Biodroid: Dawn of a New Age

Virtualization

After arriving at the front of the EDF Academy with Cpt. Edwards, Aiko stopped and admired the big front double doors that separated the academy from the rest of the world, thinking 'It's been a long time since I've been through these doors.' 

-" It's something wrong, Aiko?" asked Edwards with apparent apprehension.

-"No!  No... Is just... It's been a while, I have forgotten how big these doors were..." she replied with evident anxiety. 

-"Oh... Since you got pregnant with Ken, right?" asked Edwards with a warm smile.

-" Yeah... almost 16 years already, time flies when you take care of a kid... let us continue, I am eager to hear what that granny has to say that justifies me coming back this suddenly." she said while motioning towards the main building in the center of the academy.

-"You'll see... I am sure you'll be pretty surprised, as I was, when she explains it to you... " remarked Nick with evident excitement. As they both got through the front doors, Nick noticed the new cadets formed up  by the main training area, he noticed that 2 cadets were running laps 'I Hope those are not Ken and Ryan again, how irresponsible can you be? ' at the same time he waved at Lt. Cruz who must have noticed them come in because he was waving at them vigorously. 

-" Is that Ken.. that's running laps again?" asked Aiko with a very upset tone.

-" I'm not sure, but we don't have time to find out, its almost 6 am and I don't want granny to be mad at us..." he replied while gently grabbing her by the arm and urged both of them to keep walking. 

-" I Swear to you.. if that kid was late again I Will-..." and she got interrupted when the main building doors opened to show a group of 4 people that was waiting for them already, one of them was Tracy, Dr. Fu's aide, and she started the greetings

-"Good morning Cpt. Edwards, Dr. Izumi." she said formally and continued "Welcome, Dr. Fu is waiting for you already, she cleared both of you to the lab and ordered me to give you these," as she presented a couple of magnetized cards used to give access to restricted areas, and continued "please don't lose them, with these, you have access to the entire Academy, main entrance, labs and another area that Dr. Fu will explain later, Cpt. Edwards, you can give me your old magnetized card as this new one has a higher level of security clearance." as Nick traded magnetized cards, Aiko started greeting the rest of the personnel she remembered, first it was the head of the research team, Dr. Ivan Borg. He was the one that informed the research team almost 25 years ago about the development of the Biodroid and Iris by Dr. Rob Ullrich, stole most of the investigation and delivered it all to Dr. Fu and her team, with this information they where able to develop the BioResonance System and the EDF Biodroids, just in time to start repelling the new founded Federation under Rob's Banner. 

-" Ivan! It's been a while, how are you!?" asked Aiko with a very cheerful tone.

-" Ah! Dr. Izumi! You are back with us I see!! This shall prove very productive for what's to come, thank you for  joining us!" he replied very formally, for Aiko was his superior back in the days of the development of the BioResonance System, he still regarded her with respect.

-" Ivan I am no longer your superior, please forget the formalities, we are equals today, you are probably way ahead of me already since I've been out of it for a while." she said while stretching his hand.

-" No Dr. Izumi, you advances in robotics made our Biodroids possible, with out you the BioResonance system wouldn't have been completed, we still hold you in high regard." he replied, with the same formal tone as before.

-" Alright Ivan, whatever makes you feel happy, care to introduce me to these two? I don't recognize them from before... " she said as she motioned to the 2 quiet researches on his right, for they where researches because of the clothing, which was a gray lab coat, one of them was a tall dark skinned man, bald, mid 20's by the looks of it, he wore glasses, had a serious expression on him, the other one was a girl around the same age as the first one, long brown hair covered her shoulders and part of her face, her skin was pretty tanned, she seemed shy and adverted Aiko's gaze. 

-" Of Course Dr., This here is Dr. Grant Dubois, he is one of our top young developers, he specializes in robotics, your area of expertise, he's been of great help to the current R and D team." he said as he motioned to Dr. Dubois to move closer as of to stretch Aiko's hand.

