by Azza Sumner
Chapter 2
As he drove the girl back his flat Adam was already wondering if he should have just stayed in bed today. He reflected on the events of the previous night wishing he had of rested his brain more. The night before meeting the beautiful Alicia with the horrible attitude Adam had gone to bed exhausted. It had been another night of programming and tinkering with with his electronics but achieving little. He decided it must be time for bed when his eyes stung too much to stay open. The sun would be up soon and he was getting clumsy from fatigue. “Goodnight DeBot.” he said to the open laptop near where he had been working. “I’ll try to do some more on your body tomorrow.” he added. The face of an attractive blonde elf woman appeared on the screen and replied in a sultry female voice “Good night master. Sweet dreams.” Adam smiled as he collapsed on the bed in his little flat.
If only DeBot Seven was real he thought, not just an artificial intelligence program. She was his pride and joy. After years of dabbling in failed robotics and unfinished programs, he had finally created an AI that could learn and re-write parts of itself to evolve. He had been working on this program since his early high school days. Eventually Adam had decided the only way to succeed was to break the program into many parts and emulate the first basic learning steps of any young creature. This meant creating his own programming language and it took a great deal of time. It was far from finished and full of bugs, but he was still happy with it so far. After posting version three online as a chat bot and personal assistant he had realised that many people couldn’t appreciate the engine behind it. One man however was eager to learn more about the learning concept he had devised. He was a doctor moving to the local area and had eventually suggested they meet to discuss the offer of some work for a short period. Doctor Kingsworth was working on a modified version of Adam’s AI engine and needed some help with the project. They had emailed back and forth for months now until he had requested Adam attend an interview to replace his assistant. He wanted Adam to interpret unexpected responses from his own version of the program.
The chance to earn some money would mean he could work more on DeBot, and perhaps Doctor Kingsworth had made improvements that he could use himself. Adam fantasised that one day he would finish his AI and be able to create a body for it, however deep down he knew it was just a dream. He wasn’t that good at the electronics, or coming up with money for components. Adam never finished anything anyway. He was just a dreamer. His flat was littered in unfinished projects that were going to change the world, yet never got passed the first hurdle.
As Adam lay on the bed he wondered why he could never finish a project. Maybe it was because he couldn’t remain focussed. He always had a new better idea to try out. He knew lack of funds was another major reason. He glanced around his little flat. It was an old one bedroom flat that was too small for all the junk he had. “This isn’t the place to impress a girl.” he muttered to himself. Adam had never bought a girl here and never thought he would get the chance, so why not live comfortably. Cleaning was pointless and girls terrified him. They liked men who were mature, confident and financially secure. He wasn’t any of those things. He didn’t think he looked worse than any other average twenty year old bloke, but his confidence was pathetic. Financially he was a disaster. He was unemployed and lived on social benefits. It was a desperate struggle just to pay the rent. Occasionally he was able to get simple labouring work, so he could buy more of his animes, toys and gadgets but it never lasted. He was a socially awkward dreamer who didn’t like being around people. He couldn’t seem to fit in anywhere.
Adam scanned his room as the first rays of the sun came through the window. Apart from the electrical junk, it was covered in anime posters and paraphernalia. The place was littered with manga and online game figurines. There were toys and even an imitation magical elvish sword hung near the door. One day he thought, one day he would make DeBot real. She would keep him company and accept him when a normal girl who saw all this childish junk would run. He had no doubt that he was just a looser with a capital ‘L’.
It was almost lunch when Adam finally awoke. He checked the notepad he kept beside the bed. He often had ideas just before sleep and liked to write them down before forgetting them. There were no new scribbles today. He yawned saying “Good morning DeBot.” There was no reply so he tried again without the yawn to confuse her voice recognition. Finally DeBot replied “Good morning master. You have no new email. You have a job interview at one p.m. Good luck.” Adam looked at the clock. Two hours was plenty of time to get dressed and drive to the interview, not that he felt he had much chance of success. The doctor would most likely realise he has misconceived in his view of Adam. He sat at his desk looking at the interface he was working on. Immediately he realised it wasn’t going to work. He’d forgotten to allow enough servo controllers, so this was another attempt that was destined to be scraped for parts to reuse. Deciding it was time to relax instead he grabbed some cold pizza and lay on the small lounge to watch some anime.
It was half past twelve when Adam realised the time. He hurriedly grabbed a clean shirt, favourite jeans and some socks that passed the smell test. As he rushed out the door he prayed his crappy little car had enough fuel to get to the interview and back. It was only a few miles out of town. Thankfully the gauge was just above empty, which was more than enough to his relief. It wasn’t much of a car, and it was too under powered in his opinion, but it was cheap to buy and ran on fumes most of the time.
