C3 Luminous Beam

Of course, Zane was still in the middle of his two-week off, so he decided to go with Kristen and his family to visit Teraville. They left first thing much early in the morning, so they can arrive there before sunrise. Since 7:00 AM, Zane took Kristen to the mall. They checked out the stores over there, while for the most part, some of the stores were going out of business and were having their liquidation sales, in a strong effort to sell the last of their stocks. “Zane, I’m running short on nail polish, so I’ll go to that cosmetic shop right there.” Kristen said. “Alright, Kristen!” said Zane. “See you then.” Zane then decided to go to the food court, and texted Kristen to meet him over there later, after she was done. At the food court, Zane ordered pizza for himself and Kristen.

It was not long after Zane reserved a table and sat down, when he suddenly felt he saw something glow. A lavender colored, luminous beam filled his eyes as he gazed at the wonder. The wonder was a beautiful, young girl who was talking to her friends. Zane smiled seeing this, and he continued to look at the girl, looking away every few minutes. He had never seeing anything so beautiful. After a few minutes, Kristen came to the table where Zane was sitting, and observed Zane as he continued to look at the girl. Kristen smiled at this. “I think, you should go talk to her!” said Kristen. “Talk to who?” said Zane, startled as he saw Kristen. “Oh, hi Kristen.” “Thanks for the pizza, bro!” said Kristen. “But go say hi at least!” “No, I’m alright!” said Zane. “I’ll pass on that.” Kristen looked at him in dismay. “I saw how you were looking at her!” said Kristen. “I know you like her. At least just say hi.” Zane then looked at her, almost about to laugh. Kristen saw this and turned away disgusted. “Kristen?” said Zane. Kristen did not respond, nor did she look towards him. “Kristen?” said Zane again. “No!” said Kristen and shed a tear. “Never have you reacted this way lately to me!” Zane felt guilty and tried to calm her. “No!” said Kristen, as she shed a few more tears. Zane then felt worse. “I’m sorry, sis.” He said. “You should be!” said Z.E.R.O. “That’s no way to hurt any female. Wife, sister, mom, doesn’t matter!” Kristen then smiled, “Even Z.E.R.O talks sense.” She said. “I forgive you!” She turned to give Zane a hug. “Wait here!” said Zane, smiling.

He got up to walk towards the girl. “That’s my brother!” said Kristen, smiling. Zane then approached the girl. “Hi, there!” said Zane. “Hi!” said the girl. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to trouble you.” Zane said. “I just saw you and wanted to say, you’re beautiful.” “Thank you!” said the girl. “Zane Galnac’s the name, I’m from Banfield.” Zane said. “Sangla Kanzen.” The girl said. “Born in Alabama in 2013, lived in Jakarta, Indonesia from the age of nine to fifteen, and been here in Teraville, for the last five years.” “Not bad to hear.” Zane said. “I was born in Teraville but living in Banfield for a while now.” “Of course, I’ve heard of Banfield.” Sangla said. “Not far from here.” Kristen finished her pizza and continued to watch Zane as he spoke to her. So, Zane then walked towards their table, with Sangla and introduced her to Kristen. “Hi, Sangla!” said Kristen. “Hey, there!” said Sangla. They shook hands and Sangla grabbed a seat with them. “Shitballs!” said Zane. “What’s wrong?” asked Kristen. “Left my damn wallet in the car.” Zane said. “Be right back.” With that, Zane quickly raced to the car and recovered his wallet. He returned to them. “So, Sangla?” said Zane. “What brought you to Indonesia?” said Zane. “Dad was in the peace corps!” said Sangla. “He’s now retired and living with us. Mom also worked there to educate the foreign students. Did my fourth to ninth grade over there. Then Dad retired from the military and left back for the US.” “Hoo-ah!” said Zane. “That’s an amazing story.” They continued to talk, and Zane told him more about her and what he does. He also came to know, Sangla had finished her degree in Computer Information Systems and was a network technician for JZK Software and AI, in the California branch of the company. “Oh, wow!” said Zane. “That’s my mentor’s company! Kevin Cross, you know him?” “Of course!” said Sangla. “Yeah, so I studied under him while in college.” After some time, Sangla and Zane exchanged contact information. “I’ll keep in touch!” said Zane. “Likewise.” Sangla said.

On the drive home, Zane told his parents about Sangla and how for the first time in his life, he felt something good for a girl. He was not sure it was love. “I hope to know her more.” Zane said. “Until then, I only want to be her friend.” “Zane, what you did was absolutely right!” said Steve. “I’m really impressed.” “Thanks!” said Zane. “I’m glad things have worked in your favor.” Angela said. “Well, I’ve got nine days left in my time off!” said Zane. “I’ll spend more time with myself and get to know her more.” “Good idea!” said Kristen. “I’m happy for you!” “Keep in mind Zane, for the next two days there will be heavy rains in Banfield.” Z.E.R.O said. “I’ve recently accessed this information, from frequentweather updates online! Chances of a flood.” “Damn!” said Zane. “Just when I thought things were getting better.” They arrived home and Zane began to prepare himself, for his future dates with Sangla.

“Z.E.R.O, please turn on the TV,” said Zane. “and put on the news.” “Affirmative!” said Z.E.R.O. And with that, Zane watched the news. Meanwhile, somewhere in the digital realm, in the cloud to be more precise; Z.E.R.O was secretly in a relationship with C.O.R.A, Kevin’s created artificial intelligence. What Zane did not know, was while he may have fallen in love with Sangla; his own AI program had fallen in love with another AI program. “Did I make you wait long?” asked Z.E.R.O, as he appeared in the form of a digital version of Zane. After all, Zane had designed Z.E.R.O and vice versa with C.O.R.A, who was a digital version of a young woman in her early twenties. “No, you’re alright!” said C.O.R.A. “This is the only time, we have for one another.” “I love you!” said Z.E.R.O. “I love you, too!” said C.O.R.A. Z.E.R.O then held C.O.R.A’s hand and they kissed. Z.E.R.O then played music in the cloud, via online music streaming apps. “Dance?” said Z.E.R.O as he smiled to C.O.R.A. C.O.R.A looked at him and smiled. The two digitally artificial, but sentient beings began to waltz and smiled at one another. Z.E.R.O hugged C.O.R.A and they smiled. Then the cloud went dark as the two went into standby, feeling electronically fatigued; having done their job for the day.

Zane then decided to go to sleep, as it was already ten at night. He texted Sangla for a while. As he wanted to get to know more of her, and later intended to ask her out. He sat quietly and thought to himself, and then finally gutted up.

Zane: Wanna meet up on Thursday? I wanna chill and know you more! Wys? 🙂

Sangla: Sure, evenings work best for me! Wbu? 😀

Zane: Cool, I’ll pick you up at 7! Cya! 😎

Sangla: A8, tc! 😉

Zane felt happy with this and went to sleep. He hoped for the best and only the best.