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The room was dark, except for one rectangle on the far wall. Light bled into the room, making the Child’s silhouette look like a shadow puppet. Her arms were folded. Her expression was hard to read, but she seemed anxious, or perhaps she was excited. Bailer didn’t have a clue. He looked into the room, fixing his eyes where Child’s were, at the little figure tucked up in a bed in that small well-lit room. It had been two days since Eunomia had emerged from the tank. Child and Bailer were still wondering just how they were going to deal with their new charge. Bailer scratched his forehead and thought about speaking. The silence was heavy and rather awkward. Child was normally the talkative one, but over the last three days she had been pensive and almost sullen.
“You’ve got her registered then?” He mumbled, his eyes returning to Eunomia. Her hair had been brushed and tidied, her body cleaned. They were feeding her through a drip, until she became more used to her environment. Bailer still couldn’t quite believe it. He’d hardly spared a thought for the growing lump of flesh sitting in the basement, he’d assumed it was a dead project, yet here she was.
“Yes. Stern didn’t help. He wouldn’t even let me use his name for her.” Child muttered.
Bailer frowned. It was standard procedure for clones, artificial humans and AIs to bear the last name of their creator. Eunomia would have been listed as Eunomia Stern, but as it was Child had had her registered as Eunomia Novus. It was the standard name for unclaimed creations.
“It must be odd…for her I mean.” Bailer mumbled. “Everything is new, and it’s hitting her all at once. Her brain must be buzzing like an ants nest…”
“Buzzing ants?” Child said, questioning the simile. There wasn’t a smile on her face, but it was present in her voice. She sighed, her shoulders sagging. “How are we going to take care of her? We’re not going to have time. If we slack off and Stern notices, he’ll have her shipped off somewhere.” She muttered darkly, seething with anger at the other professor.
“Typical of him. Damn perfectionist.” Bailer added. “First artificial human in years and he goes off on one because she’s not ‘special’. I wonder what exactly he was hoping for. One of those genetic aberrations from those old stories, the ones with superpowers and sticky ends.” He said, smiling faintly. “Hell, she’s getting up.”
Eunomia was stirring from her slumber. She had slept almost continually since her awakening, somewhat ironically. Her motor skills were sadly lacking. She had not yet managed to walk by herself.
Child hurried to the door and let herself into the room just as Eunomia was about to plunge off the bed and onto the floor.
“Easy.” Child hissed, grabbing Eunomia by the shoulders and holding her steady. Eunomia groaned in protest and shrugged her shoulders in an attempt to shake Child off. She let out an exasperated sound and pointed to the corner of the room and to the bedpan in the corner. Child got it, and ten minutes later she was asleep again.

Stern was hard at work, which made him the odd one out in the office in his opinion. He had not seen Child or Bailer at their desks since the start of his shifts, which was not unusual. They worked such convoluted shifts after all. Stern was inclined to interpret their absences as the direct result of their involvement in his project. He could not understand Child’s thinking. Artificial humans were increasingly common. With the right equipment, clear instruction and focus even a high school student could grow their own artificial human. There were of course rules preventing such a thing, but it was possible. Stern had hacked into the security cameras in Eunomia’s room on several occasions, but had not seen anything extraordinary. He still nurtured a vague hope that she would astonish him in some way. He pulled up the window and looked at the screen. The first new thing he noticed was the addition of a stuffed bear, something Bailer had brought. Stern snorted in derision at his colleagues’ softness. As he watched Child was trying to coax Eunomia into walking. She had given her a frame to support herself, and was instructing her how to move her legs. She appeared to understand, as the girl managed a few shaky steps. Stern focused in on Child’s face. She was grinning in a way he had never seen before, an expression of unrestricted joy, of pride…
“So you’re spying on us now?”
Stern jumped from his seat, spinning around to find Bailer smirking at him. He swore a few times, waiting for his heart to stop pulsating like an eel .
“Heavens Bailer! No. No. I was simply checking on…” he paused, looking at the screen “…her.” He finished noncommittally.
“Who? Eunomia or Child?” Bailer said, refusing to let Stern escape so easily. “She’s doing well, in case you were wondering. Child’s going to start teaching her to read soon enough. She’s already able to speak a little.”
Stern did his best to look uninterested. He waved his hands dismissively, and went to close down the window showing Child and Eunomia. Eunomia was standing without the walking frame, Stern could see her shaking slightly with the effort it put on her unused muscles. Her face was impassive, a little sad if he had to assign any emotion to it.
“No.” He murmured. “No, you two are spending too much time with her. You should be more focused on your work. We have seven different companies hounding us for reports due before the end of the month, we have far too much work for you both to be disappearing off…”
Bailer was looking at him angrily, preparing to argue against him. Stern felt a small degree of pleasure in knowing he was about to surprise the other man, perhaps cause him to question earlier opinions. “…no, you shall bring Eunomia in here. Set up some corner where she may work. The sooner she is capable and independent the sooner we shall be able to move on to other projects.” He did not mention his other reason for wanting Eunomia where he could see her, the fact that he wanted to observe her for abnormalities. The madness of the research assistant, Stern knew Eunomia had been responsible. He could not help but wonder if those abilities he had endeavoured to infuse in her, abilities which would have made her an object of fear and awe, were still present. His finger hovered over the button to close the camera window. He could hear Bailer muttering in astonishment behind him. Stern looked at Eunomia, wondering in the same romantic manner he had wondered as he had descended to the lowest of the basement labs to free her, and then, quite inexplicably and unprompted, Eunomia looked up. Stern closed the window.

Continued in Part 4 --->

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