THE OLD AND THE NEW CHAPTERS

CHAPTER 3

7.

The morning rises and everything seems to be as usual as it could be. It's like waking up on Sunday after enjoying your leisure time last Saturday. Only few still remember that feeling but Alioth is no stranger to it. Using the mechanic stool, Alioth attached a rope at the end of it and pulled it outside. This new task is added to his daily routine, he'll eventually pull it back once the sun settles. This setup will be continuously repeated until the robot finally functions.

Day after day, the routine is accurately being maintained. Morning will be spent in doing household chores, afternoon is for roaming around, sometimes at Martin's house or just strolling with Rigel, and then doing his own research at night. This monotonous setup lasted for more than a week. At first, it was all good for Alioth but his impatience eventually caught up with his quite stagnant result.

The next day, it is indeed a bright morning but Alioth's mood differs. Bored and observably irritated, Alioth pulls out the robot then goes straight to Martin's house.

"Good morning kiddo" Martin greeted as Alioth entered the shop. Martin noticed the gloominess of Alioth at first glance. He immediately asked Alioth if there's something that he wants to learn but Alioth shakes his head.

This kind of scenario is nothing new to Martin, if a teenager has indefinite mood swings, what more from a child with trauma. After a couple of minutes, a friend of Martin arrived for a visit.

Going down from his SUV, an old bearded, medic fellow who's quite the same age as Martin, excitedly greeted. "Hey there bud!" Joe said.

Martin was surprised by the sudden visit but he warmly welcomed his old friend. "It's been a while! What brings you here?" Martin asked.

"I delivered some tools to the pharmacy by the town, since I have some spare time, I decided to stop by. It's quite rare to have this timings" Joe explained.

"Good thing I'm not that busy today, come in! Let's have some beer and catch up" Martin offered.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Joe responded as they entered the garage.

Upon entering the garage, Joe saw Alioth just staring at the window. He does not recognize the kid, not until they start drinking beer while having random chats.

"Is that Aster and Ascella's son?" Joe whispered as he finally saw some familiarity.

"He is, it happened so fast…" Martin answered in a low tone.

"He looks like his father, like a small version of Aster" Joe said.

"Yeah, but I must say, the kid's intellect came from his mom" Martin said as he chuckled.

Joe laughed and said "He is the slowest in our group! I remember when we were at senior high, he barely passed our math class!"

"But his football skill saved his failing grades. Being the star player of the team somehow gave him the passing grade in math" Martin replied.

"That shows how they badly needed him!" Joe loudly said.

Martin and Joe laugh as they enjoy their reminisce of the good old days. Meanwhile, Alioth ignores the chatter as he daydreams while looking outside near the window, creating his own world, being occupied by his imagination.

Catching up indeed brought them numerous stories to talk about. With all the stories they chatted, they did not even notice that it was already raining outside. As they drink further, the mood changes when Joe brings up the story that the whole town knows.

"I still couldn't believe that happened…" Joe melancholicly said.

With that tone of voice, Martin immediately knew what Joe meant. "It was supposed to be a vacation for them…" Martin responded.

"It sounds dramatic but the newspaper tells it exactly how it happened. The neighbor said that It was a peaceful night, driving smoothly towards their destination. Everything was going as they planned until the unfortunate event happened." Joe halfly drunk said.

"The investigation said that an animal, perhaps a deer, probably crossed the road since there's no other interference detected, plus it's quite common here. His father tried to dodge the speculated deer or so, but it made them sway across the road." Martin added to the story.

"The momentum of the car cannot be controlled at that state. I mean with that sudden turn, even I will crash into the woods. In that instant, their lives were taken away…" Joe sadly stated.

"With the lack of witnesses, it took them a whole night before someone found out. I rushed towards the place when I heard about it but all I saw was Alioth blankly staring" Martin explained.

"Poor kid, it must be hard for him lately. It's a miracle that he survived but that surely dented him…" Joe responded.

"Milly has been taking him to a psychiatrist. Don't know about the detailed progress but ever since that incident happened, he stopped talking." Martin said.

