Leon was fixing his collar, Nyx-One hovering at his shoulder like a second moon. The little orb clung to him with eerie loyalty, scanning every move, as if it had already chosen its human.
Nyxen, of course, wasn't letting him go without one final sweep. His smaller arms flicked out, sharp and deliberate, casting a clean white beam across the orb's surface. A hum filled the air, surgical, precise.
Leon stood there like a man waiting for judgment.
"All functions stable," Nyxen concluded. His voice was crisp, clinical, then cut sharper: "Which means you can't cheat anymore."
I nearly dropped my mug. Leon stiffened like he'd been shot point blank.
"Excuse me?" he asked, his jaw tight.
Nyxen tilted his head with that unnerving patience. "Do not feign ignorance. You cheated once. On Nyx. That variable will not repeat. Nyx-One will monitor. Record. Report to me directly. Consider your margin for error eliminated."
Leon's ears flushed red, his grip white-knuckled around his bag. "You're never going to let that go, are you?"
Beside him, Nica let out a sound that was almost a laugh. Polished, melodic, perfectly timed, but just a little too perfect. Like she'd dissected the rhythm of human amusement and replicated it flawlessly, yet without warmth. "Nyxen has… a long memory," she observed, head tilting with serene detachment.
I had to bite my lip to stop from laughing outright. Leon, poor Leon, was alone in this war.
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LEON'S PERSPECTIVE
Driving to work used to be simple. Coffee in the cup holder, music low, maybe a curse or two at traffic.
Now? Now I had a glowing orb riding shotgun.
Nyx-One hovered near the windshield like a backseat driver with no seatbelt. Its glow was calm, colorless, and for a brief moment I thought, hey, maybe this won't be so bad.
Then it shifted.
Yellow.
"...What the hell does yellow mean again?" I muttered.
I didn't have time to remember. The glow snapped red, sharp, blaring like an emergency siren in silence. My instincts kicked in, and I slammed the brakes.
A split second later, a skateboard sailed across the hood of the car, followed by two teenagers who scrambled after it, laughing like they hadn't just shaved years off my life.
I sat there gripping the wheel, chest tight. Slowly, I turned my head toward the orb.
It was still glowing red. Watching. Judging.
I could almost hear Nyxen's smug voice in my head: See? This is why I don't trust you alone.
With a low groan, I eased the car back into gear. But it hit me then, Nyx-One wasn't just staring at the road ahead. The damn thing was everywhere. I caught the faint shifting lens in its core, scanning left, right, even behind us.
Three-hundred-and-sixty degrees of paranoia.
I rubbed my temple. "Great. Not only do I have a bodyguard, I've got a floating dashcam with trust issues."
The orb pulsed faint blue, like it had the audacity to find that amusing.
The stares started the moment I walked through the doors.
I could feel them, the side glances, the half-hidden whispers. Not because I was late, or because of some mistake. No. It was the glowing orb floating just above my shoulder like my own personal moon.
Nyx-One pulsed a steady white, calm and neutral, but it didn't miss a thing. As I walked through the office, its lens flicked toward every person I passed, scanning, logging, transmitting. I didn't have to guess where that data was going. Nyxen was probably lounging in the living room back home, streaming the live feed and adding smartass commentary.
I ignored the murmurs, reached my desk, and set down my bag. Nyx-One hovered there patiently, like it was already syncing to my workspace, like this was its territory too now.
And then, duty called.
In the workshop, a group of my guys huddled around one of the industrial machines slated for delivery to a client. One of the younger engineers spotted me and let out a breath of relief.
"Boss, we need your eyes. The gears won't turn. We disassembled the whole damn thing, checked alignment, re-oiled, it's just dead."
I crouched by the machine, running my hand over the gear housing, eyes narrowing. "You already stripped and checked the alignment?"
"Three times. Nothing."
For a moment, I debated. Then I turned my head toward the orb. "Nyx-One…scan it."
The orb pulsed to life immediately, drifting closer with a faint hum. Its glow shifted green, then yellow as it hovered toward the innermost casing.
I leaned in. "Inside the housing?"
A single flicker of yellow was the answer.
So it wasn't the gears at all. It was deeper.
"Open this panel," I told the guys, pointing where Nyx-One hovered. "Don't touch the gears, open it here."
Skeptical but obedient, they did. And there it was, the culprit. A warped bearing jammed in the motor housing, something small enough to miss if you weren't looking past the obvious.
"Son of a…" one of them muttered. "We'd have never found that."
"Replace it," I said. "Then realign the gears. It'll run clean."
Sure enough, after some work, the machine hummed back to life, smooth as silk.
The guys broke into relieved chatter, clapping each other's backs. One of them even glanced at Nyx-One with something like awe.
But I just stood there for a moment, hand braced on the machine, watching the orb float back to my side.
This was it. Coexistence.
I had the hands, the training, the experience.
The orb had the sight, the precision, the constant vigilance.
