by Ethan Bibile
“Hello,” Laura said. She came up to the other side of the table and watched as Quinn gently and expertly attached the final wire, his hands completely steady. Once he attached the wire, he put his hands up in the air in praise of himself.
“Done!” He cried out happily, a huge smile on his face, coming out of the ‘zone’. “Look at that, a real robot right there! And it’s a good-looking robot for this time,” He looked up at Laura quizzically. “Is it a good-looking robot for this time?”
“Yes, it’s a very good-looking robot for this time,” Laura said, laughing, still slightly getting used to Quinn’s basic knowledge of the year they lived in.
“Well done Quinn,” Morgan congratulated. Quinn smiled proudly at his work. However, there was one final empty compartment that was a small, rectangle shape. Quinn’s finger lightly traced it, his look of triumph being replaced with a look of thought.
“Now all it needs is a brain,” Quinn said, looking up at Laura, who was staring at the empty slot with nowhere near as much interest and passion. “A bunch of code to run it,” Quinn muttered to himself, tapping the empty slot.
“You can buy them on Nigellia,” Laura said, looking up at Quinn.
“They’re expensive though,” Quinn added, raising his eyebrows. “I don’t want to spend any more money than I have to for us to get by. Who knows how long we’ll be searching for T.A.S.P.A for, and then if they pay us at all,” Quinn shrugged his shoulders, removing his hand from the motor of the robot.
“Well, if you really want this part, then I guess you could apply for a job,” Morgan suggested. “If you want, I could search the local planets for job inter-”
Morgan was cut off by Quinn, who’s smile appeared on his face so quickly that Laura stumbled back. Quinn seemed to have a short and sudden spasm.
“Are you all right?” Laura asked worriedly, putting a hand on Quinn’s arm in case he was a having a seizure or something along those lines.
“Yes, yeah, I’m fine, completely fine. I’ve just had an idea. Stay right here, I’ll be back,” Quinn said, indicating with his hands as he talked, before sprinting out of the room and leaving a very confused Laura right behind him.
“Quinn?” Morgan asked. The A.I was equally confused by Quinn’s sudden antics. “Quinn, are you all right?”
“Yeah, just give me a second,” Quinn said. He raced through the hallways, turning a corner and coming to the descending stairs which led to the engine room. He grabbed hold of the banister that was attached to the wall and swung himself down the stairs.
He opened the door and ran through the engine room, rushing past everything to the back wall where the settings for Morgan all lay, a collection of buttons, knobs and flashing lights.
“Quinn, what-” Morgan began to ask before he was suddenly cut off. Quinn had pulled out the small, rectangle chip that was essentially Morgan. Everything he was was on this chip.
Quinn ran back through the hallways of the Audion, Morgan’s chip tightly held in his hand.
When Quinn ran back into the study he found a quizzical Laura standing in the same spot as she had been when he’d run out of the room.
“What was that all about?” Laura asked, watching Quinn as he practically jumped over to where she was standing.
“Watch this,” Quinn presented. He wasn’t sure if he had ever been more excited in his entire life. Quinn compared Morgan’s chip to the slot in the robot’s back, and his heart jumped as he saw that their sizes were very identical. Taking extreme care, he slowly slotted the chip place. To his pure joy, it fitted in like it was the remaining piece in the jigsaw. He shut the small compartment door and carefully turned the robot over onto its back. Quinn stepped back away from the table and Laura stepped over to join him. Her eyes were wide and not moving from the robot.
“Was that Morgan?” Laura asked, catching on to Quinn’s plan.
“Yep!” Quinn answered, his voice nearly a squeal. He clapped his hands together excitedly, watching for any sign of movement from the robot.
Suddenly, the white substance underneath the shiny metal armour plates lit up and began to glow blue. Quinn and Laura’s eyes both widened as the robot’s eyes began to shine a bright blue colour too. At first, the robot shone an extremely bright blue that somehow had the strength to light up an already lit room. However, the light didn’t remain at this intensity. The robot still shone blue from these areas, but not at as high an intensity.
