Phoebe asked skeptically "so you are saying that he went from not talking at all, to talking like an adult and reading a book in a few minutes"
Vincent responded "not exactly like an adult but more or less, he said the nanites put together some of his memories and taught him"
Joseph said "even with a white soul and the help of the nanites, this doesn't make much sense "
Phoebe asked "what do you mean?"
Joseph responded "from what I know a white soul should just grant a clearer mind and a somewhat better memory, but it's an amplification of what one already has, if he has the mental faculties of a two years old with the upgrade he should have a three years old mental faculties, but you are talking like his mental faculties are already at the level of a teen"
Vincent thought for a moment then said "well technically he has two white souls, and instantaneous mental connection, to the nanites that even if empty and unable to show their power, were once as powerful as a seventh stage cultivator"
Joseph said "I still think that's not enough, the nanites are good at crafting whatever they have a blueprint for, and infiltrating other systems, but research and development was never in their program, we should ask someone who knows more about this"
Vincent said "you make a good point, I'll ask Andrea an Obelix tomorrow since I already have a meeting with them"
soon an hour passed, and the people from the Teragon electronics store should arrive at any moment, so Phoebe was in front of the portal waiting for Elena
she soon appeared with 3 other people on the mountain road leading to the portal, Elena walked in front of Phoebe and said "nice to meet you again, this is my father Joshua Teragon"
Joshua said "it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance"
then Elena continued "then our best technician Robert West" he nodded, and she finished the introduction "and the young one is Robert's apprentice Marcus Nava"
the teen said "it's an honor to be here Mrs. specter" while blushing
at that point Phoebe said "it's my pleasure to meet all of you, if you follow me I'll bring you to the castle"
she started showing the way by walking through the portal, once they were on the other side the 4 of them started looking around like a group of tourists, so Phoebe said "this is my collection of trees, in front there's the castle, and around it, on the back and sides there's a lake"
in case no one noticed Phoebe wasn't a tourist guide, but because of the status of the family she had to be sociable 'enough'
and indeed this was already enough for the 4 guests to marvel at how strange this place was, no one had thought to make it beautiful, they just threw in anything they liked
the group soon arrived at the front door and entered the lounge where Joseph and Vincent were playing chess
another round of introductions followed, then phoebe brought them to Daniel's room to install the coffin and solar panels, while Daniel kept sleeping on the sofa in the living room.
Joshua said "This is a baby's room, strange why did the news didn't say anything about it?"
Phoebe responded "it's my son Daniel, we decided to keep his birth from the public, for now only friends of the family and the club members know, I'm sure you all will keep it secret for now"
everybody nodded and got to work, she wasn't scared that the group would talk since it wasn't really a secret but they just didn't make an official statement to the public yet
anyway, the group was scared of the possible consequences so even if she didn't threaten anyone they would never tell
2 hours later, a big egg-shaped red virtual reality pod, was in place of the baby cot, and on the roof of the castle there was a pole with two big black screens on it, ready to follow the sun, the group of four had finished their work and after leaving a business card back for any necessity they might have, they went back home
the next morning when Daniel woke up he was confused, usually, it didn't matter where he fell asleep, he would wake up in his baby cot, but somehow he was still on the sofa in the living room
slowly he managed to climb down the sofa and started to wobble some steps around, just as he was about to exit the living room Phoebe arrived and picked him up "good morning Daniel, are you hungry?"
Daniel said "I want grandpa grilled fish"
Phoebe laughed and said "so grandpa made you grilled fish yesterday, uh, but grandpa his at work now"
Daniel thought for a moment, if it's called grandpa grilled fish there should be a reason, then said "since grandpa makes grilled fish, what does mom do?"
Phoebe laughed and said "I'll show you"
soon she entered the kitchen with Daniel in her arms, she put him down on a high baby seat, so he could see her cook, and started making fruits appear out of the spatial bracelet
Daniel didn't know yet that something like that existed, so he thought that his mother had the magic ability to make fruits appear out of nowhere
she took out 3 pots and 1 griddle pan, in one pot she put rice with coconut milk and some spices, in another, she put sugar and barely covered it with water, in the third she put at least 3 types of berries with some sugar and a splash of lemon juice, and in the griddle pan she put the slices of a pineapple-like fruit
soon the pineapple had the caramelized lines of the grill and she took them out, cut them in chunks, and tossed them in the pot with water and sugar together with a spoonful of butter, till all was mixed then put it aside
after that, the berries were soft and partially melted she took a blender and emulsified them, then put them aside with the grilled pineapple coated in caramel
sometime later the rice was cooked and had the right porridge-like consistency so she took a bowl and put some rice in it, and on one side she put the pineapple on the other the jam and garnished it with a leaf of mint
happy with what she had accomplished, she put the bowl in front of Daniel and gave him a spoon, waiting for his judgment, he took a spoonful of the pineapple side and put it in his mouth then said "I like it but I like the grilled fish more"
kids are the voice of innocence, and he didn't mean anything bad, but Phoebe took some emotional damage while hoping the berry jam would do better
but after a spoonful Daniel directly spit it out and said "this isn't good" with his angelic little face giving Phoebe a technical KO.
