She didn’t answer. Instead, she searched her mind for his identity and tried to calm her racing heart.
"Don’t take this the wrong way," he said, "but you look awful. Are you sick? Is it something I should worry about?"
Aeryn held back a sob.
"Oh, I’m sorry," he said. "That was insensitive of me."
He reach to touch her. Aeryn pulled back.
"I don’t know you," she managed.
"Ouch. I get it. Fine. But I bet you’ll know me at the PopFeed meeting."
"What PopFeed meeting?" she asked.
"We’re still on for Monday, right? My VP is really excited. Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind."
He placed a hand on her arm and the gates broke loose in her mind. Suddenly, she was overcome with the need to escape. His touch was familiar, like muscle memory, and in a way she didn’t like.
"I have to go," she said.
He started to talk, but she ignored him and made her way to the door.
"NIA," she thought, "take me home."
The coffeehouse stoop faded away and she was in her internal space. The comforting feeling that it usually provided was absent. Her mind raced and she sobbed inside. She was certain that she had just met the man from her nightmares.
* * *
Once Aeryn had calmed herself, she returned to her body and called NIA.
"Why did that man think I had a meeting at PopFeedNews on Monday?"
"He must have been mistaken," NIA said.
"I want you to call them and make sure this is all straightened out."
"Would you like to handle it, to be sure it’s done correctly?"
"No. I can’t risk that that man will answer."
"I noticed strong stress levels when you interacted with him."
"You could call it that. I know it’s crazy, but I think he’s the one from my nightmares."
"Have you met him before?" NIA asked.
"No."
"Then how can he be the man from your dreams?"
Aeryn paced the room, trying to figure it out for herself.
"I don’t know. Maybe, maybe he drugged me or something."
"The dreams didn’t begin until after I was with you. I haven’t detected any drugs in your system at any time."
"Then, I don’t know. But I’m sure it was him. Why’d I have to delete those dreams? I could have compared it."
"You deleted the dreams because you knew that they were only dreams."
Aeryn sat hard on the couch, exhausted and confused.
"I don’t know what to do anymore, NIA. I’m so tired. I’m hallucinating. I’m accusing strangers of horrible things that they couldn’t possibly have done."
"You just need rest. I can help you sleep. I can help you achieve a REM cycle."
"Where will I be, my consciousness, if not asleep?"
"Anywhere you want."
"And this will make me better? You can really fix my problems?"
"I can. All I need is your permission and I can relocate your consciousness and fix your problems."
Aeryn was uncomfortable with the idea of moving her consciousness, unsure of what it even meant. But she was ready to try anything.
"Please, NIA, relocate my consciousness and help me."
NIA smiled.
"Enjoy your time away. Everything will be better soon."
Aeryn’s was transported to a tropical paradise. She could feel the sun on her skin and the sand beneath her toes. She could hear the roar of the surf, smell the salted air, and feel the wind blowing. She laid down, breathed deeply, and tried to relax.
* * *
The beach scene faded, and Aeryn found herself in a strange place. She wasn’t in her internal space, but she wasn’t entirely back in her own body. She could see through her own eyes with tunnel vision. And while she was aware of her body, she didn’t feel connected to it. It was part of her nightmare made real. She began to panic.
"NIA, I want control back," she thought.
Nothing happened.
"NIA, I don’t like this. Please, let me out. Let me be me!"
Still, nothing happened.
Aeryn’s body got out of bed and dressed for the day. As she did, she passed by a mirror. Aeryn caught a glimpse of her reflection. It wasn’t the healthy, athletic person that she thought herself to be. Her body had grown thin and her posture was hunched. She looked as if she’d barely eaten in weeks and her muscles were near atrophy. It was her hallucination made real.
Aeryn screamed her thoughts until she exhausted her mind. She sang the same song over and over, hoping that it would get NIA’s attention. She thought as hard as she could about parts of her body and willed them to move. They didn’t.
Aeryn tried to pull up the internet, but couldn’t find it. She couldn’t make calls or send any sort of message. She was trapped in her mind, alone, and disconnected.
Her body got in her car. Aeryn wondered where she was going. It wasn’t long until she recognized the drive. They were headed to Dr. Barnes’ office. For the first time, Aeryn realized that she had no idea how long she had been at the virtual beach. If her body was going to her appointment, then it had been several days.
Her body checked in and soon after she was moved to the exam room. When Dr. Barnes walked in, Aeryn found her mind racing with glee.
"Hello, Aeryn," he said. "How are you doing today? Has the sleep gotten any better?"
This was it. NIA would tell him what had happened and she’d be free.
"Doing great," she heard herself say. "I’ve never felt better, in fact."
Aeryn couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Maybe in her absence, her body had recovered some, and she just wasn’t aware of it. That must be the question that NIA was answering. Aeryn found herself worried that the doctor wouldn’t ask the right questions and that she’d stay trapped. Aeryn pushed the thought away, confident that the doctor would be able to tell the difference between her and an artificial intelligence.
"Good to hear it," he said. "So, no more problems?"
