LINKAGE

CHAPTER 39: VIRTUAL FRIEND

White lightning emerged from the high ceiling as soon as the elevator opened the doors, revealing a place where technology and sophistication got the best of it. Long white tables and workstations filled the first part of the office, where computers, scientific instruments and other equipments were displayed for use. Far away in the office, a server and storage farm could be found and the wires of every device of the place were hidden very well, promoting the minimalism of the environment.

As Gavin walked further, he noticed several capsules present in the middle of the room, right after he passed the tables with computers and stuff, seeing that inside the grey metallic capsules, black mannequins were submerged in a white liquid. The touch with the liquid made the space between the joints of the mannequins glow in light blue color. There where ten capsules spread in the room.

Gavin looked at his left to see a giant screen, taking the entire length of a 5 meter wall. When he walked next to it later, the colors of the screen were now on, and a brown plastic face appeared on it, slowly turning white in ornamental movements, and the eyes of it were as blue as the sky. Gavin wondered what he was just looking at, when the screen seemed to read his mind.

"Hello, Gavin." The voice that lead Gavin to the place talked again, surprising him that a computer could have a face. Not a human face, but something similar to it. "Welcome to Chemeris' office."

"I didn't expect you to have a face, Alexei."

"It is not a face, actually. What you see is a digital projection of the face of an android without humanization."

"So where do I start? I should wake Isaac and Lola up... Do you know Isaac Bethervan and Lola Pyotr, Alexei?" Gavin was actually enjoying these talks with artificial intelligence, something that does not have a brain or a physical body. Everything he was seeing was commands somebody wrote in a computer.

"The name Lola Pyotr does not match with anything inside my database, but Isaac Bethervan is the second son of Angelina and Benjamin Bethervan, both members of the political body of Qorjal. Isaac was the one your father Chemeris chose to assist you in your lifetime journey. He should be the same age you are today."

"Yeah, he is sleeping in my father's bed. Actually, Isaac is in love with me, Alexei." Gavin crossed his arms and turned to look at the face inside the screen. Alexei's face was also able to facially express itself, so when it heard about Isaac liking Gavin, it showed a smile.

"That is a wonderful thing, Gavin! Congratulations. The Bethervan family is very powerful in the country, so you both being a couple will reflect positively into your future presidential rising."

"We are not a couple and I am not being the president. When everything is settled, I am announcing direct elections for the people to vote on their representatives. Being president, political, I don't want that for my life. Do you think my father would be mad if I did it?"

"Your father planned everything for you to follow a certain path, but you are free to choose alternative directions since the main goal is achieved."

"I want to make him proud and accomplish everything he wanted me to do. He sacrificed his life so I could live, right?"

"It is right, Gavin." The boy started walking again, getting closer to the capsules in the middle of the room. Gavin realized the faces of the mannequins were similar to Alexei's features on the screen.

"These mannequins look a lot like you, Alexei."

Alexei's face showed up in another screen next to the point Gavin was. "Those are not mannequins, Gavin. They are disabled androids from the Creation of Grace Era."