When coming up with an idea for a capstone, I wanted to do something that would interest me and also give back to the SLA community somehow. That is how my partner, Kenny Nguyen, and I came up with the idea to build a game about SLA. We both enjoy playing video games, and also wanted an engaging way to teach future generations of SLA students about the Core values. Our video game does just that, but it in a slightly more engaging way than how they were originally introduced to us.

The game starts with the freshmen Yael, whose curiosity leads them to venture onto the forbidden fourth floor. (It's a very known thing that the 4th floor is off limits so we wanted to use this to start the game's lore.) Next, Yael wakes up on an islands beach, and seeks help to get back to Mr.Reddy's class. After receiving help from the village leaders "Mr.Worst" and "Doctor Echo" they learn that they must collect the 5 core values, which are the heart of the island. Once they collect the values (and learn what each value is) they are teleported to fight and defeat the islands guardian, the “Benchmark”.

My partner and I collaborated throughout the capstone, and used our talents to make it better. I focused on creating the environments, animating the characters, and coded the mission and boss battles. Kenny focused on finding resources that we could use, recording the voices, and he coded the combat and dialogue in the game.

Bibliography:

"Getting Started with Unity | Unity Cookie." Unity Cookie Getting Started with Unity Comments. Unity Cookie. Web. 29 Jan. 2015.

This is a website featuring useful tutorials, videos on how to use Unity, and a user forum that allows feedback on how to use Unity. This will be a useful source because, if need be, we can simply look at the tutorials they have. It also has a forum which we can also look at if we face a problem that others may have experience as well. This will be a valuable tool for references; if we don’t know a string of code to add, then we can simply look on this site, in the tutorials section. It also features free (and some for a  price) premade models and games we can use for tests.

"Tutorials." - Blender.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2015.

This is one of the programs we’ll be using to create the characters; the site features downloads you can use in your blender projects, a FAQ area, and contact information in case we want to contact the team about copyright models. We plan to use pre-made models if designing our own is too difficult, so being able to review all of the legal stuff with using pre-made models is important. Also, this is the official website for Blender, so it has a wide variety of tutorials made from professionals. This site will be very useful also because it features a forums section, so we can look there of we have similar issues other users have had too.

"Blender Stack Exchange." Blender Stack Exchange. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2015.

This website’s best feature is the huge forum it has that allows blender users to post their experiences with blender. This is a good source for a project because of this; if we have a problem in blender we can’t figure out, we can simply look on the forum to see if someone has had a similar problem. We can also use some of the posts that outline how to make new, interesting things for our game. Since the site is free to use, it’s easy to navigate around the website and use the many tools that are available. It’s organized by the most popular posts, by if we have a problem, we can simply search for it on the websites database.

"Characters 3D Models - Free 3D Characters Download." Characters 3D Models - Free 3D Characters Download. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2015.

This is the main site we’ll be using for NPCS and character objects. It features thousands of prefabs and premade character models that we’ll need for our game. Spending extra time to model every single NPC in the game will take up more time then we have, so having a site where free prefabs are available is a great for our project and the process. This site will save us a lot of time. It allows it’s users to upload their work for other users to download their work. having a plethora of free NPCS models will make the extra month working on NPCs turn into extra work time. The website is easy to navigate, and free to use.

"2. Interface and Navigation - Blender Cookie." Blender Cookie 2 Interface and Navigation Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2015.

This is essentially the same as  cg cookie “Unity Cookie”, but for the program Blender. This features lots of information about using blender and character creation, which is part of a crucial first step for creating the game. The first things we need to do involve advanced CGI, and a site that has step by step instructions on charactering modeling is a valuable source we need. It also features mostly free downloads that we can add to the game. The website is partnered to “Unity Cookie” so the videos have a lot of tutorials where the user uses both Blender and Unity. That’s great for us because we’re using the same programs. Exporting files from Blender (with animations meshes etc.) seemed difficult at first, but this site has shown us a simple way to do it.

"33 Brilliant Blender Tutorials." 33 Brilliant Blender Tutorials. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2015.

This sites may purpose for our project is that it includes a lot of great tutorials. Watching tutorials for references while building our game is going to be very important, because we’re learning new skills while we’re building. This site has lots of sources besides itself that we can use, and has professional tutorials done by professionals in this business. The entire website features tutorials on other programs, and also includes a forum section for questions and comments. The website is neat, organized, and user-friendly. Most of the things on it is free, so it’ll be a great reference source for the Capstone.

