by Waiting for the Machines to Fall Asleep- The Best New Science Fiction from Sweden (retail) (epub)
"Look, who is that?" Maxine pointed behind the royals.
Was this another AAIGP? There had not been any news about a new wonder of Picasso. No, that was just a normal guy. Lucy turned to him and smiled. She stroked a black curl behind his ear and whispered something into it. He laughed. He was hot, no question about it, but beside the royals everything and everyone turned a bit shabby.
Lancelot raised his voice. "Hey everybody. Now that we're here let the party begin. We have a surprise. Our friend is going to sing for you!"
The crowd started to scream and I covered my ears. Why did Maxine want to hang out in places like this? I just hated it. Shallow and fake, just like this entire city. I know everyone wanted to live in Vegatropolis. But not me. I wanted to move somewhere where you could still see some real trees, not the bright green fake ones in the big parks with fake lakes filled with fake multicolored fish.
The new guy entered a small stage and pressed a plastic bracelet on his arm. A black, shining holographic guitar appeared. I didn't know who this guy was, but he definitely was filthy rich. That instrument cost more than our house. It was a crappy house, but still.
Someone shut off the music and the club went quiet. Lancelot pulled out a few glass cubes from his pocket and threw them into the air above the guy on stage. The flashcubes rotated slowly in the air, spraying the singer in colored light.
He took his time looking around the room. That guy had confidence. A smile curled his lip and his eyes hit mine. The light made his glance glimmer in red. I have read and laughed at novels about love at first sight. But, I must admit that something did happen when our eyes locked.
The smile slipped from his face and he looked uncertain. I forced myself not to look behind me to see if he actually was looking at some hot girl instead of me. He tilted his head and a wrinkle appeared between his eyes. I interested him, but why?
Maxine whispered without moving her lips. "Vega, why the hell is he staring at you like that? Do you know him?"
I wanted to answer her but, unfortunately, my tongue was so dry it got stuck to the roof of my mouth. When he finally let go of my eyes and started to play I grabbed a glowing shot from a flying tray and slung it down. Eww, yuck; aubergine and chili. I hated those vitamin and alcohol shots.
"Vega! Tell me?" Maxine shook me.
"I have never, ever seen that guy before. I have no clue why he stared at me."
"But you liked it. Vega is in looooooove." She laughed.
Before I could answer I looked down at my dress. Fuck this emoshit. It was bright pink. The typical color of loooooove. I took another shot, a green one this time; parsley.
"Take it easy." Maxine took away the glass.
I tried to act all cool and turned to one of the digital walls. But after playing one line of tick-tack-toe I just had to turn back to the guy on stage.
The holographic instrument was worth its money. Tones of base, drums and something electric pumped out with a hard beat. It melted together with his voice, and that was some voice; soft yet powerful. I had never heard of him, but I probably would hear a lot about him soon. This guy was a star.
A loud crash of glass followed by screams stopped the show. More glass shattered and soon the floor was filled with stones covered in fluorescent graffiti. They all had the same message, "Put the AI, AAI, AAIGP to eternal sleep!!!"
A high sound of electric motorcycles taking off was heard through the broken windows. Someone screamed at the top of his lungs, "Real humans stay awake, machines go to sleep!" A choir of angry voices added onto it and disappeared into the night.
It was not clear how much emotions even the advanced AAIGP had. But since those in the room were the most advanced in the world, I was quite sure that they were pissed off. Lancelot's cheeks turned red and an artificial vein started pumping in his forehead. Lucy had the look of a warrior princess but Gwyneth didn't seem too bothered. She picked up one of the stones, read it and then dropped it back on the floor with a bang.
Far away I could hear the shrill sound of sirens. Everyone was released from their shock and started running. This was an illegal party with illegal substances. But Maxine and I were even further out of line. We were outsiders, not even allowed to enter the city if we were not working.
"Come on, let's go!" Maxine grabbed hold of my arm and forced me through the crowd towards the door.
I almost fell. I quickly pressed a button on one of my shoes. With a swift click I lowered the three inch heels to one inch. Now I could run.
"Wait."
I didn't need to turn my head to know who it was.
"What's your name?"
Just as when he sang the voice was soft but impossible to ignore. I looked at him. Close up I could tell that his eyes were just as dark as his hair and that he had a dimple in one cheek when he smiled.
Inside the dark eyes was a distant glow of red. I quickly looked down. Enhanced eyes. Some could manipulate, some gave better sight, and some could scan information from people. I should walk away. This guy was no good, but he was so damn hot that I couldn't help myself.
"Eh, Vega."
"I don't recognize you from school. I'm sure I would have noticed you. What class are you in?"
Well, I was not even in the same school as him. I was not in the same school as any of the people surrounding us. Except for Maxine. We were not allowed in the city college, we had our own.
I dared to take another look at him. The light in his eyes was off. "It's a big school, I go to ... psychological programming, the science program."
"Can I see you again?" He held out his hand and the technology in it lit up. Shit. Since we were, once again, poor I didn't have any body technology; just an old fashion holograph in a bracelet. I held it out and saw his confused look.
"I like retro, okay?" I said. "Do you want my number or not?"
