"La… la la la…. La la la…." Lazarus hummed another one of her orphanage songs. Many people didn't like church songs, but for Lazarus, they always soothed her during hard times.
Being in the orphanage was tough. Since her orphanage was government-owned, food was always provided. Although meager, she still said her prayers. The tough part was that something in the orphanage was always breaking down. Governments were always slow to repair things. Sometimes, she had to attend lessons without a bath.
The worst part was that she had to share everything. Nothing in the orphanage was hers. From books and soap to even clothes. Her clothes would have to go to her younger sisters later as well. When she got her scholarship, she was surprised and overjoyed to finally have her own uniform and books.
"Hm… La… A…." She continued to hum.
"I did something unforgivable. Do you think they will forgive me?" Lexus interrupted the hymn. He didn't mean what he said earlier. He was just frustrated.
"I forgive you. If you apologize with sincerity, they will forgive you. Not now, perhaps. But my reverend always said that you should not keep hatred inside your heart. You should not keep guilt inside it either. Wouldn't it be beautiful if everyone forgave and repented? We are human. We make mistakes. That's why we say sorry, and that's why we forgive."
"..." Lexus's silence carried meaning. Her words had gone through. He had said sorry many times before, but it never came from the heart. Inside his mind, every mistake he made would be reimbursed by his parents.
But here? Just like Xiaolang said, his parents' money meant nothing. Even a single crystal watermelon worth more than a million credits here. Lexus knew he couldn't live alone. His best chance was to work together with everyone.
"Can I go back?" Lexus asked. Fear crept into his heart. What if they didn't forgive him? In the colony, it didn't matter. Everyone would suck up to him because of his parents.
"Yes! Let's go back. Everyone is waiting. You just need to say sorry with all you've got, and we will get back on track." Lazarus nodded.
"..." Lexus stared at her, seemingly unconvinced. But as he had no other choice, he followed her. His pride was hurt. But he had learned that pride doesn't help him.
When he returned, he saw all the children waiting for him. He was stunned. Of course, they didn't wait for him with smiles. Laurel scowled while Xiaolang merely ignored him. Bob, Shingo, and Anna smiled at him, though. Most of all, Auscella was also smiling. At the very least, he knew that they would forgive him.
Then, Lazarus gave him a nudge.
"Ahem. Sorry for what I said before. I spoke out of line. I didn't mean it." Lexus bowed his head.
"Well, it's Lexus after all." Shingo shrugged.
"Don't forget to say sorry to Auscella, alright? You hit her." Laurel said.
"Yes. I am sorry, Auscella," Lexus said.
"Sorry?"
"It means he regrets it. Say, 'I forgive you!'" Lazarus said.
"I forgive you!" Auscella chirped. Not at Lexus, but at Lazarus.
The group chuckled after seeing Auscella's antics.
"Alright. The sunset is coming. Let's rest. If you want to take a bath, you may do so. Please remember not to stray alone. Girls with girls and boys with boys," Laurel said.
After bathing and eating, the group rested. During the night, Shingo gathered everyone as he brought out Mistral.
"I want to test something with Auscella!" Shingo, who now knew that Auscella could talk to machines, wanted to test something.
"Okay? What is it, Shingo?"
"I can design a special program to let Auscella talk to Mistral or maybe even transmit images, just like our NeuroGear," Shingo said.
"You can do that? You said Auscella and Mistral used different APIs."
"Yes, but Auscella can copy signals. If she knew certain signals meant A and certain signals meant B, she could concoct a string of words and even numbers," Shingo said as he pulled a wire from his smartbox and directly connected his NeuroGear to the smartbox.
"I see. Just like how she copied sounds and learned how to talk to us." Laurel nodded.
"Alright. Let's start. This is A," Shingo said.
"A!" Auscella said.
"Yup! She got it."
"I didn't hear anything. My NeuroGear didn't catch it." Laurel said as she opened up her NeuroGear.
"Umm… You need to connect it to your smartbox. I can give you the unencrypted software transmitter and receiver later," Shingo said. "Let's do it while Auscella is not here. Unnecessary signals might disrupt her learning."
"I see."
"What good would it do if Auscella can read and talk to Mistral?" Lexus asked. "She can talk to us with her voice, right? There is no need to learn machine language."
"If she became proficient, she could probably transmit images! Once she did, we could probably see what's inside the alien computer even though we can't directly access it."
"Really? How?" Lexus was hooked.
"Well… it's going to be a long journey. But computers perceive color with numbers. Take red, for example. Computers perceive it in RGB format. So red would be 255, 0, 0. It means red is at full power, while green and blue are at zero." Shingo said. Since he had forbidden Mistral from transmitting signals, it remained silent, communicating only through Shingo.
"So?"
"Pictures are made with different colors. We call them pixels."
