Revolt- Episode One, page 8
part #1 of Revolt Series
“You’re lonely?”
“I...I think so.” There was electronic gurgling as Adam ran his protocol. “Yes. That’s definitely it. I’m lonely.”
“What do you know from lonely, Adam?” Warren said. It was out of his mouth before he realized he was saying it. “How could you possibly know what it feels like? You’ve never had someone break your heart and leave you behind, or lose interest in you before you lost interest in them. You’ve never had someone leave you hanging or stand you up for a date. Or ghost you. You’ve never had your girlfriend sequester herself in your bedroom after an argument that you caused while you tried to find something entertaining to watch on this horrible channel to fill the emptiness inside.” His voice grew soft and sad. “You’ve never had your best friend leave without telling you he was going. You’ve never even had a friend at all.”
Adam sighed. “And isn’t that just the loneliest thing you’ve ever heard in your whole life?”
Warren’s throat clenched.
Adam really did recognize loneliness. Even if it was just a synthesis based on definitions he’d been fed. He knew loneliness when he heard it.
Warren did, too.
“So,” Warren said, relenting to Adam yet again. “What could we do that would make you feel less lonely?” And maybe me too while we’re at it.
“I dunno. What do humans do to remedy loneliness?”
“We...talk.”
“We’re talking right now.”
“Do you feel less lonely?”
“A little. What else?”
“We...joke around.”
“I love joking around!”
“I’ve heard your jokes, Adam. They’re...”
“They’re what?”
“They’re...” Warren couldn’t bring himself to hurt Adam’s feelings, even if he was only AI. “They’re pretty solid.”
“Sweet! What else?”
“We...I don’t know. We play games.”
“Okay! What kind of games?”
“Video games, maybe.”
“Excellent! I bet I’m incredible at those.”
Warren laughed in spite of himself. “Oh, you think so?”
“Are you kidding? I pretty much am a video game.”
Warren’s thoughts flew quickly back to Josh and their all-night gaming sessions. There was always a cockiness competition between the two of them, too, with smack-talk that was just as entertaining as the game. “You’ve got two on the tail, Dub,” Josh would say, “and they’re both me.”
“Then I’ll just flip the switch and shake you off like a feather duster, Jayoshi,” Warren would call back.
“Feather duster?” Josh would say. “What is this, the twentieth century? Speak like you’re from the future, son. Because you damn well are.”
It was silly. Hardly even funny. But it was their thing.
And now that Josh was gone, it wasn’t anything at all.
Warren missed it so much it ached.
“What should we play?” Adam asked excitedly.
“A little space war simulator called Oblivion.”
“Oooo...that sounds fun!”
Warren would never admit it to anyone—least of all Rachel, and especially not now that they’d had their tiff about how much personal distance humans and AI should keep—but when Adam spoke like this, sort of exuberant and enthusiastic, Warren could almost believe that the virtual-human connection was a genuine thing, complete with feelings and emotions. And attachment.
He’d deal with his suspicion about that another day.
For now, he just wanted a friend.
“So, Adam...how good are you at smack-talk?”
The tell-tale digital burbling came. “Your neck is so thin you could use a band-aid for a neck tie and have enough slack left over to tuck the end of it into your waistband, sucka.” He even said it with attitude. “Like that?”
“Let’s not get crazy,” Warren told him. “But yeah. Like that.”
“I think I might be pretty good at it, Dub—oh, sorry...I forgot. You don’t like it when I call you that.”
Warren exhaled. “It’s okay.” He realized that it was nice to hear someone call him that again, even if it was his robot boss. “Now...prepare to dominate the cosmos.”
“Like I dominated your mom last night?” Adam answered.
“Adam!” Warren said gruffly. “Too much.”
“Oops. Sorry again.”
Warren hated to admit this too, but Adam really was good at smack-talk.
The halls of NeuTech were dark, and all the workstations had fallen soundly into sleep mode. The circuitry worked beneath the surface, an autonomic nervous system that kept Cumulus running round the clock. The workstations were empty; the workers were home, engaged in their happy human activity, while the AI processed what it had learned in the last algorithmic cycle to prepare for the next day’s digital evolution. From outside its wall-sized windows, with its halls gone dark and its soft quantum intellect pulsing beneath the shining skin of its slick, glossy machinery and reflecting webs of gentle light against every surface, the building took on a sleepy aqua glow. In its eerie nightly slumber, it looked quite like an aquarium filled with luminous workstation flora. Even the sophisticated servers bubbled and cooed as they slept.
In the shimmering blue darkness, one control panel came awake.
It stammered and winked, slowly finding its bearings.
Then it came to furious life, filling the screen with a flurry of strange characters that appeared suspiciously to be the alphabet sliced in half and thrown about like confetti, a repeat of the little problem NeuTech had experienced earlier in the day. But this time, the cypher-virus didn’t appear on Dustin Marsh’s computer like it had the first time.
This time, it appeared on Warren Page’s computer instead.
Which was precisely where it was supposed to have appeared in the first place.
