Chapter 30: Isolation and Development of Relations

"Achoo!"

In the secret base isolated from the world, Giotto suddenly sneezed-

"Bless you"

Hearing him sneeze, Jessica turned to her boss as she spoke out in response.

Giotto rubbed his nose as he responded.

"Thanks, but to suddenly sneeze… is someone talking shit about me?"

Giotto joked as he continued working on the terminal in front of him-

"Nah, it's just the isolation getting to you"

Jessica responded apathetically without giving Giotto a second look.

Smiling, Giotto finished up the final lines in his code before pushing off the terminal and turning towards Jessica.

"I admit the isolation did get to me…"

He paused, Giotto then stood up and walked behind the only companion he had in this isolated base. When he got behind Jessica, Giotto gave her a playful smile as he suddenly gave her a hug.

But things didn't play out so simply.

Both Giotto and Jessica were superhuman, Giotto far beyond that even. But the two still went about moving at a speed invisible to the naked eye.

When Giotto reached in for a hug, Jessica was quick to respond, stopping her work as she moved her body to the side as she attacked Giotto to push him away and also to use the horny man's body as a springboard.

Unfortunately for her, Giotto was one step ahead as he moved his hands to avoid hers. Repositioning them, Giotto ended up grabbing Jessica's hands.

When this happened, Jessica did not stop as she released a full powered electric shock towards Giotto. 

To no one's surprise, the shock did nothing, but when this action of Jessica made Giotto pause. 

Staring into Jessica's face, Giotto had a complicated expression as he said with great difficulty-

"This… sorry… I-"

Unable to complete his words, Giotto slurred his words as he found it hard to tell Jessica what he wanted to say.

"Giotto, not now"

But Jessica was having none of it as she gave Giotto a serious look as she told him off.

Seeing her expression and hearing her words made Giotto stop, he turned away as his hand phased through Jessica. The expression on Jessica's face said it all, like a wake up call to Giotto who quickly stepped back.

Giotto turned his gaze away, his face still holding a variety of complicated emotions as he, with great difficulty turned away.

His job was done and he did not need to do anything else so quickly walked out of the room.

When Giotto was finally out of the room, Jessica's stoic expression and gaze quickly broke down. 

She fell on her knees as she covered her face holding back her own emotions.

"Mama?"

As Jessica quietly let out her emotions on the ground a soft childlike voice entered her ears.

The voice made Jessica come back to reality, her raging emotions calmed down and her years of training allowed her to suppress her feelings. Wiping away her tears, Jessica turned to look behind her where the hologram of a small girl appeared behind her looking at her with great worry.

"Elea… its nothing"

Jessica gave the holographic girl, Elea, a smile.

Elea is the artificial intelligence that Giotto was planning to use as a safety net in case VEDA went rogue. By giving her human-like emotions and becoming her father, Giotto was able to create an AI that, for him, was easier to understand than VEDA.

According to Giotto, VEDA was a powerful AI with great computing capacity that leads to an even greater level of efficiency. It was created with a logic network that allowed VEDA to be creative like humans and analyze the world with no inherent bias.

But such a system will not be able to improve anything without direction, this direction set by Giotto was a rule where it would faithfully follow his commands.

As such Giotto heavily relied on VEDA and even trusted it as VEDA would move based on his desires.

If he told VEDA to build an elevator to the moon, VEDA would visualize this endeavor and develop a plan to achieve such a goal.

But only recently did Giotto realize that such an AI will lead to more problems than solutions. Since the AI's actions hinge on Giotto's choice and words. VEDA developed to the extent that it could predict Giotto's choices which he only realized just recently.

This prompted him to start his development of Elea, Jessica did not know what triggered this realization but from the things Giotto told her it happened after he had a good rest after a long while.

Thinking of things like this, Jessica couldn't help but laugh at herself.

The fact that she was breaking down over a man, her captor no less, made her let out a dry chuckle as she whispered-

"Am I the victim of Stockholm syndrome or is Giotto my victim?"

Recalling how things ended up the way they were, Jessica couldn't help but laugh internally.

After all, the relationship between Jessica and Giotto started as anything but two people moving for their own benefit.

Jessica who was trying to use all her assets to take advantage of Giotto while Giotto laughed it off and used the benefits he could provide for Jessica as pieces to get her to work for him.

The pair spent a considerable amount of time as nothing more than a boss and a subordinate who were trying to take advantage of each other.

Though this relationship started to change sometime during their time spent together.

Both Jessica and Giotto did not know what started it, maybe it was the isolation or maybe it was their desires just going off at the same time. Heck, it could even be Jessica's careless use of her pheromones leading to Giotto breaking.

Either way, the question of how and why became irrelevant after the two shared a bed together.

Although Jessica did think of it in that way, for some reason the atmosphere with Giotto was not as she expected.

