An hour passed when Eve saw a heat signature walking towards the warehouse door. She quickly laid down in a pile of scavenged parts just in case it was not Lily. The shutter on the building raised up just enough to let a person inside if they bent over. The figure from the other side ducked their head and entered and immediately shut the shutter again afterward. "Eve?"
Hearing the familiar voice, Eve climbed out of the pile of scavenged parts and stood up. "Welcome back."
"Thanks! Come, I will take you to my apartment. Although it is quite small." Lilly said as she ran over and grabbed Eve's metal hand. She seemed really excited to have Eve see her place.
Eve was led to a hatch in the floor, which before opening, she pulled a square crystal from her pocket and slid it into a slot under a hidden panel in the floor. There was a clicking sound, and the hatch sprung open. Lilly then slid herself down onto the ladder and called out below her. "Tezz, I am back!"
"Lilly!" A small voice came from below.
Eve watched as Lilly climbed down the ladder before making her way down herself. She could hear Lilly speaking to someone. "Tezz, I brought a friend over, so make sure you introduce yourself."
When Eve got to the bottom of the ladder, she felt a set of eyes on her and turned around. What she saw was a room filled with computer equipment, a work table with lots of robot parts on it, and even a table for lab equipment. On the table where the computer was, next to a messily made bed, was a small little bunny rabbit no bigger than the size of a palm with glowing blue eyes. Its padded paws and feet made Eve want to squeeze them. The little bunny was soft and fluffy looking, causing Eve to walk over and try to pet it. But as her metal hand got close to it, the little padded paw slapped Eve's hand away. "Don't touch me!"
"Tezz!" Lilly yelled, causing Tezz to shrink back and look up at Lilly, who seemed very angry.
Tezz lowered her head and swirled her left leg around on the desk as she put its hands behind her back for a few seconds before she looked back up at Lilly. "But…."
"No buts! Eve is a dear friend of mine. She saved me multiple times, do not be rude to her." Lilly scolded, causing Tezz to once again shrink back.
"Lilly, there is no need for that. It's fine. Sorry Tezz, I found you to be very cute and did not control myself." Eve apologized. She felt bad for the little bunny.
Tezz looked up at Eve, who was looking back at her with her single eye and placed her stumpy paws in front of her, and bowed her head. "I'm sorry too..."
Lilly smiled, seeing the two get along, and nodded her head. "Mm! Good! Tezz, I need you to add Eve to the security system. She will be staying here for now until she can repair her body."
"On it!" Tezz answered without hesitation. Lilly's orders were absolute for her.
"Lilly, your code for Tezz is amazing. She acts with a lot of emotion." Eve was truly impressed with Lilly's work. She was even able to get the process into such a small body.
"Her actions are all coded out. The neural chip is an old model, but the brain itself is a little off. My code is not that good either, and she is prone to bugs sometimes. But I started building Tezz when I was fifteen. She started off as a simple A.I. who could respond to tasks, but from there, I slowly began adding more and more code until I got to where I am now. She is far from perfect, but I really want to follow in my idol's footsteps and make an A.I. that is able to think and do things for itself. Like you, Eve." As Lilly spoke, her enthusiasm was clear as day as she talked about coding Tezz.
"Lilly, I do not think that you realize just how good Tezz is. She is able to act out so many emotions and be willful as to do something to smack my hand away. Doesn't this mean you have already reached your goal?" Eve already thought that Tezz had a will of her own. She may still respond to direct orders, but her personality was definitely there. She was very life-like.
"I still don't think it's enough..." Lilly pursed her lips. She looked at Tezz with a warm gaze.
Eve knew right away that Tezz was not just a project for Lilly but someone very important to Lilly. She smiled inwardly as she patted Lilly on the shoulder. She could see herself in Lilly. She was the same when she was alive. No matter how perfect Aiu was in the eyes of others, to her, she always felt that she wanted to make Aiu better and allow Aiu to be the best. "Later on, you can show me the code. Any imperfections that you want me to look over, I will check out for you."
Lilly's eyes lit up as she asked: "Really!?"
"Yeah, I will do what I can to help you since you are helping me so much. Plus, I will need you to assist me in rebuilding my body later. I can not offer much in return besides protection and assisting with your code. Plus, if I can help make Tezz cuter than she already is, then it is worth it." Eve replied as she looked over at the little bunny that just so happened to be looking back at her. But as soon as Eve looked at her, Tezz quickly looked away as if embarrassed. The surveillance she was going to put on Eve was quickly deleted from the system as she allowed Eve full access to the building.
"I have to say that to have such a place like this must be expensive, no?" Eve asked.
"No, actually, this place was cheap. As you can see, the bathroom is only hidden behind a shower current. And the place can get pretty damp, so I need to use a bunch of fans to air it out. You should have seen the place when I first moved in… God it was a cesspool."