"C Games and Graphics Code Examples." C Games and Graphics Code Examples. Happy Codings. Web. 29 Jan. 2015.

This website will be an important reference website for our game. Instead of spending hours on hours trying to write our own, brand new code, we can use already written code from this website. It features a plethora of different languages and lines of code that are free to use. This will be great for our project because this will allow us to make a more organized, better game. Instead of spending hours on a simple part of the project, we can add even better things to the game that we otherwise couldn’t. The website is organized and easy to navigate through.

"Learn to Code." Codecademy. Code Academy. Web. 29 Jan. 2015.      

This is the website me and my partner used during the summer. This is one if the first thing we used to help us learn programming, and it’s a fantastic site for that. The curriculum is easy and teaches well, it’s free to use, and has great courses. It has a wide variety of languages to learn, and the website itself is appealing. When I first started learning coding, I was a bit intimidated because of how hard it appeared. This website really did make learning code very easy. It helped me learn a few languages fast, and will aid us with the Capstone. If we have a certain language we want to use for code, but don’t know it, we can simply use this website as a reference or use it’s free courses to learn the new language.

"Amplitude Studios Chose Unity." Unity. Web. 29 Jan. 2015. <http://unity3d.com/>.

This is the site that contains that program Unity. Unity is the engine we will be using to build our game. The website will be our main platform for learning how to use Unity. It has useful tutorials, user experiences, and support for the company that produced Unity. It allows easy access to many of it’s files, and, includes a forum where users can post comments, concerns, or experiences. Unity itself will be a great option to use because it’s easy to use, free, and already includes many of the assets and prefabs we'll need to make the game.

• Rauschmayer, Axel. Speaking JavaScript. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media, 2014. Print.

This is an online book me and my partner found that will be a valuable source. We’ve decided that the main language we’ll be using is Java Script, and we both aren’t experts in that language. This will help us brush up on this language, which is another important part of the next step of making the capstone process go smoother and faster. Jumping into a project without know the basic code needed to make it will only make the process harder, so it’d be wise to learn the language first then use it. We plan to do that, and this book will be a great aid that will make making the game a lot easier.

“They walk, they talk! They look just like real humans, but can do so much more!” The announcer proclaimed. His voice projected clear words but the audio itself was muffled like an old fashioned radio. My Proyo was old and hadn’t been cleaned in months, so the projected images came up  electric blue and blurry, while the audio was just understandable. I glanced back at the Proyo from under my glasses and set my pencil down.

“Choose from a wide variety, or customize your own!” The Proyo then projected a 6 inch tall, 3d image of female robot onto my coffee table. The projection looked up at me, smiled, and waved, as it walked on a loop. “Pause,” I said aloud. The audio stopped, but the projection continued. I shivered as its lifeless eyes followed mine, endlessly smiling and waving at me.

“Hey, Cyril, you there?” I turned back to my papers and pressed my glasses up to rest on my nose. The sound of someone approaching their mic echoed in the room. “Yeah, pretty good commercial, huh?” Cyril replied. I made a face of disagreement he could probably picture over the phone. “The prototype is a bit....unnerving. The menacing smile may scare off clients.”

“Menacing smile?” A chuckle came from over Cyril's end of the call. “Well, we’re still working out the kinks. It’s in the work’s, you know?” I scribbled down part of an equation I had just remembered onto my papers, then turned to switch off the Proyo. I subconsciously nodded even though Cyril couldn’t see me, and muttered “Yeah.”

Shuffling my papers, I stood up and carefully walked to the drapes on the other side of the room. My condo was small but spacious enough to house it’s modern victorian interior design. Large, cream colored drapes concealed the moonlight shining in through oblong windows, causing the victorian chandelier to be the main source of light. It’s warm glow quickly filled the dark room automatically at the absence of light.

“By the way, did you consider our offer?” Cyril asked. I peeled back one of the drapes and peeked outside. The moon was full that night, large and hanging low, outshining the small stars speckling the royal purple night. “I have....” I said eventually. Cyril could hear the hesitation in my voice and sighed. “ It won’t be a replacement for Nally, Ez.”