That night, Giotto was neither forceful nor was he crazy, he didn't push her down, stripped her and ravaged her body. 

Before all that happened he always played as if he would do exactly that. Pushing her up against a wall, touching her inappropriately, all in response to her attempts at seduction.

When he finally broke, Jessica was prepared to be used as a tool but to her surprise, she was indeed used as a tool but not the kind she expected. Instead of a tool for sexual gratification, Giotto came to her in a very weak and vulnerable state.

They spent more time lying down and talking than they did actually doing anything sexual.

Through this, both Giotto and Jessica developed a weird dependence upon each other.

Due to the need to isolate Elea from VEDA, Giotto completely cut off the base from VEDA which effectively isolated them from the outside world.

In this way, the two did not even know how many days they spent together.

All they knew was that they created satellite terminals for Elea, launched them to orbit and now they were completing the finishing touches to make Elea a powerful system that is untouchable to even VEDA.

The various experiences the pair had gone through were even more colorful than the whole process of creating a literal child in the form of the AI Elea.

What was even more egregious was the fact that Elea had treated the pair as her mom and dad and when she did, for some reason-

Both Giotto and Jessica did not say anything and just accepted it.

Jessica was going through her thoughts silently once again and as she did Elea interrupted her once more asking.

"Mama, why is papa mad?"

Elea asked as she pulled up a display of Giotto unloading all his pent up frustration and anger towards a punching bag in the gym.

"Papa's just stressed Elea, don't worry about it"

Jessica calmly explained as she watched Giotto let out his anger at the bag.

Seeing Giotto's expression as he did so made Jessica understand what he was truly feeling at the moment.

*You hate yourself but… Giotto, you know as well as I do that this is wrong*

Recalling the things she and Giotto talked about, Jessica had a somber smile on her face as she thought of her own plight.

*Maybe if we met earlier…*

A thought came up in her mind but she quickly shook them off. Such thoughts were useless at this point. Moreover, Giotto was not an ordinary man. His struggles were too "normal" for her to cause even more turmoil in his heart.

*The more I hold onto him the harder it becomes for him to let go*

Jessica sighed pitifully, directed at herself and her own weakness.

"Anyway, Elea, did papa finish the program?"

Jessica shook off her thoughts as she turned her attention to her "daughter". 

Hearing Jessica's question, Elea celebrated as she explained with joy.

"Yes! Papa told me that he will let me go "online" in a few hours! He said he had to take care of something first but after I "go online" I will need to start doing my best! Papa made me protect and help mama after all!"

The words spoken by Elea made Jessica's somber smile turn a bit darker as she recalled the purpose for which Elea was created.

"That's great! How about we play for a while then?"

Jessica gave Elea a fake smile as she distracted Elea and herself from thinking about Giotto.

This tactic seemed to work as the childish AI leaped up as she exclaimed-

"YAY!"

Elea then disappeared and reappeared next to Giotto's terminal

Seeing this, Jessica let out a sigh as she stood up and headed for her own terminal all while thinking-

*She was supposed to be a tool… nothing more than a way to counter VEDA… but now… she''s become our daughter… I don't know why I accepted it, maybe it was a reflection of my own desire or just an impulsive whim of mine to exert my connection to you… but*

Jessica turned to look one last time at Giotto's image, the man's expressions always made Jessica's heart ache.

At first she saw him as nothing more than a spoiled brat, a kid who didn't understand the true darkness of the world.

But the time they shared and their experiences made her wish this period of time would never end.

Isolated from the world, everything revolved around Giotto, Elea and herself.

Jessica did not mind staying like this till the end, it wasn't like she had a family waiting for her anyway. Nor did she have a world calling for her help.

Right now Jessica was a stranger to everyone, a nobody who not a single soul would remember if she just ups and disappears one day.

Though, now, she did have people like that, but they were also in this world. This world she didn't wish to lose.

She tried to hide her own thoughts but no matter how much she slowed down her completion of her tasks-

*Nothing lasts forever… Giotto… it was-*

Even in her thoughts she was unable to complete her words. 

Why did she hesitate?

What does she really want?

Raised as a spy, never knowing the true love of family. Jessica who experienced the unknown did not know how to properly react.

Her freedom allowed her to do as she wanted, feel what she wanted and act the way she wanted… this life of freedom she now lived felt even more constrained than her previous life.

And yet-

*I can't understand… this bittersweet feeling*

She wants Giotto to have peace of mind. But when she sees him struggling her heart aches. 

But as her thoughts were cascading downwards, a sweet voice woke her up from her stupor like it always does.

"Mama! Let's go!"

The sweet voice of Elea brought her back and Jessica was able to release her mind from the destructive thoughts that plagued it. Taking care of her daughter-

*Yes… Elea… my- our daughter*

Thinking as such, Jessica showed a rare bright smile which Elea noticed making her smile silently in response.