Dr. Hildebrand's bio-shell

Ivy woke up first, looking over at Lucas again, in his bandages and casts and the transmitter device. Ivy watched him--watched a part of herself--for a while longer. There was a body under all that fabric and plastic. Or was there? Was it some illusion, where she had always been like this in this body, and she only imagined that she had been connected to Luke? A shiver ran over her, with this sensation in her mind of one part of her comforting her other half. She had to save herself, somehow.

An icon appeared on the side of her face, as she pat a sleeping James on the shoulder. "Hey hon, it's time. We have to take a drive to meet someone, at the Hideki building." James eventually stirred, and as he opened his eyes, Ivy leaned in to kiss James briefly. "It's 9:30, and it looks like traffic is slow on East 4th Street, so we're going to want to save fifteen minutes by going south first." Ivy continued to remind James that she was a good digital assistant with Hilda in the mix, something he really enjoyed about her.

Grabbing some breakfast smoothies, the duo quickly exit the hospital and drive as quickly as they can to the Hideki satellite offices in Seatown. Ivy changed her face into a screen, playing the role of GPS for her boyfriend--a role she happily took on, volunteering to do it. When James would look over, Ivy would turn so he could see the screen. But standard GPS units don't have hands to point at the right roads to take. Once again, Ivy proved herself to be superior to any phone--or really, she's the sexiest phone James ever knew!

The drive took about two hours from the hospital to the Seatown Hideki campus. They drove right by the Seatown University campus, as James and Ivy both looked at it as their future. In just a few months, they would be on that campus, living and learning. All of them would be.

The couple walked into the main Hideki satellite building when they reached it. Unlike some of the more fantastical labs and tech facilities that Hideki had in bigger regions like Spiral City, the Seatown facility focused mostly on the business and marketing arm of Hideki in the region. Even though they didn't work on the R&D side of things, there was still plenty of impressive architecture, kind of a playground for appeasing investors when Hideki gives their annual report. It was almost like a Hideki museum as they were escorted inside and down a hall--phones, televisions, game consoles, computers, medical innovations, it all sat on proud pedestals lining the walls.

Ivy paused for a moment in front of a giant screen partway down the hall, as a 3D model of Hilda stared at her with a cute smile. That version of Hilda seemed so different from the one within Ivy's head--the Hilda on the screen could answer any sort of question with a kindness fine-tuned by focus group, but Ivy just stared at her like she was staring at a strange reflection. It took her a moment before James pat her on the shoulder to continue on.

Once they were inside one of the open conference rooms, they were greeted immediately by a smiling brunette woman, wearing a blouse and dark skirt. Both James and Ivy couldn't help but admire the woman's impressive curves--she was shapely and alluring, with a strong motherly vibe. She smiled and extended a hand to both to shake. "Good to meet you both--or, you three? Four? I'm Dr. Zoe Hildebrand. I understand you're in a unique situation. Otherwise, I wouldn't have an artificial intelligence bombarding my email."

Ivy began the long story, from the accident to the rather awkward revelations about Lucas feeling comfortable in Ivy's body in mixed mode, and then a silly situation with installing Hilda eventually leading to an incredible digital awakening as Hilda integrated into Ivy's mind as a third entity. Zoe listened, even noting the status indicators along Ivy's right ear, amused by the inventiveness they had all been with this situation.

"I don't know how to explain what it's like to be somebody's phone," Ivy said sheepishly. "But I love it so much, in addition to everything else."

"Oh, I understand what you mean, in my own way," Zoe said with a playful smile. "But, that all sounds pleasant so far, outside of the initial event that led to this unique situation. From what I understand, things are getting worse?"

Ivy and James both nodded. "There's a chance that Luke won't survive the surgery he needs," James said. "I don't want to lose my friend, and frankly, we're all really happy with this arrangement as it is. We're just wondering if there is some way to maintain things, where Ivy and Luke and Hilda, even, could be like this when they want it."