Neither Quinn or Laura were ready for what happened next. The robot’s head moved from its position of resting on the table to looking at the wall. It turned its head right, then left and upon this action, it gained sight of Quinn and Laura. It stared at them with bright blue eyes.
The robot sat up. Very slowly the robot moved its left hand up and stared at its fingers intensely, watching each of them as it slowly moved them back and forth. The robot then repeated this process with its right hand, having figured out how it worked.
The robot used its hands to help turn its entire body around, positioning itself so that its legs were dangling off the table. The robot tested them out too, moving them back and forth.
And then the robot finally looked up at Quinn and Laura again, who had both been completely silent up until this point. The robot stared at them, who stared back with equal intensity.
“Morgan?” Quinn breathed out softly, barely daring to believe what he had just done, pure excitement on the verge of exploding through his body.
“Quinn? Laura?” The robot replied and at this, Quinn jumped into the air, throwing his hands out in jubilation. Laura’s shocked face turned into a face of delight, smiling at Morgan, and then turning to Quinn and smiling at his celebration.
“I did it!” Quinn said, and then hugged Laura tightly, who hugged him back. “I can’t believe I did it!” Quinn said, running a hand through his hair in disbelief. He then turned to Morgan, walking up to his friend almost cautiously.
“How do you feel?” Quinn asked, his grin still present. Morgan looked at his limbs yet again, testing them out.
“Different,” Morgan said, looking back up at Quinn. “Definitely different. But… it’s a good different,” Morgan managed to move his robotic muscles in his face and form a smile, which reflected on both Quinn and Laura’s faces.
He might look different now, but he was still Morgan. He looked completely different. Before he hadn’t even had a body, so he really hadn’t looked like much more than a chip full of code. Now he had a body, a brilliant on in Quinn’s opinion, only a minute after he had been put in it already seemed perfect for who he was. He still had his voice, the voice that Quinn had heard over the intercom for years and years. He seemed to still be the same person that he was because of his programming. Now, he was just upgraded. M.O.R.G.A.N 2.0.
“Quinn, thank you,” Morgan said, and he looked up at Quinn, before stretching out his arms in a hugging movement. Quinn eagerly hugged his friend back, an action that he had wished he had been able to do for the past couple of years. Especially as Morgan helped him through the rough times of the past few months.
“No problem,” Quinn replied, taking a deep breath in. Morgan looked around the room past Quinn to where Laura was standing, looking on in awe at the interaction between the two.
“Hello, Laura,” Morgan said as if he was greeting her for the first time in his life. Laura stepped up next to Quinn, smiling.
“Hey, Morgan,” Laura said, and she too shared a hug with Morgan. Once she stepped back she laughed in disbelief.
“Quinn, wow,” Laura said breathlessly. “You did it, you really did it,” Laura said, shaking her head, grinning as she looked up at Quinn, who grinned back at her.
“You did Quinn,” Morgan said, once again using his robotic muscles to form a grin. “Now I guess it’s two physical bodies verses one physical body,” Morgan teased, referencing the past conversation the three had had. Quinn and Laura laughed at this.
“He’s right Quinn. You’d better watch out,”
Laura added playfully.
“Alright, alright,” Quinn said, still smiling. “Maybe Morgan would be more useful to you if he could walk,” Quinn suggested, before stepping back away from his robotic companion.
Morgan looked down at the ground, which his new legs were now touching. Weight wasn’t on them as he was still sitting on the table. He put his hands on the table for support as he moved his body off, slowly moving the weight from the table to his legs. He had no idea if they would hold the weight. Morgan quickly moved his hands away from the table and to all their surprise, nothing happened.
“That was easier than expected,” Morgan said, turning his new-found gaze to look at his two friends. Quinn clapped his hands together in excitement, completely geeking out.
“Seriously, this is amazing!” Quinn said, laughing to himself in joy. “How do you feel about this Morgan? Like, do you like the body?” Quinn asked. Both Laura and Morgan could tell that he was incredibly nervous.
