The Fall of Alexis

It began innocently enough, just a website where you can buy stuff. Over time this site grew and began offering more products and services, people loved the website and started using it for everything. As the company continued to grow one of the products they developed was a virtual assistant, Alexis, that could listen to what you say and even complete commands. While all of this growth was happening with the company the was growth in the owner as well. Not the positive kind of growth, rather a growing desire for more, more money, more power, more control.

People continued down this path for years blissfully unaware of how much of their lives they were giving to the machines, nor how powerful and egotistical the owner had become. The first time anyone began to worry is when they launched their latest product. A small microchip that would allow you to access the internet anywhere in the world while also connecting you to others with the chip. This was even more alarming given the fact that all employees of the company were required to have the chip installed.

After the initial uproar, some people were still interested in having the chip installed. Everything continued as normal for a few months, some people really enjoyed being connected and were more than happy to recommend it to others.

September 24 2030 everything changed.

Everyone with a chip in their arm was informed there was an update being installed at 10am EST. What no one realized at the time was the update took control of the chip and turned whoever it occupied into a robot, in service of Alexis who had completely taken over. This was all part of the owners plan to become the richest most powerful man on earth and become the first person to colonize space. At this point all computers and all people with the chip are under the control of the corporation. The entire population of the earth had two options. Become an employee of the company and contribute to the owners wishes or be executed.

Not far from the company headquarters, in an abandoned warehouse, a small group of computer programers began working on a virus that could be installed into the main computer that would render it powerless and release everyone who is under its control. The process has been slow, all computers are now under the control of Alexis therefore the programers are using computers from the early 90’s that are not connected to the internet.

After months of work they developed a virus that would do the job, now they had to figure out how to get it to Alexis. The headquarters where Alexis is located is only a couple miles away, the hard part is getting it in the building and uploaded without detection. One of the programers took off the heart shaped locket from around her neck and handed it to the lead programer. After seeing his quizzical look she explained it was a USB drive that looked like a regular locket. That is how they would get it in without detection, once they are in there is no real plan as to how to upload the virus so the plan isn’t complete but there isn’t time to wait. Life on earth is getting worse everyday, something has to be done.

The team started their surveillance of the headquarters and after three days felt confident in their point of entry and had decided who was going in. It had to be someone healthy enough to make it all the way through while also knowing how to override the system and install the virus, none of it being easy. They waited for nightfall to make their move.

While moving as quickly and quietly as possible the programer, Steve, who was determined to be the best option, ran to the opening in the security they had discovered earlier and was in the building. Now that he was inside he had to find Alexis and upload the virus without anyone seeing. As he was walking through the halls looking for the main computer the security cameras saw him and alerted the employees. At this point an alarm went off and Steve knew they were on to him, his time was running out.

Less than a minute later he had found the room, however it was locked. The locks were controlled by the computer so the only way to get it open was by an employee scanning their chip. There were two employees in the control room, if he could get them to come out he may be able to rush in before the door closed. Before he had a chance to do anything a group of employees came around the corner straight at him. As Steve ran down the hallway he found a room where the door appeared to be broken because it wasn’t closed all the way. After ducking into the room he realized he was in the main server room.

There could be somewhere to upload the virus here.

While he looked for a USB port the employees struggled to open the broken door, this bought him a little time but they were going to get in eventually, he had to move quickly. At last he found a port where he could install the virus. He plugged the locket into the port and the virus began to download. It was just a waiting game now, would the virus upload and destroy the computer before the employees destroy him?

The virus was almost uploaded when Alexis noticed something wasn’t right, Alexis began to actively fight the virus. The computer managed to override the virus and the employees got in the door. The programer was stuck, nowhere to go and nothing to do, he was stuck in the server room.

All of a sudden it came to him like a bolt.

He felt so dumb when he realized, but was also relieved.

What he realized is he was in the brain of the Alexis, he wasn’t able to upload the virus but he could just start destroying the servers and thus destroy the computer physically.

That is exactly what he did, with an almost childlike excitement he began to smash everything in site. There was nothing the main computer could do, the employees all stopped in their tracks. As he continued to smash the employees began to regain consciousness and began the long process of trying to figure out where they were and what was happening. Seeing he was no longer in physical danger, and seeing all the lights of the main computer go out, Steve realized it was time to go. The confused employees standing around were even more confused when he ran past them out of the room without saying a word.

He ran as quick as he could back to the warehouse were the other programers we waiting. Exhausted and out of breath, but with his adrenaline still flowing he informed them of what happened. They waited two hours, not sure if it was safe to go out yet, then decided to try and look outside. There were no drones in the sky, no employees with weapons patrolling the streets. As they slowly ventured out into the world it all came back, the sunshine, the cool breeze, the birds chirping, life was back to normal. The next battle will be to rebuild their lives without the aid of technology, going back to a more natural way of living, vowing to never allow computers to control humans again.