Zoe nodded, listening carefully to all their concerns, as well as their hopes. When they finished, Zoe tapped her chin. "It's a very unique situation. I will be honest, had Hilda not been part of the integrated mind, I probably would have had to decline all contact. But... there is a lot of interest in an artificial intelligence that can integrate seamlessly with a biological form. I know that Hilda has been used to move bodies before, but not to gain a sort of self-awareness that would prompt her to preserve herself. Hilda, what's your favorite food?"

"Oh, I love ice cream, especially chocolate chip," Ivy said, with a smile. Her behavior was just slightly different when Hilda was asked directly for something, rather than just asking the mix as a whole.

That seemed to surprise Zoe, who observed Ivy's behavior carefully. "There's a lot going on there... the way she responds, having enough self-awareness to react, word choice, it's all so much more organic than the cloud-based Hilda, and that version has a whole server room dedicated to processing basic representations of cognition. But this appears to be true cognition. And I can say, Hideki will want to preserve that. So, if that means she needs Lucas to be safe to maintain the level of existence that she is comfortable with, then I can secure funding for something that the tech department has been cooking up."

Zoe put a box on the table, and opened it in front of two curious teenagers. Inside was a silvery cylindrical device with rings wrapped around it, about the size of a soda can. "This is the Ishida Chamber. It's a very unique device, designed to store living tissue in what I would call an electrochemically active stasis. It's a sort of alternative to cryo-technology. The body would be in a chamber, filled with a unique liquid that stops a lot of biological processes like cell division. However, the cells are all still getting nutrients, kind of like each cell is kept on life support. Brain cells don't replicate the same as other cells, so even as the body exists in stasis, thoughts are still processing. So, with something like the Ascend transmission circuitry, Lucas would still have a connection to the outside world, either with an Ascend receiver, or a robotic body, or some other interface."

"Oh wow," Ivy said, as she picked up the cylinder to examine it. "So, this is like a model? The body would be in a full-size one?"

With a smile, Zoe shook her head. "No, that's the whole unit." James and Ivy stared blankly at Zoe for a moment, prompting her to elaborate. "Part of what I do at Hideki, something I'm best known for at the lab even, is fitting things within some sort of container that is obviously not the right size. It's a manipulation of dimensional space to put the core sort of at an angle outside of normal spacetime. It's strange to believe, I know. But it's much easier to manage things with a canister this size, which can make it easier to cycle nutrient liquids and such. And, there's another little feature that I think might be useful. Mind if I see the Ascend for a moment?"

Ivy blinked, and then nodded, as she disconnected the headset and set it down by Zoe, along with the canister. Without the Ascend, Ivy felt a little extra ****, a little lonely in her mind. With all the decisions all her own--although, with just a hint of Hilda for the parts of Ivy's mind that Hilda occupied--Ivy grew a bit clingier, holding onto James like she wanted to pull him inside and borrow his brainpower for a bit. Of course, James happily held her close.

The headset blinked on the table, where Hilda and Lucas remained stuck. Zoe picked up the canister and the headset, and demonstrated a surprise--when the face mask was affixed to the canister, the little rings around the canister unfurled, with what looked like little antennae in the front, as the Ascend lit up with the OS screen. When Dr. Hildebrand set the new mechanical object down, the metallic object with the receiver on top resembled something like a beetle.

"I call this the Shieldbug configuration," Zoe said happily. "It wasn't built for the Ascend, but I knew Hilda could make the connection. With this, Lucas could still be mobile, still keep all that technology with him, still be helpful--and even take the initiative of connecting to a body when needed. Lucas, can you hear me? How do you feel?"

"This is extremely weird..." Lucas said, as the little shieldbug skittered around on the table, likely with Hilda's help. "But if you can do all that, and if it will really keep me safe and let me keep doing this, then I'm in. Just... don't tell my dad that Hideki can break the laws of space-time, okay? I don't think a Yabusa lifer will believe it."