Setting
- 99 posts here • Page 4 of 4 • 1, 2, 3, 4
"Nix says you should tell us what choices we have so that we can decide." She added as an afterthought. Sometimes Nix was too clever and a bad influence on the child. He seemed to have the thought process of someone older than a six year old - an illiterate six year old at that.
So she continued to stand there waiting for Al to give her the options so that they could chose, mimicking his pose as much as she could without losing her own balance. Nix sat down beside her watching the showdown and in the end she was leaning slightly against him and not the table. Even though it was only slightly at an angle, logic dictated that at some point she'd topple over because she was just resting against thin air, right? But she seemed to have good balance as she wasn't toppling over.
"Nix and I are waiting..." She added impatiently.
"Oatmeal, or cereal, fruit and yoghurt." The choices were weighted of course, but if she was going to push her luck, then he was going to adapt appropriately. The child would gain the necessary nutrition, whether he had to drag her kicking and screaming to it or not. A small alert popped on his internal screen, reminding him that when appropriate he should administer the vitamin cocktail that had been prepared for her. He acknowledged the notification, and refocused himself on Cianna.
Perhaps it was the slight distraction, or perhaps she had moved in that time, but he does note the odd angle of her body and the stability that came with it. The image is logged, tagged and stored away in his separated processor almost immediately as he waits, in turn, for her move.
Nix knew what to do. Just like he knew how to distract shop keepers while Cianna took things from their market stalls. Often reports had come in of something unknown distracting them before things were taken. And 90% of the time in the last two years Cianna had been in the vicinity.
Now that she thought she'd gotten her way, she was happily back to playing around the kitchen, this time actually pretending to be playing with Nix while he was, in fact, by Al's side and waiting for him to put in the code.
That said he turned and paused. It was only for a handful of nanoseconds, while his processor pushed it's way through the line of thought. If, as he now suspected, the 'Nix' creature was in fact, in some manner, 'real', then... He looked to Cianna and her sudden acquiescence...
And then he stepped close enough to the fridge, and the lock, that the padlock was pinned firmly between himself and the fridge, leaving only enough room for his hand to slide between and, with the motion safely hidden, he typed in the code at a speed that only an android could contemplate. There was a whirr, a click, and half a second later he was stepping back as though nothing had happened. He pulled out a large container of vitamin-enhanced yoghurt and closed the fridge firmly behind him. The fruit was similarly fetched from a cupboard, and cereal followed.
In the end, he delivered two equally sized portions, one, however, was presented in a wide, flat bowl. If he was to admit that Nix was a manifest... something... then he'd have to adapt appropriately.
The numbers from 0021 to 0030 didn't open the fridge though and the system was locked until she'd eventually try again at lunch. Breakfast had been served though. And with the fact that the code hadn't been seen, Cianna was in a bad mood. So much for the good mood lasting.
She made it to the table and took their bowls, putting Nix's on the floor with hers and examining it closely. When she deemed that it had the same amount in, she took her bowl and spoon and poured half into Nix's bowl. Along with giving him all the fruit and cereal.
"I only wanted yoghurt. And Nix needs three. I have one." She told Al, her tone showing her change of attitude. With that done (which Cianna knew she wasn't going to get away with it) the pair sat and ate. Nix's disappearing at some point and Cianna finishing the yoghurt and leaving any stray bits of fruit.
He ignored her behaviour, sending the silent signal for the House computer to secure the door and windows. There was no point in fighting her yet, and he wanted to see how much she understood consequence anyway. It was a late developing skill, and given her interrupted development... well, the analysis wasn't clear on her ability.
When she finished, he looked at her over his folded arms and asked, simply;
"Do you think you kept to our deal?"
"We didn't make a deal today. That was the other day we made the deal. And you're not my dad so you can't tell me what to do and you can keep me locked up in this room all day if you want. Nix and I can still play and we won't eat!"
Cianna nodded to herself, a smile on her face as she stood up and pushed at the invisible Nix to get himself up so that they could run around, trying to prove a point to Al that this time she'd win the battle. Not him. She didn't want him winning this time.
And with that, he pulled up the previous files of the occurrences of 'Nix'. Or at least, the occurrences he had already flagged. If it was real, and manifest, then there had to be a way of locating an algorithm that would allow him to perceive it. And if he could, he might be able to delve into the nature of the creature in time. It may take hundreds of processing hours, but realistically he wasn't likely to be removed from this case until she was more stable.
And for the moment... that seemed some way off.
So he lent back, and seemed to stare out of the window, completely ignoring Cianna while his internal processing clunked through the files, analysing each frame and time segment for... well, anything, really. And without a good idea of what to look for, it took time.
"Are you sure Nix?" She asked.
No answer would be heard.
"I don't think it'll work. It doesn't look like this house."
There was another pause. "What do you think is in the rooms on the second and third floor?"
Cianna's face lit up at some point before she shouted. "Monsters! The doctors and the bad helpers are going to get us. They're hiding and waiting!" She frowned before looking at Al and then back at Nix. "They're not going to get us. We can run away again. I bet I'm small enough to fit through the fence. You can fly over. Or maybe you can fly with me on you. Like last time!"
Nix seemed to say something.
"I'll be good. He'll let us out then and we can try."