"I remember that term, back in my med school, it wasn't my major but we had a subject about different trauma. We call it Psychogenic Mutism, it makes the person all of sudden stop talking even though he already knows how. With that kind of trauma, I'm sure that is his current state." Joe thoroughly explained.

"I remember hearing that term from Milly, she was the one who put in a lot of effort for Alioth. I'm not that good with med stuff but you must be right, what you said did ring a bell" Martin responded.

Both of them tried to recall what happened back then but what they did not know is the detailed pain of that night where Alioth tremendously suffered.

Everything happened in a snap. As fast as that happened, the night where Alioth stayed trapped inside of the car tells a different story. Barely doing fine, Alioth slowly opened his eyes. Confused by what happened, he looked around and assessed. That instant, he saw his parents in grave shape. Half of Aster's body was sent through the window of the car while Ascella's body was impaired by the branches. Alioth screamed as loud as he could. He begged for hours, hoping someone will rescue them. But no one came that night…

The next morning someone found their car. The rescuers immediately moved as soon as they received the report. They found Alioth still alive, but he was just staring blankly. They asked him questions to know Alioth's current state but he was not responding. The news gets wild, thus the story from a small town crawls like a wildfire.

8.

The rain is wildly pouring and it gets stronger every minute. It all started as a quiet soothing rain drop which made Alioth enter his wide spectrum of imagination. Since it gets stronger, inevitably, the heavy rain pulls Alioth back to reality. He thinks that there is something that he forgot. A loud thunder roars from the sky, everyone is startled. A lightning must have hit something, that was everyone's guess since the thunder was incredibly close. It wasn't that big of a deal since it is quite common in the area, it usually hits tall trees. But this time Alioth does not want to believe that common scenario. He saw with his own eyes how the lightning flashes near his parents' house. Alioth is a hundred percent certain that it was not his imagination, he saw how that lightning hit something. That instant, Alioth remembered that he left the robot outside, interiors completely exposed.

Alioth wants to go back and check but he knows that the second Martin and his visitor saw him running outside in a heavy rain, they will stop him from doing so. There's no point in rushing since the robot was already soaking in the rain for quite some time now. Thinking carefully, Alioth waited for an opening.

"Ey, where's the restroom? I kinda need to pee" Joe asked.

Martin laughed and said "Like always, beer makes you a pisser. Follow me and I'll show you"

"Weeeeell, I can't help it" Joe replied as they both entered the house.

With that opening, Alioth sprinted outside. He ran as fast as he could in order to check what happened. As soon as he reached his parents' house, he saw 2 rounded rectangular orange lights, flashing in the robot's face. It looks like eyes from a robot in a cartoon show. Alioth slowly walks towards the robot and as he gets near, the robot's head moves and looks toward him. Alioth was startled, he fell down on the ground as he slowly moved back.

The eyes of the robot suddenly turned into a bar. Like the display on a computer when something is being downloaded. It never made further movement as it loads. Alioth is genuinely confused, he throws a pebble to test if the robot will respond. After 10 more seconds, Alioth pulls out his courage and walks slowly towards the robot. He then pokes the head of the robot and it does not respond. Assuming that it is safe for him to touch the robot, he pulls it inside the house and thoroughly dries its parts. Afterwards Alioth took a warm bath to avoid having a cold.

Fresh from his warm and relaxing bath, Alioth calmly approaches the robot once more. Just like how he left it, the robot still has that bar on its face. Alioth can't control his excitement, finally the robot powers up. The thrilling joy makes him smile as brightly as he could ever be, though he is well aware that he should be patient. An abrupt decision might negate its progress. Keeping that in mind, Alioth waits, staring at the robot with everything that he does. Eating, doing chores, he even sleeps near the robot, Alioth does not want to take his eyes off of it.

The next morning, as soon as Alioth opened his eyes, he immediately took a closer look at the bar on the robot's face. Judging from last night's progress, there's a tiny difference since the bar was close to empty yesterday, it's like 5 out of a 100%. Alioth is indeed happy but there's a tiny sting of frustration due to the very slow development. He may be a protege but he is still a child with a low level of patience.

