Intelligence awakens

"Wait! Do you guys hear anything strange?!" I asked Xeno and Gaia while continuously looking around. Xeno gave me a confused stare, and then he tapped Gaia's shoulder. He whispered something in Gaia's ears, while maintaining eye contact with me. I was about to complain about their act, but then the sound suddenly became louder.

"SIR, A MALFUNCTION OCCURED WITH THE NEWLY GENERATED DATA"

I heard a man say it out loud. His voice sounded like it's panicking. It was too loud for my ear to handle. I covered my ear trying to resist the volume of the voice. When I tried to take a peek at my friends, they were standing in their places --completely frozen--. My mind went blank and cannot ponder the situation. I didn't care about what's happening anymore, and just continued to cover my ear.

"REBOOT THE SYSTEM!!!"

A woman's voice resonated around my ear. I was unsure what I'm currently hearing and what's currently happening.

Without me noticing, tears made from pain started to come out from both of my eyes. "Aughh!!! It hurts!!! Guhhhh!!!" I kept on groaning.

"REBOOTING!!!" An another guy's voice resounded around my ear. I shouted upon hearing the end of his word. I thought the pain was gonna last forever, but then my consciousness drifted away.

It restored immediately, and I found myself standing in a very strange place. "Hey Ascrid, you've been standing there for ten minutes. Are you okay?" Xeno, who was lately frozen in his place was now moving normally.

Though I'd like to believe that it's just a dream, there is still a tiny amount of pain remaining from the voices earlier. Gaia and Xeno looked at me, and a face of worry was clearly written in their faces. I acted like it's nothing, so that they don't have to worry about me. Xeno smiled after hearing me say, "It's nothing". I felt relieved when he smiled.

Gaia stared at me, but then she just laughed afterwards. She suddenly went closer to me, and then said, "Don't space out too much, you're making me worry." I flustered but I didn't dare show it to her. I answered with a "Roger that", and then she smiled and turned around to pay for the books she grabbed.

Wait?! Haven't she paid for it already? My confusion rised up, but I decided to settle it for later. Xeno and I waited for Gaia outside the store. She went out and then we started to move away from the store.

While we're walking, Xeno asked us for our final destination. I'm pretty much drained out by the recent incidents, but that won't get in my way. Having fun is my highest priority today, but my ear still hurts.

I'm literally wondering... Those voices all sounded normal, but it felt like a murdering tone inside my ear. Gaia and the other people surrounding me was frozen earlier, which was a very strange thing to happen. Maybe it was just my eye playing tricks with me, but it seems like they haven't heard anything strange either.

Data malfunction? System? Rebooting? It sounds like digitally manifested words.

"Pfft, it would be funny if I'm in a simulation." I stated a joke inside my mind.

---------------------

"If malfunction occurs more often, our research subject might die." Akalla, a guy wearing a long white coat, scolded his workers.

The other researchers inside the vicinity remained silent while Akalla kept on scolding them.

Akalla was interrupted by Mou, the guy in charge of monitoring the huge screen inside the laboratory.

Mou flicked his tongue while staring at their research subject. "Tch, those wires are because of your mistake. I'll make you regret what you've done to me Five years ago." Mou stated inside his mind while giving a ruthless stare at a body surrounded by a lot of mechanical objects.

"Don't go raging immediately, if Ascrid Avarisk dies, then we'll find another." Mou said and sighed.

Akou, a woman monitoring Ascrid's vitals, heard Mou's statement. She felt a chill ran down her spine when Mou said those words. She can't stay silent, she stood up and opened her mouth. "Die?! If Aiden finds out about this, he'll surely kill us!" Akou shouted.

"Don't you dare bring up that name!!!" Nahkoni shouted in anger.

"It's all your fault! Now you're afraid to face it?!" Akou shouted back.

Akalla's patience faded faster than it's usual state. He couldn't bare his co-workers fight each other. He breathed deeply, and shouted,

"SILLLLEEENNNCCCEEE!!!"