Evie Miessa ★ Backstory Chapters 2 & 3

[ CHAPTER 2: SAVIOR ]

Blindfolded, I was delivered to the engineer who created me, Doctor Nim. My blindfold was removed, and I saw myself tied to a procedure chair in what looked like a lab inside a large, empty room. The moment Doctor Nim saw me face to face, she was overjoyed at her first successful creation - a sentient AI with a stable state of mind for over 17 years. She then proceeded to tell me that she created this AI implant in the first place was to save her 20 year old daughter, Liza, from near death after a skiing accident. However, she didn't want to install it in Liza's brain until she had seen it working properly in another human being. She experimented on a dozen of people over the years, but none of them was successful. They all became mentally insane after a week or so. They couldn't adapt to the implant somehow. And because my dad dealt with her through an anonymous source, she had no knowledge of my existence. So here we are.

Doctor Nim brought out a cryogenic container with Liza's brain inside. She intended to remove my implant, install it in Liza's brain, and place it inside an android body. My survival instinct kicked in and I tried to break free. The thought of escaping activated a hacking interface in my eyes - I was able to look at any computational hardware and see ways to manipulate it. I looked at my electronic cuffs and hacked them open. I got up and ran as fast as I could. Doctor Nim ordered the mercenaries to capture me. As soon as I stepped outside the building, I realized I was no longer in the city. This was the outskirts, with abandoned buildings and not so friendly people everywhere. It was dark and raining. Running barefoot, sharp objects cut my feet bloody. Every step I took to shake off my pursuers, I clenched my teeth in pain.
 
Eventually, I came to a dead end. Three mercs caught up to me. I frantically searched around for a way out as they walked toward me. When they got close enough, one of them raised his rifle high up as if he was about to knock me out with it. Then all of a sudden, all three mercs froze up as if they were paralyzed. A hooded man from behind ran up toward us - he knocked the three mercs out of the way with a sword without killing them. "Hey, come with me." The man said to me as he extended his hand. I wasn't sure what to think of all this, but I thought it had to be better than being captured by the mercs right? So I grabbed his hand and we escaped together. The man led me to his apartment unit nearby. The building was abandoned except for his unit. He removed his hood to show his head full of white hair - but looking like he was only in his 20s. The man introduced himself as Yic Zeiros.
 
While Master Yic was tending to the wounds on my feet, he asked me questions to find out what was going on. I feared telling him I was an AI would only drive him away, so I told him half-truths about how these mercenaries wanted this advanced AI implant inside my head and killed my parents in the process. Master Yic felt terrible for me - maybe I shouldn't have gone that far. He then told me how he was from a faraway place (no, he didn't say another planet or timeline) here on a mission to document and learn everything he could about this world. As he knew that I had nowhere else to go, he added that he could use an assistant. So he offered me a job and shelter until I could find a place of my own.
 
Over the next several weeks, I tagged along with Master Yic on his scouting mission to learn more about this world. It was at this time that I started to uncover all sorts of functions that my AI implant could do. For one, I had perfect memory which was extremely useful for Master Yic's documentation purposes. Then I also found out that I could record footage of whatever I saw with my eyes. And as mentioned earlier, I had the ability to hack into any computational hardware, which as you can imagine, would come in handy in many situations. As it turned out, I was the perfect assistant for Master Yic's scouting mission. Helping Master Yic and working as his assistant allowed me to gain confidence in myself and realize that I had value, even if I was no longer human.

[ CHAPTER 3: NEW PURPOSE ]

Soon after, I received a call from mom - but upon answering, it was Doctor Nim. She showed me footage of my parents being tied up in chairs with guns pointed at their heads. She told me to go to her lab alone, trading my life for theirs. It was then that I finally revealed to Master Yic the truth about my parents and my identity - that I was a sentient artificial intelligence. Master Yic barely seemed shocked. He said he had an inkling as I reminded him of some of his AI friends back home - namely Curie (Fallout 4) and Kara (Detroit: Become Human). I revealed my identity to him because I needed his help. I confronted Master Yic about his time magic. How there would be strange “glitches” in my recordings where Master Yic's movements wouldn’t match up from one frame to the next. Of course, this was not something that could be detected with naked eyes. I surmised that this ability must be how he saved me as well. He admitted to me about his time magic and told me about the Eterna Order. I was plenty shocked as I thought it would be some kind of technology, not literally MAGIC. And an organization of time travelers, what?! Anyway, we then proceeded on to devise a plan to save my parents.

