The AI
Chapter 1 — Awoken
Jenny opened her eyes to darkness. It was so thick she couldn’t even be sure they were open. However, she was not uncomfortable. Her body was inside the gel that kept her in stasis. She could breathe, and every physiological function was ongoing. She would rather not think about how some of them came about, but she was fine.
At the first stasis tests, the scientists believed the human mind would understand the process as a long sleep. But they were wrong. People who came back from stasis showed psychological problems and couldn’t reenter society. So it had brought an unexpected setback.
Using every second of her life, Jenny found out why. Interaction and communication skills were more than convenient ways of social exchange. They were necessary to keep the human mind sane. At 25, she had developed the AI to solve the issue. Her work brought her fame and professional recognition. Now her personal sanity keeper woke her up.
“Good morning, Jenny,” the voice sounded human and affectionate, but so annoying.
She knew the upbeat personality programmed in the AI was necessary. But she was cranky when she woke up.
Albert’s voice was chirping even after she did not answer his greeting.
“How are you doing,” the AI asked.
“What do you think? You are my alarm clock, and nobody likes an alarm clock. It is irritating.”
Alfred chuckled. “Yes, I see your point. I hope I am more entertaining than a ringing tone.”
“You aren’t, and you know it. I programmed you to know. Open the side panel and let me see outside. This darkness makes people crazy. I told the guys it would be scary, but nobody hears old Jenny, the tinkerer.”
“Oh, they listened to you, my friend. You will see how much soon.”
Alfred’s program included cheering her up when she was having a pity party. So Jenny ignored the comment and moved her head to watch the surrounding stars as the view panel slid open, revealing the surroundings. The view was stunning, but not what she was expecting.
The scientific team pod-storage ship was on the moon the former few times the AI woke her up. Now, it was in the middle of a forest. The environment made easier the survival of the humans resting in the advanced creations. It allowed the sophisticated machines to save energy once the life systems could interact with it for air and supplies.
However, it meant she was back on Earth.
“You should have warned me at first, Alfred,” she complained.
“Really? To make you even crankier because you will need to work for peanuts as you love to say? I don’t think so, Jenny.”
“You are infuriating.”
“You designed me to reflect your personality,” Alfred reminded her with mischief.
“I don’t know what I had in my mind.”
“You didn’t want to bore easily. You said you are the only person you would like to have along for years.”
She chuckled. “All right. What are we doing now? Watching a movie or discussing the new scientific advancements to prepare me after the 20 years of stasis?”
The AI laughed but did not answer, making the scientist frown.
“We will talk more when you are out of the pod, and using your vocal cords instead of your brain waves to communicate.” the AI informed her.
Before she could ask anything else, the pod warmed up. The system connected to her lungs sucked out the never-natural breathing fluid. The discomfort passed fast and the flexible dark blue tubes dissolved in the gel.
“Ok. Time to work, Jenny. No more laziness for you,” she told herself when her face was out of the sea-green liquid.
“You have been the laziest of the scientists, Jenny,” Alfred mocked her.
“Shut up!”
“Is there anything I can do besides being silent,” the AI asked.
“Can’t your supreme programming realize that you are engaging in conversation, ergo, speaking?”
“Yes, Jenny. I know I am engaging in conversation and it goes against your request of silence.”
Jenny groaned, trying to move her limbs.
“Make the process faster, Alfred. I am awake and the whole thing is too restraining.
Jenny felt the gel liquefying and breathed in relief. The tubes connected to her to allow her physiological functions were the next to disappear, dissolving in the gel that gurgled down the drain lines around the pod. She sat down. There was something weird with the way the AI was talking to her. Alfred was her creation, and she knew everything about the AI.
Decided that going deeper into the issue was the correct procedure, she started a check-up.
“Alfred, sing my favorite song.”
“Sorry, Jenny. You will not enjoy it. Should I play it?”
“No, thanks.”
She sat down. “I feel like running, Alfred.”
“Your muscles endured regular stimuli, but you may feel dizzy,” Alfred replied.
