Cracked Gemstones Ch. 01

'That's an excellent plan. Perhaps it will even eliminate the need for colleges or at least reduce the frankly absurd pricing if it hadn't been for selling everything to start here up we would still be paying mine off.' Emerald sighed a bit trying to adjust her head to sleep with the headset on. 'We should definitely work on the ability to sleep in these it's still a bit bulky and if it wasn't for the tendrils in my mind it would likely slip off in my sleep.'

Sapphire nods a bit "This is technically a prototype still, proof of concept. I've got ideas to put into production some that hold on better and are far less bulky." She pets Emerald "Now that we have done this, I would say I can have the final version done in a few days. Yours will be in green, cover your ears, and be sexy in your submission to me."

Emerald nodded tapping the side of the headset twice causing the tendrils to retract and headset to pop off into her hands. She quickly put it on the nightstand. "We can put that right back on when we wake up, but for now I just want to be in your arms Sapphy." Emerald smiled nuzzling into Sapphire's chest, gently closing her eyes and letting a little yawn out.

Sapphire closes her eyes and smiles "Either way you are my personal drone, my special gemstone." She yawns and relaxes with her property. The night would be quiet, letting the two get all the sleep they want until they have to get up in the morning. Sapphire kisses Emerald dominantly before she leaves to catch her ride. "Now remember your job today."

'You've got it Sapphy!' Emerald waved Sapphire off before heading back inside the factory to get started on her 'research'. It took an hour to get to the helicopter that would take Sapphire to a manor another hour away. As she landed a frail-looking woman in a wheelchair was waving at her. After the engines were off and the helicopter was stable she wheeled up to Sapphire. "It's very nice to meet you in person for the first time Mis.Gemstone!"

Sapphire smiles and gives a little bow "Why thank you miss Nae, I've got some basic plans put together to fit your personal request." She walks inside and sits at a table. "Given the condition of your body, it will largely be like crutches, giving you a wider range of motion, but even with it and the added the support you will still need to take breaks, but hey, walking is walking. In exchange though, I have a little...biological and mystical problem I would appreciate help in fixing."

"What's the issue? I, while no expert on magic, do know quite a bit about its effects on the human body so if that's an issue you are having I'm sure with the right supplies and data I will be able to help in some way." Rachel smiled softly. She is a tall woman despite the fact she's stuck in a wheelchair at an assumedly 6ft height while standing, she had pitch-black hair and sparkling blue eyes. Her body on the whole was extremely thin because of muscle degradation.

Sapphire puts a file on the table and slides it over. Upon opening it Rachel would see the medical and magical readouts on Emerald. "She is...my crown jewel, and someone damaged her, she is to carry my heir. Either fix her or come up with a method to fix enough. We would like to go as science as possible on this fix." She looks closely at Rachel, her eyes seeking an answer to her hopes.

Rachel carefully looks over what she is seeing taking a minute at points to write notes down. After half an hour of her being completely silent Rachel speaks. "While it will be physically impossible for you to ever have her directly give birth you could attempt to splice you and your partner's DNA and then... create a clone. It's still a very hypothetical process you could make a homunculus but given the way this damage was inflicted upon her I could see why you would be repulsed at the idea." She sighed looking at Sapphire. "If you want this done I can't do everything I can under the table send you all my notes on cloning but if I actually studied this here it would lead to experimentation with you and your partners DNA by the government. I've been working on cloning to see if there's a way to clone a new body for me to transfer into but everywhere I go with it there's always another dead end."

Sapphire nods "I would not like government interference, if you could send notes for us to work with, we would be grateful. If we can come up with any improved designs for more efficient and stable exo-legs that don't enter power armor range, you will get every update for free, until such a time that you somehow come up with a permanent fix. Does that sound fair to you?" She smiled quite honestly.

"Absolutely it sounds more than fair to me. I've been dabbling with animal DNA to try to stave off the inevitable but without more resources, I will be stuck in this accursed wheelchair for a long time." Rachel sighed but gave a soft smile. "I can see why you want this so badly. I'll push my other projects to the back burner for the foreseeable future to focus fully on this for both of our sakes."