Nothing could replace Nally, my ex wife. I had been more passionate about her then for my passion for science, and for awhile, I thought likewise. I was still a robotics engineer at the time she began her work with quantum mechanics. She had made breakthroughs with shrinking atoms, which had never before been thought of as possible. By gaining control over the spin of electrons in atoms, she was able to control their density, and in the end, size.

After successfully shrinking our pet cat, she decided to test the procedure on herself and her lab assistant. Contrary to my protests and the Councilmen of Human Sciences, she secretly conducted the experiment in her lab. The following morning, I discovered a note by a telescope that read:

Ezra-

I decided to go on with the experiment. No matter what you and the councilmen claim, this procedure is safe, and for the betterment of mankind. You’ll find this note next to a telescope with a slide on it. I selected our target destination (after being shrunk) to this slide. If the experiment is successful, you’ll be able to view us once magnified to x2,000,000. I realize I may be killed from this, or I may never be normal size again. I just want you to know: I love, and will always love you.

I paused at the last sentence and looked over at the slide. If she truly loved me, why hadn’t she listened to me? Was her love for science greater than her love for me? I grabbed the note and rushed to the TEM microscope. Before looking inside it, however, I frantically unfolded the letter and continued to read for further instructions:

But, in the case that this experiment somehow fails, I need to tell you a few things. In the lower left drawer of the desk by the door I’ve locked most of my scientific discoveries and notes in various cards. The key is beside the microscope.

I’ve also not been very faithful, Ez, and I feel that you deserve to know that.

My heartbeat quickened as my hands trembled and tried to hold onto the paper as I scanned the rest. An aching pain grew in my chest as it became hard to breath; I could feel the veins in my forehead swell as a headache formed. A burning sensation stung my eyes, a single tear escaped my tear ducts.  

The letter went on to say how she had cheated on me with her lab assistant. For a few moments, I simply was shocked, almost to the point where I couldn’t believe I’d read those words. After a few seconds, however, reality sunk in and transformed my innocent confusion to blinding rage. How could she betray me like this? I had given her everything she had ever wanted, yet she rejected me for a young scrub of a boy?

Mindlessly I crumpled up the paper, neglecting to read the rest of the letter. I had no interest in reading an explanation for her actions, so instead I took revenge. Without a second thought I grabbed the slide, not looking to see if my wife was indeed on it, and broke it in two. I ripped the note to shreds and discarded the evidence on my way out.

My wife, the only one whom I had truly trusted, instead created an empty void in my chest; the feeling of sorrow would always remain. Literally, my wife was dead to me. After the incident, I hadn’t told anyone about the letter and she and her lab partner where deemed dead from the “failed” experiment.

“I know,” I answered. “It’s not that....” I dropped the curtain from my fingers and walked towards the mini-bar beside the window. I poured myself a drink, and sat down on my red, fainting sofa.

“Then what is it?” Cyril asked. Placing a hand in my pocket, I swirled my drink around, the ice clinking against the glass. “The whole thing seems...unnatural, I suppose. Who’s to say these machines won’t malfunction?”

“Every machine malfunctions, Ez. That’s why it’s your job to make a note of any problems.”

Yes I remembered. It’s my job and the only thing PAX still needs me for. I had been retired from robotics for almost 5 years, moving on to become a Chemist. Cyril's company, PAX, needed someone to test their newest robot. Model EL-3 was due to hit the market in a month or so, and they needed to test it in a home environment-last thing PAX wanted was a major lawsuit because of a minor mistake in EL-3’s build. Given I had some extensive knowledge with robots, Cyril recommended me.

I personally hadn’t work with robotics on that level, creating whole, human-like machines. I had constructed and designed robotic arms for factories, and helped invent the Proyo, a home projection screen. I was totally uncomfortable working with such advanced machinery, but the compensation was good, and it was for science. Like my wife once said, it was for the betterment of mankind.

“Right....so when are you dropping the model by?” I took a sip of my drink, then spoke to the room’s speaker phone. The wall’s trembled as Cyril shuffled papers on the other side of the line. He cleared his throat and settled back into his seat a moment later. “Tomorrow? Fill out the form I sent you, and we’ll create it based off of your preferences.”