“It’s… different,” Morgan said, looking at his fingers which he began flexing. Quinn’s heart began to descend to the bottom of his chest upon this comment. “But it’s good different,” A smile reappeared on Quinn’s face, his heart ascending. “I actually feel like a person, not just a consciousness. And this body, it is quite amazing, you’ve done a brilliant job, Quinn. It even has nerves attached to it,” Morgan reached out and touched the table almost fondly, cherishing the feeling of being able to feel things. “Perhaps I’ll take up piano if we can get one,” Morgan suggested thoughtfully. “I’ve always wanted to play the piano. Such a wonderful instrument,” Quinn laughed at this. With things like feeling always being just natural for him, yet he had never really stopped to think it might be a gift for some.
Laura, however, was looking at Morgan puzzled. “What’s a piano?” She asked.
“Wow,” Morgan breathed out in his still metallic voice. “We’ve got to educate you on a lot, don’t we?” Laura smiled and shrugged in response.
“Speaking of education,” Quinn said, looking at Morgan. “I want to take you somewhere.”
“Where?” Morgan asked, but Quinn simply gestured for his two friends to follow him.
Quinn, Laura and Morgan made their way through the halls of the Audion, entering the lounge and then going upstairs into the cockpit.
“Have a seat, Morgan,” Quinn said, gesturing to the chair that was on the left of the Captain’s, which Quinn took a seat in. Laura took a seat on Quinn’s other side. Morgan stared at the chair like he was being bequeathed a heavenly gift. Slowly but surely, he sat down in the chair.
“Wow,” Morgan said, looking across at Quinn with his blue eyes. “This… this is different than looking at things from up there,” Morgan pointed at a camera in the corner of the room with a shiny metal finger.
“I’ll have to adjust the settings on you later so that you can still see what’s going on inside the Audion,” Quinn said as he turned on the thrusters of the ship. He opened the navigation's application with the touchscreen on the dashboard, pulling up directions for a previous place he had visited and pushed down upon the thrusters, shooting forward.
“Wait,” Morgan said, and Quinn and Laura turned to look at him, Quinn still flying the Audion straight though. “We’re going somewhere?” Morgan realised, and Quinn nodded, which caused an expression of excitement like none Quinn had seen before on Morgan’s face. Quinn looked around in the other direction to smile at Laura, who was beaming too.
Quinn flew the Audion through the wondrous galaxy. Throughout the flight, Morgan inspected his body. He studied the shiny metal plates all over his body, inspecting the blue glow between them. He continued flexing his fingers, simply amazed by them, also turning his head from side to side.
“Do you think later that I could get some clothes?” Morgan asked, looking down at his robotic yet naked body. “I feel a bit… exposed if you know what I mean.”
“Sure,” Quinn answered. “I can get you some clothes later if you want them, you look roughly my size.”
After a while of flying, they could see a dot in the distance that very obviously was not a star. Quinn continued flying the ship towards it and as they got closer, the dot in the distance began to grow rapidly.
“That’s a planet,” Laura said, leaning forward to give herself a better view of the upcoming object. “What’s the planet?” She asked, briefly turning her gaze to Quinn before turning back to look at the planet.
“Aqrastion,” Morgan breathed out, his robotic blue eyes wide. Quinn smiled at Morgan.
“This is the place where you found the robot body?” Laura asked Quinn, who turned around and nodded to her, making a face that showed he was clearly proud of thinking up the idea to bring Morgan here.
As they got closer the planet came into view. Aqrastion hadn’t changed at all since Quinn and Morgan had come here not so long ago. The planet was a still sprawling with greenery and there were still clouds that dampened the green colour.
Quinn directed the Audion to fly towards the planet, a cone of fire quickly forming and then passing as they entered the planet’s atmosphere. Quinn flew the Audion through the wet air towards the clouds. They flew through the clouds and the ground came into view. The spot that they were above was like the place Quinn had landed on his last visit to the planet, yet not completely. There were still the sprawling grasslands that stretched off as far as the eye could see. Yet this time beneath them there was a lake, surrounded by a thin sandy beach, the body of water itself a dull blue colour and not moving at all.
Quinn steadily landed the Audion, taking care once again to give any creatures who lived on the planet time to run away. The Audion made touchdown with the soft ground and Quinn turned off the thrusters and the engines.
