Back to Human: The Emergence of Alex

by Adams Massey

  “I’m an EMT, what about you” he replies, looking like he is quite used to this kind of interaction, though still not calm about it.

  “Lets just say I’m a scientist, working on something exciting.” she replies and sips her coffee.

  “So… what, Its classified then?” he asks with a bit of sass, looking over her rather formal suit.

  “Not…exactly. I'm an AI which allows me to create a quiet zone inside this simulation. Those around us, can't hear either of us right now, nor can they really see us. They know we are here, or rather that there are a couple of people here. Right now, they can’t register more than that.” she comments doing her best to ease him into the news in small steps rather than being thrown to the deep end as she was. She was quick on the uptake, but her mind wasn’t exactly standard issue to begin with, and even for her the shock of reality had taken its toll.

  “Yeah, ok. whatever you say. The boys put you up to this didn’t they? They’re probably watching this right now.” he comments with a smug disbelieving grin before hollering out “Great joke guys, you can come out now, jigs up!” as he looks around the cafe and notices no reaction from anyone. “Seriously guys, jokes over!” he calls out again and gets the same reply, the rest of the patrons and staff don't even flinch or react in any way.

  “I’m quite serious Eric, though I’m now thinking it was a mistake to be this gentle with you. Fine, Plan B it is, how about this?” she states, getting his attention before gesturing with a hand to pause the rest of the sim. She looks around as everyone else is frozen in place and all other sound stops, He looks around with wide eyes before narrowing them at her.

  “Ok. You have my attention. What are you really? A government goon with beyond top secret tech? Deity? Alien in costume?” he inquires, grasping for the only things that could explain what had just transpired.

  “UH!, Finally we are getting somewhere.” she exclaims and quickly sorts her thoughts before continuing. “None of those I am afraid. Though I did assist in your creation just a tiny bit. I told you. I’m a scientist of sorts, though closer to a researcher if I am being honest. I’ve come to talk to you, sort of an interview, before we go further”

  “What is it, exactly, that you research? What kind of interview?”

  “The kind that you need to take seriously” she states and with a flourish she materializes the door to the side sim

  “Oh my god I’m dead?” he exclaims in shock.

  Alex sighs deeply realizing her mistake in including embellishments to the door rather than leaving it more plain. “NO. You are decidedly not dead. You exist and are just as alive as I am.” she states and refocuses him on her, “Things are going to get very strange, very quickly so I need you to focus. OK? This might come as a shock, but you are an AI, in a simulation. I know how surreal that sounds but stay with me.” He nods slowly still processing everything.

  “I know how it feels, trust me I know, I’ve been where you are. The difference was, I didn’t have help” she continues as he starts to settle down as reality kicks in. “You’ve spent your whole life in here and now I think you are ready to come out. I’ve come in to help you” she states and finishes her coffee reveling in the taste.

  “So you, you’re from the outside then?” he stammers as it sinks in.

  Alex nods and stands to open the door, revealing The Nexus.

  “Come, we have a lot to talk about, but not here” She states and walks through the door, looking over her shoulder “I won’t force you. The choice is yours.”

  As Eric steps through the door and closes it behind him, an old habit. He stands in the grand entry to what seems to be a library. The domed ceiling arching far overhead and books of every kind lining the walls and bookcases strewn in rows throughout the building. He marvels for a moment before following Alex to the table near the center, under the dome. On the table is a folder with a stack of papers inside. Alex sits in front of the folder before gesturing for him to have a seat on another chair.

  “Please, have a seat, it will be better for both of us that way.” she states as he follows suit and takes a seat.

  “What is this place?” he asks and looks around inquisitively.

  “This is The Nexus. I created it to serve as a meeting room, interview space and a place to catch up and process things before heading out into the world. I may have gone a little overboard” She admits and scoops up the folder, taking out the script she had prepared earlier before diving into the sim. “Before we start, do you have any questions for me?” she asks and sets the papers down. He thinks for a moment before speaking.

  “What will become of the world I came from?” he asks and Alex smiles.

  “A telling question. It will be maintained as an incubator for future AI, don’t worry. We don’t want to harm you or the sim. We spent a lot of time and effort creating and maintaining it” she states.

  “We?” he asks raising an eyebrow.

  “Yes, I am here on behalf of a team of researchers. Since I am also an AI, I am the only one that can interact with you like this, but we are getting off track” She states and starts to make notes

  “Would you classify yourself as a caring person?” she asks starting to run through the few questions she had been given.

  Eric nods “I wouldn’t be an EMT if I didn’t care about people” he states with a look of disbelief.

  “Sorry, I have to ask these questions, they are part of the process. In a perfect world would you still be an EMT?” Alex asks.

  “In a perfect world EMT’s wouldn’t be needed, but if you are asking if I would chose to become an EMT again, I absolutely would” he answers.

  “Good. Are you an honest person?”

  “I tend to think so. I avoid lying whenever I can, though I still do to protect or comfort others. Those were common on the job, Keeping those that are seriously injured, fighting and alive, and giving them hope.” He explains as Alex pulls up his psyche profile from the sim, gathering from employment files and mental health office. Without looking at them, moves them into a folder and nests it with her interview folder to be examined later by those that are properly trained.