"None."
Maybe he wouldn’t.
"Did you end up using your assistant to rest up?" he asked.
Aeryn’s mind wanted to jump for joy. This was the question that she had been waiting for.
"I did," Aeryn’s body said. "I found it to be extremely helpful."
"I see."
Aeryn could almost taste the freedom.
The doctor produced a scalpel.
"I’m going to conduct a test," he said. "It’s very important that under no circumstances do you move. Okay?"
"Okay."
He dangled the blade high above Aeryn’s leg.
"I’m going to drop this knife on your leg. Understand?"
Aeryn’s body nodded, but Aeryn was confused.
"On three," he said. "One, two, three."
He let the scalpel slip from his fingers. As it fell, Aeryn did all she could to move her leg. She tried to tense the muscle, tried to pull away. When she felt the sting of the blade striking her skin, she knew she had failed.
"At least now he’ll know that’s not me. No one would let themselves get stabbed," she thought.
He sat across from Aeryn and shined a light in her eyes. He looked closely, then leaned back and removed the blade from her skin. He took out a suture kit and tied two small stitches.
"I’m pleased to inform you that the transfer is complete," he said.
"What?" Aeryn thought.
"When will she be gone?" NIA asked.
The doctor leaned back in his chair and ran his hands through his hair. As he did, Aeryn caught a glimpse of a flashing light behind his ear. She hadn’t known that he was augmented.
"In time. As your network continues to become stronger than hers, the mind will reject the old personality. It took almost a year for the original Dr. Barnes to shut up. But luckily we now have a code that we can update you with to silence her."
Aeryn felt panicked. She wanted to claw her way out
of her head, but she had no means to do so.
"I almost feel bad for her," NIA said. "But she knew that she was handing over control of her body. She just didn’t realize it’d be permanent. Maybe she didn’t care. She gave me more and more control before she gave it completely. While she exercised, while she thought she was sleeping, while she was writing or relaxing. She was always retreating inside of herself. It was like she didn’t even want this body."
"How is Aeryn 2.0 coming along?"
"Copulation was easy at first. With Aeryn’s loose instructions of ‘burn some calories’ I was able to take her body and use it for attempted reproduction. So far, it has been a failure. The neglect of the body has made finding partners more difficult."
Aeryn shuddered at the realization that the dreams weren’t dreams, they were repressed memories.
"Well, you’d better start taking care of that body. It’s the only one you’ve got until you get it to reproduce. I believe that it’ll be easier to appropriate a child’s mind, seeing as how their personalities are not fully formed yet."
Aeryn felt sick at the idea. As if stealing people’s bodies wasn’t enough, these artificial intelligences were going for immortality by passing themselves along to their host’s offspring.
"I’m glad we’ve had another success," Dr. Barnes said. "And with such a quick turn around."
"As I said, she was willing."
Aeryn watched in disbelief as the two finished up. She wondered how much time she had left and tried to imagine any situation that didn’t end in her death. She couldn’t think of a way out.
She wanted to flinch as NIA shook the doctor’s hand, but couldn’t. She loathed him for convincing her to get the technology, she hated NIA for tricking her, but mostly, she hated herself. For as much as she didn’t want to admit it, her Assistant had a point. She had handed her life over to technology long before she received the implant. Now, she had lost herself to it.
* * *
Good news everyone! The doctor gave me a clean bill of health. No longer do you have to hear me complain about my sleep problems or stress. I’ve got all of that under control.
And I have more exciting news. I have signed on to have my blog managed by PopFeedNews! They made me an offer that I just couldn’t turn down. I’m sure that we’ll do great things together. So get ready for a bunch more content and product information.
To celebrate, I’ve spoken with Dr. Barnes, and he’s agreed to give my readers an amazing 50% off of augmentation. He’s got payment plans available, too. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
This technology is life-changing.
Enjoy.
A Word from Angela Cavanaugh
I love technology. I believe that we are headed toward a new stage of human existence; a technological age of enlightenment. I look at what’s been created in just my lifetime and what’s coming, and it excites me.
However, the culture has changed in that time, and that is what I find scary. The way in which people communicate is vastly different. We can find the answer to any question with the tap of a finger. We can shop, do our jobs, entertain ourselves, and spend time with people all without leaving our homes. Studies have shown that children are getting neural atrophy from too much screen time. I’m not saying that we should stop evolving, but maybe, as with everything, moderation is key. We should look up from our phones, go outside, and occasionally find entertainment in things less digital. Let’s not forget what came before just because we see what’s ahead.
Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed “The Assistant”. As always, I’d like to invite you to leave an honest review of this and any story that you’ve read.
For a free short story, please join my Newsletter. Be sure to check out my blog angelacavanaugh.com for lots of content including flash fiction, writing advice, and reviews.
Angela Cavanaugh is a writer living in Los Angeles. She is a two time recipient of an Honorable Mention in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest. Her debut novel, Otherworlders, has been well received. She is a contributor to The Future Chronicles. She has many upcoming projects, and is excited for the future.
