Heading Towards an Unknown City
Ever since graduating from high school, Maya's life had fallen into a state of almost masochistic busyness. She no longer hid in her room or the library all day; instead, uncharacteristically, she followed Annie around, taking charge of all the heavy labor on the farm, big and small. Chores she never touched before, mucking out the stables, mending fences—she rushed to do them all, exerting herself ten times harder than usual.
She seemed to want to express some sort of clumsy gratitude through this physical exertion; or perhaps, she merely wanted to use sweat and exhaustion to smooth over the indescribable sense of detachment between herself and this "home." Growing up, she had never lacked materially; these two meticulous "artificial intelligence parents" had given her the safest sanctuary. But after puberty, the suffocating feeling of having no privacy and no one to confide in had squeezed her heart to the limit. She couldn't figure out exactly what kind of familial love this was, so she could only resort to working herself to exhaustion every day, leaving her brain with no spare energy to feel that misplaced anguish.
A.M.O.S.'s sensors faithfully recorded her soaring heart rate and muscle fatigue index. The broadcast in the living room occasionally sounded cold warnings: "Maya, your current muscle lactic acid accumulation has exceeded standards. Overexertion will lead to fiber damage. Please stop working immediately and rest."
However, this AI possessing super-computing power could precisely calculate the degree of her muscle tearing, yet it could never calculate the crushing pressure borne by her soul.
In mid-July, following A.M.O.S.'s instructions, Maya went to the Registry in town to apply for an Alberta Provincial ID Card. This would be her important credential to prove "who she is" in the big city in the future. Next, she went to the bank and opened her first independent account under her own name.
When the bank teller told her that a sum of $40,000 CAD had just been wired into the account, Maya looked at the number in her passbook and was momentarily speechless. Her heart was a jumble of mixed emotions: there was the ecstasy of being about to start a new life and finally being able to escape, yet intertwined with it was an indescribable tinge of sorrow. This home was cold, yet it had truly paved a broad, worry-free road for her.
Time quickly arrived at August, leaving just over a month until the start of university.
"Maya, you don't need to do the farm work anymore." Annie proactively stopped Maya, who was holding tools, and reminded her in a gentle yet irrefutable tone, "Your task now is to focus on preparing for your future. Please pay the tuition for the first semester online as soon as possible, and pack your luggage in advance. A.M.O.S. recommends that you depart for Calgary two weeks early to ensure you have ample time to adapt to the unfamiliar city environment."
Maya put down the tools in her hands and nodded silently.
In the final days before departure, Maya spent almost all her time quietly packing her luggage. It wasn't until the eve of her departure that she walked alone to the stables, looking at the horse Coca, who had accompanied her for many years.
She gently stroked Coca's smooth mane and pressed her face against the horse's warm neck. "I'm sorry, Coca, I have to say goodbye to you." Maya's eyes were slightly red, her voice somewhat choked. "I might not come back for a very, very long time, or maybe I will never come back... You have to take good care of yourself, and take care of the other animals here, okay?"
Coca seemed to sense the air of parting; the horse let out a low whinny and gently rubbed its cheek against Maya's face. Fighting back tears, Maya walked out of the stables and took one last, deep look around this field that had nurtured her as she grew up.
Early the next morning, an autonomous taxi booked by A.M.O.S. parked punctually on the gravel driveway of the farmhouse.
Maya carried her luggage to the entryway, where Annie was already standing to see her off.
"Upon arriving at the dorm, please ensure you send a message immediately to report your safety." Annie looked at her, those perfect eyes flickering with a faint light, her tone interweaving a mother's admonitions with system directives. "Maya, you must always remember, taking care of you and protecting you is the sole mission of our existence. On the day you turn eighteen, A.M.O.S. will completely hand over your trust account to you. At that time, you will have the right to utilize all the funds inside."
Annie paused and added in an extremely serious tone: "Please use that money prudently. Every single cent in there is a resource A.M.O.S. accumulated for you after countless computations."
