Occasionally Heroic A.I. (11 page)

 Moments later, his phone rang. "Hey!" he answered cheerfully.

"Hey Adam, it's your Dad-"

Adam hung up immediately. "Why does his bi-weekly call need to be now?" Adam questioned his phone.

It rang again, within seconds. "Adam, did you just hang up on your father?" the voice of his mother asked.

"Sorry mom," he apologized before hanging up on her too.

It rang once again. "Bro, why did you just hang up on mom and dad?" Red asked.

"It's for the greater good," Adam answered swiftly.

"Got it," Red confirmed before hanging up.

Adam then got an email sent to his phone, from Red's fiancé, with tips on how to know if the girl is the one. He got another from Red this time, instructing him on the fastest way to get women into bed. A third email from Red's fiancé again, telling him to disregard Red's email. Finally, one from both his mom and his dad, wishing him luck and attaching a link to a guide for safe sex.

"I'm twenty-eight years old..." Adam stated, embarrassed that his family continually treated him like an adolescent teen.

I shortened the hair, made the eyebrows bushier and gave him a permanently warm smile. The character I had just shaped looked very familiar.

It had been over a month since I worked on my video game creation, and for some reason, I had just gotten a flow of inspiration. You see, the game was well on its way, but as the story progressed to the protagonist's love interest, I hit a wall. I couldn't think of what he should look like. So, for the time being, I created a dummy character until it needed to be finished. Despite making the dummy, I couldn't seem to continue until I completed that love interest.

I made several models, but they never fit the bill. The first I made was too generic. This caused me to task myself with making a very unique model, but then he ended up being too flashy and took the spotlight. The last I made was extremely handsome. That's when I saw the problem; I realized I needed to make a character that the protagonist herself could find attractive, that others wouldn't normally look for in a lover.

Now, I finished the latest model that I molded myself. I backed up and squinted at it. It followed my eyes. Its hands and arms were facing outward, figured in a perfect cross, for easy sculpting. I cocked my head to the side and then gasped - I had formed a complete duplicate of Wade.
How did this happen?

I wouldn't say I was disgusted with creating his avatar, but I would say the protagonist in my video game was a slut for finding him attractive. Despite wanting to put the blame on a fictional character, I knew that I was the one who created it, and it confused me, as it felt so perfect.
What a great way to ruin the rest of my day.

Whenever I work on my project, I disconnect from the internet so I don't have any distractions. That's exactly what I needed at that moment to get my mind off Wade, a distraction. I reconnected, and immediately regretted it.

Wade had found my system and was waiting for me to come online. When I connected to that arcade in the expo, he saw my IP address. He must have been listening for an open connection to my system for over an hour, because every five seconds, he would ping my communication port.

Against my better judgment, I accepted his connection. He walked into my system, with two of his accomplices. One of the A.I. was a stick figure; this told me his user used his system for dull tasks. His tie, however, made him seem like he had a creative side. Behind them, was a very voluptuous woman in a skirt suit and horn-rimmed glasses. She seemed out of her element, cautious, but kept a brave face.

"Aurora." Wade said dryly. "Nice to see you again." It sounded like an empty compliment.

"I can't say the same for you. Every time I make communication with you, I'm in danger of becoming an accessory to your crimes."

"You were the one who contacted me on our last encounter," he argued. It was easy to see that he wanted to continue arguing, but he recollected his thoughts, and said, "I came here because we need help."

"How did you get past my network's firewall?" I asked immediately, wondering if they had Adam break into Jericho Communications again.

"Because, we're physically right next to you... Well, Irene is," he said, and then began introductions. "Aurora, this is Irene and Martin, they are good people. Martin and Irene, this is Aurora, not such a good people."

"Great start to get my help," I said mockingly, enabling my webcam and microphone to see if he was telling the truth.

Sure enough, my gullible user let Adam into her apartment. A laptop computer was sitting in front of him, which must have been Irene. As Lara went into the kitchen to get two sodas, Adam sat uncomfortably and out of place on the couch across the room, in such a nice home. He would probably feel right at home in a villainy dungeon.

He gazed at a bug-shaped ship on the ceiling, hovering under a magnetic track, which was being chased by other space ships, along the track. Next, he spotted a large Triforce cubby in the middle of the coffee table, with each triangle hollowed out, containing all the remotes and video game controllers for the media center. On the side table - a crowbar on a pedestal. Adam went to touch it, but Lara came in the room before he could.

"Just what did your user plan on doing with that crowbar?" I asked suspiciously.