-" It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Dr. Izumi, your job here is legendary!" he said with an awe struck tone at the same time he extended his right hand.

-" Dr. Dubois, the pleasure is all mine, I'm glad  to see young people following the R and D steps." she  replied courteously while stretching his hand.

-" And this one here, her name is Dr. Alissa Russo, She specializes in the BioResonance System's Resonance Link, she is as brilliant as they come, pretty shy, but still brilliant nevertheless, she has become sort of my protege in the research team." he said as he grabber her gently from the left shoulder and encouraged her to greet Aiko.

-"...It-...It's... It's a pleasure Dr. Izumi, I've studied you work on wave patterns and the resonance link's helmet... It's very I-Impressive..." she said very nervously.

- "Dr. Russo, no need to be this formal, Aiko is fine, we shall discuss your findings later today. " said Aiko while stretching a nervous Dr. Russo.

-" Say, Tracy, Around what time did Dr. Fu arrive today?" asked Edwards while greeting briefly the research team and walking towards the lab door.

-" Arrive?... She didn't leave last night..." Replied Tracy with a stoic face while she opened the Lab door for the entire party.

As the party entered the lab, Dr. Fu Emerged from behind  her desk and directed a look at everyone arriving, including Tracy.

-" Just about right on time, all of you, and you brought your lazy wife with you Nick, good job.!" Said Dr. Fu with evident mockery.

-"How dare you, you old hag-.." started to reply Aiko with anger when she was interrupted.

-" Thank you for coming back, Aiko, we can't do this without you, I'm glad to see you still have that fire in you, we are going to need it" said Dr. Fu with gentle eyes while directly addressing Aiko, she then continued " Tracy, I'm going to need coffee, lots of it, also, I need you to prepare a meal plan for all of the researchers, we are going to be here a while and that includes you Aiko."

-"Yes ma'am, how many days do you expect you'll need the meal plan for?" asked Tracy while taking notes of the quantity of the research team.

-"At first, at least a week, then we'll take a break and go on from there." she replied with decision, the continued " Nick, we might need you today during the morning, so you shall be able to return to your regular schedule after that, I shall send for you if needed, but your wife... she shall remain here for a while, as I told you yesterday, you can't rush these things." she concluded.

-" Whatever you need, doc." replied Cpt. Edwards while glancing at Aiko. 'Sorry hun, I'll see that ken behaves' he thought.

-"Alright granny, what is this 'new something'  you devised and that's gonna keep me in here for at least a week." asked an irritated Aiko but with evident curiosity. 

-" ah yes, I trust Nick didn't spill the beans on all of this, so here is the plan..." said Dr. Fu at the time she started explaining to Aiko the complete process of the upgrade to the BioResonance System.

-" OK, you are definitely out of your old mind, you've finally lost it."  said Aiko with an incredulous look.

-" Dr. Izumi!!" replied a horrified Dr. Dubois then continued " This is Dr. Fu you are addressing! Mind you manners!"

-"This old hag has no manners!! She pulled me out of retirement for this nonsense? I'm leaving..." replied Aiko furiously.

-"Aiko! Do you truly not see the possibilities with this idea?" asked Nick very upset. 

-" Of course I do! I do see the possibilities, that's the thing 'Possibilities', is nothing certain and from my point of view its nearly impossible, synchronizing 2 brain waves was hard enough, synchronizing 3 is impossible." Said Aiko convinced that this was a waste of time.

-" So, it seems you did lose the edge and hunger for challenges that made you the best developer, that's so sad lazy Aiko..." Said Dr. Fu sarcastically, evidently trying to taunt Aiko, then she added "The new helmet would be too much for you to achieve anyway, I understand that you have reached your limits, no matter, Dr. Dubois here will surely surpass you and create something worth praising." 

-" 'This 'kid' here? Surpass 'Me'? The only reason I retired was because of Ken, otherwise we would have advanced a lot more on the Biodroid technology and obviously, the BioResonance System." Replied Aiko with a lot of confidence and a sudden change of attitude that made Dr. Fu think 'Gotcha, you are still subject to your ego Aiko, Te-he' as she smiled back at Edwards, thus confirming that it was a trap for Aiko. 