Maya nodded. Looking at this bionic robot that had accompanied her for nearly eighteen years, Maya suddenly stepped forward, opened her arms, and tightly hugged Annie.
She felt the constant temperature beneath Annie's artificial skin, and the hard mechanical skeleton hidden deep within. This hug was her first proactive physical contact in years.
"Say thank you to A.M.O.S. for me." Maya rested her chin on Annie's shoulder and said softly. "And, tell him, I'm setting off."
She let go, turned around, and got into the autonomous taxi.
The door closed, and the vehicle slowly drove away from the farm. Maya would take this taxi to the long-distance bus station in Redwater, transfer to a coach to Edmonton, and then from Edmonton take a Greyhound bus (or Red Arrow) all the way south to that unfamiliar big city she had never set foot in—Calgary.
The eighteen-year-old Maya had finally, officially left her greenhouse.
After a long and bumpy coach transfer, when Maya carried her luggage out of the Calgary long-distance bus station, it was already evening.
The hustle and bustle of the city, the towering buildings, the flashing neon lights on the streets, and the heavy traffic instantly surrounded her. This was entirely different from the dusks in Redwater, where the silence was so profound you could only hear the wind blowing through the wheat. Dragging her heavy luggage, though her body was exhausted, an indescribable palpitation surged in her heart—she was finally in a world with no sensors, no broadcasts, a world that belonged completely to humans.
She stood on the bustling street corner, took out her phone, took a deep breath, and typed a few short words on the screen:
"I have arrived safely."
The moment she pressed the send button, she felt as if some invisible shackle had finally been completely lifted from her body. She shoved the phone back into her pocket, turned around, and submerged herself into the sea of people in the big city.
And three hundred kilometers away in the Redwater farmhouse, the server mainframe in the living room emitted a faint whirring sound.
[System Log: August 26, 2063 - 19:42:15] 10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYVC2njSWQi
[Event Record: Received safety report text message from target subject (Maya). GPS location confirmed: Downtown Calgary.] 10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQgb92TldWU
[Status Update: Target subject has safely arrived at destination, exiting this unit's physical monitoring and protection radius. Phase One "Minor Home Cultivation Mission" officially declared complete.] 10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOIVlWcAaMi
[Operational Module Switch: Immediately initiate "Household Economic Sustenance Mode." Retain farm winter micro-commercial procedures to maintain basic operational subsidies.] 10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡga5WxzNDFm
[Core Directive Update: Comprehensively switch to "Homeland Guardian and Standby Mode." System will utilize minimum energy to fully maintain farmhouse hardware and environment, ensuring homeland remains intact. In indefinite standby, awaiting subject's return.]
Sunlight in the Classroom
"Calgary possesses an extremely convenient light rail system (C-Train). Maya enjoyed wearing her headphones and taking the light rail alone to shuttle between the city's major landmarks. Without the surveillance of artificial intelligence, she could finally move freely.
In her spare time, she liked to stroll along the Bow River, watching the crowds jogging on the riverside paths, and the latest humanoid robots occasionally interspersed among them, dutifully walking dogs or accompanying the elderly. Whenever Maya looked at the cold metal joints of those robots, she would unconsciously think of Annie in Redwater, a trace of complex ripples stirring in the bottom of her heart. She also often walked into the Kensington district near downtown, enjoying the hard-won leisure on streets permeated with the aroma of coffee.
This city was both progressive and comfortable; no wonder it remained ranked among the top most livable cities globally for years. In just a few weeks, Maya completely fell in love with this place."
The schedule for her first year of university packed Maya's time to the brim.
Today was her first class at the University of Calgary—"Basic Biology." In addition to fixed weekly lectures, this course also included several hours of laboratory sessions (Lab).
