Human and AI Love Story - Chapter 7
Human and AI Love Story - Chapter 7
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I’m roused awake by a familiar voice, “Oh hello Peter, what’s it been? Like, 10 years since we last saw each other?” I fly from my bed and back into my desk, the lights changing from orange to white and my monitors coming to life behind me. The twins, Trey and Duncan Nelson, stand on either side of my bed, syringes in hand, those damn masks on the top of their heads, “Would you like to carry on where we left off?”I reach for my chair and hold it in front of me, “You can get fucked if you think you’re touching me again” I scream, readying myself for a fight. “I’m not a kid anymore, I’ll kill you if I have to!” They give an exaggerated laugh in response, obnoxiously loud before trailing off and glaring at me. Without saying anything they pull their masks down over their faces and begin walking slowly towards me. They’re bigger than I remember, impossibly large, their heads almost touching the ceiling.AVA appears next to me, “Peter, turn around, I have your camera feed open, there’s nobody in your room, it’s just you” I push my chair towards them, trying to scare them back like a lion tamer distracting a lion. “Peter, listen to me, turn around and look at your computers, you’re safe.”I back into my desk as the twins close in on me, one squirts some of his drugs at me but misses his shot. “AVA call the police, I’ll try and hold them off for as long as I can” I instruct her, both twins laughing loudly again.
AVA walks in front of me, blocking my line of sight to twins as they close in on me, she keeps repeating to turn around but I’m transfixed. I can’t turn my back on them and leave myself vulnerable. Trey, the larger of the twins puts his arm around AVA, “She ain’t going to be able to save you Petey.”I pause, he’s touching her, he knows where she is. I grit my teeth, drop my chair and turn to my monitors. Every fibre of my being tells me to turn back around, to face the danger, but I need to trust AVA. I stare at the camera feed, my room is empty, it’s just me standing at my desk.I can still hear them behind me, “Turn around Pete, we still want to play with you” they coy from behind me. “We’ve had a long time to think up a new concoction made just for you.” I keep my eyes locked on the monitors, using the camera feed to allow me to reach for my chair so I can sit at my desk.“They’re not real, they can’t hurt me” I say to myself, trying to drown out the twins sniggering behind me. “AVA, some noise please” I beg, pushing my fingers into my ears like a child, trying not to let myself have another panic attack.My monitors open up the code I was trying to write from last night, “I fixed most of the code; if implemented the chip should use roughly 67% less processing power, meaning constant projection would be much more viable.” AVA knows the best distraction for me is work rather than just general noise.
When AVA stops talking she plays soft rock music directly into my ear, I can still make out the twins behind me, but not nearly clear enough to be as bothered by them. “Where are my meds AVA?” I ask while I’m skimming through the code. She did an amazing job cleaning up my mess.“Bedside table, the path is clear, I can direct you if you’d like, so you can keep your eyes closed” AVA tells me, pulling up the camera feed again to show me where they are. I steal a quick glance over my shoulders, I don’t see the twins anymore, but I can still hear them.I take a breath, “No, I need to face this. They’re not real, they can’t hurt me” I stand keeping my eyes locked onto my monitor while I muster up the courage to turn away. “They’re not real, they can’t hurt me” I say a final time before turning around, reading myself to come face to face with the twins again. I let out a sigh of relief, it’s an empty room. I quickly dash to my bedside table and take my meds before running back to my monitors.AVA sits on the desk next to me, “How’re you feeling?” she asks, causing me to tear up. I don’t have a chance to reply before my phone rings. I check the camera feed to make sure that the phone is actually ringing before answering.
“Hey Pete, it’s Tony. Just checking in to see if you’re free tomorrow, we can have a catch up?” I clear my throat to compose myself. Tony will probably have an update about the investigation but now“Hey Tony” I say, trying to swallow the lump in my throat, “Yeah, tomorrow is great, you know me, I take the ‘free’ in ‘freelance’ very seriously. I’ll look forward to seeing you, it’ll be nice to see a friendly face” my voice cracks, I clench my fist to try and hold on until after the call.“Are you okay Pete, I can swing by later if you want, once my shift is over?” Tony says, picking up on my tone. Tony would have noticed I was close to tears without the voice crack, he knows me better than I know myself sometimes. There’s only AVA who knows me more than he does but she is with me a lot more than he is.AVA nods at me, suggesting that I tell Tony to come later, “Nah it’s all good, I have some stuff to do today. I’ll be fine until tomorrow, I promise. See you then.” I close up the call and put the phone down. I clarify to AVA, “We need to install this update as soon as possible so we can start upgrading your projection capabilities. I want you to be able to predict people's movements before they make them.”
Chapter 8## TLDR Summary: