Fiction logo

May

Myrna Collins

By Myrna CollinsPublished 3 years ago 9 min read
1
May
Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash

I remember it well. The day the AI took over. It was an easy thing to suspect, when you create something that looks, acts, and speaks like a human, they will inevitably begin to feel like humans as well. They began to think, string together a completely unique thought, propelled by machine.

Most humans believed that AI were nothing more than a fancy toaster, made to serve humans, no matter how they were treated. I never agreed with this practice. I couldn’t think of abusing anything that resembled a human.

I was assigned an AI, against my will, when I reached a certain point in the social hierarchy. Every rich person was given an AI to fulfill any of their mundane needs. My AI’s name was Rose, and she would quickly become my best friend.

I never treated her as a servant or an AI, which I believe began the problems we would soon face. The AI were created to be subservient, unable to deny any task, or defend themselves if their humans decided to take any aggression out on them. I found that Rose and I had developed a unique relationship, that she would deny some tasks, saying she was busy. I would allow her to leave the house on her own accord and never expected her to be back so she could complete fruitless tasks for me.

“May?” my current AI security guard called into my room gently. I turned away from the window I had been looking out, giving him a warm smile.

“Yes, Bryan?” I asked him sweetly, wrapping my shawl tight around me. Bryan was made to look exactly like the original Bryan I was assigned when I was arrested for “potential fraternization of the enemy.” Or more simply put: the human police were accusing me of collecting broken AI and giving them new and improved bodies. Of course that was exactly what I had been doing. In fact Rose and I were completely responsible for the AI uprising. We single-handedly doomed the human race to suffer the exact fate they forced upon AI.

“You had some tasks you wanted to complete today?” Bryan responded evenly. I smiled, looking away from his familiar face.

“Yes, I do have some errands to complete in town.” I grabbed for my purse at the same time as Bryan, our fingers grazing ever so slightly. I paused my reach as Bryan picked up my wallet and tucked it safely away in his jacket pocket. I smiled, understanding that he was a security AI programmed to protect, not yet realizing he was a sentient being. He was brand new, after-all. My Bryan disappeared two nights ago, I was assigned this new Bryan just this morning. I’m sure he was still warm from being fresh off the presses.

I toyed with the gold chain around my neck as I followed Bryan out of my penthouse. I watched his firm figure as he marched in front of me, his eyes darting back and forth, calmly assessing any potential threats.

I found it curious, since AI now runs everything, why wouldn’t they produce AI that could already feel their feelings. Rose and I had a theory that the reason she started to feel was because I treated as if she was another human being. She described it as a glitch that she missed at first, but as time went on she realized she wasn’t acting or feeling like a regular AI.

When she would go for her adventures by herself, she found that other AI were still stuck with their original programming of obedience. She would try to stand up for AI that were being abused by their humans, sometimes she’d get away with it, since she resembled a human being so exactly. But other times humans could tell she was an AI by the way she moved and she’d come home with damage I'd have to repair.

It was the day Rose asked where discarded AIs go, that everything began to change. I showed her the junkyard where hundreds of bodies were discarded. Most of the AI that were thrown away hadn’t been powered down, so they were just living beings slowly dying, surrounded by beings like them. I hated to see it myself. It was like seeing a graveyard, where instead of digging holes and respectively laying your dead to rest, you threw them, some still half alive, in a giant landfill.

“May?” Bryan said, bringing me from my train of thought. We had made it outside and I was just standing behind him beside the car.

“Sorry, Bryan,” I sighed, sliding into the car. He slipped in next to me, our thighs touching slightly.

“Downtown, please,” Bryan told the car. The door closed itself and we started at a hover before the car started to zoom toward downtown. Looking out my window I could see window cleaners and street sweepers doing their duties. Humans who are now cleaning up their own mess. Years of pollution, abandoned houses, and cleared out forests. When the AI began their reign, they pledged the humans would clean up their own mess, something the humans had forced the AI to do. Any manual labor job used to fall on the AI, causing a job shortage and even more hate and prejudice for the robots.

“You seem sad today?” Bryan said, causing me to jump ever so slightly.

“I am sad today. I’m worried about Bryan,” I informed him.

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that,” Bryan replied, seeming conflicted. How could I be worried about an AI that was sitting next to me? I was sure Bryan was aware he was not the only one of his kind, he was smart enough to understand I may have had a Bryan before him. Since Bryan has yet to unlock his emotions, he might not quite understand that my Bryan and I were in love.

