Love Code at the End of the World

When my younger brother was about to enter, I stopped him, asking, “Do you want to enter the cockpit?”

His eyes shimmered in excitement. A young five-foot-eleven man held his hands together gleefully, hopping around like a little girl.

I returned to my cousin and hugged her tightly. I said, “Tell grandpa and grandma, and everyone at home, that we’re fine. We’ve reunited, and we’ll continue to miss everyone on the faraway planet. They can look at the stars when they miss us…”

“Mm…” My cousin couldn’t fight back her tears. She held me tightly, complaining, “You were always like this… Leaving whenever you wanted… You even ran off to the stars this time…”

“Cousie, take care!” I let go of her and leaped onto the robot’s hand before my tears could roll out. I then entered the cockpit with Loki.

Loki sat in the copilot’s seat as the glass panel closed. All kinds of data appeared on the screen, and he looked at the info happily with great interest.

“Let’s go home,” I said. The robot slowly ascended at my command, entering invisible mode. We left the hospital rooftop, leaving my cousin and her husband behind. They stood on the rooftop, watching us leave.

We blended into the night sky. The weather that night was great, and the stars were twinkling brightly.

“This is awesome! Sis, what’s its name?” Loki suddenly asked, touching the screen excitedly.

I was stunned. I had no idea what its name was.

“My master has yet to name me,” the robot reported.

I felt bad hearing its reply. I looked at Loki, saying, “You name it then.”

“Really?!” Loki looked at me in surprise.

I looked at him apologetically, saying, “For the past twenty years, I didn’t carry out my responsibility and obligation as the eldest daughter. Nor did I fulfill my duty as an elder sister. You’ve lived too long in my shadow. So, this is the first present I’m giving you. From today onward, you can live for yourself.”

Loki’s eyes were glistening with tears. He looked at me with a complicated expression. I smiled at him, and he smiled back. He wiped his tears away and looked at the screen in front of him, saying, “Magik! I want to name him Magik! I’m going to another world. Everything happening now is just like magic.”

I smiled, looking ahead of us. I asked, “Magik, do you like this name?”

“I like this name very much,” Magik replied. It added, “When I connected to Earth’s satellite, I learned a lot about Earth. Magik was once a superhero on Earth.”

“Hahaha. That’s just a comic. It’s fiction, but you can definitely become a real superhero!” Loki said excitedly.

“Thank you. I’d like to become a superhero too.”

“No way! You’re an AI?!” Loki finally realized that Magik was an AI.

“I’m only running on a basic AI system. I can only engage in simple thought and communication,” Magik replied.

“This is already an AI! What more do you want? The AI on Earth still can’t communicate with humans so flawlessly. Its sentences are all pre-set, and it doesn’t have its own thoughts,” Loki exclaimed.

“The AI on Earth sounds a little stupid.” Magik made fun of the robots on Earth calmly.

“Hahaha,” Loki laughed. “Look, this is a true AI. I believe the AI on Earth will break through that bottleneck one day.”

“Loki, Magik isn’t a true AI,” I explained to Loki. He looked at me curiously, asking, ”What? This isn’t one yet? What is one like then? Are they like the ones in the movies, where it’s hard to tell if they’re real or fake, and they even have feelings?”

“Shouldn’t a real AI be like that?” I asked Loki in response.

He was stunned, chuckling, “You’re right. An ideal AI should be like that. It should have feelings and be able to express them. It should respond according to the environment and conversation flow instead of an automatic preset. But, coding human-like emotions and responses has yet to be accomplished.”

I smiled, saying, “Magik is cut off from the main server now. When we return to Kansa Star, let me show you true AI. I have a cunning AI who always thinks about filthy things.”

“A guy?!” Loki’s eyes twinkled.

I nodded, replying, “Yes, a guy.”

“Hahaha. Such a character would definitely be a guy. I can’t wait to see him,” Loki’s eyes were shimmering with anticipation. But I began to feel uneasy about his excitement.

Can we... still go back to Kansa Star?

No! I can’t change my mind! I have to go back! I definitely can!

As we left in a hurry, dad only brought important things with him.

Property and clothing seemed to be useless now, because we were going to another planet. What could we do with that!?

I saw a carton of instant noodles, so I took it with me. I also brought soy sauce, salt, vinegar, and other condiments. I also packed all the food from the fridge.

My dad began to worry, because I’d mentioned that Kansa Star had been through an apocalypse, and he saw that I’d only brought food. So, he was worried that there was no food there.

There was food, of course, but… I didn’t tell my dad the exact situation.

I’d taken the carton of instant noodles because they were hard to find on Kansa Star. Instant noodles had been considered junk food sixty years ago on Kansa Star. There were no benefits for the inhabitants’ exquisite bodies, so they’d stopped producing them. I hadn’t eaten instant noodles for seven years and I was really craving them.

Plus, there were no authentic cooking condiments on Kansa Star. So, the dishes didn’t taste anything like home. That was why I’d brought everything that I could back. If it weren’t because the robot had limited space, I would totally clean out a supermarket.

My younger brother only took his laptop and hard disk before popping back to the cockpit.

I had to say that our family’s genetics were strong. Although I wasn’t the smartest, I figured I was at least an outstanding fighter.

Even though my brother had just been forced to study, he got into Tsinghua Physics School! That showed how intelligent he was. He had even started to become familiar with Kansa Star’s programming language in such a short time.

Dad stood at the balcony, turning back to look at our home again and again. I knew that he was reluctant to leave. How could he leave our home that we’d stayed in for so many decades? Even moving within the same city was heartbreaking, let alone the fact that we were leaving Earth all of a sudden. We might not return at all after this. If it wasn’t for mom, my dad definitely wouldn’t leave this home. Any elder would miss home.

“Dad, let’s go,” I said, patting his back. He let out a heavy sigh before entering Magik again.

There was another reason I wanted to bring Mom and Dad back to Kansa Star. I felt sad that Dad’s hair had grown white. I wanted to revive his vigor, or at least his looks. I wanted him to look like he was in his fifties, instead of looking like he was in his seventies when he was only in his sixties.