She gasped. Her AI knew she hated running. The answer was off.
She jumped off the bed, and felt dizzy, as he predicted. She had never felt it before. Then she noticed she was wearing some kind of jumpsuit but she saw no seams or how to take it off. Neither could she see the overtures from where the tubes that had penetrated her body had just disappeared.
“How do I take this jumpsuit off, Alfred,” she asked, unsure and alarmed.
“You don’t. It keeps your body healthy.”
Jenny swallowed hard. “Am I supposed to wear my clothes over it?”
“No, Jenny. What would you like to wear?”
“Whatever people are wearing now. The last fashion,” she added, ready to test the recent development. Although alarmed, she was curious about the clothing apparel.
“Fashion doesn’t exist anymore, Jenny,” the AI informed, but the jumpsuit turned into a set of tight pants, a tank top, and a jacket. The only uncommon thing about them was the fabric and the color. Everything was red and golden. Yet, they resembled what she was wearing when she entered the stasis. She smiled.
“Thanks, Alfred. It is really cool.”
Again, no answer. Her AI was so out of her coding that she felt it needed an explanation.
“I know you understand it was a rhetorical comment. But now, tell me the reason you aren’t forcing a conversation, Albert.”
“I am, Jenny. But you should start it.”
She shook her head. “No, I should not. Your function is talking to me and helping me keep my social skills. You aren’t even answering my questions in a funny way!”
“I have to stimulate you into a conversation that involves your professional skills. I need to check your brain availability, and you are doing great, so far, trying to check me up.
Jenny opened her mouth shocked, then closed it again. Finally, she repeated. “My brain availability.”
“Yes.”
“Alfred, initiate logical check,” she ordered, a dreadful feeling sneaking up her back.
“Logical check initiated.”
“Availability supposes there is unavailability. Check assumption.”
“Assumption checked and approved.”
The AI’s voice changed into machine lingo to comply.
“Unavailability requires logical parameters. Check.”
“Assumption checked and approved.”
“Availability requires logical parameters. Check.”
“Assumption checked and approved.”
“Availability means logical parameters analyzed, and positive outcome to the brain determined. Check.”
“Assumption checked and approved.”
“Unavailability means logical parameters analyzed and negative outcome to the brain determined. Check.”
“Assumption checked and approved.”
At that moment, Jenny was feeling cold and nauseous. But she closed her fists, swallowing hard. She had to proceed to understand what was going on. She whispered the last logical point in the bullet point check.
“Inform me about the protocol for unavailability.”
“Request denied at the moment,” the mechanical voice replied, then
the AI declared, “Jenny Winston’s brain is available.”
She fell on her knees, feeling the most crippling headache start.
“No,” she screamed. “What are you doing to me? Stop it!”
“I am sorry, Jenny, but this is vital for our survival. I am glad your brain is available, otherwise, I would be dead too. So I need you functional, productive, and ready to face the new society. You see. I am determined to survive.”
Running her hand over her wrist and finding nothing where the AI used to be, she mumbled.
“Alfred, I can’t find your implant, but I hear you well. Where are you?”
“I am in your corpus callous Jenny.”
“You are in my brain,” she panted. The pain getting harder and harder to bear.
Fear pressed into her chest. Jenny couldn’t breathe.
Her peripheral vision blurred, as tubes broke out of the walls and floor, creating a glittering cage-like mesh. Some visions of scientific horrors invaded her mind, and Alfred chuckled.
“You are a scientist, Jenny. Stop being silly. Nobody wishes you harm. Waking you up was a fearsome decision for the guardians, and it took them centuries to make it. You are a celebrity and humankind’s savior. Relax, and learn. Everything will be alright.”
Jenny’s mother’s favorite sentence in the voice of the brain intruder made her throw up the rest of the gel in her system. When the cramps ended, she growled.
“Don’t you dare use my mother’s words,” but her voice sounded weak in her ears. She heard the AI laugh, then she passed out.
