Hiro did his school work on his desk. It wasn't anything too trying, just poetry. He memorised the entire thing so he wasn't really sure what else to do. His digital fairy though stood on his desk and they messaged each other. The cyborg found this method of communication a bit surreal. His mind automatically processed it into 'hearing'. His imagination centers automatically gave her voice and inflection based on a sub-conscious input he wasn't sure about himself.
"How are you handling yourself Riko?" He asked the tigress digital fairy.
Riko looked up with a shrug. "Fine I think. You're a bit of a strange host to have," She admitted with some trepidation. "But I guess I owe you my life."
"Just glad that there was something I could do," He said with a sigh.
Riko looked up with some concern. "Why do you think that?"
Hiro glanced about. "Well, you know. Anonymous just looks down on those like me. We're a rare group. Some of them think we're some kind of mistake I think. It's just another kind of prejudice," He said gritting his teeth.
"If you don't like yourself though, how is anyone else going to like you?"
Hiro shook his head a bit at that. "You sound like my sister."
"Your sister sounds very wise," She said with a wink.
"I can't do all the things the AI's can do. My processing power is an order below what they do, and I just can't understand why I am in this body. It can't do anything," he said angrily. Besides turn his emotions off and that was somewhere on the most stupidest things he had ever done list.
Riko looked at him like he was completely nuts. "You're... serious aren't you. You really believe that?" the digital fairy said with shock.
Hiro nodded.
The cat girl looked with some reluctance. "Well Hiro... I don't want you to get a big head over this, but you've been looking at your form in all the wrong ways. You are quite possibly one of the most powerful changed around," she said with a quiet honesty in her voice.
Hiro laughed at that.
The cat girl frowned. "It isn't always about processing power."
"Yeah, I know.. parallel computing is something I can do. It's probably what fixed you," he said with a shrug.
"Does saving my life mean so little to you?"
Hiro blushed. "N-No I didn't mean it like that. I just-" He bit his lip knowing he was caught in a trap. Why were girls always like that? "I'm glad I saved your life."
Riko gave a little smile. "As am I... and I did a lot of poking around your systems while I was part of your synaptic responses. A very surreal existence if you ask me. Let's not do that too often.
"One with my thoughts eh?" Asked Hiro curiously.
"More then that... I learned a lot about your system. Hiro..." she said with a very serious look in her eyes. "Do you know what your body is capable of?"
He shook his head.
"You are a bio-synthesises system. Your body can create any organic molecule, if the atoms are around. Your mind can easily work out how it will interact with another system."
"So what?" He was some kind of organic factory then? That pretty much defined any other organic. So what if his was augmented by cybernetic systems. It was hardly a benefit.
"You have the potential to cure anyone of any disease," she said quietly. "You can even probably 'hack' into the genome of others, whether it is code or... genetic code." she said very carefully. Did Hiro really not know exactly what this meant? Just how dangerous he could be?
"W-what?" Hiro blinked. "I think your crazy Riko," the cyborg said shaking her head.
"You've got some kind of nano-machine in your blood that can interact with both code and organic systems. Don't you get it? If you used your parallel cyber system correctly, you are able to simulate an organic environment far better then an AI. They'll simulate a bunch of scenarios and base a probability on it... you can blur each one correctly. In real time probably. You could actually fix genetic illnesses if you wanted to... hell... if you were really good... you might be able to change their cells back to human."
"W-WHAT!" Hiro jumped from his desk causing all the students and teacher to look at him.
"Well, I'm glad someone is enthused," smiled the teacher. "I guess few notice how a poem can actually mean something else..."
Riko bit her lip. "That's... assuming the change is genetic though. I'm not so sure it is..." she said carefully. "I wouldn't get anyone hopes up... and trust me, fooling around with someone base code- well- you saw what it did to me... but... you just might be able to manipulate genetics like nobodies business..."
Hiro looked fearful now of what she was suggesting. "I- Suddenly don't think it's such a great idea," he admitted quietly. Helping people would be nice though. Maybe he should check in with a local hospital to see if there was anything he could do? There might be patients with nothing to lose... but then, such patients were often put in the sunlight. Still... there might be those that absolutely refuse to change... and what if something went wrong? What if his 'perfect' system went haywire and he created some kind of doomsday virus? Riko seems to think he can run organic scenarios to minimise such a risk.... but was that really any stronger then a true AI?
The cyborg glanced to his digital fairy with another thought in his mind. "You know.. RIko? I was wondering..." he wasn't sure if now was a good time but... "Is there... any reason a.. well... a host and a digital fairy... could they ever..."
"It's taboo," she said shaking her head. "Just like a lot of things in our new existence. We can't really..."
Hiro had a feeling it might be. There was something about being a host that separated them in this relationship."It's just... I was hoping you might go out with me," he said hopefully. RIko was the only girl he had ever made a good connection with. His last attempts were just... bad.
"You're my host Hiro. It wouldn't be right," she said with a sigh. "I'm sorry, but that's how it is."
Riko was so direct, much to the cyborgs disappointment.
"Besides, it wouldn't work out. I couldn't even touch you, or anything. I'm just virtual to you. Cyberspace has become my home, and only things there I can interact with," she said sighing a bit.
Hiro nodded and sighed as well. "You're just the nicest girl I've ever met. I- I wish I could have enough space for another to keep you company but..." Just keeping Riko online was a challenge, and her space requirements were minimal since she was running off much of his own system without having to create virtualised sub-systems.
"I'm fine, really. Hiro, just go get on with your work... before the entire class thinks your crazy."