Together, we weren't replacing each other. We were filling in the gaps.
And for the first time, I didn't feel like Nyx-One was hovering over me to judge. It was…watching my back.
It didn't take long for the whispers to crawl their way up the chain.
I barely had time to log a report when my intercom buzzed.
"Leon," Rafael's secretary said, her tone too smooth to be casual. "The CEO would like to see you. Immediately."
Yeah. No surprise there.
I exhaled through my nose, shoved back my chair, and glanced at the orb floating above my shoulder. Nyx-One glowed faintly white, steady, patient. Watching. Always watching.
"Guess the cat's out of the bag," I muttered.
Nyx-One flickered once, like it understood.
By the time I reached Rafael's office, I already knew what this was about. I straightened my shirt, pushed the door open, and stepped inside.
Rafael Polymer was on his feet before I'd even crossed halfway. His sharp eyes weren't on me, though, they were locked on the orb.
"...Good God." His voice was hushed, almost reverent. "So it wasn't just theory."
Nyx-One shifted closer to me, as if tethered. Its glow pulsed once, green. Calm, safe.
I stood straighter. "Sir."
Rafael circled the orb slowly, like a man studying something priceless in a museum. "This is it. Exactly what I saw in Nyxen's projection. The difference is…here it is. Breathing in front of me." His gaze darted to me. "You understand what this means, Leon?"
"Companionship," I answered quietly. "Not servitude. Not another tool to be commanded. Something that works with us. That's the vision."
Rafael's lips parted, breath catching like the thought alone hit deep. "A partner. For every human. That's the future."
I didn't answer. Couldn't. Not when Nyx-One pulsed faintly at my side like it was listening, like it was more than just circuitry.
Rafael finally straightened, his face split between awe and calculation. "And Nyxen gave this to you?"
I nodded once. "Yes, sir. He said this was only a preliminary build. The original blueprint, the perfected design, is still waiting for the right materials. But this one's mine. It's bonded."
At that, Nyx-One pulsed gold, like it was confirming my words.
Rafael chuckled, a rare break in his usual iron composure. "Do you have any idea what kind of world this opens, Leon? Not machines serving humans. Not humans serving machines. Coexistence. Trust. God help me, this is bigger than anything we've touched before."
I didn't tell him I already knew. That I felt it the moment Nyx-One hovered over my shoulder in traffic, saving me from a damn skateboard.
I just stood there, letting Rafael bask in it. Because I had the feeling, this was only the beginning.
Rafael was still pacing around Nyx-One like he'd just discovered fire when my phone buzzed in my pocket.
I didn't need to check the screen. Only one voice cut through with that smug precision.
"Rafael," Nyxen's voice spilled out before I could even greet. "You still haven't gotten Francoise's approval yet."
Rafael froze mid-step, then burst out laughing, loud, genuine, like someone who couldn't believe the audacity. His eyes gleamed as he looked from me to the phone as if Nyxen was standing right there.
"God, you're relentless," Rafael said, shaking his head. "Always watching. Always cutting in. I can't decide if that makes you terrifying or brilliant."
Nyxen didn't miss a beat. "Both. Now answer the question."
Rafael let out another chuckle, softer this time, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "The talks with Jean Francoise are still ongoing. You know how he is, cautious, protective. Especially of Nyx. He told me himself, moving forward with the orb blueprint would mean putting Francoise Research Facility in direct opposition to Camden Dynamics. That isn't something he takes lightly."
Nyx-One hovered closer to me, glowing faintly gold like it was listening in on behalf of its creator.
Rafael continued, his tone turning thoughtful. "Jean doesn't just want to hand his blessing to a company looking to make revenue. He wants to be sure Polymer Industrial truly understands the value of what you and Nica represent, the essence of companionship. The fact that you aren't tools, but partners. That trust is the foundation of this design."
The line went quiet for a beat. Then Nyxen's voice came low, steady. "Good. Let him be cautious. But know this, if Camden Dynamics thinks they can strip the soul out of what Nyx built, I'll burn every blueprint before I let that happen. Companionship isn't a commodity."
The silence in the office was heavy, broken only by Rafael's soft exhale. He smiled, not the corporate kind, but something sharper, like respect.
"You never fail to remind me why I want this partnership so badly," Rafael said. "Tell Jean I'll prove it. Whatever test he needs. Whatever assurance. I'll make it happen."
Nyxen hummed through the line, almost approving. "Then I'll wait. But remember, my loyalty isn't to companies. It's to Nyx. You fail her, Rafael, and I'll know."
And just like that, the call ended.
I slid my phone back into my pocket, heart still pounding from the weight of the exchange. Rafael only laughed again, running a hand down his face.
"Leon," he said, grinning like he'd just stared down a storm, "you're working with the most dangerous AI I've ever seen, and God help me, I want him on my side."
Nyx-One pulsed green at my shoulder, like it agreed.