-" I will create whatever you dream about granny, it seems you need to be reminded of who is the best robotic expert around here." declared Aiko as she pretty much confirmed she was joining the team despite being against the idea.

-" I will not work with this mad woman who lacks respect for its superiors and peers." said a pretty upset Dr. Dubois.

-" You will work with whoever I deem appropriate, and you will be lucky to be working with Aiko, she has more experience an technique in one hand that you in your entire body, besides, this is a hard task for each and everyone of us, we sure need all the help we can get, so, get past both of your ego's and cooperate, or else...." here, she made a pause as she presented a very scary boss-like face.

-" Yes, Dr. Fu" said both, Dr. Dubois and now, Dr. Izumi, as they presented their respects to Dr. Fu at unison. 'She hasn't changed one bit...still scares the crap out of me this old hag...' thought Aiko.

-" Now that that's settled, come with me all of you, we have the virtualization station ready for you Nick." Said Dr. Fu while directing the rest of the team to another side of the lab. The smaller room looked like it was put together in a hurry, no doubt the work of Dr. Fu during the night, and it featured a big screen attached to a big console, there was an image in the screen that Nick couldn't quite understand at first glance so he focused on the rest of the equipment. There was a  chair that looked like a metallic comforter chair, seemed like it could be reclined into a bed, next to it, on to of a small table,  was a biodroid helmet also attached to the big console, the chair had leather straps on the arms and where the feet would be if someone was sitting on it. 

-"This is the virtualization room, here we will make a copy of your true self and convert it to a virtual conscience." Said Dr. Fu to Cpt. Edwards as she described the room.

-"And how do you pretend to do that?" asked a curious Aiko with a hint of fear in her voice.

-" Ah! That's the right question!" she said with evident pride, then continued "See, do you remember the all the information that we discovered inside the Arc? Well, if you remember The Arc, you surely remember the information about simulating wild animal's lives, correct?" she asked her.

-" Yes, I recall the experiment that was being conducted by the old ones, what does this has to..." and a sudden realization came to Aiko as she trailed of, the she continued " You replicated the experiment?"  while changing from curious to surprised, then to awe.

-" Yes, we managed to simulate  animals in a virtual environment, instincts and everything." she replied with pride, but this pride was a product of both, the experiment being replicated successfully and also Aiko immediately noticing the connection between that and the virtual conscience idea, she was always proud of Aiko for she was the most accomplished of her apprentices along side Rob Ullrich, the latter being the pioneer in the biodroid development. 

-"And you couldn't start with that to being with?" demanded Aiko.

-"And rob me of this moment and your face? No Way!, but let us waste no more time, Nick, have a sit, Grant, Alissa, bind him, we don't know if he will move during the copying process." she ordered the rest of the team to assume a position in the big console and kept ordering them to keep an eye on different monitors.  The monitors where configured to keep track of whoever sat on the chair's vitals, from blood pressure to brain wave rhythm, heartbeats, oxygen levels, all in all, completely monitor a living being.

-" Nick, the process should be painless, to you it will feel like a dream, but a dream that you can control, much like your very first mind join session, but this time you won't find any resistance or another mind on the other side, what I need you to do is think of nothing, let the process analyze everything inside your head and it will copy your true self onto the virtual environment, we will make sure everything is alright with you from this side and if anything goes amiss, I'll stop the process and reevaluate everything, got it?" said Dr. Fu.

-" I trust you doc, I'm ready" said a decided and excited Nick.