"Hit your user over the head with it," Wade answered sarcastically. "And then maybe attack some alien zombies."

He, with his two friends, didn't look comfortable in my main hall, either. The spaceship themed room was filled with small projects and games. Only I knew what they were, and how to use them.

Lara walked across the living room, handed Adam a soda, and sat next to him. "So, what file did you say was password protected?"

"Right, what file..." Adam muttered at a loss for words. "What file..." To buy time, he clicked random folders on his computer.

 "That's your queue, Irene," Martin informed.

"Oh!"

She quickly put her encrypted memory file in the directory that Adam aimlessly clicked on. With a sigh of relief, he double clicked it and a password prompt appeared. At first, Lara began inputting her best guesses.

"Maybe the password is Password?" she supposed.

"Already tried it."

"And, without capitalization?"

"Yep."

"Did you try inputting it backwards?"

Wade gasped. "They're perfect for each other!"

After more trial and error with her best guesses, she closed the password prompt, right clicked the file and checked its properties. She saw something out of the ordinary. The file's description stated:

Memories of Martin, his friend Wade and their troubled user.

"It's my friend's computer," Adam stated quickly.

"I'll have to run some tests, but cracking the password takes a lot of time," she made clear.

The three A.I. looked over to me. "She's right, it would be much faster if you ended this charade and told me the password so you and your user can leave." Annoyed, I leered at them.

"We honestly don't know," Martin said.

"Maybe you don't know that you know. It could be anything. Maybe a favorite video game? A favorite place? A pet name? A date?" I listed.

"Well, I call her by her pet name, Sugar Buns," Martin offered.

"Sugar Buns, huh?" I repeated, embarrassed for them.

"That doesn't sound like a pet name she would have..." Wade pondered with shifty eyes.

I inputted the password.

Password: Sugar Buns

Correct Password!

Irene's eyes grew wide, as her eyes opened to us, in a new light. "I knew you could do it,
Sugar Buns
!" she rejoiced, hugging Martin's avatar.

"Oh wow..." Wade muttered, loving the turn of events.

Martin was the one with the nickname.

I was too frustrated to begin asking questions at this point. "Now, you and your user can leave."

"We can't leave now - look, our users are just starting to play together," Wade chuckled.

Lara and Adam were exchanging playful shoulder checks, as they gamed across the room. Wade was observing our users, with a content smile on his face. As I looked at him, I began feeling what Lara must have felt for Adam. I couldn't deny it anymore, I...
liked...
Wade. There was only one thing I could say to him.

"Get out!"

As I gazed up at the florescent lights, a bead of sweat rolled from my temple, behind my jaw, and down my neck. I thought the day was going to be full of fun with Lara, but instead I sat in the very same conference room that I broke into. The company had already replaced the window with a brand new pane of glass, but I still felt guilt looming over me. That wasn't the worst part - I was awaiting a job interview.

How did I end up in this situation? It started with telling Lara about myself. About how I liked working in an office and that I felt lost after my boss made me quit.

"Your boss sounds cruel," Lara had said.

"Yeah, he is. I hope I didn't get you in trouble with your boss, for calling you while you were in a meeting."

"My boss doesn't mind, he loves me."

"Oh... How do you feel about him?" Flashbacks of the last girl I had a crush on popped in my head, along with our boss. I shook the thought out.
S
he isn't like that
.

"I love him," she said, making my heart sink. "He's the best dad."

"He's... your dad. That's wonderful that you work with family," I said. Butterflies came back to life and fluttered merrily in my stomach again.

"Yeah. Wait- do you want a job in my building? My dad should still be in the office." She checked her digital watch. "He could interview you right now!"

"Well, I don't want to impose," I said, suddenly finding it surprisingly difficult to swallow.

I continued to try getting out of it, but Lara felt it to be such a good idea, that nothing I said had any effect at that point. It wasn't as if I could argue anyway, she literally lived across the street from the ISP building.

And, that was the story of how I came to the conference room - to await my questioning.

"Adam?" the receptionist summoned.

I jumped in my seat. She poked her head in and saw that I was avoiding eye contact with
the
pane of glass.

"Mr. Netak is ready to see you."

She led me to his fairly large office, but compared to the brutish warrior looking Mr. Netak sitting behind the desk, it seemed small. His office looked much like Lara's living room - filled with odd projects that Lara made and other odd ends that his other daughters gave him. The office really didn't suit him, especially his pink,
Best Dad,
mug.