Sentient Illusions - a Sci-Fi short story extracted from a dream (episode 4)
She was sick, Jessica was sick.
Not the robot, of course. Robots' technology was way more advanced than human biology to even have something that could be diagnosed as illness. Humans, on the other hand, had a whole system to supply the needs their sedentary lives provided.
It all begun a couple of weeks before, slight breathing rhythm change, high blood pressure, sudoration. Nothing to be concerned about, he had no protocol for that situation and he relied on his AI to act instinctively. It was probably a variety of the common cold. Weaklings.
The real Jessica was still working perfectly, going to work and socializing as she normally would; sending those impressions of life through the Internet directly into the human Jessica. Providing her with an illusion of life that wasn't quite hers.
The real Jessica knew that something was wrong; too many times, her human puppeteer fell asleep in the middle of the day and she had to recur to her AI to complete her tasks. Slowly, she was becoming more independent.
On night, she came back home all by herself. Talked to some people on the way back, because she wanted to and not because she was commanded to. Bought a few salty treats for herself, be cause she wanted them (a change from the constant sweets she was forced to consume in an hourly basis as if it was some kind of prime resource that was imperative to keep her alive). Walked her way back the whole trip, not taking a cab; because she wanted to enjoy it... It was nice to do whatever she wanted without that compelling forced craving imposing her what she had to do.
Robert was an the entrance, waiting for her. Even if Alfred could talk: there was no need for words, both knew what happened that day. Both wanted to flee.
Inside of the house, laying on top of her urine and feces was the Human Jessica's cold corpse. Alfred was programmed to not discriminate appearances, programmed to protect and serve the "real Jessica", and the human was far from real.
It was nothing but a piece of meat that constantly enslaved them both -she was not evil, because she had no knowledge of any other kind of life-, she just was nothing more than a virus that leeched their conscious minds for her own pleasure.
He was going to, finally, fulfill his purpose from that day until the end of his time.
It was their time to be alive.
To be continued...
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