Chapters Just Another Day in Eureka
|0|-Just Another Experiment in Eureka
|| 0 ||
Just Another Experiment in Eureka
"Okay, what freak experiment-machine are we testing today?"
"Well, Jack, today's our first full run of our Abstract Organic Printer."
Jack and Allison were walking down one of the many halls of Global Dynamics. It was nearly a routine sight for them. These endless halls weaved through the large facility, which was home to the greatest minds and most advanced technologies on Earth. The complex itself was located in the small town of Eureka, set deep inside a forest in southern Oregon. Everyone in the town had a very high intelligence even from a young age. Most people except Sheriff Jack Carter, but despite not being on the same level of intelligence as most of the town, he was relied on to resolve the random occurrences and problems that plagued Eureka, which usually meant saving the town from complete destruction in the process.
"So... it makes random organic stuff? Sounds simple enough. Nothing can possibly go wrong with that, now can it?" Jack said, emphasizing with some gestures with his arm. Still, one couldn't blame him for speculating about that, as many experiments that supposedly were going to run perfectly ended with Jack getting his work cut out for him.
"It's not as simple as that, Jack," Allison started. "While your explanation is technically correct, it doesn't do justice to what the project is actually made to do. The Abstract Organic Printer was designed to create any organism possible. And not just existing ones, either. It can be entirely fictional, and it'll find a way to create it. I'll explain it more to you once we get down there."
"Right... totally nothing can go wrong."
==+==
"Hey, Zane, how's it going?" Jack greeted.
Zane Donovan was a long time companion. He was among Eureka's top minds, despite having an unruly attitude much of the time, and was the current head of Section 5. He was tasked with many high-priority projects, and as it was, testing of the AOP landed on him as well. At the moment, he was sitting in front of multiple computers and a large window.
"Oh, hey Jack, Allsion. Nothin' much really. Been here since, oh... I don't know, 8 in the morning, regulating the AOP, for about six hours... yeah, not much," Zane answered. He checked the the computer screens for information. "Fortunately though, it's around 98.5 to 99% finished. It's in the finishing stages, so it should be done in a couple of minutes."
"Great! So you mind explaining to me more about this machine? Allison gave me a general outline of it, but it was pretty brief," Jack asked. Outside of the window, there was a spacious room. In the middle was a contraption with three large metal arms hanging down from the ceiling. They were slowly rotating around a center, but what was being created was obscured by light.
"Okay, so the Abstract Organic Printer is actually a pretty basic concept. Out there is a bio-printer, and it was designed with ability to create any type of living entity. Now, the information that's fed into the AOP comes from computers that calculate what should be there. If there's not enough information on the object being created, the computer will do everything to figure out how to make it work and be able to live."
"Got it," Jack said as he processed the knowledge. "So what's it creating?"
"Well, I can't tell you the specifics because I've been sworn to secrecy by the person. All I can tell you is that it's a living thing."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Descriptive. How long is this supposed to take?"
"It depends on the size and complexity of whatever it's making. So, by the time elapsed, it is a generally well-sized and complex creature."
"And you're not telling us what it is."
"I said I'd keep it a secret."
"Whose secret are you keeping anyways?"
Allison spoke up. "Seeing that we wanted to test this project to the fullest, GD had a town-wide competition for all those that wanted to enter and get a chance to win the right to have their idea printed. This was done so that we could get the most creative idea that would push the prototype to its fullest."
"So who won?"
As if on cue, a very familiar person walked into the room.
"Hey Jack. Hey Mom."
"Kevin? You won the competition?" Jack wore a mixed look that expressed that he didn't want to believe it, but knew that it was easily a reality. It was Eureka after all. The unexpected is always expected.
"Yeah! Pretty sweet, isn't it?" Kevin replied.
"Alright, what'd you tell the computer to make?"
"Well they told me to use the best thing I could think of, and preferably have a good amount of information about it. It was also recommended that it'd be a fictional creature, like out of a cartoon-"
"Like out of a cartoon? I think I've had enough of cartoons wandering around Eureka after last Christmas..."
