A Small Companion

Log 4

"There we go Tika, all the wires are in place and all I need to do is turn it on" she says, pressing the power button on the back of its neck.

The bird comes to life essentially and gives its metal wings a few flaps, its eyes, or camera and screen, processing the coding with a progress bar. It finishes and looks over to Molly, greeting her in the same way Tika did, but with a slight difference. For a bit of amusement Molly added in some clicks and whistles a real bird would make, adding it into its speech.

"Hello BD2204. I'll be calling you Jade, is that okay with you?" Molly asks.

"That name is acceptable *whistle*. Please scan fingerprint" Jade says, to which Molly scans her thumbprint and bonds with her bird. "Thank you *click*."

Jade then hops around the desk, socializing with Tika who's up there as well. Some of her classmates take notice of both her bots, some wondering how she had time to make two of them during the class. They keep quiet though, knowing they still have to finish and test their own. Towards the end of the class the teacher steps up from his desk and in front of the large screen at the front.

"Please wrap up what you're currently doing, put away and loose wires or plating that you may have been using. And set your materials back in your storage areas with your unfinished bots. Those who did finish your bots, can I get a show of hands for those that are now functional?" he asks, seeing quite a few hands being raised. "Well done, who would like to come and show their bot first?"

"I don't mind" Kiley says from the back, she lifts up her bot and brings it to the front. "The ID number for this one is a bit long, CT100462. Though I just call it a cat."

The feline-esque bot walks around the floor near her feet, pawing at her legs as any normal cat would. Kiley gives it a few commands, laying down, jumping up high, and as any current robot can do regardless of design, can answer any question given to it. And Kiley does a good job of showing off her bot's intelligence with a variety of question topics. She returns to her seat and a few others follow in showing off their work. And lastly, Molly stands up with her bird and walks to the front, she orders Tika to wait back out of the way by the classroom door.

"This is Jade, a robotic bird I've been making. Her code is BD2204, she can retrieve items, chirp, whistle, click, and fly like any normal bird. She's also been programmed to be quite smart yet also a little shy how I'd imagine her to be. My programming for her includes the things Kiley has done, and she can follow basic commands and more complex ones, some of which can be of the subjects of emotions which are hard for bots to understand" Molly says before letting Jade fly around the room. Jade lands on a desk in the back, pecking at another student's snake-like bot, before flying back to Molly's shoulder.

"Great job Molly" the teacher says before the bell rings. "If you have any questions or would like more time to work on your project, feel free to stay for a while and have your lunch in here. I'll see the rest of you tomorrow."

"Hey sis!" Arya calls out as she spots her entering the cafeteria.

"Hi Arya, thanks for saving me a seat" she replies.

"I see you've got another friend?" Arya asks.

"Yeah, my finished project for my construction class" Molly tells her."What did you name it, Polly?" Arya asks, in a slightly mocking manner.

"No, her name's Jade" she replies as her bots circle their seats. "She's a bit energetic now, she seems to like Tika a lot too."

"Hopefully they won't keep you awake tonight" Arya says as she starts eating. She slides another tray over to her sister, she got Molly's lunch for her today so she didn't have to wait in line.