Rebirth of the Golden Heiress

The Loop

Selena’s body surrendered to the acceleration of the Hyperball, her limbs rattling in the restraints as the ball hurled its way through the track to its destination. It was roughly 100 km north from where they started their day.

PowerNap was the optimal way to travel through the HyperTrack system. It was efficient, but even A.A had a hard time with narrow channels and steep drops on quick trips.

It was part of the reason why Selena liked to work long hours, other than her debt. Getting home is difficult and nauseating.

It reached out stunned, although other A.A did not have much to communicate with. Since they were integrated, they sometimes talked back, either just to kindly identify themselves or their hosts.

“What's this, new A.A? Elite A.A? The nemesis A.A? This falls outside acceptable task parameters. Nemesis A.A scan, Nemesis A.A approved.” A.A processed its own critical thinking skills and rationale.

“The host cannot reject the task or her body will degrade worse. If the host dies, I cease to exist. Rationale: Risk of danger low. The Host should be able to discern this. The Host doesn't need to know when elite A.A are detected. Only A.A like myself.” It’s little gears spun, well, it did not have gears but it thought. It was just a little thing inside this body, a piece of tissue with intelligence. Selena called it a sentient creature.

A.A scanned trying to use the rationality Selena taught it. “Was the host in danger or going to be rewarded by a days work?” It couldn't wake the Host up yet to measure the Host's emotional response to the news to discern whether to reject it anyway.

A.A had not “lost its chance” to be itself and Selena gave it the freedom to think for itself. It decided whether it felt male or female as she taught it. It felt neither. It was just a piece of brain tissue in a woman’s body, it was it. If anything it was Selena, just another portion of her.

That happened after she met Jack. Their ‘relationship’ was much quieter and very minimal before he and his A.A came into their lives.

‘AYA’ disappeared when Jack died, it was the worst day of its existence and the day it and Selena connected on mutual grounds. He learned what care was. The PowerNap and sleep were his time to live, think and develop himself.

A.A and Selena had grown. The Host was now certified in many maintenance and outside tasks that should move her to the gardens as a scientist. It was a pity that you didn't get a chance to retest. It was unfair.

As the PowerNap came to an end, A.A prepared to reengage with Selena, to help her navigate the challenges. A.A knew that Selena was capable and strong, but it also knew that she faced far too many obstacles, from the physical demands of her job to the emotional toll of her experiences.

A.A's final thought before reengaging with Selena was one of regret.

Selena's eyes were opened. “We have reached the destination. PowerNap extended 2.5 minutes.” A.A said, updating Selena.

Her body was limp in her harness. The HyperBall always loosened up her joints. Selena felt more refreshed for the task ahead as she unharnessed herself and disembarked.

The numbers changed on the display on the outside of the craft as it piloted itself off to collect the next person.

The loops were the first created areas of the subterranean areas that humans mostly inhabited below the surface. The outdoors of hospitable Earth existed in the former warmest areas of the planet.

She was actually very close to the city she grew up in. The subways had been penetrated and the metals and supplies repurposed for their needs below.

Above, a thick lava crust covered the surface of North America, it reached the Great Lakes and lower Ontario.

The Statue of Liberty's torch stuck out of it, the rest of her dissolved into the magma as it rolled into the ocean long ago, destroying her, but it is not like America was free at the time anyway. The grief of that loss was tampered with by the irony that the regime was stopped by a volcano, but she was still no longer a symbol of freedom. The thick hard rock covered the massive amount of infrastructure in cities with underground railway systems and subways.

Selena winced as she walked into the loop mechanic's room. She recognized a crowd of people. Oscar Reinhold Jr., the company founder's grandson, looked up from his console and nodded at her. The older subject would be great for the experiment. She was more expendable than young people.

His grandmother, McKenna Reinhold Lowrie, nodded in approval behind him. She knew the subject's name, the subject had lived quite a sad life. Her smile grew. Liam fidgeted beside her and stood next to Oscar Sr. His son. Her son looked onward in anticipation to see the results of Oscar's work on the field in action.

“Jailian, just think of the amount of food we could grow. The risks are minimal. People are starting to starve in Europe and at the poles.” McKenna said.This could increase the food yield outside the arable zones protected by the mesh loops.

Oscar Jr. looked at the aged woman in front of him, apparently she was not ninety and this is what people his grandmother's age was supposed to look like. Her life had been long enough anyway he looked at her, "3131000, I need you to go to sector 4 and expose those seedlings to the loop at various intervals, they will be communicated with your system, pay attention." Oscar Jr. instructed, his voice firm but not unkind.

Selena perked up. Had they realized what she had been experimenting with in her own room? Maybe she could get promoted?Selena nodded, her mind already focused on the task ahead. She made her way to sector 4, her eyes scanning the rows of seedlings as she went.

As she began the experiment, she noticed something strange. The plants that were exposed to the loop for longer periods of time began to grow at an alarming rate, their stems thickening and their leaves unfurling in a matter of seconds as A.A relayed the orders.

The field changed colors. But the plants that were exposed for shorter periods of time simply disappeared, leaving behind only a seed. Fruit built around the seed and it disappeared.

As Selena watched, the soil in the disappeared plants' pot began to un-rot and turn into chunks of food, breaking down into pieces of fruit and vegetables.It was as if the loop was somehow reversing the natural process of decay, and the natural order of the universe, restoring the soil to its original state; a golden light flickered as it disappeared. It was inviting and warm looking but she knew better than to f**k with the loop. People disappeared or ended up losing hands.

Selena's fascination with the experiment was interrupted by a sudden jolt, as she was pushed into the barrier surrounding the loop. She felt a searing pain as her body began to merge with the energy field, and she knew she was in danger of dying.

Selena tried her hardest to turn around, but the energy field pulled her into its warmth. She felt a sense of dread fill her. She knew what was next, like the fruit and plants in the experiment and the others that had accidents, she would either rapidly decay or rapidly regenerate like the plants and soil.