“Okay. ‘Til tomorrow.” I raised my glass to the walls in a toasting gesture, imagining Cyril doing the same, and hung up. “Desktop.” I said aloud to the room. In an instant, a bright flash filled the room and a projection of my desktop appeared before me. The desktop was a flat square about 9 inches in length and 1/2 cm in width, a bit transparent but I could still see icons. I selected the form that Cyril sent me, a ping! noise bouncing around the silent room.

The first part of the form was simple, asking only personal information like my name, age, and address. Getting to the details about the actual robot was the difficult part. The section “Appearance” projected a robot without an exo-skeleton below the desktop. Quickly, I selected female, with fair skin. The projection updated to a female robot, bald, with no eyes. After finishing up in the appearance department,  came “Personality”. I paused at this section. This robot wasn’t truly mine, and I hadn’t even wanted it in the first place, but here was an opportunity to make it everything Nally wasn’t.

She wouldn’t be a replacement, I told myself, simply an experiment.

*****************

The shrill sound of an alarm went off, making me jump out of bed. “Damn,” I muttered, rubbing my face. “Forgot Cyril’s coming early.” I looked at the time displayed above my bedroom door, it was 9, and rushed to put pants on. Then, with toothbrush in mouth, I pulled on a simple white blouse and black vest. After brushing my teeth, I rubbed my chin, scratching my the stubble. I contemplated shaving, but decided against it. It was just Cyril arriving, so my appearance for the moment didn’t matter. 5 minutes later, my Proyo announced “Cyril Bodkin is at the door, Ezra.” Briskly I walked to my apartment door, my cat Noral treading closely behind.

“Ez! Was wondering if you were awake...” Cyril greeted me, as I opened the door. He was a bit too enthusiastic for 9 in the morning, so I simply grumbled a reply. I was still a bit dazed, as my brain was transitioning  from peaceful dreaming to the complicated consequences of being awake. Cyril, on the other hand, always seemed avid. Even though  he was an old time friend, I still was adapting to his eagerness and fashion. His clothes often reflected his mood- he would always sport extravagant victorian jackets or vests, tight pants, with tall buckled boots. I rarely saw him without a pair of brown leather goggles that rested on his forehead.

I rubbed sleep from my eyes, and invited Cyril inside. That’s when I noticed his companion. I heard it before I saw it, it’s parts softly humming and squeaking as they rubbed together. EL-3 awkwardly jerked it’s way into my living room, stumbling about like a fawn just learning to walk. I shot a look of disbelief at Cyril, who shrugged in reply. “She’s fresh off the belt, so she’s still getting used to walking.”

“Getting used to walking?” I asked, stepping back as the robot jerked some more. “I thought this was a robot, designed for immediate use? That’s how it works, isn’t it?” I turned to examine EL-3, who at this point had stopped walking. Unlike traditional steam powered robots, who looked like......., this one looked extremely human like. It’s skin was made of pig’s skin, a pigmentation similar to a fair-skinned young woman. It’s hair was thick and a chocolate color, and was pulled back into an elegant bun. EL-3’s face was almond shaped with thick eyebrows to follow its frame, while her bubblegum pink cheeks matched the color of her full lips. I paused for a moment as we locked eyes. EL-3’s appeared to be  unrealistic, yet intriguing. They were large and doe like, a light hazel color.  It had a tall, slender body. Surprisingly, it came up to my chest- I was a fairly tall man.

It cocked it’s head to the side, likely trying to pin-point face recognition, and blinked 2 times. Strangely, it was able to make a face of innocent confusion, which I couldn’t help but stare at. It was dressed like any other young woman, in a nude colored corset dress and brown buckled heel boots. It held a small cream purse in it’s hands, it’s fingers creepy moving around it.

“It’s an adaptive bot, Ez. It learns as it lives, like you and me.” I glanced at Cyril and frowned. “No, I wouldn’t say like us. These things will never be us.” The mere idea of these machines seemed like an abomination, as humans tried to play god and create a daugther species. Instead, PAX had created a monstrosity of metal and gears, dubbing it a perfect creation. The problem with humans playing god, was they themselves were imperfect. Anything they could make would only be a reminder of their imperfections and limitations.