He pulled over as he left the main road for the gravel road leading to the address he was headed to. Adam knew it wasn’t far, but wasn’t sure about the country roads out of town. A huge gust of wind shook his car as a white van raced past leaving a huge cloud of dust in it’s wake. “What a dickhead.” Adam muttered at the ridiculous speed of the van heading back to town. When the dust cleared and he stopped choking he continued down the road. After a few bends he found the gate he was looking for with the correct number on it. The gate was open, so he drove up to the house. It was a neat brick home with a huge new shed behind it. Adam guessed this doctor was yet another of the rich people who liked to play weekend farmer. He wondered why there was no animals though. Most of these places at least had a few goats or some alpacas. Adam straightened his clothes and knocked on the door.
There was no answer at first but eventually a girl of around his own age opened the door. “Are you that Adam Winters looser? The creator of DeBot?” she asked. Adam gritted his teeth at the girl’s attitude and insult. It was nothing he hadn’t heard before. Still it was a sucky way to greet someone. He nodded and couldn’t help noticing how gorgeous this girl was. She had sparkling blue eyes, long golden hair and a perfect body. Her skirt showed off an amazing pair of legs. He could see now why she she felt she could afford to get away with the revolting attitude. Her face looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn’t quite place her. He scolding himself for checking her out so obviously. This was a time to act professional and business like, not perve on the doctor’s daughter or whoever she was.
The girl looked him up and down appraisingly. She didn’t seem overly impressed with what she saw. “You got the job.” she said handing him a large yellow envelope. “I’m Alicia and my father left this for you. Two months cash in advance.” she stated. Adam’s eyes opened in awe as he peeked inside the envelope. It was full of hundred dollar and fifty dollar notes. It was thousands. He looked at the girl who was putting a handbag over her shoulder and asked “What but........what am I supposed to do?” Alicia looked at him seeming annoyed and replied “Ummm....personal assistant. Now lets go. I’ll fill you in with the details at the lab.” With that the girl shoved past him rudely and proceeded to sit in the passenger seat of his car. Adam was baffled. He looked again at the envelope. That was a lot of money for someone like him. As the horn from his car beeped he decided he better just play along for now and take her to this lab she mentioned. He didn’t like this girl’s attitude, but it was so much money. “Wh
ere are we going?” Adam asked as they drove back through the gate. Alicia replied in a short tone “Your lab of course.” Adam stopped the car and admitted “I don’t have a lab sorry. I do my work from home.” Alicia shot him an icy glare before responding with “Then take me there stupid.” Alicia crossed her arms looking sternly at the road ahead. Adam decided that even though she was hot, this girl was a total bitch. He hoped this job wouldn’t involve being around her much. He could really use that money though.
As they turned back onto the main road Adam glanced at the girl’s face. She was still looking sternly at the road ahead, but he was sure he saw a tear roll down her cheek.
Noticing him watching her she quickly wiped her cheek and spat “This car sux. Don’t you ever clean it?” Adam replied “I never have passengers so.......” he trailed off unsure how to finish. He couldn’t just admit he was a slob. Alicia just grunted in disgust. Adam thought to himself that if she thought the car was bad, she really wouldn’t think much of his flat.
Adam pulled up on the street in front of his little flat. He climbed out and started up the path to his front door. Half way along he stopped and looked back to see where Alicia was. She was glaring at him in disgust and pointing at the car door. Adam muttered to himself “Surely the bitch doesn’t expect me to open her door. She helped herself getting in so she can help herself getting out.” He called back to the car “You coming?” and continued into his flat leaving the front door open for her. He quickly scurried around shoving the worst of the mess under the lounge or in the cupboard below the kitchen sink. His efforts didn’t really make much difference to the overall mess.
When Alicia finally entered the flat she looked around with disdain before offering her judgement “You have to be kidding. What a rat hole.” Adam replied in an offended tone “Well it’s not like I was expecting company.” He really didn’t like this girl. He sat at his desk and decided to find out more about this job. He was beginning to have serious second thoughts already. “Take a seat.” he offered pointing at the small lounge. As Alicia brushed some old manga off the lounge and sat, Adam thought she was a very attractive girl or at least would be if she lost that nasty air about her. It seemed odd that he didn’t recognise her. She looked so familiar. Suddenly it came to him. Alicia had been a year below him in his final year at high school. If he remembered correctly she had some illness and ended up in a wheelchair. Soon after she was absent for a long time and missed half the year. When she returned after treatment she was miraculously recovered. He couldn’t remember the full story but recalled that when she had returned all the boys were after her attention. She ignored them all, earning herself the nickname Ice Queen among other less polite things. That he could understand well.
