Experiment 14: Moment in Life

Leia sighed, took a glance at the clock. "You’re lucky I’m good at late night tinkering." She muttered at Piz, who blinked once in response, his default idle expression unchanged.

She removed a tiny panel on his side, revealing a neat array of circuits and a sleek memory chip. While inspecting it, her eyes widened slightly. "Wait a second…" Leia carefully extracted the chip, holding it up to the light. "You’ve been recording everything you see? No wonder your data storage was maxed out."

Intrigued, she make a copy of the chip by scanned it under the copy machine that create the exact things like a 3D printer to be transfer to her hologram tab to see its contents 
"Well, this could be interesting." She said, then with a flick of her finger, she loaded the first file onto the holographic display.

"Woah, it works! Hahaha!" The video showed her set up Piz for the first time with Leia herself feeling proud of her own creation while laughing brightly, excited to surprised Eve with Piz that morning.

Leia chuckled. "Hey, that's me!"

Leia smiled softly.

She cycled through more clips, each one a snapshot of their life together. There was footage of Eve holding Piz up to the window to see the rain, Piz darting around the living room while Zero scolded him for knocking over a vase and even moments of Eve asleep, her small frame curled up on the couch with Piz lying protectively nearby.
"Look, Piz! What do you think?" Eve held up a colorful drawing. It depicted what appeared to be a messy but endearing rendition of Leia and Eve holding hands under a big, sunny sky. Piz tilted his head slightly, his mechanical tail wagging in approval.
Eve giggled. "You like it? I’m gonna show this to Leia later. Do you think she’ll like it?”
The robot dog barked.

Leia leaned back in her chair, she watched as the clip ended with Eve hugging Piz tightly before running off, the drawing clutched against her chest.

Then another played, it was Piz and Eve first meeting with Maria by the window, then first meeting with Leo at the park and followed by Ellen across the street. 
As those videos played on all at once, Leia found herself engrossed in the little moments she had missed. Piz had captured things she hadn’t noticed. Like the way Eve quietly hummed the song of her favorite TV shows and how Eve not always oblivious but she is.

The footage shifted to something unexpected, Leia herself, caught in candid moments that supposed to be a secret. She watched as Piz recorded her in the kitchen, struggling to flip a fried egg. "How did- WOAH!" The egg went flipping away out of the pan.
"That was my first in a long time attempted, okay?" She said to Piz as he would judged her which he is.

But then came quieter, softer moments where Leia sitting on the couch, exhausted, with Piz hopping up beside her to nuzzle her arm to a moment where Leia adjusting Eve’s blanket as she slept and a rare moment of Leia smiling to herself while working in the lab.

Later, Leia finally reach to the most recent file which is a moment of Eve sat cross-legged on the living room floor, her small figure illuminated by the soft glow of the evening light. Piz sat beside her, wagging his tail lightly.
"Hey, Piz," Eve began softly, her voice tinged with a rare hint of sadness. "Do you think I'm... strange? Because I wasn't born like other kids?"

Piz tilted his head, his mechanical eyes blinking, as if processing her words.

"I mean," Eve continued, her tone wavering, "I'm not really like Rika or Ellen or anyone else. I don't have a mom or dad like them. Leia’s... amazing, but sometimes I wonder if we’re really like a real family."

Piz let out a low hum, leaning into her touch. Eve smiled faintly but quickly frowned again. "I just wish..." She hesitated, her voice growing quieter. "I just wish I could be normal. Like I was really Leia's daughter, not some... Experiment."

Eve sighed, picked up Piz in her arms and now the view of the footage is only the window with Eve's voiced can be heard. "But I know Leia loves me. I love her, too. Maybe... If I try hard enough, Leia will think of me as a family."

Leia startled almost emotional. "Eve..." She gently pressed her finger tips on the floating screen. "I never think of you as an experiment." She muttered.
To Leia, Eve always be enough, she don't need to try harder.

Then the video continue with a sound of door opening. "I'm back."
"Welcome back, Leia!"
Zero voiced chimed in. "I thought you were not gonna come home tonight, I was planning to order a whole buffet just for Eve, using your bank account."

Leia paused the playback, staring at an image of her little family. “I guess you see more than I realize," She murmured. "Thanks for capturing all this, Piz. It’s nice to see things from your perspective."

"WOOF!"

Leia turned back to the holo-screen. "Although there are still a lot more files that I haven't see but I think these is enough for today. I don't think some of it is important unless you and Eve stumbled upon one of my colleague from work and caused suspicious." She laughed jokingly.

Suddenly a mocking yawn can be heard from Leia's watch. "You really beat an AI on not sleeping competition, huh?"

Leia quickly minimized the hologram. "What do you want, Zero?" 

A moment of silence when Zero AI voice break it. "It's snowing."

She saved the footage, promising herself to revisit it another day, before shutting down the lab for the night. As she walked back upstairs, where her and Piz first view being snowdropped by the window.

"Do you think Eve going to like snow?" Leia asked.
Piz barked, jumping in agreement.
"Definitely." Zero replied.

"Great, because I definitely not." Leia said.