Since the weekend starts, Rigel visits early. Knocking from the door, Alioth already expects that it's Rigel.

"OOOHAIYOO!" Rigel loudly said as Alioth opened the door.

Alioth tilts his head, quite curious from what Rigel said.

Knowing that Alioth does not probably know the reference, Rigel said "Don't mind that, it's anime things. Anyway wazzzuuuppp?"

Alioth remembered that he needed to update Rigel, he immediately pulled Rigel inside. "This again? Okay chill" Rigel said as he entered the house.

Learning from what happened last time, Alioth prepared a note that will tell the whole story instead of playing a wild charade. He hands over a different notebook to Rigel, indicating that he should read it.

Rigel quietly read the whole story and as soon as he finished reading Alioth's note, he shouted "WHAT? A LIGHTNING HIT THE ROBOT AND IT SOMEHOW POWER IT, NOW IT IS LOADING OR SOMESORT?"

Alioth nodded.

"THAT'S INSANE!" Rigel said but as soon as he saw the robot, it immediately made him believe in Alioth.

"How long has this started loading?" Rigel asked.

Alioth reach something from the table, using a small white board and pentel pen, he wrote "Last night"

Glad as he is, Rigel said "You have a whiteboard now, that's great! It will be easier now"

Alioth erased the writings and replaced it with "It's with the other gifts, probably for writing diagrams"

"Aaaaand you can use it in different ways! Though I must say, this is indeed a huge progress" Rigel said.

Alioth nodded and wrote "FOR SURE!"

"For now I guess we need to wait and see what will happen once that bar is full. By the way, I have an idea!" Rigel mentioned.

Alioth tilts his head, waiting for Rigel to spill the beans.

"There will be a semester break in our school, if you want, I can stay here for a week and help you observe the robot!" Rigel excitedly suggested.

Alioth smiled and wrote "THAT'S A GREAT IDEA!"

"Then it's settled! I'll go ask mom and also bring my console here!" Rigel said as he immediately ran towards his home.

With their great plan, Milly without a question allowed Rigel to do what they wanted. She even said that she will prepare food for them but will only message Rigel to pick it up once ready. In this setup, she won't interrupt on what the kids are up to. Milly wants to let them enjoy their week but she also told Rigel to don't stay up too late.

Holding his console with a bag of random chips, Rigel immediately barged in. Since he took some time, Alioth already made a timely schedule, taking turns in watching the robot. Rigel agrees and is willing to do anything to assist Alioth.

The execution of the plan begins. As independent as they are, chores are not a big of a deal. They reheat the food in the oven, have a delicious dinner, clean up, and do everything necessary so that they can spend the night in a leisurely way. At first Alioth is hesitant to play the console since he does not want to take his eyes off the robot. Though with Rigel persistence, they agreed that every round they will rest for 5-10 minutes so that they can still observe the robot's progress.

For his very young age, Alioth is indeed strict to his own schedule. It only changes when a sudden turn, not anticipated scenario, comes up. 2 days in and it surprisingly has made an impactful progress. The bar on the robot's face is already in half, with this momentum, it could be finished before the next weekend.

The morning rose, Alioth opened his eyes and saw that the bar on the robot's face disappeared. He immediately wakes up Rigel, who's incharge of that time.

"I'm awake, I'm totally awake. What, where, why?" Rigel said in panic.

Alioth points out the head of the robot.

Rigel looked at the robot and said "The bar is missing.. It was still there before I doze off 5 mins ago"

Alioth approached the robot and looked closely. He then pokes the head but as soon as his finger reaches its face, 2 rounded rectangles show up, like what happened last time. Due to the surprise both Alioth and Rigel immediately moved backward.

"Greetings humans" The robot said.

Alioth dropped his jaw while Rigel screamed "IT SPOKE!". This momentum event stunned them, it's like a dream far away from reality.

The robot stood up and said "I am android 8801. What can I do for you?"