after finishing the pineapple side, Joseph also arrived and had breakfast, he liked the jam porridge what a freak!
soon after the 3 of them were around the table
Phoebe took the lead and said to him "yesterday we bought you some things"
she took out the hexagon bracer and continued "this is a personal device for you, with this . . ." she explained to him how it worked and how to use it, then helped him put it on, with this, she wanted to verify if what Vincent said about Daniel reading and memorizing a book in a few minutes was real, it's not that she didn't believe him, but just that it was hard to believe in general
as soon as Daniel's left arm got in, the device flashed once and started shrinking in size by becoming longer, basically by rearranging the hexagons the bracer took the form of Daniel's arm, and when the device took the right shape, a small holographic screen on the underside lit up and a lot of functions that couldn't be used yet, appeared, and Phoebe proceeded once again to describe them to him with the same objective
at this point the nanites in the ball started thrashing against the walls, sending a message to Daniel that they wanted to live inside the hexagon instead of the ball, and he said to his parents "those things" always pointing at the ball, he really didn't like the name nanites for some unknown reasons "want to enter the bracer"
Phoebe said "before we are sure you can keep them in line we won't let them out"
Daniel looked at the ball and said "stay still" the nanite become still, and he said "see, they listen to me"
Joseph chuckled and responded "we don't doubt that they will listen to you, but they are really dangerous, until you are knowledgeable enough we can't let them out"
Daniel looked lost in his thoughts for a moment, then said "knowledge is acquired by learning, and grandpa said that school is where people go to learn, so I want to go to school"
the couple both laughed and then phoebe said "to go to school, you need an id module, your grandpa will bring you one when he comes back from work, then you can go to school from your new bed"
Daniel didn't understand, but the couple said he would understand soon, and he was soon later basking in the sun with the fun ball
Verulus, rainbow's city, in the black and gold capitol building, inside an office on the top floor, Vincent had just finished his work, when his assistant Swanson entered the office after a light knock and said "sir, here is the id module you requested"
Vincent nodded and said "good job Swanson, next I have the appointment with the protector, I'll see you tomorrow, don't work too much"
Swanson said "it was my pleasure sir, good afternoon" and exited
a moment later, Vincent disappeared again in a flash of purple and white, and appeared at the triangular table, then flew on his seat and waited with Andrea for Obelix to arrive, but they didn't have to wait long and a giant flew in and sat down on his seat
Obelix said "here we are, what's new?"
Andrea replied "there are the usual spies who tried to infiltrate, then, as usual, there is the war with the hive, we keep killing them and they continue to multiplicate, it's good practice for the soldier's so nothing new really"
Obelix said "since the empress disappeared, the queens are the only strong members but they stay hidden or we could have already exterminated them completely, what I don't understand is why one of them can't breakthrough and become the new empress, not that I'm complaining it's just weird"
Vincent responded "they are all connected, and there can be only one empress, this means that my theory it's correct and the empress it's still alive"
Obelix said "this again, if she was alive, she would be fighting, instead, the hive is clearly acting without a central leader, fighting with us and between themselves, how can she be alive, I know that she disappeared right around the time Sophia was captured but the most reasonable theory it's that the queens are unable to breakthrough because it was already a miracle that the past empress did it and unified the hives"
Vincent like always nodded and let go, if he didn't have any proof he couldn't convince this stubborn giant, much less the busy Andrea
Andrea then said "then the report it's finished, do we have anything else to talk about?"
Obelix shook his head, but Vincent said "I come across something strange with Daniel" and recounted the same story he told the couple, while adding Joseph's speculation
Obelix was flabbergasted and said "did you forget who led the war with the replicators, are you trying to bring those technological devils back?"
Obelix worked for just a few decades to defeat the replicators, but he suffered for many years because the replicators were much better at killing than any other enemy before and after them
being unfeeling machines they could easily adapt and didn't care about sacrificing their own since they would simply build more, he saw many good soldiers and friends die in those few decades, so hearing that Vincent gave his nephew such a thing left him enraged, he couldn't believe his good brother would do such a thing