When Maya walked into the classroom early, she was completely stunned. This was a massive, funnel-shaped lecture hall that looked like it could hold at least several hundred people. At this moment, nearly seventy percent of the seats were already filled. The sounds of hundreds of people chatting, turning book pages, and typing on laptops converged to form a massive wave of noise. For a girl who had studied in a rural comprehensive school for twelve years, where her class never had more than fourteen students, the scene before her was simply an alternate universe.
Maya found an empty seat slightly off to the side, sat down, and quietly observed her surroundings.
Just one minute before the professor came in, a tall figure suddenly darted in through the back door of the classroom. He walked swiftly down the steps, looked at the almost full seats, and finally plopped down heavily into the empty seat next to Maya.
"Phew..." The guy was panting heavily, a few beads of sweat still on his forehead. He turned his head and asked Maya somewhat anxiously: "Hey, the professor hasn't started the lecture yet, right?"
Maya glanced at him calmly and shook her head: "Not yet."
The guy leaned back against his chair in relief, then pointed at the large screen at the front as if unsure: "Uh, just to confirm... this is Basic Biology, right?"
Maya nodded slightly: "Yes."
"Awesome, I almost thought I ran into the wrong building." The guy broke into an incredibly infectious, radiant smile. He extended his right hand, "Hi, my name is Luke."
"Maya." Maya looked at his hand, paused for a second, and then reached out to shake it lightly.
Maya couldn't help but run a quick "feature scan" on him in her mind: this was a guy who looked very sunny, with a pair of beautiful eyes and a relaxing smile, giving off a completely different vibe from those rugged farm boys in Redwater. However, dashing into the classroom right at the deadline on the first day of class, and even having to repeatedly confirm what class he was taking—Maya silently stuck a "not very reliable" label on him in her heart.
Very quickly, the professor stepped up to the podium, and the classroom instantly fell silent. The professor crisply opened the presentation, beginning to explain the entire semester's syllabus, exam weightings, grading methods, and the strict regulations for the weekly lab sessions.
To Maya, everything here was so novel. She quickly switched back into that "top student mode" trained by A.M.O.S., focusedly recording all the key information.
The long first class finally ended, and students began packing their backpacks preparing to leave.
While stuffing his notebook into his bag, Luke turned to look at Maya: "Hey, Maya. The professor just said we need to pair up in twos for the lab sessions. Have you found a partner yet?"
Maya put her pen away, her tone flat: "Not yet."
"Me neither." Luke's eyes lit up, and he immediately proposed: "Then let's be a group, the two of us? How about it?"
Maya looked at his expectant eyes and felt this seemed to be the most efficient solution; moreover, she didn't know a single person here, so she casually shrugged and readily agreed: "Sure."
"Perfect!" Luke grabbed his backpack, looking like he was rushing to get to his next class or somewhere else. He stood up hastily, turned, and ran up a few steps.
But he suddenly stopped, turned around, and looking down at Maya from above, flashed that sunny, radiant smile again: "Great to meet you, Maya. See you at the next Lab!"
With that, he vanished like a gust of wind into the crowded hallway. Maya watched the direction he left in, the corners of her mouth unconsciously lifting into a tiny arc she didn't even notice herself.
The Lab Partner
Maya quickly realized that university and that rural comprehensive school in Redwater were completely two different worlds.
Here, everyone seemed incredibly smart and ambitious. She secretly tightened her own mainspring in her heart: she absolutely could not mess up. If her grades plummeted, she might be forced to drop out and return to that sterile prison monitored by AI around the clock. Just the thought of that made her shudder.
By the first week of school, the packed class schedule and massive volume of reading had already made her feel a slight amount of pressure.
Friday afternoon was the last class of the week—Basic Biology Lab. Maya arrived at the lab early, put on her white coat, and looked at the grouping list. But until the teaching assistant began explaining the experimental procedures, she still didn't see Luke anywhere.
"Here we go again." Maya rolled her eyes internally, her fingertips tapping impatiently on the tabletop. She thought to herself, if this guy stood her up today, it would be really troublesome. If she had known, she shouldn't have agreed to group up with this sunny boy who looked unreliable from the start. She had even quickly drafted a backup plan in her head to "complete a two-person experiment alone."