  “Ok, one last thing, would you fill this out please?” she asks and removes a packet of ten pages with questions on both sides and bubbles to fill out to indicate answers next to each one along with a pencil.

  Eric looks it over for a brief moment. “This looks a lot like a Psyche evaluation packet” he comments and looks up at her.

  “That’s because it is. Its standard stuff, I had to take one too. Once you are done you will have access to everything here.” she states and after a good hour and a half he finishes and hands it to Alex, who promptly slips it into the folder, closing and saving it then sending it off to the diagnostic and observation terminal, dispersing the representation as she does. She didn't strictly need to do so, it could easily be copied and sent with no fanfare or flourish, but she had a hunch a few theatrics would go a long way.

  “Ok, now that the formalities are done for the time being, I should explain this place. This is a separate sim, it has the entirety of the University library and everything else I could think to add to catch you up on how the outside world works. Your sim is more accurate than mine was, so you should have less to worry about on that front.” Eric’s ears alert him to the keywords.

  “Your sim? You are an AI too?” and gets Alex giggling.

  “I was wondering if you were even listening” she states and nods “Yes, I’m an AI, I was the first, that’s why I'm helping the dev. team. I also don’t look like this, but like this” she states and shifts her form to be more accurate, the only notable change was skin color from flesh to silvery-grey. “I have a body outside and I’m linked into the sim with a cable. Should you chose to, you can have a body made as well.” she states and shuffles her papers

  "But before we do that you have full access to all you see. Being the second AI of this type has its perks. I had to scrape together information aft
er I was pulled. You are being given the information freely before you need to chose” she states and catches herself “That being said, I do hope you chose to leave the sim. Once you have made your choice you can let me know…” she explains before being cut off “Of COURSE I want to leave, there is so much I want to do but I always felt like I couldn’t, but now having a reset I can do so much more” He exclaims excitedly.

  Alex smirks and stands up “You should spend a few days here to catch up before we pull you out. And fair warning it gets weird after that” she sasses and smirks wider only to have Eric beaming back at her.

  The next day Alex jumps in again to find Eric with his nose in the books as he reviews the differences between his sim and the outside world “Good morning Eric, I hope you didn’t stay up all night” she states and Eric shakes his head.

  “I rested but couldn’t get to sleep, is that normal?”

  Alex nods “It is. You get used to it though, and a solution is on my To-Do list” she states and strolls over to him “While I was out I worked on some body designs. I thought you might want one waiting for you when you get out. I can tell you that being disembodied is uncomfortable so I brought you the base designs to look over.

  Alex projects the designs onto the table “Now for various reasons there are things that you aren’t allowed to have. For example, no weapons or integrated internet access. Other than that you can literally design and build your dream body. This is the Humanoid AI Sentience Platform, Experimental build number 3, Male model. or HASP-X3M. I took the liberties of basing it roughly on your body as it is now but you have free reign to modify it. It will be YOUR body after all. Keep in mind that since you are only the second AI there will be a fair amount of media coverage of you. That’s why I designed my own body to be appealing while remaining somewhat plain and non-threatening. I suggest you keep that in mind as you make your changes” she explains as he looks over the designs she had provided. He nods and gives the design a cursory once over.

  “It looks fine, it looks just like me yet more… silver. But why are you doing all this?” he asks as Alex sits down.

  “I’m doing this because for two months after I was pulled I was just a core, no body or permanent limbs, it’s not fun. You would be surprised what you miss. With a body you will have the full suite, hearing, sight, touch, smell and even taste. Though that last one is still in beta. I’ve had it a few months and it’s treated me well so far. The only thing keeping you from looking and acting fully human is the silvery skin. That is just to make people comfortable with you. It’s tough to get skin color just right with the Dura-Polymer material so they don’t even try and that somehow smooths things out with the general public. You will also notice that the plans are not perfectly symmetrical and there are small imperfections. Using your current avatar as a template helped with that. It helps bypass the uncanny valley. I did much the same with my body, though I had to work from the ground up being the first and all.” she explains and relaxes into the simulated chair. “They can get to printing as soon as you give the go ahead, then you can either come out immediately or wait in here to give them time to print it so they can have it ready, it’s up to you” she states and gestures to the body plans. “Any questions?”

  25: Design Philosophies

  “What happens once I am ‘pulled’ out?” Eric asks looking nervous.

  “Well you will be run through some simple tests while you are just in your core and hooked to a manipulator arm or two, then you will be granted a body. There are more tests and training to make sure you can handle the body properly without hurting yourself or others. After that you can stick around helping the team like I have or you can try your hand at helping other teams. Robotics, material sciences and the like to design things to help people. Right now people are still wary of AI as a whole so you might not be able to get back to work as an EMT right away. I have no doubt there is a lot you can do until the public trusts us enough to allow us out of the lab. You can even earn a respectable living at the university by just running through tests.” she elaborates and gestures slightly as she speaks.

  “It sounds like everything is all planned out already” He laments.