Laurel nodded. "They are basically just RGB codes lined up together." Laurel, while not an expert like Shingo, was still an honor student.
"Aren't there thousands of codes then?" Anna frowned, wondering whether that would tax Auscella too much.
"Auscella could copy Mistral's speech easily. It might take some effort, but she probably could," Lazarus said. "If not, we could just wait. It's just going to be slower."
Even a normal 1024×1024-pixel picture would mean over a million values in total. A thousand rows and a thousand columns. But that was a problem for the future. If Auscella had an internal NeuroGear, she merely had to parrot what it transmitted.
"Yes!" Shingo said.
"Yes!" Auscella chirped.
"Ahem. Let's continue. This is one. This is two." Shingo continued.
"We should let Shingo try to teach her." Laurel said. Her hopes were rising. "Now, we should talk about the future."
"Only the eastern plain and probably the northern mountain are left," Xiaolang said. He didn't think there would be anything in the northern mountain or the plain. They had almost seen everything from the top of the mountain.
"Hmm… I think the eastern plain is more dangerous. But what do you think about the mountain, Xiaolang? Is it safer?" Laurel asked. Xiaolang and Bob would be their primary defenders with their athletic ability. If Xiaolang thought it was too dangerous, Laurel would obey.
"It is safer. But everyone must bring a spear," Xiaolang said. He glanced toward Shingo and Auscella. "Hmm… Auscella might not be safe, though. She is light enough that a bird might swoop down and carry her off."
"Then we can't bring her!" Lazarus said.
"Agreed. Auscella still needs to learn how to speak to us. I propose we search the mountain tomorrow. How about Shingo, Anna, Auscella, and Lexus staying here after doing their water and crystal watermelon duties?"
"I will do the watermelon duties. I will not complain. Let me do something for once," Lexus said.
"... Alright. Will that be alright with you, Shingo?"
"Yes. It's safe in the lifepod. Anna and I are enough here."
"We have to take care of Auscella too!" Anna said as she patted Auscella on the head. She chirped back while hugging her.
"Alright. Xiaolang, Bob, Lazarus, and I will go to the northern mountain tomorrow. Any objections?"
"Um… Can I stay with Auscella? I think it would be best if someone who is accustomed to children stayed with her." Lazarus raised her hand.
Laurel frowned. Lazarus had shown her insight at the spire. It was thanks to her that they could find clues about the spire and this world. Laurel wanted to bring her to investigate any unusual site they found tomorrow.
"Hmm… Auscella seems happy with Shingo. Anna also has siblings, right? She can deal with children." Laurel forced the thought. Anna was the youngest, so she didn't know much about taking care of children, but Laurel thought they would be fine. After all, they were all technically children here.
"... Alright." Lazarus sighed.
"Sorry. But I think we will need you if we find anything on the mountain." Laurel bowed.
"Ah. It's fine. Sorry. You are right." Lazarus said. "I will try to braid more ropes from nearby vines and leaves."
"Let me help you."
"I will make more spears." Xiaolang moved away.
"I will grind some stones to make knives."
"Teach me. I want to do something as well," Lexus said. Bob turned to him with widened eyes.
"What? You think I am just a snobbish brat who refuses to work?" Lexus scoffed. Laurel smirked.
"At least someone is aware of how they were behaving." Laurel smiled.
"No. I will help you. Here are some stones. To make a knapped knife, you need to hit it at an angle, like this." Bob said. They were slow, but progress was progress.
"Hmm… This is ugly." Lexus said, half giving up when he saw his own work, but Bob didn't demean him in the slightest.
"As long as it works, it's fine. Here, this part you worked on. It can still cut a leaf, right? That means it works." Bob said. "I am not an expert either."
Although he said that, Lexus couldn't help but feel inferior when he saw Bob's knives, which looked like karambits, small knives curved like scythes. They were gorgeous. They weren't at the level Lexus saw in stores, but with just a little more polishing, they could probably be sold a tier below.
"Tch! We are supposed to have a grinder to make knives." Lexus complained again.
"We don't have that. Stop complaining." Laurel sighed as she helped Lazarus braid some ropes. Lazarus had also improved her skills. She could now knit a basket from dried palm leaves. It was rough, but just as Bob said, it worked.
"Well, it's good enough, I guess." Lazarus shouldered the basket.
"Whoo-hoo!! We can now fetch food easily!" Shingo said as he shouldered the basket.
"I don't think it's strong enough to carry water. Just don't overload it, alright?" Lazarus said.
And so, they spent the night crafting more tools. Tomorrow, they would once again go to the highest peak, looking for clues.
——————
They waited for me. They forgave me. I always realized that I had nothing. That's why I never desired any friends, for they knew I had nothing to offer them. Yet, they still waited for me. We are together. They accepted me. ~Lexus