EL-3 blinked as I said this, but it’s face remained emotionless as it cocked it’s head to the opposite side. I shivered and placed my hands in my pockets, trying to ignore it’s unnerving stare. “Well, anyway,” Cyril said, turning to the robot. “This is EL-3, or Ellie, for short.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at the idea that Cyril had actually named the thing. It was pathetic but cute; he was acting like a parent naming their child.

“EL-3,” I held out my hand to it, waiting for a returning hand shake. Instead, EL-3 stared at my hand for a second or two, and began to extend it’s arm. Clumsy, it dropped it’s purse onto the floor, and jerked back, startled. “Oh,” It said in a feminine voice that had a slight echo to it. I bent down to pick up the purse just as EL-3 did, and ended up hitting heads with the thing on the way back up. “Shit...” I snapped, rubbing the back of my head. The robot frowned, and stepped back, realizing it had made a mistake. It eye’s met mine as it appeared to nervously twitch it’s fingers by it’s side’s.

“Sorry sir,” It managed to say after quickly blinking twice. I shot EL-3 a look and sighed. “Here.” I reached out to hand the purse back to the robot, who seemed tense. It looked back at Cyril, who was finding the whole situation amusing, and gave him a worried face. It’s facial expressions were extremely human like, perhaps the result of having artificial muscles linked and laid under it’s skin. Hesitantly, it took the purse from my hand and held it close to it’s chest, protectively. “Thank you, sir.”

“Yeah, whatever. Think I already found a problem with it, Cyril.” I chuckled. Cyril laughed as well, before placing his hands in his vest pocket and taking out a pocket watch. “ I should get going, you two have fun.” I walked Cyril back to the door, as EL-3 stood silently watching us from the living room.

“How long does it have to stay?” I asked Cyril softly. He opened the front door but paused to answer. “5 weeks should do it. We have 7 until the release date, let’s hope all goes accordingly.”

I nodded and leaned on the door, looking outside. “Oh,” He added, placing his watch back into his pocket. “If you anything goes wrong, call.” He then grabbed the doorknob and closed the door behind him.

I walked back into the living room to find EL-3 staring down at Noral. Noral returned it’s gaze, cautiously trying to sniff it’s foot. Slightly bending it’s knees, it reached out to touch him, but froze when it heard me approaching.

“What’s this?” I said, walking over to pick Noral up. He nestled deep into my arm and turned to stare back at EL-3. He was a tiny black cat, that was almost concealed by my muscular arms and vest, yet his tiny head still peeked out from over my shoulder.

“Sir?” EL-3 said, standing up. I glanced down at Noral, who began licking my ear, and stroked his back. “Cat, EL-3, it’s a cat.” It cocked it’s head to the side like before, it’s large eyes locked onto Noral. Slowly, it leaned forward to touch him, as if unsure whether I’d permit it to touch him or not. I turned so that it could reach him, and its long, feminine fingers gently stroked in a line. The vibrations of Noral’s purring traveled down my arm.

“Cat.” EL-3 repeated. The corners of it’s mouths lifted slightly, and for a moment, I thought it smiled. I chased this notion out of my mind and pulled away to set Noral down. EL-3 stopped mid stroke, confused, but then turned it’s attention to some old frames by the window. Jerkily, it walked over to them, and silently stared. As Noral scampered away, I turned to notice EL-3 looking curiously at a photo of my wife.

“That’s my wife,” I said approaching it from behind, hands in pockets. “Well, ex-wife.” I couldn’t help but look away as the feeling of despair returned to my chest. It was as if a heavy weight was being balanced on top of my ribs and lungs that would at any moment crush me. EL-3 didn’t notice my distress, but continued to look at the photos across the dresser. “Wife?” It eventually asked, turning to look at me. I shrugged, and looked down into it’s eyes.“Yeah, you know...a wife’s someone a man cares for and loves.”

“Did that... ‘wife’....love you?” EL-3 struggled to say, in a chilling voice. I paused, a bit taken aback by this question. Why would EL-3 want, or need, to know that? What had caused it to ask such a question? I looked at it suspiciously until I realized it’s question was one I had asked myself countless times before. Had Nally ever truly loved me? Had I been so blind that even a robot could see it just by looking at her?