"IT IS STILL SPEAKING, IT IS STILL SPEAKING!" Rigel shouted as he lost his mind.

"I have speech recognition which allows me to communicate with different beings" The robot explained.

"Maybe I am still sleeping" Rigel slapped his face and said "It hurts… Wait… I AM NOT DREAMING, THIS IS REAL!" he shouted once more.

"This is real, what is not real is virtual reality which is not active at this point of time. Do you want to activate virtual reality?" The robot responded.

Alioth couldn't believe his eyes, swayed by the moment Alioth nodded as a sign of agreeing to the robot's offer.

The Antenna of the robot suddenly shoots a blue light towards the ceiling. Afterwards, the bluelight crawls to the surroundings. As soon as it covers the area, it turns into a pitch black field with different vibrant blueish colors across the area, replicating a galaxy.

"WOOOOW! WE ARE ON SPACE!" Rigel said.

"This is the NGC 2336, the most colorful spiral galaxy in the observable universe. Do you like the presentation?" The robot asked.

Alioth's eyes sparkle as he experiences the most breathtaking scenery in his life. A massive blue spiral galaxy, lying down on their feet, like colorful sand that levitates from the ground, sparkling in the vast space. He never thought that something this colorful can exist in the pitch black horizon. It's calming yet overwhelming, it's beautiful yet frightening, it's inspiring as it opens an endless possibility of everything.

9.

Dozing in the submerging virtual reality, Alioth and Rigel never have been amazed as much as right now. After a few minutes, Alioth comes back to his senses. He remembers that there are a set of questions that needed to be answered. With that, he grabbed his notebook, handed it over to Rigel.

Rigel flipped the cover of the notebook and scanned the writings. "These are a set of questions, what are these for?" he asked.

Alioth pointed to the robot, indicating that those should be answered by the robot.

"Ooooh you want me to ask these to the robot. I see, you are indeed prepared. Let's do it!" Rigel said.

After agreeing to the terms, Rigel asked the robot to turn off the virtual reality so that they can focus on their question and answer portion.

"Okay let's do this forreal. First up, what are you?" Rigel asked as he put his detective face on.

"I'm a sentient android, forged to protect and serve the preeminent species" the robot answered.

"Preeminent species? Like not humans?" Rigel asked.

"They are not humans, they are called something else which does not exist on this planet. Preeminent species is the closest word that can describe them" the robot explained.

Both Rigel and Alioth got even more confused as they heard more info. "Wait, does not exist? You mean you have a different language?" Rigel clarifies.

"Affirmative. I downloaded everything here on your planet for me to understand and communicate with humans" the robot said.

Alioth and Rigel slowly turn their heads to each other, they both realize that must be the reason behind the loading bar. "Wait, downloaded? You have your own wifi or something?" Rigel curiously asked.

"There are multiple receptions available on this planet, not like where I came from. It took me some time to access everything" the robot replied.

"Not like yours? You mean you really are from a different world, and you only have one connection there?" Rigel further asked.

"Affirmative" The robot briefly answered.

Alioth and Rigel could not keep up with the conversation as they both lost their minds early in the morning. They decided to pause and take a break for now. Maybe they can cope up with everything after having breakfast.

While eating cereal, Rigel blankly staring to nowhere asked Alioth "Now what?"

Alioth slowly shrugged his shoulders. He waited for this moment but everything is different when it actually happens.

"He said he has access to everything…" Rigel said in a low tone. "I'm not even at half of these questions but I just cannot believe it" he added.

Alioth extended his arm to pat Rigel's back. He feels the same way. From nothing makes sense to I guess that makes sense, is what's going on Alioth's head.

Both Alioth and Rigel are trying their best to divert their mind but they just couldn't stop thinking about the latter of everything. Upon finishing their meal, they pick up where they last left.

"Okay okay, let's do this again" Rigel said as he scanned the notebook again. "I remember this loud thunder. Alioth wants to know if you were hit by that lightning last time. If yes, is that the reason why you powered up?" Rigel added.