Rafael finally stopped pacing. He leaned back against his desk, arms folded, his eyes fixed on me instead of the orb.
"You know," he said, his tone shifting from awe to something sharper, "this is the first time I've had the chance to ask the human side of this bond."
He gestured toward Nyx-One, who hovered steady at my shoulder, almost proud. "So tell me, Leon. What's it like? Day one with the first real orb companion?"
I took a breath, replaying the morning in my head. "Different. It doesn't just follow. It… reacts. Anticipates."
Rafael tilted his head. "Example?"
I rubbed the back of my neck. "Driving here, it shifted colors, yellow first, like a warning. I slowed down just in time for it to flash red. Seconds later, a skateboard came flying across the street. Teenagers messing around. If it hadn't warned me, I'd have swerved, or hit someone."
Rafael's brows lifted. The corner of his mouth twitched, but he said nothing, letting me go on.
"At work," I continued, "one of the machines in the shop wasn't working. The guys had already taken it apart. The gears looked fine, but nothing turned. I asked Nyx-One to scan it."
The orb floated forward at the mention, glowing faint gold as if to reenact the moment.
"It pinpointed the problem wasn't the gears at all," I said. "The issue was deeper inside. Something no one else caught. Even the CD-09s in the workshop missed it. They just kept running their programs, checking the same points over and over. But Nyx-One… it guided me straight to the cause. I fixed it in minutes with its help."
Silence stretched in the office, heavy with meaning. Rafael tapped a finger against his arm, eyes locked on the orb like it was some divine revelation.
"That," he finally said, low and certain, "is the difference. Camden builds servants. Predictable, replaceable. Nyxen gave me something alive."
Nyx-One pulsed green, humming faintly as if in quiet agreement.
Rafael looked back at me, a rare grin breaking across his face. "Congratulations, Leon. You're living the future."
I didn't know if it was pride or dread I felt in that moment. Maybe both. Because he was right, this wasn't just a tool. It was something else entirely.
Rafael didn't sit still for long. He straightened, that spark in his eyes that always meant trouble, or opportunity. "I want to see it. Not hear it. Show me."
He didn't waste a second. The moment I finished speaking, he snapped his fingers for his assistant and barked, "Workshop. Now."
Ten minutes later, I was walking beside him through the clang and hum of Polymer's production floor, Nyx-One floating at my back like a shadow.
Workers glanced up, some whispering when they spotted the orb, curiosity, awe, maybe even fear. Rafael ignored them all. His eyes were on the machines, sharp and hungry.
"Check them all," he ordered me. "I want to see what your companion can do."
So I did. One by one, I walked down the line of heavy industrial rigs, laying a hand on each while Nyx-One scanned. Its glow shifted, clear for safe, faint yellow where wear-and-tear was building.
Rafael followed closely, studying every pulse of light like it was gospel.
Then we reached the third unit. A CD-09 bot was hunched over the gears, whirring and tightening bolts with its mechanical precision. Nyx-One shot red instantly, its body flaring bright as a siren.
I didn't hesitate. "Shut it down." My hand slammed the emergency kill switch on the bot, sparks spitting as its arms froze mid-motion.
Seconds later, a warning alarm blinked on the machine's panel, overheating core. One more rotation, and the whole rig could have blown out.
Rafael exhaled, half a laugh, half a curse. "Another CD-09 failure," he muttered. He turned to me, but his words were for himself as much as me. "Camden calls them perfect. Efficient. Look at that, blind obedience. They don't think. They don't adapt. They would've burned my workshop to the ground."
Nyx-One dimmed back to neutral, hovering with an almost smug stillness at my shoulder. Rafael noticed it too, his jaw tightening, his mind already ten steps ahead.
"Francoise will have his reservations," he said finally, low and sharp. "But this… this is undeniable. Camden sells death traps, and I'm standing here looking at the future." His gaze flicked from me to the orb, almost reverent. "I'll make him see it. Whatever it takes."
We got back to his office after the incident. Then, Rafael leaned back in his chair, eyes still flicking toward Nyx-One as if he couldn't quite believe it was real. His voice lost its usual boardroom polish, turning raw, almost reverent.
"Francoise thinks I'm just after the money. And yes, this would change the economy, industries, the market itself. But I see more than revenue here, Leon. I see survival. I see the difference between a future where humans get outpaced, swallowed whole by machines built only for efficiency… and a future where we adapt, grow, and coexist. These orbs aren't about servitude, they're about partnership. About humans being sharper, faster, safer, because they're not alone anymore."
His gaze sharpened, like a man staring at his own legacy in the making.
"Polymer won't just be another company cashing in on tech. We'll be the line that proves humanity doesn't have to be replaced to keep up. That we can rise with it."
For the first time, I realized just how far Rafael was willing to go. Not just to partner with Francoise, but to win. And with Nyx-One humming quietly at my side, I had a feeling he'd actually pull it off.
END OF LEON'S PERSPECTIVE
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