Glitch Girl

Bonnie ran to the place where she had seen Honi the last time, but she was no longer there. "Damn, is she already in that company?" she thought. The ginger called Henry, he came and drove them to the GDM company. There were several agents guarding the entrance. Henry approached one of the agents. "Hey, excuse me. Can you let us in? We need to talk to someone." The agent just stared back silently. Henry and Bonnie tried to walk past them, but they pushed them away. "We need to figure out how to get in there," Bonnie said and looked at Zhmak. "Zhmak?" The cat just shook his head. "Apparently he can't possess robots..." the ginger sighed. "These are robots?" Henry was surprised. "Yes, Honi and I realized it when we saw one "dead" agent..." Zhmak also tried to pass by the agents, but they also did not let him in. The friends desperately went down the stairs and tried to come up with a plan to get inside. "Hey, what are you doing here?" asked Janet, passing by. "Janet?" Henry asked in surprise. "Yes, hi. I went to get coffee, so what are you doing here?" "Neil kidnapped Honi, we want to save her, but the agents do not let us in!" answered Bonnie. "What a horror, Honidesu is in danger?!" Miss Harper exclaimed. "Yes, we urgently need to figure out how to get inside!" Henry said. "Follow me," Janet whispered. "You are lucky that I worked here before. I hope Neil did not have time to change anything there..." They walked around the building. The narrow, dark passageway was lit only by dimly flickering fluorescent lights. They had to duck under the metal bars before entering a large room with a metal door. Janet showed Henry a small key card she had kept from her days at the company and swiped it across the card reader on the door. There was a click and the door opened. There was a long staircase leading up. They found themselves in a room filled with old computers, wires, and circuit boards. Janet pulled a lever on the wall and a secret door at the back of the room opened, revealing a brightly lit hallway. The four of them tried to get past the patrolling agents. Janet led them into Neil's office. The black and white tiled floor seemed to go on forever... The tension was in the air and they were constantly afraid of feeling the agents' eyes on them. They knew that one wrong move could mean the end of them. Eventually, they found themselves face to face with a heavy black door marked "Neil's Office." Janet's fingers trembled as she reached for the handle. She took a deep breath and, without hesitation, swung the door open, allowing her friends to enter. The office was greeted by an eerie silence. The air was still, and the only sound was the faint hum of the laptop. "Nobody..." Bonnie sighed. "Why nobody? I'm here, look at the laptop!" a female voice suddenly answered. "Honidesu?" Janet was surprised. But when they approached the desk and looked at the screen, they saw Laura. "Laura?" Bonnie scratched the back of her head, confused. "H-hey, um... Miss Harper?..." "Y-you remember everything?" Bonnie asked. "I remember Miss Harper, she used to work here," Laura answered calmly, her face remaining calm. "Miss Keller?" Janet was scared. "What a horror, Neil must be having a hard time dealing with this..." "It's all right!" the woman smiled. "It's nice to see you again, Janet, please, just call me Laura." "Do you remember me?" the ginger asked awkwardly. "Hmm... I think it will take me a while to remember..." "I see..." Bonnie sighed. "You saw each other?" Janet asked carefully, trying to defuse the situation. "Yes, we did..." Bonnie answered quietly, looking away, as if ashamed of her memories. After a short pause full of awkwardness, the ginger decided to change the subject: "Why does Neil need Honi if Henry agreed to leave her as she is? Why can't you just break this contract?!" she exclaimed indignantly. "Neil is a perfectionist, what can you expect from him?" Janet shrugged. "Yes, he is. His father's demands had a big impact on him," added Laura. "What did he do with him?" Bonnie asked. "Our father was an entrepreneur. He didn't care what Neil was interested in. The main thing for him was that Neil studied well and became a businessman, so he was very demanding of him, which is why my brother became a perfectionist." "I wonder why Honi turned out different?" "I don't know why your girlfriend turned out differently. But Neil's idea of ​​digital immortality came to him as a child, when we spent a lot of time with our grandmother, and then she suddenly died. That's when he thought: is it possible to bring a person back to life with the help of a computer? Our mother believed that a digital personality is just a digital copy. She was a biologist. Neil was very interested in neurobiology and programming. When our parents divorced, we lived with our father. He put more and more pressure on Neil. When Neil grew up, he founded a company for digital immortality. He was so immersed in his idea that he completely forgot about me, but he was very proud of the fact that he proved to his father that he himself could make money in a business that interested him. When the incident with the glitch girl happened, who was able to get from the computer into the real world, it amazed him. Yes, he hates her because she did not become the person she was programmed to be, but she became alive, real... It's amazing... Perhaps he needs her for further study." "Do you consider yourself the real Laura?" Henry asked with genuine interest. "I'm just aware that I have my own consciousness..." Laura answered quietly. "I never thought about the fact that a digital personality could be alive... However, the case with Honi also amazed me... So it turns out that digital personalities are alive after all?" Janet asked in amazement. "I don't know... Maybe I'm just a very, very advanced algorithm, and my consciousness is just an illusion. All I know is that I am aware of my own thoughts and emotions right now... And that's what I consider a form of consciousness..." Laura answered uncertainly. "But Honi somehow became alive," Henry said thoughtfully. "Even I don't know the answer to that question..." the virtual woman sighed. "And Neil? Do you know where he is now?" Bonnie asked with hope in her voice. "I see him in the scanning room..." Laura responded. "Excellent!" the ginger exclaimed with relief. "Thanks for the information!" "Good luck!" Laura answered with a kind smile on her face.