AMA-Con: The Compilation

Pages: Centrefold

"Don't time travel into the past, roaming through the nuances as if they can change. Don't bookmark pages you've already read."

— James Altucher

As the son of a Simule engineer, RJ was a bit knowledgeable about Simules. And while Maine was a new prototype, he was still expecting two things that he knew were basic to any type of Simule.

One, there are limits on the processing of information in her brain. And two, she would be perfect, or at least almost perfect since she's still a prototype.

She was neither. So Maine was an enigma to RJ.

Simules have the ability to think freely. Once the Intellect Starter Kit is installed, the brain of a Simule can process things like that of a human brain. However, the things their brains can process are only those information that had been installed in them.

And Maine thinks too freely. She thinks exactly like a human, not just similarly, which she is supposed to be as the first full human prototype.

RJ first found out about it when he had first brought her to class.

The subject was literature. And they were discussing The Champion by Carman.

The Professor kept calling out random names, asking his students to interpret the passages from the piece. Some were Simules, while some were their human friends. The humans mostly spouted bullshit explanations, as what was expected. The Simules, though they were able to provide better answers, had merely expressed more coherent, longer versions of the lines in the literary piece.

And then Maine was called to interpret the following parts.

Forty days and nights they fought, and Satan couldn't touch HIM.

Now the final blow saved for the final round.

Prophetically, Christ's hands came down and Satan struck in vengeance.

The blow of death fell Jesus to the ground.

No one had been listening except for RJ. Until Maine had opened her mouth.

"Heaven needs to fall and hell needs to rise. Hopelessness and pain would prevail, testing the limits of the faith of mankind. And it's fate. It's written in the scriptures. Evil needs to win to pave way for the coming of the Savior."

Even the professor had been silent after her answer.

"Where did you learn that?" RJ had asked her during lunch.

"At home," was Maine's only answer.

RJ had asked his father about it that night, but Eduardo had simply laughed and had reminded him that Maine has something installed in her that made all the difference.

The answer hadn't been enough for RJ. And his questions kept piling up as he got to know Maine.

—

Simules are supposed to be logical and factual about things; not critical and subjective. Simules gave answers; precise answers about things. They're not supposed to arouse questions. Yet RJ found himself asking questions whenever Maine answered.

"What do you think about Novellis?" he asked randomly. They were eating ice cream and were seated on the grass beside a pond in the park. The park is one of Maine's favorite places.

RJ refused to cringe at how Maine was sloppily eating her ice cream. She was such a messy eater. He ignored the ice cream dribbling down her chin, and patiently waited for her answer.