While Venerable Jannzi explored the capabilities of her reinvented Shield of Samar for the first ti, two happy parents were enjoying their parental leave in their grand stateroom.
"She's so cute." Gloriana impishly smiled at the baby sleeping against her chest.
"Miaow~"
Clixie wondrously looked up at the baby. Even though she wasn't a human, the cat felt the strong urge to watch over the newborn.
Rubarthan Sentinel Cats were originally developed to protect and accompany rich little girls. While bots could perform the sa job as well, the difference was that cats were capable of displaying genuine love and affection.
At this mont, her genetic programming already ca into force. As long as her presence wasn't unwelco, Clixie would always be there to banish the girl's loneliness!
The only problem was that the new baby didn't appear to be alone.
Maow.
Alexandria, who rested on Gloriana's shoulder, issued a special cry.
A mont later, a smaller and softer cry erged from the baby.
…Miew…
A small white Persian spiritual kitten erged from the baby's head. The little intangible puffball wobbled in the air as she tried and failed to reach the older red cat.
Maow maow~
Gloriana's companion spirit shook her head and flew forth to clutch the white kitten in her paws. Alexandria then proceeded to give the kitten she considered to be her own child a bath!
…Miew miew!…
Clixie's tail drooped at the sight. She couldn't do what Alexandria could do. She was the only cat that was 'normal' in the family, and that ca with more downsides than upsides.
"It's okay, Clixie." Ves picked the furry cat up and rubbed her head. "You'll be allowed to cuddle with our baby soon enough. Her immune system is already strong since she's a designer baby, but it's best to wait for another week until her resistance to germs kicks into gear."
"Miaow."
As a designer baby, Ves and Gloriana's daughter was dood to live an abnormal life. The extensive gene modification regi commissioned from Witshaw & Yeneca did not end at the mont of birth.
The new mber of the family would continue to receive highly-targeted injections, dication and genetic treatnts throughout her entire youth and adolescence.
Each of them had a purpose. Whether it was activating latent genes or suppressing problematic ones, even the growth of a designer baby had to be controlled.
If designer children did not receive targeted adjustnts for an extended amount of ti, then the odds were great that they would develop serious or even fatal defects. Due to their highly altered genetic profile, they were never supposed to grow up like normal children!
However, all of this effort was worth it in the end. Once the designer children grew up, they beca smarter, healthier, more observant and maybe even more long-lived than their average counterparts.
This was one of the main ways families and dynasties remained successful and in power from generation to generation. They invested a disproportionate amount of money and resources into raising talented and excellent offspring.
It didn't matter whether all of their talent and ability were manufactured. As long as it was possible to make a son or daughter more impressive by spending lots of money, there were plenty of parents who would go into debt just to give their descendants a better future!
As Ves and Gloriana sat next to each other in order to gaze lovingly at their new baby, neither of them thought about the price they paid to Witshaw & Yeneca. As far as they were concerned, they would have spent ten tis the money just to give their baby a marginally higher starting point!
"Look. Aurelia has your nose." Gloriana softly cooed as she rocked her sleeping baby.
"I can already tell that she will grow up to be a bright young woman one day." Ves said as he embraced his wife.
Aurelia Wodin-Larkinson. That was their baby girl's na.
A lot of heated and contentious discussion preceded the official naming of their child. Ves and Gloriana both held different ideas on how their first daughter should be called.
For so reason, Gloriana strongly favored nas that followed the sa pattern as her own na. Whether it was Viviana or Mariana, her baby had to carry a na that ended with -ana in order to make her perfect!
Ves heavily disagreed with this naming sche. He didn't want Gloriana to treat their daughter like a miniature version of herself!
"Your mother Constance didn't bestow you with a na that ends with -ance." He pointed out at the ti. "So don't tell this is a sacred tradition or sothing. Our baby deserves to have a na that befits her unique identity. She is my daughter as well as yours, you know."
His suggestions skewed away from anything that resembled the na of his wife. He ca up with suggestions like Celeste and Katerina that were supposed to be both classy and distinct.
It took a lot of effort, but Ves had succeeded in winning this argunt. The final list of nas they eventually settled upon did not contain any nas that ended with -ana.
This was how their daughter beca Aurelia.
As a concession to Ves getting his way, Gloriana insisted that their daughter's last na be known as Wodin-Larkinson.
"She doesn't need a compound na, honey. She's a Larkinson and nothing else!"
"She's my child as well, Ves, and I do not want her to forget where the other half of her bloodline cos from! I don't want her to grow up thinking that she doesn't have any other family besides other Larkinsons. Our baby has two grandmothers!"
Ves eventually acquiesced to this demand. In practice, it didn't matter as long as their daughter was solely raised in the clan. With the strong institutions and culture of the Larkinsons, he had no worries that his wife would succeed in turning their daughter into a Hexer.
