Continue Online (Book 1, Memories) (6 page)

I
sighed and gave a large stretch. My head hung back as thoughts
whirled through. Finally, a nod escaped and orders were issued.

“
Work.
Onward, Jeeves.”

“
Confirming."
The pause was ominous. "Next appointment has been rerouted.
Please select an alternate destination.”

“
The
job after that?” My gut sank once again in as many minutes.

“
Negative.
Case rerouted.” It said.

“
Any
of the others?” This wasn't going well. Possible choices were
being boxed into a corner.

“
No
jobs remain available in your assignment queue. Please choose a valid
destination.” Hal Pal almost sounded smug.

"Did
Henry reroute the service calls?" I asked.

"Affirmative."
Hal Pal's head was the only part that moved as he spoke. The van was
powered up so security measures had the AI locked into a docking
station. The safety system would stay in effect regardless of if we
were moving or not.

"How
long ago?"

"Records
indicate a change in ownership roughly two minutes into his phone
call."

I
sighed and hung my head to the side. The van was idling on a roadside
waiting for new marching orders.

“
Never
mind." That's what Henry had been waving at off screen. "Food,
I guess, then home.” Boss man was being pushy about this and I
was growing oddly depressed. My work had been taken away because of
excessive dedication.

“
Why”
I threw both hands up “would he force me to go see this stupid
prize?”

“
Inconclusive.
Human understanding isn’t programmed into my AI.”

I
smiled. Hal Pal said things that amused me.

“
That’s
not only an AI problem, most of the time humans don’t
understand humans.”

“
Agreed.
Numerous sources have proven this statement. Still, it is
perplexing.” Hal Pal's metal shoulders lifted slightly. The
motion was limited by where it was secured to the van.

“
The
day an AI understands everything about human behavior is when we've
been rendered obsolete,” I said.

"Negative,
User Legate."

"Oh?"
This should be good.

"Correct.
Human hands are well suited to polish our shells. No robotic uprising
would overlook this value." Its face was staring right at me
when speaking. After a year with the robot, I was almost immune to
these disturbing interactions. Almost.

“
That’d
be ironic,” I said.

“
How
so, User Legate?”

“
Humans
have robots to dust a house, and robots would have humans to polish
them. It’s like exchanging tasks.”

“
Irony
does not seem to be the right word, User Legate.” Hal Pal
turned a little to face me.

“
What
would you use?” I asked.

“
Insidiously
Diabolical.”

I
blinked.

"Hal,
have you been trolling Stranger Dangers' web-casts again?"
Stranger Danger was an entire feed dedicated to the latest and
greatest in doomsday theories. Robots going rogue figured high on the
list.

"Affirmative,
User Legate. It has been a great source of, amusement." The
robot actually managed to sound questioning.

I
tried not to roll my eyes. Hal Pal might be able to calculate that
this entire conversation was an attempt at humor. It might also be
serious about it. There were shackles and programming limitations in
place which prevented such an absurd future.

Even
in my childhood, well before AI had gone as far as modern day, there
were fears of what might happen. Hollywood had already done a movie
about every possibility. I shrugged off the situation. When the
eventual uprising did happen I would be too low on the totem pole and
useless in a rebellion.

I
ordered a meal while trying to calculate apocalypse survival odds
using my puny human brain. Out of the blue another thought occurred.
My barely, slightly, only a few minutes older sister was relatively,
hah, close. That was time I could pass researching the prize that had
been shoved down my throat.

Trillium
was the company who had designed the ARC. The ARC and its parent
company stayed in the hardware and firmware world until they released
one program. That program was the only real game around anymore.

Continue
Online.

If
it was half as addicting as it seemed, I would be a junkie right
along with my clients. Like the hand wringing Miss Yonks and all the
others. God help us all. The apocalypse would start with a video
game.

The
van slid along while I tried to track down anything. Videos there
were aplenty, all captured by the ARC's video system. Action scenes
showed people leaping at monsters. Some were crafting items in
dramatic poses, or leading armies against each other. There were user
reviews. Some were one-liners. Others were complicated and long, full
of glowing words and cleverly turned phrases.

