Chapter 1-Nepotism

"Sooo... you improved AI?" in a gorishly decorated office, with gold accents on all furniture and an entirely too large chandelier that forces one to duck to avoid hitting their head in the center sits Allan Croft in a large chair that resembled a throne. Allan Croft is a lanky, tall, and arrogant man with blond hair and blue eyes, both of which he was not born with as far as Kain knew. He wears a simple white labcoat and his nametag, which would have been lavishly decorated as well, were it not against uniform protocols. leaning against the back of his chair, he rests his feet atop his desk. In his grubby hands he holds Kain's life work, and a thinly veiled disapproval is displayed across his face as he peers at him from over his own feet.

"That is what you wish to use, to get into the number one research facility in the world? An improved AI?" His voice, with a clear unimpressed tone, hits its recipient like a truck. Kain Rust, a young man of only eighteen with dark brown hair and soft golden eyes sits across from Croft in a newly ironed and carefully cared for suit. With rather soft facial features and an unimpressive build, Kain seems mostly unremarkable. He sits with careful posture as a dazed expression reaches his face for a quick second before he readjusts himself and carefully words his response as he tries not to breathe in the fumes coming from Croft's feet.

"Respectfully, sir, my work is far more than just 'improved AI.' Cortex is entirely sentient. My creation is fully capable of forming new ideas and experiences emotions just as a human would. It is, essentially, an entirely artificial soul! I have made artificial consciousness!" Kain coughs lightly and sits back in his seat, as he realizes that he had gotten too excited as he was talking and all but stood up.

With a light sneer, Croft peers at Kain for a second before speaking up, "yes, yes, and such a young age too, so impressive," he says sarcastically while waving away Kains enthusiasm, "but your mother, Martha, her work allows the basic elements to be broken down and built back up into any material as long as you know the chemical makeup. Not only that, but she is able to turn materials into pure energy and back. She all but completed chemistry, and solved the global hunger crisis single handedly. And your father, Steven, he recently discovered how to bend space itself!" Croft sighs, and looks upon Kain with fake pity.

"But you? you are only able to improve AI. For what would we need AI to feel emotions? It's entirely useless to humanity. Honestly, you're supposed to be the perfect genetic combination of your parents? I designed that procedure myself, you really make me doubt my own work." Croft shakes his head and closes his eyes, only to be startled out of his chair by a loud bang. Kain had had enough of this deplorable man belittling him, and had slammed his hand against Croft's fancy desk, causing his various expensive paperweights to rattle.

"DID YOU EVEN READ MY RESEARCH?!?" Kain yells, "the various advantages are clearly stated, an AI with the ability to make independent decisions based on its own ideas and vast database of knowledge could-"

Croft comes to his senses and pops up, hitting his head on his own chandelier. as he rubs his head, he glares at Kain without any effort to disguise his disgust for the young man as he growls out, "Boy, I suggest you calm down. I couldn't reject your application even if I wanted to. Not unless I wanted to lose my job. Your father requested you himself, after all."

Croft ducks down and grabs a brand new lab coat and nametag reading "Dr. Kain Rust" from a drawer in his desk. without any ceremony, Croft holds them over his desk for Kain to grab. Kain slowly stands, careful to avoid hitting his head on the chandelier as he does so. He takes the items from Croft with a heavy frown on his face.

"Now get out of my office!" Croft barks, and Kain listens, walking out with slumped shoulders only to hear the door slam behind him as he reaches the end of the hall.

Kain had grown up inside that building. Its monotonous white halls and occasional signs to designate the zones were home to him. He quickly finds a side room and changes into his new uniform, but the looks he is given when he comes out of that room give him an entirely new feeling. It was as if the entire place knew that the only reason he was in that uniform was because his dad wanted him to be. Shame is what he feels, but he knows that it was unavoidable. Nobody can say no to his father when the man wanted something, and Kain had been requested to work on his newest project. Kain knew the value of his work, even if others did not. He would just have to show them with his actions his genius.

The problem of his admission quickly becomes a side thought as he makes his way to his dad's office. his mind instead moves to what he could possibly be needed for. His father had told him little of what to expect from this new pet project, except that he would like his new AI, Cortex, to be included. As Croft had pointed out in his interview, Kain's father had recently found out how to bend space itself. His first application was for storage, as he could bend space into a bubble that functioned as a separate dimension of its own. This experimental tech was designed to be able to expand indefinitely with enough energy, and Kain had one of his very own in the form of a ring on his right index finger. He had gotten it as a birthday present when he turned 18. However, his father's discovery had opened an entirely new field of study, and Kain was excited to find out what his father had planned next.

Kain's feet come to a stop in front of a plain black door simply labeled "Dr. Steven Rust." It was his father's office, in an unassuming corner of the large building of the United Research Department in which Kain spent much of his childhood. He would spend hours in that room, his father was his role model and Kain would often beg to be included in his research. His father would often concede, and brought him along to read the vast swathes of information held by the department. That was where Kain fell in love with science. As a true son of his parents, an intense drive and curiosity flowed through his veins, with more than enough intelligence to back it up. In that room was where he found the information for his work. It was commonly known that the mystery of what exactly a consciousness is had been long debated but also widely ignored. Kain had been instantly entranced and sought answers to the question: what makes up a consciousness?

Pulling himself out of his memories, Kain sighs deeply to collect himself and slowly opens the door to his father's familiar office, but this time he was not there just to tag along. This time, he would prove to his dad and everyone that he was a capable man.