncertain and…scared. I want this, I want to be a mother, but I wonder if I know what that truly means for people like us.”
She looked back down at their connected hands, pausing, but Zane sensed she had more to say.
“I know that must sound selfish of me, to wait to give her life because I am having reservations, but what if I am doing us both a kindness by abandoning this project? What if she only comes to resent me or my part in her creation? What if I…what if I made a mistake and she is not optimal; what if she has difficulties that we did not account for? And, Zane, it was difficult enough for us to get permission to create her, what if…” Pixal bit her lip, more tears coming to her beautiful green eyes. “What if she is hated? What if people say unkind things to her, as they have to us? I am scared for me, yes, but I am scared for her as well…”
“May I hug you,” Zane asked once he was sure she was done. She just nodded, tears dripping down her cheeks. He stood, gently pulling her against him and clutching her tightly. Her arms wrapped around the backs of his thighs as she buried her face into his stomach, crying softly. “I do not have the answers to your questions,” he murmured, hand coming up to stroke her hair, “But from everything I have read and understood, what you are feeling is normal for all new parents.”
She sniffed again, wiping her nose in his sweater. “How do they get past such feelings?! This is terrible!”
“I think…” He leant back so he could look at her. She was so beautiful; she always was. He tenderly brought his hand to her cheek, tracing the lines criss crossing her silicone skin with a certain thoughtfulness. “They are all just trying their best; it is all any of us can do. It is a big change, and I will admit…when you first asked me if we could create a child together, I wasn’t sure we were ready for such an experience. I was scared. I’m still scared. But that doesn’t mean that I do not love you, and it doesn’t mean that I don’t think you will be an excellent mother, with or without data.” She smiled, a little watery, up at him. “There is no one I would rather combine my data with,” Zane said firmly, leaning down to kiss his wife. “No matter how she is brought to life, we will love her. No matter what she faces, we will ensure that she knows she is loved. We will learn how to do this together, just as we created her. You are never alone, Pixal. And she will never be alone either.”
“I know,” she whispered, one of her hands coming up to cover his. “I love you, Zane…”
“I love you too, Pixal.” He kissed her again, longer and sweeter than before. “We can wait as long as you want to bring her into this world, but know that you are going to be an amazing mother, just as you are an amazing wife, programmer, warrior, engineer, and person.”
Pixal hesitated, searching his optics with her own as bright green met icy blue, and then she nodded and turned back towards the computer. She inputted a few lines of code and then pressed a pink button.
It took a few seconds as the code downloaded, enough time for them to both get up and walk over to the body on the table. Pixal brought her hands up to her mouth, pressing them together in a silent prayer, and Zane wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.
But then, after a moment, two turquoise lights sparked to life, flashing once, twice, three times, and the body on the table took a breath. Little metal hands started grasping at the air, turning this way and that as the figure, their daughter, came into her body. She sat up slowly, blinking curiously at them, and Zane couldn’t help the face-splitting grin that stretched across his lips as well as the water leaking out of his own tear producers.
“Mommy?” The little girl tilted her head. “Daddy?”
Pixal laughed somewhere around a sob and rushed forward, enveloping the girl into a hug, and Zane was quick on her heels, pulling them both into his embrace. His family.
From an idea of a scientist in the middle of the woods and an AI assistant, to this…
“Hello, Annie…Welcome to the world.”