"Well this one's perfectly safe and there's nothing to worry about for anything going wrong."
"Kevin, what did you choose? Because I don't feel like having to deal with a cartoon monster made into reality."
"The entity can't be hazardous," Allison informed him. "There were guidelines against creating any possible threats."
"Don't worry Jack, it is perfectly safe. Besides, it's bound to the laws of physics and biology, so again, it's nothing crazy."
"Well, not necessarily," Zane interjected. "I mean, it's made to be able to make any living creature possible."
"Zane- not helping," Jack deadpanned. He pointed at Kevin. "You are the one that made me run from a giant evil snowman, so I hope it's not anything remotely dangerous."
Allison spoke up. "Can you at least tell us where you got the thing from?"
"Fine. It's from a cartoon."
"Come on Kevin, I want to know what we're dealing with here."
"... And it's from a peaceful magical land. It's sentient, and acts like a human being, meaning it's only dangerous if provoked. Personality maturity ranges from teenage to adult. And in fact, she's probably smarter than Jack," Kevin described.
"What?! And- and this is a cartoon character? That's smarter than me?" Jack exclaimed. "Why couldn't you pick some sort of mouse or something?"
"That would be so boring!"
"And it's female?" Kevin's mother asked.
"Yeah. Look, all I'll say is that you'll be fighting her for who gets to ask the questions."
"We'll deal with existential crisis immediately then-"
"I mean after the existential crisis problem is solved."
Jack pushed for more information. "Kevin, can't you tell us anything more about it... her?"
"Look, it'll be perfectly fine. Just wait until it's done," the teenager answered.
"Well, it looks like you can finally stop asking questions for now," Zane announced. "It should be finished in a couple seconds."
The group curiously looked out the window, and were somewhat stunned at what the saw. The newly-created being was in the middle of the three arms, which had now stopped rotating, and held standing by mechanical support arms, as it was currently unconscious. Jack spoke first.
"Is that... a purple unicorn?"
Just Another Day in Eureka
|| 1 ||
Introductions
"Right then. I can definitely say I wasn't really expecting that."
"Yeah, well I've been sitting here for the past six hours knowing about this, and I'm still not sure how I feel."
Jack and Zane had a quick exchange before they got down to business.
"So how long is this thing going to be out for?"
"Vital scans show that everything is present and functioning, so I'd give an estimate of a minute or two. Not very long." Zane typed in a few commands, and the mechanical arms gently lowered the unicorn down to the ground, the unconscious body staying limp and still. "And now we wait."
The group stood silently behind the one-way window as they waited for the unicorn to wake up. After a short period of silence, it started stirring. They leaned forward in curiosity.
The purple unicorn slowly stood up, and looked around. It was clear that the surroundings were very alien and unfamiliar, but it's composure was still steady, and had done no erratic movements. The humans continued to look on, until it spoke.
"Hello?" Despite being told beforehand that it would be intelligent, the humans in the control room looked at each other with some surprise.
Allison bent down and tapped a button on the console, turning on the microphone. "Hello there. You are not in any danger, and we mean no harm. Please stay calm. We're coming in to see you, okay?"
It looked slightly startled, but otherwise mostly calm. "O-okay..."
The four inside the control room looked amongst each other. Jack put forward a plan.
"Okay, uh, me and Allie will deal with it, Zane, Kevin, you guys stay here."
Zane looked at the tablet he now held in his hand. "Sounds good to me."
The other two nodded in agreement.
"Alright then. Let's go." Jack and Allison walked to the door that accessed the AOP room. "I'm not sure how I feel about talking to a purple unicorn."
"Kevin did say it was highly intelligent-"
"Yeah. Smarter than me," Jack replied in a disgruntled manner.
"- So just act like you're talking to a normal person."
"Why do I feel like this is a better job for Taggart?" he wondered out loud, referring to Global Dynamic's resident special animals expert.