Aurelia was an elegant and sophisticated na for a girl. To Ves, it fit well for a woman that was being grood to beco a leader. The na managed to hit the right balance where it sounded classy enough without becoming too pretentious.
"Oh, her little snowball is cute as well! Alexandria will take excellent care of Mana, hihihi!"
It turned out that Gloriana did get her way, eventually.
She might have missed the opportunity to bestow her baby with a na that ended with -ana, but she didn't let go of the chance to na the infant companion spirit that was born from Aurelia's spirituality!
Thankfully, unlike with her own companion spirit, Gloriana kept the na of Aurelia's life-long spiritual cat short and succinct.
She didn't even ask Ves where Mana ca from. Perhaps she already suspected the truth or perhaps she thought that Alexandria's creation automatically ant her baby gained a cat as well.
Whatever the case, the new mother had beco far too obsessed about her child to waste her ti on other distractions.
Soon enough, Mana flew back into Aurelia's tiny head to rest as well.
In fact, whether it was the baby or her companion spirit, both of them slept for the majority of ti since their birth!
Little Aurelia only woke up long enough to cry and feed before she slept again. This pattern repeated frequently, and Gloriana personally attended to the baby's needs each and every ti.
This was both an exhausting and fulfilling process. Gloriana enjoyed feeding Aurelia the natural way. Ves could clearly see their bonds of love deepening with each session.
Sotis, Aurelia had to be fed with an artificial, custom-made solution formulated by Witshaw & Yeneca.
Gloriana's body wasn't able to provide the special nutrients and other organic substances a designer baby needed to grow in a special way.
For so reason, their little daughter always noticed the difference. They already tried to have a nanny bot feed Aurelia, but she continued to cry until an actual human held her and soothed her to sleep.
"What a fussy girl." Ves exasperatingly said.
Changing diapers was never a problem, much to his relief. Aurelia wore outfits that incorporated a handy waste managent system that pushed all of the output into a small canister that bots could automatically replace when filled.
There was little the parents could do about the crying, though. Even though their girl slept most of the ti, she had to be served whenever she woke up! It started to drive Ves crazy and they only had their daughter for a few days!
The love and fulfillnt that he and his wife gained from Auralia made up for it, though. All of their exhaustion and irritation ant nothing as long as they could keep their baby happy and healthy!
After Gloriana had her fill of holding her new baby, she moved over to a new chamber in their grand stateroom. She personally overhauled the interior until it turned into a miniature paradise for young ladies.
The new room featured pink walls, pastel decorations, a ceiling with twinkling stars, a soft, high-tech crib and hundreds of toys suitable for children of various ages.
Ves was particularly impressed by the stuffed animal bots and imnse dollhouse.
The forr were toy bots with a soft and fluffy exterior. They could act cute, move on their own and hold conversations depending on their model. Ves made sure that their programming and construction didn't contain any risk factors.
As for the dollhouse… that was Gloriana's handiwork.
He didn't know how she managed to squeeze the ti to design and fabricate sothing so disturbingly intricate and life-like!
The dollhouse was modeled after an imperial palace. It featured an imperial throne room where the tiny empress was ant to hold court in front of dozens of ministers and high officials.
What was even more absurd was that the empress had 6 consorts and 36 children!
Ves knew them quite well, because his wife demanded that he make each and every AI-driven doll by hand.
He was supposed to give the characters more life so that his daughter would have more fun playing with the extravagant dollhouse.
Of course, it would take so years before his baby was even ready to play with the dollhouse.
"I should make my own toys for our girl." He grumbled.
Once Gloriana finished with laying Aurelia in her crib, she and Ves quietly left their daughter's room.
Neither of them worried too much about their baby. She was the most guarded child in the fleet. Not only did her room contain a whole suite of security and detection asures, a team of loyal Kinner honor guards constantly kept watch.
Clixie had opted to stay in the room as well. Ves had already issued an alarm device to her. The cat took her duty seriously and would rather die before letting anyone harm the baby!
The couple tiredly sat down again.
"I wish my mother was here." Gloriana said. "So far, she was only able to greet her grandchild by projection."
Ves frowned. "At least your mother Constance can talk and look at Aurelia whenever she wants. My mother on the other hand…"
That was a bit of a weird topic. Technically, the Superior Mother was around all the ti, but she was a distinct and autonomous existence most of the ti. Cynthia remained inaccessible most of the ti.
Ves had attempted to let his mother know about her new granddaughter if the Superior Mother couldn't pass on the good news. He had made use of the Xona Communication Crystal that his clan had once picked up in the Nyxian Gap and used the brief interval of ti to transmit a ssage.
He hadn't received any answer, but it took a few days for these cumberso alien crystals to get ready to receive or transmit signals again.
Ves wasn't even sure whether the transmission reached its destination. Distance likely wasn't a factor but the extre space distortion of the anomalous region probably warped every signal!
He truly hoped his mother learned that her son had beco a father.
User Comments
0 comments from readers