“That doesn’t matter, EL-3. Clean up around here, would you?” I rubbed my hand across my face and started to walk away for a drink. A soft humming sound came from behind as EL-3’s part’s slid across one another, and it opened it’s mouth to say something. “Right away,” It paused, as if trying to continue, but couldn’t develop the words. I raised a brow and waited for it to finish, as it blinked at me. “ Call me Ellie, sir.” It eventually said. A bit confused as to why it named itself, I realized it must have caught onto Cyril’s pet name for it.

“Alright, Ellie.” I sighed. Ellie’s eyes squinted as the corners of her lips pushed up her cheeks once again. This time, I was certain, Ellie smiled.

**********

It had been almost 3 weeks since Ellie’s arrival, and she was showing noticeable progress. She had gotten used to using her legs, and walked much more gracefully. Her parts made less noise as she glided and strutted across the apartment silently. She began showing more emotion and expression, and had gotten into a habit of calling me ‘Ezra’ instead of the programmed ‘Sir’. At first I hadn’t picked up on this glitch, put it soon began to bother me after a conversation one evening.

“Do you have a ‘wife’ now, Ezra?” Ellie randomly asked, setting the food she had cooked onto the table. She had made grilled salmon, my favorite, which was also a step up from the simple pasta dinners she had been serving when she first arrived. Distracted by the food’s aroma, I didn’t answer at first. We hadn’t discussed that topic in weeks, so I had mostly forgotten it.

“What?” I said finally, just as I was about to put my fork into my mouth. The question had finally reached my brain and I froze, not knowing how to react to such randomness. “ Do you have a wife?” Ellie repeated. She sat across the table and looked down at an imaginary plate. Ellie didn’t need to eat food to get energy. Instead, I plugged her into a powersource every night in the living room, while I slept in the next room.

“No,” I said abruptly. “I don’t, and I don’t intend to have one anytime soon.” I set my fork down and examined Ellie. Her head hung after this answer, and she stared at the cotton table cloth, as if searching for words. I watched her silently as I ate, expected her to clean, play with Noral, or just do something. But she remained quiet, mindlessly getting lost in the black patterns before her.

“I,” She softly said, slowly looking up at me. “I see.” Not expecting much more of a conversation, I began to stand up to leave the dining room. The curtains were drawn, so the room was dimly lit, shadow’s dancing across Ellie’s face. “Have you...thought about offspring?” She asked timidly, the echo in her robotic voice bouncing off the walls of her metallic throat.

I knew where this was going. Tired, annoyed, and a bit vexed, I angrily crossed my arms and glared at Ellie. “What? No... of course not. Why is that a concern of yours anyway? You’re a robot, nothing more.”

She scrunched her face up as if hurt, and looked down at her feet. Her eyes seemed to be glazed over, but no tears came out. She blinked twice, distraught about something. “But,” She said, her voice shaky. “Isn’t that the same thing as you? You take commands from others, you often repeat the same task everyday, we both want to be something we’re not.”

I gasped, surprised by EL-3’s sudden display of consciousness. Had she known about Nally after all? It was true, I wanted to be everything Nally wanted me to be, I just wasn’t. Ellie wanted to be everything I wanted her to be also, but she just wasn't.

Ellie waited for my response, but I simply scowled at her and walked to the next room. She stood, staring at me as I walked away and whispered:

“We’re made for each other, Ezra. We are the same.”

***************************

That night, I had numerous nightmares. My body felt like it was being cooked inside an oven, my muscles became tense and a headache formed. I endured the unusual pain until morning, waking up in a cold sweat.

“What...” I murmured, as I gasped for air. My breathing gradually slowed as I looked around the room. No one was there, but it felt like someone was watching me. Cautiously, I leaned over to the side of the bed.

“Agghhkk!” I cried as I leaned on my arm. A sharp burning sensation jetted through my arms and jolted my body, and I swung my arm around to see the damage. Below my shoulder, on my upper forearm, was a large, blue-ish purple bruise. Looking closer I noticed the center of the bruise had a tiny hole the size of a pinhead. It appeared to be from the sting of a bug or maybe even a needle. I touched the skin around the sting mark and winced. It was soft like a rotten orange, my fingers leaving indentations after pressing too hard.

Applying cold cream on the bruise did soothe the pain a bit, but I was more worried about how I’d gotten it. It wasn’t there last night, and I was sure I hadn’t left my room. As I wound the bruise in a bandage, Ellie watched quietly. The eerie silence of the room chilled me. It was rare that Ellie hadn’t spoken to me yet; she normally at least greeted me with a “Good morning, Ezra. How did you sleep?” But that morning she just observed my arm while cooking breakfast.