-" You better be sure about this, if something happens to Nick I'll kill you!" whispered Aiko to Dr. Fu so low that only she could hear, she meant that, Ken and Nick where the only beings she cared about and this must have come across very clearly to Dr. Fu because she replied with an equally low voice

-" This wont fail, Aiko, I Promise, I don't want to endanger any of my children, specially you or Nick. Trust me." and as she finished her reply and focused on her task, she said "Here we go Nick" as she started the processes using the console's only keyboard, she typed in the commands and the big screen, that until that moment had an image of a forest, began to change and flicker. As the screen flickered and an image began to form, Nick felt as his senses started to dull, he felt like he was falling asleep, yet, he was aware of everything in his mind, surely, this felt a lot like joining your mind with a Biodroid, only this time the tunnel that connected the two minds directed his to a empty space, there was nothing there, no light, no sound, smells, no feelings, he felt an emptiness he had never felt before...

-"....us Nick?" it was a faint voice, he heard something that was coming from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. And again, the same voice, this time it was clearer.

-" Can you hear us Nick?" said the voice that sounded remarkably like Dr. Fu.

-" I can hear you...Doc? Is that you?" he replied with his mind for he had no voice, couldn't feel his mouth or anything needed to speak, his tongue was gone, surely the rest of his body as well.

-" Yes, its me, its all of us actually, we are speaking to you through a mic connected to the console, directly into the virtual environment." said Dr. Fu with joy, then asked "How do you feel?"

-" I feel...weird, this seems like the resonance link, but its missing Julz, everything is dark, I can't feel my legs, or anything for that matter." as Nick described how he felt he realized where he was, then asked "Is this the virtual environment?"

-"Yes Nick! We succeed in simulating a virtual environment for a human!! This is something without precedent, you can be proud of yourself for becoming the first human to be effectively virtualized!" replied Dr. Fu while the others cheered.

-" Can you hear me Nick? Are you OK? Do I have to kill this old hag?" asked a very worried Aiko.

-" I'm fine honey, how are my vitals?" 

-" Everything is fine Nick, you stopped moving all of a sudden, the vitals where normal so we decided to wait, then I got impatient and told this granny here to use the mic to try and reach you." said Aiko with relief.

-" Good thinking honey" he replied then though "I feel like I've been here for a while, it was just a minute? " and as he finished that, he heard  Dr. Fu's voice again.

-"Yes, for you it must have felt like a longer time, I wasn't worried." 

-" You heard that?" he asked alarmed.

-" Yes Nick, you are a virtual conscience now, you don't need to speak for us to hear you, with you simply thinking about something we will hear it on the outside, much like it works between you and Julz." she explained and everything made sense to Nick, he was in his element, in the confines of his mind, the only difference is that Julz wasn't there with him. 

When he realized that, he started expanding, he began to imagine trees, and trees started appearing, he imagined earth, and earth appeared, he then imagined his own body, with a few fixes here and there and sure enough, it appeared, then he imaged he moved his right arm, and his newly created body moved his right arm, he moved another part of his body, then another, and eventually moved it like in real life. This was visible on the other side of the screen, the research team was mind blown by it, Nick was creating everything he wanted without the help of someone in the console.

-" Nick, I can't believe your mind is this powerful..." Said Dr. Fu with astonishment. 

-" Nick how are you doing this?" asked Aiko equally surprised.

-" Huh? I've been doing this with Julz for a while now, during the long marches on our way to our  different missions, we needed a way to pas the time so we invented a game where we would represent what we saw during our travels inside our minds." as he explained this, the whole team began taking notes, Dr. Fu was so shaken that Aiko was afraid she would collapse. 

-"Nick, what you have done here took us hours to recreate during the experiment with the wild animals, if Julz can also do this then that means you and Julz have evolved beyond anything we could have imagined, no wonder your connection with her is so deep, and Julz also creates elements like this? " She asked.

-" Yeah, she has bested me a couple of times, she seems to remember the details more accurately." as he replied, then continued  " Isn't this normal? like, doesn't every pilot plays with its biodroid?"

-" No, Nick, you are the first one to report this to us, aside from you, no one has reached the level of synergy you have with Julz, Ron was the only one to surpass the rest of the pilots, but still he was not even close to your level, this is remarkable." Replied Dr. Fu then continued, " Nick, I need you to stop creating things, stop thinking, the copying process needs to start and if you keep creating things it will take longer to finish, stop creating things now!" demanded Dr. Fu.