The doors opened, and for the first time, the two species saw each other face to face. As the two humans took steps forward, the unicorn took a couple steps back, and it's horn... glowed?
Jack stopped. "Whoa. Is that unicorn's horn glowing?" he quietly asked Allison.
"Yeah... I guess so. Be cautious."
Before they went any further, Jack thought it would be best to begin introductions with the frightened creature. He instinctively held his hands up to show that he meant no harm, hoping that it was at least understood that gesture.
"Uh... hi there." He took more steps forward, and it inched away yet again. "It's all fine... alright? Not going to hurt you."
All this time, the sheriff was worried about that glowing horn. It did not give him good vibes, and he did not want to find out if it could get worse than just bad feelings. Once he was only a short distance away after closing the gap with slow, deliberate steps, he slowly knelt down to one knee, with his chest at the same level as the unicorn's head..
"Hi... I'm Jack Carter. Sheriff Jack Carter. Back over there," he said as he pointed towards Allison, "... is Allison. Do you have a name?"
There was a short period of uncertainty, then the horn's glow dissipated. "H-hi... I'm... Twilight Sparkle." She still appeared uneasy.
"Nice to meet you Twilight." Jack held out his hand, in the hopes that she might understand. Twilight slowly walked up and shook it with her hoof, visibly relaxing a bit. She put it back on the ground, and spoke again with a little more confidence in her voice.
"What... are you?"
By this time, Allison had gone next to Jack, and knelt down as well. "We're humans. Nice to meet you, Twilight Sparkle. I'm Doctor Allison Carter."
"Then... where am I? The last thing I remember is going to sleep."
"You're within the facilities of Global Dynamics, in the small town of Eureka, which is home to the smartest people on Earth."
"How did I get here then?"
Jack and Allison looked at each other. It was time to drop the existentialist answer. Allison seemed moderately hesitant to answer.
"We created you-"
"What?! H-how?!"
"See that machine?" Allison pointed off behind and to her side at the multitude of devices behind her, with the three vertical rotating arms, now stopped, at the center. "That machine created your body, just a couple minutes ago."
"I don't understand. I still have my memories. If you created me, how do I have memories?"
"We implanted information into your mind using a piece of advanced technology. To what extent your memories are, we'll have to find out."
"I think I'm about to have an existential crisis," Twilight whimpered.
"Awww, don't look too sad," Jack comforted her. "We'll help you figure it out, okay?"
The two humans stood up. Allison turned to face the doorway, then smiled at the unicorn.
"Look, we'll help you get over the existential crisis. But how about we take this somewhere else? This place probably isn't the best place to stay." The two turned around.
"Where are we taking Twilight over there?" Jack whispered.
"Anywhere but here. She's a perfectly sentient life-form, so there's many labs to use. I've still got to run complete tests to see if everything about her checks out. She's a bio-printed entity, which means she should be stable, but just to safe. Also, there's more tests to run about how well the computer calculated placement of bones and organs. After all that, I should probably check how high her intelligence is, exactly."
"She seems plenty smart so far. But what about that horn thingy? It was glowing, and it did not feel like it would turn out good if I pissed her off."
"I'll check into it. She seems cooperative so far. While I deal with Twilight, how about you go with Kevin and get what information about her you can."
"Sounds good to me." Jack turned back to the unicorn. "You ready to go?"
Twilight snapped out of her thoughts. "I guess so."
"Alright," said Allison. "Let's go then. And try to avoid asking questions about things you see. We'll get to all that later. Right now, I've got to run you through some tests to see if everything about your body is functioning properly."
"Okay, I guess. I'll try to hold off questions?"
The two humans took the lead, with one purple unicorn in tow.
Just Another Day in Eureka
|2|-Familiarization (Incomplete)
||2||
Familiarization
"Okay Kev, now that she exists, can you tell me more about this... Twilight Sparkle?"
"Why don't you just ask her yourself?"