Sapphire smiles wide "Good, I love to work with those that know how to make things thought impossible work." She puts a bundle of bills down. "Consider this a down payment on your research, and our first exo-leg enhancement will be here within a week." Sapphire smiles some more "Also if you ever grow tired of government work, I suppose I could arrange a nice cushy position at my own company for you."

"While that is a tempting offer and I know I would have much more freedom working for you..." Rachel looked around the room making sure no one was listening in on the conversation. "I'm more a prisoner here than of my own volition. I was caught hacking into government servers to try to find information for my research. They gave me the choice to work here or go to jail, which isn't really a choice given jail would be a death sentence for someone like myself." She sighed, shaking her head and sliding the bills into the backpack she had on her wheelchair. "Thank you for your work Miss Gemstone, everything I see from your company is truly revolutionary."

Sapphire nods "I see, well then, I'm sure we can help each other, but unless I could attain permission to take you, I know the government is quite...greedy with what is theirs." She then slides a flash drive over. "That will give you easy access to a personal side computer of mine. If some files were to...mysteriously appear there, I would be thrilled." She gets up and walks over to the wheelchair-bound scientist and hacker. "Like I said, within a week, also there may or may not be noted on updates to your exo-legs and visor. It will be built off one of our AR visors, as it is not operating apart from you, shouldn't need the full VR visor."

"Thank you very much Miss Gemstone, well I best go get started on my research. My schedule has become very busy all of a sudden." Rachel snickered slightly, sliding the flash drive into her pocket and wheeling herself out with Sapphire. "I will send you all of my current progress once I reach the lab. It was very nice to meet you. Don't be a stranger." She smiled softly at the woman even if she didn't know Sapphire well. Anyone who hated the government as much as Rachel does was good in her book.

Sapphire smiled "Well, progress is happening." She leaves and has herself dropped off outside Change College. She calmly walks in and saunters into the front office. After a little talk, she got the room number she was looking for, after all, this was a big opportunity for this student. She knocked on room 30A "Hello, I have a scholarship opportunity for a Mr. Noah"

After a short moment she hears the lock click and below her is a short barely 5ft6 scrawny boy with long black hair and auburn eyes. "Hello? I wasn't expecting anyone?" He looked at Sapphire curiously; she was a good bit larger than him and very intimidating. He had a confused look on his face as he stared at her trying to remember where he had seen her face.

"Hello Noah, I am Sapphire Gemstone, I have a...Scholarship opportunities for those who I believe have the ability to go far in this world. This is a limited opportunity option where I will be having you aid me in testing an advanced learning method. If you accept and it works out, it would accelerate your rate of learning as well as leading to me having a job opening specifically for you." She smiles and kneels down to his level to seem more inviting.

"Oh my I've been quite rude! Please come in. I thought you were just more people here to tease me for my... preferences." He blushed slightly moving out of the way to let Sapphire follow him inside the small room. "This does sound like a very good opportunity, and I'm really hurting from the tuition fees so if you are being earnest I would like to accept this invitation." Noah smiled softly at her. The entire room was very organized to a meticulous level Sapphire couldn't see a single thing out of place.

Sapphire finds a chair to sit in "Alright, is there anyone you need to notify? I heard that your grades are slipping, but some investigations of mine say it is most likely due to bullying. If this works I will pay off your tuition so you can withdraw without penalty. I then have a link to get you your degree in an official capacity."

"N...No I have no living family members and no friends." Noah let a gentle frown form on his face. "But yes my grades have fallen because there are commonly classes that I am too scared to go to out of the threat of... punishment." He took a deep breath looking at Sapphire. "I would really appreciate this opportunity."

Sapphire frowns but nods "I understand, you know my own parents passed away, and myself and my girlfriend were bullied very hard in college. There is much about the current schooling situation that is bad for the learning and safety process." She pulls out her phone. "I will call a ride for us, then I will pay the rest of the tuition and have the paperwork for your transfer printed for us to fill out at our leisure. If you could pack up everything you wish to take, we will take care of it."

"Thank you ma'am but if I may ask how did you find me? I understand I had very high grades when first enrolling but with the drop, I don't see what makes me anyone special." Noah sighed, picking up a backpack with a few sets of clothes, his laptop that had a Sapphire Inc. logo on it and a stuffed kitty that had been sitting on the bed. "Well, this is everything I really care about that I own in this room."

Sapphire smiles a bit "Well, I tracked you through that laptop, one of my designs. But that was after I discovered you. I have my people on the lookout for children and older teens to young adults who are having trouble with school and would do well with an alternative method." She stands up and looks around the room before escorting Noah out.

As the two made their way through the halls a tall lanky boy casually stuck a foot out in front of Noah from behind a corner tripping Noah to the ground. "Watch where you are walking pipsqueak." He snorted as Noah tried to pick himself back off the ground quietly sulking, not even bothering to fight back against this daily behavior.

Sapphire narrowed her eyes and helped Noah up...someone was daring to try to crack another of her precious gemstones. "Excuse me, young man, you should watch what you do to other people, you never know where they will end up in life compared to yourself." Once Noah was up, she firmly planted herself between him and his bully. To keep a low profile she couldn't physically break him, but she could put the fear of God into him.

Noah just hid behind Sapphire not wanting to draw any more attention to himself and lead to more of his bullies appearing. "Oh yeah? That idiot couldn't even get a good score on his midterms project. I would know I'm the one who was stuck in his group." The snobby boy grinned as Noah sunk slightly lower.

Sapphire glared "And it never occurred to you that it was your actions that could have led to this? Having tracked Noah's average scoring and cross-referencing it with security footage, I have quite the case I could build a case against the school and give them an ultimatum of being sued or expelling some select students, where then I could ensure that their only futures would be working at Uncle Joe's trucker stop for the minimum wage to pay back their defunct and still outstanding debt as they will have been blacklisted from every school in this nation for fear of my hammer striking down upon them. Now I will only say this part once, those particular people, who may or may not include you, should all be informed of their sociable suicide if they do not shape up in the near future, do I make myself clear."

Noah was wide eyed looking up at Sapphire amazed by how much she was willing to do to protect him. "Whatever... I'll go talk to... some people I know..." The snobby boy shuddered a bit looking at the woman before running off to get away from her. Only to be immediately stopped by a guard reminding him he isn't to run in the halls. "T...Thank you, Mis. Sapphire. Even if I will never see them again, seeing him run off in fear like that was... nice." Noah smiled being led the rest of the way out of the building, they would see a black car pulled up and waiting for Sapphire. Emerald in the driver's seat smiling with her headset on. "Hey, you two hop in it's not a long drive to the factory." She smiled sweetly at the shy boy clinging to Sapphire's side.

Sapphire smiles "I will be sitting in back in order to comfort Noah, you got the paperwork and signed the check for his tuition correct Emerald?" Sapphire slid into the back of the car and let Noah easily get in, with just his backpack of belongings she saw no point to put it in the trunk.

"Sapphire I never forget a request or fail to deliver you know that. Of course, it's all been set up. Technically Noah has been unenrolled since this morning. Also after seeing everything on the tapes I also did send a threat of suing to the college to deal with Noah's bullies." Emerald chuckled a bit and started the quiet drive back to Sapphire Inc. Noah looked out the window at the small town the group was passing through. "So what made you want to start up here? It's a rather small town with not much going on. For such an advanced operation I'm surprised you didn't pick somewhere more...Hectic for lack of a better word."

"Well, when we started operations as Sapphire Inc. We knew to start up costs would be high. There was an abandoned factory going for a decent price, and the smaller town would let us keep potential competitors out, as I said earlier, the two of us were bullied in our own college courses, and I know quite a few people who would love to see us fail. Change is a wonderful town that has a lot of potential growth, a good location for me to easily fulfill our government contracts, which itself will let me build standing in politics, which will let my enhanced learning system actually stand a chance against the old school system. Overall, you would be surprised at the benefits of working in a smaller town."

