"It hurts," David stopped walking the corridor; pausing and tilting his head he listened to more awkward stuttered words before deciding to go and investigate. He ended up appearing on the threshold of a room which was filled with equipment, mechanical; manual and robotic alike, along with desks, scattered with numerous pieces of paper and books. A bed, rather clinical in appearance, where Minerva sat, straight backed and staring forwards. Her eyes would have been looking at David, but they were looking right through him. There was a distinct light missing in her eyes.

David stepped forwards, a work room, he looked around the boards with blueprints on them, white boards stuck to walls dotted in sketches, equations and jotted notes. "It...it hurts." Minerva's voice stuttered out again, David slid his eyes back to her as her mouth opened and shut slowly, as if trying to say something else, only to fail. No words were coming out, he frowned and stopped short in front of her. From where he was standing, he could see Weyland. The man was leaning forwards, doing something, a tablet was on the bed beside Minerva. Even though it was upside down to him, David could see diagnostics running, programs scanned and information flitted across the thin screen.

"What is it?" David looked up slowly, Weyland was looking over Minerva's shoulder at him. His work had come to a sudden stop when he clearly registered David being in the room. "What is it, David?" He asked again, thinking the synthetic was here for a specific reason.

"Does she feel pain?" David looked at the lifeless expression of Minerva. Her eyes still stared blankly ahead, her mouth now slightly agape.

"There's a concept." Weyland said, disappearing back around her to finish doing whatever it was he was doing.

David tilted his head and moved around to stand by his side. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of Minerva's inner workings; her brain, silver and blue, the shining silver metal which made up bone was lit with blue lighting and blinking sections which were her brain, her mind, where all of her thoughts and feelings were stored. "A concept," David's eyes narrowed. "It is make believe then?"

"I wouldn't say that. It is there, it isn't fake. The pain you feel, you both feel, and the pain a human would feel differs." Weyland explained, a small device probed at something and a small trail of smoke trailed in the air.

David frowned, "What are you doing?" What was the reason to need to crack open Minerva's head and rummage about in there? Surely her inner workings and hardware were fine now, or were fine when first installed? David's frown disappeared and he returned to being blank faced, he remembered something distinctly: the admittance to tweaking, of being a perfectionist. He shook his head, was this disgust he was feeling? There was a cruel indifference lingering, but yet also injustice; he felt bad, he felt disjointed from seeing someone like himself being opened up and tweaked and hacked internally because they were not perfect, or deemed perfect for whatever their reason to be was.

"Update."

David flinched a little at that, he made her sound like technology just simply updating when on standby mode. "As in?"

"Running on the same system as you, David. Her one is a little out of date, in comparison to you. I'm just bringing her up to the modern times." Weyland said while picking the tablet up and skimming his fingers over the screen. He was silent and looked unhappily downwards, he was concentrating hard that he paid no mind to David leaning down in front of her.

"How old is she?"

"Ten," Weyland said while taking a wire and plugging it into her and then into the tablet. She jumped a little, yet remained seated. David watched as her eyes lightened slightly.

"Is she based on someone?"

"Sorry?" Weyland looked at him with a frown.

David smiled and leaned away. "Simple question, I am curious. It is an interesting face to choose, to create; to make and last forever. Where did the inspiration come from?"

Weyland sat looking at him with a frown. David just tucked his hands behind his back and continued to smile down at the seated male. He could see that his questions were hitting a nerve. Yet David found he didn't care too much. He was fishing for answers. He said he would help Minerva find answers, so here he was. Maybe not the most subtle way...but David didn't know tactics. "Neutral," Weyland's voice caused David to frown, not what he was expecting. He pushed himself up and walked around the bed, David couldn't help but look away and look downwards. He probably was created on there, just like she before him. He shook his head and looked to Weyland as he stopped by his side. "You are to fit in with people, to work alongside and not to cause alarm. Neutral faces mean everything, unlike people who are so expressive."

"She has your eyes." David stated rather simply. "She has eyes like me." Her eyes were definitely more like his in colour, yet slightly narrowed like Weyland's. He looked quickly to the man beside him, "We are based on you." Weyland just pushed something on the tablet, David frowned, he didn't appreciate being ignored.