Jack and Kevin were currently at Cafe Diem, now that their business at Global Dynamics was over. They were sitting at a table outside, eating whatever special snack Vince, the cafe's owner, had prepared for that day. Of course, Jack would probably return to GD afterwards, but he could use a break for now.
"Why would I go through all that trouble if someone here can already tell me?"
"Because..." He couldn't really cone up with a good answer. It was a pretty logical argument. "She's a perfectly sapient creature that will easily comply."
"Nice try. Okay, you know what? How about we start with why you chose a purple unicorn amongst the many other possible options? Where'd you get the idea anyway?"
Kevin leaned forward. "Okay, so she's a character from a cartoon that Jenna likes to watch and I watch it with her."
Jack rested his forarms on the table. "So she's out of a little girl's cartoon?"
"Well, I guess so–"
"And you couldn't think of anything better to use?"
"Twilight Sparkle is an intelligent character and is cooperative and easily friendly. Even if she may possibly be overly curious at times, she has a respective attitude."
"Wow, you got all that just by watching a cartoon? That you watch with your little sister? I think someone's overanalyzing."
"Besides, she fits the criteria for the experiment to a T. Complex anatomy, preferrably sentient, and in no way a threat."
"Wait, wait. Complex anatomy and in no way a threat? I don't feel that glowing horns exactly fit the bill there. It sure seemed like it wouldn't have ended well if stuff went downhill."
"Well everything in some way can pose a threat. It's just that choosing a certain candidate required minimizing it, and so I did."
"So if she's a unicorn, and that horn was glowing, does that mean she can do magic?"
"In the cartoon, yeah. But out here, I'm not sure."
"Great. So we may or may not end up with crazy magic that somehow exists that may or may not put the town in yet another dangerous situation."
"... Maybe?"
"And you mentioned earlier that she's possibly smarter than me?"
"Yeah."
"And this is from a children's cartoon."
"You'd be surprised."
"Right. Well I think I'm gonna head back to GD and check up on how your mom is handling Twilight."
==+==
"Well Twilight, you seem to have a perfect bill of health."
"Thank you, Doctor Carter." Twilight looked around from the table she currently sat atop of. "Wow, so all this works on highly advanced technology?"
"That's right. Here at Global Dynamics, our job is to figure out all the unknowns and use our knowledge to advance our technology." Since basic physical tests were over, Allison could delve into more advanced tests. "Now, earlier, we saw your horn glow. Is that some sort of special ability that you can control, or is that a kind of reaction from fear?"
"It was me preparing to use my magic."
Allison was intrigued. "Your... magic? What can you do with your magic?"
"Many things, as long as I know the right spell to use."
Allison was in thought. Twilight Sparkle was from a cartoon, so it was only natural that such concepts would come up. Yet Twilight was also very intelligent and showed herself to be mature, and was a good subject to study. Perhaps her 'magic' usage was somehow implemented into her biology. Only one way to find out.
"Okay. Do you, for example, have telekinesis? Can you... pick up this pen?" She held out a pen in her hands.
Twilight smiled. "Sure thing. It's a very basic unicorn skill." Her horn lit with a purple aura, and the pen was lifted out of the doctor's fingertips.
"Amazing..."
"Don't you have magic here? Or something that has a similar function?"
Allison chuckled. "No, this is a town full of scientists. We don't believe in magic. We can call it that as a placeholder, maybe, but we know that it's something that we've yet to fully understand and explain. Now, as for the second part, there's probably a few projects floating around working on that, but nothing off the top of my head."
"Fascinating."
[End of scrap]
Author's Note
Yes! An update! ... Technically.
So I was digging around my projects file, trying to find something to write. I found this and decided to go back to it and see if I could add anything. It turns out I forgot where I was going from this part. I do remember the general flow of the story and how it ends though (...weird).
Because this has been sitting there collecting virtual dust, I decided that I might as well release what I had down.
Will I ever return to this story fully? I don't know. I won't deny the possibility. I even had a sequel planned. But hey- stuff didn't exactly turn out the way I expected it to.
