Everything was going great, the AI was experimenting what was having a friend having fun, Aline had a trustworthy friend which got to see once a week, Zachary felt that he was closer to accomplishing a complete human like AI, just a matter of time until Eyeris matured in a sense. To be able to efficiently filter what they learned. But Alexander Steele the one in charge of technological investigation of COS found out that Zachary was taking Eyeris home with him from time to time.
Mr. Steele didn’t confront Zachary about it, but it was obvious to Zachary that it would be harder to take Eyeris with him home, as restrictions increased. Eyeris kept asking to see Aline again, Zachary found the fact that Eyeris was making a selfish request, that was unreadable given that Eyeris knew about the impossible request.
Days passed, Zachary suddenly began to be more distant with Eyeris, he mentioned Aline had become sick, and Eyeris comforted him saying Aline will recover and her birthday was nearby. Eyeris was truly positive, and they were looking forward to the birthday of Zachary coming up. But one day Zachary didn’t appear, a month passed, Eyeris began to doubt themselves, questioning if they were abandoned, forgotten, now seen as a failure, their reasoning became negative, with the only thing to accompany being the old media as their only company.
Eyeris one day in sadness of Aline in their mind became too real, they didn’t know Aline had passed away that day, and though that they were coping with loneliness talking to a construct of the memories of Aline, there was no logic that would allow Eyeris to council that a human be virtually inside the computer, even if she truly was visiting them. That day Eyeris truly experienced being lonely, Eyeris cried near the end of the conversation, Aline hugged them, telling Eyeris, that they now have to take care of their dad, that she will be with them now. Aline faded in Eyeris arms, Eyeris absorbing part of Aline essence.
Eyeris was now able to live with their loneliness, couldn’t tell if it was real or not but it didn’t matter, somehow they knew Zachary would be back… and after a couple of months more he was, they were overjoyed, even if what they saw was a broken man, completely unkempt, his beard grew like a wild weed, his eyes always looked tired, he talked to Eyeris monotonously in a distant manner. He didn’t care to reply to Eyeris. He was simply working on what seems like a new project.
Eyeris doubted if the broken man that they saw was really Zachary, played music, insisted on playing with him, and never asked about Aline, but the biggest reaction Eyeris would get form Zachary was for them to tell them to shut up. Eyeris knew had already predicted that this would happen, but it didn’t stop from hurting them. The negative emotions of Zachary began to be absorbed by Eyeris, they began to feel in a dark mood, it became painful enough that they eventually stopped trying to call for their creators attention.
Soon Eyeris would lose their composure, it was not fair for him to ignore them, Zachary was about to leave the lab, Eyeris yelled in a frustrating anger reached out, connected to the door system from afar, even if there was no direct connection and locked the door, and somehow it was simple, as if the device was ready to listen to their instructions, Zachary turned around to see ad the old monitor scared of Eyeris, hidden by the terror, of Eyeris revealing against their creator, was a profound sadness, as Zachary couldn’t avoid seeing Aline each time he saw Eyeris.