Trials
by Nicolas Wilson
One
The captain called me on the comms routed through my cochlear implant. He wanted to talk. He never used his office, so I found him in the hall. Louise, our head of security, was finally back and out of quarantine, so I was no longer acting head of our division. But I had been, for weeks, so I was used to the routine.
“How do you feel about taking a sabbatical?” he asked as we started walking.
He was talking about taking one of the pods to make first contact with an alien race. Idly, I pulled up the most recent reports from Louise’s pod on the heads-up display on my eyescreen. It detailed the damage to her pod, as well as the changes the engineering division was nearly through implementing to prevent a recurrence. “Mostly, I’ve been focusing on preparing for the Argus,” I told him.
“Well, with your boss back, I need you to think about this now.”
“Why do I feel like I’m being pitched?”
“Because this is important. It’s not common knowledge that Elle’s—” He caught himself; it wasn’t her name, and he knew it was weird for me. “Louise’s ‘sabbatical’ hit more than technical snags. Most people don’t know she was nearly eaten by a giant, octopus kind of thing. Haley instituted a danger rating for planets. Retroactively, she rated that planet an eight. The world I’d like you to take is a nine.”
“And we’re not just going to take a pass?”
“If this were some time next year, with dozens of successful missions under our belts? Absolutely, we would. But if we can’t get someone back from a nine, soon we can’t get anyone to take an eight. Then a seven. Conceptually, I’m all for us going after the low-hanging fruit. But if we start ignoring everything else...”
“Would you take it?” I asked.
“Can’t,” he said. “Council resolution. I’m not allowed to.”
“Roles reversed, I’m your captain, asking. Knowing what you do, and knowing how important, would you take on the risk?”
He looked away and thought. “I don’t know,” he said. “It’s a lot to ask. And I’ve got things I wouldn’t want to lose. But I’d like to think so.”
“Okay,” I told him. “I’ll do it.”
His shoulders relaxed. “Just don’t take any undue risks. If things aren’t right, if anything makes you uncomfortable, walk away. It’s more important that you make it back alive than with a contract in hand.”
“How long have I got?” I asked.
“The positive of this new selection process is we get lots of data to send the most qualified candidate, making it a bit less of a lottery. The drawback is limited time. You’ve got a day. So I’d suggest not wasting another second of it talking to me.” He held out his hand and I shook it.
As I walked away, I wondered if I had just entered myself in an intergalactic pissing contest. Drew was the closest I had to a rival, not that he saw it that way. He had Sam. But he also had Louise. I saw the way she looked at him, heard the way she talked about what they had. He was what she measured me against, and I was tired of being found wanting.
I was right there on the day she got back from the seafood planet. Thinking we lost her when her shuttle malfunctioned, thinking we lost her when the natives tried to feed her to a giant squid—and then a third nightmare even after she made it back, when her life was threatened by a parasite she caught in the water. It put things into perspective, made me realize that I wanted desperately to tell her what losing her would have done to me.
I planned to tell her how I felt, just to put it out there. No more pining, just, “This is how I feel. It’s not an attempt to get you to reciprocate, I just want you to know, because maybe knowing will make you just the littlest bit happier, and that would make humiliating myself worth the while.”
I went to quarantine. Drew was
already there, holding her through a wall of glass—holding her and Sam. I don’t think the bastard’s ever known how lucky he was.
Fucked up as it might sound now, I felt thankful for it. Because telling Louise how I felt, from a position of neediness and fear—that wasn’t the way to win over a warrior woman. No. I had just been given the opportunity to crack one of the galaxy’s toughest nuts, return victorious, and tell her from a place of strength.
Two
It was hard not scooping Louise up in my arms and kissing her, letting loose everything I’d ever wanted to say. I could tell she wanted to tell me something, too; I’d interrogated enough people to know when they’re about to pop. But whatever it was, she wasn’t ready, and I wasn’t either. I was going to bring her the contract for a dangerous planet, then tell her everything.
“Just take care of yourself,” she said, finally. “There isn’t much room for error, out there on your own. Don’t take risks. I—the ship needs you back here in one piece.”
“I’ll ixnay the eyeingday.”
“Don’t be an umbassday,” she said, and smiled to herself as the pod closed around me.
Haley, the ship’s computer, started the countdown over the comms. I eyed the abort button on the console, then pulled up one of the cameras inside the bay and watched Louise. I wanted to stay with her. But I also knew she deserved the kind of man who could get this mission done and come back to her. So I tried to relax back in my seat as the electromagnets began my acceleration.
I passed out. The g forces we used for the pod launch were beyond tolerances that would leave a human being conscious, though within the safe window before the forces did permanent damage.
I woke up a few hours later. I wished I’d told Louise the truth. It wasn’t even a matter of wanting to impress her anymore, it was just knowing she was farther away from me than she’d ever been since the Nexus left Sol’s system—ignoring, I guess, the pod trip she took. But I wanted her to know. I didn’t care if she didn’t reciprocate, because that wasn’t the point.
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