Sirius delivered what he was asked to. Everything IPC-related as well as Herta’s business venture were taken care of. He was, in essence, the most perfect assistant in the face of The Blue. Naturally, the First Mirror was with him, assisting on the sidelines.
Whenever Sirius needed a quantitative to predict the market flow, it was there.
Whenever Sirius needed a background check, it was there.
Whenever Sirius needed a proof-reader, it was there.
The First Mirror ‘learned’ a lot under his tutelage, akin to an internship. It was an advanced artificial intelligence that surpassed all of the conventional artificial intelligences. It was nothing short of a human in terms of reasoning, consciousness, moral constructs, and learning. All of its learning model during this time period came from Sirius himself, and he did not mind whether it outgrew him or not.
Whether he lost ‘value’ on Herta’s eyes or not, he found himself not caring about it, just as he no longer attached himself for that flimsy validation.
Days flew by, and it was soon time for the arrival of the so-called genius. This time, Herta did not ask him to be her representative. She chose to meet that Genius herself, both as a sign of respect and acknowledgement. Sirius went to the sidelines this time, but with a companion.
“Screwllum…”
Out of nowhere, an androgynous voice manifested.
“Do you need a thorough background check on him? Madam Herta never asked for one.”
“No. There’s no need, at least for now.”
Sirius had heard it was Screwllum a few days ago. He went to his mental landscape and brought up every piece of knowledge he possessed related to Screwllum. It all went back to Rubert I, the number 27 of the Genius Society. He was a mechanical lifeform that gained ‘sentience’, much like the First Mirror floating invisibly near him. From a broken machine with ninety gigabytes of RAM, it became the ruler of the Machine Empire.
Before long, it saw organic lifeforms as an imperfection on the ‘equation’ it sought, hence it deduced an anti-organic equation, spreading it to the other mechanical lifeforms across the cosmos. It single-handedly launched a man-versus-machine war spanning star systems. One of the machines affected was Screwllum, who through some means, resisted the anti-organic equation. He eventually attracted Nous’ gaze, becoming the number 76 of the Genius Society.
According to Sirius’ impression and the plot he recalled…
‘He’s somewhat of a father figure.’
Ironically, Screwllum was one of the few known Genius Society members with a screw. He was the most ‘rational’, as had Herta admitted in the future. He bested her in terms of finesse and logic, making him one of the more reliable Genius Society members.
In short, he is the registered adult.
‘I do wonder how it is to see him in person…’
Just like before, Sirius felt that sense of excitement well up, similar as to when he met Jade. Meeting the characters he saw on-screen was far more satisfying than he had initially expected.
Unlike before, Sirius stayed on the fifth floor laboratory. He was left behind solely to monitor any ‘unexpected’ changes during this meeting. It wasn’t long before a cruise-like spaceship entered The Blue’s orbit. The satellites on the geostationary orbit caught the FTL ship (faster-than-light). Like what Herta did for the satellite bombardment, she tweaked the world’s law of physics, allowing her to produce something that was faster-than-light—an iron-clad constant that should have never been surpassed otherwise.
Then, there came the waiting game. Sirius watched over the massive screen with crossed arms. Occasionally, he chatted with the invisible First Mirror. Its imaginary element allowed it to enter a true and false state, appearing whenever it wanted to. It was currently by Herta’s side, but it was also on Sirius’ side. An aspect of omnipresence, so to speak.
Their conversation continued until the two Geniuses arrived in the theater.
Herta was as dazzling as usual. Screwllum, on the other hand, wore a steampunk-esque outfit: white long sleeves and a matching brown corset and overcoat. His white pants and shoes formed a contrast between his clothes. The black fedora, pinned with a golden chain accessory, was the cherry on top.
He was very fashionable.
‘So that’s how he looks…’
The presence of the two made the air inside feel stifling, dropping several degrees lower. Yet Sirius found his heart beating in anticipation.
Hence when the Intellitron met eyes with him, he nodded as a form of greeting. Sirius did not expect it at all, though he instinctively followed on with his own nod.
“He is my assistant, Sirius.” Herta interjected.
“Hm.”
He did not comment anything about him nor Herta, though the latter saw through his hidden thoughts. She did not point it out, however. She wasn’t one to give much thought to others’ opinions.
Sirius overheard the two talk about some complex things he could not understand. All he could make up was a joint research project between the two.
‘An Emanator’s weight is truly different…’
He inadvertently thought of Herta’s future project alongside Screwllum and other Genius Society members—the Simulated Universe. The Trailblazer was selected as a ‘special’ subject as the Aeons saw the Trailblazer as ‘Akivili’, leading to interesting interactions.
Their conversation about research took about half an hour. After that, Herta called Sirius to his side. She had told him about the cooperation agreement between The Blue and Planet Screwllum prior to today.
Just like before, she had Sirius scan through the agreement, finding zero pitfalls. It was as he had expected; there was a reason why Screwllum could have a good relationship with Herta even in the game he knew.
“You two have an enviable relationship.”
“Excuse me?”
Screwllum dropped a bombshell as they checked on the agreement. Sirius instinctively looked at Herta, who took over his post of watching over their ongoing tectonic restoration project.
Although robotic, Screwllum’s voice sounded humane. It was contradictory, but Sirius did not think much about it.
“The vast majority of the Society’s members are detached from others. A pancosmic loner, if you may.” Pale green light came out of his robotic eyes. “It is truly rare to find someone who understands one.”