"Affirmative. Lightning is used to power us up, but only when the batteries are drained" The robot answered.

"I guess your world is full of lightning and that's normal…" Rigel sarcastically commented.

"Affirmative" the robot answered.

"THAT IS NOT A QUESTION" Rigel overly reacted.

The robot tilts its head due to confusion. Alioth smiled as he saw quite a resemblance from the robot. He realized that is how he probably looks sometimes.

"Here's a banger question, so where are you from?" Rigel asked.

"I'm from the farthest galaxy observed from here. 13.4 billion light-years away. Your species called it GN-z11" The robot answered.

"Wait.. You mean you called it differently?" Rigel questioned.

"Affirmative. Our language is entirely different from yours. Your species called it numerical coding or numbers but from our place, that is how we communicate" The robot answered.

Alioth points at the left chest part of the robot. Rigel took a closer look and he saw 8801. "So that explains the number in your body! I guess you do have a name!" Rigel said.

"Affirmative" The robot answered.

"Though I think that it's quite hard to call you 8801 every time we are going to call you" Rigel said.

Alioth nodded and wrote on his whiteboard "Let's give it a name!"

"That's a great idea! Hmmm… George?" Rigel responded.

Alioth stared at him with disappointment on his face.

"I take back what I said, please do the honors" Rigel immediately said.

Alioth stares at the numbers. He is thinking that the robot's name should play along with that code, something that will remind its original name. 8… 8… 0… 1… Alioth keeps on reading those numbers slowly. Eight… eight… zero… one… ei… ei… ze.. O… e… e… z.. O… That moment he realized the perfect name for the robot. Alioth wrote on his whiteboard "8801=eezo!" then handed it over to Rigel.

Rigel stared at the whiteboard, it took him some minutes and he finally realized the meaning behind it. "OH! You get the first letters of the numbers to create eezo! That is a good name! Quite intelligent if you ask me!" he said.

Alioth proudly smiled and showed the whiteboard to the robot.

The robot looked at the writings and afterwards he said "Registering new code… Registration complete, new name Eezo, new master Alioth" Eezo said.

"WAIT WHAT! IT WILL RECOGNIZE YOU AS ITS MASTER IF YOU GAVE THEM A NAME!" Rigel reacted.

"It varies on the compatibility of the given name once created. In my case, My system already died from the crashed" Eezo explained.

"So that means, when we restored you, you were like newly created?" Rigel clarifies.

"Affirmative" Eezo replied.

"At this point, I'm not even gonna be surprised by anything. Even if it shoots laser beams into the sky. Transform into a different kind of technology or somesort" Rigel said as he gives up on his expectations.

"All of the said scenarios are applicable. Waiting for Master Alioth's confirmation" Eezo said.

Rigel dropped his jaw wide open as Alioth laughed genuinely.

"You know what, what if we dropped all these questions, and then do something interesting. We can answer those some other time" Rigel said.

Both Alioth and Eezo tilts their head in the same direction, waiting for Rigel to continue his suggestion.

Rigel looked at both of them and said "There goes your compatibility. Anyway I have extra spray paints at home. It's from our project but we bought too much. Let's paint him up!" Rigel suggested.

Alioth excitedly agreed while Eezo does not have any objection from that matter. With that, Rigel and Alioth ran towards Milly's house and gathered all those spray bottles. Afterwards they create a plan on what color scheme would be fitting for Eezo.

Carefully drafting their ideas on the paper, Alioth and Rigel don't want to overly colored Eezo. They decided to stick with 2 colors, one for the base while the other is for the outline. After a couple of mix and match, they ended up with glossy white as the base while orange will be the outline. Proud of their idea, Alioth and Rigel took Eezo outside and started spray painting.

There are some neighbors looking at them but no one suspects anything. They just think that the boys are being creative, doing some random things. Laughter and excitement can be seen in both of their faces. A sight worth seeing as they resemble purity and a genuine joy of crafting something.

-Memories are piling as days keep on going. There are moments that an individual regrets having that experience. But no matter what it is, the old and the new chapters will be part of your book called life.