-" Sorry doc, force of habit." Replied Nick with a chuckle, the continued "I thought my self was copied already."

-" No, we merely moved your self to an empty virtual environment, which I hope to use to copy your true self, but now that you've created all of these... I'm Not so sure if we should start the copying process..." said DR. Fu as she trailed off.

-" That's not a problem, I can erase all of this!" and sure enough Nick started erasing everything, from his body, then the earth, then the trees and so on until only emptiness remained. " is this OK, Dr. Fu?" asked a virtualized Nick.

Silence.

-" Hey, can Anyone hear me?" asked Nick now with a more alarming tone.

-" Yes! Yes... Nick, we can still hear you, is just... Nick, your willpower is amazing, you created and deleted matter, although virtual matter, out of nothing with just your mind and your willpower." said a surprised Dr. Fu, she continued "I don't think we can replicate this with anyone's mind, Nick, we will begin the copying process right now, refrain from creating anything else, please."

-" OK doc." was the reply from Nick and then the copying process started, for Nick it felt like something was reading him, but it wasn't an uncomfortable feeling. Soon minutes went by, then what felt like hours and then the reading stopped.

-"Nick, we are done, it only took 15 minutes." said Aiko through the mic.

-"15 minutes?!?!? That was 15 minutes? It felt like I was here for hours!" said a surprised Nick.

-"Hmm... it seems that time differs from the real world and the virtual world." pointed out Dr. Fu.

-"D-Dr. Fu... I think is more like how time is perceived inside the virtual environment that changes...." said a previously quiet Alissa Russo.

-" That sounds plausible, good point Alissa." Said Dr. Fu, then " Nick, we are pulling you out, it should feel the same as disengaging the Resonance Link." 

-" Roger that Dr. Fu." replied Nick, then the command to disengage was issued through the console and Nick was back inside his body, as per his usual routine when disengaging the Resonance Link, he checked movement on his limbs, then his thought process, then moved his mouth and opened his eyes, this routine was established because, when joined for a period of time or if the effort in battle was to strong, the pilots usually lost a lot of energy, sometimes their bodies were so tired that they couldn't move one of their legs for a while, this was the risk of being a pilot, this was the reason they needed to train everyday and keep their bodies in peak performance.

-"How do you feel, Nick?" asked Aiko as she removed the helmet from his head.

-" I Feel fine, a bit tired, but fine." he replied.

-" You where inside for almost an hour, give or take a minute or two." said Dr. Fu, the continued "It seems that time is perceived differently in the virtual world."

-" No doubt about that, for me it felt like it was around 4-5 hours, give or take a few long minutes." confirmed Nick.

-" Well, this should be actually helpful for us, if we can somehow learn to manage the time in the virtual world we can shorten the development time of the new Biocores as well as helping with the simulations overall." said Dr. Fu.

-" Well, I'm glad I can be of help, but i must tend to my new cadets and verify the status of the nearby towns and villages, it's been a while since the last attack and I'm afraid the federation wont be idle for long." said Nick as he moved away from the comforter like chair and towards the door.

-" You do that honey, I'll stay here with the R and D team and help them with your virtual self." said Aiko as he waved him goodbye.

-"Good job today Nick, you gave us a lot to work with, specially that will of yours, it shall prove to be very helpful if we can harness it." said Dr. Fu with  evident pride.

As Nick walked outside the lab, he met Tracy and waved at her, then turned right and through the first door, the one closest to the lab doors, and into his office, he sat on the chair of his desk, he reexamined himself, making sure everything was as it should and then started to contact all the different towns and villages with the usual 'report in', this was the short command he used to get information from the EDF pilots stationed through out the towns. 

As the reports started coming with the usual  'Nothing to report, everything is normal' he started recalling the whole virtual ordeal at the time he thought 'My virtual self, huh? ', as the last report came back with a normal status, he relaxed a little bit and again thought 'My virtual Self.'

.....