7 CHAPTER 5: EXHIBITION

Last night's dinner was not bad. Clara's cooking was great. I guess that's the point of being an android. You try to cook what you can with what you have and try to make it good enough for your master.

But in this case I don't see myself as a master for Clara. Let's just say we're friends and that's it.

I ate the hotdogs in one go without leaving any leftovers. I also thanked Clara, for the sake of experiments.

Today I woke up exactly at eight o'clock. Last night I grinded in game and went to sleep at 11. Surprisingly Clara didn't wake me up, but that's fine. I guess before you go to sleep you tell them when you want to wake up beforehand, like an alarm clock, but that's not fun. It's like you're treating them completely like a machine although the purpose of them was to be compatible with humans, so we would treat them like we would with humans.

     When I woke up Clara had already cooked breakfast. It was rolled omelet with fried rice. Last time I ate such thing was a few years ago.

The exhibition starts at 10, and I have some time to prepare before going. I washed myself and combed my hair. I just went with the usual clothes I wear, hoodie and jeans. I also decided to wear a mask. I don't want people recognizing me because I'm a son of a influential person.

    For Clara, I didn't care much, but I told her to wear nice clothes because we're going to a public place with a lot of people, so I don't want her to attract attention. Plus, her manufacturer logo would be covered if she wore long sleeved clothes. That would make her look almost like a human.

By the time we finished, it was eight forty o'clock. The exhibition centre is 30 minutes away, so we'll need to get a bus then. 

I waited for Clara in the living room. When she appeared, I completely thought she was a real human for a second.

"Clara, what are you wearing?"

She didn't wear anything inappropriate at all. Its just that her appearance almost made me think of her as a human.

"Hmm? Oh, I'm wearing this white shirt and black leggings. Why?"

Are androids equipped with software to choose clothes, or are they choosing it by their own will- I'm confused.

"Well, whatever. Come on. We'll take a bus there."

We went out of the house around nine. I made sure the door was locked perfectly before leaving. We went to the nearest bus stop and waited for the bus. Ten minutes passed and a bus arrived. This time it's just us two. Crazy how I met Clara yesterday and now she's my… Android?

   The weren't a lot of people on the bus. It's mostly just college students heading to their college. I doubt anyone would create problems today, and I hope there won't be anyone making problems ever.

    On our way to the center, I would always think about the city we're in. Corrupted politicians everywhere. Bribery as always. Crime rates are high. Even with all the law enforcement, they can't do much to prevent crimes from happening. It's like even the law enforcement itself is corrupt, and I think there's something behind all of it. There has to be a reason why the crimes won't stop. 

    All in all, I can't do much about it. It's not like I'm a vigilante-

Wait.

Vigilante? On second thought, being a vigilante doesn't sound so bad. If I could find a way to stop this from happening, the criminals would come to fear me. But maybe I'm just overthinking.

   There's no way a normal dude like me can become a vigilante. I have other things to worry about.

The ride to our destination took more time than expected. We went on the bus at 9:15 o'clock and arrived at 9:55-ish. When we got there a lot of people were already there. The place was jammed-packed. 

       Outside of the exhibition building, people could see two prototypes of the military's project called Project MECH. Basically they are trying to create a machine that would be controlled by a soldier in the battlefield. From what I've heard, the machine is equipped with a variety of weapons. From machine guns, to anti-air weapons.

     When they released the pictures a few years back, it didn't have a big chunk of metal at the back of the prototype. Now it looks like it has some sort of booster. So it can fly? Furthermore, the mecha is more than two meters high, meaning it is highly mobile.

But I'm not here for that. I'm here for the exoskeletons. I want to see it in front of me, so I could get a better grasp of it when I remodel it myself. When we were at the gates, we had to walk shoulder to shoulder with other people. That's how packed it was. The first area was about guns and equipment soldiers use in battlefield. There was nothing much to see. But what piqued my interest was the EMP charge and the mute charge. Basically the EMP disables all electronic devices, and the mute charge well… when activated, it creates a field around it where even gunfire sounds like a complete whisper. That's how it works. 

       This type of equipment are often used in stealth and raid missions. 

But I went straight to the mobile machinery area, where the exoskeleton was located. When Clara and I got there, there weren't a lot of people there. Maybe because people are more interested in guns rather than the machinery.

        The area was a big circular room with the inventions placed near the walls of the room. At the center of the room, there it was. The exoskeleton. It was enclosed behind glass so no one could touch it, but I didn't mind. Seeing it with my own two eyes is enough.

     The making of this machine is just extraordinary. The work it took to come up with his must've took a lot of time, and a lot of energy. Such an amazing thing how Mr. Warren came up with it.

    On the North East wall, there were variations of the exoskeletons. From old to new, and several other types of exoskeletons. Just standing in this room makes me feel fascinated.

   "You look happy." Clara said out of the blue.

I looked at her, and she was right.

I was smiling the entire time.

"How long did I smile?" I asked.

"From when we entered this room."

"Wow."

Her ability to observe is becoming more amazing too. Plus, yes, she was right. I was smiling, and it wasn't just because I love the inventions. It's because its my passion to create this kind of stuff one day.

     We spent 10 minutes observing the exoskeletons displayed in the exhibition hall. Then an announcement was made that the country's own Minister of Defense had come over to observe the inventions!