He pressed his hand to my holograph and smiled.
"Vega, we really need to leave!" whispered Maxine.
"Don't worry," he said. "We won't get in trouble for the drugs, you're with us. We're untouchable."
Okay, that sounded like some lame movie. Maybe he was not all that amazing anyway.
"See you!" I yelled over my shoulder and followed Maxine. "Don't want to be you," I added in a lower voice. Why did I give him my number?
Outside the air was cold. Roads with silver lights crossed the air in soft loops all the way up to the sky with glimmering stars. Silent, self driving vehicles swarmed past us.
There was no pollution anymore, but still orbs hovered over us to clean the air and to send out puffs of oxygen filled with whatever you needed. Obviously I was stressed since I could recognize the calming smell of lavender.
The skyscrapers were covered in huge screens that showed beautiful, happy people trying to sell products and lifestyle. A woman, the size of King Kong, turned towards me. "Vega, you just must try out this new scent, 'Wealth'. It's not just a perfume, it will go into your nervous system and give you better confidence and a radiant look."
A huge, holographic arm reached towards me. It held a bottle shaped as a diamond.
"No thanks!" I pressed a button on my holograph. I hated these billboards that thought they knew your inner desires. Sometimes they apparently did not work.
"Look." Maxine pointed towards the wall of a gold colored office building. In huge letters someone had sprayed in fluorescent paint "Machines go to sleep!" Behind the message was a commercial of AI housekeepers taking care of laundry.
During the last months there had been several attacks on targets connected to AI production. Factories, research centers and stores where you could buy different kinds of artificial life.
There had also been kills, if you could call it killing since they weren't alive. Still it almost made my sandwich and yogurt shake come up again when the holograms of three AAI-women were shown on the news on my kitchen table. Their lifeless bodies were ripped into pieces of silicon and circuits.
Now we could see the flashing ligh
ts of the approaching police. The screaming sound of sirens broke through the soft music from the billboards.
"Let's get out of here," I said.
We threw ourselves into a rickshaw that stood beside the road, pulled by an old AI man with white hair. "To the wall, exit 23D," said Maxine.
The AI turned his stiff face towards us, nodded and then started to run. Soon vehicles in all different shapes and colors flew around us. As always I got the feeling that something would hit me, but force fields made it impossible to crash into someone else.
The police, one car and several officers on robotic horses, swished by us towards the club. But they were too late. Whoever had sprayed the house and thrown the stones were obviously far away by now.
"Phew, that was close," said Maxine. "Stupid activists, did they have to wreck the party just when it was getting good? Why do people object to AI, they're fantastic!" she said and nodded to our driver. "And AAIGP are just all that. Lancelot, he is the most fantastic of all."
I didn't want to get into this discussion once again. We had differing views on this subject. I couldn't decide which was worse; that the AI actually felt something but were slaves, or if they didn't feel anything and were, as in the Royals' case, treated like humans when they simply were not.
"Don't think so much, it makes you look ugly," Maxine laughed.
We made it to the wall. It wasn't really a wall, not a solid one. But there it was, a force field that separated the city from the outside.
Many from the outside worked in Vegatropolis, but to get in you needed a passport signed by your employer in the city. Maxine had charmed a guy in our class who put in extra work by one of the passages to sneak us in.
The bright lights of the city had dimmed and been replaced with trees and hills covered in artificial flowers. Nobody lived out here, but the city people went here to run and walk their pets. For them this was a trip to the countryside. Outside of the wall there were more artificial nature and shabby houses.
Maxine always said that fake was better than real. But even if real trees lost their leaves and the grass went brown and yellow I would have preferred that. When I got older I might go to the Wild. There were places further outside the big cities that were not explored. Places where things were real and not perfect. I guess a bit like me.
We were just a few hundred meters from the wall when our driver's head exploded with the sound of a melon cracked on the street. One second he ran and the other he laid on the ground with his brain scattered all over the green grass.
Our wagon kept on rolling over his body and a sound of cracked plastic filled the cold air.
"Fuck! Shit!" screamed Maxine. "Help!"
Someone had shot this man. Sorry, this artificial man. Did they want to shoot us too? I got my answer when someone yelled: "Put the machines to sleep!"
"We are humans!" Maxine screamed. "I'm just really good looking, I'm not an AAIGP!"
Oh my good, Maxine. Sometimes she was just too much.
The sound of running feet came toward us. The red face of our classmate showed up. "Jesus, are you okay?"
I jumped out of the wagon and touched the AI's splattered face with my shoe, slime covered circuits hung out of the skull. Horrible! "Yeah, better than him at least," I responded with a trembling voice. I looked, with a chill, into the inky darkness where the sound of motorcycles disappeared in the distance.
"These bloody activists. If I was just allowed to have a gun I would have shot them! That could have given me a promotion. I'm tired of guarding the wall. Once I turn eighteen I'll go to the police academy."
"They're gone now. Just let us through," I said with a weak voice. "I want to go home. Vegatropolis sucks."
Maxine objected when she followed me. "How dare you say that, the party was great, the people were great. What is wrong with you?"
I shook my head and sighed. "I'm just tired. Sorry, thanks for bringing me."