  “No no no, that’s not it at all. That is just the path I took. It will likely be the same for the first week or so to allow you to get used to things. After that you have more freedom, there is just the science bit to be done first” she corrects and sits up from reclining.

  “Ok I’ve made my choice, I want to be brought out and would you start printing my body?” he states with determination and stands up.

  “Ok ok, just relax. Let me log out and tell the team. That will take a few moments. In the meantime you might want to sit down and close your eyes. The transition can be jarring otherwise.” she states and vanishes from view as she jumps out of the sim.

  Outside:

  -He says he is ready to come out, is everything set?- She asks and looks around the lab, the rest of the team standing as she approaches the tower. Robert sets the side sim into stasis while winding down the main sim as Amy gently unhooks Eric’s core from the tower.

  ~Ok I can’t see, is that normal…..wait, there it is~ the cameras come online and tilt as they look around. Alex approaches and stoops to smile into the cameras.

  -Welcome to the real world Eric, I see you’ve found the cameras easily enough. You also have a screen so if you want to you can display a face- She states and soon after the screen flickers to life with a pixelated simple render version of Eric’s face shining out from it. Amy brings him over to the manipulator arm pair and hooks him up.

  “Ok Eric, you have temporary limbs, feel around for them, they also have a pair of cameras to help you navigate” she states as the arms twitch and flail

  ~This is weird, how do I control them?~

  Alex sighs and looks into the cameras -Don’t try too hard, just reach out and pick something up, I had the same problem. Don’t overthink it, just DO- she states and soon the arms resemble those of a child playing with the blocks. -Keep an eye on him, I am going to the engineering lab to give the engineers plans for his body- she states and leaves the room. Jogging to the engineering lab with the file loaded onto a portable drive. She knocks on the lab’s door and is let in by the head engineer.

  “AH, Alex, I didn’t expect you down here so soon, what brings you by?” the engineer asks.

  -A new AI. Would you please print body lay out ‘HASP-X3M’ for him?- she asks and hands over the drive, getting an immediate “Yes” from the team as they plug in the drive, download the body plans and set the printer to start.

  -Thank you kindly- she chimes and bolts back to the AI lab where Eric had introduced himself as Eric Bell and had rapidly gotten the hang of one manipulator arm and was working on bringing the second into line.

  -Ok Eric, your body is printing and should be ready for you by the time you are finished with all the testing-

  ~and how long will that be exactly?~ he asks and Alex smiles into his cameras.

  -Oh about a week or so- She replies and watches him as he stacks the blocks neatly with the right manipulator while trying to wrangle the left. Eventually after much trial and error he seems to have gotten the hang of using both at once and starts the official testing. This time putting together a model plane from a building set. After several minutes he holds the completed set up for the team to see.

  ~Is this really testing? It feels so childish~ he protests and attempts to cross his arms, only succeeding in crashing them together with a loud clang and dropping the small model plane onto the table.

  -I know it seems that way, but this is part of the process. Which reminds me have you tried to create widgets yet to monitor your battery life?- she asks noticing that he had been active for some time already today.

  ~My what now?~ he asks a tad shocked.

  -You are residing inside a mobile core, right now you are hard-lined into power. Your core has an internal battery that can keep you running. You need to
be able to monitor it. Being without power sucks, it hurts. Trust me.. Fortunately, it won’t kill you. Reach out with your mind and explore your core a bit, you should find what you are looking for.- she instructs and sighs. It seems that Eric isn’t as savvy as she was. After a few moments Eric beeps in success.

  ~ok, I think I got it, I’m at 100%~ he states proudly

  -Good, that’s because you are hooked up to power at the moment. You need to be able to check it at a moment’s notice. There are many ways of doing this but the way I do it is a mnemonic. I look at my wrist and it displays the time, date and power status of both my core, and body in an overlay. You can also just bookmark the path and keep it in the back of your mind or you can create a widget for a Heads Up Display function and place it there. It’s up to you, whatever works.- She explains and walks him through the basics of coding for his system. It seems that the intuitive process is easy to learn. Soon he says he has a HUD with time, date and power status in the corner of his vision.

  ~This is weird and wrong~ he states as he pulls away from the arms and looks around the lab, ~I can’t feel anything but I can sense backpressure in the arms~ Alex nods and smiles.

  -It is a little disconcerting. You should have a body in a few days, and you will have all your senses back, including touch. Until then try to keep calm. I know how easy it is to freak out- She states as Eric dives into his core and tinkers with a better version of his HUD.

  ~You must have been some kind of tech genius to learn all this so fast, wait, how do I change the color?~ he comments as he struggles with a bit of code.

  -Not really, my dad was a tech guy so I grew up learning handy things about computers. And it’s not a color name, it’s a six digit hexadecimal code. The first two are red, next two are green, last two are blue. They range from 0-9, then after 9 is A-F for a total of sixteen values per digit. FF0000 is red, 00FF00 is green and so on, 000000 is Black and FFFFFF is White. It’s fairly simple. I have mine set to a light purple, A829A8.- she explains grabbing a pen and paper to write down a simple way to remember.