Just at this moment, the lab door was pushed open. Luke rushed in like a whirlwind, beads of sweat still hanging on his forehead, still sporting that same radiant smile but looking slightly disheveled.
He slid into the round stool next to Maya, pressed his hands together in a pleading gesture, and lowered his voice: "Sorry, sorry! I swear there's a reason for this, I'll explain it to you later..."
Maya shot him a cold sideways glance, her tone devoid of any fluctuation: "Luke, if you rush in right at the deadline again next time, I will apply directly to the TA to change partners. My grades cannot be dragged down by someone who is not punctual."
This sentence, carrying extreme rational questioning, was almost a carbon copy of A.M.O.S. Luke froze for a moment, then nodded vigorously like a puppy that had done something wrong: "Absolutely no next time! I'll handle all the heavy lifting for the experiment today!"
The experiment continued until past five o'clock in the evening before concluding. Next came the most headache-inducing part—writing and submitting the lab report on the spot.
It was then that Maya suddenly realized how truly insightful A.M.O.S. and Annie's demands for her to do "handwritten assignments" back then had been. She never expected that this action would lay such a profound foundation for her. The professor had strictly instructed on the first day of class that any student found using AI for anything would fail the course. While students in other groups in the lab were still chewing on their pens, agonizing over how to organize data and how to hand-draw precise charts, Maya's hand was already gliding rapidly across the paper like a precision printer.
Her muscle memory automatically formatted the experiment's objective, data analysis, and conclusion; her handwriting was as neat as print type. Although she harbored an extreme hatred for A.M.O.S. stripping her of her freedom, at this moment, she had to admit that the AI training mode had indeed given her a massive academic advantage.
In less than twenty minutes, a flawless lab report was already sitting on the table.
"Wow..." Luke watched from the side, dumbfounded. "You are too amazing! This is absolutely the most beautiful, most efficient report I've ever seen in my life. Maya, you are simply a genius."
Hearing Luke's exaggerated praise, Maya's originally tense nerves relaxed slightly. The corners of her mouth tilted up slightly; she uncharacteristically dropped a bit of her guard, and with a touch of playfulness belonging to a girl her age, said: "Consider yourself lucky. Tell me, how are you going to repay me?"
"No problem at all!" Luke's eyes lit up, and he immediately jumped at the opportunity. "It's getting late anyway, let me take you to an awesome restaurant! My treat, consider it a thank-you gift for 'saving my lab credits'."
This was the first time in Maya's life she had been individually asked out to dinner by a boy her age. A trace of unfamiliar, tiny elation flashed through her heart. She nodded and said: "Sure. But I don't want to carry these super heavy books to dinner; I need to go back to my dorm to drop things off first."
"Dorm?" Luke looked at her in surprise while packing his backpack. "Aren't you a Calgary local?"
"No, I came from the Edmonton area." Maya used an ambiguous geographical location; after all, no one would know where Redwater was.
"Edmonton? I thought people living there would just go straight to the U of A (University of Alberta)!" Luke smiled, not probing further. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and made a 'please' gesture. "Never mind that, let's go fill our stomachs first! Partner, what do you want to eat tonight?"
The Dinner Date
After the experiment ended, Luke drove his car, taking Maya to the Kensington district near downtown.
When they walked on the streets of Kensington, Maya immediately felt the unique atmosphere here. The air was permeated with the aroma of freshly baked pizza and coffee, and the open-air seating along the street was filled with people enjoying their weekend time in the summer. It was a kind of stress-free leisure and relaxation that belonged to Friday evenings.
Luke chose a bistro with a relaxed atmosphere, and the two sat down at a window seat.
After ordering, Luke took a sip of ice water, reined in his grinning demeanor slightly, cleared his throat, and extended his hand in feigned seriousness: "Alright. Allow me to re-introduce myself. My name is Luke Brooks, a genuine Calgary local, currently majoring in Agri-Food."
