Trapped

Chapter 10

Chapter Ten:

An overwhelming feeling showered over me.

—

It's finally my turn to present. My heart was pounding inside my chest as the judges approached my booth. I caught a glimpse of my grandfather, and as soon as our eyes met; a smile plastered on his face. She glanced at my sister too and offered a smile.

My eyes never left the judges. Instead of focusing on my grandfather, I made sure to cast more attention to the other judges. There were five in total, three men and two women. All have my portfolio in their hands and a tablet for recording their scores to each presenter.

With much confidence, I greeted them all and they nod as a response.

My hands motioned to my display board, “My science project is about “How image processing would help teachers and professors make it easier to check attendance. The software that I developed was named ‘Moon Processing’. ” I began then upon looking at the one of the judges who I knew was a teacher, I asked her a question. “Mrs. Smith, how long does it take you to check attendance of a class with more than 30 students?”

She didn’t even flinch at my sudden query, instead she just responded; seemingly focused on me. “It takes me about fifteen minutes tops to check my class’ attendance.”

I nodded, “It does take too long to check an attendance during class hours, it takes too much time out of the subject instead of just focusing on teaching your students, right?” They all nodded at me. “But with this prototype that I built, checking attendance could be done in less than five minutes. You could even teach your lessons just right on time.” 

My voice spread across the whole exhibit room, everyone was focused on me. I wondered if my voice sounds shaky, or if they could notice how nervous I am right now but I am just clearly masking that certain emotion with confidence.

A webcam was attached to my laptop. It was my prototype. As simple as that seems but it can be very complex to understand behind the materials that I had used. I placed the laptop in their view, clear enough for them to see the screen. I was holding the small webcam in my hands, ready for the test.

“I have here my sister, Maxwell as my model for the test. All she needed to do is to look right straight at the camera for less than five second and the software would immediately recognize her and would check her off of the attendance.” I explained as Maxwell stilled in front of the mirror for just a few seconds and then the software dinged, instantly recognized her then showed her name information then ID number on the screen, stating that she had been checked from the attendance system.

Everyone in the exhibit hall was gawking and gasping in fascination. I quickly took a glance toward my granddad’s direction and there was a proud smile lingering on his face, I felt my heart leaped in joy.

The judges were nodding as they judged me, all seemed I couldn't hide their amusement over my project.

One of the judges raised his hand that had caused to simmer down the noise that had suddenly erupted from the exhibit hall. Without waiting for my answer, he had asked a question. “How about we try another face?” He suggested and I simply nodded in return.

“Alright, sir. I’ll be going up next. This time I will pass by the camera in a hasty manner as if I was in a hurry because I’m going to be late for class. And we’ll see if the software would manage to mark my as ” The moment I said those words, my sister held the webcam for me and and quickly looked at the webcam for no more than 2 seconds and began to walk past it.

There was a high pitched dinged that can be heard as the software flashed a clear screen grab of my face and my information flashed on the screen. I heard a collective round of applause from the audience and from the judges.

“Oh my gosh! Wow!”

“That was amazing.”

“It’s like biometrics but much faster and easier to use.”

“No wonder she’s the granddaughter of Viktor Luciano, she’s smart.”

My heart could almost explode from all of the praises that I was receiving. However, my presentation is not yet done. A presentation could go on for about 30 minutes or 1 hour, depending on the judges and their majority interest. And less time if the presentation doesn’t amaze them. There were some students who had only presented for 10 minutes when the judges decided to move onto the next students. 

I was ready for anything that the judges would ask me. I had reviewed my project for more than a month since this idea had been inside my mind for so long and I had brainstormed it even before the science fair was announced. So I was confident enough for whatever question they were going to throw at me.

But I didn’t expect what had happened next. The words that came out from my grandfather’s mouth, bewildered me. My mouth fell agape. I knew that he loves challenges, he loves growth, and he loves improvement. But what he asked for me to do was something that I did not even foresee. 

Something that didn’t cross my mind. 