"That and it's far away from where we used to live which to me is always a bonus. Getting away from bad memories." Emerald nodded smiling softly into the rearview mirror. "What is the learning system that you want to have me help you with though? I didn't get to ask earlier, getting swept up in the excitement of getting a chance to leave... but I would like to know what I need to do to fulfill my end of the deal?" Noah smiled up at Sapphire enjoying the smooth pace that Emerald was keeping them at.

Sapphire grinned "That is a very good question indeed. Well, you see the AR headset that Emerald is wearing? As I'm sure you are well aware, on top of computer systems and robotics, we develop AR and VR headsets for various purposes from entertainment, to police and military. Well, we have been improving neuro uplink versions, and we have been planning on implementing this for a long time now. Basically, the idea is to use one of these to upload information into the brain. The easiest way would be from someone who already knows, hence still uses for teachers, but we know it can work much faster than a school can possibly perform. What we need to do is have someone promising who we can test with, we will start upload speed slow and gently dial it up all while monitoring to make sure we don't cause brain damage. When we finish, I need someone to join me in my pitch to the department of education."

"That sounds like amazing technology! That could take people who have no chance in a traditional setting because of anxiety or depression and bypass it!" Noah now sounded very excited hearing about something he is actually passionate about his eyes wide and smile wider. "I would be absolutely honored to work on something like this!" This caused Emerald to crack a grim smile out of the boy's sight. After a few more minutes they pulled upfront of a large factory with decorative ivory on one side. "It was a blemish at first but I think we made the ivory work very well."

Sapphire nods while keeping her grin more 'nice' "Yeah it was, anyway, let's get inside, we will do our first test now, take down some notes, then I will show you to the apartments I own for my special employees. Do you need anything before we begin? Eat, drink, bathroom? This first test will be a calibration so it and your mind will work together in tandem, then we will do a small upload."

"I could use something to eat. I've not had a chance today with everything going on. I had just got back to my room from class when you arrived Mis. Sapphire." Noah smiled softly at her hoping he wasn't asking for too much. Emerald shook her head. "I'll go get something made up for the two of you, just follow Sapphire Noah she will take you to the room we will be doing the tests in." Emerald gave a sickly sweet smile before walking into the factory.

Sapphire would lead Noah inside, letting him carry his backpack as she brought him to the testing room. To start off she would show him a dark red colored visor, one he would be able to describe as a 'garnet' color. "Alright, the calibration will take some time and will feel a little funny, we can have that working while you eat." She has him sit down while she holds the visor. "Now then, while I would suggest not walking while the visor does its work, you will be able to eat well enough, in fact, it reading your brain signals upon eating would help vary it up and make everything more accurate." She gently lowers it over his eyes. "Welcome, to project Garnet"

Noah smiled as the visor/headset slipped on over his ears. Sapphire would soon see him wiggle slightly as the tendrils slid inside his head. "Miss Sapphire what's that feeling in my ears?" He looked around curiously as he adjusted to the added weight of the visor and a small bar at the bottom of it ticked forwards as the visor ran its diagnostics and calibrated. Emerald soon returned with some water and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the two. "So how is the calibration goin?"

Sapphire smiles "It is going very well so far, and that tingling is my patented nano-tendril. It wiggles in gently so as to not cause damage while interfacing with the eardrum and working its way to the brain where it can make direct contact to receive and upload information, me and Emerald here have personally tested it to make sure it is perfectly safe." She reaches forward and presses a button, making the visor clear up so he could see. "Now then, we have sandwiches, so just relax and enjoy. If you have any other questions, ask away."

Noah nodded, taking the sandwich and beginning to eat it slowly while thinking to himself about how this was such a positive change for him. Emerald walked over giving Sapphire a peck on the cheek. "Yeah, this is all tested, heck my headset has them in my ears right now. It becomes much easier to hear once fully connected to your brain." She smiled softly sitting down and eating a sandwich of her own. After a few minutes Noah finished looking up at the two again. "I honestly can't thank you enough for this opportunity, not only will I be able to express my passion here, having two incredible minds like yours to study from is an absolute honor!"