She put her nose into the air. "Don't sweat, I'll do anything to see you in something else than your filthy jeans and holoshirts with lame messages."
I did not respond to that.
A sound of tires crunching made me turn around. Oh no! The motorcycles hadn't left. The drivers' faces were covered with silver helmets and the voice that came out of the small holes in the front sounded metallic. "Stand still!"
To emphasize his words he held out his hand, covered with a lethal gun glove. Five pipes of different bullets, laser beams and other nasty things, I guessed. Why did this happen to me?
"I told you, I'm human," Maxine cried.
"We know," said the voice. He moved his hand towards our brave classmate who had made an attempt to activate his holograph to call for help.
If we had been rich kids, with body technology, help would already have been on its way. The pumping adrenalin in our bodies would have called for police. But we were, yes, poor. So no help was on its way.
Another person with a helmet walked up to us. A woman, I thought, based on the curves under her black suit. "I will check them," she said and raised her hand.
From her gloved palm came a red cable swirling towards us.
"What is that? No, get that away from me!" screamed Maxine.
Without a word three other helmeted people came up quickly behind us, taking painful hold of our arms. The person holding me was short, shorter than me. I'm quite strong and have won several titles in combat jujitsu. However, that would be of no consequence against a gun. But at least I could get away from the person holding me.
I executed one of my most powerful moves and ... nothing.
The small person behind me didn't move. Wait a minute; there was something fishy about this.
The red cables were just in front of my face. Panic floated through my body and I threw myself back and forth. But no matter how hard I tried the arms around my chest made it impossible to escape.
Like a curious snake the cable touched my forehead. For a second I was sure that it would dig through my skin and penetrate my brain. But it just tapped at my forehead with a soft peck.
"This one might be right," the woman said in a harsh voice and the cable went back to her glove. "Give me the box."
The man picked up a shiny box from his suit and threw it to her.
"Careful," she hissed.
The metal was cold when she pressed it toward my forehead. A pain that started at my left eyebrow and went towards my spine electrified my body. I gasped and my friends tried even harder to get away from the arms that held them back.
"Vega, Vega! Are you okay? What are you doing, leave us alone!" cried Maxine.
The woman nodded to the man. "Let the others go. We will take this one with us."
The light went away and the smell of smoke and dirt filled my nose when a dark sack was pulled over my head. I screamed and kicked and heard my friends voices disappear as I was carried away.
"Hold on or you will fall off and die," a voice said close to my ear. I felt a motorcycle under me and grabbed the body in front of me. In the same moment we flew away.
I pressed my legs around the vehicle and my arms around the driver. All I could think of was 'don't fall'. What to do next had to wait. I just hoped my friends were okay.
Finally we stopped and someone lifted me up and carried me. I didn't resist. Better to save my strength for when I could see again.
I was put down on a soft bed. As soon as the arms left me I tried to reach up to pull away the sack. But I couldn't move. Something strapped me down.
The sack came off and cold artificial light blinded me. Medical equipment was all around me; I was in a hospital bed.
"Let me go!" I yelled and looked at a nurse in a white suit. She smiled. Her shiny face was not as perfect as the AAIGP, she must be an AAI.
"Relax, my dear, just fall asleep and it will all be over."
I didn't want to ask, but I had to. "What will be over?"
"Well, my dear, you humans cannot exist without your brain. Once we have used it, it
will, unfortunately, be empty. Like an erased hard drive."
I squirmed like a worm, but the invisible straps held me down. "My ... brain. What do you mean?"
Not only was I kidnapped by some AAI that pretended to be human activists, they wanted to erase my brain! What was this place?
"You should be proud, you have a very special brain. Not unique, but special. It is compatible with ours. Once you fall into a natural sleep we will use your mind and your dreams to create wonders. Don't worry, it won't hurt a bit."
I looked around the room. By the white wall two of the helmet covered kidnappers stood waiting.
"Hey! You, why are you doing this? Leave me alone."
I remembered from somewhere that you should try to talk to your kidnappers. To bond with them, but I guess that didn't work with machines.
"Why do you pretend to be activists and kill your own kind?" I asked.
One of the helmets turned my way. "To make the humans focus on something else. Now we are protected by your police instead of hunted by them."
Had the sci-fi writers' worst fears finally come true? Had the machines developed free will? Contrary to their programmed obedience? It should be impossible for a machine to hurt a human; it went against the laws that all programming was based on.
"You aren't allowed to hurt me or any human. The laws ..." I said. "Have you forgotten about them?!" My voice broke.
The answer came from the nurse. "We have not forgotten about the laws, my dear, but they have been slightly modified."
"Fuck you, I'll never go to sleep so you can steal my brain," I yelled.
The nurse tilted her head. "Oh, but we are not stealing it. Just reusing it, for something better. Your thoughts will give life to a completely new breed of AAIGP. Something wonderful. Our plan is to harvest thousands of you, maybe millions. In this very moment this building is filled with humans like you."
I threw up. I couldn't help it. The thought of mechanic people that created other mechanic people with the help of human brains was just too much. The last bit of sick I spat in her face. "Get your own brain, you fucking machine!"