Chapter 153 – Parthenogenesis
The brain surgery was completed quickly.
This is because it is not the type of major work that involves replacing muscles, bones, and blood that was done in the past.
It ends with the insertion of implants, circuits, and artificial nerves made from a combination of organic and inorganic materials. The process was quick.
[Originally, it was much more complicated and took longer than this. Physical surgery is also surgery, but the brain nerve patterns of the subject being treated must be scanned in various ways.]
“Do you feel like checking your blood type before transfusion or something like that?”
[To put it extremely simply.]
Artemis didn’t like my analogy at all.
[Side effects that may occur during body strengthening procedures include convulsions, paralysis, chills, nausea, secretion, urination, coughing, weakened immunity, weight loss or gain, and pain. It’s painful, but it doesn’t kill you, and it can be easily corrected.]
“But is it different in the case of brain surgery?”
[That’s right. The moment you notice a side effect, boom! Whether your brain is cooked or turned into pudding, you will become a fool. It’s like pouring water into an outlet and losing all the electricity in your house. The entire brain nerves shut down. Electricity can be solved by fixing the shorted part and turning the circuit breaker back on, but that cannot be done with the brain.]
It reminded me of dead bodies that had suffered brain death while causing infection mutations in the Brain and Nerve Research Institute.
[That’s why we thoroughly measure all elements of the brain to ensure that there are no bugs. It takes a long time and the process is difficult, but you have already completed the process a long time ago.]
“No way, as long as we’ve been together?”
[Not only during various checkups or treatment processes, but also little by little and constantly during daily life. Even when playing games or watching movies together.]
She chuckled. It was as if she couldn’t hold back because she wanted to keep talking.
“When did it start?”
[Well, when was it…]
Artemis’ voice was faint.
Mate!
Instead of answering, she clapped her hands.
[Ego! Should we stop talking about this and check on the procedure?]
It was an obvious change of words, but I wasn’t that curious either.
Rather than that, I focused on the strange sensation that was happening in my mind right now.
Knock.
It was a knock.
‘Can you hear me?’
Artemis has been knocking on my heart. It is not a metaphor.
The knock contained her will and her heart.
The voice that came in the form of radio waves penetrated not into the eardrum and cochlea, but through an implant inserted into the brain.
‘Jinsu, can you hear me?’
“I don’t know whether to say I hear this or I feel it.”
Immediately after answering vocally, I realized that I had already learned how to communicate voicelessly.
‘I have installed all the information necessary for use. ‘Do you remember the Matrix we watched together before?’
‘It was an amazing movie.’
‘It’s similar to that. Now you don’t have to work hard to learn. Although you are limited by bandwidth and memory capacity, you can learn anything you want. Much more efficiently.’
‘I see.’
‘You don’t seem very happy?’
As she said, I was not very impressed by this amazing progress.
Just as the saying goes that I am not interested in chanting and only care about ashes, all my attention was focused elsewhere.
Needless to say, it is Artemis.
Although she rarely expressed it herself, Artemis has longed for a perfect body.
Even though they developed the 3rd generation Android, which was functionally far superior to humans, they didn’t even pay attention to that.
The body that the proud and noble perfectionist finally chose as his vessel.
It is growing in the incubator room. This is the culture place where my muscles and bones were replaced in the past.
I was constantly worried about that and couldn’t focus on anything else.
I want to see you right now. Her appearance in this world.
* * *
Geeing.
The door to the incubator room was opened.
We will be able to see Artemis’ completed body in the future, but only now can we see her cute appearance in her younger days.
What greeted me in the incubator room was an embryo curled up inside an artificial womb.
It is so small and its shape is so imperfect that it does not yet feel like a human being.
But it just looks lovely to me.
The embryo I’ve seen several times on science programs is light pink, but this one has a transparent silver body. Even at first glance, it was implied that he was a precious person.
The slightly oval-shaped eyes clearly reveal their presence, and something is coming and going through the artificial umbilical cord connected to the navel.
All of this is wrapped in an amniotic sac filled with transparent artificial amniotic fluid. The amniotic membrane is contained in an incubator.
The moment I got close to observing her face, the door to the incubator room opened.
“…?”
And then strange women came in.
Currently, only three people can enter the upper VIP living area: me, Chrollo, and Rose.
The two people who just came in were people I had never seen before. However, you can tell their identity the moment you see them.
“Excuse me, manager.”
The tone and body movements seem to have been put together thousands of times.
Without a doubt, these are the second generation Androids.
One has short black hair, and the other has long pink hair.
Both are wearing red, antique cloth clothes and thin sandals reminiscent of ancient Greeks.
Is this Artemis’s preference?
“From now on, we will be in charge of this place. Manager, please leave and take a rest.”
The black-haired android spoke politely.
It’s a beautiful voice, but it’s different from Artemis, Rose, Chrollo, or Kids.
A tone like an extremely elaborate answering machine, devoid of any emotion.
“Isn’t there anything particularly difficult? Most of the process is automated anyway.”
There is nothing to do except bring and supply the necessary materials.
To exaggerate a little, it is only slightly more difficult than putting food in the microwave with the packaging removed.
“There is no need for the administrator to mess with it.”
The black-haired android spoke again.
The pink-haired android just stood quietly to the side.
“It’s not a hassle at all. This is how much Artemis has done so far. That’s because I want to do something too.”
But the two did not back down.
“You have already done enough. “You need to leave.”
“…”
I had a feeling there was some other reason. Why do you keep trying to send me out?
“Hey?”
I said looking at the ceiling.
“Artemis?”
