Zak, Not Zack

The next morning,

Lillian stretched her arms in the air before getting out of the covers. She was still sitting on the bed, her eyes moving around the room. She found herself within the same unfamiliar environment from the previous day, only this time it didn't give her a scare.

She stifled a yawn which was trying to escape her mouth, covering it with the back of her hand. Her eyes trailed off to the bare walls of the room as she tried to look for a wall clock so that she could have a look at the time.

As her eyes jumped from one wall to the other, a frown marred her forehead which only seemed to be deepening with time.

"How do I know what time it is now?" She muttered to herself absent-mindedly. Though she had a good late dinner last night, she woke up with an empty stomach. It made her believe the fact that she might have overslept. She was lost in her own thoughts when a robotic voice made her jump in her spot.

"Do you wish to know the time?"

"W-who's that?" The words left her mouth as confusion began to dominate her mind. The room was empty with not a single soul in sight. She wondered where the weird voice was coming from.

"Hello." The same robotic voice filled the room. It seemed like it was coming from all the directions, messing with her mind.

"A-ah… Who was that?" Lillian looked to her right before looking back to her left, trying to figure out the source of the voice. But to her dismay, all her eyes landed on was the plain, painted walls.

"My apologies. I am Zak." The program replied to her briefly, introducing itself.

"Z-zak?" She mumbled under her breath as the frown on her forehead only deepened with her eyes widening in shock.

"Yes. I am Zak. I am an AI interactive program which has access to this entire building to some extent." The system, or Zak as it was named, replied to her.

Silence engulfed the room as Zak went quiet once again after saying its part.

"You wanted to know the time, Miss. It is close to 1200 hours." Zak spoke up again in his robotic voice once again when Lillian didn't speak up. She couldn't be blamed for going quiet. She was too shocked by what was happening around her.

It seemed to her that she had stepped into a completely different world. Things were too different for her there as compared to the past week and a half which she remembered living through.

"Do you need me to call Boss? I can inform him that you are awake now, Miss." Zak continued when he didn't get any other input.

"N-no. I will be fine." Lillian mumbled softly and everything went quiet once again. She was about to repeat her words, thinking that Zak was not able to hear her. But the words died down on the tip of her tongue when it spoke up again.

"As you say. You can find new clothes to change into in the built-in cupboard." As soon as its word ended, a sound of a can being popped open was heard which stole her attention away.

As she moved her head in the direction from where the sound came from, her gaze landed on an open closet which was filled with female clothes.

"How?" She forced the word through her lips as she looked around the room.

"Boss arranged it for you and asked me to tell you when you wake up. You need not to worry about it since it was only the Boss who entered inside the room in the morning to put the clothes in the closet." Zak rambled on in its robotic, male voice.

"I have a message for you as well, Miss." Zak added before going quiet.

A beep was heard, after which a familiar voice rang through the air.

"If you are hearing this voice message then you must be wide awake already. I apologize for the scare which you might have gotten after hearing Zak's voice."

It only took her a couple of seconds to realize that it was Blake who was talking to her, but how? She had no idea about that.

"You can take as much time as you need to freshen up. Just get downstairs when you are done with it, and by downstairs I mean the ground floor, not all the way downstairs. Take a turn to your left first and then walk down the right corridor once you are downstairs. You will find yourself in the dining hall. Eat something and then just ask anyone to bring you to the training grounds. I will meet you there."

With another beep which was similar to the first one, the message ended, leaving Lillian at a loss.

"Zack?" She spoke up after a while, her voice loud and clear for the AI to catch on.

"I am here, Miss. And it is Zak, not Zack. There is no 'c' in my name." It replied to her, making her roll her eyes.

'Isn't it the same thing?' She thought inwardly, deciding to keep her thoughts to herself.

"I don't know how you are doing this, but you can understand me, right?" She spoke up.

"Yes, I can understand you, Miss." Zak replied.

"Is it going to be the same everywhere in this building? I mean you speaking out of nowhere and conversing with me." She questioned.

"I so wish it was like this, but I don't have permissions to do so. Outside of this room, I can only watch and report to the Boss." Zak replied.

"So, once I am out you won't be able to direct me to the training room?" She asked.

"No." Zak took a brief pause during which another beep was heard, but this time it wasn't a voice message. "There is a phone in the upper drawer of the night stand. You can use it for getting directions from me. I won't be able to talk to you, but I will guide you in case you stray away from the path."

"Thanks… Zak." Lillian mumbled before getting out of the bed.

"You are welcome, Miss." Zak replied before going back to being silent.