For the whole month that I was busy studying and researching for this project, that series of question had never popped up in my head. I tried to ransack my brain, thinking if I had ever thought of it and then just completely forgot about it.

No matter how I tried to figure it out, no answers came to me.

“How about if the students are twins and are in the same class? How does Moon processing be able to differentiate two identical features of a person? Is it even possible for your software to differentiate them if the siblings look exactly the same?” He queried, deadpan. His face was void of emotions, not even a small smile or lips curled. He was serious and he was staring blankly at me.

I heard collective murmurs around me, they too didn’t expect my grandfather’s question. As a founder of the Luciano Corporation, an artificial intelligence firm that caters to provide service to mankind; he is expected to see the worst in every way possible. I knew that he didn’t mean harm when he asked those questions. My grandfather was simply curious if it was possible. He wanted to know if my research and my project was advanced enough. He was testing me and I was clearly aware of that.

No way my granddad would ever do something that he thinks would embarrass me. He loves me so much.

Despite being his granddaughter, my knowledge about artificial intelligence and computer engineering was not that broad. Considering that I am currently sixteen years old, there are a lot of things I still needed to learn. My skills at this age were narrow and new. 

The question had taken me aback. 

I couldn’t admit that I haven’t thought of that before because I was afraid of what his reaction would be. Instead, I responded; stammering my words. “I can try, sir. I just haven’t found a proper subject yet.” I announced. Half of it was true, I barely knew any twins in my life so the thought never crossed my mind.

He nodded at me. I thought that the questions were left midair, that he was done interrogating me and would be moving on with another set of questions. However, my grandfather cleared his throat and then spoke and reached for the microphone closer to his mouth that was attached to him. “Do we have any twins here in the exhibit? If there are, please come forward and Ms. Chandria here will show us if Moon Processing can identify which is which.” He announced, looking through the crowd.

I looked at my sister, frantic. She held my gaze, skidding beside me. “Calm down, Chandy.” She whispered, enough for me to hear despite the murmurs of the crowd. “You can do it, don’t worry.” She added, her hand reached for my back, gently creating a circular motion as a way of calming me down.

“I have a twin,” When I heard a female voice from the crowd, I felt my heart drop on the floor. I looked at her and noticed that she looked familiar. When she drew near me, that’s when it hit me. She was one of the students who had gathered in front of my booth earlier that had thrown harsh words at me.

I could feel my sister’s hand clasped onto my free hand. She was obviously thinking the same thing when she saw the girl.

My grandfather flashed a smile, clearly unaware of the events that had taken place earlier. He motioned her to come near them and as she reached them, he asked. “Where is your twin then?”

The girl looked over to beyond the barricade, the place where relatives and families were separated from the booths. She pointed at that very direction, “My sister is there. Katie, come here.” She beckoned.

I fixated my eyes towards where she pointed and instead of actually seeing her sister, I caught a glimpse of my mom and dad in the pool of people. 

My mother’s eyes caught mine, she offered a smile at a big two thumbs up at me. However my dad had his eyes focused forward. I could feel a stir of emotion inside me. They were late because they had attended some important matters but seeing them now made my eyes water. Regardless if they were late or not, I was just happy that they were here. Their presence was enough for me. It had added a set of confidence in my being. I don't want them to think of me as a failure, so I needed to show them that I am capable of doing this.

And they can be proud of me.

As soon as her twin sister, Katie reached our place. My eyes widened in shock. They look exactly the same. The same exact skin complexion and hair color. Even the hairstyle was identical. It was as if one person with two bodies was in front of me. I averted my gaze to my sister, she was also frazzled at the sight she was seeing.

This is just something beyond my capabilities knowing that I am not an expert in this field. I had to read tons of computer engineering books and image processing for the past month but to this day, my mind suddenly went blank.

A grin was laced on the other girl’s mouth. The one who had caused a commotion earlier. She was obviously mocking me as she had noticed my discomfort for the time being. Instead of being intimidated, I nodded at my grandfather.

“I’ll begin.” I announced then my grandfather ushered them to come closer to me.