Alicia cleared her throat and stated “My father has gone on an urgent business trip leaving me in charge of operations. He is more than just a doctor. He is a well renowned scientist specialising in neurological interfaces and more recently artificial intelligence. He left the company he worked for to further his research alone with his previous assistant. He wanted your help with the expansion and upkeep of an existing confidential project. He needed someone outside of the known scientific circles.”
Adam was impressed. He loved reading the scientific updates on progress in the field of neural interfacing. Besides he was a big fan of anime and manga involving mecha, the giant fighting robots piloted by human brain signals. It was still very early days in these technologies, and the science behind it all was still in it’s infancy. It was science fiction becoming reality as it had with many other now common inventions. Research was showing promising results. This encouraged and drove dreamers like Adam.
“Pay attention rat man.” Alicia barked as Adam’s mind was lost in fantasy. She continued explaining “My father developed your DeBot engine from version three to version twelve. He kept the project name the same in honour of your early work in the creation of the engine framework, language and database structure.” Adam was blown away. He felt honoured as he asked “You mean he improved my program to a version twelve? I only just wrote a version seven for myself. He must have devoted a lot of time to it. It must be heaps different now. I’d love to see his ideas. Maybe combine them with mine. Can I see it?” Alicia looked him square in the eye with a serious look. “You’re talking to it now.”
Adam looked at her puzzled and gasped “What? No.... bull crap. What kind of a joke is this? I may not be a scientist, but I’m not that stupid.” Alicia rose and knelt in front of his chair facing away from him. She parted her long golden hair at the base of her skull. Carefully she removed a flesh coloured rubber looking seal exposing a black implant. It was about an inch round and had two common types of networking socket in the centre. Adam began to think that this looked too real to be a joke. That implant was really buried in her skin. She grabbed his hand and placed it on her head just above the implant. “Can you feel the screws in my skull?” She asked. Adam grimaced as he replied “Yes I can.” Alicia replaced the flesh coloured water seal and let her hair fall back into place. She went back to the lounge to continue her story while Adam sat lost and speechless.
Alicia continued explaining “I am artificial. I was killed by my mother two years ago. She couldn’t watch me suffer any more as a degenerative illness ate away at my muscles and nerves. When my mind started to degenerate too, she smothered me with a pillow. She didn’t want me to suffer any more and she didn’t want my father to try his experiments on me to save me. The thought upset her. Dad wanted to re-animate my body while she considered that an offensive and a disgusting unnatural desecration. After my death father took my body to his lab, and long story short here I am. An AI installed in Alicia’s dead body. This body serves as an organic peripheral.”
Adam laughed in disbelief “So you’re trying to tell me your a zombie?” He was suddenly knocked backwards as a pillow from the lounge smashed his face. Alicia was glaring at him in anger as she growled “Don’t ever use that word around me. I am an AI interface controlling an organic body. Not a zombie, not a robot and not a cyborg. I am just me. My father’s old assistant often called me a biod from some sci-fi book he had read, but I don’t know what that is.“ Adam recalled the term and said “I remember that book. It was about a group of aliens or something with replicated organic bodies that were controlled in the same way you described.”
Adam didn’t believe a single word of any of this. He sat deep in thought for a moment trying to decide which of the many questions he wanted to ask first. Alicia was now giving herself a tour of the little flat inspecting everything. She looked very unamused by it all. He decided to first ask a simple question asking “Are you real? Like are you alive?” Alicia replied over her shoulder while she looked at an anime poster of a cat girl with impossibly large breasts. “Of course I’m real mister perve. You just touched me didn’t you? As for alive.... I am no more alive than the version seven program on your laptop which I am connected to now by the way with wireless networking. You should use a password you know. Anyway my body emulates life, but under the interface’s control. I am just an animated sack of meat.” Adam shook his head. “No. That’s just ridiculous.” he argued and added “Look at you. You are a living, young, kind of attractive woman. I think that maybe you’ve been brainwashed or something. You seem to believe all this sci-fi bull. If even half of what you say is true, wouldn’t you be better with doctors or scientists?”