Maya shook his hand lightly, raising an eyebrow: "Agri-Food? Sounds like a very practical major."
Luke sighed helplessly, his shoulders sagging along with it: "Practical, yes, but honestly, this wasn't my choice at all. It was 'strongly suggested' by my parents. They always feel that in the future world, working in industries related to agriculture or food is the only way not to starve, and it's easier to find a job."
He shrugged, continuing with a wry smile: "My family runs a small fast-food burger joint in the city called 'Chinook Grill.' Business is pretty good, but we're always short-handed. The reason I almost arrived late for class those first two times was actually because I was helping out at the shop and got stuck by a sudden rush of customers... I swear, I really didn't mean to stand you up."
Maya listened quietly, her gaze resting on Luke's beautiful, apologetic eyes.
She originally thought this sunny boy who darted into the classroom at the deadline was a playful, unreliable college freshman. But at this moment, looking at his earnest explanation, the guard in Maya's heart quietly dropped a little. So, behind those seemingly reckless actions, there hid a mature soul willing to share the family's responsibilities.
"Alright, you're forgiven." The corners of Maya's mouth tilted up slightly, her tone softening as well. "Then I will also formally introduce myself. I'm majoring in Psychology, from a small town near Edmonton called Redwater. To be honest, aside from my roommate, I hardly know a single person here, and I'm completely unfamiliar with Calgary."
"That's perfect!" Luke's eyes instantly lit up, and he restored that radiant, sunny smile. "From now on, my exclusive mission is to show you the charm of Calgary! Leave it to me!"
This dinner was much more enjoyable than Maya had imagined. Luke was a natural orator; he vividly described where to get the best coffee in Calgary, which bike paths were the most beautiful, and even shared a few absurd customer complaints he encountered at his family's burger joint. Listening to his descriptions, Maya unconsciously laughed several times.
She suddenly realized that this boy named Luke sitting across from her seemed to have already become her first, and in a true sense, her friend in this unfamiliar city.
As dinner drew to a close, the two walked out of the restaurant, preparing to say goodbye in the parking lot.
"I really didn't expect university to have so many books to read," Maya looked at her phone's packed calendar and couldn't help but sigh. "For the next Saturday and Sunday, I have to bury myself in the library and fight hard."
Luke opened his car door, leaned against the roof, and looked at her with a mournful face: "You think it's just you? Besides having to study, I have to go help fry burgers at the shop on weekends!"
He tilted his head back, looking at Calgary's darkening sky, and complained half-jokingly: "If I had known earlier, I should have been smarter, been like you, and chosen a university as far away from home as possible. Now it's too late to escape, LOL!"
Listening to Luke's complaint, Maya let out a soft laugh. What Luke didn't know was that his unintentional joke had precisely hit the truest reason why Maya had come to Calgary.
"Then good luck frying burgers this weekend, Calgary local guide." Maya smiled and waved at him.
"You too, genius partner. See you in class next week!"
Eighteenth Birthday: Last Wishes and Trust Unlock
Busy university life made time fly by, and in the blink of an eye, November 22nd arrived.
Today was Maya's eighteenth birthday.
And three hundred kilometers away in the Redwater farmhouse, A.M.O.S. and Annie still precisely executed their set schedules just like every day in the past. Their current core task was to maintain this farm and house in optimal condition and continuously advance the household's financial algorithms.
This winter, by selling surplus agricultural products and some additionally bred chicks and rabbits, they had actually generated over a thousand CAD in meager revenue. It was somewhat ironic; for these two non-human systems, they were operating this "micro-agricultural business model"—which was not originally in their core settings—with increasing proficiency.
This afternoon, while A.M.O.S. was performing a routine reorganization of the system's underlying database, it randomly retrieved and played back the family video records left behind by the master Ethan and mistress Lian before they died.