Her strange behavior only pointed at the fact that she had made the bruise. By trying to act conspicuous, she was making herself look obviously suspicious- oddly enough, a human characteristic. As I wrapped the bandage around my arm a final time, I pondered on whether to ask her about it.

No, I thought. She won’t admit to hurting me.

Instead, to act as if I wasn’t on to her, I sat at the table as she served breakfast, my thoughts racing around my head. I had to keep a calm composure or else Ellie would lose it.  Why’d she hurt me? Is she dangerous now?

I looked down at the food in front of me, my fork covered in eggs and hashbrowns. What if she poisoned my food? Ellie stood near the kitchen arch, her arms folded and eyes glued to me. I swallowed, goose bumps forming across my body.

“I’ve... got to make a call.” I stood up suddenly, the chair screeching as the legs rubbed across the floor. Ellie cocked her head to the side, something she hadn’t done for weeks, and glowered at me. “Aren’t you going to finish your breakfast?” She said in her signature metallic voice. Her spindly fingers twitched by her sides.

“In a moment. I forgot I had to make an important...uh, business call.” I replied, not trying to sound nervous. Ellie didn’t bother to ask what the business call was or to who, but a look of suspicion grew on her face as she watched me exit the kitchen.

“Call Cyril,” I said to the walls, locking myself into my study. The room was sound proof (no sound escaping in or out) so I was safe to converse without Ellie eavesdropping. A low dial tone made the room tremble until there was a quick click! and a “Hello?” on the other side.

“Cyril, it’s Ez.” The heels of my boots clacked against the wooden floor. “I think it’s time you come get Ellie.”

***************************

“What’s wrong with it?” Cyril asked, as he walked into the living room and set his top hat onto an arm chair. Ellie was in the other room dusting, not aware that her creator was here to take her away. I gestured to the coffee machine, to which Cyril politely shook his head no.

“It’s been...asking things about Nally....and if I want kid’s.”

“That’s interesting...” He placed a hand over his clean shaven face and furrowed his brow, pondering. “Sounds like our EL-3’s developing a crush on you.”

Mortified by his joke, I turned away and crossed my arms. My cheeks burned from embarrassment as I broke eye contact with Cyril and looked at the ground. “That’s disgusting, Cyril. You know how I feel about those things.”

“I guess, but is that it? Otherwise those are just a side effect of EL-3 adapting to it’s environment.” Cyril explained. I fingered the bandage on my arm and turned to look back at Cyril. Slowly, I unpeeled the bandage to reveal the bruise. “I think Ellie did this.”

His eyes grew wide, and he slowly inhaled. He gently unpeeled more of the bandage and examined it closely, his burly fingers somehow massaging the skin. “That’s not good. We’ll have to take you in to get you checked. As for EL-3,”

“What about EL-3?” Came a softer voice from behind. I glanced behind my shoulder to see Ellie, duster in hand, with a face that looked betrayed. Her parts softly whistled as she looked from Me, to Cyril, then back to me. For some reason I felt the feeling of guilt rising up from my stomach, as if I had just been caught in the act of cheating. Had Nally felt like this?

“EL-3,” Cyril sighed, acknowledging her presence. “I’m taking you back for dismantlement.”

Something that sounded like a soft whimper came from Ellie, as her eyebrows shot upwards. She stepped back a bit, her arms defensively placed in front of her. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

Cyril and I exchanged confused looks as I rubbed the bandage material between my fingers. “And why is that?” Cyril asked, slowly stepping forward. I readied myself as well, in case I had to tackle Ellie.  

Ellie herself seemed distressed, as she struggled to answer. Her fingers twitched more then before,  her eyes dancing across the floor. “I’ve successfully conceived Ezra’s offspring.” She whispered.

Cyril paused, horrified, then turned to look at me. I choked on some air, placing a hand on my forehead. “You what?” Cyril seemed like he was about to faint, so he leaned onto the arm of an arm chair. “She’s pregnant?” I jerked my head to look at Cyril. “Is that even possible?”