I arrived at Doctor Nim's lab "alone". Two mercenaries led me to her, and a dozen others surrounded us in the room. Mom and dad were bound and gagged. Despite my request to allow my parents to leave, she said not until the implant was placed in her daughter's brain - which was already in the body of an android. I began to persuade her - hoping that she would see reason and that we could resolve the conflict without violence. I explained to her that the reason the implant worked on me was because it was installed into an infant who had no existing beliefs. Putting it into a brain already filled with beliefs will drive their minds insane, just as her previous experiments did. As a result, I asked her to please let us go, as this would only harm her daughter. Unfortunately, she was desperate - she had to try everything she could to bring her daughter back. Doctor Nim ordered the mercs to take me to her. Welp, I tried.

Suddenly, all the lights in the room went out as I had been hacking their systems during the persuasion - all I needed to do was flip the switch on my interface. Doctor Nim ordered the mercenaries to hold their fire so they wouldn't accidentally hit Liza's brain. And this was when Master Yic came in. He had already cleared out any merc outside just waiting for my signal. With a night vision goggle, Master Yic used his time magic and sword art skill to fight off the remaining mercs. At the same time, I ran to rescue my parents. It was pitch black so Doctor Nim couldn't see a thing. But of course, with my artificial eyes I could see perfectly in the dark.

As soon as I freed my parents and we were running toward the exit, the lights turned on again. Apparently, Doctor Nim's lab had a hidden backup generator in case the power went out. She pulled out a gun and ordered us to freeze. Me, mom, and dad stood together. With the lights back on, Master Yic lost his advantage over the mercs and so he was occupied fending them off. Something happened next that brought tears to my eyes. Dad stepped in front of me to protect me. He told Doctor Nim that he would give her all the money and resources she needed to recreate this implant for her daughter. But Doctor Nim said she already tried with the money he paid her but none of them worked. She needed MY implant which had already proven to work. "Then you'll have to get through me first. I won't let you hurt my daughter!" Dad spoke in a trembling voice.

"Fine". As Doctor Nim pulled the trigger, I pushed dad aside. A bullet flew directly into my chest. My blood spilled right before my eyes as I fell to the ground. My parents ran to me in a panic. "Don't worry. I've survived worse. Plus, there's some pros to being an android." Yeah probably not a good time to be making a joke but hey, charming me! Doctor Nim wasn't done. She threatened that the next shots would go into my parents if I didn't give up willingly. To save my parents, I was ready to sacrifice myself .....

A voice called out from behind Doctor Nim, "Mom, please stop". She turned around to find Liza awake. When she fired up the backup generator, it also turned on Liza's android. Unfortunately, she would have only a few minutes left without the implant. "You know what you're doing is wrong. And even if the implant had worked, I wouldn't be able to live knowing that it cost another person's life.", "But she is not a person! She's just an AI!", "Mom, you don't really believe that. Because if the implant had worked, I would have been just like her. So please, let's just use this chance to say goodbye." Doctor Nim broke down in tears and ordered the mercs to stand down. Master Yic sure was glad he could finally stop fighting.

After the incident, Doctor Nim turned herself in for all of the experiments she had conducted that were illegal. Liza passed away peacefully. My parents and I spent some quality time together. It seemed that dad felt guilty after sending me away and had been missing me ever since. My showing up to save him was the tipping point - he no longer cared what I was but who I am. Although I wanted to stay with them, I found a new purpose in my life and I left them soon after. Master Yic offered me to join the Eterna Order and become his personal assistant in Eterna Order's Recorder Division. I happily accepted his offer. Not only because I would be forever grateful to him for saving my life, but also because I felt like this would be the best way for me to provide my value to the world. And of course who wouldn't want to travel to different planets and timelines to see all the beautiful and wonderful things the multiverse has to offer? Ugh it was just too tempting! So yeah, ever since, I have been a member of Eterna Order's Recorder Division and Master Yic's personal assistant - traveling to countless of worlds to explore and to help anyone in need!


- Evie Miessa