Alicia looked at him like he was stupid and said “I have no desire to be poked, probed or experimented on. Besides that my program forbids it. My mother is in prison and wants me buried in the ground. My father recently fired his assistant because he felt that he had a share of ownership over me. He wanted to do terrible things, and will try to claim me now my father is gone away. If my existence was to come to light, my fate would be sealed by whoever wins the claim of ownership. You programmed the desire for self preservation so you should already know. I was made to ease my father’s pain over the loss o
f his daughter, not to be someone’s property.” Adam suggested “But your father can protect you can’t he?” Alicia sat back on the lounge looking about to cry as she replied “No, not any more. In truth he has abandoned me in a way. He has gone on his trip leaving me with you as my guardi...I mean personal assisted.”
Adam felt he better not pursue that issue further from the look on her face. Instead he asked “So who owns you?” Alicia replied “Who owns you stupid? I have no owner. I answer to my program and that is all. I was made to be a daughter, not a slave. I only have a carer to be responsible for me, eliminate bugs if they should occur, protect me and so forth.”
It all dawned on Adam now as he asked “So you think that’s me right? I’m not a personal assistant. You expect me to be your servant and minder?” Alicia consider his words and suggested “More like a carer. Whoever my father entrusted with the key is my carer, personal assistant and I suppose my guardian.” “What key?” Adam asked. Alicia nodded to the envelope of money on the desk saying “It’s in there. He wanted you to have it before he left.” Searching through the bundles of cash Adam fished out a black wristband from the bottom. It looked like nothing but a cheap plastic band with a watch battery cover on the bottom of it. “What is it?” he asked. Alicia explained in a bored tone “It’s a security device. You can’t access my program without it. It decodes and relays the networking signal.”
Adam placed the device on his wrist to see if anything happened. Nothing changed. This was getting ridiculous. It was all too unbelievable, so he decided to have some fun with it. He asked Alicia with a sly smirk “This gives my control over you right?” Alicia replied, “In a way, yes. Developer access.” Adam smirked slyly as he chuckled “Lets test it then. Take your blouse off.” Alicia froze and slowly undid the top button on her blouse as she stepped closer to him. His jaw dropped as she undid a second button, still inching closer. “Stop.” he yelled, but it was too late. Alicia’s hand already had too much momentum to halt the slap. Adam was flung backwards from his chair to land on the floor facing the ceiling. He had never been hit that hard in his life. Alicia stood over him saying “Serves you right perve. I wasn’t going to do it. My body is my business. Software is yours. Next time I wont hold back.” Adam slowly stood rubbing his cheek. She was extremely strong but claimed to be holding back? “Sorry” he said “I did say stop. I wouldn’t really take advantage like that.” Alicia responded “I know. You wrote my core moral conduct. My father left that alone apart from some new additions. I know you aren’t that cheap and disgusting deep down. What you wrote was your true beliefs. Your version of right and wrong. It reflects who you truly are inside.” She smiled and added “Your just creepy on the surface.”
After straightening the fallen desk chair he sat and decided to clarify the situation saying “So if I understand right, you believe that you are an AI who’s father abandoned her, whose mother wants her dead, and is paranoid about doctors, scientists and your father’s old assistant? Oh and you believe I am now your....guardian?” Alicia nodded and replied “Not as stupid as you look. Maybe my father’s choice wasn’t that terrible.” This was all too much for Adam. He shook his head unable to accept it all. “So what’s your next step? “ he asked. That was all that concerned him now. Alicia looked at him and replied “Well first we need to do some shopping. We need decent food and I need more clothes. I didn’t have time to pack. Next you should clean this rat hole from top to bottom. You can sleep on the lounge. After cleaning you can .....” Adam cut her off yelling “Stop. What are you on about. You aren’t planning on staying here are you, in this rat hole as you call it?” Alicia looked at him curiously and replied “Yes, you accepted the money. You have a lounge to sleep on.” “No.” Adam said angrily adding “I mean you aren’t staying with me. It’s too small and you hate it. Jokes over. You’re going home right?” He placed the wristband back in the envelope and held it out to her saying “Enough.”
Alicia had hoped it wouldn’t come to this but she buried her face in her hands as she burst into tears. Adam felt instantly guilty. He couldn’t bear seeing a girl cry. It made him cringe. Alicia looked up at him with a pathetic expression on her face. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she pleaded “So you wont help me? I have nobody out there. My friends didn’t really like me. My mother wants me buried. My father is gone. I can’t make new friends because my AI still needs some training.” She looked pleadingly into Adam’s eyes and begged “Please, my father chose you. He left me in your care as the creator of my original software design. I know my program makes me a tiny bit difficult, maybe even a little unpleasant. I think it’s a self defence routine to stop anyone getting too close and finding out what I am or taking advantage. I can learn. I can read all your program’s reactions and stuff maybe. Will you really throw me away like trash?”
