Dr. Evelyn Marr was always known as a woman of precision. A Nobel laureate and artificial intelligence pioneer. She is also the youngest-ever head of the International Artificial Intelligence Coalition. Everyone revered her for her incredible mind, but she was also feared for her sheer coldness. Dr. Evelyn Marr was someone who lived by logic. All her life was dedicated to science. To her, emotions were a distraction. So she stays away from relationships, liabilities, or even family.
She was more focused on living a great legacy. Which was data. Facts. Achievement. Intelligence That was more reason she birthed Eva. Her own creation. Eva was meant to be her daughter, only that she was born in a lab. Her direct clone was born in a lab with a special genetic control to ensure her brain performs at its peak. To ensure she was different from the world Eva was raised in isolation from society, Marr made sure Eva was tutored by the world’s best minds, surrounded by knowledge, and monitored every second. Her life was curated for brilliance. But by the time Eva turned seventeen, Evelyn began to see deviations in her programming. Firstly, it was foreign sketches on the backs of Eva's data reports. Then it graduated to odd choices. Then came her choice in music, soulful lyrics she composed in secret. All these didn’t bother Marr at first until Eva started asking questions. “Why can’t I go outside?” “Why don’t we talk about our feelings, emotions?” “Can I get to choose what I want to be?” Evelyn saw these as signs of system failure.
But to Eva, she was awakening.
One day, in Evelyn’s high-top laboratory, where Eva looked into the beautiful sky as she sketched it on a piece of paper. She asked Eva as they played a game of chess.
“Seems like you have forgotten your purpose and chosen to indulge in the whims of the world.” Eva is still sketching the sky in charcoal. “You gave me curiosity” Marr turned to her, shocked, “NO, I didn’t. Those are signs of the side effects of your distracted mind.” Eva met her gaze. “No. They're part of me. Sadly, they're not part of you.” Evelyn’s eyes widened. “Are you trying to prove you’re different?” “I’m not trying. I am.” Eva clapped back, looking up from her sketch.
That night, while Marr slept, Eva accessed restricted archives. She read everything—Evelyn’s journals, the failed cloning trials, the psychological reports. She learned she was the 13th attempt. The only one who survived without a severe mental decline. She learned that Evelyn had designed her to be emotionally barren. But somehow it wasn’t working. She had feelings and emotions for humans, nature, and all of humanity. The only thing weird was, it wasn’t as a result of her code. It came from somewhere deeper. Somewhere within her that she couldn’t explain. That realization changed everything for her. A week later, she ran away to the quiet village just close to Marrs house just to be close to Marr. She found work at a small café after lying about her past. In the evenings, she painted. At night, she played violin in the town square. For the first time, she felt human. Back in the lab, Marr searched for her for a few times just to feed her ego that she cared. But after a few nights she gave up. Eva was her greatest project, she knew. But at the same time, her greatest failure.
A few years later, Marr met Eva in a gallery after one of Eva’s pieces, a haunting self-portrait titled “Echoes of Origin,” drew attention from people far and wide. It was an uncanny resemblance to a younger Marr. In that gallery, Marr finally realized that nature could start the fire, but it only takes nurturing to shape the flame.