"When you create something, David. You put a little part of yourself into it too." Weyland glanced up at Minerva when she blinked and shook her head. She frowned suddenly though and reached up, her fingers probed at the back of her head. It was still mostly all opened up and she was able to feel the sudden influx of wires, definitely more than what she remembered. Not to mention being able to actually fish her fingers inside her head. She looked up at them with wide eyes which teared up slightly. "It is something you won't know, but it's true. Like having a child, they're part you, part someone else; you see parts of yourself in them, especially when they grow." Weyland said while just looking at Minerva, she lowered her arms with a frown. "How do you feel?"

"Confused. Where am I?" She looked around worriedly, she didn't know this room.

"You needed help."

"What help would render me ending like this?" She pointed to the back of her head. "Put me back together."

"Does it offend you to know what you are?"

"It offends me that you lied to me for years." Minerva quipped back with no trouble.

"I deserved that, I suppose." Weyland nodded and moved around the bed to sit on the stool again.

She blinked and looked at David with a smile. "Hello."

David shuffled over and sat next to her, she tilted her head yet got moved back to looking forwards again so Weyland could finish whatever it was he was doing. "Good morning." He replied, her eyes flicked to the side to look at him. "How are you?" He asked politely.

Minerva sighed, "I feel strange."

"How?" Weyland asked from the background. He was more than happy to let them chat away, but this caught his interest. If something was wrong, then he would need to do more than just work on her simply like this.

"Things seem clearer, higher functioning; quicker, thought process taking seconds, responses have speeded up too."

David straightened a little, "You think like me." They may have been alike before, but this well and truly cemented them being the same.

Minerva smiled, "No, David, no one thinks the same."

"Rightly said," Weyland unattached things and David glanced over his shoulder to watch as he pulled wires and leads from her. He closed her up and he stood, walking around before stopping in front of them. "Each mind is different, you two are no exception. Everything may be the same, you may be made of the same matter, but your minds and experiences are what set you two apart." Both of them just sat looking up at him, Weyland nodded and then looked to the side as a phone started ringing. "David, perhaps give her a tour?" It wasn't so much as a question, but a demand. Passive aggressive demand at that.

"Of course, sir." David slid off the bed, "This way then." He gestured a hand to the door. Minerva jumped off the bed and pottered after him. Her bare feet padding quietly against the floor as she walked out of the room and looked around. "You have only known your room?" David looked down at her as she seemed truly amazed about everything she was seeing. She mutely nodded, "It seems your world has just got bigger." He paused and watched as she shuffled into the room he had first become aware in.

She instantly shuffled over to the large window, her hands pressed against the glass as she looked out. The lake looked like glass, still and dark blue in colour, the sky was blue with white clouds and the sun was very much present and shining. "It's beautiful."

David stepped forwards, he crossed his arms behind his back again and stopped to look outside too. "I suppose." Minerva frowned and looked at him confusedly, David smiled. "If you are into that sort of thing. Beauty differs, what you find beautiful may not be what others see as beautiful."

"You don't like the view?"

David looked outside dimly. "It doesn't change."

"A lack of change is boring?"

"You have been in a lack of change for so long. So, surely you know the answer to that question?" David questioned while turning away and going to sit down on the piano stool. He lifted the lid and looked at the perfectly polished keys. He looked to Minerva as she sat down, sweeping the white skirt of her dress out of the way as she did so.

"Days bled into one. I cannot remember if I was bored." Minerva said with narrowed eyes, "Can you play?"

"Of course." David looked her up and down, "You can too."

She shook her head, "No." David didn't know if that was a no to not knowing how to play, or no to not wanting to. Regardless he skimmed his fingers across the keys.

"We are based off him." David said while he pressed the wrong note. The key change by accident made Minerva look at him dubiously. "Oops," he said not sounding all too caring that he had made her wince slightly from the change. The sharp note suddenly hurt her ears, yet David just looked at her blandly, hands now still. "You are his daughter, yes. Or rather, you are an impression of his daughter."

"What happened to his daughter?"

David's mouth slowly turned upwards, "Good question," his eyes looked around the room. "Would you like to see the rest of this place?" Minerva nodded quickly and jumped up, David stood and walked out the room with her following.

"Why would I be here?"

David pushed open the door to the study like room he found the previous evening. He moved inside slowly and looked over the bookcases, Minerva gasped and rushed over. He smiled, seemed like her ideal heaven there. Her hands were to her cheeks and she even fidgeted from foot to foot. "I don't know." David answered honestly.

"Am I an effigy?" Minerva asked worriedly while looking away from the books. David shrugged, Minerva walked past him. She sat at the desk and looked about herself. "This doesn't feel like him."