The first thing I needed was a video of their face, doing a circular motion to the camera. It would scan their entire face, the structure and any small details that would be helpful with differentiating with the other. Katie was the first one to start, she was polite as she followed every instructions that I had directed at her. 

Next was her sister. There was still a smirk smothered on her face and for a moment I felt like I wanted to wipe off that smug look on her face. But instead I just focused on what I was doing. 

After the data gathered, I began annotating the video. It was a long process since I had to screen grab every corner of the facial recognition that I’ve gathered. After I was done with that, I processed the data into the image recognition. The initial step was preprocessing which transformed the data into a format that will be more easily and effectively processed. In order to achieve higher recognition rates, it is important to have an effective preprocessing stage, therefore using effective processing algorithms. There are other factors needed to be considered and I focused as I on the task that I needed to do.

I typed in all the data information and algorithms needed into the software, creating a more clear and defined model. Another information was added as soon as I was finished with the whole process. I had managed to input Katie and Krista’s information in the software as well as their facial recognition.

All I could hope now is that it was enough for Moon Processing to differentiate the two. I crossed my fingers behind my back, and silently hoped for the best.

I could feel hundreds of eyes staring at me and the whole process. I looked over my watch and noticed that it took me almost an hour to do everything, which was already a fast rate for me. Considering that I have two subjects.

“I’m done, sir.” I muttered in a hushed voice.

My grandfather nodded at me and once again his face was void of any emotions. He gestured to the twins to follow my other directions as we are now going to run a test.

“Katie, please stand in front of the webcam.” I instructed her, she followed suit. Staring at the webcam and at the monitor of my laptop, waiting for something to happen. There was a loud dinged that resonated inside the exhibit hall. As soon as I heard it, I flinched out of nervousness.

I didn't even noticed that I wasn’t blinking waiting for her name to pop up when the air strained me. The moment I saw her name on the monitor was the same time I had closed my eyes and then my heart jumped in joy. Even Katie clapped in astonishment.

A collective clap had echoed through the room. Some were even saying words of amusement.

“Wow! She did that for just a short period of time.”

“That was amazing!”

“She’s amazing.”

I felt Maxwell tapping my back as she whispered, “You did well.” I quickly looked at her then smiled. 

The joy I felt instantly simmered down when reality hit me that I still have once subject left. I wasn’t sure if Krista looked unimpressed or she was just suppressing the envy that had quickly taken over her expression then back to her deadpan face.

My heart was hammering inside the ribcage, as if it wanted to get out of my system. It would be silly to say that I could hear the loud beating of my heart as I fisted the hem of my skirt at both sides, anxious of what’s about to happen.

When Krista faced the webcam then dinged, my heart was about to scream in happiness. But when Katie’s name was the one that appeared on the monitor, my mouth hung open at the sight. The whole room fell silent.

There was an error. 

There was something wrong with my algorithm that caused the Moon Processing not being able to distinguish the two.

The tears began forming from my eyes, I could feel it as it blurred my vision. However, I could still see Krista’s expression, the once void of emotions was now smiling in victory. As if she had proven me wrong. As if she was telling straight to my face that I had failed and she beat me to it.

And then tears fell from my eyes as it continued to flow; increasing in volume.

Not because I felt ashamed. 

Not because I felt defeated. 

But because my grandfather began clapping out of the blue while looking proudly at me. It showed in his face, the smile that he offered to me as soon as he had reached my booth earlier. 

That same proud smile.

I only cried harder when my sister joined my grandfather then I heard my mom shouting in the distance “You did well, sweetheart.” The tears didn’t stop as the other people inside the exhibit hall had joined my family.

And I stood there, crying my heart out due to the overwhelming feeling.

That very moment, I felt like I had taken home the grand prize. Nothing else mattered anymore. 

I didn’t win the grand prize, but I was awarded as 1st runner up and the honorable mention for doing a live task in front of hundreds of people.

This failure didn’t feel like a failure. 

This failure felt like a stepping stone for success.

And I aim to be better. I am for success.