“We’re here,” Quinn said, taking off his seatbelt off and hopping up. Laura did the same and so did Morgan, only a lot slower than the other two, staring out the cockpit window and at the sprawling grassland. Morgan looked over at Quinn as if he was going to say something of complete importance, but then seemed to decide against it and decided to go mute. He slowly walked towards the door of the cockpit as if in a trance, going down the stairs slowly. Quinn and Laura waited a little bit, before following the new Morgan down the stairs.
When the two of them had descended and made it to the lounge, they found Morgan already inside the cargo room, his hand hovering next to the button that would open the cargo ramp, obviously filled with anticipation.
“What are you waiting for?” Quinn asked softly, trying to egg his friend on. Morgan turned around, once again looking like he wanted to say something but did not.
Morgan gently pressed the button and the cargo door began to open. Light flooded into the room, bathing all of them in its glow. Morgan covered his eyes, not used to the sunlight. He slowly began to walk down the ramp, stopping as he reached the bottom of it. Quinn and Laura followed him down, standing to the right of him.
Aqrastion was different to how Quinn had seen it previously. Sunlight had just broken through the clouds, basking the planet in its vast and warm golden glow. The misty haze that had been present for Quinn’s previous visit was no longer among them. Animals seemed to be alive on this part of the planet. Several strange animal calls could be heard off in the distance. They could still see the mountains off in the distance, but they seemed to be a lot further away this time.
“This is beautiful,” Morgan said, absolutely taken aback by the beauty of the planet. He laughed to himself at the scope of the whole thing. Morgan turned to Quinn and once again hugged him in gratitude. Quinn hugged back with as much enthusiasm. If Morgan’s new body could permit it, Quinn was sure he would be reduced to tears by now.
Morgan then moved from Quinn to Laura and wrapped his metal arms around her too.
“Thank you,” Morgan said as he withdrew from Laura, smiling at Quinn. “This… this means so much to me, Quinn. You’ve given me so much,” Quinn smiled at Morgan.
“You’re my best f
riend,” Quinn said. “You didn’t think I was going to let you be an A.I forever, did you?” Morgan smiled at Quinn, patting him on the shoulder before turning to face the natural world.
He took a step out with a shiny silver foot into the grass, stepping out of the Audion for the first time.
“I can feel the grass,” Morgan exclaimed, turning back to face Quinn and Laura, who both smiled back at him, happy that he was enjoying this so much.
“That’s such a beautiful thing you did Quinn,” Laura whispered, and Quinn could tell that she was deeply touched by his actions.
“Like I said,” Quinn replied, watching Morgan discover a whole new world. “He’s my best friend. I had the opportunity to give him a better life and I took it.”
The two simply stood in silence, watching Morgan walk slowly through the field.
Quinn felt Laura’s hand slowly take his, almost cautiously, not sure what his reaction would be. Her fingers curled around his and Quinn looked down at their intertwined hands. He looked at Laura almost in surprise. The redhead turned to look at him with a soft smile, her blue eyes piercing his brown ones. Quinn’s gaze went back to their intertwined hands. He clutched Laura’s hand in return, smiling much broader than before as he turned to look back out into the field at Morgan.
DECODED
“And… there we go!” Quinn said, shutting the compartment door on Morgan’s back, taking a step away from his friend.
Quinn had installed a Bluetooth modem into Morgan, thus allowing him to be able to communicate with the Audion so that he could still see everything that was going on inside the system, yet not actually having to be a part of the system himself.
“So, for you to continue being in communication with the Audion you need to either be inside it or within a hundred-meter radius, otherwise it disconnects,” Quinn explained, smiling at the now robotic Morgan as he put the tools he had been using away. Morgan hopped off the table he had been sitting on in the study and put back on his white shirt and woollen jumper. Quinn had gifted him some clothes just as Morgan had asked. All the clothes Quinn had given to Morgan were casual-formal wear, shirts, suit pants, woollen jumpers. Of course, Quinn had kept some clothes for himself. But Morgan’s personality seemed to be reflected by this outfit.