In Cianna's mind, the doctors and psych people that she'd been forced to see were the bad guys, the monsters. They weren't there to help her. They were there to take Nix away in her eyes and she wasn't going to have any of it. Not now, not ever. And now having looked at a 'map'. And having Nix insinuated to what could be behind the doors, Cianna was hell bent on leaving again.
It didn't change when Cianna started speaking, either. Nothing on his face indicated that he'd heard her plan, even though she'd spoken it more than loudly enough for his sensors to register. Immediately, he began the internal dialogue program in place and contacted the Extor mainframe.
3619 -> Extor. Initiate Icarus protocol. Flight risk acknowledged.
Extor -> 3619. Forward related files. Protocol initiated. Tag Drop 0200 hours, confirm.
3619 -> Extor. Confirmed.
Given Cianna's pattern of behaviour within the foster system, it was no particular surprise that she'd take to running. The tendancy to engage out loud with her invisible companion had been highlighted in her file, and as 3619 forwarded the file he made sure to indicate it's accuracy. She might try and run, but Extor was no bumbling social services, they would find her and the caretaker they assigned after 3619 would likely be less forgiving.
So Cianna moved onto her next plan.
"Nix and I are ready to eat properly now." She told Al sitting at the table.
Cianna knew that after that she'd be allowed to play outside. All she had to do was eat the meal to get outside then she could run away! So she sat herself down at the table and waited to see if Al moved to get her some food.
He knew she'd likely dislike this answer, but at this juncture he cared very little. The Icarus protocol locked down the outer doors for anyone who wasnt 3619. As her flight risk had increased so had the levels they were willing to take to keep her safe, though 3619 wasn't briefed on the next set of protocols. It sat in the file, ominously labelled Lethar 1, and did nothing more than that. He idly ran his language protocol over it and came up with no full words that Cianna would appreciate.
But that was the decision of Extor, and they had enough psychological profiles that their decisions would at least be... informed.
So he watched her, and waits.
She continued to sit there mumbling to Nix though unhappy before glancing at Al again. "What are you waiting for? When are you getting us food?"
"Work it out."
"Work what out?" Cianna's frown deepened and she spoke with Nix before looking back at Al. "You can't let Nix starve. He's hungry. If you don't get him food I'll start screaming and shouting again. It's lunch time!"
Cianna had no idea what time it was or wasn't. She was six. She didn't care. If she said it was lunch, it was lunch. She actually hadn't related it to the fact that she'd broken the deal and Nix only got food if she stuck to the deal. She was relating it to the fact that she'd given more than half of her breakfast to him and that was it.
"Now. Food. Please." She added please forced, just to try and get food.
"Work out why I have said no, and work out why I wont give you lunch yet."
And with that, he fell silent once more, setting his eyes to a 'reading' pattern even as his actual processing power reverted to the internal systems. Given he had provided the amount of food she had desired, even if not in the portions she had asked for, he had no actual fear. His monitoring systems assured him that she, herself, even with her poor nutrition was far from suffering and so he was content to wait- not least because his clock read 10:58:01 at the time of her assurances that it was 'Lunch' and he had no intention of allowing her to move the schedule so drastically.
Instead she got herself up from the table and moved over to the fridge typing in the codes and trying to work it out. They got up to 0040 now and most likely still had a long way to go. The fridge locked itself up and Cianna sat back down at the table.Finally she started to bang her hands down on the table.
"Give us food." She started to yell over and over at the top of her voice.
"You're right. You broke the deal. Well done, that was good thinking." He said it entirely without sarcasm, but as she decends into little more than insults he simply looks back to his book.
Reduce noise input by 75%
And he waits, setting his internal clock to register midday. He could wait, and while he had limited how much sound was registered internally, actual conversation lower than that would alert him perfectly.
Finally, Cianna grew tired of shouting and glared at Al. "You're mean. Just like the other adults. I hate you. I thought you were nice but you're not!" She frowned, before starting to bawl her eyes out at the table.
He waited for a break in her caterwauling before his eyes flicked up to her and he spoke. "If I cannot trust you, then you will not get your way. How can I trust you, if you don't do as I ask?"
The question was presented calmly, clearly, and with absolutely no indication that he was taking the slightest bit of notice of her fierce temper, or her crying. Whether it was legitimate or false mattered little to him, or to the Client. Her psych profile was clear that manipulation was her main tool towards getting what she desired, and so it had been decided that only straightforward dealings with the child could be categorised as ideal.
And he had forever, after all.
Cianna was just making it all more dramatic than it was. Using whatever information her six year old underdeveloped brain could think of and having Nix help her too. She stayed silent for a moment though her concentration was obviously on her friend.
"Nix says that if you don't trust me then I shouldn't trust you. I'd be good if you helped us chose the food for our meals instead of telling me no all the time and choosing for me. I like oranges. The ones that you can peel. You never give me oranges. You never ask what I like. You don't know me. You just know what those stupid doctors tell you. And they wonder why I run away, wouldn't you run away if everyone called you crazy and a liar?" Cianna was repeating Nix's words now. He was giving the six year old the information she needed to fight back. It was obvious that Nix had the mental age older than a six year old.
She was upset and angry. But instead of screaming and shouting, Cianna got up from the table. "I want to go to my room. Let me out the kitchen." She spoke as she made her way over to the door.
- 99 posts here • Page 4 of 4 • 1, 2, 3, 4