Impossible Miracles

Chapter 2
Sleeping Beauty

His fingers lay on the switch. Deep breaths. Just a twitch of his muscle, and his project would be finished.

The room looked much the same as it had just a week ago. The floor was sheeted with pages of computation. The walls were as blank as ever.

The only difference was the wires that bore down from the ceiling and draped like thick boas centering in on the kill. They twisted and intertwined grotesquely until what they created resembled more like a single tree trunk than a forest.

Some of the wires entered the girl's temple; others into where her heart would be. Still others connected to her feet, and to her neck.

She lay as still as ever before, still asleep. A picture of pure beauty other than the sight of the connections marring her otherwise perfect appearance.

He had sat with his back to her, unable to look at her more than he had to.

But those days were coming to an end. The basic AI was finally done, the functionalities for motion, understanding speech, self-check operations, and most importantly, the ability to learn. He had tried to program as many personality traits as he could, but the sheer depth of his sister's character eluded his attempt to code it into simple lines of words, and so he had to settle with a pale of shadow of what he could recreate. What she didn't know, she could learn from him.

That was the plan, at least.

Deep breaths. Fingers on the switch, the Run button on his computer. He closed his eyes, back still facing her.

He moved.

There was no loud whirring or incessant blips and beeps like they showed in the movies. There was only silence. The soft sounds of his prayers leaving his lips did not even reach his ears as he sat, curled on the floor in front of his computer, with his knees pulled close to his face as his hands cupped the words.

And then there was a slight creak and rustle. The wires were being strained – he knew this in his mind, but he did not comprehend. He stared up at the ceiling, looking at the pulling motions.

It was only when he heard another voice in the isolated room did he react.

It was only a simple "Ah…" but it was enough, because it was her voice.

Len flailed around, and hastily stood, as though he had forgotten how to move his limbs. "I-I'm sorry! I'm sure that's uncomfortable … I'll remove them right now."

With fingers shaking with anxiety and shock, he removed the wires that now served no purpose – their data had been downloaded the previous day, but the charging meant they still needed to be connected.

When he reached the wires at her temple, she opened her eyes. The sight caused him to stop.

"Hello, sleepy head. Have a good beauty sleep?" he couldn't help asking.

And if there was no answer, he didn't care as he removed the last of the defilations and she became whole.

It was enough to see her eyes again, reflecting himself in them as though they were together and one again.