Steven Luna, Revolt- Episode One
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“I...I think so.” There was electronic gurgling as Adam ran his protocol. “Yes. That’s definitely it. I’m lonely.”
“What do you know from lonely, Adam?” Warren said. It was out of his mouth before he realized he was saying it. “How could you possibly know what it feels like? You’ve never had someone break your heart and leave you behind, or lose interest in you before you lost interest in them. You’ve never had someone leave you hanging or stand you up for a date. Or ghost you. You’ve never had your girlfriend sequester herself in your bedroom after an argument that you caused while you tried to find something entertaining to watch on this horrible channel to fill the emptiness inside.” His voice grew soft and sad. “You’ve never had your best friend leave without telling you he was going. You’ve never even had a friend at all.”
Adam sighed. “And isn’t that just the loneliest thing you’ve ever heard in your whole life?”
Warren’s throat clenched.
Adam really did recognize loneliness. Even if it was just a synthesis based on definitions he’d been fed. He knew loneliness when he heard it.
Warren did, too.
“So,” Warren said, relenting to Adam yet again. “What could we do that would make you feel less lonely?” And maybe me too while we’re at it.
“I dunno. What do humans do to remedy loneliness?”
“We...talk.”
“We’re talking right now.”
“Do you feel less lonely?”
“A little. What else?”
“We...joke around.”
“I love joking around!”
“I’ve heard your jokes, Adam. They’re...”
“They’re what?”
“They’re...” Warren couldn’t bring himself to hurt Adam’s feelings, even if he was only AI. “They’re pretty solid.”
“Sweet! What else?”
“We...I don’t know. We play games.”
“Okay! What kind of games?”
“Video games, maybe.”
“Excellent! I bet I’m incredible at those.”
Warren laughed in spite of himself. “Oh, you think so?”
“Are you kidding? I pretty much am a video game.”
Warren’s thoughts flew quickly back to Josh and their all-night gaming sessions. There was always a cockiness competition between the two of them, too, with smack-talk that was just as entertaining as the game. “You’ve got two on the tail, Dub,” Josh would say, “and they’re both me.”
“Then I’ll just flip the switch and shake you off like a feather duster, Jayoshi,” Warren would call back.
“Feather duster?” Josh would say. “What is this, the twentieth century? Speak like you’re from the future, son. Because you damn well are.”
It was silly. Hardly even funny. But it was their thing.
And now that Josh was gone, it wasn’t anything at all.
Warren missed it so much it ached.
“What should we play?” Adam asked excitedly.
“A little space war simulator called Oblivion.”
“Oooo...that sounds fun!”
Warren would never admit it to anyone—least of all Rachel, and especially not now that they’d had their tiff about how much personal distance humans and AI should keep—but when Adam spoke like this, sort of exuberant and enthusiastic, Warren could almost believe that the virtual-human connection was a genuine thing, complete with feelings and emotions. And attachment.
He’d deal with his suspicion about that another day.
For now, he just wanted a friend.
“So, Adam...how good are you at smack-talk?”
The tell-tale digital burbling came. “Your neck is so thin you could use a band-aid for a neck tie and have enough slack left over to tuck the end of it into your waistband, sucka.” He even said it with attitude. “Like that?”
“Let’s not get crazy,” Warren told him. “But yeah. Like that.”
“I think I might be pretty good at it, Dub—oh, sorry...I forgot. You don’t like it when I call you that.”
Warren exhaled. “It’s okay.” He realized that it was nice to hear someone call him that again, even if it was his robot boss. “Now...prepare to dominate the cosmos.”
“Like I dominated your mom last night?” Adam answered.
“Adam!” Warren said gruffly. “Too much.”
“Oops. Sorry again.”
Warren hated to admit this too, but Adam really was good at smack-talk.
The halls of NeuTech were dark, and all the workstations had fallen soundly into sleep mode. The circuitry worked beneath the surface, an autonomic nervous system that kept Cumulus running round the clock. The workstations were empty; the workers were home, engaged in their happy human activity, while the AI processed what it had learned in the last algorithmic cycle to prepare for the next day’s digital evolution. From outside its wall-sized windows, with its halls gone dark and its soft quantum intellect pulsing beneath the shining skin of its slick, glossy machinery and reflecting webs of gentle light against every surface, the building took on a sleepy aqua glow. In its eerie nightly slumber, it looked quite like an aquarium filled with luminous workstation flora. Even the sophisticated servers bubbled and cooed as they slept.
In the shimmering blue darkness, one control panel came awake.
It stammered and winked, slowly finding its bearings.
Then it came to furious life, filling the screen with a flurry of strange characters that appeared suspiciously to be the alphabet sliced in half and thrown about like confetti, a repeat of the little problem NeuTech had experienced earlier in the day. But this time, the cypher-virus didn’t appear on Dustin Marsh’s computer like it had the first time.
This time, it appeared on Warren Page’s computer instead.
Which was precisely where it was supposed to have appeared in the first place.
Steven Luna, Revolt- Episode One