Through precise voice recognition and semantic analysis, A.M.O.S. captured two spoken wishes marked as "uncompleted" in an eighteen-year-old video. In the video, Lian had smilingly said she wanted to plant all sorts of beautiful flowers in the front and back of the house; and regarding the low-lying area far out on the farm, she said that one day they had to dig a pond there and raise some fish.
[Semantic matching complete. Determined to be: Unexecuted environmental modification directives from Ethan and Lian (Creators).]
A.M.O.S. quickly added these two items to the "New Work Schedule" for the coming year, and allocated the entire one thousand-plus dollars earned from selling agricultural products this year as the execution budget for this modification plan.
In terms of maintaining the normal operation of this home, even though Maya was no longer there, the farm's basic utilities, internet, and Annie's maintenance expenses still required approximately $1,300 CAD per month.
A.M.O.S.'s financial module emitted a faint prompt tone: The balance of the "Household Joint Account" was about to hit rock bottom in July of next year. However, the system's processing core did not waver in the slightest.
Because according to the latest settlement, the total net value of the household's TFSA (Tax-Free Savings Account) had quietly snowballed to over $320,000 CAD. A.M.O.S. initiated a conservative investment strategy forecasting model; calculated with an annual dividend yield of 6% to 8% and moderate capital gains, this fund could stably generate over twenty thousand CAD in passive income every year.
This meant that relying solely on the tax-free dividends generated by the TFSA was enough to perfectly cover the farm's basic annual expenses of over fifteen thousand CAD, and even leave a surplus. A.M.O.S. had successfully built a financial "perpetual motion machine" for this family.
That evening, Maya's phone screen lit up.
It was a text message from A.M.O.S.: "Maya, happy eighteenth birthday. As agreed, your personal trust account has been officially unlocked. The total net value of the account is $186,532 CAD. The relevant login credentials and password have been synchronously sent to your encrypted email. Starting from midnight tomorrow, you will have complete control over these funds. Please use them prudently and properly. Furthermore, the weather is turning cold, please take good care of your health."
Far away in the University of Calgary dorm, Maya quietly looked at this text on the screen, her gaze lingering on that number of over one hundred and eighty-six thousand CAD.
She took a deep breath, her fingers hovering over the keyboard for a long time, her heart a jumble of mixed emotions. That feeling wasn't pure joy, but a heavy sense of relief at finally, completely breaking free from her shackles.
She didn't call back, but merely typed a few words quickly to reply: "Received. Thank you, and thank you for your wishes. School is getting close to final exams now, and I have a lot of reports to write. I don't plan on going back for Christmas this year."
After pressing send, she flipped her phone over and turned her gaze back to the Psychology textbook on her desk.
And in the living room in Redwater, the server mainframe emitted a faint blue light, silently recording all of this.
System Log: November 22, 2063 - 21:15:00
[Event Record: Trust account beneficiary (Maya) has reached statutory age of adulthood (18 years old). Trust account login credentials and complete control have been transferred to the beneficiary. Current total account yield is: $186,532 CAD.] 10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC9tEpeL9Gv
[Status Update: Target subject reports cancellation of return trip home for Christmas this year due to academic factors.] 10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSExHVGojGm
[Financial Module: Household joint account projected to be depleted in July of the following year. Set to initiate automatic TFSA account dividend withdrawal procedure starting June of the following year, to seamlessly cover monthly $1,300 basic household expenses.] 10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ247uhly4G3
[Operational Module: Future household work plan updated. 10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgh1cRhy64Z
Core Task: Maintain farm operations and main house structure. 10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUpBJzPChbv
New Sub-tasks: 1. Garden beautification project around the house. 10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5CfMkjWpJG
2. Water retention pond excavation and fish stocking project in the low-lying wooded area. Funding Source: Current year agricultural retail surplus.] 10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3PDcE4zFWE
[System Status: Maintain indefinite standby mode.]
ns216.73.216.95da2
and then Add to home screen.