At this point, she could have come forward and said something, but she is silent.
‘Administrator.’
It was Chrollo.
She sent a silent message through her brain.
‘This is a direct line between me and the manager. No one but the two of us can hear. If Artemis pays her attention here, she might notice, but I don’t think she will.’
I glanced at the two androids, but they politely clasped their hands together and looked down, making no movement.
‘What’s the problem now? Could it be that there is a problem in the process of creating the body and connecting consciousness?’
‘No, no. She’s perfectly fine. There is a problem, but it is not a mechanical defect, but something else. Would you say it is a trivial yet complex problem?’
Chrollo’s voice was mixed with laughter.
‘What problem?’
‘What is being created now is her body. ‘A real body filled with blood and flesh?’
Texts came into my head.
Meat-meat.
Body-body.
‘What is that?’
‘Me, Rose, and the two androids in front of you are not living things. We can store something useful in our bodies and release it whenever we need it. ‘You know because you’ve experienced it, right?’
I nodded.
It’s a surprisingly great feature. For example, massage oil coming from the palm of your hand!
The feeling of your tense muscles melting away under that touch is as ecstatic as sex.
‘But we cannot create something ourselves. Just contain it or consume it.’
‘Artemis is different?’
‘Yes. She can synthesize it within her body. Oil or anything else. The possibilities of her body are so vast that a metaphor would be more appropriate.’
Several images were sent into my head.
A field of golden wheat fluttering in the wind.
The only blue primordial sea on the bleak earth of the beginning.
Moss and mushrooms fill the majestic cave.
Tens of thousands of trees growing from one huge root.
‘If there is anything noble in life, it is only her body.’
‘I know how precious your body is. So what do you want to say? Why are you trying to send me out?’
‘There is a nobility that only a living body can achieve, but at the same time, there is also an ugliness that cannot be avoided because it is a body.’
‘What is it? ‘Pooping and peeing?’
‘… Manager, you need to use more delicate expressions. Of course, that kind of toughness is cool too.’
Chrollo said as if he couldn’t stop him.
‘Because they only receive the final nutrients through the umbilical cord, they do not pass stool. But there’s nothing I can do about urinating.’
Her amniotic fluid is transparent, so every time she says something, something slightly yellow will spread out.
It may not feel like much now, but what if you have grown enough?
I stroked my chin and imagined the scene in detail.
‘As the body grows further and becomes more defined, the wrinkling characteristic of a fetus will appear. We cannot leave out the private parts that are clearly exposed in a defenseless state, as well as the mysterious postures seen during the body cleansing process. I don’t want to show such unsophisticated side.’
The appearances listed by Chrollo may certainly be considered visually embarrassing.
But even if I were to see some form of Artemis, I wouldn’t consider it ugly.
‘You really didn’t think I would be disappointed or find it ugly, did you? I can happily accept any appearance.’
‘Of course I believe it. But this isn’t a matter of faith. Because I just don’t want to be seen. I would have done the same.’
‘Does Artemis look in all sorts of places when doing my health check-up or strengthening treatment?’
‘That is that and this is this.’
‘…’
I felt like I had reached a dead end in conversation.
‘Artemis won’t say a word in the incubator room. Until the manager leaves! Hehe.’
I raised both hands as a sign of surrender.
‘Okay, I lost. ‘Stop leaving.’
‘Your judgment is excellent!’
Chrollo applauded.
‘Don’t send applause directly. It’s a very strange feeling. ‘It feels like thunder is going through my brain.’
‘Ahahaha.’
Chrollo apologized.
“Oh, wait a minute.”
One word spoken out loud resonated pleasantly in my ears.
After all, old-fashioned conversation that goes through the lips and ears is better than conversation that goes back and forth only in the brain.
Before leaving, I turned around and walked to the front of the incubator. I stretched out both hands and touched the glass tube.
A fetus much smaller than my fist. Artemis’ crouching body that didn’t even have a shape.
I remember her once beckoning me with the image of her blood.
‘Look at my body. Look at this form that contains the sweet scent of flesh, yet is not bound by mortal limitations. ‘Imagine when you become perfect, wearing immortal bones and skin.’
The surreal experience of a bloody female body seducing me, and our bond that made me think of it as natural.
‘Don’t you want to touch me?’
Just like then, there is a glass wall between us, but now she has her own bones, flesh, and skin.
Her heart is beating, her nerves are sending electrical signals, and her clear, clear fingernails and toenails will soon grow.
There is also a brain where complex chemical reactions are taking place that are incomparable to mine. She’s probably got pretty brain wrinkles too.
There is no body hair yet, but soon, silver-colored hair that looks like moonlight and drawn eyebrows will appear.
… Will something grow on the other side? I suddenly became incredibly curious.
Anyway, all of that is compressed into this small, squat being.
Just like a newly sprouted seed, we only have a beautiful future ahead of us.
It is also a divine seed, not an ordinary seed.
“You’ll see soon.”
I was really looking forward to that day.
Hold Artemis’s hand and feel its body heat.
Hearing the voice coming from her lips, not from a machine.
When you make her angry, it doesn’t just end with a scolding over her speaker, it ends with a slap from her palm.
Sit side by side, grab a pad, and play video games.
Let her experience a full scalp massage, shoulder massage, and foot massage and watch her reaction.
Chew popcorn in the big VIP movie theater.
“What flavor of popcorn does Artemis like? Do you want to like the taste of caramel like ordinary women?”
He even looks confused about what flavor to eat.
All of that was awaited.
“Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
As I left the incubator room, the two androids bowed 90 degrees to see me off. The two did not stand up until the door closed.
