The Silver Seer

Chapter 24: Kirsi, the Creator

A young man sits in a chair pulled up to a white desk, his head resting on his arms that are on an open laptop. It is completely silent in the large room he is in though there is the occasional soft beep or hum of a mechanism not too far from the young man's location.

His desk is stationed near the back of the room, so he is able to glimpse the rest of the area from where he sits. On the right wall are large tanks filled with different colored fluids- only a few of them possess human-like figures that appear to be sleeping within.

On the left wall is a series of screens and a large keyboard-like device. Some screens are black, while others display signs, words or numbers in white, red, or green lettering. Every now and then, the keys and buttons upon the board flash a series of colors.

Eventually, a girl- no more than thirteen- approaches the man's desk and gently clears her throat before speaking. "Luoja Vilho, kello on kymmenen aamulla. Nukkumistavojesi mukaan sinun pitäisi olla hereillä tähän mennessä."

The young man stirs before answering in a muffled voice. "English, Aino. Call me Kirsi."

Freezing, the girl blinks a few times before answering. "Kirsi, it is ten o'clock in the morning. According to your sleeping patterns, you should be awake by now."

Yet all he does is groan. "Five more minutes."

"The last time you replied with 'five more minutes' you slept for another two hours, which is unhealthy for your current routine. I highly suggest you force yourself to wake up. Would you like a piece of cake?" Kirsi perks up at the last word of her explanation.

"Cake? What kind? Where?" He glances feverishly around his laboratory yet does not see the object of his desires.

"I figured telling a fib to wake you was in your best interest. There is no cake." Aino admits, earning a frown from her creator.

He sighs before turning on his laptop and staring at the black screen as it lights up before looking up at his creation. "I think you learned to lie. Any development on your own accord would earn praise, but I'm hesitant about lying. Anyway, how did the night go?"

"Fine. Mikael should be returning soon with edible goods." Kirsi sighs at Aino's words.

"Turn around, Aino. I think your speech module is damaged." The young mechanic stands up as the girl turns around after undoing a button keeping the top of her dress together at her back.

Kirsi softly presses into the skin between the neck and back, lifting up a small piece of skin that rebounds, becoming rough. On the underside of the skin is a black device that controls many of a mechanical being's functions.

The young man brings the device over to a workbench and grabs a few tools left out on the table before fiddling with the device and adjusting the module responsible for speech. He hums a soft tune to himself as he works, and once he finishes with the adjustments, he returns to Aino and reinserts the device before buttoning her dress again and waiting for her to return to consciousness.

"Is my speech to your liking now?" Aino turns around to face Kirsi, and he looks out at the entrance to the laboratory, seeing the figure of a teenage boy in the doorway, holding a large basket.

"Good morning, Mikael. Aino was just talking about you." Kirsi walks over to the boy, looking down at the contents in a basket, and taking a step back from the items within. "That's...a lot of food. Almost enough for the month if we ration it well. Where did you get it?"

Mikael shrugs before walking beside Kirsi as the latter leads him to a small area in the laboratory resembling a kitchen. The teenager begins to put the food into containers or bags and into the fridge, freezer, cabinets, drawers, or out on the countertops. "Some helicopter flew above me, then circled back near my location and landed. Some person dressed in military attire greeted me and told me that he had some food to give me. There are some more baskets outside the lab."