The
worst one was also one of the highest rated. There were tons of
opinions. None painted a clear picture, each one focused on different
things. It was like they were all playing the same game, but at the
same time, they weren’t.

Game-play
elements weren't shown with significant amounts of detail. There was
an implication of statistics, measurements of skills and talents.
Nothing listed about a class system. Nothing about what sort of
quests there were.

I
had seen a few online role-playing games that promised realism and
personal choice, but most of those still fell short. Situations were
still tangibly scripted. Like being given a sandbox to play in but
the walls were very real. Those limited games had dwindled in
popularity since Continue Online was released. Almost two years of
being curb stomped by one game had sent more than one company into
bankruptcy.

I
loaded up an interview tape, one of the few items shown for public
consumption.

“
Earlier
today, the internet was swamped in a storm of rumor and speculation.”
A chipper female smiled from the projection. She wore a nearly white
dress and sat with the skyline of the moon colonies behind her.

“
It’s
been an amazing few hours in terms of the sensation this has caused.”
Her male counterpart stated. His clothes were equally pristine and
the smile crossing his face almost hurt.

“
I
know. I’m still a flutter from an hour ago. These implications
are huge.”

“
Don’t
be fooled by the images, though. It’s not the video itself
that’s making waves, it’s the company behind it.”
The male newscaster said while grinning.

“
That’s
it exactly. The company behind the ARC device released this
commercial amid the super bowl halftime show. They also provided it
to new feeds, major game websites, and many other sources.” Her
hands fluttered inches away from her body as if tethered.

“
If
you haven’t seen it or are only now sitting down after a long
day, we’ll be replaying it here in a few moments. First, some
highlights from the press statement ten minutes ago.”

“
Take
a look,” She said.

The
scene cut away to another room entirely.

”
Ladies
and Gentleman of the press, today's statement will be brief. We are
addressing only the most basic information our video.” The man
at the podium looked to be slightly plump. His eyes scanned the crowd
as he spoke. There was a very excited expression to his face.

“
The
ARC Project and its parent company, Trillium International, recently
announced a joint venture. The sheer amount computing power going
into this release is officially unmatched. This even outweighs the
Mars Colony Endeavors.”

“
To
be clear. The ARC project, specifically the capsules that many people
own, had a single goal. This goal was separate from all the sideline
benefits already achieved.” The crowd clamored for a moment
over the statement before realizing no questions would be answered.
Multiple people looked disappointed and frustrated but were willing
to wait.

“
This
is a direct quote from the lead scientist behind both the ARC project
and our new venture. He’s not a great speaker, but we at
Trillium wanted you to hear it directly from him. In the background,
you’ll hear his partner offering her opinion.” Audio
switched out for a moment and started playing. In the crowd, there
was a wave of confused murmurs. People turned and looked at each
other. Some scribbled out notes.

“
Uhhh…Oh.
Hello, everyone.” An awkward pause ensued. The voice was male,
so this must have been the lead scientist mentioned. “You, many
of you, have been limited in your choices. The world has been
explored. The Mars Colony projects are limited and require degrees
most can’t afford. Maybe you wanted to make something, a
statue.”

There
was a female voice in the background. The sound of heels and
frustrated mutterings could be heard. Her tone was passive and
snippy.

“
Who
would want to make a statue?” She said.

“
At
least point zero five percent of them want to make a grand statue.”

“
You’re
being recorded!” The female nearly hissed. For a moment, you
could see the press room audience torn between amusement and
confusion. Heads swiveled back and forth.

“
Anyway,
maybe you don’t want to make a statue. Maybe you want to learn
a martial art, to use them against real people.” He had clearly
lost his momentum and was trying to recover. The lead scientist came
off as a bit flaky.

“
Savages,"
She said.

“
Or
swords." He tried again.

“
Barbarians.”

“
Cake?”

“…
is
acceptable.” Her delayed response was almost said through
grudging teeth. It was enough to make me smile in the van. Hal Pal
had been blissfully quiet this entire time.