David turned and looked around curiously too, "No...no, I don't think it is." He said slowly while walking over quickly and opening the drawers. Why didn't he see it before? Thinking of the clinical surroundings Weyland surrounded himself by; how was this room, cosy in nature and surrounded by books, feeling completely disjointed from the sparse corridors and rooms beyond it, Weyland's? David looked at Minerva with a serious look, she returned it with a confused look of her own. Her face grew even more confused, especially when David placed a tablet down. Ten years, Weyland had said, ten years Minerva had been here as a work in progress; this tablet was old, really old may be an exaggeration, but in comparison to what Weyland used, it was basically a dinosaur.

She turned the tablet around and tapped at it, frowning and looking in the other drawers, she found a lead. David instantly took to plugging it in, after a few moments it kicked into life. A password caused both to look at each other confused. With a sigh, David looked around the room. Passwords were always obvious things. Favourite place, person, pet, book; the latter seemed hard to pin down considering what they were surrounded by.

Minerva tapped in several things, each thing failing to gain access. She sighed heavily and looked close to hitting her head against the desk before something seemed to come to mind and she returned to the keyboard. David watched as she got in, she looked at him with wide eyes. Picking the tablet up, she stood and turned and jumped to sit on the desk, David sat down too and reached over to push the icon for the internet. It was strange, despite being able to access information David really was unable to trace Minerva. It was as if there was a block, but Weyland can't block the internet. Anything they wanted to find out, would be on there.

Minerva grabbed his hand and stopped him from typing, David looked at her curiously. "What if...what if what we find something out, and it isn't pleasant?"

"I think we can say that the answers we're looking for, aren't going to be pleasant." David said after a few moments of silence. He took the tablet from her hands fully and typed her name into a search engine. The internet was a little slow, but it managed to load after some time. David read the first article which appeared, Minerva kept trying to lean over his arm and read too, but he pushed her gently away. He frowned and reread a sentence several times before looking upwards and then eventually to her.

"Can I read now?" Minerva asked, yet she took the tablet from his hands and read the article too.

David looked at her sadly, he sympathised, hugely. Yet a depressed look did flit across her face, rightly so; she was reading an article about the girl she was based on having died of a rare form of cancer which refused to be cured by all known medical treatments going. It was about the lone article which mentioned death, other articles involved Minerva still being alive yet secreted away inside, still receiving treatment from anywhere and everywhere. It was conflicting, the more she read, the more she grew frustrated. "You were built to live." David said looking at her still with the sad look on his face. Minerva put the tablet on standby and looked ahead with dim eyes, "You are here to live the life she didn't get."

"But...but I'm not her."

"I don't think he sees it like that." Not calling Weyland delusional, but David definitely got the sense that there was a blurred line here.

"That's weird, this is weird, David." She said while turning and looking at him with a worried look.

"People grieve in different ways. Evidently you were the way in which he coped." David took the tablet from her hands and decided to just place it back in the drawer once he unhooked it from the mains.

"If you hadn't come," David straightened up from the drawer and looked at her. Minerva remained on the desk, David sidestepped to stand in front of her. "I wouldn't have known any of this. None of this would have come to light."

David tilted his head, he leaned down to be on the same eye level as her. He smiled, braced his hands against his knees and just looked at her with the smile still in place. "Your eyes have been opened, Minerva. No longer in the dark, you now know why you are here. You exist because a man cannot seemingly have the ability to let go. It is worrying."

"Why are you here?" Minerva asked quietly while tilting her head curiously to the side. She watched as David's eyes darkened and he looked at her unhappily. Reaching up, she placed a hand over his eyes. Parting her fingers she wasn't surprised to still see him blankly staring at her. With a sigh she placed her hand in her lap.

"To serve, apparently."

Minerva smiled and leaned forwards. "I think we are both pawns, David."

"To what end?" David asked while she narrowed her eyes in thought and decided to slip from the desk and shuffle about the room.

He watched as she ran her fingers across the spines of books, she paused and narrowed her eyes again before smiling sidelong at him. "An end we may not have much say in. But we can try. Can't we?" She pulled a book from the shelf and turned it, "Treasure Island, David?"

"If you wish." He nodded and walked towards her as she smiled and walked out of the room. The book she had read from last night was finished, David actually found he quite liked being read to. There was something strangely relaxing about it. Minerva was quite an expressive reader, she'd pause if she felt like there was a need to discuss something, and David would find himself having an interesting conversation about a topic he hadn't got much experience on. Something told him though, that that was one book discussion of many he was likely to have with her.

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Edited: 11/June/2021