The Record of Unusual Creatures

After the examination, Hao Ren looked up at the blonde girl. “No heartbeat; your body’s cold. But, external wounds have healed. It must be the medical film. Theoretically, the body’s dead.”

The blonde girl used her only free hand to cover her chest, feeling ashamed. “Are you done fondling me yet?”

“If you still make a fuss, I’ll strap you to the probe and launch you into outer space!” Hao Ren smacked her on the forehead. “Where on Earth did you get your dirty mind?”

The MDT wielded its arm. “Do you know how much porn is in my memory? Do I look like I lack any of the materials?”

Speechless.

Hao Ren was rooted to the spot. The MDT raised its hand and began to study it and feel everything novel. “Fingers, joints, muscles… so many redundant structures, do you know how difficult it is to control them? Especially when the software is not compatible with the body. I need to issue an instruction to every muscle to perform an action, which akin to using a mouse to control a battleship, and mind you the mouse has only one button.”

Hao Ren stretched out his hand and moved his fingers in front of ‘her’ eyes deliberately. “Envious? Are you envious of me?”

“I have more threads than you do! I can calculate faster than you can! My shell is harder than you are! And I can emit blue light. Why should I envy you?” the MDT talked back, and it was very fluent. ‘She’ was making impressive progress at controlling the body.

‘She’ tried to sit up by grabbing Hao Ren’s arm with her right hand, then straightening ‘her’ legs to balance ‘herself’ and staggering to get up. After a few attempts, she succeeded to stand on ‘her’ feet. ‘She’ then turned and waved at Hao Ren. “Keep an eye on me. I’m trying to walk—Aw!”

The MDT fell to the ground face down. Hao Ren quickly rushed forward and held it up. Wiping ‘her’ face and patting ‘her’ chest, ‘she’ said, “I’m lucky to have lat chest, it won’t hurt falling face down…”

Hao Ren folded his arms and looked helplessly. “How many times I have to tell you, they’re not your breasts. You borrow them…”

“Whoever found them owns them. So, mind your own business,” the MDT swung its hand and continued to walk with her one leg. The best she could do was to stand up and balance herself. But soon, to her surprise, her other leg began to move. Hao Ren was surprised. It was not very coordinated, but she could start walking albeit wobbly. As time goes by, ‘she’ got better at it!”

Although the MDT had complained that the human body was clumsy, it now began to find enthusiasm in using the new body like a child got a new toy. ‘She’ walked a step at a time, turning to look at Hao Ren occasionally to mimic his movements. Despite hitting the table and wall many times, the MDT never gave up.

Seeing the MDT’s unwavering spirit and the body, Hao Ren could not help but sigh. “It’s like you have just recovered from a twenty-year-old cerebral thrombosis…”

“I have a question,” the MDT said, seemingly unperturbed by Hao Ren’s mocking. She stopped and scratched her jaw like Hao Ren used to do. “Since my body is moving, does it burn energy?”

Hao Ren glanced at the MDT, feeling not entirely sure. “Hmm, maybe…”

“Where should I get energy supply?” the MDT asked, tilting its head. Not that ‘she’ wanted to look cool, but ‘her’ control of the neck was still clumsy. “Should I eat, or recharge?”

The MDT’s questions stunned him. He hesitated for a long moment before pointing at ‘her’ belly. “I think eating might be a bad idea; inside is still a mess only that the outside is patched up with a film. If you try to eat, the thing may become a pot of stewed pork.”

“Don’t you feel disgusting?”

Hao Ren rolled his eyes and said, “Does PDA have a feeling at all?”

The MDT could not talk back. ‘She’ laughed wryly and steered away from the topic. “Well, the fact that this body moves is already abnormal in itself; let’s save the question to another time. We need to discuss what I should do tomorrow. Can I go to the outside?”

“I’ll find an excuse and bring you out of the base… um, just saying I’m going to bury you outside and then shove you inside the dimensional pocket when no one is looking. Don’t get out when people are around.”

“Tsk, what a shame! I have tried so hard to move. Now I have to lie inside the dimensional pocket,” the MDT complained. “How good it would be had I regained the mobility when I first came, you could have to explain to people that I was suffering from brain thrombosis and had recovered. At least I could have swaggered around in front of people now…”

“Yeah, with the freaking wound in your stomach?” Hao Ren eyeballed the MDT. “Can we say something that makes sense?”

The MDT thought for a moment, scratched her head like how Hao Ren used to do. “Oh, I forgot.”

“Are you imitating me?” Hao Ren asked, finally noticing it. “This hair-scratching habit too…”

The MDT rolled its eyes — mimicking Hao Ren’s behavior. “You bet it. I collected the most human behavior data from you. You’re my behavior template.”

Hao Ren looked at ‘her,’ wondering what she would look like sitting with a 4-figure posture; his stomach churned. “Can you get another template? You had better imitate Lily or Vivian. You are a girl.”

“Machine has no gender,” the blonde said, swinging ‘her’ head. Still, ‘she’ obliged. “Well, you are right.”

‘She’ then squatted; both hands on the floor as ‘she’ gazed into the distance. Hao Ren was puzzled. “What are you doing?”

“Lily. That was how she usually waited at the door after you went out.”

Hao Ren almost choked himself. “All right, let’s change to Vivian.”

“You’re troublesome… By the way, how did Vivian manage to dangle herself from a beam?”

“Just normal conduct, would you?”

The two of them studied human behavior until Ulyanov came over to call them for dinner. The MDT had to play dead again as Hao Ren followed Ulyanov over to the mercenary’s canteen.

Since the collapse of the ecosystem, natural food had become an elusive luxury. The organic matter that the Nanomachine Swarm synthesized was the only thing the civilians could eat. Hao Ren followed Ulyanov and collected his food. The food looked like fresh vegetables and juicy meat, very appealing. He put some in his mouth; they tasted bland and bitter, laden with tonnes of additives and artificial flavorings.

Ulyanov took off his helmet and slowly poured a liquid food into his esophagus. He could not taste it because he had lost his gustatory sense many years ago. He ate only to live and ensure that the vital organs continued to function.

If not for his particular insistence, he would have considered replacing the whole body with a machine, just like some retired soldiers with only a biochemical brain remained. In that way, he only needed concentrated nutrient solutions and batteries to live and recharge every seven days.

But, he chose to retain the ‘human body.’ Although the body had brought him many trouble and pain, he never thought of giving it up.

Hao Ren’s brows knit together as he stuffed the rubbery ‘stewed meat’ in his mouth. He looked up and said, “I plan to bury her tomorrow.”

Ulyanov froze for a moment before a sigh of relief came out of his synthetic vocal cord. “Well… this is going to be good for you and her. I thought you were still as stubborn as a mule.”

Hao Ren was speechless.

He had given up explaining.