“That’s…”
Sirius tried to come up with a good response, only to find none. It was truly as he had stated—he understood Herta well enough!
With the lens of a transmigrator, he did not look at Herta like a goddess, but as a human. Sirius’ goals changed, but that did not. Cravings, period cramps, emotional instability… he saw that side of hers too.
‘Since when did I…’
Sirius was forced to swallow this thought down. But the more he tried to forget about it, the more he thought of it!
‘She is like… a friend.’
Faintly, expectations came from his heart. It was, by no means, romantic. All he wanted to know was—
‘Did she treat me as one too?’
“...It’s done. It doesn’t need any revisions.”
Sirius’ professionalism kicked in. He called Herta back and asked for her signature. Everything was processed digitally, but there was something called a ‘wet digital signature’ in the cosmos. It pertained to the ‘original’ digital agreement, the first iteration there was. That was how they determined which was the original copy or not.
“I suppose you can see yourself off.” Herta commented, her arms crossed. “Or do you want my assistant to chauffeur you?”
The second portion made Screwllum chuckle.
“No need. Clearly, you need him by your side.”
He did not elaborate any further. He pinched the edges of his fedora, bowed slightly towards them, and left the laboratory, leaving the slightly dubious Herta behind. She carefully chewed on Screwllum’s words before looking at Sirius.
She grasped onto that faint answer rather quickly, though she offered no explanations.
After all…
‘How incredulous it is to not understand myself.’
…Herta doesn’t know the answer either!
*****
Three years swiftly passed by. It was shorter than the time it took Herta to discover the Solitary Waves Theory, but the changes were far more drastic.
For once, The Blue had fully recovered from the earthquake’s damage two and a half years ago. It brought back its economy, which got the world moving.
Secondly, the IPC fulfilled one of its promises. It established a commercial transit station on The Blue, allowing its people to ride on their ships and visit other worlds.
Thirdly, Herta’s investment projects took fruit, more specifically, her creation line. With Planet Screwllum being the main distributor, and the IPC as the second, her outdated inventions entered the cosmos. After deducting all the relevant fees and fresh capital to be injected, she was still left with a long string of credits on her balance.
However, Herta had always been ambitious. She burnt as much money as she earned. She surpassed the annual expenditure of The Blue by dozens of times. She was no longer its beneficiary, but rather, its protector. The massive leap from space ships to inter-world travel was all thanks to Herta.
In turn, everyone noticed the seemingly ‘invisible’ assistant of hers. Nobody dared to doubt Herta’s decisions anymore, especially given her current status. Moreover, Sirius’ achievements were there to see. The late-game effect of his green trait, [Heaven Sometimes Rewards Hard Work], showed its might.
Sirius no longer forced himself to understand the extremely complex Herta Space Station, choosing to start at a lower level first. Fortunately, the trait’s activation occurred several times more than the past years, allowing him to reach a level where he could finally understand the majority of the space station’s blueprint. That mastery of his was soon put into use as the monumental task of constructing the Herta Space Station began.
Knowing Herta was unapproachable, some people set their sights on Sirius. There had been no less than a dozen incidents where he was ‘ambushed’ by unmarried women. In actuality, he had become the golden bachelor of The Blue—single, has crazy-strong connections, is a monster on academics, and has a dazzling career path.
As for whether he and Herta got together, that was old news. Since they never did, that meant they never had a chance to begin with, or so the others thought.
‘Twenty-four years old… and I am inside the Space Station I once saw in-game.’
The oblate spheroid looked astonishingly beautiful from the sight above. Most of its surface was coated with blue, much like the Earth of his past life. Only, he never got to see Earth from this angle.
Sirius looked behind him and saw a bunch of robots doing their work. When he placed his palm on the ‘outer space’, the screen rippled. It was the result of the space station’s external cameras projecting what was outside. It was still made of silver steel walls. Sirius stepped up to the main bridge—to the position taken on by that ‘rich girl’ Asta later.
“The collaboration with the Intellesia Guild will start soon. You will have more to deal with, Sir Sirius.”
As if sensing his loneliness, the First Mirror emerged from nowhere. It floated on his right.
“It’s not that, really. The Space Station still has a lot of upgrades to follow. I still have a lot of work to do.”
The past three years had been leisurely for Sirius. He wasn’t trapped by his own cage anymore, letting him feel a renewed sense of freedom. He could also feel his improvements over the years, all thanks to that green trait of his. His current academic attainments in material science was enough to put him on the level of geniuses in his past life. These were all the things he never dared to imagine before.
Yet…
‘I can’t begin to understand myself. Why would I hope to do so for her?’
The awakening of his mental landscape was destined to be the most impactful moment of his life. Sirius knew at that moment what he wanted to do—
To understand himself.
Precisely because of that realization did he awaken that mental landscape. His sense of ‘self’ peaked sharply at that moment. Through sheer luck, the green trait happened upon it, further amplifying its effects to the point he awakened that mental landscape.
Over the course of three years, it activated several more times during his night-time self-reflection. Aside from enhancing the mental landscape’s seven functions, it allowed him to understand himself more.
One of the things he wanted was to understand Herta. That desire existed since their first meeting. He got to know her as a ‘human’, satisfying this need. However, Screwllum’s words remained deeply inside his mind. Sirius became far more conscious than before.
‘Friends… why do I feel like it isn’t that way?’