Ellie folded her hands together, and stared at her buckled boots. Cyril placed a hand over his head as well, gasping up at the ceiling. “Yes,” He managed. “ Female EL-3’s are built with artificial wombs.” My brain just couldn’t seem to understand what was happening. It was if I were outside of the situation, looking in through a cloudy window. I wish that was the case- I’d do anything to be the neutral bystander. I didn’t want anything to do with this.

“Couples who can’t conceive put their DNA into EL-3. They create the baby, El-3 carries it.” Cyril took out a hanky from his pocket, his watch noisily falling to the floor. Ellie started to bend down to pick it up, but retreated when I shot her a look of disgust. “There’s two problems with this. One: Ellie needs a females DNA to create the baby. Where did she get that DNA? And two: You actually had sex with the thing?”

The burning sensation returned to my cheeks, this time the result of anger. “Of course not!” We both turned to Ellie simultaneously. “Well? How’d you do it?” I barked. Ellie flinched in response and batted her eyes innocently. “For the past week I’ve drugged your food.” She admitted. I swallowed, realizing that that was why I couldn’t sleep. “Then, when you slept, I would take your DNA through injections and stimulation.”

She’s gotten out of control I repeated over and over. But Ellie continued, as Cyril wiped his face with his hanky. “ I reverse engineered your DNA to create a female version, then combined the two. The result has taken up nearly 10,000 gb on my 1,000,000,000 gb drive. I have been able to speed up the pregnancy process by 3 times. I am currently 2 months, 16 days pregnant.”

“Do you know what this means, Ez?” Cyril peered at me, bug eyed. I shook my head, still in shock. My brain just wouldn’t accept the news, but I knew the shock would settle in soon. A numb feeling had enveloped my body, as if preparing it for the blow from the announcement. For this, I was grateful.

“EL-3’s has been able to create life without female DNA apparent. EL-3 created life on it’s own.” Cyril wobbly stood up, and gently grabbed Ellie’s arm. I stood a safe distance away, retaining a disgusted look on my face. “I’ll have to take some tests to see if all of this is true, but still. The result of this union would create a perfect human.” I knew this to be true. Ellie, who was a robot made to remove errors, would have removed all “imperfections” in my DNA. This child would never be sick, this child would never die.

“It will have blue eyes, black hair.” Ellie announced, as Cyril lead us out of the apartment. “Just like you, Ezra.” She offered a strange and familiar smile, and I froze. For some reason, this robot’s reminded me of Nally’s.

Would I accept this hybrid baby? Would society accept it? What would become of Ellie, the rogue robot? As we stepped out into the daylight of day, the warmth washed over my skin and washed these fears out of my head.

“Two imperfections make an perfection.”  Ellie whispered.

sources: http://www.livescience.com/1419-robot-eyes-humans-human-eyes.html

http://www.hollywood.com/news/movies/55006355/jurassic-park-3d-science-jack-horner-dino-chicken-20-years

Taming the beast behind male courtship

“Taming of the shrew” and “Beauty and the beast”

The above scene shows that Belle did not want to marry Gaston, and if it had not been for the Beast, another love interest, she would have been forced to marry Gaston.

Katherine faced a similar situation- Petruchio lied to Baptista, claiming that he loved Katherine, when in reality he was just marrying her for her money. He then assured Baptista that Katherine would be well taken care of and provided for (another lie) which was in a way bribing Baptista to let Katherine marry him. Although both of the female characters were strong-willed and independent, they were both forced into bad situations by a male interested in them. This reflects that some relationships that women have with a male partner were forced upon them or are established on lies.

Katherine was trapped into a relationship with Petruchio before she met him. He quickly devised a plan to “win her heart” (or her fathers acceptance) by pretending to be something he was not-

act 2 sc 1 p 87- “and woo  her with some spirit when she comes!...then I’ll commend her volubility” (Petruchio)

Petruchio used his cunning, lies, and forceful manner to trick both Baptista and Katherine into thinking he was a viable suitor. He continued to pretend to be something he wasn’t around others in order to keep up the rouse.

Belle is shocked and confused about the Beast’s transformation, realizing (like Petruchio) he wasn’t what he truly was.

“What, did he marry me to famish me?” (katherine)

p. 163 act 4 sc 3

Katherine was also shocked and confused once the newlyweds got home and Petruchio began abusing her. In the movie, the Beast also abused Belle by withholding food in the beginning of the movie.