Reina sat in her usual spot, laptop balanced on her knees, a mug of lukewarm cocoa on the desk beside her. Her room was quiet except for the faint hum of her computer fan. On-screen, her newest upload had just finished rendering, and she hit play to rewatch it from start to finish.
This was her second video. The first had been a long, chaotic time-lapse of prototypes and experiments, a glimpse into months of hidden work. But this one was cleaner. More deliberate. Almost like she was stepping onto a stage she never expected to stand on.
The opening frame showed her sitting at her workbench, halo glowing faintly around her head like some futuristic crown. Her voice was soft but steady:
"Hello everyone. Thank you so much for the overwhelming support. I didn't expect so many people to watch my video… it means a lot. And, uh—special thanks to a NASA employee for your comment. I'm really grateful."
On-screen, she gave a small, awkward smile at the mention. She wasn't good at public speaking, but she tried anyway.
Then she shifted into the technical stuff.
"Today's update: I've upgraded the halo. It's now equipped with a directional speaker that pinpoints sound directly to my auditory nerves. It's basically the same principle as a bone-conduction headset, so it's not exactly groundbreaking… but it helps."
Even in the video, her tone made it sound like a footnote, but the comment section was already exploding with theories.
Meanwhile, thousands of kilometers away, Dr. Rowan Halberg leaned back in his office chair, watching the video on his second monitor. He chuckled when she mentioned the speaker upgrade. "Alright," he muttered under his breath. "Good. She's still human. Still just… experimenting, not ascending into some sci-fi goddess yet."
But then the video took a turn.
Reina turned the camera slightly, showing a small chip connected to the halo's inner framework.
"Next, I've integrated an AI-powered chip. This lets me run processes and analyze data in real-time. And, um… I've also connected the camera to the halo, so… you'll be able to hear her voice."
Her fingers brushed a control panel at her side. The halo pulsed faintly.
"ANIER, please introduce yourself."
A clear, steady voice—feminine, warm but unmistakably synthetic—filled the video.
"Good day, everyone. I am ANIER—Artificial Neural Integration & Enhanced Reasoning. My purpose is to support Reina in calculations, designs, and simulations. I can also extrapolate data to form new theories beyond existing parameters."
Reina blinked at the camera. "She's, uh… still learning. But she's already helpful."
Rowan sat up straighter. His coffee went cold, forgotten. The AI's voice wasn't just some canned text-to-speech. It had cadence. Personality. Awareness. And that last line—'form new theories beyond existing parameters.' That wasn't normal. That was a leap.
The video ended right after ANIER's brief demonstration. No dramatics. Just a clean fade-out.
Back in her room, Reina hit pause and leaned back. The video already had over a million views despite only being up for an hour. She scrolled the comments absentmindedly, watching the numbers tick upward in real time.
And then she saw it—a new comment from Rowan:
"If you've achieved this level of integration, have you considered applying similar principles to visual input? For example, glasses—or even contact lenses—that send data directly to the eye? I think you might be uniquely capable of that."
Her eyebrows lifted slightly. She hadn't even thought about that seriously yet.
She scrolled further, noticing the wave of replies below his comment. People were chiming in with their own excitement:
"Yes!! Data lenses!!""Imagine AR contact lenses by Reina!""Halo + lenses = the ultimate combo."
Reina chewed her lip. She felt a familiar twinge of reluctance. It wasn't that she couldn't do it—she already had vague sketches in one of her notebooks—but the thought of making her tech even more invasive… it gave her pause.
Still, she clicked the little reply button and typed, simply:
"I'll do my best."
It was a small, understated message, but within minutes it had thousands of likes.
Rowan, meanwhile, refreshed the page and saw her short reply appear beneath his comment. He smiled faintly, shaking his head.
"She's already thinking about it. Of course she is…"
He leaned back, watching the halo glow faintly in the paused frame of the video.
"Reina," he murmured under his breath, "the world isn't ready for you—but I'm starting to think you're ready for the world."