True Fiction

Chapter 5: Learning

Natasha stood outside the door, watching as her mother left. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure it's safe to let a boy run free with a computer in his brain?"

Angelica laughed, saying, "You're just like your father, always so careful." Natasha frowned, "I meant what if he watches..."

"No worries," the carefree mother replied, "He hasn't even gone through puberty yet."

"But he will one day Mom."

"I'm sure he'll be a big strong handsome man by then." She concluded. Natasha rolled her eyes, knowing fully of boys and their teenage antics.

At least she's happy. Natasha thought, unable to help herself from letting a smile light up her face.

**********

Hours passed in the dead of the night as Ashen began his journey of mastering his mind. Face to face with the entity once again, he stood up tall, much more prepared for the encounter.

"Access personalization settings," Ashen commanded with a new found confidence in his voice. The once nightmarish version of himself was quickly transformed into a cute anthropomorphic cat, who Ashen found to be much less intimidating.

On and on Ashen accessed the wonder that was the internet, scrolling and reading thousands of papers and articles on the world and current events. He marveled at the genius of technology and the beauty of literature, able to digest so much in one night.

Of course, Ashen goes on to discover the dark side of the web, where security and privacy were compromised. It was no surprise that he could easily be penetrated and endangered in the process, remembering his mother's warning of the intimacy of this program with his body. He didn't even bat an eye at the realization that he may be the world's largest cybercriminal target, seeing that plenty of research had gone into cyborg technology, none successful so far.

What did it take to make me? Ashen wondered, his emotional side triggering at the thought of his mother slaving away for 10 years just to revive her son. He sat down on the floor he had visualized, finding himself drifting out of concentration.

The world around him grew fuzzy and Ashen quickly realized what was going on. He snapped back into concentration, scaring Whiskers, which was the cat's name now. Understanding the gravity of the situation, he poured his mind into finding solutions to the problem of security.

Fail-safes, firewalls, lockdowns, overrides, many ideas popped into his head, all implemented to the finest quality. He looked satisfied at his work, finally realizing he was completely exhausted. Saying a farewell to whiskers, whom promptly went to sleep as well, he drifted off into a deep slumber.

*****************

Ashen, can you hear me? Come over and we can end this. You are the world's last hope.

*****************

Ashen woke up in a cold sweat, not knowing what he had just heard. Was his nervous system going so crazy it had started to malfunction? Hallucinations? Schizophrenia?

He took a deep breath and calmed himself down. It was just a bad dream. Maybe because he was awake for the better half of the night. He laid back down and quickly dozed off again.

****************

"Ashen, it's 4 pm. Get your lazy ass up" Natasha shouted at him. He groaned as he struggled to even sit up, rubbing his throbbing forehead. Clumsily, he stumbled to the bathroom to freshen up for the rest of the day.