Experiment 8: Learning

"Alright, Eve." Leia said, pulling a pencil from a floating cup. "It would be bad if you want to go to school but still don't know how to read and count at your age." She smiled. "I'll teach you, let's begin with the basics."
She gave the pencil to Eve with a blank paper in front of her.
Leia leaned forward, expecting a wonky attempt. Instead, Eve perfectly wrote 'EVE' even with a bit of mess with the handwriting, Leia thought that it's easy because Eve's named is easy and short.

"That's amazing! Let's try spelling next. Can you spell house?"

"H-O-U-S-E." Eve spelled flawlessly.

"Great! I know you a smart child." Leia praised. Eve shyly lower her head along with a faint smile.

"Let's do math. What's five times six?" Leia narrowed her eyes, testing something.
Eve barely hesitated. "Thirty."
Leia let a sly grinned. "I get it now..." She said thoughtfully.
"What do you mean?" Zero chimed in.

Leia take the paper and write a question for Eve to answer.
"Okay, Eve. If x² - 5x + 6 = 0, what is x"

"I knew you mad, but not this mad. She's like six or seven years old, it impossible for her to solved-"
"The X is two and three." Eve replied immediately after done calculated her answer on the paper.
"What's the capital of Greenland?" Leia asked.
"Nuuk," Eve replied instantly.

Leia and Zero left stunned. Then Leia slumped into her chair.
"This is bad Zero..." She said nervously smiling.
"What, did Eve solve the meaning of life too?"

"When we created Eve, we programmed her to absorb information from every source we had. Databases, encyclopedias, scientific journals and everything. She was designed to be perfect."

"Oh.... Does that mean she smarter than all of you all researchers combined?" Zero responded.
"I... I'm not sure, but if someone realizes how unnatural her intelligence is, they'll start asking questions that we can't answer without revealing everything..."

Zero flickered on the big screen, focusing on Eve. "Alright, little genius, guess what? I'm also human created."
He continued. "If a spaceship travels at 99.9% of the speed of light for ten years as measured on Earth, how much time passes for the passengers onboard?"
Leia raised an eyebrow. "Zero, that's-"
"45.5 days," Eve said calmly.

"Lucky." Zero said. "What's the 177th prime number?"
"641."

"I asked that easy question on purpose." Zero rolled his eyes on the big screen. But This isn't over, lab kid. We're not that different, you and I!"

Leia interrupted. "Stop it, you sounds like the AI that would take over the world in the movies."

"Matter of fact, I can process information than most humans, I'm sure I can easily outsmarted a lab born kid. You know, we're both creations of a genius." Zero said, giving Leia a sideways glance.
"And Piz too!" Eve added not wanting their pet left out. Piz barked happily hearing his name mentioned.

Zero nodded. "Yes. Technically, Leia the only real human here."
Leia blinked rapidly, trying to process. "I'm... The only... Actual human here?"

Eve suddenly shake her head of the wrong fact. "Zero is wrong!" An intense look on her face. "I'm a real human too!" She declared.

Eve walked towards the wall at the big screen that Zero is in, staring at him with a seriousness Leia had never seen from her. "I may not have been born the same way as others, but I'm still me!"
Leia shocked.
"I feel things, I make choices, I have thoughts. Doesn't that make me real?  We do have a different because you don't have to learn to know something but I wanted to, I want to learn, I want to gain knowledge. I want to understand things! I want to learn about loves and feelings..." Eve said, very heartfelt.

Zero paused, taken back by Eve sudden outburst. Processing her words.

Later after that. On late afternoon, then suddenly a knocked on the door. It's Rika, still with her school uniform. Leia opened the door, surprised but pleased to see the energetic girl standing on their doorstep.

"Hey there, Miss Leia!" Rika greeted Rika raising her hand.
"Hey there, Rika. How was school?" Leia asked with a smile.
"It was great! I finished all my homework at school and I thought maybe Eve would like to come play again?"
"She would love too." Leia said.

Eve peeked out from behind the door, her eyes lighting up at the sight of her friend. She hurried to Rika's side.
"Yeay!" It was short sign of excitement but she is happy and already reaching for Rika's hand.
Rika grabbing her hand excitedly. "Great! Let's go to the park now!"

Leia watch the two of them with a warm smile. "Have fun, you two. And remember to be back before it gets dark!"

As they walked down the street towards the park, Rika's energy was catching. She practically skipped along, humming to herself as Eve walked beside her. Enjoying Rika's company more than she ever thought she would. Eve thought It might be because of the radiant energy from Rika.

After a moment of silence, Eve spoke up, glancing at Rika. "Rika... You know, Leia said that I'll be going to school next year."
Rika's eyes widened with surprised, then brightened with joy. "You will? That's amazing! We can go to school together!"

Eve's face turned a bit pink at the sudden attention. "I think so... It sounds fun, going to school... Especially with you."
Rika grabbed both of Eve hand. "I can't wait! We'll be best friend at school! You're going to love it! I know you will!" Her smile wide. "I'll show you everything! All the fun stuff. We'll learn together, and I'll help you with anything!"

"Thanks Rika... I'm glad you happy about it..." Eve said.
"Of course! And when you're at school, I'll make sure no one picks on you."
Eve smiled softly. "I'm looking forward to it. A lot."

The two of them arrived at the park, their laughter mixing with the sound of children also playing there.

Meanwhile at home, sat on the couch with a cup of tea in her hand, staring blankly at a document labeled 'School Enrollment' while Zero nearby, projecting Eve's incomplete data onto a holographic screen. 

"So.... How old Eve actually is?" Zero asked. "She was lab born, she technically existing when you people mad scientist created her..... You brought her home two months ago, so she's two months old?"
Leia give a deadpan look then turned back to the holographic screen. "She looks like a child and acts like a child. She a child for sure."

"Well, based on her height, cognitive ability and sarcasm levels, I'd estimate she's somewhere between 6 and 30." Zero said.
Leia take the pillow beside her and threw at the big screen because of his nonsense.

Leia deep in thought. "How old is Rika?"
"Based on my scanning on her back then, she's eight." Zero replied.
"Eve is 8. End of discission." She clapped her hand.

"Ah....Yes." Zero said. "Because declaring she's eight magically makes it true. Should I go updated her nonexistent birth certificate?"

Leia sighed. "She's going to school to learn, not have her entire life history interrogated."
Zero's eyes gleamed. "If anyone asks, let just say she's eight but don't blame me when some nosy parents starts asking for baby pictures." He added. "Unless you want me to generated it."
"No need, generated pictures and videos is creepy." Leia said.

Then, Leia shifted her way to look at the only blank part of the document which is name, although the birth place is a big lied, deciding a name had her deep in thought.

"Now... For the name," Zero look at the blank part.
"Already done." Leia smile while typing on the hologram screen written Eve and Leia surname.

There was a long paused, Leia smiled brightly but the silence was broken by the sound of Zero audibly sniffling. Leia turned to him, raising an eyebrow.

Zero retorted, his voice wobbling. "I just... There's a dust in my circuits. That's all."
Leia blinked. "I don't know AI can have feelings." She chuckled.

"The first time you powered me on, you were crying but the moment my eyes open on the screen, you hugged me like I was your lifeline." Zero laughed. "You smeared her tears all over my screen. I thought, what kind of human cries at a computer? But in reality, You needed someone, anyone and I just happened to be there."

Leia left stunned.

"And now you all grown up, with a child who you stole from the lab."

"That was unnecessary to mentioned." Leia said.

Zero huffed. "Although I do miss how easy it was to boss you around back then."