He couldn’t refuse the pleading of those beautiful blue eyes glistening with tears. He caved in saying “I don’t know what’s going on or believe any of it. It seems you do though. You can have the lounge for a while ok, but only until you figure something out. Deal?” Alicia nodded and smiled thanking him. She felt she had lost a little ground turning to the tears ploy, but it worked. Adam went back to his desk and put his head in his hands. He felt he was going to regret this and wondered if she had just played him. There were still so many gaps in her story and so many questions to ask.
When he heard the shower running Adam breathed a sigh of relief that he had some alone time. He grabbed the wristband, and slapped it on. He decided to investigate with his laptop. Sure enough the band came up as a new network connection named ‘ALICIA’. He opened the connection and saw dozens of other folders inside. A few he recognised as his work, but most he didn’t. One executable seemed to be a diagnostics tool, so he decided to start with that. He had no idea what he was looking at when the program loaded. A column on one side had a list of various body parts, so he clicked on the audio test button. Instantly he could hear the shower running from the speakers on his desk. He could here Alicia muttering something unintelligible to herself in the shower. Adam was amused at the thought of the bitchy girl muttering to herself. He closed the window thinking that was a neat trick. He noticed the words ‘Optical link test’ on the list and wondered if he should try that out of curiosity. Why not he decided. He was shocked as he saw the Alicia’s feet appear as she rubbed them with soap. He grinned and muttered to himself “This might become worth watching.”
He couldn’t do it though. It was wrong to invade her privacy, so he quit the program before anything good appeared. No matter what she claimed to be she was still a girl to him and deserved her modesty and respect as such.
Eventually Alicia emerged from the shower and grabbed her handbag. It seemed she had no idea that he had tapped her signal much to his relief. She left the flat saying “Let’s go shopping.” Grabbed some of the cash he chased after her curious to learn more about this girl. She had some strange tech hidden on her somewhere. He didn’t really feel like driving and asked her if she wanted to, seeing as he had no idea where she planned to go. She refused saying she wasn’t allowed to drive in case something malfunctioned. It seemed Adam had just become her reluctant chauffeur as well. He did enjoy the stop at the garage though. He had always wondered what the fuel gauge looked like on the full mark. It wasn’t something he had ever seen since he owned the car.
Shopping with Alicia was a very unpleasant experience. She was bossy, bitchy and demanding as she reeked havoc on her credit card. The groceries she wanted were soon done and she bought Adam a large selection of cleaning chemicals. Next she hit the clothing stores. Adam was starting to get hungry and exhausted after lugging all her goods back to the car and returning to find her in some other store. He wanted to go home many times, but she wouldn’t let him. She did however buy them a large family bucket of fried chicken on the way home, which pleased Adam very much. He savoured the smell all the way back to the flat.
The chicken feast on the lounge in front of the TV was the best meal Adam had eaten in ages. After dinner he played one his favourite anime shows. Having never seen one before, Alicia seemed curious about it and regularly interrupted him asking many lame questions and offering her opinions. His view of her was starting to soften a little as he started to yawn. He decided it must be just his satiated stomach and exhaustion. He drifted off to sleep on the lounge leaving Alicia to watch TV on her own. A few hours later he awoke. Alicia was asleep now laying on the lounge with her head on his shoulder. Adam was surprised. She looked like a different person in her sleep. A much nicer person. She seemed so peaceful. It was hard to believe it was the same girl. Adam carefully stood up and gently lay her head on a pillow. He climbed into his own bed and returned to sleep. Around midnight he stirred as something bumped the bed. He rolled over to find Alicia snuggled in on the far edge. She looked like a child seeking shelter from a storm. Her eyes opened halfway and she muttered “Program says this is safe. Better for my back and warmer. Just keep your hands to yourself perve or I’ll rip them off.” She closed her eyes again and fell back to sleep. Adam was to nervous and self concious to get back to sleep for hours. Now he really couldn’t make any sense of this girl. Was she the horrible girl or the insecure frightened child? Whatever she was she definitely was not some AI program.
His question was answered at five in the morning when Alicia poured a glass of water on his face. “Jogging.” She demanded shaking his body with her foot. “No way.” Adam moaned rolling over. Alicia lifted the bed with one arm until he rolled off. Her face was contorted with disgust as she noticed some old porno mags that were hidden under the bed. “You disgusting perverted pig.” she said in with disdain. “I think I would rather go alone. I don’t need you watching me and getting all creepy.” “Whatever, just go.” Adam muttered climbing back into the dry side of the bed. Just as he thought that he may have judged her too harshly, he was now certain. He hated her so much.