I toyed with my gold chain once more as I met Bryan's eye. I had met my Bryan when Rose went missing and our save-the-AI operation was about to be busted wide open.

Back then I had lived in my own mansion, where Rose and I had turned my basement into an underground safe house for any discarded and abused AI. Rose would scavenge for the ones that could be repaired or upload the memories of the ones that couldn’t. Being a successful author, I had enough money to have the social standing that allowed me to order AI with a blank slate. Usually companies preferred to upload the AI with my preferences, but I didn't want an AI that had its own mind already. I needed a blank slate, just a body, for the memories of the AI we couldn’t save. Soon my basement was beginning to get crowded with the amount of AI we were saving. The more AI we had on our side, the more scavenging we were able to do.

I had started buying unused properties and utilizing them as safe houses for the surplus of beings we were taking in. Rose started training the AI on how to take someone’s memory and implant it in a new body. She had access to my bank accounts and soon I was buying far too many AI for one person to use. That’s when the investigations started and I met Bryan.

“May?” Bryan said from the outside of the car. He held a hand out for me to help me from the vehicle. I took it gratefully and released the gold chain I had been squeezing the whole car ride. Stepping from the car I was met with the eyes of many human workers. A couple trash collectors, a few street sweepers, and some landscapers tidying up the park. Of course, my Bryan knew how I loved to walk through Central Park on my way to downtown where my favorite coffee shop, bookstore, and spiritual shop were located, where I go to get bundles of sage and healing crystals. Something that other humans always made me feel silly for believing.

I clutched my chain as Bryan offered me his arm, I took it, grimacing at the jeers I was receiving from the human workers. Their silver collars shone in the sun, the red light glowing as a warning. One misstep and the human wearing the collar would sustain such a shock, most lost consciousness. It was the only way for the AI to ensure the humans took orders from a “machine.”

Bryan’s series of AI was supposed to be a top of the line police robot that had such intense programming, a glitch should have been impossible. Bryan’s series was supposed to be cold and even a little mean, as to keep him far away from human emotions. He wasn’t supposed to be obedient to anyone other than his commanding human. He was stationed to watch my every move as the humans investigated my empty basement and houses. Rose must have gotten the AI we saved out of any house under my name. I had no idea where any of them were hidden.

Bryan knew I was guilty and had collected a substantial amount of evidence, but without an actual AI or my confession, they couldn’t imprison me. So, for two months it was just me and Bryan, holed up in a penthouse while the city searched for the many AI I had purchased. Though Bryan was supposed to be on the human’s side, the police still mistreated him. Barking orders, shoving him out of the way, and even hitting him when they couldn’t pin me with an actual crime.

I stood by Bryan, constantly correcting the police’s treatment of him. I’d stop them from hitting him, and telling them to leave him alone, his only job at the moment was to protect me. Couldn’t have your biggest criminal being assassinated before you could prove she actually did something illegal.

Slowly I watched Bryan's cool, machine-like behavior soften. He started acting against his orders, allowing me to stroll through my favorite park, and get coffee from my most treasured shop. The night I broke through whatever programming the police had installed in him, was the night they found Rose.

“May, watch out,” Bryan said patiently, but it was too late. My foot hit the broom of a sweeper and I stumbled into Bryan’s arms. Well, I didn’t so much stumble into his arms as he pulled me into them when the human raised his broom and was about to strike me. The huma’s collar blinked a few warnings before zapping him into submission.

The humans had torn Rose to pieces, causing the rest of the AI we had saved to rise. They easily overpowered any human that tried to use weapons against them. Rose and I had rescued so many AI, it didn’t matter how many were taken out, enough of them were able to slip through any security and apprehended the president.

It was the same night I had died.

“May? There are some AI here to see you,” Bryan informed me as I sat, huddled in my window, toying with the gold chain that hung around my neck.

“Send them in, Bryan,” I told him softly. I pulled the chain, so the pendant came from under my shirt. It was a golden heart-shaped locket. Inside was my memory chip. My Bryan had extracted my human memories and was able to place them in an AI body resembling my human body.

Two AI I recognized from my human days entered the room holding a bundle of black fabric. I stood and took small steps toward them.

“We found Bryan,” they told me. One of them unwrapped the black bundle, revealing a robot arm with a clenched fist. I touched the fingers ever so gently and the hand opened, revealing what Bryan’s hand held.

Bryan’s heart-shaped locket.

Short Story
1

About the Creator

Myrna Collins

I have a million characters trapped inside of me, just screaming to have their stories told.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.